The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1911-04-21


less accessible than the Vel
lowstone National Park-the
greatest playground of the
American peoples In winter. This
Is scarcely conceivable, for in summer
10000 visitors now find it one of the
easiest places to reach and to travel
through
Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka
made an attempt to explore the park
in January nearly twenty-five years
ago. He had returned not long before
from an expedition in search of Sir
John Franklin's party that had perish
ed In the arctic regions. Before that
he had been on a 5000 mile sledge
journey In the frozen north and had
suffered terrible hardships. On his trip
into the Yellowstone Park Lieutenant
Schwatka was accompanied by a large.
well-organized party. They travelled
on Norwegian skis and Canadian web
snowshoes: but the snow was 80 light
that 1t would not support them. and
their toboggans were exceedingly dim
cult to draw. It took them three days
to cover twenty miles. Lieutenant
Schwatka, Injured az he was to such
hardships, fell Ill and was unable to
proceed. He, and all tho rest of the
party but four of the sturdiest men
turned back. The photographer, F.
Jay Haynes; Edward Wilson. a govern
ment scout. and two others kept on
1t took them twentynine days to make
the circuit of the park. 200 miles. The
thermometer ranged between 40 and
so degrees below zero most of the time,
and the adventure nearly cost them
their lives.
- &C. ~ =
The total winter population of the
park is usually between four and Ave
hundred people. THESE include three
troops OF cavalry. The cavalry can use
their horses only during tho summer
months. During the winter they are
stabbed at Fort Yellowstone. The stage
horses are driven down to the low
lands. miles away. when the tourist
season is over. and Craze in the shell
tered valleys there until the SHOWS
melt
In the great hotels that are thronged
during the tourist season live only the
caretakers. generally two In each place.
a man and his wife. The first blizzard
isolates from the world outside every
body in this great national domain that
has an area of 1912 square miles, No
valley within its limits has an elevation
of less than 5000 feet. while many of
the mountain peaks within and near
the Park rise from 10000 to $4,000
feet above sea level: Yellowstone Lake,
Is by 20 miles In size Is the largest
body OF water in America at that alti-
tude. 7,741 feet above the sea. On the
summit OF the range. q few miles south
OF Yellowstone Lake. is Two Ocean
Pond. a small lake with two outlets.
one into the Atlantic through the Vel
lowstone and Missouri rivers. the 9TH
er into the Pacific through the Snake
river. q branch OF the Columbia The
Grand Canyon OF the Yellowstone. ten
miles long, has an average depth of
1900 feet. and is the most brilliantly
colored landscape In existence. But in
winter everything is blanketed with
snow eight to ten feet deep. All is Ice
bound except the more than half q hun
dred great geysers that throw their
columns OF boiling water hundreds OF
feet in the air. almost as little seen by
humankind as when they began their
spoutings ages ago.
From December to March the en-
forced jewellers in the Park are nearly
as much cut OF from the world as
though they were penned in by the Po-
lar ice. OF course the telephone and
the telegraph bring them scraps OF
news from the outer world. but the
only way of getting about Is on snow
shoes or skis. Even then the dis
tances between the places where the
people live are so great and the ways
SO dangerous that few venture forth
Only the Government scouts. whose
duty it Is to look after the wild life In
the Park and see that 1t is not molested
by poachers, get out at all. The rest
of the people there are like the bears
they hibernate until Spring. An am
pie supply of fuel and provisions Il
laid in before the first snowstorms be-
gin to sweep over the Continental Di-
vide. and there Is little to do until the
sun swings northward and the SHOWS
melt
Building a Hotel Amid Arctic TEN
perature.
Despite the arctic rigors of this re-
gion. however. ESQ men have beer
fight.ng the cold there this white,
completing the fifth of the big hotel.
that are the hating places of tourist.
In this summer playground that be
longs to the people of the Unitet
States. The flrst order prepared on tn
Kitchen ranges OF this new hosiery
which stands on the brink Of the gres
precipice down which roars endlessl.
the mighty cataract Of the Yellowstone
was for nails. Nails big and little. brad