The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-04-15

American peoples In winter This
IL scarcely conceivable. for in summer
10000 visitors now find # 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 ;hat
he had been on 5000 mile sledro
Journey In the frozen north and had
suffered terrible hardships on his trip
into the Yellowstone Park Lieutenant
Schwatka was accompanied by large.
well-organized party. They Travelled
on Norwegian skis ard Canadian web
snowshoes: but the snow was so light
that II would not support them. and
their toboggans were exceedingly dir
cult to draw II took them three DAYS
70 cover twenty miles. Lieutenant
Schwatka. Injured as he was to such
hardships, fell III and was unable to
proceed. He and all the rest OF the
party but four of the sturdieSt men
turned back The photogra pher. e.
Jay Haynes; Edward Wilson govern
ment scout. and two Other ON.
IL took them twenty nine q g
the circuit Of the park. 2Or re
thermometer ranged betwt aud
so degrees below zero most OF a." time.
and the adventure nearly cost them
their lives. o.
Winter Population Of the playground"
The total winter population Of the
park is usually between four and FIVE
hundred people These include three
troops OF cavalry. The cavalry can use
their horses only during the 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,
Q man and his wife The first blizzard
isolates from the world outside every
body Ia this great national domain that
has an area Of S.9l2 square miles No
valley within it's limits has on elevation
Of less than 5000 feet. while many OF
the mountain peaks within and near
the Park rise from 10000 to 1900
feet above sea level Yellowstune Lake.
I5 by 20 miles In size, Is the largest
body Of water In America at that alti-
tu6e. 774t feet above the sea on the
summit Of the range. a 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 Tho Pacific through the Snake
river. 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
rnov eight 10 ten feet deep. All Is Ice
bound except the more than half 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.t
From December 10 March the en-
forced dwellers IN tho Park are nearly
ss mucn 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
tanoes between the places where the
people live are so great and the ways
90 dangerous that few venture forth
Only the Government scouts, whose
duty Il Is 10 look after the wild life In
the Park and see that It Is not molestet
by poAchers. get out AT all. The res
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 he
gin to sweep over the Continental hi
vide. and there is little TO do until th'
sun swings northward and the snow
melt.
suilding a Hotel Amid Arctic Tenn
persture.
Despite the arctic rigors OF this re-
glon however $50 men have beer
nght.ng the cold there this winter
completing the fifth OF the big hotels
that are the halting places OF tourist
Ia this summer playground that be
longs 10 the people OF the Unte'
Htatts The first order prepared on tn
Kitchen ranges OF this new hostelry
which stands on the brink Of the grea
preclpice down which roars endlessE
the mighty cataract OF the Yellowstone
vas for nails. Nails big and little. brad