The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-08-25

TIME eastern gateway to the yell
lowstone National Park is
called the Cody entrance, be-
cause at Cody, Wyo., the trav-
eler leaves the train for a ride of 63
miles by automobile to the park boun-
dairy.
Cody was founded many years ago
by the famous scout, the late Col.
William f. Cody, Buffalo Bill" and
is a typical western plains town. 1t
is situated on a bench or shelf above
the Shoshone river and below the ia
BILE land that stretches away toward
the east. 1t is therefore invisible to
the traveller on the roads from Their
mopolis, Basin, Powell, and other
he comes very near the limits of the
town.
Leaving Cody for the trip to yell
lowstone park, the road leads into the
Shoshone gorge, across the Shoshone
river, and thence to the Burlington
station on the plain opposite the town.
From here the road turns southwest
ward through an arid, treeless waste.
The sulphur mill on the east side of
the river stands out prominently a
short distance from Cody.
The wonders of the trip to the park
begin with the entrance to the ShO-
shone canyon, the stupendous gorge
through which the Shoshone river
takes it's course On the right lies
Rattlesnake mountain and on the left
Cedar mountain. The two constituted
a single mountain until the river cut
a deep, narrow cash through its cen
ter of solid rock. The walls of the
canyon are nearly perpendicular, and
yet along the face of Rattlesnake
mountain and on the left Cedar noun
tain. The two constituted q single
mountain until the river cut a deep
narrow cash through it's center Of sol
i'd rock. The walls of the canyon are
nearly perpendicular, and yet along
the face of Rattlesnake mountain the
reclamation service of the department
of the interior blasted from the solid
rock a splendid road eight miles long.
Great Engineering Feat.
In many places the road passes
through tunnels in the granite walls.
This is the road hat is Travelled
through the gorge and out to the park.
The government found it necessary to
construct this road through the appa-
rently inaccessible canyon in order to
provide the neal Of transporting ma
terials to construct the great dam of
the Shoshone reclamation project. At
the upper end of the canyon the Sho-
shone dam itself is reached. This dam
is the second highest in the world, 1923
feet from the lowest foundation to the
top of the parapet, being 4S feet high
er than the Flatiron building in New
York. At its base it is 10S feet thick
up and down stream and only so
feet long. On top it is $50 feet long
and 10 feet thick.
The cost of its construction was
S 1,356,5S5, but the value of the crops
raised by the use of the stored water
in 1916 was $6O1, 900, and only about
one-sixth of the irrigable area was
cropped last year. The irrigation sys-
tenn is being rapidly extended and sew
r thousand acres will be thrown
open to homesteaders during the au-
tumn.
Leaving the dam, the road follows
the shore of the beautiful Shoshone
lake which was formed by closing,
with the great wedge of concrete, the
narrow cash in the rock walls of the
canyon. Scientists state that this lake
occupies the basin of an ancient body
of water which existed thousands of
years ago. Where this lake overlooked
the water gradually wore a passage
way through the solid granite noun
tain, and In the course Of numberless