The Carbon County chronicle. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1924, 1924-08-27
THEY SCOFFED IN.
SOS WHEN TOLD OF.
THE YELLOWSTONE.
CHARLES w. COOK SAYS PEOPLE
REFUSED TO BELIEVE STORY
OF WONDERS DISCOVERED
Member of First Exploration Party
Recalls Experiences Encountered
On PeriIous Expedition Into The
WiIds of Upper Yellowstone.

Surrender % years ago to the
urgings OF wandering foot and
desire TO locate the headwaters
of the Yellowstone river today dis
tinguishes G. w. Cook, of White
Sulphur Springs, as member of
the first party which explored the
interior of what is now Yellowstone
park. Too, it permits him TO COM
pare that great playground of the
present, preserved under federal
jurisdiction and its wonders viewed
annually by scores OF thousands of
tourists, with the mythical region
of which metropolitan newspapers
would not, in 1860, publish an ac-
count because they regarded the
descriptions as the imaginings of
some for1orn soul who had been
made irresponsible by the great SOL
itudes.
In 1868 Mr.. Cook, then manager
of ditch company at Diamond City,
met a miner who had seen the falls
of the Yellowstone. Vague rumors
were in circulation of amazing sights
witnessed by the few white men who
had passed through the upper Yell
lowstone country. Few believed them.
Usually the reports we're regarded
as an ancient tale, told perhaps to
test the credulity of the occasional
pilgrim who found his way across
the great plains or the Great Ameri
can desert. Mr.. Cook whetted his
inclinations as an explorer on the
miners account of the giant falls
and the rumors which persisted in
making the rounds of the vests
then few settlements. He told the
story of the first exploring expedi-
in Great Falls recently as a dele
gate to the sessions of the Masonic
grand lodge.
Il guess that when | was young
man | always wanted to go where
nobody else had BEEN" said Mr.. Cook
whose erect figure and brisk step
would do credit to a man of half his
80 odd years. II wanted to go with
Stanley when he started to explore
the interior of Africa, but there were
too many applications ahead of mine.
There was not remote region in
the world that / had not wanted to
oCc anu NASu tuio opportunity NdluS,
in my early twenties, to tramp
through region from which so many
fantastic tales had come that / de-
cided that for once I would crafty
the wanderlust that kept tugging
at my feet.
Start Following Year
THE season was too far advanced
n oil hn c4u rt rf 4 70 xxftfh
my miner acquaintance in 1868, but
the next yeer, with d. E. Folsom, a
civil engineer, and William Peterson,
a miner i started for the country
from which so many wierd accounts
had come. We had two objectives-
to discover the origin OF the Yellow
stone river and to make thorough
exploration of what is now Yellow
stone park. We spent five weeks in
the region that was few years
later set aside as national park and
have never heard disputed our
belief that we were the first to make
systematic and thorough explora-
ton of the upper Yellowstone country
1t is conclusively established that
we were the first white men to see
many portions of the park and there
can be no doubt that we discovered
a large number of the natural won
ders of the region. For the first
time I satisfied my desire to be
where nobody else had been. 1t was
fascinating to know that we had Wis
uai evidence of the marvels about
which so many yarns had been spun.
Jim Bridger, famed frontiersman, had
told Folsom that he had been in this
country and ha d found a mountain
of glass through which he attempt
ed to shoot deer without knowing
of the intervening obstruction. This
was one of the wild tales that had
been circulated, but there were
enough genuine wonders to see with
out missing any of the myths that
had figured in rumors.
II did not see the park again I'M
til three years ago, when the 50th
anniversary of the creation OF the
park was celebrated. Because / had
been a member of the party which
explored the region in 1869, the man
agement saw to 1t that / revisited all
the country we had seen half CEN
fury before. Most of the locations