Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-02-22
OADS-GEYSERLAND
CONTINUED from Page u

SOnllnue 1Tom rage ~
groves and grass plots, of crags
and canyons, of hundreds of lakes
that find their outlets to both the
Atlantic and Pacific through eager
rushing streams. To the south are
the Tetons, to the west the Gala
tins, and on the north and east the
lofty Absarokas and Beartooths.
Most of these mountainous areas
are heavily clothed with coniferous
trees, and millions of acres have
been set aside as National Forest
lands.
Thus, the Yellowstone would
seem almost inaccessible. But for
Mother Nature, it would be. Wa
tiers from its hot springs, geysers
and glaciers form into four we'll
defined rivers which, through the
ages, have eroded deep canyons
through these mountain barriers.
The Shoshone flows eastward, and
along this river the famous Cody
Road has been built. The Snake
flows down through the Jackson
Hole country, making a south en-
trance possible. To the west, the
Madison drains its largest geyser
basins, and makes ingress easy
from that direction. The Yellow
stone, after tumbling in cascade
form more than 800 feet from the
lake of that name, has cut its way
north through canyons more than
LOCO feet deep. Along this river
trails an excellent paved highway,
in fact, all four entrances are ex-
cellent highways-ninety per cent
up to Bureau of Public Roads
standards.
But public opinion demands
more, and so another M is being
built-the Red Lodge-Cooke City
Highway which traverses a noun
famous region, wild beyond des-
cription. Except for three "dude"
ranches that operate in summer
only, it passes no human habita-
ton. It will be sixty-eight miles
long, and will cost over two mil
lion dollars. Starting from Red
Lodge, Montana-about 5000 feet
altitude-it follows a mountain
stream for fifteen miles to an ele-
walton of about 1000 feet.
The topography here necessitat-
ed leaving the stream and climb
ing a very steep mountain 5000
feet high, to a plateau over the
state line into Wyoming, where
the road reaches an altitude of TO-
900 feet. Mr.. H. E. Mitchell, resi-
dent engineer for the Bureau of
Public Roads, and his co-workers
spent many months in negotiating
surveys, the final one being well
within Federal aid specifications
both as to gradient and to curva-
ture.
This twenty-six mile section.
which is being constructed by
Morrison Knudsen Company OF
Boise, Idaho, involves building
twelve miles of serpentine switch
back highway to advance a little
more than one mile as the crow
would fly.
Beyond, the survey traverses a
plateau gradually reaching an al
titude of about $4,000 feet-where
summer never comes. 1t crosses
great boulder fields, and for a dis
lance of over a mile it skirts an
almost perfect bowl-like depres-
sion, more than two miles in diam
eter and over 1000 feet deep, ere
ated by a prehistoric glacier.
Within this big 'bowl' nestle more
than twenty lakes, varying in size
from that of a city block to ten
acres. Glaciers cling to the noun
tain sides all around. This is the
crest-cold, weird, awe-inspiring,
unforgettable.
From this stop of the world
the route descends over a glaci-
ated area, where for about three
miles the highway builders had to
blast through solid granite to get
down to a lower plateau. Wind