Glacier County chief., 1939-11-24
Early Days i'm Yellowstone
Recalled by N. P. Surveyor

An account Of the Northern Pa
across Yellowstone park "a line
which was never Constructed
written by s. p. Panton, early day
surveyor for the railroad, was re-
Gently contributed by Mr.. Panton
70 the Billings Gazette. Because of
known aspects Of early Yellow
stone exploration, the account Is
reprinted in full here.
In August. 1888, when the writer
was slowly recovering from a severe
attack Of pneumonia at Billings,
Professor Francis vandeveer Hayden,
head Of the United States geological
tionai park. arrived there With his
close associate. DR.. Peale.
One Of their detectives was to ex-
anime the great coal seam in the Bull
mountains. which, they decided, would
for economic reasons, compel the
Northern Pacific to tap it by branch
line from Billings. That was before
Lodge and Bearcreek; And the branch
was actually surveyed by M. G: Grant
and party as part Of projected line
to Fort Benton.
Professor Hayden was then an in
valid. staying in Headquarters hotel
while DR.. Peale did the scouting. Peale
was an authority on hot springs and
government reports. illustrated by COL
ored plates depicting such phenomena
in America. New Zealand, Iceland, etc.
Supplied Park Data
Having learned that spent six
months Of 1882 surveying railway lines
through the park, Professor Hayden
sent me an invitation to visit him, and
thereafter the three of us fraternized.
Hayden wanted TO know about the
park to which Superintendent Norris
had affixed his name. including Norris
geyser basin, Norris peak, Norris pass,
and so on. This disguised Hayden, who
told me he had never named anything
after himself. and that Hayden valley,
Lord Du Bur anD who toured our the pa *
with Texas Jack in 1872. He described
it in his famous book, 1.-The Great Di-
vide" and 1t was a perusal of that
book that impelled me to Join the
Northern Pacific surveys in April,
1881.
Hayden said that when Sam Lang
h monot and Rs emDee re tnas sey
christened it Mount Hayden" and
that he had then objected, but added:
Now hope the name will stick, be-
cause it is the grandeSt peak on North
America" But 1t didn't.
1t happened that while exploring
for a pass south of upper geyser basin
miles asS South Hs Of d9e od a hE basin vh hG5
there was one large geyser cone with
number Of vents in it. As the bead
work on the cone was not marred
and there were fragments Of silicated
wood around it, we knew it had not
been visited by tourists, and assumed
named it Lone Star geyser" on our
profiles. I told Hayden about it, so he
produced maps of his surveys in 1871
r.. and pointed out the same geyser
named THE Solitary. But our name
remained unchanged, because on the
return from the, south boundary Of the
Haynes. official photographer Of the
Northern Pacific in upper geyser BASIN
We sent man with him to the Lone
Star, and thereafter his ,stereoscopic
views Of it spread over the country
Yellowstone National park" guar sesSef'
Sought Rail Route
In July, 1882. we were trying to find
a feasible line for a railway through
the maze Of hot bogs and springs In
the middle geyser basin. In the Norris
report for 1881 1t was stated that two
ilcI, Scllt llleTe 10 take OBSERVATIONS
in October. 1881. found the great Ex-
celsior hot springs in. eruption at If
regular intervals, projecting vast VOL
umes Of water to heights Of 100 to 800
feet and greatly increasing the flow
there. there was no eruption, but a
mound Of boiling water In the center
met tourists in the upper basin who
told US that Excelsior was then hav-
As. we were to move camp next day
TO- the confluence Of Firehole and
Gibbon rivers. to start a line through
Madison canyon. over the mountains
70 the West Gallatin river. and down
that stream to Bozeman, I tramped
10 miles to the Excelsior after break
last. and spent several hours watch
ing its amazing performances until
our party came along on the way to
our new camp site.
From there We surveyed 4 line
through Madison canyon, across 4
fsirly level country 70 the north fork
Of the Madison, over the range 10 ~
West oallatin. and bad pFoossdsd