USA > Alaska > The new Eldorado: a summer journey to Alaska > Part 2
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One does not linger in bed when passing through a country famous for its scenery. The experienced traveler has learned that the opening hours of the day are those in which his best and clearest impressions are received. He therefore rises betimes to enjoy the cool, dewy freshness of the morning. Now and again a prairie-owl is seen groping its winged way to shelter from the
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IMMENSE GRAIN-FIELDS.
increasing light. He is sure to see plenty of coy- otes, gray wolves, and graceful antelopes on the rolling prairies, each of these animals exhibit- ing in some special and interesting manner its natural proclivities. The prairie - dog nervously diving into and leaping out of its little prairie mound ; the wolf bravely facing and glaring at the passing train, though careful to keep at a wholesome distance ; and the antelopes in small herds hastening away by graceful bounds over the nearest hills, far too pretty and far too ornamen- tal to shoot, suggesting in form and movements that most picturesque of wild animals, the Tyro- lean chamois.
Minnesota presents to the eye of the traveler a grand and impressive country in the form of roll- ing prairies, diversified by lakes, - of which there are said to be ten thousand in the State, - forests, and inviting valleys, the latter particularly adapted for raising wheat and for dairy farming. Vast fields of ripening cereals are seen stretching for miles on either side of the railroad, without a fence to break their uniformity. This State pos- sesses among other advantages that of a climate particularly dry, invigorating, and healthful. Four hundred miles of our route is through Northern Dakota, where the farming lands are easily tilled, well watered, and wonderfully prolific in crops. The choicest wheat grown in America, known as hard spring wheat, comes from this section, which has been called " the granary of the world." The gigantic scale on which wheat-raising is here con-
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THE NEW ELDORADO.
ducted would seem incredible if faithfully de- scribed to an old-time New England farmer. The improvement which has been made in machin- ery connected with sowing, reaping, harvesting, and threshing grain enables one man to do as much in this western country as a dozen men could accomplish twenty-five or thirty years ago. There are wheat farms here embracing twenty thousand acres each, where economy in labor is of the utmost importance, and where the employees are so numerous as to be kept under semi-military organization. The author has seen the big grain- fields of Russian Poland in their prime, but they are as nothing when compared with those of Northern Dakota, nor are the farming facilities which are generally employed throughout Europe nearly equal to those of this country.
At Bismarck, capital of the State, which is a small but energetic and thriving place, the Missouri River is crossed by a magnificent iron bridge, hung high in air, which cost a million dollars. This is the acme of successful engineering, pass- ing our long, heavy train of cars over a track of gleaming rails from shore to shore without the least perceptible tremor, or the deflection of a single inch. The great waterway which it spans measures at this place fully twenty-eight hundred feet from bank to bank, though it is at this point two thousand miles from its confluence with the Mississippi.
The route we are following soon takes us through what are called the Badlands, a most
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THE BADLANDS.
singular region, where subterranean and surface fires are constantly burning, where trees have become petrified, and where the natural blue clay has been converted into terra cotta. This local- ity, extending for miles and miles, has been called Pyramid Park, on account of its fantastic forms presented in a singular variety of colors, and be- cause of its mounds, domes, pyramids, and rocky towers. These vary as much in height as in form, some measuring ten feet, some two hundred, while all are clad in harlequin costume, black, white, blue, green, and yellow. It is called Badlands in contradistinction to the adjoining country, which is so very fertile, but the district is im- proved as good grazing ground for many thousands of cattle which supply our Atlantic cities with beef. Some of the best breeds of horses furnished to the Eastern States are raised, fed, and brought into marketable condition on these peculiar lands.
This region forms a sort of tangible hint of what we shall experience still farther on our Wonderland journey in the interesting and un- equaled valley of the Yellowstone, where there are abundant evidences of volcanic force and sub- terranean fires, and where Nature is seen in her most erratic mood.
Just as we pass from Dakota into Montana, a short distance beyond the Little Missouri River, a lofty peak called Sentinel Butte is seen, at an elevation of nearly three thousand feet above sea level. The teeming, vigorous young life of the Northwest is manifest all along the route, with
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THE NEW ELDORADO.
its wonderful energy and its almost incredible rate of progress. We were told that in the State which we had just left three thousand miles of railroad had been built and properly equipped before it contained a single town of more than five hundred inhabitants.
In the State of Montana we find a more hilly country than that through which we have so re- cently passed, yet it is well adapted to farming and possesses large areas of excellent grazing land. Indeed, there is scarcely any part of this territory, except the mountain ranges, where the climate is not sufficiently mild for cattle to win- ter out-of-doors. Undoubtedly they will thrive better for being housed at night in the coldest weather here or anywhere, but this is not abso- lutely necessary. No food is required for them except the native bunch grass, which cures itself, and stands as hay until the succeeding spring. Cattle are very fond of and will quickly fatten upon it. Sheep husbandry is also a great and growing interest here. We observe now and again a thrifty flock, tended by a boy-shepherd accompanied by his dog, recalling similar scenes in Tasmania and on the plains of Russia.
Statistics show that there are over two million acres now under cultivation in Montana, and that the territory is also fabulously rich in minerals. The present output of gold, silver, and copper is at the rate of three million dollars per month, and the yield of the mines is steadily on the increase.
As we hasten on our way, looking on one side
13
CLIMBING THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
far down into sombre depths, and on the other at threatening, overhanging bowlders, or backward at the road-bed cut out of the solid rock which forms the cliff, we wonder at the successful auda- city which conceived and built such a difficult highway. We have seen few instances of similar engineering so remarkable as is exhibited at cer- tain points on the Northern Pacific Railroad. Equal difficulties have been overcome on the Zig- zag Railway over the Blue Mountain Range, near Sidney, Australia, and also in Northern India, where the narrow gauge railroad climbs the foot- hills of the Himalayan Range to Darjeeling, about eight thousand feet above the plains of Hindostan, but in neither of these instances is the work so thorough, or on so gigantic a scale, as where the Northern Pacific crosses the Rocky Mountains.
We are quite conscious of being on an up grade, the large engine panting audibly from its extra exertion, and the train moving forward no faster than one could walk. Presently tall, snow-capped peaks come trooping into view, like mounted Bedouins clad in fleecy white, as the small city of Livingston is reached. This locality is about forty-five hundred feet above the sea. The town is situated in a beautiful valley, with nothing to indicate its altitude except the snow- crowned mountains not far away, standing like frigid sentinels. The observant traveler will also notice a certain rarefied condition of the atmos- phere. Here we are about midway between the
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THE NEW ELDORADO.
Great Lakes and the Pacific coast, - between Superior, the largest lake on the globe, and the Pacific, the largest ocean in the world.
Livingston contains three thousand inhabitants, and is a thriving place, the frequent resort of many lovers of the rod and gun, both large and small game being found in abundance hereabouts. Forty miles north of Livingston is Castle Moun- tain mining district, rich in silver ores, and from whose argentiferous soil millions of dollars have been coined and hundreds of enterprising pros- pectors enriched. A branch road is taken at this point which runs directly southward to Cinnabar, a distance of nearly fifty miles, from which place coaches convey the traveler about six miles far- ther to the Wonderland of our continent, - the Yellowstone National Park.
The terminus of the railroad is known by the name of Cinnabar because it is situated at the base of a mountain bearing that title, remarkable for its exposure of vertical strata of three distinct geolog- ical periods. Here is a famous place known as the Devil's Slide, a singular formation caused by the washing out of a vertical stratum of soft material between one of quartzite and another of porphyry. The slide is two thousand feet high, and being of different color from the rest of the rocky mountain side is discernible for many miles away.
We have now reached one of the most remark- able points of our excursion, which demands more than a passing notice, sharing with the great gla- ciers of Alaska the principal interest of the pres- ent journey westward across the continent.
15
THE YELLOWSTONE PARK.
This magnificent territorial reservation is situ- ated in the northwestern part of Wyoming, em- bracing also a narrow strip of southern Montana and southeastern Idaho, lying in the very heart of the Rocky Mountains. It was wisely with- drawn from settlement by an act of Congress in 1872, and is beneficently devoted forever to " the pleasure and enjoyment of the people." It forms a great preserve for wild animals, and a natural museum of marvels free to all. The well con- ceived liberality of this purpose is only commen- surate with the unequaled grandeur of the Park itself, though at the time of passing this law com- paratively little was actually known of the stu- pendous marvels contained within its widespread borders, besides which fresh discoveries of interest are still being made annually.
Of all those who have endeavored to depict this locality, none have been able to convey with the pen an adequate idea of its wild magnificence, or to give a satisfactory description of its acccumu- lated wonders. The eye alone can appreciate its indescribable beauty, majesty, and loveliness.
By the judicious expenditure of public money and the liberal outlay of corporate enterprise in road and bridge building, not to mention other fa- cilities, one can now pretty thoroughly explore the Park in the brief period of a week or ten days. To do this satisfactorily heretofore required thrice this length of time, besides which, camping out was necessary ; but it is no longer so, unless one chooses to play the gypsy. This plan is adopted
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THE NEW ELDORADO.
by a few summer tourists, who take with them a regular camp outfit, depending upon the fish they catch for a considerable portion of their food sup- ply during this out-of-door life.
The Park is under the control of the Secretary of the Interior. A local superintendent lives here, who is assisted by a few game-keepers and gov- ernment police, besides which there is a small gang of laborers constantly at work during the favora- ble season, building roads and bridges, opening vistas here and there, and clearing convenient foot- paths, under the direction of an army engineer. Two companies of United States cavalry make their headquarters in the Park during the summer months, distributed so as to prevent any unlawful acts of visitors. The size of the reservation is sixty-four miles in length by fifty-four in width, thus giving it an area of over three thousand six hundred square miles. Or, to convey perhaps a clearer idea of its extent to the reader's mind, it may be said to be nearly one half the size of the State of Massachusetts. It is a volcanic region of incessant activity, with mountains ranging from eight to twelve thousand feet in height, and embracing a collection of spouting geysers, hot springs, steam holes, petrified forests, cascades, ex- traordinary cañons, and grand waterfalls, such as are unequaled in the known world.
We do not forget the well-known geysers of Ice- land, or the Hot Lake district of New Zealand, with which the traveled visitor finds himself con- trasting the phenomena of the Yellowstone.
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THE HOT SPRINGS TERRACE.
The writer of these pages happened lately to see an article upon our National Park, written by the Earl of Dunraven, in which that gentleman ques- tions whether the singular natural exhibitions here are not exceeded by those of New Zealand. We are familiar with both localities, and shall dismiss such a supposition simply by saying that the hot springs of the British colony referred to are no more to be compared with those of the Yellow- stone Park, than is an artificial Swiss cascade com- parable with Niagara. If Nature has anywhere else shown so wonderful a specimen of her handi- craft, it has not yet been our lot to see it.
All the natural objects best worth visiting in the Park are now accessible by daily stages, which start at convenient hours from the hotel at Mam- moth Hot Springs, making the round of the inter- esting sights ; thus affording the general public every needed facility for examining the strangely attractive vicinity.
Near the hotel is an area of two hundred acres and more, covered here and there with boiling, terrace-building springs, which burst out of slop- ing ground in ceaseless pulsations, at an elevation of about a thousand feet above the Gardiner River near by, into which the main portion of the chem- ically impregnated waters flow. Five hundred feet from the base of the springs the water be- comes cool, tasteless, and perfectly clear to the eye, as refreshing to drink as any water from the purest mountain rill. In ordinary quantities it has no evident medicinal effect, but is thought to
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THE NEW ELDORADO.
be a wholesome tonic, with blood-purifying power. Some springs in the Park, though inviting in ap- pearance, are to be avoided on account of cer- tain objectionable medical properties which they possess. The hot springs adjacent to the hotel issue from many vents and at various elevations, slowly building for themselves terrace after ter- race with circular pools, held in singularly beauti- ful stalactite basins, formed by depositing in thin layers the chemical substances which they contain. Some are infused with the oxide of iron, and pro- duce a coating of delicately tinted red ; others are exquisitely shaded in yellow by an infusion of sulphur ; while some, from like causes, are of a dainty cream color. Upon numerous basins there are seen wavy, frill-like borders of bright green, indicating the presence of arsenic. Here and there the margins of the pools are scalloped and edged with a delicate bead-work, like Oriental pearls, while others are curiously honeycombed, and fret- ted with singular regularity. No artistic hand, however skillful, could equal Nature in these deli- cate and exquisitely developed forms. The grand terrace, viewed as a whole, is like a huge series of stairs or steps, two hundred feet high and five hundred broad, decked with variegated marble, together with white and pink coral. This im- mense calcareous formation might represent a frozen waterfall, or a congealed cascade. The water, in most instances, is at boiling heat as it pours out of the various openings, charged with iron, magnesia, sulphur, alumina, soda, and other
19
THE PARK BY MOONLIGHT.
substances. Every spring has its succession of limpid pools spreading out in all directions, the basins varying in size from ten to forty feet across their openings. When the sun penetrates the half enshrouding mist, and brings out the myriad col- ors of these beautiful terraces, the effect is truly charming ; it is as though a rainbow had been shattered and the pieces strewn broadcast. While thus wreathed in vapors, as the evening ap- proaches and the whole is touched by the rosy tints of the setting sun, the entire façade glows with softest opaline blushes, like a conscious mai- den challenged by ardent admiration. For a mo- ment, as we gaze upon its illumined expanse, it seems like a gorgeous marble ruin half consumed and still ablaze, the fire of which is being extin- guished by an avalanche of snow-clouds. Such a scene cannot be depicted by photography ; it can- not be represented faithfully by the artist's skillful touch in oils, because, like the vivid beauty of a sunset on the ocean, the light and shade are mo- mentarily changing, while the prismatic hues gently dissolve into each other's embrace.
If possible, let the visitor witness the magic of the spot by moonlight. It is then fairy-like in- deed, shrouded in a thin, silvery screen, - " mys- terious veil of brightness made," - like the trans- parent yashmak of an East Indian houri.
CHAPTER II.
Nature in Poetic Moods. - Is there Lurking Danger ? - A Sani- tarium. - The Liberty Cap. - The Giant's Thumb. - Singu- lar Caves. - Falls of the Gardiner River. - In the Saddle. - Grand Canon of the Yellowstone. - Far-Reaching Antiquity. Obsidian Cliffs. - A Road of Glass. - Beaver Lake. - Ani- mal Builders. - Aborigines of the Park. - The Sheep-Eaters. - The Shoshones and other Tribes.
How unapproachable is Nature in her poetic moods ! how opulent in measure ! how subtle in delicacy ! No structure of truest proportions reared by man could equal the beauty of this lovely, parti-colored terrace. It recalled - being of kindred charm - that perfection of Moham- medan architecture the Taj-Mahal at Agra, as seen under the deep blue sky and blazing sun of India. Since the late sweeping destruction by earthquake and volcanic outburst of the similarly formed pink and white terraces in the Hot Lake district of New Zealand, at Tarawera, these of the Yellowstone Park have no longer a known rival. We may therefore congratulate ourselves in possessing a natural formation which is both grand and unique. In the far-away southern country referred to, there were no more symp- toms foretelling the awful convulsion of nature which buried a broad, deep lake, together with an entire valley and native village, beneath lava and
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A SANITARIUM.
volcanic ashes, than there is exhibited in our own reservation at this writing. What signifies it that the Yellowstone Park has probably remained in its present comparatively quiet condition for many, many ages ? The liability to a grand volcanic out- burst at any moment is none the less imminent. History repeats itself. It has ever been the same with all great throes of Nature. Centuries of comparative quiet elapse, and then occurs, with- out any obvious predisposing cause, a great and awful explosion. The catastrophe of Pompeii is familiar to us all, which, in its turn, repeated the story of Herculaneum.
The Mammoth Hot Springs of the Yellowstone Park are not only beautiful in the tangible forms which they present, and the kaleidoscopic combi- nations of color which they produce, though their seeming crystal clearness is indescribable, but they have also remarkable medicinal virtues which en- hance their interest and practical value. It is on this account that the place is gradually becoming a popular sanitarium, drawing patients from long distances at suitable seasons, especially those who suffer from rheumatic affections and skin diseases. Persistent bathing in the waters accomplishes many remarkable cures, if current statements can be credited, and there is ample reason for such a result. The pure air of this altitude must also be of great benefit to invalids generally, but more especially to those suffering from malarial poison and nervous prostration. The chemical proper- ties of each spring are distinctive, most of them
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THE NEW ELDORADO.
having been carefully analyzed, and the invalid is thus enabled to choose the one which is presum- ably best adapted to his special ailment.
Groups of pines, or single trees, find sufficient nutriment in the calcareous deposit to support life, and thus a certain barrenness is robbed of its depressing effect, while the whole is partially framed by densely wooded hills which serve to throw the terraces strongly into the foreground. When we last looked upon the scene the sun was setting amid a canopy of gold and orange hues, as the evening gun of the military encampment in the valley echoed again and again in sonorous tones among the everlasting hills, and died away in the distant gorges of the Yellowstone.
A lady visitor who entered the Park at the same time with the author, on the first day of her arrival placed a pine cone in one of the springs near to the hotel. So rapid is the action of the mineral deposit which is constantly going on that at the close of the eighth day the cone was taken from the spring crystallized, as it were, being en- crusted with a silicious deposit nearly the sixteenth of an inch in thickness. Branches of fern, acorns, and other objects are treated in a similar manner, often producing very charming and peculiar orna- ments which serve as pleasing souvenirs of the traveler's visit.
In sight of the hotel piazza there is a curious and interesting object, built up by a spouting spring long since extinct, and which has been named the Liberty Cap. It is a little on one side
23
THE GIANT'S THUMB.
but yet in front of the terraces, and appears to be composed entirely of carbonate of lime. With a diameter of about fifteen feet at the base, it grad- ually tapers to its apex forty feet from the ground. This prominent formation, though remarkable, is yet no mystery. It was produced by the waters of a spring, probably forced up by hydrostatic pressure, overflowing and precipitating its sedi- ment around the vent, until finally, the cause ceas- ing, the pressure become exhausted and the cone was thus formed. It may have required ages of activity in the spring thus to erect its own mauso- leum, - no one can safely conjecture how long. Still nearer to the terraces is a similar formation called the Giant's Thumb. Both are slowly be- coming disintegrated by atmospheric influences ; we say slowly, since they may still exist, slightly diminished in size, a hundred years hence. There is manifestly a tendency in the springs which are now active in other parts of the neighborhood to build just such tall cylinders of sinter about their vents. Some of the partially formed cones in the vicinity are perfect, as far as they have accumu- lated, while others present a broken appearance, as if shattered by a sudden explosion.
There are several caves in the neighborhood of the terraces daintily ornamented with stalactites of snowy whiteness, where springs which have long since become exhausted were once as active as those which now render this place so interest- ing. From one of these caves there issues a pe- culiar gas, believed to be fatal to animal life. A
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THE NEW ELDORADO.
bird, it is said, flying across the entrance close enough to inhale the vapor will drop lifeless to the ground. We are not prepared to vouch for this, -indeed we very much doubt the guide's story, - but it naturally recalled the Grotto del Cane, near Naples, where it will be remembered the guides are only too ready to sacrifice a dog for such visitors as are cruel enough to permit it, by causing the animal to inhale the poisonous gas which settles to the lower part of the cave so named.
There is another cave not far from the hotel very seldom resorted to, and which appears to have once been the operating sphere of a large geyser, but which is now only a dark hole. Into this one descends by a ladder. It is a weird, uncanny place, requiring torches in order to see after entering its precincts. Aroused by the arti- ficial light, myriads of bats drop from the ceiling, until the place seems alive with them. Now and then in their gyrations one touches the visitor's hand or cheek with its cold, damp body, causing an involuntary shudder. Verily, the Bats' Cave is not an inviting place to visit.
One of the first places which the stranger seeks after enjoying the attractions of the terraces and a few curiosities near to the hotel is the Middle Falls of the Gardiner River, situated three or four miles away in a southerly direction. Here we look down into a broad, dark cañon consider- ably over a thousand feet deep, and whose rough, precipitous sides are nearly five hundred feet
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THE GRAND CAÑON.
apart at the summit, gradually narrowing towards the bottom. The Gardiner River flows through the gorge, having at one place an unbroken fall of a hundred feet; also presenting a mad, roaring, rushing series of cascades of three hundred feet descent. The aspect and general characteristics of this turmoil of waters recalled the famous Falls of Trolhatta, in Sweden. The hoarse music of the waters, rising through the branches of the pines which line the gorge, pierce the ear with a thrilling cadence all their own, while the dark cañon stretches away for many miles in its wild and sombre grandeur. It is well to visit this spot before going to greater distances from the hotel. Impressive as it is sure to prove, there is yet a much superior feature of the Park, of similar character, which remains to be seen. We refer to the Grand Canon of the Yellowstone River, where an immense cataract is formed by the surging waters near the head of the gorge, which here narrows to about one hundred feet. The volume of water is very great at the point where it rushes over a ledge nearly four hundred feet in height, at one bold leap. This is known as the Lower Fall, there being another half a mile · above it, called the Upper Fall, which is one hun- dred and fifty feet high. These falls are more pic- turesque, but less grand than the Lower. They are presented to our view higher up among the green trees, where lovely wild flowers and wav- ing ferns cling to the rocks, and under the inspir- ing rays of the sunlight add to their brightness
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