In the central part of the Stony Mountains is situated the justly famed
Yellowstone National Park, which is truly remarkable for its fine
scenery, its deeply carved and gorgeously colored canyons, and most of
all for its numerous hot springs and spouting geysers. This is the only
geyser region on the continent, and the most extensive of the three now
existing in the world.
The finest scenery of the northern division of the Rocky Mountain belt
lies to the north of the international boundary, and within recent years
has been rendered accessible by the building of the Canadian Pacific
Railroad. It is in this region that the mountains are highest, most
rugged, and clothed most completely with the dark, sombre, evergreen
northern forests. Here, too, high up among the bare serrate mountain
tops, and mostly above the timber-line, are found the largest of the
glaciers in the Rocky Mountain belt. This wonderful region of rugged
mountains, deep and formerly glacier-filled valleys, impetuous rivers,
and dense forests has only recently become known to the world at large.
Vast areas, no doubt as attractive as those about Banff, Lake Louise,
Glacier House, etc., already famous, remain to be discovered and
described.
In the fastnesses of these wild northern Rockies moose, elk, deer, bear,
mountain-sheep, and mountain-goat still abound. The buffalo (bison) is
protected in the Yellowstone National Park, and will probably be
preserved from extinction. A small herd also survives in Canada. The
streams, except those flowing from glaciers, are bright, clear, and
swift, and are well stocked with fish. The trout, represented by several
species, there finds the cool retreats so essential to its life. To the
sportsman and skilled angler the northern Rockies are a paradise.
Among the lofty mountains and in the larger valleys there are many
lakes, more especially in northern Idaho and Montana and in Canada. Many
of these, and particularly those near the heads of the valleys and about
the more lofty peaks, are true rock-basin lakes, worn out by the
grinding of sand-charged glacial ice when the glaciers were far more
extensive than now. The large lakes situated in the trunk portions of
the broad-bottomed valleys are in many instances retained by dams of
glacially deposited detritus and record the changes in the aspect of the
land inherited from the Glacial epoch. These numerous lakes present a
vast variety of scenery, and in many instances reflect from their placid
mirror-like surfaces as beautiful and inspiring pictures of rugged
grandeur as can be found in the world. The natural beauties of the
classical lakes of Switzerland and Italy are rivalled by many of the
charming water bodies of the northern Rockies, which but few men
appreciative of the beauties of nature have ever seen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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