The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and DescriptiveChittenden, Hiram Martin
History
The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive
Chittenden, Hiram Martin
Yellowstone National Park
The tourist often feels a keen disappointment in passing through the
Park in that he does not see more game, and he not infrequently
expresses positive doubts of its existence. He should remember,
however, that it is the nature of wild game to shun the haunts of man.
If he will remain for some time in the Park and will frequent those
regions remote from the tourists routes he will see game in plenty. In
one important instance he rarely goes away disappointed. Bruin
generally accommodates him. The fine instincts of that intelligent
brute have shown him that it is much easier to get a living from the
refuse about the hotels than to forage for it in the wilds of
parsimonious nature. Nightfall, therefore, always brings him about to
the great delight of the game-seeking tourist. The incidents of each
season to which these bears unwittingly give rise are among the
amusing features of tourist life in that region.
The herbivorous game generally seek the seclusion of the hills in
summer, but the deep snows of winter will not permit them to remain
there. At that season they descend to the valleys, of which the most
important are the Hayden, the Junction, and the Pelican Valleys, and
those about the headwaters of the Snake River. The preservation of
these tracts as a free winter pasturage is absolutely essential to the
perpetuity of game in the Yellowstone Park.
Although an ornithologist, in passing through the Park, would report a
list of native birds so extensive as to lead one to think that they
abound in great numbers, there is really a noticeable absence of the
winged tribes. There are birds, of course, but in numbers, variety,
and beauty not to be compared with those in lower altitudes. The only
varieties that would attract attention from any but specialists are
the larger birds, which are often quite plentiful about the lakes.
There are great numbers of pelicans, gulls, fish-hawks, and cranes,
with now and then a wild swan. Eagles are not uncommon, while hawks,
woodpeckers, and robins are frequently seen. The sharp-tailed or
willow grouse is common, and in the fall of the year astonishing
numbers of wild geese and ducks frequent the marshes. There are many
other varieties, conspicuous mainly for their paucity of numbers.
Piscatorially speaking, the Yellowstone National Park has no rival as
a paradise for the angler. The generous gift of nature and the
admirable work of the United States Fish Commission, supplemented by
the wise protection of the government, leave nothing to be desired by
even the most devout follower of Isaak Walton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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