The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and DescriptiveChittenden, Hiram Martin
History
The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive
Chittenden, Hiram Martin
Yellowstone National Park
From the west shore of the lake a visit can be advantageously made to
_Hart Lake_ and _Mount Sheridan_. The lake is probably the prettiest
in the Park. Near it, on the tributary _Witch Creek_, is a small but
important geyser basin. The principal features are the _Deluge_,
_Spike_ and _Rustic_ geysers, and the _Fissure Group_ of springs. The
Rustic Geyser is remarkable in having about it a cordon of logs,
evidently placed there by the Indians or white men many years ago. The
logs are completely incrusted with the deposits of the springs.
Mt. Sheridan would rank with Mt. Washburn as a popular peak for
mountain climbers were it only more accessible. No summit in the Park
affords a finer prospect.
From the west shore to the Lake Outlet the tourist may travel either
by stage around the border of the lake, or by boat across it. If he
does not want to miss one of the notable features of the tour he will
not omit the boat ride. In fact, a steamboat ride, at an altitude more
than a quarter of a mile greater than that of the summit of Mt.
Washington is not an every day diversion. From near the center of the
lake the view is surpassingly fine. To the south and south-west the
long arms of the lake penetrate the dark forest-crowned hills, which
are but stepping stones to the lofty mountains behind them. Far beyond
these may again be seen for the third time the familiar peaks of the
Tetons. All along the eastern shore stand the serried peaks of the
Absaroka Range, the boundary which nature has so well established
along the eastern border of the Park. A notable feature of this range
is the profile of a human face formed by the superimposed contours of
two mountains, one several miles behind the other. The best effect is
had from points between _Stevenson Island_ and the _Lake Hotel_. The
face is looking directly upward. A similar profile, noted by the
early explorers from the summit of Mt. Washburn, and nearly in the
same locality as this, although of course not the same feature, was
called by them the "Giant's Face," or the "Old Man of the Mountain."
[Illustration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _Gandy._
Natural Bridge.]
On the north-east shore of the lake are _Steamboat Spring_, and other
thermal phenomena worth visiting. From _Bridge Bay_ at the north-west
of the lake, a trip of a mile will take the tourist to an extremely
interesting freak of nature in the form of a _Natural Bridge_ over a
small tributary of Bridge Creek. The arch is forty-one feet high with
a thirty foot span. As seen from the down stream side it is very
regular and symmetrical.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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