The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and DescriptiveChittenden, Hiram Martin
History
The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive
Chittenden, Hiram Martin
Yellowstone National Park
His war record was a highly honorable one. He entered the army as
private in 1861 and left it as brevet brigadier-general in 1865. His
service was mainly identified with the Eighteenth Indiana, of which he
became colonel. He was in several of the western campaigns, notably in
that of Vicksburg, in which he bore a prominent part. In the last year
of the war he was with Sherman's army, and for a short time after its
close was in command of a military district in southern Georgia. In
1864, he was elected to Congress over the Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees, and
again, in 1866, over the Hon. Solomon W. Claypool. At the expiration
of his second term he was appointed by President Grant,
surveyor-general of Montana, which office he held until his death.
[Illustration: GEN. HENRY DANA WASHBURN.]
It was during his residence in Montana that the famous Yellowstone
Expedition of 1870 took place. His part in that important work is
perhaps the most notable feature of his career. As leader of the
expedition he won the admiration and affection of its members. He was
the first to send to Washington specimens from the geyser formations.
He ardently espoused the project of setting apart this region as a
public park and was on his way to Washington in its interest when his
career was cut short by death. The hardship and exposure of the
expedition had precipitated the catastrophe to which he had long been
tending. He left Helena in November, 1870, and died of consumption at
his home in Clinton, Indiana, January 26, 1871.
General Washburn's name was given to this mountain by a unanimous vote
of the party on the evening of August 28, 1870, as a result of the
following incident related by Mr. Langford:
"Our first Sunday in camp was at Tower Creek. The forest around us was
very dense, and we were somewhat at a loss in deciding what course we
needed to follow in order to reach Yellowstone Lake. We had that day
crossed a _fresh_ Indian trail, a circumstance which admonished us of
the necessity of watchfulness so as to avoid disaster. While we were
resting in camp, General Washburn, without our knowledge, and
unattended, made his way to the mountain, from the summit of which,
overlooking the dense forest which environed us, he saw Yellowstone
Lake, our objective point, and carefully noted its direction from our
camp. This intelligence was most joyfully received by us, for it
relieved our minds of all anxiety concerning our course of travel, and
dispelled the fears of some of our party lest we should become
inextricably involved in that wooded labyrinth."
_White Peaks_ (9,800)--F : 4--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Wild Cat Peak_ (9,800)--T : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Yount Peak_ (Hayden, 11,700; Hague, 12,250)--Not on map.--1878--U. S.
G. S.--Source of the Yellowstone.--Named for an old trapper and guide
of that region.
APPENDIX A.
III.
STREAMS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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