The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and DescriptiveChittenden, Hiram Martin
History
The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive
Chittenden, Hiram Martin
Yellowstone National Park
"We passed along the bank of a lovely little lakelet, sleeping in
seclusion in the shade of towering evergreens, by which it is
sheltered from the roaring tempests. It is near the divide, and on its
pebbly shore some members of our party unfurled the Stars and Stripes,
and christened it Mary's Lake, in honor of Miss Clark, a young lady
belonging to our party."
This lake appears on Jones' map for the same year as Summit Lake.
Everts is said to have passed it in his wanderings, but there is no
reliable evidence to that effect.
_Mirror Lake_ (8,700)--G: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Obsidian Lake_ (7,650)--E: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Riddle Lake_ (7,950)--N: 8--1872--U. S. G. S.--
"'Lake Riddle' is a fugitive name, which has been located at several
places, but nowhere permanently. It is supposed to have been used
originally to designate the mythical lake, among the mountains,
whence, according to the hunters, water flowed to both oceans. I have
agreed to Mr. Hering's proposal to attach the name to this lake, which
is directly upon the divide at a point where the waters of the two
oceans start so nearly together, and thus to solve the unsolved
'riddle' of the 'two-ocean-water.'"--Bradley.[CP] This was a year
before Captain Jones verified the existence of Two-Ocean-Pass.
[CP] Page 250, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Shoshone Lake_ (7,740)--M-N: 5-6--1872--U. S. G. S.--From Shoshone,
or Snake River, which here finds its source. This lake was first named
De Lacy Lake, after its discoverer. The Washburn Party (1870) appear
to have named it after their leader. In 1871, Doctor Hayden, failing
to identify its location, and believing it to be tributary to the
Madison River, renamed it Madison Lake. It is this name which appears
on the first map of the Park and in the Act of Dedication, where the
west boundary of the Park is described as being "fifteen miles west of
the most western point of Madison Lake." In 1872, when the correct
drainage of the lake was discovered, the name "Madison Lake" was
transferred to its present location (See "Madison Lake"), and its
place supplied by "Shoshone Lake." The Act of Dedication is therefore
misleading, and it is necessary to know that "Madison Lake" of the
Act, is "Shoshone Lake" now, in order to understand the true location
of the west boundary of the Park.
In changing the name from "De Lacy" to "Shoshone," Prof. F. H.
Bradley, of the United States Geological Survey, took occasion to
reflect severely and unjustifiably upon De Lacy's work in mapping the
country.[CQ]
[CQ] Page 24, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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