Wonders of the YellowstoneRichardson, James (Geologist)
History
Wonders of the Yellowstone
Richardson, James (Geologist)
Yellowstone National Park
the form of huge sharks' teeth. To the southward, for fifty miles at
least, nothing but igneous rocks can be seen. Toward the Tetons there
is a series of high ridges, passing off from the main Teton Range
toward the northeast, and varying in height from 9,500 to 10,500 feet
above the sea, and from 1,000 to 1,800 feet above the valleys at their
base.
The explorers ascended one of the high ridges, (not the highest,
however,) and found it to be 1,650 feet above the valley at its foot.
The northeast side is steep like a roof, the southwest breaking off
abruptly. From the summit of this ridge, the view is grand in the
extreme. To the westward the entire country, for the distance of fifty
miles, seems to have been thrown up into high, sharp ridges, with
gorges 1,000 to 1,500 feet in depth. Beautiful lakes, grassy meadows
also, come within the field of vision. "I can conceive," says Dr.
Hayden, "of no more wonderful and attractive region for the explorer.
It would not be difficult for the traveller to make his way among these
grand gorges, penetrating every valley, and ascending every mountain
and ridge. The best of grass, wood, water and game are abundant to
supply the wants of himself and animals.
"I think," he continues, "that numerous passes could be found from the
valley of Snake River to the basin of the Yellowstone. It seems to me
there are many points on the south rim of the basin where a road could
be made with ease into the valley of Snake River. From this ridge there
appears to be but little difference in the altitude of Yellowstone
Lake and Heart Lake, and they cannot be more than eight or ten miles
apart, and yet the latter is one of the sources of Snake River. The
little branches of Snake River nearly interlace with some streams that
flow into the lake, and the gullies come up within two miles of the
shore-line. There is a very narrow dividing ridge in one place, between
the drainage, which may be within one mile of the lake."
Heart Lake was visited by Colonel Barlow, who found it a pretty,
pear-shaped sheet of water, four miles long and two wide in its
broadest part. From the north it receives a warm creek fed by a
considerable group of hot springs. Its outlet at the southern end joins
the terminal creek of Snake River, a few miles from its source among
the Yellowstone Mountains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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