EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE. WONDERS OF THE YELLOWSTONE. EDITED BY JAMES RICHARDSON. Illustrated With Seventeen Engravings. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG AND COMPANY, 1873. し ARVARD COLLEGE 218022 12éa Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1872, by RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. PREFACE. THIS review of the marvellous features and phenomena of our Grand National Park in the Rocky Mountains begins just without its northern border, at the frontier military post, Fort Ellis. Here on the verge of the Yellowstone Valley is the virtual starting-point of the several expeditions to whose explorations we are indebted for the knowledge we have of the wonders of the Yellowstone Basin, and here, doubtless for many years yet, visitors to this most interesting region will shake hands with the advance guard of civilization before plunging into the wilderness. At present Fort Ellis is to be reached only by a long and wearisome though delightful horseback-ride from the settlements along the upper Missouri, themselves accessible only by a tedious journey across Idaho from the nearest point on the Central Pacific Railroad, in the northern part of Utah. The rapid progress of the Northern Pacific Railroad however promises a speedy removal of these hindrances to the enjoyment of the unequalled scenery of the Grand Park. By the summer of next year (1873) the Road will probably reach the lower Yellowstone Valley in Montana, and the year after, a point directly north of the Park. From this point a stage road will at once be opened to the Lake and the Geyser region for the accommodation of early tourists; and as soon thereafter as expedient a narrow-gauge branch railroad from the Northern Pacific main line is contemplated. By this route it will not be more than an 85 hours' ride from New York or Philadelphia to the point on the Northern Pacific nearest the Park, and the route will lie mainly through an exceedingly pleasant country, having a delightful summer climate and taking in Chicago, St. Paul, the valley of the Upper Mississippi, the Lake and Park region of Western Minnesota, the fertile rolling prairies of Dakota, the superb valley of the Yellowstone, and the mountains of Montana: distance from New York to Chicago, 899 miles; Chicago to St. Paul, 443 miles; St. Paul, via Northern Pacific Railroad, to Fargo, Dakota, at the crossing of the Red River of the North, 205 miles; Fargo to the crossing of the Missouri River, 200 miles; Missouri River to crossing of the Yellowstone, 225 miles; first crossing of the Yellowstone to the point on the main line nearest the Park say 300 miles; total, about 2,272 miles. The immense volume of summer travel which will pour over this road as soon as it is prepared to carry |