YELLOWSTONE Early History of Yellowstone National Park and Its Relation to National Park Policies

To the Editor of the Herald:

In the afternoon of Monday, August 29, we pitched camp in a beautiful, grassy, upland opening near a small, cold, clear creek and plenty of timber in scattered groves. It was an inviting spot to toll-worn tourists. The signs of game were plenty and recent, and those who had hankered for bears had promise of a heart full of satisfaction. I may add that none were brought into our camp to my knowledge.

After supper, General Washburn, Lieutenant Doane, and myself started out in the supposed direction of the river, keeping down the source of the creek. We found the timber growing thicker as we proceeded and the grassy openings fewer and smaller, till finally they entirely disappeared. While thus toiling through dense timber we came suddenly upon a basin of hot, boiling, sulphur springs, which to us at that time seemed wonderful beyond conception. These springs—not counting the smaller ones—were four in number, differing considerably in character. The westernmost spring was the largest, with an oval-shaped basin 20 by 40 feet in diameter. Its greenish-yellow water was hot and bubbles of steam or gas were constantly rising from various parts of its surface. This spring, with two others, were situated in about an east and west line, and at the upper side of the basin which opened south toward the creek. The central one of these three was the largest of all, and was in constant, violent agitation, like a seething caldron over a fiery furnace. The water was often thrown higher than our heads, and fearful volumes of stifling, sulphurous vapors were constantly escaping. The water was of a dark lead color and intensely hot. As near as I now recollect, the basin of this spring was about 30 feet in diameter. There was very little water flowing away from it and very little deposit from its overflowings were visible. It had no such mound as many that we saw subsequently nor was its margin of such solid material. The easternmost and uppermost spring was not as large in its crater as its near neighbor, but was more infernal to look at and suggested the name that we attached to the springs. Hecate, with all her weird band, could never have brewed a more devilish-looking dish, to say nothing about the contents. The substance was not as thick as mud, but rather beyond the consistency of soup, and was in constant, noisy ebullition, emitting fumes of villainous smell. The margin was not safe for close approach, but I ventured near enough to thrust a pine sapling into the substance of this infernal kettle, and pulling it out found it covered about one-fourth of an inch thick with a lead colored, sulphury slime. Nothing flows away in liquid form from this spring. It seems to be boiling down, and will doubtless become thick as pudding, like so many that we afterwards saw. In earlier ages fancy would have peopled the vicinity with grimy ghosts and demons dire, trooping in the triple darkness of storm, shade, and night to hold unhallowed carnival about such an infernal looking smelling, and sounding place, bowl, and contents. But science has so demoralized fancy that it will probably succeed poorly in peopling Hell-broth Springs.

We simply become conscious in the presence of these seething craters that volcanic forces and fires were not yet extinct and might again burst forth in earthquaking and mountain heaving might and majesty.

The fourth spring of this group is farther down toward the creek, in the southeast corner of the basin, and about 10 feet in diameter. The water was of a cloudy, yellowish color, but nearer clear than any of the group. This spring was partly covered by an overreaching ledge of rock. The agitation of the waters was violent, and large quantities overflowed and were running away through an opening in the lower side of the basin. We rolled large rocks into this fiend at the bottom, and lead to still greater agitation in the waters. We tried to sound its depths with the longest pole we could find, but the bottom was beyond our reach. Doubtless the sources of this heat, if not of the water, are the great internal fires in the innermost bowels of the earth.

So secluded is this cluster of springs that it would be impossible to suppose it to have ever been seen before by any white man, and it appeared to us that the merest chance directed our steps thither.

How many similar basins are hidden away among the vast forests that cover this region we can best conceive who have seen scores of them without turning much from our direct course.

After weeks of continual new discoveries, becoming more and more wonderful till wonder itself became paralyzed, I am satisfied that we saw but a fraction of the strange sights the country contains. As the first geyser that we saw, and the dark, dismal, diabolical aspect of the whole group, it made more of an impression upon us than if seen later on our course.

The setting sun drove us to return without finding the river, and the next day, after the rest of the party had paid a visit to Hell-broth Springs, we pushed on through the most open portions of the country and with great good fortune found ourselves in the vicinity of the Great Falls of the Yellowstone.

Yours truly,

CORNELIUS HEDGES.

HELENA, October 19, 1870.
(Helena (Mont.) Daily Herald, October 19, 1870.)