Parties in Search of Fur
The streams of the Rocky Mountains were thoroughly exploited by the trappers in the twenties and thirties. Notwithstanding the paucity of evidence concerning Yellowstone visitations, it is unreasonable to believe her great rivers were neglected. These phantomlike trapper men went everywhere, saw everything, tarried only long enough to strip furry coverings from the beaver, and vanished. On rare occasion a bit of artifact shows up: an initialed rock or tree, a broken trap or flintlock, a group of steel-cleaved trees, a trapper cabin, a rifle pit or cache.[98] These evidences bear mute testimony that hunters passed through Yellowstone. In 1880, Colonel P. W. Norris discovered an initialed tree one half mile above the Upper Falls. The significant legend, J.O.R. August 19, 1819, had every indication of authenticity.
In 1822, trappers engaged by Andrew Henry and General William H. Ashley entered the Rocky Mountains. Within that decade some of the men had unquestionably visited the Park area. Evidence of one such visit exists in a letter published in the Philadelphia Gazette, September 27, 1827, and reprinted in the Niles Weekly Register (Baltimore) the following week, October 6, 1827. Daniel T. Potts wrote this particular letter at Sweet Lake in the Rocky Mountains on July 8, 1827, and sent it to his brother Robert T. Potts of Philadelphia. This letter, which constitutes the first printed account of Yellowstone phenomena, is now on file in the Yellowstone Park Library at Mammoth. The section of the letter definitely descriptive of the Park area follows:
... the Yellow-stone has a large fresh water lake near its head on the verry [sic] top of the Mountain which is about one hundrid [sic] by fourty [sic] in diameter and as clear as crystal on the south borders of this lake is a number of hot and boiling springs some water and others of most beautiful fine clay and resembles that of a mush pot and throws its particles to the immense height of from twenty to thirty feet in height. The clay is white and pink and water appear fathomless as it appears to be entirely hollow underneath. There is also a number of places where the pure sulphor [sic] is sent forth in abundance one of our men visited one of these whilst taking his recreation at an instan [sic] the earth began a tremendious [sic] trembling and he with dificulty [sic] made his escape when an explosion took place resembling that of thunder. During our stay in that quarter I heard it every day....[99]
Again, it is a matter of written record that Jedediah Smith and his associates “worked the country lying between the sources of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, finally going into winter quarters on the Wind River” in 1829. He was probably the man to whom Superintendent Norris referred:
I have always given much credence to a well-endorsed campfire legend of a mountaineer named Smith, having, prior to the days of Bonneville, written a narrative of his explorations of the Firehole regions, and being killed before its publication.[100]
It was in 1829 when Joseph Meek became separated from his associates of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and wandered for five days in a southerly direction in the area that divides the drainage between the Madison and Gallatin rivers. The factors of time and place are entirely consistent with the report he gave:
Being desirous to learn something about the progress he had made, he ascended a low mountain in the neighborhood of his camp, and behold! the whole country beyond was smoking with vapor from boiling springs, and burning gases issuing from small craters, each of which was emitting a sharp whistling sound.[101]
Meek thought himself reminded of the city of Pittsburgh as he had once seen it on a winter morning. Meek also said that blue flames and molten brimstone issued from certain craters. Of course the brimstone was a slight exaggeration, but he undoubtedly believed it to be true.
There are still other references strongly indicative of the movements of those silent sons of the wilderness in Yellowstone. However, the journal of Warren A. Ferris, an employee of the American Fur Company, positively proves that he observed some of its mysteries. He first heard stories of astonishing marvels from a party of trappers at the rendezvous in 1833. These trappers confirmed other reports that were current, affirming that geysers really were as extensive and remarkable as generally represented. Backed by the united testimony of more than twenty men on the subject, Ferris decided to go there himself for the specific purpose of enjoying such an experience as would be afforded by water volcanoes.
In company with two Pend d’Oreille Indians he journeyed from Camas Creek through the “piny woods” to the Madison River, which he followed to the Upper Geyser Basin, where he camped. During the night of May 19, the thud and resounding of violent thermal action assailed him. Allow him to relate the story:
When I arose in the morning, clouds of vapor seemed like a dense fog to overhang the springs from which frequent reports or explosions of different loudness, constantly assailed our ears. I immediately proceeded to inspect them, and might have exclaimed with the Queen of Sheba, when their full reality of dimensions and novelty burst upon my view, “The half was not told me.”
From the surface of a rocky plain or table, burst forth columns of water, of various dimensions, projected high in the air, accompanied by loud explosions, and sulphurous vapors, which were highly disagreeable to the smell. The rock from which these springs burst forth was calcarious [sic], and probably extends some distance from them beneath the soil. The largest of these wonderful fountains projects a column of boiling water several feet in diameter to the height of more than one hundred and fifty feet—in my opinion; but in declaring that it could not be less than four times that distance in height—accompanied with a tremendous noise. These explosions and discharges occur at intervals of about two hours. After having witnessed three of them, I ventured near enough to put my hand into the water of its basin, but withdrew it instantly, for the heat of the water in this immense cauldron was altogether too great for comfort, and the agitation of the water, the disagreeable effluvium continually exuding, and the hollow unearthly rumbling under the rock on which I stood, so ill accorded with my notions of personal safety, that I retreated back precipitately to a respectful distance. The Indians who were with me were quite appalled, and could not by any means be induced to approach them. They seemed astonished at my presumption in advancing up to the large one, and when I safely returned, congratulated me on my “narrow escape.”—They believed them to be supernatural, and supposed them to be the production of the Evil Spirit. One of them remarked that hell, of which he had heard from the whites, must be in that vicinity. The diameter of the basin into which the water of the largest jet principally falls, and from the centre of which, through a hole in the rock of about nine or ten feet in diameter, the water spouts up as above related, may be about thirty feet.—There are many other smaller fountains, that did not throw their waters up so high, but occurred at shorter intervals. In some instances, the volumes were projected obliquely upwards and fell into the neighboring fountains or on the rock or prairie. But their ascent was generally perpendicular, falling in and about their own basins or apertures. These wonderful productions of nature are situated near the centre of a small valley, surrounded by pine covered hills, through which a small fork of the Madison flows. Highly gratified with my visit to these formidable and magnificent fountains, jets, or springs, whichever the reader may please to call them, I set out after dinner to rejoin my companions. Again we crossed the Piny Woods and encamped on the plains of Henry’s Fork.[102]
Ferris not only wrote the foregoing account in his journal, but his sense of its importance impelled him to expand it for publication. He submitted his “Life in the Rocky Mountains” to several papers. Subsequently the narrative appeared in the Literary Messenger of Buffalo, New York, in issues running during the early forties. The scholarly observations of Mr. Ferris were reprinted in The Wasp, a Mormon organ of Nauvoo, Illinois, on August 13, 1842. It was the best article prepared before 1870. Henceforth, the lack of knowledge about Yellowstone must be charged to common indifference and skepticism. The facts had all been well attested but slenderly disseminated.
Foremost among all trapper visitations in point of extent and accuracy were those of Osborne Russell. Between 1835 and 1839 he accompanied three specific Yellowstone expeditions. The first party, which numbered twenty-four, was organized at Fort Hall in June, 1835. Instructions directed them to proceed to Yellowstone Lake and return, hunting and trapping the intervening territory. Their route of travel was northeast to Jackson Hole, thence into the Absarokas. No one in the group had ever entered Yellowstone until July 28, when they descended the mountains into what they called “Secluded Valley.”
The point of ingress was probably the upper Lamar drainage. There they encountered a small band of friendly Snake Indians, rich in pelts which they sold for a “song.” Mr. Russell revealed an unerring instinct of appreciation for the area in his first and subsequent visits. Said he:
We stopped at this place and for my own part I almost wished I could spend the remainder of my days in a place like this, where happiness and contentment seemed to reign in wild, romantic splendor, surrounded by majestic battlements which seemed to support the heavens and shut out all hostile intruders.[103]
W. S. Chapman
Trapper observing Riverside Geyser.
While his impression of security was to prove incorrect the reaction to grandeur was wholly sustained.
One trapper was lost, and after a futile search they reluctantly crossed the Yellowstone River. Their next camp was in Gardner Hole, named for trapper Johnson Gardner, formerly an Ashley employee, who had worked the area several years before. Russell’s party then crossed the Gallatins and joined Jim Bridger’s company in making a stand against the marauding Blackfeet.
The next season found Russell attached to Bridger’s party and again on his way to Wonderland. They entered from the southeast along Yellowstone River. By mid-August they reached the lake. Two weeks were spent in trapping the lake and Gardner Hole streams. Russell again expressed his unqualified partiality for this region.
Mr. Russell’s final and most significant visit occurred during July and August of 1839. Upon this occasion there were only four in the party. They entered the Park by way of Snake River, passed the lakes now called Lewis and Shoshone, and visited the geyser basins. The white formations reminded the trappers of some ancient cities’ ruins. Mr. Russell’s description of Grand Prismatic Spring is satisfactory as of today. From the Firehole Basin they circled the Park clockwise and came to rest on Pelican Creek, near Yellowstone Lake’s outlet. The date was August 28, 1839; the time of day, 4:00 P.M. Russell had taken a swim in the lake; White was sleeping; the Canadian and Elbridge were hunting elk. In these circumstances a large band of Blackfeet made a surprise attack. Russell and White were both wounded but managed to escape. The next day they were joined by the Canadian. Together, and on foot, the three trappers wound a tortuous course to the Thumb of Lake, and thence south to Jackson Lake. After many harrowing experiences and much discomfort they reached Fort Hall on September 6. A week later Elbridge also reached the fort, and in a short time they were all ready for new adventure.
Another party of forty men went through almost the identical experience in 1839. They entered the area via the Snake River, crossed the Divide, and trapped the upper Yellowstone to the lake. Near its outlet they fought Piegan Indians and lost five men, with the same number wounded.[104] Yellowstone was not a choice trapping ground and the risks involved by reason of remoteness and Indian menace offset the margin of profit.
Upon interrogation relative to Yellowstone, Captain Bonneville said, “You ask me if I know of the thermal springs and geysers. Not personally, but my men knew about them, and called their location the ‘Fire Hole.’”
From these sources it is apparent that many trappers traversed the “crest of the world,” and its secrets were common knowledge among the whole fraternity. The evaluation placed upon these singular experiences would naturally depend upon the judgment of the several hunters. Father DeSmet took the liberty of placing their reactions upon a superstitious basis. He said the region was considered an abode of evil spirits. The eruptions were supposed to result from combat between infernal spirits. This was probably the view of some, but all hunters were not such tyros in natural science. Indeed, it is quite reasonable to suppose that at least a few were first-rate naturalists. However, some of them were killed in the wilderness; others withdrew to other fields of interest; and none of them envisioned any lively public concern over scenery. A few had gone to the trouble of recording and relating their experiences only to be laughed to scorn or made the butt of jokesters. Why should honest men like Colter, Meek, and Ferris go out of their way simply to be dubbed outlandish prevaricators? Of course, the answer is found in the fact that as a class they deliberately brought such a reputation upon themselves. Take the case of Joe Meek. Upon one occasion his party was floundering about in the Gallatin Valley. Meek suggested that their bewilderment might be lessened by climbing a high peak and getting their bearings. No one would accompany him so he went alone. When he returned there was considerable interest in his experience. Naturally his ego expanded; he took on a knowing air. He erroneously contended that he could see the Yellowstone, Missouri, and Snake rivers from the lofty height. Later, the brigade leader sent Moses “Black” Harris to another high point to reconnoiter. When he returned the men pressed him for information, and, not to be outdone, he declared that he saw “the city of St. Louis, and one fellow drinking a beer.”[105]
Therefore, two conditions combined to withhold the knowledge of Yellowstone wonders from the world. The men who knew of her marvels were seldom equipped to describe or interpret them, and the public was in no better state to accept them. Hence, this trapper lore was barren of result, locked up as it was in the minds of generally illiterate men. It all but perished with them and had no definite bearing upon the final and conclusive discovery. For more than a generation the tales of trappers were bandied around on the lips of indifferent mountaineers. In this rough dress the wonders of Yellowstone were either received with uncivil incredulity or as a joke to be indulgently humored.
Conclusive evidence of the trappers’ discovery and exploration of Yellowstone has been adduced. The fur traders were well acquainted with every portion of it, but their knowledge passed with them. Only a tradition persisted. In 1860 the elements of this tradition came within a rifle shot of conversion to truth. During the latter fifties the United States government had a corps of Topographical Engineers in the upper Missouri country. Only a double assignment to Captain W. F. Raynolds saved the Park from official discovery in June, 1860. He was directed to explore the country from which the headwaters of the Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Madison rivers originated. He was also told to be on hand north of the Canadian border on July 18 to observe the eclipse of the sun.
The expedition traversed the Wind River Valley, crossed Union Pass, and turned north. From a position nearly opposite Two Ocean Pass the party attempted to knife its way through the Absaroka Mountains, but it was June, and the defiles were choked with snow. Guide Jim Bridger pleaded with them to swing south and enter the plateau from Snake River. He told them they couldn’t get through, that even a “bird wouldn’t fly over there without takin’ a supply of grub along.” But the time was short, and Captain Raynolds reluctantly turned away from the prospect of verifying “marvelous tales of burning plains, immense lakes and boiling springs,” to witness the certain obliteration of Old Sol. It was a lucky choice for the future of Yellowstone because discovery in 1860 could hardly have been so propitious as it was a decade later.