"As we were about departing on our homeward trip, we ascended the summit of a neighboring hill and took a final look at Yellowstone Lake. Nestled among the forest-crowned hills which bounded our visions, lay this inland sea, its crystal waves dancing and sparkling in the sunlight as if laughing with joy for their wild freedom. It is a scene of transcendent beauty which has been viewed by but few white men, and we felt glad to have looked upon it before its primeval solitude should be broken by the crowds of pleasure seekers which at no distant day will throng its shores."
[BI] Page 20, Langford’s reprint of the “Valley of the Upper Yellowstone.” See [Appendix E].
Terry Engr. Co.
Gandy.
Fishing Cone.
On the west shore of the lake is an extensive and important hot springs basin. The principal features are the Paint Pots, not inferior to those near the Fountain Hotel; two of the largest and most beautiful quiescent springs in the Park; the Lake Shore Geyser, which plays frequently to a height of about 30 feet; an unnamed geyser of considerable power but of very infrequent action; and the celebrated Fishing Cone where unfortunate trout find catching and cooking painfully near together.
From the west shore of the lake a visit can be advantageously made to Hart Lake and Mount Sheridan. The lake is probably the prettiest in the Park. Near it, on the tributary Witch Creek, is a small but important geyser basin. The principal features are the Deluge, Spike and Rustic geysers, and the Fissure Group of springs. The Rustic Geyser is remarkable in having about it a cordon of logs, evidently placed there by the Indians or white men many years ago. The logs are completely incrusted with the deposits of the springs.
Mt. Sheridan would rank with Mt. Washburn as a popular peak for mountain climbers were it only more accessible. No summit in the Park affords a finer prospect.
From the west shore to the Lake Outlet the tourist may travel either by stage around the border of the lake, or by boat across it. If he does not want to miss one of the notable features of the tour he will not omit the boat ride. In fact, a steamboat ride, at an altitude more than a quarter of a mile greater than that of the summit of Mt. Washington is not an every day diversion. From near the center of the lake the view is surpassingly fine. To the south and south-west the long arms of the lake penetrate the dark forest-crowned hills, which are but stepping stones to the lofty mountains behind them. Far beyond these may again be seen for the third time the familiar peaks of the Tetons. All along the eastern shore stand the serried peaks of the Absaroka Range, the boundary which nature has so well established along the eastern border of the Park. A notable feature of this range is the profile of a human face formed by the superimposed contours of two mountains, one several miles behind the other. The best effect is had from points between Stevenson Island and the Lake Hotel. The face is looking directly upward. A similar profile, noted by the early explorers from the summit of Mt. Washburn, and nearly in the same locality as this, although of course not the same feature, was called by them the “Giant’s Face,” or the “Old Man of the Mountain.”