Hanes, Photo., St. Paul.
Lower Fall of the Yellowstone—from below.
Terry Engr. Co.
Original Sketch. [BN]
[BN] See foot-note, [page 168].
To many visitors the stream far down in the bottom of the cañon is the crowning beauty of the whole scene. It is so distant that its rapid course is diminished to the gentlest movement, and its continuous roar to the subdued murmur of the pine forests. Its winding, hide-and-seek course, its dark surface when the shadows cover it, its bright limpid green under the play of the sunlight, its ever recurring foam-white patches, and particularly its display of life where all around is silent and motionless, make it a thing of entrancing beauty to all who behold it.
It is not strange that this cañon has been a theme for writer, painter, and photographer, from its discovery to the present time. But at first thought it is strange that all attempts to portray its beauties are less satisfactory than those pertaining to any other feature of the Park. The artist Moran acknowledged that “its beautiful tints were beyond the reach of human art;” and General Sherman said of this artist’s celebrated effort: “The painting by Moran in the Capitol is good, but painting and words are unequal to the subject.”