To the north of the Union Pacific Railroad there are several important mountain groups, termed collectively the Stony Mountains by Lewis and Clark in the report of their bold explorations across the continent in 1804, but not generally used since that time. This name has recently been revived by J. W. Powell as a convenient term by which to designate this large division of the Rocky Mountain belt, but unfortunately is not recognised and has no significance to the north of the international boundary. What the natural limitations of the Stony Mountains may be in Canada remains to be determined.
The Stony Mountain system includes the Big Horn Mountains in north-central Wyoming, the sharp and lofty
Teton Range to the south of the Yellowstone National Park, and several other rugged uplifts of great extent in Montana and Idaho, and should the name be extended to the north of the international boundary until a natural limit is reached, it will include the Rocky Mountains of Canadian geographers (the most eastern of the great uplifts constituting the Rocky Mountain belt), together with the several ranges of the Gold Mountains. These several mountain ranges and groups of ranges appear to have diverse geological structure, but their histories are by no means thoroughly understood. Some of them, as stated by Powell, are carved out of broad folds, and involve both originally deeply seated igneous and metamorphic rocks and upturned and folded sedimentary beds; while others are due to movements along lines of fracture and in part of overthrust.
The Stony Mountains form a portion of the continental divide which parts the waters flowing to the Pacific from those that find their way to the Atlantic. The thousands of streams tributary to the Missouri head against the equally numerous fountains supplying the westward-flowing Columbia. The broad valleys between the several ranges have a general elevation of between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, and the bold, massive mountains rise from 10,000 to over 13,000 feet above the sea. Owing to the considerable elevation even of the valleys, and the northern position of the region here considered, as well as its distance from the equalizing influence of the sea, the extremes of climate are strongly marked. The summer season is comparatively short, and in the valleys the heat is intense (ranging from 90° to 112° F.) and the rainfall small or none at all, while the winter season is cold (temperatures of from -15° to -30° F. being frequent) and accompanied by an abundant snowfall, especially on the mountains. Agriculture, although carried on in the valleys, is of comparatively small importance, and is usually dependent on irrigation. The mountains are snow-covered through much of the year, and small glaciers occur about the lofty summits of the Teton Range and on the mountains near the international boundary and in Canada. The valleys are generally destitute of trees except
along the streams, where white-trunked cottonwoods spread their green leaves in summer and become a tracery of golden yellow in the autumn, marking the courses of the life-giving waters. The lower mountain slopes are covered with dark forests of pine, spruce, and juniper, which increase in density and extent as one follows the ranges northward until the influence of the high northern latitude is felt, and in northern Canada the zone of the subarctic forest is reached.
In the central part of the Stony Mountains is situated the justly famed Yellowstone National Park, which is truly remarkable for its fine scenery, its deeply carved and gorgeously colored cañons, and most of all for its numerous hot springs and spouting geysers. This is the only geyser region on the continent, and the most extensive of the three now existing in the world.
The finest scenery of the northern division of the Rocky Mountain belt lies to the north of the international boundary, and within recent years has been rendered accessible by the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It is in this region that the mountains are highest, most rugged, and clothed most completely with the dark, sombre, evergreen northern forests. Here, too, high up among the bare serrate mountain tops, and mostly above the timber-line, are found the largest of the glaciers in the Rocky Mountain belt. This wonderful region of rugged mountains, deep and formerly glacier-filled valleys, impetuous rivers, and dense forests has only recently become known to the world at large. Vast areas, no doubt as attractive as those about Banff, Lake Louise, Glacier House, etc., already famous, remain to be discovered and described.
In the fastnesses of these wild northern Rockies moose, elk, deer, bear, mountain-sheep, and mountain-goat still abound. The buffalo (bison) is protected in the Yellowstone National Park, and will probably be preserved from extinction. A small herd also survives in Canada. The streams, except those flowing from glaciers, are bright, clear, and swift, and are well stocked with fish. The trout, represented by several species, there finds the cool retreats so essential to its life. To the sportsman and
skilled angler the northern Rockies are a paradise. Among the lofty mountains and in the larger valleys there are many lakes, more especially in northern Idaho and Montana and in Canada. Many of these, and particularly those near the heads of the valleys and about the more lofty peaks, are true rock-basin lakes, worn out by the grinding of sand-charged glacial ice when the glaciers were far more extensive than now. The large lakes situated in the trunk portions of the broad-bottomed valleys are in many instances retained by dams of glacially deposited detritus and record the changes in the aspect of the land inherited from the Glacial epoch. These numerous lakes present a vast variety of scenery, and in many instances reflect from their placid mirror-like surfaces as beautiful and inspiring pictures of rugged grandeur as can be found in the world. The natural beauties of the classical lakes of Switzerland and Italy are rivalled by many of the charming water bodies of the northern Rockies, which but few men appreciative of the beauties of nature have ever seen.
To the south of the Laramie plateau the mountains of the Rocky Mountain system are more irregular and more lofty than those to the north of that break. The many rugged ranges in southern Wyoming, Colorado, and northern New Mexico form a great group, to which the name Park Mountains has been applied by J. W. Powell. The several ranges composing this group have a general north and south trend, to which, however, an exception is furnished by the Uintah Mountains in southwestern Wyoming and eastern Utah, which consists of a deeply dissected east and west fold or broadly uplifted plateau. Intervening between several of the adjacent ranges there are wide, nearly flat-bottomed valleys, which owe their leading characteristics to the deep filling of depressions by débris carried from the bordering mountains by the wind and streams. These broad valleys surrounded by rugged peaks are known as parks, and the numerous ranges among which they are situated are hence designated the Park Mountains. The term by which the valleys are known is in some respects misleading, as the word park usually carries the idea of a diversified