The western portion of the dotted line on the Map of 1814 is purely fictitious and encompasses an area far beyond that occupied by Yellowstone Park. Indeed, this part of Colter’s route winds among a labyrinth of geographical unreality.[356] Therefore, Colter’s route, as represented by the western loop of the dotted line, is likewise invalid. Here, then, is the problem of Colter’s discovery: How could the map of his exploration, which necessarily described a figure eight, be at once so authentic in the east and so fictitious in the west? The Yellowstone area of the Map of 1814 is certainly one of organized confusion, but it does not follow that Colter drew that portion of the map as it appears.
Actual geography and common sense prove that a trapper on foot could not possibly have seen both the Arkansas and Platte rivers. Just as surely, geography and common sense attest that in traveling a normal western loop of the figure eight he would have seen precisely what the map does not depict, namely: Upper Yellowstone River, Snake River, Yellowstone Lake, and the thermal areas at Thumb of Lake and near Hayden Valley.
Thus, by elimination, an obvious conclusion evolves, namely that the western loop is not as Colter drew it. Instead of actuality, there is fiction; nothing in this part of the map conforms to reality. That geography only exists upon the Map of 1814. John Colter died in 1813 so he never even saw the route as depicted, to say nothing of traveling along it.
J. N. Barry
Western section of Colter’s route.
A true sketch of the Yellowstone Park area.
Fictitious geography depicted on the map of 1814. Note the complete incongruity between the real map and the guess map.
The failure of writers to recognize the fictitious character of this portion of the Map of 1814 has led to a comical performance. They have assigned to Colter the role of a human helicopter who hopped over mountains and valleys visiting the drainage basins of all the river systems within a radius of five hundred miles of the Yep-pe Indian village. First they trail him on Teton River, Big Sandy, Gros Ventre, and Greybull. Then they track him over South Pass, Teton Pass, and Union and Twogwotee passes. These authors have never trudged the wilds of which they write nor even measured them on a real map. Where, then, did Colter travel? The answer to that problem largely depends upon a rational interpretation of that fantastic map sheet. Perhaps an investigation of the process by which the map was produced will offer a clue.
As stated before, Clark sent map materials to Biddle, who in turn passed them on to Samuel Lewis, a professional cartographer, to be worked into a map of the Trans-Mississippi West. This was a very difficult assignment because the sheets were of various scales, which necessitated overlapping, crowding, and uncertainty as to latitudes and longitudes.[357] The manner in which Lewis fitted them into a mosaic represents a remarkable work of art. Deficiencies are largely attributable to the inadequate data received, but in the case of Colter’s journey another element is involved.