It was these articulate reports of Folsom, Cook, and Peterson that electrified the natural interest of Helena’s intellectual leadership. Thereafter, Langford and his associates were burning to effect a grand expedition and achieve conclusive results. General Phil Sheridan gave the project his blessing and the assurance of a military escort.
A congenial personnel was sifted out, consisting of Hon. Nathaniel P. Langford, Hon. Cornelius Hedges, Hon. Truman C. Everts, Hon. Samuel T. Hauser, Walter Trumbull, Benjamin Stickney, Jr., Warren C. Gillette, and Jacob Smith. James Stuart was selected as leader, but he was deprived of that privilege by jury service. Thereupon, Surveyor General Henry D. Washburn was given the honor of taking command. He was a worthy leader, having achieved the rank of Major General in the Civil War. He had also served two terms in Congress. Altogether it was a hand-picked company. The men were uniformly young and energetic, with the exception of Everts who was fifty-four. Several of them had served as Vigilantes. Indeed, they were men of intelligence, action, and high integrity. With one exception the men were serious-minded and mature. They early sensed the hazards of the endeavor and struggled manfully to reduce them to a minimum.
Elaborate preparations were made in point of equipment and provisions. Two packers, Reynolds and Bean, and two colored cooks were employed, and the whole enterprise, although private, took on a semiscientific, quasi-military character from the start. Washburn possessed a copy of the Folsom-Cook diary and a map made by Walter W. DeLacy.[123] In addition, he had numerous conversations with these men, and he was, therefore, the beneficiary of their experience. They left Helena on August 17, 1870. Four days later they were at Fort Ellis. Here they listened to the post order detailing Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane, one sergeant, and four privates “to escort the Surveyor-General of Montana to the falls and lakes of the Yellowstone and return....” The soldiers in the party were Sergeant William Baker and Privates John Williamson, George W. McConnell, William Leipler, and Charles Moore.
There was no allusion to thermal phenomena or any exotic features whatsoever. Judge Hedges subsequently characterized the general temper of the explorers in respect to those particulars:
I think a more confirmed set of skeptics never went out into the wilderness than those who composed our party, and never was a party more completely surprised and captivated with the wonders of nature.[124]
The complete expedition now comprehended nineteen men, thirty-five horses and mules, and adequate supplies for a month’s journey. Leaving Fort Ellis, they ascended the Yellowstone River to its junction with the Gardner. This brought them within five miles of the Mammoth Hot Springs, but ignorance of the fact precluded their visitation. Instead, they crossed over the plateau and reached Tower Creek where they camped on August 27. All members were delighted with the hot springs and fumaroles in that area.
Around the campfire they evolved a name-giving policy and enjoyed great sport incident to its first application. They adopted a self-sacrificing resolution. Natural features should not be given the names of the present personnel or their relatives and friends. Instead, all wonders must bear the most appropriate cognomens possible. This was a noble gesture, and while it was not strictly observed one wishes that their demonic impressions might have been less vivid. Here was the Devil’s Slide; there, Hellbroth Springs; yonder, Brimstone; now, Devil’s Hoof, Den, Kitchen, and Ink Well; again, Hells Half Acre and Hell Roaring Mountain. Surely their concepts of Christian theology rendered them acutely conscious of the attributes and environment of His Satanic Majesty.
The first controversy arose over naming the falls. “What shall we name these sentinel-guarded falls?” “Minaret is the proper name,” said young Trumbull. “What’s a minaret?” queried Jake Smith. Trumbull gave a classical description of Moslem architecture and drew his analogy to this similitude. Sam Hauser objected on the ground that the name was not “fitten” in western America where there weren’t any mosques. Hence, he proposed the more expressive name “Tower.” The council deliberated, expanded, and talked big. Minaret was the most significant, had a deeper meaning, more symbolical. Therefore, General Washburn christened them “Minaret Falls.”[125]
But Sam Hauser was a politician; he later became governor of Montana. During the night he confidentially circulated the rumor that Walter Trumbull had a girl friend by the name of Minnie Rhett. Trumbull denied the statement, said it was a canard, a roarback, a plain lie! However, the seed of doubt had been sown, and at breakfast Hauser’s point was won. The name was Tower Falls. Later it transpired that the future governor’s girl friend was a Miss Tower! Surely there was genuine political statesmanship in this party, and its genius was clearly manifest before the journey’s end.
The party skirted Mount Washburn on the twenty-ninth and spontaneously named it for their honored leader, because he was the first to climb its summit. Said Washburn, “I saw the canyon and the lake. There are unmistakable columns of steam in the distance. This is a glorious region.” Whereupon the entire party hustled upward, frightening the resentful bighorn en route. Upon reaching the summit silence prevailed while these subdued men paid unconscious tribute to the Powers That Be. Standing there upon a natural observatory, they looked down upon the whole grand panorama, as does yonder eagle. Their vision darted a hundred miles southward, where the Tetons glittered like purple icebergs. Then nearer they beheld Lake Titicaca’s only rival, shimmering in the sun. Lake Yellowstone’s deeply sinuous shores, scattered islands, and fingerlike peninsulas gave it a mystic character. Now their gaze followed the Yellowstone River crooking away from the lake and then whirling toward them flashing in its canyon cameo until it seemed to be biting at their very feet. From this central apex the whole mountain-girt plateau conformed to the shape of a mammoth saucer as its distant rim merged with the sky.