Geological Survey

“ Numerous fishhawks are seen busily plying their vocation, sailing high above the waters, and yet a thousand feet below the spectator. In the clefts of the rocks, hundreds of feet down, bald eagles have their eyries, from which we can see them swooping still further into the depths to rob the ospreys of their hard-earned trout. ”

“ The peaks in the distance are composed of massive granites, while the rocks in the foreground are limestones. For beauty as well as grandeur, no description can convey any adequate idea of it.
21
Camp at the Mouth of Teton Canyon. This camp is in the Teton Canyon, and West of the Teton Range, just ten miles by Triangulation to the summit of the Grand Teton. The trees are all pines and firs. As the sun rises in the morning immediately back of the peaks, it invests them with remarkable beauty. The scenery along the Teton River is rugged and most attractive. ”

“ It doubtless operates much like one of our artificial fountains, throwing up a column of water several feet, by a succession of impulses, building up a cone by overlapping layers of lime, like the thatch on the roof. The cone is forty-two feet high and about twenty-five feet in diameter at its base. When the hydrostatic force begins to abate, the cone is gradually closed up at the summit, as is shown in the photograph. These dead springs or geysers are a common feature in the park, and are called, in the language of Iceland a “laug.” ”

“ The silicious deposits around the crater are marvels of beauty. The Madison River can be seen in the distance and also the geysers in operation.
Hot Springs and Castle Geyser. The spring in the foreground is in all respects the most beautiful one in the National Park. The ornamental rim is nearly circular, being about twenty-two feet. The depth is unknown. When the rays of the sun fall nearly vertically on the almost unnaturally transparent waters, all the colors of the prism are produced. ”

“ Examining the mud-springs and geysers was hazardous business and could be a painful experience, as Hayden discovered: “The entire surface is perfectly bare of vegetation and hot, yielding in many places to slight pressure. ”

“ Panoramic View of the Valley of the Yellowstone. This group of three pictures from a panoramic view of what is regarded by visitors to that region as the most beautiful and symmetrical range of mountains in America. The summits of the peaks are covered with snow more or less the year round, and can be seen for eighty to one hundred miles in every direction. ”

“ It is only a calcareous spring that can form so curious and lofty a cone as this.
25
Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. A more distant view of the falls. The photograph however, conveys but a dim conception of the ruggedness of the surroundings.
26
Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. About a fourth of a mile below the upper falls, the waters of the Yellowstone take a much more fearful leap, making a clear descent of three hundred and fifty feet. There is probably not a more beautiful sight in existence than the falls with the Grand Canyon below. The rocks are mostly volcanic. ”

“ On December 18, 1871, a bill was introduced simultaneously in the Senate, by Senator Pomeroy of Kansas, and in the House of Representatives by Congressman Clagett of Montana, for the establishment of a park at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River. The bill in each case was referred to the respective Committees on Public Lands. ”

“ The photographs in this section of the booklet were selected from those taken by William Henry Jackson during Hayden’s second Yellowstone Expedition in 1872, and reproduced from U. S. Corps of Engineers negatives maintained by the National Archives. Jackson, considered one of the foremost photographers of the early West, was the first man to photograph and publish many of these scenes of the Yellowstone. Jackson’s own captions describe the photographs on the following pages.
Photography in the field was an arduous affair one hundred years ago. ”

“ The camp is located on one of the remarkable lake-terraces which form an interesting feature of the scenery on the Salt Lake Basin. The Wasatch Mountains, in the background, are about five thousand feet above the camp, and nine thousand five hundred and thirty feet above sea level. ”