The party
consists of the general of the Army, the department commander, members
of their staffs, and two justices of the supreme court. From the park
they are to go across country to Fort Missoula, and as there is only a
narrow trail over the mountains they will have to depend entirely upon
pack mules. These were sent up from Fort Custer for Faye to fit out
for the entire trip. I went down to the corral to see them start out,
and it was a sight well worth going to see. It was wonderful, and
laughable, too, to see what one mule could carry upon his back and two
sides.
The pack saddles are queer looking things that are strapped carefully
and firmly to the mules, and then the tents, sacks, boxes, even stoves
are roped to the saddle. One poor mule was carrying a cooking stove.
There were forty pack mules and one "bell horse" and ten packers - for
of course it requires an expert packer to put the things on the saddle
so they are perfectly balanced and will not injure the animal's back.
The bell horse leads, and wherever it goes the mules will follow.
At present Faye is busy with preparations for two more parties of
exceedingly distinguished personnel. One of these will arrive in a day
or two, and is called the "Indian Commission," and consists of senator
Dawes and fourteen congressmen. The other party for whom an elaborate
camp outfit is being put in readiness consists of the President of the
United States, the lieutenant general of the Army, the governor of
Montana, and others of lesser magnitude. A troop of cavalry will
escort the President through the park. Now that the park can be
reached by railroad, all of the generals, congressmen, and judges are
seized with a desire to inspect it - in other words, it gives them a
fine excuse for an outing at Uncle Sam's expense.
CAMP ON YELLOWSTONE RIVER, YELLOWSTONE PARK,
August, 1884.
OUR camp is in a beautiful pine grove, just above the Upper Falls and
close to the rapids; from out tent we can look out on the foaming
river as it rushes from one big rock to another. Far from the bank on
an immense boulder that is almost surrounded by water is perched my
tent companion, Miss Hayes. She says the view from there is grand, but
how she can have the nerve to go over the wet, slippery rocks is a
mystery to all of us, for by one little misstep she would be swept
over the falls and to eternity.
Our party consists of Captain and Mrs. Spencer, I their little niece,
Miss Hayes, and myself - oh, yes, Lottie, the colored cook, and six or
eight soldiers. We have part of the transportation that Major General
Schofield used for this same trip two weeks ago, and which we found
waiting for us at Mammoth Hot Springs. We also have two saddle horses.
By having tents and our own transportation we can remain as long as we
wish at any one place, and can go to many out-of-the-way spots that
the regular tourist does not even hear of. But I do not intend to
weary you with long descriptions of the park, the wonderful geysers,
or the exquisitely tinted water in many of the springs, but to tell
you of our trip, that has been most enjoyable from the very minute we
left Livingstone.
We camped one night by the Fire-Hole River, where there is a spring I
would like to carry home with me! The water is very hot - boils up a
foot or so all the year round, and is so buoyant that in a porcelain
tub of ordinary depth we found it difficult to do otherwise than
float, and its softening effect upon the skin is delightful. A pipe
has been laid from the spring to the little hotel, where it is used
for all sorts of household purposes. Just fancy having a stream of
water that a furnace somewhere below has brought to boiling heat,
running through your house at any and all times. They told us that
during the winter when everything is frozen, all kinds of wild animals
come to drink at the overflow of the spring. There are hundreds of hot
springs in the park, I presume, but that one at Marshall's is
remarkable for the purity of its water.
Captain Spencer sent to the hotel for fresh meat and was amazed when
the soldier brought back, instead of meat, a list from which he was
asked to select. At that little log hotel of ten or twelve rooms there
were seven kinds of meat - black-tail deer, white-tail deer, bear,
grouse, prairie chicken, squirrels, and domestic fowl - the latter
still in possession of their heads. Hunting in the park is prohibited,
and the proprietor of that fine game market was most careful to
explain to the soldier that everything had been brought from the other
side of the mountain. That was probably true, but nevertheless, just
as we were leaving the woods by "Hell's Half Acre," and were coming
out on a beautiful meadow surrounded by a thick forest, we saw for one
instant a deer standing on the bank of a little stream at our right,
and then it disappeared in the forest. Captain Spencer was on
horseback, and happening to look to the left saw a man skulking to the
woods with a rifle in his hand. The poor deer would undoubtedly have
been shot if we had been a minute or two later.
For two nights our camp was in the pine forest back of "Old Faithful,"
and that gave us one whole day and afternoon with the geysers.
