198 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



In making: the examination of the region about the sources 

 of the Madison and Snake rivers, it was found that the exist- 

 ing maps were greatly in error. For example, the Madison 

 Lake, which had received its name in the belief that it was 

 the source of Madison River, was discovered to be really the 

 source of Snake River. The lake is about twelve miles long 

 and eight miles wide. From this body of water flows a 

 stream about one hundred feet wide, which at a distance of 

 five miles empties into a second lake, four miles long and one 

 and a half miles wide. The first of these lakes was named Lake 

 Shoshone, and the other Lake Lewis, in honor of the great 

 explorer of the Northwest. 



At the upper end of Lake Shoshone a new geyser basin was 

 discovered, containing about 130 geysers, twenty or thirty 

 of which are of the largest size. The ornamentation about 

 these springs was thought to be more interesting and elabo- 

 rate than those in the Fire -Hole Basin. One of the gey- 

 sers throws up a column of water seventy feet in height once 

 each day, and continues the watery eruption each time about 

 twenty minutes. 



The divide between the Yellowstone Lake and Lake Lewis 

 is 50 feet above the former, and about 200 feet above the lat- 

 ter. From a high mountain above this lake a view was ob- 

 tained embracing a radius of not less than 150 miles, within 

 which 4*70 mountain peaks worthy of a name could be dis- 

 tinctly observed. The area which could be swept by the eye 

 from this point could not be less than 50,000 square miles, em- 

 bracing a variety of grand and beautiful scenery, of mount- 

 ain and valley, probably without a parallel on the continent. 

 Ten large lakes and many smaller ones were embraced in the 

 view, and the entire Yellowstone Park was displayed to the 

 eye. To the east, the Wind River and Big Horn ranges of 

 mountains, with Fremont's, Union, and Cloud peaks, bounded 

 the view. On the north, the Snowy Range, with Emigrant 

 Peak, and the loftiest peaks of Montana, were readily distin- 

 guished. To the west, the Salmon River mountains of Idaho 

 only shut out the view ; while to the far south the mountains 

 near Fort Hall and the Wahsatch Range in Utah completed 

 the mighty amphitheatre. This area embraces a large por- 

 tion of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and Utah territories an 

 extent which will be difficult of belief to any one who is a 



