TWO-OCEAN PASS. 183 



Atlantic Creek was found to have two forks entering the pass. 

 At the north end of the meadow is a small wooded canon, down 

 which flows the North Fork. This stream hugs the border of the 

 flat very closely. The South Fork comes down the canon on the 

 south side, skirting the brow of the hill a little less closely than 

 does the North Fork. The two, coming together near the middle 

 of the eastern border of the meadow, form Atlantic Creek, which, 

 after a course of a few miles, flows into the Upper Yellowstone. 

 But the remarkable phenomena exhibited here remain to be de- 

 scribed. 



Each fork of Atlantic Creek, just after entering the meadow, 

 divides as if to flow around an island ; but the stream toward the 

 meadow, instead of returning to the portion from which it had 

 parted, continues its westerly course across the meadow. Just be- 

 fore reaching the western border the two streams unite, and then 

 pour their combined waters into Pacific Creek ; thus are Atlan- 

 tic and Pacific Creeks united, and a continuous water way from 

 the mouth of the Columbia, via Two-Ocean Pass, to the Gulf of 

 Mexico is established. Two-Ocean Creek is not a myth but a 

 verity, and Jim Bridger is vindicated. We stood upon the bank 

 of either fork of Atlantic Creek, just above the place of the 

 " parting of the waters," and watched the stream pursue its rapid 

 but dangerous and uncertain course along the very crest of the 

 " Great Continental Divide." A creek flowing along the ridge- 

 pole of a continent is unusual and strange, and well worth watch- 

 ing and experimenting with. So we waded to the middle of the 

 North Fork, and, lying down upon the rocks in its bed, we drank 

 the pure icy water that was hurrying to the Pacific, and, with- 

 out rising, but by simply bending a little to the left, we took a 

 draught from that portion of the stream which was just deciding 

 to go east, via the Missouri-Mississippi route, to the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico. And then we tossed chips, two at a time, into the stream. 

 Though they would strike the water within an inch or so of each 

 other, not infrequently one would be carried by the current to the 

 left, keeping in Atlantic Creek, while the other might be carried a 

 little to the right and enter the branch running across the meadow 

 to Pacific Creek ; the one beginning a journey which will finally 

 bring it to the great gulf, the other entering upon a long voyage 

 in the opposite direction to Balboa's ocean. 



Pacific Creek is a stream of good size long before it enters the 

 pass, and its course through the meadow is in a definite channel ; 

 but not so with Atlantic Creek. The west bank of each fork is 

 low, and the water is liable to break through anywhere, and thus 

 send a part of its water across to Pacific Creek. It is probably 

 true that one or two branches always connect the two creeks un- 

 der ordinary conditions, and that, following heavy rains, or when 



