222 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERKITOKIES. 



blight -red cliffs ou either haud, while the channel of the Snake itself 

 meandered nortliward through broad sage-covered i>lain.s, till its upper 

 eourse was hidden by hills. This view was as if set in a frame formed 

 by the sliari) spius running out on either hand and cutting off its con- 

 tinuations. 



A few small Alpine plants reach this level, and even liigher, though 

 2Ir. Stevenson states that all vegetation except lichens ceased about 

 3tt0 feet below the summit. 



Busied Vvith these examinations, I waited longer than I should have 

 done for the missing barometer, and found that time would not then 

 l)ermit me to complete the ascent. The others who reached the saddle 

 passed directly up the long slope of debris leading from it into the 

 gorge on the west side of .the peak, and report that Messrs, Stevenson 

 and Laugford reached the summit, while Messrs. Hamp and Spen- 

 cer stopped about 300 feet below. They state that the summit is 

 Clowned by a rude quadrangular wall of rock, different from that of 

 which the summit of the peak is itself composed, which must have been 

 brought up from some distance below, and which is very much disinte- 

 grated by the action of the weather. If their account is correct, the 

 hardest part of the ascent is past when the high saddle is reached. 



Mr. Stevenson reported that the Great Caijon seemed to break down 

 suddenly to the plain, so as to be apparently impassable for animals. 

 Examinations on the east side of the mountain in September strength- 

 ened this probability, though they were not full enough to determine 

 positively that the canon is impassable. 



To the north of the canon, one peak of the range, which we have 

 called Mount Leidy, has a long wedge-shaped summit, upon the top of 

 which a long oval elevation has, from a distance, much the appearance 

 of a huge mound, like those erected so numerously by the mound- 

 builders in the valleys of the Mississippi and its tributaries. This sum- 

 mit, however, was not visited. These peaks have been described by 

 some as " snow-covered " the year round, while others have said that 

 they are so steep that snow will not lie on them, even in winter. The 

 truth lies between the two, for immense cliffs doubtless continue bare 

 through the entire winter, while in some of the ravines and crevices 

 bands of snow run nearly to the summit, though not so abundantly as 

 as to appear like a mostly snow-covered surface. We dragged our weary 

 limbs back to camp, where each had his story to tell of individual adven- 

 ture and mishap. 



Messrs. Stevenson and Laugford claim the right to name this peak, 

 as being the first white men to reach its summit, so far as known, and 

 have called it JMount Hayden, in honor of the director of our survey. 

 As no individual name had been previously applied to it, other than 

 Big Teton or Grand Teton, there appears to be no reason why this name 

 should not stand and pass down for ages the name of one who has 

 probably ex])lored a greater extent of the crests and eastern slopes of 

 the Rocky Mountains than any other living scientist. Tbe reported 

 reading of Mr. Stevenson's aneroid gives the elevation of the i)eak as 

 about 13,400 feet ; but the gradiftuter measurements, taken by Mr. 

 Hering, indicate an elevation of 13,858 feet, which has been adoi)ted as 

 altogether the most reliable determination. 



Though glacial scratches were seen only in the highest portion of the 

 canon of West T6ton Creek, yet abundant evidence of glacial action 

 was seen in all the lower part of the valley in the immense numbers of 

 bowlders, both of granite and of limestone, which are distributed over 

 its bottom and on its sides up to about 400 feet. The surfaces of these 



