GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 223 



bowlders, however, have been so much weathered, disintegrated by fires, 

 and worn by the streams which, during the subsequent centuries, have 

 flooded and deepened the valley, that 1 was unable to decide whether the 

 absence of striations was or was not due to the bowlders having been 

 carried upon the surface or in the mass of the glacier rather than in its 

 grinding foot. These bowlder-deposits extend well out to the mouth of 

 the caiion. No true terminal moraine was recognized ; and I am at 

 present inclined to refer its absence to the floating off of the end of the 

 glacier upon the waters of a lake which once evidently, and perhaps at 

 that very time, filled the basin of Pierre's Hole and the lower portions 

 of all these outer canons up to uot far from the level mentioned. 



The scenery of the region, as a whole, is wonderfully interesting. Its 

 dense spruce-forests, though now greatly injured by fire, gradually 

 opening upward until they terminate in scattered groves of individual 

 beauty ; its sharp, deep caiions, with massive, precipitous walls ; its 

 beautiful and varied cascades ; its broad snow-fields, and • its sharp, 

 rugged, lofty peaks, together form a combination of beauty and grand- 

 eur rarely equaled. Though its peaks are surpassed by many in actual 

 elevation above the sea, few such stand among so broad, deep 

 valleys as to give so great relative elevations and to be seen so 

 prominently over so wide an extent of country. When the region 

 becomes more accessible by means of already projected railroads, this 

 must become a favorite resort for tourists. The route by which we 

 reached Mount Hayden appears to be the most feasible for those who 

 would approach it from the west, though its base can be more closely 

 approached with animals on the east side, so that possibly less iiersonal 

 exertion would be needed in climbing it from that side. When we left 

 the peak, I hoped to reach this eastern base early enough to make, 

 another attempt upon its summit, and so to retrieve my lost honors ; 

 but the early snows of September had, before our arrival, covered the 

 upper slopes and made the attempt too hazardous to be justifiable. July 

 and August seem to be the months most favorable to the ascent. 



The sportsman need not despise the region. Antelope still abound 

 on the plain ; the tracks of deer and elk were abundant about the 

 swampy bottoms of Pierre's Hole ; several bears were seen, and one 

 small grizzly was shot by Messrs. Carriugton and Brown ; a moose-cow 

 and two calves were shot in a thicket on West Teton Creek ; and 

 abundant tracks of mountain-sheep were found as high as the saddle 

 south of Mount Hayden, where no other animals were seen larger than 

 the swallows, which were skimming about over the snow-banks, gather- 

 ing insect-food. The thickets along the streams, and especially the 

 groves near the upper line of the timber, are full of two or three varie- 

 ties of grouse, while ducks and geese abound in tke swamp-ponds of 

 Pierre's Hole. 



Our original plans contem])lated the passage of our main train across 

 Teton Pass into Jackson's Hole and thence northward, while a small 

 party should examine the Snake Kiver Caiioni, in the southern continua- 

 tion of the T6ton Eange ; but our guides threatened us with impassable 

 fords on that route, by reason of the continued high water from the melt- 

 ing snows. It was then proposed to cross the range by the broad 

 depression at the head of Falls liiver ; but this was declared to be also 

 impassable by reason of fallen timber. This information was afterward 

 proved to have been false ; but, accepting it as true, we now turned up 

 the valley of Henry's Fork, leaving our Teton camp on August 2, and 

 returning in one day to our cau'.p of July 21, on the north fork of Pierre's 

 Kiver. The next day, we reac.'ied the banks of Falls Kiver, finding it a 



