252 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITOEIES. 



Hole basins in 1871. Mr. Hering visited this lake, and fonnd it to be 

 7,999 feet above the sea, while Lewis's Lake is 7,750 feet and YeUowstone 

 Lake is 7,788 feet. A high terrace is faintly indicated on the east side 

 of Lewis's Lake, but its level was not determined. This region should 

 be more carefully examined, with a view to ascertain whether there is 

 not some continuous terrace higher than the .dividejust described, which 

 shall prove that the whole of this broad comparatively flat area was, as 

 its general form suggests, covered by a large lake, which was really 

 tributary to both oceans. The lowest point of the actual divide was 

 determined to be 25 feet above LakeEiddle, or 8,024 feet above the sea. 



In ascending the mountain, we found the easiest slopes. very steep, so 

 as to make much zigzagging necessary in getting our animals to the 

 summit. As we occasionally looked back, we saw beneath us, on our 

 lelt, the large cluster of hot springs which occupies the head of the 

 valley of the longest tributary of Heart Lake, and, beyond, caught 

 glin)pses of YeHowstone Lake. Upon reaching the first crest, both 

 lakes lay spread out before us, wliile, to the westward, Lewis's Lake and 

 Shoshone Lake were also in full view. Between us and Heart Lake lay 

 a great hollow of the mountain, looking much like a broken-down crater, 

 and very probably it may once have been one. The highest peak was still 

 beyond us, and we made but little delay, except to shoot grouse for sup- 

 l)er, in riding to its crest. This range was called Red Mountain by Dr. 

 Hayden's party of the previous year; but its highest peak lacked a 

 name, until Captain Barlow visited its summit and dubbed it Mount 

 Sheridan.* It is one of the most sightl^^ points in the whole region. 

 Surrounded by deep valleys on all sides, and itself standing 10, 420* feet 

 above the sea, it gives one a range of vision over an immense area. 

 Sweeping round the horizon, I counted four hundred and seventy-five dis- 

 tinct mountain-summits, at distances varying from thirty to two hundred 

 miles. The Tetons on the west loomed up grandly, while, through the 

 broad depression just nortli of them, the Crater Buttes, the Three Buttes, 

 the Salmon River Mountains, and Sawtelle's Peak, were in full sight. To 

 the north, the Gallatin IMountains, the Belt Mountains, and Crazy Woman 

 Mountains a])peared close at hand, while along the eastern horizon stood 

 the high walls of tlie Yellowstone Range and of the Big Horn Mountains, 

 and far to the southeast stood what v.e supposed to be Fr^,mont's Peak 

 and other crests of the Wind River range. There appeared to be a 

 considerable deinession in the Big Horn Mountains nearly due east from 

 the head of Yellowstone Lake, as if there might be a practicable pass 

 through the range at that point. This should be examined. Thi'ough- 

 out all this wide area, with its numerous lofty crests, there were no 

 "snow-corercfZ" peaks, though, many large bodies of snow appeared 

 near the summits in every direction. 



The lower slopes of the mountain are heavily timbered ; but, as we 

 ai)proach the summit, the trees become scattered and stunted, consisting 

 mostly of Plnus JlexiUs and a small spruce, Abies Dovglasii, both char- 

 ' acteristic of high' levels. The coarse, yellow lichen {Erer {?) nia viilpina,) 

 often called " Montana moss," which is somewhat abundant at lower 

 levels, but is there rarely found well fruited, grows here in immense 

 quantities, magnificently fruited, the spore-disks (apothecia) being fre- 



*Mourit. Everts had been nsecl for it, bnt tliat name was already in nse for a peak farther 

 north, and (Viplication ofnanies is as olijectionable in ^engraphy as in thoother sciences. 

 It is not improbable that this may have been the peak to whieli the name Mount Mad- 

 ison of the old maps was intended to apply, l>ut the loeatinn oftliat jieak was so many 

 miles distant from the position of this, and had so dill'erent relati(ms to sunoundiuf^ 

 ranges, that we cannot consider the ideutihcatiou at' all certain, and therel'orc must 

 reject the name. 



