CAMPING WITH THE PRESIDENT 65 



We went up into the big geyser region with the big 

 sleighs, each drawn by four horses. A big snow-bank 

 had to be shoveled through for us before we got to the 

 Golden Gate, two miles above Mammoth Hot Springs. 

 Beyond that we were at an altitude of about eight 

 thousand feet, on a fairly level course that led now 

 through woods, and now through open country, with 

 the snow of a uniform depth of four or five feet, except 

 as we neared the "formations," where the subterranean 

 warmth kept the ground bare. The roads had been 

 broken and the snow packed for us by teams from the 

 fort, otherwise the journey would have been impossible. 



The President always rode beside the driver. From 

 his youth, he said, this seat had always been the most 

 desirable one to him. When the sleigh would strike 

 the bare ground, and begin to drag heavily, he would 

 bound out nimbly and take to his heels, and then all 

 three of us Major Pitcher, Mr. Childs, and myself 

 would follow suit, sometimes reluctantly on my part. 

 Walking at that altitude is no fun, especially if you try 

 to keep pace with such a walker as the President is. 

 But he could not sit at his ease and let those horses 

 drag him in a sleigh over bare ground. When snow 

 was reached, we would again quickly resume our seats. 



As one nears the geyser region, he gets the impression 

 from the columns of steam going up here and there 

 in the distance now from behind a piece of woods, 

 now from out a hidden valley that he is approaching 

 a manufacturing centre, or a railroad terminus. And 

 when he begins to hear the hoarse snoring of " Roaring 

 Mountain," the illusion is still more complete. At 

 Norris's there is a big vent where the steam comes 

 tearing out of a recent hole in the ground with terrific 



