664 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



at the great broad river with its rapid current, 

 " Why, is it possible that this great river 

 comes all the way from Yellowstone Park ? ' ' 

 Well, the railroad follows th's Yellowstone 

 River either right along beside it, or within 

 sight, all the way to lyivingslon, and a branch 

 road up through the canyon to Cinnabar also 

 follows this Yellowstone River as it goes down 

 the mountain ; but from Cinnabar it goes 

 clear up through the park to its source at 

 Yellowstone Lake, which I shall mention 

 again further on. 



At Miles City and Billings I began to see 

 large tracts of alfalfa; and wlien the car stop- 

 ped long enough I looked in vain for a honey- 

 bee, either on the wild flowers or the alfalfa. 

 I did not find one. At Forsythe I found the 

 largest quantity of Rocky Mountain bee-plant 

 I ever saw in my life. There were large 

 tracts where the ground was just covered with 

 it. It looked like a snowbank at a distance, 

 onh- it was pink instead of white. Not a bee 

 was seen on this plant, and yet in the early 

 morning there must be tons of honey going to 

 waste. 



At Billings I saw a public square in the cen- 

 ter of the town, with such a beautiful stand 

 of alfalfa, that I asked some questions about 

 it. I happened to address the man who had 

 charge of the ground. He told me that they 

 decided a blue-grass lawn would look prettier, 

 so they tried last spring to get out the alfalfa. 

 They plowed it down deep, harrowed it thor- 

 oughly, and employed a man to rake out the 

 alfalfa roots and stems, and then sowed their 

 blue grass ; but the alfalfa came up first, 

 choked out the blue grass, and made a better 

 stand than they had before plowing it up. Of 

 course, they practice irrigation. Every thing 

 has to be irrigated. 



I reached Livingston early in the morning. 

 Before leaving home I had ascertained from 

 our subscription-list that we had a subscriber 

 there — Mr. George A. Gordon. Friend G. 

 informed me that he had no bees as yet, but 

 had been taking Gleanings because he was 

 interested in the matter. He said he did not 

 know of a honey-bee within a hundred miles 

 in any direction. He kindly procured a liv- 

 ery, and took me out a little in the country 

 and up on the hills. While we found great 

 multitudes of honey-plants we did not find a 

 honey-bee ; and I may state right here that I 

 was not able to find a single honey-bee during 

 the whole of m)' stay of ten days in and 

 around Yellowstone Park. Mr. Gordon told 

 me his attention was called to bee-keeping 

 because a subscriber of ours, Mr. Carl Yollmer, 

 at Billings, had a few colonies. During the 

 present season he has already secured, he 

 thought, about 200 lbs. of honey per colony. 

 Now, friends, there is certainly a big field for 

 bee-keeping in the valleys of Montana, where 

 alfalfa is largely grown by irrigation. 



You may look in almost any direction in 

 and around Livingston, and see snow-capped 

 mountains. This looks a little odd when the 

 thermometer in the afternoon gets up pretty 

 close to 100 degrees in the shade. The tem- 

 perature is especially trying when there is no 

 rain, and dust is everywhere. But it was my 



good fortune to meet gentle showers every 

 day for four or five days during my stay in 

 the park. These showers were sufficient to 

 lay the dust nicely. 



We went up a mountain canyon by rail to 

 Cinnabar. There is some very interesting 

 mountain scenery along the route. I would 

 especially mention what is called the Devil's 

 Slide. This is not unlike a place by the same 

 name in California, that I have lately describ- 

 ed, except that the mountain "slide" is 

 blood-red where his majesty is supposed to 

 have gone down so many times. As one goes 

 past on the cars he can hardly resist the con- 

 clusion that sawlogs or something of like 

 nature have been shooting down that straight 

 and narrow passage so as to have worn the 

 rocks smooth. This slide is between two 

 walls of trap-rock, about 100 feet apart, ex- 

 tending up the mountain nearly 2000 feet. 

 The name of the station. Cinnabar, was prob- 

 ably suggested by these beautiful red rocks in 

 the vicinity. 



At this terminal station I left my baggage, 

 and started off on my wheel. Mr. J. W. 

 Mackay, the gentlemanly agent for the Wiley 

 Co., very kindly agreed to carry my grip and 

 overcoat on the coach for 25 cts. a day ; and I 

 very soon had abundant reason to be thankful 

 that I did not undertake to carry any luggage. 

 If you are going to wheel it through the park, 

 by all means get the coach to carry every 

 ounce that you do not absolutely nsed on 

 your journey. Most of my wheeling was done 

 in my shirtsleeves, without trying to carry 

 even my tool-case. The Wiley Co. also kindly 

 agreed to pick me up at any point, and carry 

 me, -a'heel and all, for §1.25 for each half-day. 

 So you see you can ride j'our wheel in the 

 forenoon, and, if you get too tired, be carried, 

 wheel and all, in the afternoon, wherever you 

 may wish to go. 



The trip from Cinnabar to Gardiner is a 

 very easy one. In fact, you do not need to 

 get off your wheel at all if you are a fair rider. 

 At Gardiner the road leaves the Yellowstone, 

 and follows the Gardiner River for about two 

 miles, then leaves the canyon, and starts 

 directly up the mountain. Climbing up this 

 mountain road is a big task without any wheel 

 at all. I started off about six o'clock. They 

 told me I had better wait till morning, but I 

 was anxious to see the sights. I remarked 

 that I could make five miles in two hours, 

 even if I had to walk everj^ step, and climb 

 hills besides ; and I did make it just at dusk, 

 but I tell 3'ou I was pretty well tired out ; in 

 fact, I was too weary to take more than a 

 brief glimpse of the wonderful springs. At 

 daylight, however, I was out before anybody 

 else was visible, studj'ing nature. 



Before undertaking to describe what I saw, 

 I want to say a few words about Yellowstone 

 Park, the hot springs, and the geysers in gen- 

 eral. All along the road through the p'lrk 

 the government has put up mile-posts. They 

 are a great convenience to wheelers, as they 

 tell you just where you are at every mile. 

 These mile-posts also give you the elevation. 

 If I am correct. Mammoth Hot Springs at the 

 big hotel is 6387 feet above sea-level. So you 



