HUNTING AND FISHING GROUNDS AND PLEASURE RESORTS. 93 
upper end of the valley leading from the 
great Shoshone Falls and head of the 
Snake River, via the headwaters of the 
Madison and Gallatin rivers—both of 
which have valleys similar to, but much 
smaller, than the Yellowstone—to the 
great buffalo range between this district 
and the Missouri. This is known as the 
Bannock trail. 
The sportsman will go by the Pacific 
Railroad to Evanston or Cheyenne, and 
thence to Fort Ellis, Montana, which 
last place is but five or six days from the 
Great Basin, with fine hunting and fish- 
ing all the way. He will require heavy 
clothing, and all the requisites for camp- 
ing out. The travel will not be found 
especially difficult, nor will the danger 
be great, as the Indians, having a super- 
stitious reverence for the valley, believing 
it to be the abode of the Great Spirit, 
never enter it. A party of three can 
travel with perfect safety, so far as In- 
dians are concerned, in any part of this 
district by keeping watch upon their 
horscs at night, as the lions would make 
short work with them if an opportunity 
was afforded, horseflesh being their fa- 
vorite diet. 
To give an idea of the abundance and 
variety of game, appended are a few par- 
agraphs taken from the official report of 
Lieut. Doane, Second United States Cav- 
alry, who visited this valley in 1870. 
This officer started from Fort Ellis, Mon- 
tana, on the 22d of August, struck the 
Yellowstone in about eight hours; enter- 
ing the valley through the great canon 
of the Yellowstone. The Yellowstone 
abounds in trout; the writer says: ‘‘ The 
Yellowstone trout are peculiar, being 
the largest variety of the genus caught 
in waters flowing east. Their numbers 
are perfectly fabulous, but their appe- 
tites extremely dainty. One may fish 
with the finest tackle of Eastern sports- 
men, when the water appears to be alive 
with them, all day long, without a bite. 
‘Grasshoppers are their peculiar weak- 
ngss, and, using them for bait, the most 
awkward angler can fill a champagne 
basket in an hour or two. They do net 
bite with the spiteful greediness of the 
Eastern brook trout, but amount to much 
more in the way of subsistence when 
caught. The flesh is of a bright yellow 
color on the inside of the body, and of a 
flavor unsurpassed.” 
All the Yellowstone trout are said to 
be salmon trout, though the brook trout 
is caught in most of the mountain 
streams of this region. 
“Our mess table was here supplied 
with antelope, hare, ducks, and grouse 
killed during the day (on the march), and 
with fish caught ad libitum in the after- 
noon.” 
Passing through the canon, and ar- 
riving at the mouth of Gardiner’s River, 
the Yellowstone “ at this point shrinks 
to half its usual size, lost among boulders 
of the drift, innumerable masses of 
which choke up the stream in many 
places, forming alternate pools and rap- 
ids, which afford great delight to the 
fishermen. The ground will be found 
everywhere tracked by the passage of 
elk and mountain sheep, and bear signs 
are everywhere visible.” 
Three miles below the Yellowstone 
Falls the chasm is one thousand and fifty 
feet deep; on the “caps of the dizzy 
heights above the mountain sheep and 
elk rest during the night.” 
Entering the Great Basin over the 
high ridges as they descended, they 
“found a large flock of mountain cheep, 
very tame, and greatly astonished, no 
doubt, at onr sudden appearance. Elk 
were feeding in small bands on the other 
