

) 



11 



- 



River and wait here one day for examination of our direction to the 

 front. This delay was made more agreeable by our having a camp of 

 great beauty on the edge of the river, with a splendid range of gram 

 for our animals and plenty of good trout-fishing at the doors of our 

 tents. The camp was named Camp Strong, after our knightly and dia* 

 tinguished guest and sportsman. General William E. Strong, of the staff 

 of General McPherson during the war. Distance marched, 8 miles ; al- 

 titude of camp, 7,050 fret. 



August 18 was spent here; Meantime Mr. Thomas Moore, chief 

 packer of the Division of the Missouri, and 'Campbell, my old scout 

 during the war, with the Sheep Eating-Indiau guides, had laid our trail 

 to Lewis 7 Lake. To the east of this camp and south of the, Yellowstone 

 Lake is Mount Hancock, while to the southwest and south tin* grand 

 Teton Range is still in view. 



August 19 wo resumed the march through dense timber, occasionally 

 relieved by open parks, until we reached the lower falls of Lewis* or Lake 

 Fork of Snake River. The trail was made by pioneers in advance, who 

 had to chop a great deal to make a practicable passage for the com- 

 mand. At the lower falls of Lewis 7 or Lake Fork of Snake River we 

 met a party of railroad eugineers looking out a railroad route south 

 from the National Park, which was then distant from us only two days 

 march. We bade them good-bye and resumed our march, crossing 

 the Lake Fork above the falls, and after encountering a pretty rough 

 trail from fallen timber, we encamped on the banks of Lewis' Lake, 

 a •beautiful body of water, four or five miles in diameter and very deep. 

 Although south of the National Divide the country commenced to show 

 symptoms of the great geyser condition, by escaping steam from cra- 

 ters and numerous boiling springs, Mr. Moore, Campbell, the Indian 

 guides and pioneers, still kept ahead of us in the direction of Shoshone 

 Lake, and did a good deal of hard work in cutting and looking out a 

 trail for the next day. Our march was 22 miles; altitude of camp, 



7,875 feet. 

 August 20 we resumed the march at 6.15 a. m., and followed Moore's 



trail. This, unfortunately, though my own fault, led too close to Sho- 

 shone Lake, and ran into a pocket of fallen timber, which gave very 

 hard work to the men, and finally had to be abandoned. Making more 

 to the north, in a few miles we struck the large open trail from the 

 Upper Geyser Basin to the Yellowstone Lake. This trail we followed 

 until it led us down to Shoshone Lake, and, after feasting our eyes on 

 this beautiful lake, which was so deep that the color of the water was 

 as blue as indigo, we turned from it and crossed the Continental Di- 

 vide, going over to the head-waters of Fire Hole River and down it 

 to the Upper Geyser Uasin, pitching our camp only 200 yards from Old 

 Faithful, who, as if to weleome us, was making one of its best efforts 

 just as we were passing by. Distance inarched, 26 miles: altitude of 

 camp, 7,600 feet. We had with us five Sheep-Eating Indians as guides, 



