464 EEPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



HISTORY OF EXPLORATIONS IN THIS REGION. 



The first authentic information regarding the great natural wonders 

 of the Park was derived from a prospecting party under the leadership 

 of Oapt. W. W. De Lacy, who in 1863 visited the Lower Geyser Basin. 

 Previous to this time it seems that the region was known to but a few 

 hunters and trappers, and their tales were treated as the wildest of 

 romancing, as, indeed, many of them were, the mind of the trapper being 

 singularly prone to exaggeration. The earliest reference to the hot 

 springs with which I am acquainted is in the stories of a trapper by 

 tbe name of Colter (or Coulter), who accompanied Lewis and Clarke's 

 celebrated expedition across the continent. On the return of this expe- 

 dition, when below the mouth of the Yellowstone, Colter was discharged, 

 at his own request, and immediately returned to the country above the 

 forks of the Missouri. In this neighborhood, probably on the Jelferson, 

 his companion. Potts, was killed by Blackfeet, and he was captured. 

 Almost miraculously he escaped from them, and, entirely naked, made 

 his way to atrading post on the Bighorn. After this he lived for a 

 year or more among the Bannocks, whose range included what is now 

 the Yellowstone Park. Either during his perilous journey after his 

 escape from the Blackfeet or during his sojourn among the Bannocks he 

 became acquainted with the region of the hot springs and geysers, for 

 we find him in Missouri in 1810, telling marvellous tales of lakes of burn- 

 ing pitch, of land on fire, hot springs, and geysers. His stories were of 

 course treated as travelers' tales, and ''Colter's Hell" was classed with 

 Lilliput, Symmes's Hole, and other inventions of over-developed imagina- 

 tions. 



Later we find the knowledge of this country more generally diffused 

 among this people. Colonel l^aynolds, in his report on the "Explora- 

 tion of the Yellowstone," in 1859-'60, refers to " some of these Mun- 

 chausen tales" as follows (p. 77): 



One was to this effect: In many parts of the country petrifactions and fossils are 

 very numerons, and as a consequence it was claimed that in some locality (I was not 

 able to fix it definitely) a large tract of sage is perfectly petrified, with all the leaves 

 and branches in perfect condition, the general appearance of the plain being unlike 

 (like?) that of the rest" of the country; but all is stone; while the rabbits, sage hens, 

 and other animals usually found in such localities are still there, perfectly petrified, 

 and as natural as when they were living ; and, more wonderful still, the petrified 

 bushes bear the most wonderful fruit; diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc., 

 etc., as large as black walnuts, are found in abundance. 



This story, absurd as it sounds, has a large basis in fact. The nar- 

 rator, however, had mixed up distinct phenomena, and over all had 

 spread lavishly the coloring of his imagination. There are fields of 

 jage, as well as bits of forest, which, lying in immediate proximity to 

 groups of springs, have been petrified while standing. The hot silicious 

 water from the springs is drawn up through the pores of the wood, and 

 between the wood and the bark, by capillary attraction, and, depositing 

 silica wherever it goes, the tree or bush is rapidly transformed into rock. 



The story of the remarkable fruit borne by these stone trees is not far 

 from correct, the main difference between the story and the fact being 

 that the fruit is borne on the outside and inside of the trunks of the trees, 

 instead of on the ends of the branches. The mineral species are not as 

 given in the story, either, but that is a matter of no vital importance, 

 in the process of silicificatlon of wood the last result of all is the produc- 

 tion of quartz crystals. The tree trunk is converted totally into crys- 

 talline quartz, radiating from within outwards, the crystals being all 

 crowded out of shape. The inside and outside of the hollow cylinder 



