GASHBTT.l HISTORY OF EXPLOEATIONS. 465 



of quartz which represents the former tree are covered with the charac- 

 teristic quartz pyramids. Such products of siliflcation are very abun- 

 dant in the Park, particularly on Amethyst Ridge, and are undoubtedly 

 the "stone fruit" of the petrified trees and bushes. The crystals are 

 colorless, amethystine, or yellow, and according to the color are known 

 to the mountain man as diamond, amethyst, topaz, &c. 



It is uunecessar}' to say that the part of the story relating to animal 

 life was manufactured from whole cloth. 



The other story, in its main fact, is undoubtedly true. Many streams 

 which at their heads are icy cold become lower down in their courses 

 warm, or even hot. Bridger, however, attempted to account for this 

 phenomenon without an adequate knowledge of the facts in the case. 

 The cause of the heating of the water was not friction, due to its rapid 

 descent, but the large accessions of hot water from springs situated 

 along its course. 



Many other similar legends had long been current among mountain 

 men, some of which are briefly referred to in Colonel ISTorris's report to 

 the Secretary of the Interior for 1878, but none of them seem to have 

 attracted any attention. That white men have been in the Park prior 

 to any printed record is evidenced by the discovery by Colonel Norris, 

 as noted in his report above referred to, of a block-house near the 

 Grand Canon, of a cache of marten traps near Obsidian Caiion, and 

 other relics of the early trappers. 



In Mullan's "Military Eoad Report," 1863, pp. 19 and 53, mention is 

 made of hot springs and geysers at the head of the Yellowstone, as if 

 they were well known at that time. 



In 1863 Capt. W. W. De Lacy, in command of a large party of pros- 

 pectors, left Montana to prospect on the upj)er waters of the Snake. 

 Striking that river near the junction of Henry's Fork, they followed 

 up the main river through the caiion, prospected in Jackson's Hole, 

 and not finding gold in paying quantities they broke up the party, some 

 returning one way, some another. Captain De Lacy, with a portion of 

 the party, followed up the Snake and Lewis Fork, discovering Lewis 

 and Shoshone (De Lacy's) Lakes, the Shoshone and the Lower Geyser 

 Basins. 



Mention of this trip was made in Raymond's Report on Mineral Re- 

 sources for 1869, and in 1876 the narrative was published in full in 

 "Contributions of the Historical Society of Montana." 



The geographical work done by Captain De Lacy on this trip was 

 embodied in a map of Montana, drawn by him and published by 

 authority of the Territory in 1864-'65, and the material thus made pub- 

 lic was afterward used by the public land office and the Messrs. Colton, 

 of New York, in the compilation of maps of that region. 



The results of this trij), however, seem to have attracted little or no 

 attention, for we hear of no one going into the country until 1869, when 

 two prospectors. Cook and Folsom, made a prospecting tour through 

 the Park. They followed the Yellowstone up to the mouth of the East 

 Fork, then up the latter stream for a few miles, crossing over to the Yel- 

 lowstone at the Great Falls; thence they went up this stream to the 

 foot of the lake and around the west side of the latter to the extremity 

 of the west arm, thence crossing over to the Geyser Basins on the 

 Madison, and finally left the country by following down the Madison 

 River. Their story immediately attracted attention, and the following 

 summer a large party, composed of citizens of Montana, under the lead- 

 ership of General Washburn, then surveyor-general of Montana, was 

 30 H, PT. II 



