GAXNETT] TOPOGEAPHY THE CONTINENTAL WATEESHED. 471 



nearly east and west. They are by no means rugged, though many of 

 the slopes are extremely steep. There are twelve peahs in the range, 

 separated into three groups by comparatively low saddles. The high- 

 est and most eastern peak is Mount Sheridan, 10,385 feet high. From 

 it« summit a most varied, extensive, and beautiful landscape rewards 

 one for the hard climb involved in reaching it. On the west the range 

 of vision is limited by a high plateau, in whose southern slopes head 

 Falls Eiver and a small branch of Lewis Fork. To this plateau we 

 have given the name of Pitchytone Plateau. At the eastern base of 

 this the eye can with difficulty discern the narrow cleft in the basalt in 

 which flows Lewis Fork, running transversely to the line of vision. 

 Farther to the right, at the northern base of Pitchstone Plateau, we see 

 the sparkling waters of Shoshone Lake reflecting the afternoon sun. 

 Approaching the foreground, a broad ribbon of water connects this 

 with Lewis Lake, beautifully set in a dark fringe of dense forest. Be- 

 yond these lakes, nearly to the horizon, is an almost unbroken, bil- 

 lowy surface of dark, blackish-green forests, while the horizon line is 

 marked by the sharp, snowy peaks of the Madison Mountains. Farther 

 around is the broad, flat, hardly perceptible swell of the continental 

 divide, densely timbered and dotted with little lakelets. Next appears 

 the western edge of the Yellowstone Lake, whose irregular shape, with 

 long arms, reaching far inland, occupies more than a quarter of the 

 circle of the field of view. Beyond it, to the north, rises the plateau of 

 the Elephant's Back, surmounted, ai^parently, by the peaks of the Wash- 

 burn group of mountains. On the northeast, far in the distance, and 

 scarcely discernible against the intense blue of the sky, are the rugged, 

 precipitous peaks of the Yellowstone Eange, which, as we turn more to 

 the east, approach the lake, which finally laps the very feet of the high- 

 est peaks. 



Li the foreground, between our mountain and Yellowstone Lake, is 

 a great area covered densely with forests, and broken into great bulky 

 hills. 



Southward the view is more limited, being cut off by the confused 

 mass of mountains at the head and on the south side of the Snake. 

 Slightly to the west of south, however, the sharp, lofcy spires of the 

 Tetons rise high above the mountain ridge which forms the eastern 

 wall of the Suake Eiver Valley. Thence the eye follows the outline of 

 the Teton range as it trends northward. The needle-like spires change 

 to broader and more massive forms, while the range at the same time 

 decreases in altitude. The timber line gradually nears the summits, 

 then the mountains are covered with forests as the range becomes 

 lower, until finally it terminates in a low gap, by which we pass to the 

 head of Falls Eiver, on the north of which rises Pitchstone Plateau. 

 An unusually clear day discloses many more mountains than have been 

 enumerated here. Professor Bradley counted, from this mountain, 471 

 distinct peaks, at distances ranging from 30 to 200 miles. 



This range is timbered almost to the summits, though the trees near 

 the summits, especially if at all exposed to the severe westerly blasts 

 of winter, are stunted and beaten down. Nearly all of the higher sum- 

 mits are entirely bare of timber, owing, probably, to their exposed posi- 

 tion, as the limit of timber is, in this neighborhood, slightly higher than 

 these peaks, or, inround numbers, 10,500 feet above sea. 



THE CONTINENTAL WATERSHED. 



The continental divide crosses the Park in its southwestern part, 

 hai'iDg a very winding course, but a general direction nearly southeast 



