CHAPTER II 



THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 



Of the four national parks of the West, the 

 Yellowstone is far the largest. It is a big, 

 wholesome wilderness on the broad summit of the 

 Rocky Mountains, favored with abundance of 

 rain and snow, — a place of fountains where the 

 greatest of the American rivers take their rise. 

 The central portion is a densely forested and 

 comparatively level volcanic plateau with an aver- 

 age elevation of about eight thousand feet above 

 the sea, surrounded by an imposing host of moun- 

 tains belonging to the subordinate Gallatin, Wind 

 River, Teton, Absaroka, and snowy ranges. Un- 

 numbered lakes shine in it, united by a famous 

 band of streams that rush up out of hot lava beds, 

 or fall from the frosty peaks in channels rocky 

 and bare, mossy and bosky, to the main rivers, 

 singing cheerily on through every difficulty, cun- 

 ningly dividing and finding their way east and 

 west to the two far-off seas. 



Glacier meadows and beaver meadows are out- 

 spread with charming effect along the banks of 

 the streams, parklike expanses in the woods, and 



