20 RECONNAISSANCE FROM CARROLL, MONTANA, 
Rain fell again during the afternoon and night, and our experience of the weather in the park 
seemed to be similar to that of Captain Jones, as recorded in his report. On one 
day only of the two weeks passed in the park did we fail to have rain or shower, 
and night observations were in consequence greatly interfered with. 
August 16.—Camp was broken at 8.30. The herd had wandered during the night, and a couple 
of hours were lost in getting them in and ready for the road. The pack-mules had 
been employed on similar duty just before, and heavily laden. The construction or 
adjustment of the army pack-saddle is doubtless capable of great improvement; at any rate, the 
backs and shoulders of the animals were in very bad condition, and one of them was found to be so 
unfit for a load that it was necessary to leave him at the bridge. 
While in the park, as there was no grain for the animals, they were allowed free range at night, 
and the grazing is so plentiful and nutritious that the majority of them held their own, although the 
work was occasionally severe. There need be little or no apprehension from Indians, and guards 
were not posted after leaving the Mammoth Springs. 
The trail from Meadow Brook leads up the left bank of the Yellowstone, winding among some 
low hills, and at four and a half miles from camp makes a precipitous plunge into 
the valley of Tower Creek, crossing which it ascends the opposite bank by a more 
gradual incline. The stream is a strong rapid brook, 12 or 15 feet in width, and a foot or two in 
depth, with a stony bed, the waters fed from the snow-fields of the mountains. A 
short distance below the crossing are the falls, which leap down 150 feet into a 
narrow, dark cation some 480 feet in depth. Basaltic-tufa cones and columns in the vicinity of the 
fall have suggested the name, and all the surroundings are picturesque in the highest degree. The 
finest view of the falls can be gained from a projecting spur op the south bank just below them, 
whence both the cafion and the creek-valley above can be seen. The stream discharges into the 
Yellowstone River near by, and at its mouth very fine fishing rewards the visitor. 
There seem to be two varieties of trout here, the bulky ones of the Yellowstone, with bright- 
yellow bellies and stripings of red, and a smaller kind more silvery in appearance, 
and exhibiting much greater activity and game qualities. These latter seemed to 
come generally from the creek. The mouth of the creek may be called the lower end of the Grand 
Cation, which extends up the river some sixteen miles to the foot of the Great Falls. 
Leaving the creek, the trail, alternately rising and falling, and curving to the right and left, 
gains the foot of a long, somewhat rolling ascent, which finally attains the western 
shoulder of Mount Washburne. The flanks of this incline fall steeply on both 
sides, displaying to the west an ocean of deep-green pine, surrounded by ragged, bare pinnacles, and 
to the east breaking into the foot-hills of Washburne. This incline is approximately located on 
Raynolds’s map, and called the Elephant’s Back, which name has on some later maps been trans- 
ferred to a minor elevation near the Yellowstone Lake. The name is appropriate and descriptive, 
and, having been given by the first topographer of the region, should be allowed to have its original 
application. 
Over this the trail by a gradual ascent reaches a high point on Mount Washburne, passing 
between banks of snow, which had remained unmelted by the summer’ssun. Here, leaving the trail, 
Summit of Mount the party ascended to the summit of the mountain. The climb was made in less 
Wasbburite. than an hour, and can almost be accomplished on horseback, so rounded is the 
mountain-top, although consideration for the saddle-horses would suggest making it on foot. In 
passing some stunted pines near the trail, it was observed that there were vo branches or twigs on 
the northwest side of the tree, and that those which sprung from the northeast and southwest sides 
were twisted back and trailed away to the southeast. The explanation of this was not long in 
doubt. Reaching the summit, the whole panorama of the park sprung into view: the lake, with 
deeply sinuous shores and silver surface, interspersed with islands, with the Yellowstone River 
crooking away from it toward us, was set, as it were, in a vast expanse of green, rising and falling 
in huge billows, above which here and there jets of steam arose like spray; the encircling peaks, 
ragged and snow-clad, almost too numerous to.count; Mount Humphreys, thirty or forty miles 
southeast, Sheridan and Hancock the same distance to the south, and beyond and above them, 
Rain in the park. 
Army pack-mules. 
Tower Creek. 
Tower Falls. 
Trout. 
Elepbant's Back. 
