48 GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY OF THE TEEEITORIES. 



one of the main branches of Clark's Fork. This divide or pass was 

 found to be 8,500 feet. The view from the mountain-summit was grand 

 in the extreme. Extending far to the south is a chaotic mass of volcanic 

 peaks, varying from 9,500 to 11,000 feet. Pilot and Finger Peaks are 

 located near together, on the divide between the East Fork of Yellow- 

 stone and Clark's Fork. (Fig. 8.) One of them derives its name from its 

 shape, like a closed hand with the index-finger extending upward, while 

 the other is visible for so great a distance from every side that it forms an 

 excellent landmark for the wandering miner, and thus its appropriate 

 name of Pilot Peak. The metamorphic rocks underlie the limestones 

 everywhere, and in the valley of Clark's Fork they are exposed over quite 

 large areas. At least one hundred small tributaries pour into the river 

 and its main branches from the lofty snowy mountains. Each one 

 seems to rise in a small lake, and as we pass our eyes along the rounded 

 low granite mountains on either side of Clark's Fork, they rest upon 

 numbers of these reservoirs, glistening like gems in the sunlight. On 

 the east side of Clark's Fork is a remarkably rugged granite range, 

 covered with perpetual snows. On the west side, low down in the val- 

 ley, the massive walls of limestone-strata may be seen most distinctly. 

 The beds of limestone do not seem to incline at very great angles, but 

 to have been elevated to different heights. Sometimes a group of strata 

 will be found in the bed of the valley, and then again lifted up in a 

 nearly horizontal position on the mountain-sides 1,000 or 1,500 feet 

 above the bed of the river. Although the scenery is so rugged and 

 grand, yet an air of desolation reigns over the whole. Perpetual snow 

 is seen everywhere, and the somber nakedness of the volcanic peaks 

 adds to the gloom ; but toward evening the setting sun envelops them 

 with such a delicate golden haze that one seems wafted into the land 

 of enchantment. The delicious colors are blended with a delicacy and 

 a richness that no artist has yet fixed on canvas. Toward the north 

 and stretching oft' to the Yellowstone are a great number of sugar-loaf 

 peaks, giving origin to Stillwater, Eock Creek, and Bowlder Creek, with 

 their numerous branches on one side, and Slough Creek, with many 

 other creeks that flow into the Yellowstone or East Fork, on the oppo- 

 site side. Slough Creek rises iu a little lake about 7,300 feet above the 

 sea. This little lake is about three-fourths of a mile long and half a 

 mile wide, and so full of trout that they cannot find suflicient food for 

 their subsistence. At any rate, Mr. Blackmore caught over one hundred 

 trout in a few hours, which averaged from 12 to 15 inches in length. 

 Every one of them was poor and thin. Eock Creek also rises in the 

 same ravine, but the waters are turned in an opposite direction from 

 those flowing into the lake at the source of Slough Creek. Eock Creek 

 flows down the mountain-side with a northeasterly course, carving its 

 channel deep through the limestones into the metamorphicrocks, and 

 forming some of the most interesting scenery in this region. Nothing 

 could exceed the beauty of the waterfalls on Eock Creek, where the 

 water dashes over the rocks 1,500 feet in a distance of two miles. The 

 photographer could here find subjects for his art without number. 

 The tops of the mountains on the immediate divide are mostly limestone, 

 and on every side the conical or pyramidal peaks have been cut down 

 so as to expose the metamorphic rocks to a greater or less extent. In 

 the valleys where the massive feldspathic granites are revealed, they 

 have been so worn by glacial action that a smooth surface like enamel 

 has been formed. 



We followed down the somewhat difficult valley or canon of Slough 

 Creek on our return. The distance was about eighteen miles. A num- 



