4 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE • TERRITOEIES. 



basin several days, until supplies could be obtained from Virginia City 

 for the return trip to Fort Hall. 



The party then continued its way up the valley of the Madison to its 

 source, and spent some days exploring the different branches of Snake 

 Eiver and the Madison. There is perhaps no more unknown or more in- 

 teresting geographical region in America than this great water divide of 

 our continent. The maps which are now in process of construction in the' 

 office, and which will be issued to the public in the course of the present 

 year, will almost entirely change the geography of this wonderful region. 

 Within a radius of ten miles, may be found the sources of three of the 

 largest rivers in America. The general elevation is from 7,000 to 8,000 

 feet above the sea, while the mountains whose eternal snows form the 

 sources of these great rivers, rise to a height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. 

 Flowing northward are the numerous branches of the Missouri, 

 Yellowstone, and Wind Rivers, which all eventually unite into one 

 mighty stream, the Missouri ! To the south are the branches of Green 

 Eiver, which unites with the Colorado antl finally empties into the Gulf 

 of California, while south* and west flow the branches of Snake River, 

 which, uniting with the Columbia, pour their vast volume of water into 

 the Pacific. 



The exploration of this remarkable water divide proves that the Mad- 

 ison Fork has its source in a small lake not hitherto noted on any map, 

 and that the so-called Madison Lake belongs entirely on the Pacific 

 slope. This latter lake 'was found to be about twelve miles long and 

 eight miles wide. . From this body of water flows a strefim nearly one 

 hundred feet wide, which, after a distance of about five miles, empties 

 into a second lake which is four miles long and one and a half miles wide. 

 The former of these lakes was named Lake Shoshone, and the latter 

 Lake Lewis, in honor of the great pioneer explorer of the ISTorthwest. 



At the upper end of Lake Shoshone a new geyser basin was discovered, 

 with from seventy-five to one hundred springs, many of them geysers of 

 considerable power. The ornamentation about these springs was regarded 

 as more interesting and elaborate than those in Fire Hole Basin. The 

 divide between the Yellowstone Lake and Lake Lewis was found to be 

 about 50 feet above the former, and 200 feet above the latter. This low 

 ridge in the great water divide of the continent has doubtless given rise 

 to the story of the Two-Ocean River, and such a stream has found its 

 way to most of our i^dnted maps. 



From the summit of Red Mountain the scoi)e of vision embraced a 

 radius of one hundred, and fifty miles, within which four hundred and 

 seventy mountain-peaks worthy of a name could be distinctly observed. 

 The area that could be swept by the eye from this point could not have 

 been less than fifty thousand square miles, embracing every variety of 

 grand and beautiful scenery, of mountain and valley, probably without 

 a parallel on the continent. Ten large lakes and several smaller ones 

 were embraced in the view, and the entire Yellowstone Park was spread 



