GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEEEITOEIES. 89 



elements of a comfortable present subsistence and of a certain fortune 

 in the future. Milk, butter, and cheese command a ready sale, at high 

 prices. Already numerous iiocks and herds are to be seen in these val- 

 leys, and those who, but live or six years ago, engaged in the business 

 of stock-raising, with a dozen cows, are now the owners of herds num- 

 bering hundreds. 



There are large bodies of land in the Teton Basin, and in the valleys 

 along the streams flowing into Snake Eiver, which may be profitably 

 cultivated with wheat and vegetables. Water for irrigation in abund- 

 ance, flowing from the surrounding mountains, may be cheaply and 

 easily utilized. A railroad along tbe north fork of the Snake would 

 pass within ten miles of this basin, and the route for this distance could 

 be readily improved by a wagon-road. The foot-hills and mountains 

 surrounding the valley are covered with dense forests of pine. Lum- 

 bering must ultimately become a very extensive and profitable branch 

 of business over nearly all parts of the route from Market Lake to the 

 Yellowstone. The streams are very numerous, and all furnish abundant 

 water-power for both saw and grist mills. There is no better market 

 for this product in the west than western and northern Utah. This 

 business alone will, in time, warrant the construction of a railroad over 

 this route, to say nothing of its various sources of revenue derivablsr 

 from a connection with the settled portions of Montana Territory. 



We carried out the intention, with which we started, of visiting and 

 properly locating the three Tetons, and of ascending "to the summit of 

 the highest of them. Assured by our guide, and others who had long 

 been familiar with the country, that it would be impossible to clamber 

 up this mountain, that though repeatedly attempted it was a feat which 

 had never been achieved, we did not undertake the task without great 

 misgivings as to the result. The most northerly, or Grand Teton, which 

 has received the name of, and will hereafter be known as, Mount Haj^- 

 den, presents to the eye an outline very similar to that of the Matter- 

 horn in the Alps. Its very appearance, unlike that of most of our 

 mountains, seems to forbid all attempts to scale it, and for most of the 

 distance the ascent can only be accomplished by climbing wjth both feet 

 and hands. The face of the mountain presents an angle never less than 

 45° and frequently 60°, much more abrupt than the steepest stairways. 

 Glaciers of greater or lesser dimensions are met with every few hun- 

 dred feet, and in several instances they proved almost insurmountable. 

 The irregular stratifications of the rocks were often such as to leave us 

 with no support other than our hands at points aud turnings where a 

 failure in our hold would have precipitated us hundreds of feet down the 

 face of the mountain. At one or two points when nearing the summit 

 ■we would have been obliged to abandon the task but for the aid we re- 

 ceived by casting a rope over prominent projections and pulling our- 

 selves over them, to places where we could obtain secure footholds. In 

 one of these efforts Mr. Stevenson came near losing his hold and fall- 

 ing down a precipice nearly a thousand feet. Another of our company, 

 ■while ascending along the edge of a glacier, losing his hold, slid down 

 a smooth ridge of ice, a distance of 40 feet, with fearful rapidity. His 

 own presence of mind, in hastily throwing himself astride the edge of 

 the glacier and descending it in that position, caused him to fall into a 

 snow-bed at the bottom, and on the extreme edge of the precipice. This 

 saved him from falling at least 800 feet. Of nine of the conjpauy who 

 commenced the ascent Mr. Stevenson and myself were alone successftil. 



We found on one of the buttresses, a little lower than the extreme top 

 of the mountain, evidence that at some former period it had been visited 



