GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEEEITORIES. 



121 



west of camp. Onr way was np a long ridge, which seemed to us to 

 lead to the summit of the peak. The rocks immediately beneath us 

 were Cretaceous saudstoues. On reaching the 

 timber-line (0,442 feet above sea4evel) we 

 found we would have to finish the ascent on 

 foot, as the slope became too steep for the 

 horses. So dismounting we picketed them, 

 and started for the summit. The sandstones 

 over which we passed reach within 500 feet of 

 the top, dipping to the northwest. The sum- 

 mit of the i^eak seemed to be made up of an 

 immense pile of brokenup volcanic rock, (a 

 rusty-gray trachyte.) When we were within 

 about 500 feet of the top a storm came up, and 

 we were enveloped in clouds. The ascent here 

 was very difficult, as the fragments of rock 

 were very sharp, and most of them loose, slid- 

 ing from beneath us as we climbed over them. 

 Mr. Gannett succeeded in attaining the highest 

 point and depositing his instruments, when he 

 discovered that he was in the midst of an elec- 

 trical cloud, and his feelings not being of the 

 most agreeable sort he retreated. As he neared 

 us we observed that his hair was standing on 

 end, as though he were on an electrical stool, 

 and we could hear a series of snapping sounds, 

 as though he were receiving the charges of a 

 number of electrical frictional machines. Mr. 

 Brown next tried to go up, but received a shock ri^.< 

 which deterred him. The cloud now began to w" 

 settle about us, and we descended some 500 §^ 

 feet, and waited until the storm passed over. ' f 

 About 4 o'clock in the afternoon we succeeded £ 

 in reaching the top, and Mr. Gannett found the £? 

 altitude of the peak to be 10,992 feet above the 

 sea. We named it Electric Peak. The eastern 

 side is hollowed, and from the base two small 

 creeks flow to join the Yellowstone. Between 

 the peak and the Hot Springs, on Gardiner's 

 Eiver, there must have been a center of volcanic 

 action, for the sedimentary beds opposite the 

 springs dip in the opposite direction to that of 

 the beds on the western side of Electric Peak, 

 and the space between is filled with volcanic 

 material, from which a cone-like mountain 

 rises. This will also explain the crushing to- 

 gether of the strata above the Devil's Slide. 

 Descending the peak after completing our ob- 

 servations we reached our horses about 6 

 o'clock in the evening, and soon were on the 

 way toward camp, with, however, but little 

 hope of reachingit that night, as the main party 

 had started up the river in the morning after 

 we lef^ camp. After dark we camped on the 

 banks of Cache Creek, some miles from the 

 valley of the Yellowstone. The next day about noon we reached 



OS 



5= S 

 2 <^ 



^ 2 



a 



