Juice 80, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



1553 



Canon and the Falls, so took my camera, and accompanied 

 by Folsom, Larsen and Holte, put in the morning along 

 the wondrous Yellowstone, a privilege which has been 

 accorded few travelers of all the world under conditions 

 such as these. 



From the hotel to Lookout Eock, below the Grand 

 Falls, the distance may be something like a mile, for the 

 most part a rather easy slide on the skis. After the first 

 run to the edge of the timber we worked along the little 

 hills, through the straight young pines, till we came to 

 what seemed to be a sort of trestle or bridge, over the 

 gulch near the Point. This was all covered 10ft. deep 

 under snow. From that point to the jutting crag known 

 as Lookout Eock there was a succession of gigantic and 

 irregular drifts of snow. Folsom went all over this 

 calmly without taking off his skis. I confess that in the 

 worst places I dismounted and went over on my hands 

 and knees, with my hands in the toe straps. 



Lookout Eock we found to be a great white heap of 

 snow, standing out over the fathomless and unthinkable 

 depth of the canon. What the footing was we could not 

 tell, but supposed it must be solid out to where the ragged 

 tree was standing on the verge, so we trod a way waist 

 deep out to that, and stood silent in full view of one of 

 the wonders of the world. 



I suppose thousands have stood grasping the stem of 

 that same sturdy, ragged tree, and have looked in silence 

 as we did. They have seen the Canon in summer, and I 

 ■ wish they might all see it also in the depth of winter. 

 Now the glorious colors of the walls were gone, but the 

 peaks and cross and pinnacles were there, free of all 

 color, but done in a clean, perfect white. It was "frozen 

 music"— the diapason of nature's might ; est and most mys- 

 terious anthem all congealed in white, visible, palpable, 

 authentic. No thinking man could stand there and not 

 feel the exalted and compelling theme go thrilling to his 

 heart. 



Against the monotone of the snow the evasive bl»e- 

 white clouds of steam arose from the little hot geyserettes 

 along the river's brink. Above us the great veil of whitf 

 mist which shrouds the Great Falls by winter shitted 

 and swung and halted and paused and towered as the 

 wind said, rising high up to the level of the forest. The 

 ice bridge nearly spanned the Falls at the time of our 

 visit, and down both sides of the Falls, wherever thespray 

 struck the clinging snow, there were broad columns of 

 ice, which at our distance, looked white and dull, but 

 which close at hand must have been prismatic, radiant, 

 glorious in the bright light of morning. It would have 

 been worth one's life no doubt to risk the descent into 

 the Canon, as a snow slide would have been almost cer- 

 tain. We therefore made the photographs from the 

 ragged tree, whence I suppose thousands of Kodak shots 

 have been made by the summer tourists. The white of 

 the Falls and of the mist made a difficult subject against 

 the white background of the snow at so great a distance, 

 and I got only an indifferent view, partly for reasons 

 which I will later on set forth. There are many fine 

 summer negatives of the Falls extant, but I believe the 

 finest amateur negatives I have seen were made by Dr. 

 Gandy, post surgeon at Fort Yellowstone. Dr. Gandy 

 has put some of his beautiful Park negatives at the ser- 

 vice of Forest and Stream, and they speak highly of the 

 possibilities of this pleasing art. I am not sure that Mr. 

 Haynes got a winter view of the Falls on his trip, but if 

 so, it was of course good. I know of no amateur nega- 

 tive made in winter except the one we got that morning. 

 There was so much snow piled up on the edge of the 

 Lookout Eock that it was difficult to get a shot down into 

 the Cafion. I made one or two exposures over the edge 

 with the others holding on to me for safety reasons, but 

 had meagre luck of it. 



Leaving Lookout Eock, we skirted along the river hills 

 and went up the river about a mile and a quarter or more, 

 to a point directly above the Upper Falls. Here we could 

 see only a blinding steam of mist coming up through the 

 reverberant roar of the cataract. The masses of snow 

 kept us from going very close, but we were able to see 

 down into the caldron of the Falls. Of the rapids above 

 the Falls we had a beautiful view, and I stopped to make 

 some exposures here, of course, though it was coming on 

 cold and windy. Here, after a shot or two, my camera, 

 which had been working very badly all the morning, 

 broke down entirely, the film tearing clear across, for the 

 second time already on the trip. Nothing was left but to 

 quit and go home. Folsom told me we could get up a 

 dark room, and I thought perhaps I could tinker the 

 camera into something like shape. 



It took us something like three-quarters of an hour to 

 make the mile climb from the Cascade bridge up the 

 Cafion hill to the hotel. It goes slow on skis, and I 

 imagine there are folk who couldn't get up it in a hundred 

 years. It takes about two or three minutes to come 

 down, according to the condition of the snow. 



We all had rude appetites, which John Folsom pro- 

 ceeded to appease in the small but cosy kitchen. Water 

 we got out of a barrel full of melting snow. 



Re-enforcements Arrive. 

 At 3 P. M. heavy snow began to fall. At 5 P. M. Billy 

 got in, and I was glad of it. He had not met the Haynes 

 party, and had cached his camera in the woods in Hayden 

 Valley. At 6 P. M. the Haynes party, Mr. Haynes and 

 two men, Sergeant Morrison and Bobby Burns, a Post 

 attache, got in, all in fair order except Burns, who had 

 lost his glasses and was suffering badly from snow blind- 

 ness, the black handkerchief he had worn across his face 

 below his eyes not having been efficient. Billy told him 

 to keep a hot- water compress on his eyes, and by morning 

 he was much better. 



Not an Easv Job. 

 Mr. Haynes reported only fair luck at photographing 

 game, as he had met a great deal of stormy, cloudy 

 weather. It would seem a simple thing to go right into 

 the Park and begin to photograph buffalo and elk, but it 

 is really extremely difficult. One must first locate the 

 game. Second, he must not let it get sight or scent of 

 him, else it will stampede and leave the country. Third, 

 he must have a clear day or he will get no sharpness to 

 his pictures. Added to this he must have a long distance 

 (or narrow angle) lens, mod lastly he must have a combi- 

 nation of ready skill and ever-present good lack, for the 

 chances come only for an instant at a time. Let any one 

 undertake to arrange this combination, at the end of a 

 50-mile ski tramp with a heavy sack on his back, and he 

 will learn, a great deal about the difficulties of (his task. 



Mr. Haynes had hard luck at the Lake, and had traveled 

 60 miles for nothing trying to get a pictuee of the poacher 

 Howell's tepee and cache. Troike, the private who 

 attempted to find them, was unable to do so. I offer 

 this as one more instance of the incredible difficulty of 

 patrolling this tremendous country in winter. This man 

 had been with Burgess when Howell was arrested and 

 was supposed to be abl® to go back to the place. A fall 

 of snow came and he was three days in finding it, do his 

 best. How about setting out for a 75-mile jaunt on skis, 

 and under pack, to find a poacher no one has seen or 

 located? When people talk to me now about how "Capt. 

 Anderson ought to be able to stop all the poaching, with 

 two troops of soldiers and nothing else to do," it makes 

 me hot clear through. Such people have no idea what 

 they are talking about. It is easy to be wise and critical 

 with your feet on a stove. Stick them into skis, and 

 turn yourself loose in the Yellowstone Park in winter, 

 and I'll bet a thousand dollars to a last year's banana 

 peel that you think a whole lot different. 



Game in Sight. 



Mr. Haynes had seen game as mentioned below: On 

 March 10, 2 buffalo, 6 foxes, 48 elk, all on the Hayden Val- 

 ley. On March 13. 1 bull elk, 1 cow elk, 23 elk in herd, 

 31 buffalo and 6 buffalo, all on Hayden Vallev. On March 



MR. JOHN FOLSOM IN A SKI POSE, 



14, 1 black fox, 1 red fox, 3 mink, on Hayden Valley. On 

 March 16, 19 elk, 2 foxes, 6 buffalo, all on Pelican Valley 

 (where the Howell killing was). On March 17, along the 

 Yellowstone, he saw 12 swans, 18 foxes and about 300 

 ducks. (The Yellowstone does not freeze.) Billy and I 

 bad not yet gotten into the winter game country, but we 

 were now right upon the edge of it. 



We all concluded to join forces for a day or so in the 

 matter of trying for big game photographs, so that we 

 would not hurt each other's chances by frightening away 

 the game. 



Mr. Haynes used a simple 5x7 box— a Waterbury, if I 

 am not mistaken — but he had a $125 Eo>°s lens, and he 

 went to all the trouble — a very great one — of taking in 

 glass plates, which he said far surpassed any film. He got 

 beautiful results, and thus added largely to his perpetua- 

 tion of the beauties of the Park, whose skilled and tireless 



wait till he gets what he knows will make a good pic- 

 ture. Then with a good lens, good plates and good care, 

 he knows he has got his picture when he presses his but- 

 ton. 



"Of course, a short-focus lens is quicker in action than 

 a long-focus. If you narrow your field, getting a long- 

 range camera, you get a slower lens. Yet with quick 

 plates, I should think a machine made on the principle of 

 Mr. Hofer's here, would be the best for this sort of work, 

 where you don't want too wide an angle, but want size to 

 your figures." (Billy had plates also for his machine, 

 and used some of them.) 



As Mr. Haynes is one of the best and best known pho- 

 tographers of the country, the above advice maybe taken 

 as ex cathedra. 



Tried for Buffalo. 

 On Monday, March 19, Billy took Larsen and Mr. 

 Haynes took Morrison, they going over on the Hayden 

 Valley, six or eight miles, for a try at the buffalo. As 

 was feared, it came off stormy, and they got no pictures. 

 The shoeing was sticky and very hard. * 



Progress in Ski Theory. 



By this time I was beginning to study into the theory 

 of ski running still more deeply. I had noticed in coming 

 up the great Cafion hill, which was largely a case of 

 "corduroying," that the heels of my skis hung lower than 

 the toes, and so were always dragging down behind in 

 the side-step. I held a consultation with John Folsom, 

 and the result was that we cut 5in. off the heel of each of 

 my skis, set the straps back 3im, and planed off a lot of 

 useless wood from the tops of the skis. We took off 

 about a pound in weight from each shoe. After that I 

 noticed a startling improvement in my ability to get up 

 hill. It is only by experience one learns. 



I noticed that Folsom's skis were of ash, but channeled 

 and worn thin by several seasons of hard use. Folsom 

 told me that Norway pine made the best shoes, as they did 

 not stick like ash, though they were apt to be brittle if 

 made too thin. Hickory, he said, made fine, springy skis, 

 with good grain, but a trifle heavy. Ash was pretty tough 

 and light, but ne eded more care in waxing. The best wax 

 for shoes was made of tallow and beeswax, but if you get 

 in too much beeswax, you would get your skis so slippery 

 and glassy that you could hardly use them, especially in 

 going up hill. 



Eight Miles For Fun. 

 On Tuesday Billy was tired and his sore heel hurt him, 

 so he curled up on the bed in the kitchen and read a novel, 

 declaring that he had had enough of travel for awhile. 

 All the rest of us except John Folsom went out for some 

 fun on the skis. The thermometer continued about zero, 

 which temperature seemed pleasant. The snow was in 

 good order and we had a good run, doing perhaps eight 

 miles or more for the fun of the thing. We had a good 

 run down the Canon hill — fortunately not running off the 

 trail at the sharp angle near the bottom, where even so 

 good a shoer as Folsom has failed to get around and nar- 

 rowly escaped a headlong plunge into the depths of the 

 ravine below. We then crossed Cascade Creek, with its 



beautiful falls hnried out of sigM nnriojj.Jrko ono^, <*i»J 



followed, the Hayden Valley trail out for a mile or so, to a 

 place where the mountain slopes rose up high and bare, 

 offering a good place for a long and swift ski run, which 

 was what we were after. We worked up the slopes for a 

 mile, perhaps, getting as high as we could, and going for- 

 ward all the time, until we reached a high peak or point, 



BILLY HOFER WAXING UP THE SKIS. 



artist he has been for years. He. expresses himself satis- 

 fied, as well he might be, with the results of his first at- 

 tempt at photographing wild game. I spent a time to 

 profit in a talk with him in the hotel kitchen the evening 

 of his arrival at the Canon. 



Valuable Advice To Amateurs. 



"It is a very common mistake of amateurs," he said, 

 "to think they must always have the sun at the back 

 when making an exposure. If you get to one side and 

 catch the shadows, you get a Eembrandt-lighted picture 

 which is much prettier, not so hard and with proper con- 

 trast. 



"Now, if you try to photograph a geyser in action 

 you will get nothing if you make the picture with the 

 sun at your back, because you will have no contrast be- 

 tween the steam and your background. But you make 

 your exposure right square against the sun and the light 

 shining in against your cloud of steam will give you a 

 contrast and you will get a sharp, clear negative. 



"Another common bugbear of amateurs is the question 

 of focus. Now, with the right sort of lens, you don't 

 need to bother about focus. I never touch my lens, and 

 it cuts sharp and clear at any distance from 25 feet to 

 half a mile, It will get relative distances and perspective 

 into a picture. Cheap lenses will not do this, and they 

 have to be changed in focus continually to avoid blurring 

 the 1 negative. Success with one of these must be largely 

 a matter of success in guessing distances. It pays to get 

 the best lens possible. Glass is better than film. One 

 should get out of the habit of snapping at everything,^ ut 



bare of timber, and swept with a keen wind, which packed 

 the snow almost into ice. Below us lay the level of the 

 valley of the Yellowstone, and on the bank of a little creek 

 we could see far below us a little cabin, built for the sum- 

 mer use of the troops, and now just visible above 

 the level of the snow. The leaders of our snowshoe 

 brigade thought it would be a good thing to jump 

 off th$ earth from the top of this bare peak, and 

 land somewhere down there by the cabin, three- 

 quarters of a mile or more. For my part I was not 

 enthusiastic over this proposition, but by this time was 

 getting sort of resigned. One after another dropped off 

 over the edge and shot down, and, holy mackerel, how 

 they did fly. A man seemed to condense and shorten up 

 like a telescope as he sank down and down, instant after 

 instant, so that he wasn't over half size when he reached 

 the foot of the hill. When I let go I had no definite idea 

 of what was going to happen, but as I wasn't particular 

 where I went it didn't make much difference anyhow. 

 Again I experienced the exhilaration of the astonishingly 

 smooth and easy motion of the swiftness of which the 

 sfci-runner himself has no just conception at the time. 

 To my surprise, I kept in the tracks of those ahead and 

 arrived all standing, with only the temporary disgrace of 

 having "ridden my pole" on tke last sharp drop, at which 

 there was loud protest from the others. Then we all 

 went in for sfci-jumping for an hour or so, making a 

 lovely jump out of a snow drift on a steep hillside, so 

 that we could clear 30ft. or so. At this we found our 

 Skandinavians, Larsen and Holte, easily superior, they 

 having had long experience in the winter games of 



