114 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 11, 1894. 
" Forest and Stream's " Yellowstone 
Park Game Exploration. 
No. 1 1 
THE COUNTING OF THE ELK. 
Ease with Dignity at the Post. 
It was very comfortable at Ft. Yellowstone in the good 
hands of Captain Andersen, the commanding- officer, and 
for my part I did not 
care to leave either the 
Park itself or that por- 
tion thereof in which I 
was then located. There 
was a comfortable will- 
ingness to lie still a day 
or so, and a cheerful 
disposition to obey the 
command of the rank- 
ing officer to keep still, 
retain my clothing on 
my person and take it 
easy for a while before 
doing any more snow- 
shoe travel. Very valu- 
able also were these 
days of rest at the Post, 
for during them I 
learned still more of the 
thorough method by 
which the Park is gov- 
erned, of the perfected 
system in force, and of 
the painstaking and con- 
scientious labor per- 
formed by every branch 
of the military body to 
whose care the great 
preserve has been hand- 
ed over. At that time, 
March 29, it should be 
remembered, there was 
no law by which a 
poacher or violator of 
the Park could be pun- 
ished, except as under 
military regulations. 
The latter, though ac- 
knowledged to be inef- 
ficient, were naturally 
construed as severely as 
possible. At that time 
the poacher Howell was 
reposing as deep in the 
guard house as Capt. Anderson could throw him, and 
Capt. Anderson, with some quiet chuckles, told me how 
sometimes Capt. Scott, whose troop was stationed, in the 
tourist season, at the Geyser Basins of the upper Park, had 
found occasion to make some exuberant bridegroom, who 
had written his name and that of his beloved on a geyser 
formation, walk back twenty miles from the next stage 
station and scrub out his immortality by means of soap 
and brush. 
Our rest, however, was not of long duration, for it was 
thought best to 
make the trip over 
to the wintering 
ground of the elk, 
so that a personal 
investigation could 
be made as to their 
numbers. This 
would take us over 
toward the north- 
east corner of the 
Park, to the country 
about Yancey's, and 
the East Fork be- 
yond Yancey's. The 
distance to Yancey s 
was twenty miles, to 
be made in one jour- 
ney. A Chinook was 
on, and the shoeing 
had now become 
simply awful. Mr, 
Haynes had been 
over to Yancey's, 
and described it as 
the worst time he 
had ever had in his 
life. With this uut- 
ook we did not feel 
exuberant over the 
trip. 
To give some sort 
of notion of that 
country, in the ab- 
sence of a map, let 
us suppose a large 
letter V. The legs 
of the V are made 
of the Yellowstone 
and Gardiner rivers. 
Ft. Yellowstone we 
may call located 
near the apex or 
point of the V, and we will say Yancey's is at the base, 
calling it about twenty miles across the base. Yancey's 
is, however, on the level of the Yellowstone River, These 
rivers here all run down hill, and they run at the bottom 
of deep valleys or canons. The Post being located outside 
of the V, that is* to say, on the left hand side of the 
Gardiner Valley, there were, in ski talk, three "hills" to 
be accounted for in this trip (in reality there may have 
been 3,000). The first was the west side of the Gardiner, 
or from the Post down to the Gardiner River, maybe a 
couple of miles or less. Then came the climb up so-called 
"Gardiner Hill," two miles or so more, to an elevation 
much greater than that of the Mammoth Hot Springs. 
This would bring us to the great plateau — a very broken 
and hilly one we found it— which we will say lies between 
the two arms of the V. Across this plateau was ten or 
twelve miles, and we would then be within five miles of 
Yancey's, that is to say, at the top of the left side of the 
Yellowstone arm of the V. Yancey's, heing at the level 
of the bottom of the valley, would of course be far below, 
but once at the top of the hill we were the same as there, 
it was said, for everybody agreed that once at the Devil's 
Gut at the top of the Yancey Hill, it would take us a very 
short space of time to get to the bottom, always provided 
that we could keep up with our skis. 
It will be seen that we had only one "hill" to climb 
going east, the Gardiner Hill leading up to the plateau. 
Coming back, we would have two "hills" to negotiate. 
Capt. Anderson very kindly offered us a solution of a 
COW ELK IN HAY DEN VALLEY. 
Photo by Haynes. 
portion of our difficulties. He thought that as the snow 
was going so fast at these lower altitudes, he could set us 
in an ambulance across the Gardiner River and pretty 
well up the Gardiner Hills behind. He further promised 
that if w§ would set a day for our return he would have 
the ambulance meet us as far up the Gardiner Hill as it 
could get on that day. All of which was not only kind 
but valuable assistance, as it would save us one run down 
and one climb up, on a locality where the shoeing was 
very bad. 
BUFFALO ON ALUM CREEK. 
Plioto by Haynes. 
It was about 9 o'clock of the morning of March 30 when 
we left the Post for Yancey's. Billy took along his big 
camera, and we both had along in our packs the necessary 
articles. We had along this time private Hunt, Capt. 
Anderson having detailed him in place of Larsen — who 
had started early the night before for the Lake Hotel 
with the detail sent out to bring in the buffalo heads 
stored there by the first party out of the Howell plunder. 
This would give Larsen 140 miles or so more on top of 
what we had traveled, enough to get him in condition, 
anyhow. 
I have often had occasion to admire the skill of the 
real Western mountain teamster, which is something no 
tenderfoot driver can appreciate without seeing. A 
tenderfoot teamster would have turned back at the end 
of the first half mile and called this road impassable, for 
the mules were breaking through, plunging and wallow- 
ing shoulder deep in the snow. Our teamster took it all 
coolly, never hurried his mules, and let them take their 
time. Those beasts seemed skilled and sapient also in 
this sort of work. They seemed never to get rattled when 
they went down nearly out of sight in the snow, but lay 
still and took it easy till they got their breath, and then 
slowly and carefully tried it for a few yards further on. 
By this curious illustration of an adaptation to environ- 
ment, we got on slowly even so far as the Gardiner River 
and a little way up the hill beyond, to a point where the 
snow was too deep for the mules, and apparently hard 
enough for the skis. The snow was melting along the 
ground and not on top, 
as we learned by slump- 
ing through into streams 
of water when we got 
out to help the mules. 
We did not dare take 
many chances about get- 
ting our feet wet in the 
valley flats, but here on 
the hill the snow was 
not so hard, so after 
leaving the team we 
walked on foot nearly 
to the top of the Gard- 
iner Hill. The mail 
carrier, Church, perhaps 
the most skillful winter 
driver in that region, 
had taken his team with 
a sled up this hill. 
Church took a buck- 
board to the point where 
we left our team, then 
left the buck board and 
took to his sled. When 
he could get no further 
he hitched his horses 
and took to his skis. 
He carried the Yancey's 
and Soda Butte mail, 
and was rarely behind 
in any weather. How 
he did it was a mystery. 
The snow he passed 
through and over was 
from 3 to 30ft. deep, and 
it probably averaged 6 
or 8ft. He managed to 
find bare ridges and get 
along. As I have stated , 
the snow does not lie so 
evenly in this part of the 
Park, being blown about 
more. 
We found Church's 
trail up the Gardiner Hill of much service, as it packed 
the snow so that it would bear our weight that morning 
without the skis. We found that the best place to step 
was about 4in. inside the track of the sled runner, where 
the snow seemed to be compressed most. If one stepped 
on the ridge between the horses' tracks he was apt to 
break through. When he did that he would sink down 
full-leg depth, get a bad jar, and have a hard time regain- 
ing his footing. Repeat this a hundred times, and the 
result is annoying and tiring. It was noon, and we were 
tired enough 
already, when we 
topped the long, 
steep and winding 
Gardiner Hill, and 
turned out into the 
timber just above 
the beautiful Gard- 
iner Falls to eat 
lunch and put our 
skis in order. We 
were now what is 
called five miles on 
our way, and at the 
edge of the plateau, 
if the succession of 
mountain spurs and 
foothills can so be 
called. 
As has been earlier 
taken up, there are 
certain gentlemen 
who profess to be 
anxious to build a 
railroad through the 
Park to Cooke City, 
up the Yellowstone, 
or that is to say, up 
ono arm of the V of 
which we have been 
speaking. It may be 
that railroads can be 
built with ease over 
a country where a 
good ski runner 
can't go, though I 
doubt it. Anyhow, 
we knew it would 
be impossible to get 
up the proposed 
route of the Cooke 
City air line, and 
took this easier 
route, away back from the sharper dips and canons close 
to the deep valley of the Yellowstone. I should say that 
our route, being the easier of the two, would be the better 
one for the Cooke City air line. It would be necessary, 
however, for the line to be equipped with a vertical ele- 
vator of sufficient power to lift the railway trains three- 
quarters of a mile straight up into the air. This would 
be simple, and would bring the right of way up to the 
level of the ' 'plateau. " I thin k they would then be plenty 
busy enough to get a grade across that interesting 
country, which is about as level as the fingers of your 
hand when you stick them up straight. I will not say 
that a road could not be built across this "plateau" if a 
company had a few million dollars, but it certainly would 
have to have an elevator on each side of the plateau, at 
