GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF REGION. U 
the next day Mr. Hudson, Mr. Nowlin, and I left Cheyenne for Jackson 
Hole, via Pocatello and St. Anthony, Idaho. To reach the scene of 
our work, a two days' stage trip after leaving the railroad was neces- 
sary. We left St. Anthony on March 15 and passed the night at 
Victor, Idaho, close to the western base of the lofty and picturesque 
Teton Range. Xext day we crossed this range, over from 10 to 40 
feet of snow, via the Teton Pass, at 8,429 feet altitude, and descending 
the eastern slope of the range crossed Snake River and reached the 
town of Jackson. This point, in the southern part of Jackson Hole, 
was our headquarters for nearly three months. From here we made 
trips by stage and other conve3^ances and on foot to various parts of 
the valley of Snake River from the head of Jackson Lake south nearly 
to Hoback River and visited also the valleys of Buffalo and Gros 
Ventre Rivers. We left the valley in early June to take up other 
work, but Mr. Nowlin returned about August 1 and continued the 
investigations. 
During the progress of the work I was greatly assisted by Mr. 
Nowlin. His intimate personal acquaintance with the people of the 
region and with the various phases of the problem made him peculiarly 
valuable. To the residents of the region, also, I am greatly indebted 
for courtesies extended. 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION. 
Jackson Hole is the name commonly applied to that part of the 
Snake River Valley between Jackson Lake and the mouth of Hoback 
or Fall River. (See map, PI. III.) It is a basin about 40 miles in 
length from north to south and averaging about 15 miles in width 
and extends in a north-northeast and south-southwest direction. It 
has an altitude of about 6,700 feet at its north end and falls to about 
6,000 feet at its southern extremity. Snake River, after issuing from 
Jackson Lake, traverses the valley in a direction slightly nearer 
southwesterly than the general trend of the basin, entering it at its 
northeastern extremity and crossing to its western border in the course 
of a few miles. This river has a rather uniformly rapid current and is 
moderately direct in its course, but in places divides into numerous 
channels inclosing large islands. From the east it receives succes- 
sively Pacific Creek (whose twin, Atlantic Creek, heading in the same 
meadow, is tributary to the Missouri), Buffalo River or Buffalo Fork, 
Gros Ventre River, and Little Gros Ventre or Flat Creek. Parts of 
Snake River and its larger tributaries are bordered by groves of 
narrow-leaf cottonwoods (Populus angustifolia) , interspersed with a 
few spruces, with an undergrowth of dogwood, alder, and other 
shrubs. Along some of the tributaries of Snake River are natural 
marshy meadows which support a rank growth of marsh grasses, with 
thickets of willows on their borders and along the streams, and a 
15973°— Bull. 40—11 2 
