The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume], October 05, 1934, Page PAGE SEVEN, Image 7

About The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Friday, October 5, 1934-
Wonders of Yellowstone National Park Revealed in Diary
of Abraham S. Wiley, Pioneer of Miles City for Years, Who
Made Trip Into Wonderland With His Son, Howard, in 1883
(IN FOUR PARTS—PART THREE)
(By “MON TANA LOU” GRILL)
Departing from Bozeman on June
30, 1883, Abraham S. Wiley, accom
panied by his son Howard, set up
their camp about five miles south
of Hot Springs, in Yellowstone Na
tional park on the evening of July
seventh. It was a long and somewhat
hazardous journey, as the elder Mr.
Wiley describes it in his diary.
"How shall I describe this wonder?”
he comments. "Six hundred acres of
boiling springs. Many of them have
built mounds 300 feet high of porous
rock. We walked all over the mounds,
but I confess to feeling some trepida
tion as we walked over the treacherous
hollow sounding
posit, with spray? BL w. . * 'MB
of water so hot that
one can not bear t(
put the finger in B
the water any more ■
than in a boilinr HMMwEiEBy-51
tea kettle. At a poo EM| . ' i
below the Orange BEOOKlfe" ; A
geyser I washed ou' ■- jl
my handkerchief ' 1
and a face towel ln^ >
the warm water.” X j
Here they dined.
and leaving their J
horses to feed they .. Mon »..»to." Grin '
walked over to
"Bath Lake” some 200 feet in diameter
with boiling springs in it where a bath
was taken. Considerable determina
tion was exercised before they ven
tured into the water the temperature of
which was 125 degrees.
"In several places,” Mr. Wiley writes
in his diary, "the boiling water makes
a little ebulition on the surface. How-i
ard swam over one of these places and
was precious glad to get out of it. The
water felt on entering it as if it was
scalding us.” I
Pushing on to find a place to camp,
the road was found to be so steep that
it was necessary to walk more than half
the way “and then it was a terrible
drag for the cayuses. They are good
faithful animals.” Father and son be
came so tired they could hardly walk.
The sun was hot, “very hot, we could
find no drinking water; the road kept
ascending, hill upon hill; the horses
were groaning and getting fagged out,
but still hill appeared after hill and no
water.” I
Their hearts were gladdened when l
about half past six o'clock they came
to a fertile meadow “with a clear, cold
stream flowing over a pebbly bottom.
One never knows what an absolute
necessity water is until such an ex
perience.” With the horses feeding
outside, Howard in bed. Wiley sits on
a potato sack writing in his diary by
the light of a candle. Letters were also
written to relatives.
Mr. Wiley records a “mishap,” stating
the sight at the muzzle of his rifle "got
knocked off and lost while the rifle was
strapped across the dasher. "This was
bad, but I made one of wood from the
end of the cleaning stick and placed it
as well as I could and we both shot
It on trial and found it just right (Good
Luck).” A picket rope was lost, making
it necessary to tie the horses together
with the remaining rope.
On Sunday, July 8, Mr. Wiley and his
son were in camp at Norris Forks on
Gibbon river, close by some empty log
houses. While eating breakfast that
morning they saw two elk march along
the valley half a mile distant, when
they watched them walk for half a mile.
Mr. Marshal of the Fire Hole hotel
passed them as they were starting the
day’s journey. Proceeding for a dis
tance of about 14 miles he walked to
the edge of the plateau to see if the elk
had stopped anywhere. He thought
he saw a wolf, and fired at the animal
twice. Howard, the son, came up when
they went down to the creek where the
animal had gone into a hole. It came
This Cow Gained 351 Pounds
fllMN|H|Mfti|M Mml £Kt
This cow, suffering from Phosphorus Deficiency,
was three years old and weighed only 457 pounds
She was so stiff she could scarcely walk.
University of Minnesota, College of Agriculture, Bulletin 132.
SOLD BY ITS MONTANA DEALERS
Write for FREE PAMPHLET to
ANACONDA COPPER MINING COMPANY
DEPT. C. Anaconda, Montana
Here's Lindbergh Ransom Money Found at Home of Suspect
out, when Mr. Wiley succeeded in
shooting it. “We ran up and found it
was a badger. I cut off a claw.”
Just before reaching Beaver Lake two
wild geese went across the road. One
of the geese was bagged. They pass
ed through Willow Grove where they
left their mark, “Wiley and Son.” The
bay cayuse refused to help hold back
on a steep hill and “plunged and rear
ed like mad, almost upsetting the bug
gy. He partly broke the pole. He is a
violent little rascal.” A hen hawk was
shot as they passed along. Making
camp, beans and com were cooked. As'
the horses were being picketed they got i
away, each tied to the ends of the|
picket rope and stampeded on the back
track. Howard followed them for a
mile and a half before he could get near
them, when he rode the bay and led the
white horse back. “A flock of sandhill
cranes are passing the night near us.
We hear their trumpetting, but make
no effort to get them. It is against the
law to shoot anything but bears in the
park.”
Writing in camp, on Monday, July 9,
Mr. Wiley says that “just before reach
ing Fire Hole and Lower Geyser basin
—on Madison river bank. We started
this morning at about 9, stopped at
Paint Pots, lying 14 miles to left of
road. • • • Passed many hot springs
and geysers at Norris Geyser basin. We
estimate hot springs and geysers at
L. animalkk J
New York police officials are shown examining the Lindbergh ransom money found buried in the garage at the
home of a German alien, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, following his dramatic arrest more than two years after the
crime. Several of the notes were found on Hauptmann’s person and more than $13,000 was discovered in the garage
after the man had been traced by purchases he made with the money.
a SiiiIPBESiHHM i..
The same cow after receiving a Phosphorus Sup
plement for 300 days. She gained in weight from
457 to 808 pounds. The stiffness disappeared within
two weeks.
THE HARDIN TRIBUNE-HERALD
Norris Basin at 1,000. One quite large
creek has its water near the boiling
point. There are cauldrons of perfect
ly clear water, tinged emerald green
by the rocky sides, some 20 feet deep
and 10 to 15 feet wide. Water about
212 degrees. To step in would be sure
death.”
The Gibbon river was forded twice,
“one horrid ford; rocky, 12 to 24 feet
high, all hidden. Had some execrable
roads today, but most of them were ex
ceedingly good.” Arriving at Gibbon
Falls at two o’clock, “50 feet wide at top,
90 feet wide at bottom, 80 feet tall. I
think it is the most beautiful falls I
ever saw. The getting down was rather
terrible. Had we slipped or fallen It
would probably have killed us. Kept on
until 5 when we made camp here.”
Mr. Wiley took note again of the
flowers. Blue fringed Gentian, blue
bells and a beautiful straw-colored
variety of Columbine. Goose was serv
ed for supper. Howard made a batch
of bread. He also made “a beautiful
gravy of goose-blood, water and salt,
with flour thickness.” Informed that
the flies would drive them out of camp,
Mr. Wiley says they were not very thick.
“When we say flies, don’t for a mom
ent think of horse flies. These flies
are as big as bumble bees, and from
their bite the blood runs down in a
stream—literally.”
Breaking camp at nine o'clock in the
morning of July 10, the Wiley party was
on the way to Hell’s Half Acre. They
stopped at the Marshall House at Fire
Hole where they met friends and en
joyed the conversation. A side trip
was taken to Queen’s Laundry, three
miles away. “Started at 4 and went
to Lower Geyser Basin. This basin
contains thousands of acres and many
deep boiling springs and many small
ones. Passed over a hill which is in
general shape a segment of a sphere,
crossing small streams of hot water
running off its summit, the overflow
from the last eruption of the Fountain
geyser, the crater of which we saw.
It is of great depth and some 25 feet
in diameter.- Its water looks deep em
erald green and is forever boiling and
steaming. Passed over the hill to the
’paint pots.’ These are very numerous;
some a foot across, and one of white
paint of 50 feet diameter. The paint
bubbles slowly on account of its great
density; it is boiling hot and looks just
like paint. Some of the pots are stone
color, some red, some salmon and some
white. There will be a white one and a
salmon not over three feet apart. While
looking at these we heard a big rush
ing sound and knew that the ‘Foun
tain’ was in eruption. We ran over to it
and recrossed the round hill but this
was now covered with streams of boil
ing, steaming water through which we
had to pass, jumping where we could
in the water when too wide to jump. It
was hot work.”
They passed the streams and reached
the windward side of the geyser. Water
was thrown up some 20 or 30 feet in
immense quantities, boiling hot. "The
whole hill was steaming so that it was,
to us, a hot vapor bath. The ground
rumbled and shook beneath our feet in
a terrible manner. I would not advise
a timid person ever to try to witness
this sight. I was never so deeply im
pressed by anything I have ever seen
yet. The littleness and feebleness of
man is forced home upon one in the
most impressive manner. Ido not envy
that man who can stand unmoved in
this terrible presence. I could not re
sist the feeling that the whole hill
might burst asunder and engulf us all.
We came away. I did not wish to see
anything more today.”
Camped on the shore of the Madi
son, Mr. Wiley notes in his diary that
on the other side is Hell’s Half Acre,
“a desolate, barren pile of the deposit
from geysers. The whole country for
miles has been built up by geyser de
posits. The road is through the white
dust of it.”
Crossing the ford of the Madison,
the Wiley party arrived about noon,
July 11, at Upper Geyser basin, “the
end of our journeying south in this
section,” and “encamped in a small
pine grove just on the edge of the bas
in.”
What was left of the goose was eaten
for dinner. A fine bed of pine boughs
was made and a good night’s rest en
joyed. In rather a happy mood, Mr.
Wiley records a summary. “We have
seen in eruption, Old Faithful, Grotto,
Riverside, Castle, Splendid; and in a
partial state, The Grand. We have seen
the craters of the Beehive, Bear and
Cubs, Giantess, Giant, Saw-mill, and
hundreds of smaller ones which are
between boiling springs and geysers.
Faithful erupts every hour with perfect
regularity. It shoots to some extent all
the time, but as its hour approaches the
volume of steam increases, until it is
shot one hundred feet into the
.air; then came a few barrels of
boiling water rising some ten or
twenty feet into the air. This is re
peated for some minutes at short in
tervals when suddenly up shoots a
column of water six feet in diameter
125 feet into the air; this is all at
the boiling point; an immense cloud
of steam rises hundreds of feet
above the crater to stand in which Is a
hot vapor bath; streams of the geyser
water run off the rounded hill which
the geyser had built for itself, deposit
ing a sediment as it flows, thus adding
to the hill constantly. The sides of the
hill are dotted here and there with
shallow ponds formed by the geyser
water of eccentric shaped and walled
in by little banks which form them
selves as the water flows over them.
“A name written on the white bot
tom of these pools, with a lead pencil,
becomes coated with the transparent
deposit and thus preserved. We saw
some names two years old, still distinct.
We left our names with date in several
places. I wrote ‘Detroit Safe Co.,’ in
one.” They saw numberless boiling
springs of all sizes, some of great depth
and clearness; some six inches in dia
meter; some 50 feet. There were also
many streams, all very hot. The grey
mare stepped in a stream which scald
ed her foot, Mr. Wiley wrote. He saw
hundreds of acres formed by the geyser
deposits; hills 50 feet high by 200 feetj
broad were built up by the eruption of
the geysers; many are surrounded by
an extinct geyser, while many still had
an active geyser at their summit, he
records. A tomato can was thrown into
the Old Faithful just before its erup
tion and it was thrown up 75 to 100
feet in the air. It was recovered and
found to have been scratched and bat
tered by the rocks in its exit. “We
threw in others after the geyser had
subsided, and heard them tumbling,
tumbling down for a long time; it must
have gone down for a hundred feet or
more; a hundred miles for all we know
“I cannot rid myself of the idea that
the whole crust over which we walk
for miles may be burst asunder by some
terrible exhibition of the awful power
which underlies this geyser system.
Howard and I got separated for 15 min
utes while I stopped to wash my hands
in a tepid stream of geyser water, and
I felt quite relieved when I saw him
coming behind. I think accidents will
happen here and some one will step
on a crust which is being rendered
thinner and thinner by the action of a
coming geyser and he will be swallow
ed up never to be seen again in the
flesh.”
It was imposing and impressive ex
perience for Mr. Wiley. “The pen of a
Dante and the pencil of a Dore would
be hardly sufficient to describe the
scene which surrounds us tonight. We
now hear a mighty, rushing sound and
know that some one of the greater
geysers is in eruption.”
Again Mr. Wiley takes note of the
fact that kill-deer and plover are very
abundant. He saw many wild flowers
of great beauty, seeming to flourish in
the deposits of the geysers and in the
steam-laden atmosphere. Blue fringe
Gentians and bluebells he found every
where.
Going to the Madison to get a basin
of water, Mr. Wiley records that he was
caught in a big thunder storm which
gave him a "pretty thorough ducking in
my shirt sleeves.” He took note of han
PAGE SEVEN
WHEAT PRICES
HOLDING STEADY
FEED MARKETS TURN WEAKER AS
PASTURES IMPROVE AND DE-
MAND SLACKENS
From Bureau of Economics,
U. S. Department of Agriculture
Present prospects for the average
level of wheat prices for the season
are not much different from those
of last month. The reaction which
has taken place in prices, both in the
United States and in world markets,
since Aug. 10 appears to have placed
them on a more nearly normal basis
in the light of prospective supplies.
Prices in the United States may be
expected to continue sensitive to un
certainties.
No marked advance or decline in
world market prices seems in prospect,
pending more definite indications as to
the outturn of Russian exports and
southern hemisphere crops.
Feed markets turned weaker the third
week of September as demand slack
ened with further improvement in late
pasturage and forage. Wheat feeds
were most affected by the slack demand
and prices declined $1 to $1.50 per ton.
At Denver wheat feeds held steady,
with surrounding areas taking the en
tire output of local mills. The Ogden
market was also reported unchanged,
but dairymen were delaying purchases
awaiting the outcome of the livestock
market buying campaign.
Lower quotations on linseed meal and
cottonseed meal were reported at some
points. The cottonseed meal situation
was slightly easier with some slacken
ing in demand. Soybean meal was
quoted unchanged in central western
markets but none was offered for earl
ier than October shipment. Alfalfa
meal was slightly weaker with some
slackening in demand. Production
during August was in excess of that
for the corresponding month last year.
Other feeds were about steady, with
supplies generally light. Prices of
tankage remained unchanged at SSC
per ton with manufacturers unable to
fill an orders.
Receipts of an cattle, hogs and sheep
at 11 markets were smaner the first
half of the third week of September
than for the corresponding period the
week before. Commercial cattle de
creased about 33,500 head, calves, 5,300
head; hogs, 22,000 head, and sheep and
lambs, 3,000 head. Very few grain fed
steers or yearlings were included in re
cent receipts, and the top was $1025,
although heavy choice steers were
quotable up to SIO3O. Buyers had an
indifferent attitude toward grass steers.
Fed heifers were strong, the best selling
upwards to $8.25. Most sales of Stock
ers and feeders were made at $3.75 to
$5. Vealers sold up to $8.50. The hog
market has been somewhat irregular.
Sales of 210-300 weight hogs ranged
from $720-7.35 and reached top of $7.-
40.
The fat lamb market in general was
steady to strong particularly on fat
natives. Small killers paid a top ol
$6.85 for native lambs. The bulk of
packer purchases were made at $6.50-
6.75, with westerns at $6.25 to $6.50
Some Wyoming lambs sold straight at
$6.50.
The dullness which has prevailed in
the domestic wool market for many
weeks remains unbroken. Until there is
an Improvement in the domestic man
ufacturing situation or a change in the
foreign price level, quotations for do
mestic wool will probably show no ma
terial change. Woolen goods share the
prevailing quiet steadiness of the raw
wool market. **
voP 16 is expected to ad-
vance into line with export prices fix
ed in Cuba adding freight and the re-~
cently reduced tariff charge, but present'
domestic prices are slightly lower be
cause of stocks held ta this Xitn
Cuban price fixing and export restric-
?e r^ ly to s ™t £nelS
cane beet sugar in
United States markets.
more trainmen
AREEMPLOYED
“EN RE
MAIN AT HAVRE, DIVISION RE-
PORT SHOWS
™ l^.n Serv ! <! £ em Payment at Havre
"“ the Great Northern is at the peak
iS* the train service
en caUed ,or service.
Ustsshow 13 9 of 143 engineers on the
«vMm seniority list are working
Zro? ,l ™ 0 L 0n the extra board > and M
of the 77 firemen are in service.
August, 1932, was the low point In
employment, the train service list be
nJ 108 men “d the engineers’
list to 112 men, while there were no
firemen working.
Stock shipments moving east the last
few days have replaced the loss in
grain shipments, and movement of
stock purchased in drouth areas to pro
cessing plants at Great Falls and Butte
is picking up. Western fruits are start
ing to move to market and railway of
ficials estimated this traffic this fall
will be 20 percent above 1933.
-
Mrs. Victor Bruce, famous RnoH«h
autoist and aviatrix, will attempt to
lower the London-Australia or London-
Cape Town air record in October.
as large as cherries and that some
stones larger followed "until the onum
was white with hail.”
(To Be Continued)