Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ended June 30, 1880 . ned the bison-trail for the saddle andpack animals to the line of road, exploring and working both ways. Thecold-water streams of the valleys were still swollen, and numerous oldsnow-drifts remained upon the plateau; yet there were neither springs,streams, nor even lakes, the porous lava-ashes and loose gravel of thesoil having speedily absorbed all the melted snow, while during the lastfive days of July the temperature was so low that a sufficient quantityof water was obtainable only by thawing snow-drifts, grea
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ended June 30, 1880 . ned the bison-trail for the saddle andpack animals to the line of road, exploring and working both ways. Thecold-water streams of the valleys were still swollen, and numerous oldsnow-drifts remained upon the plateau; yet there were neither springs,streams, nor even lakes, the porous lava-ashes and loose gravel of thesoil having speedily absorbed all the melted snow, while during the lastfive days of July the temperature was so low that a sufficient quantityof water was obtainable only by thawing snow-drifts, great piles of tim-ber being heaped upon them and burned for that purpose. Althoughstrongly flavored with smoke, pitch, and sometimes with alkali, this waterwas tolerably potable, and sufficed to quench our thirst until a cold rivu-let was discovered just above its sink at the west foot of the miles from here we made the Madison below the caiion, twenty-onemiles by that route and fifteen via the new one over the plateau from the > 2: Pi I k So o ft r 8 *^ ft . 1 r. r) > 11 YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 575 Forks of the Fire Holes. We reached this point, where lli<i Riversidemail station is now established, on the 7th of August, subsequentlyimproving somewhat the northern ascent to the Terrace. This routepossesses the advantage of being always dry; it is also well shaded bybeautiful pine forests, and is six miles shorter than the Canon route;besides, by this road, while there would be the expense for two long andsomewhat steep grades, the necessity of building four long bridges andseveral expensive grades, exposed to snow-drifts and floods, on the oldroad would be obviated; and it is more than probable the new routewould never be abandoned, although if necessary the old one could beused for a brief period each summer. While on a tour of the more important portions of the Park, in August,with the honorable Secretary of the Interior and his party, the mainforce of
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