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Washburn-Langford-Doane August 26-28, 1870 Campsite

Tower Creek Campsite near Tower Fall. “Camp Comfort”

Historic Campsite on Washburn-Langford-Doane Route, Bannock Trail in Yellowstone NP, Rocky Mountains near Buffalo Ford, WY

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August 26, 1870 Summary

August 26, 1870. Lt. Gustavus C. Doane accompanied by Truman C. Everts and Private Williamson pushed ahead of the delayed Washburn Langford Doane Expedition packtrain and ascended the Yellowstone River using the Bannock Trail above the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. Briefly stopping to peer down into the canyon, Doane journaled.

Standing on the brink of the chasm [Black Canyon of the Yellowstone] the heavy roaring of the imprisoned [Yellowstone] river comes to the ear only in a sort of hollow, hungry growl, scarcely audible from the depths, and strongly suggestive of demons in torment below. Lofty pines on the bank of the stream “dwindle to shrubs in dizziness of distance.” Everything beneath has a weird and deceptive appearance. The water does not look like water, but like oil. Numerous fish hawks are seen busily plying their vocation, sailing high above the waters, and yet a thousand feet below the spectator. In the clefts of the rocks down, hundreds of feet down, bald eagles have their eyries, from which we can see them swooping still farther into the depths to rob the ospreys of their hard-earned trout. It is grand, gloomy, and terrible; a solitude peopled with fantastic ideas; an empire of shadows and of turmoil.

— Doane

The three men continued following the Bannock Trail though scattered patches of blackened earth from a recent wildfire, reaching the confluence of the Yellowstone and Lamar Rivers where at a fork in the trail, Doane described Junction Butte (1873, 6-7).

In the center of the valley rises a table mountain, perpendicular on its sides, and capped with a horizontal stratum of trap rock about 50 feet in depth; standing isolated in the surrounding level valley, and between the channels of the two streams [Yellowstone and Lamar Rivers], it has a very singular and remarkable appearance.

— Doane

Doane, Everts and Williamson headed south, ascending the Yellowstone River, leaving the Lamar River [East Fork] behind. After “crossing Warm Spring [Tower] Creek” they “camped for the night” with “two hunters”… “The remainder of the [expedition] party” then arrived “the next day [August 27].” Doane noted “a mile before going into camp, near a small lake, he saw the “wickey ups” of 15 lodges of Crows,” which they had followed “across the [Blacktail Deer] plateau (1873, 7)”.

August 27-28 Summary

Henry D. Washburn, the Surveyor General of the Montana Territory who led the expedition, described the Tower Fall area.

Our camp was on a fine stream coming in from the opposite side of the East Fork [Lamar River], and designated by us as Tower Creek. The camp was called Camp Comfort. Game and trout were abundant. We found here our first hot springs, small but attractive, and of five or six different kinds – sulphur, iron, etc. This [The Narrows] canyon of the river is grand. Basaltic columns of enormous size are quite numerous. But the great attraction here was the [Tower] falls on the creek near our camp. The stream is about as large as the Prickly Pear [a tributary of the Missouri River that runs near Helena MT, where some of the expedition members lived] and for a mile rushes down with fearful velocity, it seems at some time to have been checked by a mountain range, through which it has torn its way, not entirely removing the barrier but tearing through, leaving portions still standing; and these, by the elements, have been formed into sharp pinnacles. Looking from the canyon below it appears like some old castle with its turrets dismantled but still standing. From between two of these turrets the stream makes its final leap of 110 measured feet, and then, as if satisfied with itself, flows peacefully into the Yellowstone. We attempted to compare it with the famous Minnehaha [Falls in Minneapolis, MN], but those who had seen both said there was no comparison. It was not as terrible in its sublimity as Niagara, but beautiful and glorious. You felt none of the shrinking back so common at the Great Fall [Niagara], but rather, as you stood below and gazed upon its waters broken into white spray, you felt as though you wanted to dash into it and catch it as it fell. By a vote of the majority of the party this fall was called Tower Fall.

— Washburn

Doane journaled about Tower Fall on the 27th.

In the basin [of the waterfall] we found a large petrified log imbedded in the débris. Nothing can be more chastely beautiful than this lovely cascade [Tower Fall], hidden away in the dim light of overshadowing rocks and woods, its very voice hushed to a low murmur, unheard at the distance of a few hundred yards. Thousands might pass by within a half mile and not dream of its existence; but once seen, it passes to the list of most pleasant memories.

— Doane

Doane then journaled on the 28th about Nathaniel P. Langford lancing his swollen, painful, and infected thumb.

Since leaving Fort Ellis I had suffered considerably with a pain in the thumb of my right hand, which was now increased to such an extent as to amount to absolute torture. I had it lanced here three times to the bone with a very dull pocketknife, in the hope of relief, which, however, did not come. It proved a felon of the most malignant class, and was destined to subject me to infernal agonies. I passed the night walking in front of the camp fire, with a wet bandage around my arm to keep down the pain.

— Doane

Artistic Representations

Tower Fall shown above, illustrated by Private Charles Moore during 1870 Washburn Langford Doane Expedition.

Rock Pinnacles Above Tower Falls illustrated above from Langford’s May 1871 Scribner’s Monthly article (p. 9), unknown artist.

Further Research and Reading

Scott, K.A. Yellowstone Denied: The Life of Gustavus Cheyney Doane. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

Sources

Cramton, Louis C. Early History of Yellowstone National Park and Its Relation to National Park Policies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1932. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/yell/cramton/index.htm.

Doane, Gustavus Cheyney. Letter from the Secretary of War, Communicating the Report of Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane upon the so-Called Yellowstone Expedition of 1870. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1873. http://archive.org/details/letterfromsecret1873unit.

Everts, Truman C. “Thirty-Seven Days of Peril.” Scribner’s Monthly, November 1871. http://archive.org/details/scribnersmonthly31newy.

Haines, Aubrey L. “Yellowstone National Park: Its Exploration and Establishment,” 1974. http://npshistory.com/handbooks/historical/yell/haines/index.htm.

Hedges, Cornelius. “Journal of Judge Cornelius Hedges.” In Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana, 1904 Edition. Vol. 5. Helena, MT: Independent Publishing Company, 1876. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Contributions_to_the_Historical_Society/yt4UAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1.

Langford, N. P. “The Wonders of the Yellowstone.” Scribner’s Monthly, May 1871. http://archive.org/details/scribnersmonthly02newy.

Langford, N. P. “The Wonders of the Yellowstone.” Scribner’s Monthly, June 1871. http://archive.org/details/scribnersmonthly02newy.

Langford, Nathaniel Pitt. Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the Year 1870. St. Paul, Minn., [c1905]. http://archive.org/details/diaryofwashburne00langrich. However, Langford’s “Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the Year 1870” or “The Discovery of Yellowstone National Park” material, which was published 35 years after the expedition, and used bearing that in mind.

Trumbull, Walter. “The Washburn Yellowstone Expedition.” The Overland Monthly, 1871. California State Library. http://archive.org/details/overlandmonthly06hart.

Taxonomy

Classified As

Historic Campsite