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Silver Cord Cascade

Height 1,200 Feet

Waterfall on Surface Creek in Yellowstone NP, Rocky Mountains near Canyon Village, WY

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Waterfall Type

Horsetail

Historical Field Note

During the 1870 Washburn Langford Doane Expedition, Henry D. Washburn the Surveyor General of the Montana Territory included the Silver Cord Cascade in his Helena Daily Herald article.

The [Grand] canyon is a fearful chasm, at the Lower Falls a thousand feet deep, and growing deeper as it passes on, until nearly double that depth. Jutting over the canyon is a rock 200 feet high, on the top of which is an eagle’s nest which covers the whole top. Messrs. Hauser, Stickney, and Lieutenant Doan succeeded in reaching the bottom, but it was a dangerous journey. Two and a half miles below the falls, on the right, a little rivulet [Silver Cord Cascade], as if to show its temerity, dashes from the top of the canyon and is broken into a million fragments in its daring attempt. - Washburn Sept. 27 and 28, 1870

— Washburn 1870

Photographs

View of Silver Cord Cascade from the Seven Mile Hole Trail, A. Falgoust (NPS) photograph above.

Silver Cord Cascade, A. Falgoust (NPS) photograph above.

On the Web

On Wikipedia

Silver Cord Cascade is a horsetail type waterfall on Surface Creek, a tributary of the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park. Surface Creek flows out of Ribbon Lake off the South rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and plunges 1,200 feet (370 m) to the Yellowstone River. It is considered the tallest waterfall in Yellowstone. Silver Cord Cascade was first described by members of the…

Sources

Rubinstein, P., L.H. Whittlesey, and M. Stevens. The Guide to Yellowstone Waterfalls and Their Discovery. Edited by Jennie Shortridge. Englewood, CO: Westcliffe Publishers, 2000.

Washburn, H. D. “Exploration in a New and Wonderful Country.” Helena Daily Herald, September 27 and 28, 1870, in Cramton, Louis C. Early History of Yellowstone National Park and Its Relation to National Park Policies. Appendix F. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/yell/cramton/appf.htm.