he continent promises to open
a rich field for scientific exploration and investigation. The Wind
River Mountain, which divides the Yellow Stone from the Great Basin, is
a marked and distinct geological boundary. From the northern slope flow
the tributaries of the Yellow Stone, fed by springs of boiling water,
which perceptibly affect the temperature of the region, clothing the
valleys with verdure, and making them the winter home of the
buffalo,--the favorite hunting-grounds of the Indians,--while the
streams which flow from the southern slope of the mountains are
alkaline, and, instead of luxuriant vegetation, there are vast regions
covered with wild sage and cactus. They run into the Great Salt Lake,
and have no outlet to the ocean. A late writer, describing the
geological features of that section, says:--

"Upon the great interior desert streams and fuel are almost unknown.
Wells must be very deep, and no simple and cheap machinery adequate to
drawing up the water is yet invented. Cultivation, to a great extent,
must be carried on by irrigation."[M]

Such are the slopes of the mountains which form the rim of the Great
Basin, while the valley of the Yellow Stone is literally the land which
buds and blossoms like the rose. The Rosebud River is so named because
the valley through which it meanders is a garden of roses.

And here, along the head-waters of the Yellow Stone and its tributaries,
at the northern deflection of the Wind River chain of mountains, flows a
_river of hot wind_, which is not only one of the most remarkable
features of the climatology of the continent, but which is destined to
have a great bearing upon the civilization of this portion of the
continent. St. Joseph in Missouri, in latitude 40 deg., has the same mean
temperature as that at the base of the Rocky Mountains in latitude 47 deg.!
The high temperature of the hot boiling springs warms the air which
flows northwest along the base of the mountains, sweeping through the
Big Hole Pass, the Deer Lodge, Little Blackfoot, and Mullan Pass, giving
a delightful winter climate to the valley of the St. Mary's, or Bitter
Root. It flows like the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic. Says Captain
Mullan: "On its either side, north and south, are walls of cold air, and
which are so clearly perceptible that you always detect the river when
you are on its shores."[N]

This great river of heat always flowing is sufficient to account for the
slight depth of snow in