her parts of the
world. America had been discovered and the colonies were feeling their
way toward the Pacific Ocean. And in the vanguard was the famous
expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which went overland to the mouth of
the river Columbia. John Colter was a hunter in this expedition, and
by some chance he went across the mountains on the old trail of the
Nez Perces Indians which leads across the Divide from the Missouri
waters to those of the Columbia. When he came back from the Nez Perces
trail he told most wonderful tales of what he had seen at the head of
the Missouri. There were cataracts of scalding water which shot
straight up into the air; there were blue ponds hot enough to boil
fish; there were springs that came up snorting and steaming, and which
would turn trees into stone; the woods were full of holes from which
issued streams of sulphur; there were canons of untold depth with
walls of ashes full of holes which let off steam like a locomotive,
and there were springs which looked peaceful enough, but which at
times, would burst like a bomb.

In short, every one laughed at Colter and his yarns, and this place
where all lies were true was familiarly known as "Colter's Hell." But
for once John Colter told the truth, and the truth could not easily be
exaggerated. But no one believed him. When others who afterwards
followed him over the Nez Perces trail told the same stories, people
said they had been up to "Colter's Hell" and had learned to lie.

But, as time passed, other men told what they had seen, until, in
1870, a sort of official survey was made under the lead of Washburne
and Doane. This party got the general bearings of the region, named
many of the mountains, and found so much of interest that the next
year Dr. Hayden, the United States Geologist, sent out a party for
systematic exploration. The Hayden party came up from Colorado on
horseback, through dense and tangled forests, across mountain
torrents, and other craggy peaks. The story of this expedition has
been most charmingly told by its youngest member, another John
Coulter. Professor Coulter was the botanist of the survey, and he won
the first of his many laurels on this expedition. In 1872, acting on
Hayden's report, Congress took the matter in hand and set apart this
whole region as a "public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit
and enjoyment of the people," and such it remains to this day.

But, while only of late this region has had a