Chapter XLI: Appendix: A

III.

STREAMS.

[Map locations refer only to outlets, or to points where streams
pass off the limits of the map. Altitudes refer to the same points,
but are given only in the most important cases.]

_Agate Creek_--E : 10--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Alum Creek_--H : 9--Name known prior to 1870--Characteristic.

_Amethyst Greek_--E : 12--1878--U. S. G. S.--Flows from Amethyst Mountain.

_Amphitheater Creek_--D : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--From form of valley near its mouth.

_Antelope Creek_--E : 10--1870--Washburn Party--Characteristic.--This name is often applied locally to a tributary of the Yellowstone just above Trout Creek.

_Arnica Creek_--L : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Aster Creek_--P : 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Astrigent Creek_--J : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Atlantic Creek_--S : 13--1873--Jones--Flows from Two-Ocean-Pass down the Atlantic slope.

_Badger Creek_--P : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Basin Creek_--Q : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Bear Creek_--B : 7--1863--Party of prospectors under one Austin. On the way they found fair prospects in a creek on the east side of the Yellowstone, and finding also a hairless cub, called the gulch "Bear."--Topping.

_Bear Creek_--K : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Beaver Creek_--O : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Beaver Dam Creek_--O : 12--1871--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Bechler River_--R : 1--1872--U. S. G. S.--For Gustavus R. Bechler, topographer on the Snake River Division of the Hayden Expedition of 1872.

_Berry Creek_--U : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Black-tail Deer Creek_--B : 8--Named prior to 1870--Characteristic.

_Bluff Creek_--H : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Bog Creek_--H : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Boone Creek_--T : 1--Named prior to 1870--For Robert Withrow, an eccentric pioneer of Irish descent, who used to call himself "Daniel Boone the Second."

_Bridge Creek_--K : 9--1871--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

"At one point, soon after leaving camp, we found a most singular natural bridge of the trachyte, which gives passage to a small stream, which we called Bridge Creek."--Hayden.

"Natural Bridge" is really over a branch of Bridge Creek.

_Broad Creek_--F : 10--1871--Barlow--Characteristic.

_Buffalo Creek_--D : 11--Prior to 1870--Naming party unknown--Characteristic.

_Burnt Creek_--E : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Cache Creek_--F : 13--1863--Prospecting party under one Austin were in camp on this stream when they were surprised by Indians, and all their stock stolen except one or two mules. Being unable to carry all their baggage from this point, they _cached_ what they could not place on the mules, or could not themselves carry. From this circumstance arose the name.

_Calfee Creek_--F : 13--1880--Norris--For H. B. Calfee, a photographer of note.

"Some seven miles above Cache Creek we passed the mouth of another stream in a deep, narrow, timbered valley, which we named Calfee Creek, after the famous photographer of the Park. Five miles further on, we reached the creek which Miller recognized as the one he descended in retreating from the Indians in 1870, and which, on this account, we called Miller's Creek."--Norris.[CK]

[CK] Page 7, Annual Report Superintendent of the Park for 1880.

_Cañon Creek_--1 : 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Carnelian Creek_--E : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Cascade Creek_--G : 8--1870--Washburn Party--Characteristic.

_Chalcedony Creek_--E : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Chipmunk Creek_--O : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Clear Creek_--L : 11--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Cliff Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Clover Creek_--G : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Cold Creek_--H : 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Columbine Creek_--M : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Conant Creek_--T : 1--Prior to 1870--By Richard Leigh for one All Conant, who went to the mountains in 1865, and who came near losing his life on this stream.

_Cotton Grass Creek_--H : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Cougar Creek_--G : 2--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Coulter Creek_--R : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--For John M. Coulter, botanist in the Hayden Expedition of 1872.

_Crawfish Creek_--R : 6--1885--U. S. G. S--Characteristic.

_Crevice Creek_--C : 7--1867--Prospecting party under one Lou Anderson.

"They found gold in a crevice at the mouth of the first Stream above Bear, and named it, in consequence, Crevice Gulch. Hubbel went ahead the next day for a hunt, and upon his return he was asked what kind of a stream the next creek was. "It's a hell roarer," was his reply, and Hell Roaring is its name to this day. The second day after this, he was again ahead, and, the same question being asked him, he said: "'Twas but a slough." When the party came to it, they found a rushing torrent, and, in crossing, a pack horse and his load were swept away, but the name of Slough Creek remains."--Topping.

_Crooked Creek_--R : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Crow Creek_--K : 15--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Crystal Creek_--D : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Cub Creek_--L : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Deep Creek_--E : 10--1873--Jones--Characteristic.

_De Lacy Creek_--M : 6--1880--Norris--For Walter W. De Lacy, first white man known to have passed along the valley. (See "Shoshone Lake.") First named Madison Creek by the Hayden party in 1871.

_Duck Creek_--G : 3--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Elk Creek_--D : 9--Named prior to 1870--Characteristic.

_Elk Tongue Creek_--C : 12--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Escarpment Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Fairy Creek_--J : 4--1871--Barlow--From "Fairy Falls," which see.

_Falcon Creek_--R : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Falls River_--S : 1--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Fan Creek_--C : 2--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Fawn Creek_--C : 5--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Firehole River_--I : 4--This name and "Burnt Hole" have been used to designate the geyser basins and the stream flowing through them since at least as far back as 1830. Captain Bonneville says it was well known to his men. The term "Hole" is a relic of the early days when the open valleys or parks among the mountains were called "holes." The descriptive "fire, naturally arose from the peculiar character of that region."

_Firehole, Little_--L : 4--1878--U. S. G. S.--From main stream.

_Flint Creek_--F : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Forest Creek_--Q : 7--1885--U. S. G. S--Characteristic.

_Fox Creek_--R : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Gallatin River_--A : 1--1805--Lewis and Clark--For Albert Gallatin, Secretary of War under President Jefferson.

_Gardiner River_ (5360)--B : 6--This name, which, after "Yellowstone," is the most familiar and important name in the Park, is the most difficult to account for. The first authentic use of the name occurs in 1870, in the writings of the Washburn party. In Mr. Langford's journal, kept during the expedition, is the following entry for August 25, 1870: "At nineteen miles from our morning camp we came to Gardiner River, at the mouth of which we camped." As the party did not originate the name, and as they make no special reference to it in any of their writings, it seems clear that it must already have been known to them at the time of their arrival at the stream. None of the surviving members has the least recollection concerning it. The stream had been known to prospectors during the preceding few years as Warm Spring Creek, and the many "old timers" consulted on the subject erroneously think that the present name was given by the Washburn Party or by the Hayden Party of 1871. What is its real origin is therefore a good deal of a mystery.

The only clue, and that not a satisfactory one, which has come under our observation, is to be found in the book "River of the West," already quoted. Reference is there made to a trapper by the name of Gardiner, who lived in the Upper Yellowstone country as far back as 1830, and was at one time a companion of Joseph Meek, the hero of the book. In another place it is stated that in 1838, Meek started alone from Missouri Lake (probably Red Rock Lake) "for the Gallatin Fork of the Missouri, trapping in a mountain basin called Gardiner's Hole.... On his return, in another basin called Burnt Hole, he found a buffalo skull, etc." As is well known, the sources of the Gallatin and Gardiner are interlaced with each other, and this reference strongly points to the present Gardiner Valley as "Gardiner's Hole." The route across the Gallatin Range to Mammoth Hot Springs, and thence back by way of the Firehole Basin, was doubtless a natural one then as it is now. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that this name came from an old hunter in the early years of the century, and that the Washburn Party received it from some surviving descendant of those times.

_Geode Creek_--C : 8--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Geyser Creek_--H : 6--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Gibbon River_--I : 4--1872--U. S. G. S.--For Gen. John Gibbon, U. S. A., who first explored it.

"We have named this stream in honor of Gen. John Gibbon, United States Army, who has been in military command of Montana for some years, and has, on many occasions, rendered the survey most important services."--Hayden.[CL]

[CL] Page 55, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.

_Glade Creek_--S : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Glen Creek_--C : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Gneiss Creek_--G : 1--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Gravel Creek_--U : 10--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Grayling Creek_--F : 1--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Grouse Creek_--O : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Harebell Creek_--R : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Hart River_--Q : 9--1872--U. S. G. S.--From Hart Lake, of which it is the outlet. (See "Hart Lake.")

_Hell Roaring Creek_--C : 9--1867--"See Crevice Creek."

_Indian Creek_--E : 6--1878--U. S. G. S.--See "Bannock Peak."

_Iron Creek_--L : 4--1871--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Jasper Creek_--D : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Jay Creek_--S : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Jones Creek_--K : 15--1880--Norris--For Captain (now Lieutenant-Colonel) W. A. Jones, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., who first explored it. Captain Jones was leader of an important expedition through the Park in 1873, and has since been largely identified with the development of the Park road system.

_Jumper Creek_--J : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Lamar River_ (5,970)--D : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--For the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior during the first administration of President Cleveland. The stream is locally known only by its original designation, the "East Fork of the Yellowstone."

_Lava Creek_--D : 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Lewis River_--R : 7--1872--U. S. G. S.--From "Lewis Lake," which see.

_Lizard Creek_--U : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Lost Creek_--D : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Lupine Creek_--D : 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Lynx Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Madison River_--G : 1--1805--Lewis and Clark--For James Madison, Secretary of State to Thomas Jefferson.

_Magpie Creek_--J : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Maple Creek_--G : 2--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Mason Creek_--L : 16--1881--Norris--For Major Julius W. Mason, U. S. A., commander of escort to Gov. Hoyt, of Wyoming, on the latter's reconnaissance for a wagon road to the Park in 1881.

_Meadow Creek_--M : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Middle Creek_--L : 15--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Miller Creek_--G : 13--1880--Norris--For a mountaineer named Miller. See "Calfee Creek."

_Mink Creek_--T : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Mist Creek_--I : 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Moose Creek_--N : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Moss Creek_--G : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Mountain Creek_--P : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Mountain Ash Creek_--R : 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Nez Percé Creek_ (7,237)--J : 4--1878--U. S. G. S.--The Nez Percé Indians passed up this stream on their raid through the Park in 1877. It had previously been called "East Fork of the Firehole." Prof. Bradley, of the U. S. Geological Survey, christened it Hayden's Fork in 1872. (See Chapter XIII, Part I.)

_Obsidian Creek_--E : 6--1879--Norris--Characteristic.

_Opal Creek_--E : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Otter Creek_--H : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Outlet Creek_--P : 9--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Owl Creek_--T : 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Pacific Creek_--W : 11--1873--Jones--Flows from Two-Ocean Pass down the Pacific slope.

_Panther Creek_--D : 5--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Pebble Creek_--D : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Pelican Creek_--K : 10--Probably named by the Washburn Party in 1870. Hayden and Barlow, in 1871, use the name as though it were already a fixture. Mr. Hedges says of this stream:

"About the mouth of the little stream that we had just crossed were numerous shallows and bars, which were covered by the acre with ducks, geese, huge white-breasted cranes, and long-beaked pelicans, while the solitary albatross, or sea-gull, circled above our heads with a saucy look that drew many a random shot, and cost one, at least, its life."

_Phlox Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Plateau Creek_--C : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Polecat Creek_--S : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Quartz Creek_--E : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Rabbit Creek_--K : 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Raven Creek_--J: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Red Creek_--Q: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Rescue Creek_--C: 7--1878--U. S. G. S.--Where Everts was not found. (See "Mt. Everts.")

_Rocky Creek_--O: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Rose Creek_--D: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Sedge Creek_--K: 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Senecio Creek_--S: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Sentinel Creek_--J: 4--1872--U. S. G. S.--"The two central ones [geyser mounds] are the highest, and appear so much as if they were guarding the Upper Valley, that this stream was called Sentinel Branch." Bradley.

_Shallow Creek_--F: 11--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Sickle Creek_--Q: 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Slough Creek_--D: 10--1867--See "Crevice Creek."

_Snake River_ (6,808)--W: 8--1805--Lewis and Clark--From the Snake or Shoshone Indians, who dwelt in its valley.

_Soda Butte Creek_--E: 12--Probably named by miners prior to 1870. From an extinct geyser or hot spring cone near the mouth of the stream.

_Solfatara Creek_--G: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Solution Creek_--M: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--The outlet of Riddle Lake.

_Sour Creek_--H: 9--1871--Barlow--Characteristic.

_Spirea Creek_--R: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Spring Creek_--M: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Spruce Creek_--J: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Squirrel Creek_--N: 5--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Stellaria Creek_--C: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Stinkingwater River_--L: 16--1807--John Colter--From an offensive hot spring near the junction of the principal forks of the stream. A most interesting fact, to which attention was first publicly called by Prof. Arnold Hague, is the occurrence on the map, which Lewis and Clark sent to President Jefferson in the spring of 1805, of the name "Stinking Cabin Creek," very nearly in the locality of the river Stinkingwater. Prof. Hague, who published an interesting paper concerning this map in _Science_ for November 4, 1877, thinks that possibly some trapper had penetrated this region even before 1804. But with Lewis and Clark's repeated statements that no white man had reached the Yellowstone prior to 1805, it seems more likely that the name was derived from the Indians.

_Straight Creek_--E: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Sulphur Creek_--G: 9--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.--Locally this name is applied to a stream which flows from the hot springs at the base of Sulphur Mountain.

_Surface Creek_--G: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Surprise Creek_--P: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Its course, as made known by recent explorations, was surprisingly different from that which earlier explorations had indicated.

_Tangled Creek_--J: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.--A hot water stream which flows in numberless interlaced channels.

_Thistle Creek_--J: 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Thoroughfare Creek_--R: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Its valley forms part of a very practicable route across the Yellowstone Range.

_Timothy Creek_--G: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Tower Creek_--D: 10--1870--Washburn Party--From "Tower Falls," which see.

_Trail Creek_--O: 12--1873--Jones--From an elk trail along it.

_Trappers' Creek_--P: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--A great beaver resort.

_Trout Greek_--I: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Violet Creek_--I: 8--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.--"We named the small stream Violet Creek, from the profusion of violets growing upon its banks." Peale.

_Weasel Creek_--K: 9--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Willow Creek_--H: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Winter Creek_--E: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Witch Creek_--O: 8--1878--U. S. G. S.--Probably from the prevalence of hot springs phenomena along its entire course.

_Wolverine Creek_--R: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Yellowstone River_ (8,100 and 5,360)--U: 16 (enters map); A: 5 (leaves map).--See Part I, Chapter I.