--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 6 published: 1921-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "The First Scout in Yellowstone," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 6 (April 1921): 494–498.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2406unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2406unse start_page: 494 end_page: 498 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2406unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The First Scout in Yellowstone The First Scout in Yellowstone Sheltered in a beaver house, John Colter once escaped from the Indians. He is said to have been the first man to visit the Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming. He was one of the party of Lewis and Clark (1804-06), of which there were forty-five, and stayed in the wilderness when fourteen of the party returned with various reports and collections, in 1806. The Yellowstone Park has hundreds of active geysers, thousands A black bear eating candy from the hand of a young lady in the Yellowstone National Park. — of hot springs some of them covering areas of many acres; and the amount of boiling water ejected high into the air at stated intervals from the earth is almost incredible. The Park — contains some of the most marvelous forces of nature wonder* THE FIRST SCOUT IN YELLOWSTONE 495 ful springs and steaming mountains, lakes, canyons, rivers and water-falls. In Bradbury's Journal, there is said to be the following story concerning Colter: Colter and his companion named Potts were one morning A waterfall on Fire Hole river, in Yellowstone Park. The park has an area of about five thousand square miles, most of it covered with forests of pines. The Yellowstone lake is a magnificent body of water with an area of 150 sq. miles, and the Yellowstone river, with its marvelous scenery and falls, has a drainage area of nearly 70,000 sq. miles in its thousand miles meandering. 496 IMPROVEMENT ERA ascending Jefferson Fork of the Missouri river. Each was in his own canoe, in which were several beaver traps which they intended to set at various points. The brush and high banks of the stream shut off view from the country beyond. Suddenly they heard a rumbling noise like the tramping of hundreds of buffalo. Potts insisted it was a herd of buffalo, but Colter thought it must be Indians. He was right, for within a A Camp in the Yellowstone Parle few minutes, Indians motioned to them by the chief to come ashore, and they rowed to the bank. They quietly threw their traps into the shallow water, thinking that at some future day they might acquire them again. As the prow of Pott's canoe touched the bottom, an Indian seized his gun. Thereupon Colter grabbed the Indian, took the gun away from him, and handed it to Potts. Potts pushed back into the stream, but as he did so, he received an arrow in the thigh, which tumbled him into the canoe. "Are you hurt?" asked Colter. "Yes, too much to escape. Save yourself if you can," Potts replied, and continuing, said, "I'll get one of them, at least, before I go." He raised himself in the boat, and firing, killed an Indian. THE FIRST SCOUT IN YELLOWSTONE 497 His own body was filled with arrows almost immediately. The Indians ran into the water, grabbed his body and tore it to shreds before Colter's eyes. Meanwhile, the Indians tore the clothing from Colter, and he stood expecting every minute to feel the shot or blow that would end his life. The Indians held council, and it was decided to allow him to run for his life in the direction of the Madison river, five miles away. OLD FAITHFUL IN ACTION Old Faithful, located in the Upper Geyser Basin, in Yellowstone National Park, is so called because it has a regular discharge of steam and water at intervals of 64 minutes. One can rely absolutely on Old Faithful giving an exhibition every hour and four minutes. The stated intervals of activity have not varied in the memory of the oldest visitor to the Park. —— 498 IMPROVEMENT ERA Away he went, with the Indians after him. He ran for his life. After nearly three miles had been covered, he looked back and saw one Indian nearly up with him. He was bleeding at the nose, but as the Redskin came up, Colter begged in the Crow language for mercy. But the Indian aimed his spear at him and made a lunge; he tripped, and Colter, grabbing the spear, turned it on the Indian and killed him. The Indians soon discovered the body, and again furiously started out in pursuit of the trapper. But Colter was again too much for them. Reaching the willows, on the bank of the Madison, he spied a beaver dam, and knowing that only through a passage under the water could one get into it, Colter plunged into the stream, made his way through a narrow passage under the water to the beaver house, and there he sat, listening to the Indians walk over his very hiding place. It was a terrible moment. Would they smash the house in? Would they burn it? Colter stuck snugly to his hiding place, remaining under cover until night when, beaverlike, he ventured forth, he swam ashore and paused to get his bearings. He started off to the low mountain pass to the east, climbing mountains in order to avoid any prowling Indians that might beset his path. He went for eleven days through mountain defiles and over streams until at last he reached the fur trading post on the Yellowstone. While he remained in the wilderness for some time, Colter finally returned to St. Louis and took up a farm on the Missouri. He died in 1813.—,4. The Storm Cloud's Kiss A somber cloud, long tossed by winds of winter, And doubting much 'twere summer anywhere, By chance into a sun-steeped valley blustered, And 'spied a white stoled lily growing there. Her heart, pure white, —each petal shimmered white, And white her memories, her twilight dream; Then lo, the Storm Cloud doffed his somber shrouding, And gave his love with Dawn's first rosy beam. Some say, each petal blew a fresher fragrance, That every leaf shone diamond bright with dew; Some say, his kiss was death, —a cold, cold, hailstone, I never could believe pessimists, could you? Rexburg, Idaho Paul Fullmer.