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Edith A. Ross |
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Biographies of other people who contributed plants to the Putnam Museum Herbarium. (alphabetical by surname). A-F G-M N-Z |
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A note about the reference citations and hyperlinks to the documents provided. |
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Introduction. In July 1890 Edith Alma Ross, accompanied by her father, John, trekked to Yellowstone National Park. Sadly, only three sentences in an Agassiz Association publication have been located that describe her summer foray. "Miss Edith A. Ross recounts a brief trip made last summer to the Yellowstone Park in which about 100 species were collected. Five of these are figured in the report. By taking advantage of the stops of the train a number of interesting plants were taken en-route" (Clute 1891). Even so, using existing photographs, bygone era railway maps, arrival/departure timetables, factual accounts of Yellowstone's history, a bit of ingenuity, a dollop of contemplation, and a healthy dose of rumination, a plausible re-creation of past events can be made. A reconstruction of Edith A. Ross's trip to mountain man Jim Bridger's "place where hell bubbled up" follows (Chittendon 1895, Mattes 1949). |
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Edith's motivation. The young botanist's inspiration to visit Yellowstone may have come from one or a combination of several motivators. Maybe Edith wanted to celebrate Wyoming's admission as the Union's 44th state (July 10, 1890), perhaps she was charmed by a Northern Pacific Railroad flier or a Union Pacific handbill, she might have enjoyed Anna Southworth's "Nan in Goblinland" (Southworth 1890), or maybe the excursion was a gift from her parents in celebration of her 23rd birthday. Regardless, it's likely that Edith was encouraged by two members of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences (DANS), where she attended meetings of the Agassiz Association. Botanist Charles C. Parry and entomologist J. Duncan Putnam were leaders in the Academy's scientific community. Though Putnam was nearly twelve years Edith's senior, she attended high school with three of his siblings and, since Davenport High School at the time consisted of only 110 students (give or take a few, (Labath 2012)), Ms. Ross must have known at least some of the Putnam children. Ergo, Edith may have been acquainted with the elder Putnam through her social activities. (In 1881 the twenty-six-year-old J. Duncan Putnam died of tuberculosis five years before Edith's high school graduation (Mary & Kent 2012).) In 1873 Parry and Putnam participated in the W.A. Jones Northwestern Wyoming Expedition that included travel through Yellowstone National Park (Jones 1875, Putnam 1873, White 1906). Parry and Putnam undoubtedly regaled listeners with tales of people, places, and things in Yellowstone and the mountainous west. Ms. Ross could have easily become acquainted with Dr. Parry through her Agassiz Association activities at the Academy and it's reasonable to assume that Parry captured Edith's imagination by sharing his and Putnam's experiences in and around Yellowstone. Was more encouragment needed? |
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When did she go? Explaining why Edith went to Yellowstone is an exercise in conjecture, but her period of travel is more certain. Dates of early June 1890 and late August 1890, listed on plant collections she made in the Davenport area, confirm her presence in the city. The plant specimens she collected during the field trip were simply dated "July 1890", so establishment of a specific timespan is impossible, but the general time frame is set from the tail end of June through beginning of August. |
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From Davenport to Yellowstone. Excursions to Yellowstone via the Northern Pacific Railroad (NPRR) originated in St. Paul, Minnesota and from 1886 through 1892, NPRR round-trip tickets from that city to Livingston, Montana sold for $120 (about $3400 today). In 1886 the 1032 mile trip departed from St. Paul's Union Depot and required about 46 hours - blistering average speed: 22.4 mph. By 1892 the trip had been reduced to 35.5 hours - average speed 29 mph. At any rate, the price tag (in 1892) for the 10-day excursion to Yellowstone included "railroad fares, one double berth in Pullman Sleeping Car, meals in Northern Pacific Dining Cars, stage transportation through the Park and accommodations for six and one-quarter days' [sic] at the Park Association hotels" (Lamborn & Fee 1886, Northern Pacific Railroad 1892). For the Rosses, it was probably quickest and easiest to leave Davenport and make the short trip across the Mississippi River to Rock Island, Illinois. In Rock Island they could board the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railway and arrive in St. Paul about 14 hours later (Potter 1890). After leaving St. Paul, the train paused at various stations to pick up and drop off passengers, with the first such stop being just a few miles down the line in Minneapolis. Somewhere in the vicinity of the station, Ms. Ross noticed and collected one specimen of giant hyssop ( Lophanthus anisatus Benth.), before the train headed north to Brainerd and then west-northwest to Dakota Territory. Nineteenth century long-range rail trips to and from Yellowstone were often tedious affairs. But steam locomotives (like the Northern Pacific's #684), which consumed large quantities of water and fuel, required frequent stops to replenish the supply of both and/or take on new travelers. So, passengers took full advantage of the opportunities to stretch their legs and, following suit, Edith occasionally roamed the area around a water/fuel/passenger station in search of interesting vegetation. The NPRR crossed the Red River at Fargo and continued west in Dakota Territory to Valley City on the Sheyenne (Cheyenne) River. There, Edith picked up a couple of plant specimens. One was a bindweed (Convolvulus sepium L.) and the other was a specimen of snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis Hook.). A few hundred miles later, when the Northern Pacific reached the east side of the Yellowstone River in Montana, it stopped at Glendive (probably another water & fuel stop). Once again, Edith took advantage of the opportunity to stroll and investigate the area's wide open spaces. Her plant prospecting added 15 specimens to her collection (including plants like: flax (Linum rigidum Pursh), creeping spearwort (Ranunculus flammula L.), blue grama grass (Bouteloua oligostachya (Nutt.) Torr. ex A.Gray), needle grass (Stipa comata Trin. & Rupr.), and Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis membranacea (Pursh) Vasey)). |
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At Yellowstone. Tourism to Yellowstone National Park was a financial winner for the Northern Pacific Railway, so by 1883 the NPRR had negotiated the construction of a spur line from Livingston south to the park, via a place along the banks of the Yellowstone River, that was little more than a post office [present day Gardiner, Montana]. Regrettably, one "Buckskin Jim" Cutler (christened Robert Eugene Cutler), a "bull-necked, bullet-headed, and very stubborn German" refused to relinquish his mining claim over which the railroad needed to cross. Buckskin Jim's reticence (either, because he wanted to sell for a higher price or simply due to pure cussedness) persisted ... for 19 years ... so the spur line went only as far as Cinnabar (about 3 miles upstream from Gardiner) and there the terminus remained until 1902. Evidently, Buckskin Jim's quest for riches and his involvement in various nefarious endeavors led to long periods of absence from home and his wife, Eva, grew tired of being left alone to care for the children and the homestead. She saw fit to file for divorce in 1902 and Jim, then having a serious need for available cash to settle the dissolution of his marriage, acquiesced to the wishes of the NPRR and relinquished his claim (Goss 2009d, Haines 1977a&b, Whittlesey 2015). The rail line was extended to Gardiner, which transformed it from a village of a few stores, tents, and huts into thriving community. And Cinnabar? It withered into nothing. Because of Buckskin Jim's blockade, Edith and John Ross could not reach Yellowstone by train in 1890. The NPRR's National Park Branch got them to the Cinnabar station (appx. here) from Livingston in about two hours. From Cinnabar, most passengers rode "Tally Ho" stagecoaches for 5.5 miles (or so) to the Montana/Wyoming state line and then an additional mile and a half to the park's Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel - arrival time of about 12:30 p.m. (Haines 1977b, Northern Pacific Railroad 1892). |
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Park Governance. Early park supervision and administration under the direction of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior was intended to preserve the plants, animals, and physical features of the area from poachers, squatters, treasure hunters, and other profiteers. Unfortunately, not all enforcement agents were honest and not all punishments were meted out equitably or effectively (for example, see pp. 320-323 in Haines 1977a). Politics got involved, people were hired to perform duties that went unfunded, and charges of mismanagement were levied. That's not to say everybody at Yellowstone was crooked, but there were significant problems and a stronger hand was needed. Enter the U.S. military. Troop M, First United States Cavalry, arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs on the evening of August 17, 1886 and Captain Moses Harris assumed the responsibilities as Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park on August 20th. Small military detachments were soon deployed to stations at the Norris, Lower, and Upper Geyser Basins, at the area around the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, along the Madison River, and in the northeast corner of the park along the trail leading to Cooke City, Wyoming (Haines 1977b, Hampton 1971, Harris 1887). According to Harris (1887, p. 7) the scattered installations were necessary, because "The park is surrounded by a class of old frontiersmen, hunters and trappers, and squaw-men, who, as the game diminishes outside the Park, increase their efforts and resort to all sorts of expedients to get possession of that which receives the protection of the law". |
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Touring the Park. Whereas 1889 in Yellowstone National Park was a very active fire-season (70 blazes in the park), the summer of 1890 in Yellowstone proved to be a more or less pleasant time to visit. The region received a little over half the normal amount of rain for the months of June & July and temperatures were a bit above expected values. So, June & July might be described as a period of nice temperatures, low precipitation, and few fires - pleasant conditions (one would think) for hiking and sightseeing (Anderson 1891, Boutelle 1890, Weatherforyou.com 2019). Day 1 - Mammoth Hot Springs. Upon their arrival, the Rosses would have likely first secured their accommodations at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. To say that living quarters at Mammoth were something less than opulent would be fair. In the words of Ms. Leila Lindley from the June preceding Edith and John's visit, "Approaching the hotel at the Springs the idea that strikes you is, what an uninviting looking place. The building is indefinite in width, and is painted a sickly yellow. The rooms are not heated and conseqently [sic] the atmosphere savors of Greenland more than anything else" (Lindley 1890). Even so, Edith and John Ross's noonish arrival at Mammoth Hot Springs allowed them and other visitors ample time to wander among the hot springs and terraces near the hotel. Visitors may have taken a tour of the area around the hotel guided by a soldier (see Fort Yellowstone) or a hotel porter. Many would venture into the Mammoth Hot Springs upper terrace to take a dip in Bath Lake clad in either a bathing suit or, if lacking said apparel, their "birthday" suit (Haines 1977b, Northern Pacific Railroad 1892). Edith spent some of her time botanizing around the first tour stop and collected a specimen of a wild hollyhock she identified as Sphaeralcea acerifolia T&G (Iliamna rivularis Greene). About half of Ms. Ross's collections from the park lack any mention of a specific locality, so perhaps other plants she collected came from her first stop on the Yellowstone tour, but only this single specimen specifically mentions Mammoth Hot Springs as its place of origin. To park employees, visitors essentially fell into one of two categories. "Sagebrushers" toured the park on horseback (or some other mode of transportation they owned or had hired) and shunned the hotels in favor of camping. Even a few hardy souls saw part of the park perched upon a bicycle (Haines 1977b). But "dudes" and "dudettes" (sobriquets for men and women with enough disposable income to afford a private "excursion package" to and through Yellowstone National Park) were carried from one location to another by 4-horse, 11-passenger Yellowstone Observation Wagons (Haines 1977b, Kraft 1999, Nugent 2017, Van Tassell 1919). The drivers of the wagons served as teamsters and tour guides. They were commonly long-winded and loose-lipped young cowboys or ranchers who made $35 to $75 per month chauffeuring visitors through the park during the summer months. Not only were the men good at handling a team of horses, but they were commonly accomplished storytellers, with nicknames like Geyser Bob, Scattering Tom, Heaver Jones, Dirty Dick, and Spouting Bill. The teamsters were often driven to the brink by passengers with inane questions like, "Do the beavers climb the trees to cut them down?, "Did the government plant all of the trees in the park?", "Do the prairie dogs dig their own holes?", and so on. Some answers to questions were accurate and detailed; others were imprecise, but well-intended; many were a medley of truth and deeply flawed logic; and then there were those explanations that were utter fabrication delivered in an authoritative and convincing manner. A tourist once asked if it were true that mountain sheep lighted on their horns when jumping from one cliff to another. "Why, yes," was the answer. "I have seen them jump straight down and light on a cliff three or four hundred feet below." The tourist then asked, "But doesn't it hurt them when they light on their horns that hard?" "No," came the reply. "They have a kind of brake they put on just before they light and that slows them up, ..." (Haines 1977b, Van Tassell 1919). |
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Day 2 - From Mammoth Hot Springs to the Firehole River. In the morning of the second day in the park, coaches lined up in front of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and passengers were assigned to one of the numbered carriages. The horse-drawn coaches were heavy and rolled on metal-tired wooden wheels that tended to pulverize the roadbed over which they traveled. The horses and cargo-laden wagons were inclined to kick up a lot of dust. The words of Leila Lindley beautifully illustrate the experience, "The stage rides are uncomfortable, and, though we nearly petrified from cold sometimes, the roads were so dusty we could scarcely breathe. ... We have shivered and shook and melted at intervals; we have very nearly swallowed the prescribed pound of dirt - yet we live to tell the tale" (Lindley 1890). So, coaches departed from the hotel at 500 foot intervals to reduce the amount of grime guests were forced to ingest. Excursions that progressed according to schedule, left Mammoth Hot Springs at 8:00 a.m. and completed the 16 mile (give or take a bit) trip to the Norris Geyser Basin by noon (Haines 1977b, Northern Pacific Railroad 1892, Nugent 2017). In 1886 a contract was let for the construction of a hotel by the Yellowstone Park Association on an acre of land near the soldier station at Norris and the semi-complete lodging was opened for business (on the wrong building site) in the spring of 1887. Regrettably, someone connected a working stove to a chimney flu that extended into the building's attic, but did not vent to the outside. When embers from the stove ignited lumber in the attic on July 12, 1887, the structure was quickly converted from a rental residence to smoldering rubble. Another "temporary" building of dubious quality was assembled and a lunch station of canvas tents was established for people who were there for a brief stop-over en route to the Firehole Hotel in the Lower Geyer Basin (Goss 2009a&b, Haines 1977b, Haines et al. 1969). Edith botanized the Norris Geyser Basin, but evidently collected only a single plant, a goldenrod (Solidago multiradiata Ait.). After lunch, the tourist caravan would typically arrive in the Lower Geyser Basin by 5:30 in the afternoon. At least in 1887, accommodations at the Firehole Hotel (aka Marshall's Hotel) were described as "needlessly ugly in architectural design ... of poor and mean construction and should be replaced by a commodious and well-constructed building" (Harris 1887). Elegant or austere, no other lodging was available at the confluence of the Firehole River and Nez Perce Creek, so that's undoubtedly where Edith and John Ross spent the night. While in the Firehole Basin (aka Lower Geyser Basin), Edith collected a couple members of the pink family, namely baldheaded sandwort (Arenaria congesta Nutt.) and field chickweed (Cerastium arvense L.). Early civil engineering proposals for Yellowstone favored construction of a loop road that would allow visitors to progress through the park's major points of interest without having to retrace any steps (map). The proposed road was to stretch from Mammoth Hot Springs south to the Norris Geyser and Lower Geyser Basins. From the Lower Basin the recommended route extended to the area surrounding Old Faithful (the Upper Geyser Basin), then southward to Shoshone Lake, northeast to the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake, and on to the Yellowstone River outlet on the north side of the lake. Finally, the loop was to continue northward to the Upper and Lower Falls Canyon region, then another 18 miles (or so) north to Yancey's Pleasant Valley Hotel, and back west to Mammoth Hot Springs (Chittenden 1895, Culpin 1994, Jones 1891). |
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Day 3 - To Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin. But in 1890, the loop road was incomplete, so day three consisted of an out-and-back trip from the Firehole Hotel (in the Lower Geyser Basin) to the Upper Geyser Basin (about a 10 mile, one hour one-way trip (Culpin 1994; see p. 29)). It's not that lodging wasn't available in the Upper Basin, but the quality was problematic. The iconic Old Faithful Inn didn't exist in 1890, instead a tent village was present, and the Upper Geyser Basin Hotel was at the visitors' disposal. The hotel was built in 1885, but only two years later it was described as a "barn-like structure ... in a dilapidated condition ... not worth repairing" (Goss 2009c, Harris 1887). Many people opted for the out-and-back trip from the Firehole Hotel vs. an overnight stay near Old Faithful, because of the Upper Basin's "rustic" accommodations, which lacked creature comforts. Edith and her father probably spent their time in the Upper Geyser Basin watching Old Faithful, gazing into a variety of hot spring pools, and hiking past a number of other natural wonders. One thing they likely missed was an eruption of the Beehive Geyser, because it was a mostly inactive during the summer of 1890 (Geyser Observation and Study Association 2017, Yellowstone National Park 2018). Edith must have been particularly enamored with the flora of the area surrounding Old Faithful, because she collected 26 plants from there - among them were composites like woolly sunflower (Eriophyllum caespitosum var. integrifolium (Hook.) A.Gray), orchids like scentflower (Habenaria dilatata), members of the rose family like sticky cinquefoil (Potentilla glandulosa), and a plant from the figwort family known as purple monkey flower (Mimulus nanus). It is, or will be, obvious that Edith collected plants from a variety of locations within Yellowstone National Park, but her experiences around Yellowstone's hot springs are of particular botanical interest. Among the geothermal discharges along the Firehole River (Whipple 2012), she collected specimens of a short, innocuous grass, which somehow made their way to Dr. George Vasey at the U.S. National Herbarium. Vasey determined the grass to be a species new to science and named it Agrostis rossiae (Ross' bentgrass) in tribute to Ms. Ross (Harvey 2007, Vasey 1892). Still today, Ross's bentgrass is known from fewer than a dozen geothermally active locations in Yellowstone National Park (Fertig & Heidel 2011), such as Beehive Geyser. Edith definitely visited the Upper Geyser Basin and, given that the Beehive Geyser was particularly dormant during 1890, she may easily have picked up specimens of the grass from there. |
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Day 4 - A rough commute: Firehole River to the Yellowstone River. Because the loop road had not been built, Edith Ross and her fellow day-4 passengers left the Firehole Hotel en route to Yellowstone Lake and the Canyon Hotel by way of Lake Mary. That path, known as the Nez Perce to Hayden Valley wagon road, was a crude route carved out in 1877 by General Oliver Howard's troops as they pursued members of the Nez Perce tribe. The Nez Perce fought and retreated on a 1200 mile trek from Idaho, through Yellowstone, and part of Montana in an effort to reach Canada and avoid incarceration on a reservation (Guptill 1890). Their last battle (near what is now Chinook, Montana) occurred about 40 miles south of the U.S./Canada border. A few of the surviving Nez Perce escaped to the safety of Canada, but several hundred were shipped off to a reservation in the Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma (Clark 1945, Westmoreland 2009). Ms. Ross and fellow tourists, boarded an 11-passenger coach to negotiate the Nez Perce to Hayden Valley wagon road, which initially skirted the drainage of Nez Perce Creek. Rudyard Kipling described his 1889 experience along this part of the journey as "a road across a level park hotly contested by the beavers. Every winter they build their dam and flood the low-lying land; every summer that dam is torn up by the Government, and for half a mile you must plough axle-deep in water (Kipling 1899)". The road eventually left the relatively flat drainage and rose in elevation past Mary's Lake (elevation appx. 8240 feet), continued over Mary Mountain, and then traversed downslope into the Hayden Valley. The uphill climb to the lake was a particularly steep slope, christened the "Devil's Stairway" (about here). In Kipling's words, "As we climbed the long path, the road grew viler and viler till it became without disguise the bed of a torrent; and just when things were at their rockiest we emerged into a little sapphire lake - but never sapphire was so blue - called Mary's Lake" (Kipling 1899). At the time, be it Kipling, Ross, or sine nomine hominem, when a heavily-laden coach reached a pitch that was sufficiently steep, riders were asked to disembark and walk up the slope, so that the horses could more easily pull the luggage-filled coach to the summit (Baedecker 1893, Haines 1977b). Such was the nature of the Devil's Stairway and depending upon the weather, the fitness of the passengers, and their attire for the day, hiking up that sort of slope for any distance might (or might not) have been a challenge. The Devil's Stairway was the scene of an infamous mishap on July 24th, 1890. It was a warmer-than-normal day. The mercury hit 89° at Mammoth Hot Springs, the wind was out of the south, and the Nez Perce to Hayden Valley wagon road was undoubtedly rutted, rough, and dusty. Having reached the severe incline, a travel party dismounted from the stagecoach and the somewhat relieved horses continued their up-slope pull. Among the passengers was former U.S. Representative from New York, Guy R. Pelton. The horses and stagecoach made it to the top of the "Devil's Stairway", the politician did not. Regrettably, Mr. Pelton's fitness level was not up to completing the 400 foot elevation rise - a hike of ½ to ¾ of a mile. He suffered massive heart failure, fell to the ground, and died (Haines 1977b, McKern 2007). Pelton's death brought some nasty press coverage during the following month, such as "Guy R. Pelton's Death - He was killed by attempting to obey a senseless order" (McRae 1892) and "Fleeced by the railroad people" (Anonymous 1890a). To the surprise of few, Pelton's demise was used to generate a legal-financial-political kerfuffle regarding transportation rights in the park. Accusations were leveled, lobbyists were employed, palms were "greased", and heads rolled, but few major changes occurred immediately (Haines 1977b). Having summited the Devil's Stairway, surviving passengers once again climbed aboard the coach and continued westward. About ¾ of the way from the Firehole Hotel to the Hayden Valley road was the midday rest stop called the Trout Creek Lunch Station - Larry Mathews, proprietor. Kipling's group, " ... pulled up disheveled at Larry's for lunch and an hour's rest. Only "Larry" could have managed that school-feast tent on the lonely hillside. Need I say that he was an Irishman? His supplies were at their lowest ebb, but Larry enveloped us all in the golden glamour of his speech ere we had descended, and the tent with the rude trestle-table became a palace, the rough fare, delicacies of Delmonico, and we, the abashed recipients of Larry's imperial bounty. It was only later that I discovered I had paid eight shillings for tinned beef, biscuits, and beer, but on the other hand Larry had said: "Will I go out an' kill a buffalo?" And I felt that for me and for me alone would he have done it. Everybody else felt that way. Good luck go with Larry" (Kipling 1899)! From Larry's Lunch Station the Nez Perce to Hayden Valley track continued eastward until it intersected the north-south Hayden Valley route (about 25 miles from the Firehole Hotel). At that junction travelers were more-or-less half way between the outlet of Yellowstone Lake to the south and the Canyon Hotel to the north. There is no mention of Yellowstone Lake among Edith Ross' plant collections and though construction of the Lake Hotel began in 1889, it did not open for occupancy until 1891 (Goss 2009e, Haines 1977b). Therefore, it's likely that Edith and John Ross did not venture in that direction; instead, their stagecoach traveled the seven (+/-) miles north to the Canyon Hotel, near the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. |
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Day 5 - The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Whether it was transportation, firefighting, food stuffs, or lodging, people and organizations were trying to profit from the potential of Yellowstone National Park. One aspiring concessionaire, D.B. May (who had already been awarded the contract to provide beef to the hotels in Yellowstone (Goss 2009d)), was issued a lease by the Secretary of the Interior to construct an elevator down a 500 foot cliff just below the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. May's chosen location was in the vicinity of Lookout Point and the elevator was a proposed safe and non-strenuous conveyance to a spot below the canyon rim that would provide a more spectacular view of the Lower Falls. Unfortunately for Mr. May, the proposal was reviewed and recommended for rejection by Park Superintendent F.A. Boutelle (Boutelle 1890, Haines 1977b, Hampton 1971). In Boutelle's words "a further examination made this spring has convinced me that it was a mistake to approve of any elevator at the site mentioned, for it is impossible to put in an elevator to reach the bottom of the cañon without its coming in full sight and destroying the view from the head of the great falls. This is one of the grandest views on earth and doubly grand that the hand of man is nowhere visible (Boutelle 1890)." The Cañon Hotel, which at the time was a "barracks-like temporary structure" built in 1886, sat near the Upper Falls (Haines 1977b). It's likely that Edith and John Ross stayed there, explored the upper reaches of the falls area on the north side of the river from the Upper Falls to Lookout Point, and hiked the nearby trails (without the benefit of May's elevator). Any trekking that took place on the south side of the river required a boat trip across a fairly docile part of the river upstream from the Upper Falls (Guptil 1890, Haines 1977b). Not surprisingly, Edith investigated the plant life in the vicinity of Yellowstone's Grand Canyon. She collected 20 specimens in the area, among them: elephanthead lousewort (Pedicularis groenlandica Retz.), a cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis Douglas ex Hook.), an onion (Allium brevistylum S. Watson), and yellow avalanche-lily (Erythronium grandiflorum Pursh). |
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Day 6 - A travel day. Leaving the Cañon Hotel in the morning, park visitors headed west 12 miles to the Norris Geyser Basin, and then another 18 miles to Mammoth Hot Springs. With the exception of crossing the Gibbon River, features along this route through the park are fairly banal in comparison to the spectacular geysers, stinking mud pots, and/or brilliantly colored hot springs found in other Yellowstone locales. Perhaps a period of free time during this travel day gave the Rosses a chance to test their fish catching skills. In 1889 David S. Jordan (1891) surveyed the piscine populations of Yellowstone National Park and reported that rainbow trout had been stocked in the Gibbon River. Furthermore, he confirmed the prior belief that nearly half the waters of Yellowstone National Park were bereft of game fish, because the barren watercourses were separated from productive downstream fisheries by insurmountable waterfalls. Therefore, (insert mental eyeroll here) a fish stocking program began, that introduced non-native whitefish and numerous types of alien trout to various lakes and rivers in Yellowstone (McDonald 1893). Even if there wasn't time or motivation to go fishing, there were animals to watch. Besides, bears, buffalo, deer, and elk, "the noise of our wagon scared out of their resting places several woodchucks, porcupines, chipmunks and goodness knows how many more wild creatures. There were several eagle nests, and we saw the owners of these rocky habitations. It was a surprise to us all that so few birds were seen. An oriole or two, a few blackbirds and two or three bluejays about completes the list. A partridge ran across the road just in front of our stage one morning" (Lindley 1890). And, whether it was the first day of their excursion or the last, Yellowstone visitors became intimately acquainted with one small airborne nuisance. "We encountered an everlasting pest in the mosquito. The more we fussed and fumed, the more enraged the "pesky varmints" became. For hours life was miserable on account of the insects. Veils and handkerchiefs were used to no effect, so we had to suffer until we got out of mosquitodom" (Lindley 1890). |
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Day 7 - Back to Livingston. Following a restful evening at Mammoth Hot Springs, departing visitors headed north to Cinnabar via dusty horse-drawn conveyance, then boarded the National Park Branch Line at the Cinnabar station, and ultimately arrived in Livingston in the early afternoon (travel time, about 4 ½ hours). Eastbound passengers left Livingston via NPRR in the afternoon and, if St. Paul was their final destination, arrived in Minnesota the next morning (about 18 hours later). |
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A side trip. In 1864 the accidental discovery of gold in Last Chance Gulch ultimately generated 18–19 million dollars of bullion. Though the placer strike persisted only about four years, it brought lasting prosperity to Helena. Accumulated wealth and ready access to transportation routes (by rail and river), helped the city become the territorial capital in 1875 and, when Montana became a state in 1889, Helena was declared the capital. With greater wealth came increased interest in amenities — schools, churches, hospitals, financial and social organizations — such that Helena was transformed from a hard-scrabble mining camp to a frontier city of wealth and sophistication (Baird 2019, History.com 2019, Lincoln 2014, Roberts 1888). The "Personal" column in Helena's "The Daily Independent" of July 22, 1890 posted the following: "Arrivals at the Helena ... Mr. Ross, Davenport, Ia. ... Miss Ross, Davenport, Ia." (Anonymous 1890b). So, the Rosses seem to have capped their excursion to Yellowstone with a 220 mile round-trip junket to Helena to indulge in the city's conveniences and pleasantries, which included a stay at the recently opened Helena Hotel. "The Helena" was billed as a first-class "caravansary" with a billiard room, ladies ordinary, steam heat, hot and cold running water, fire escapes, fire fighting equipment, an Otis Brothers elevator, gas and incandescent light, and porcelain bathtubs (Anonymous 1890c). Besides staying at the Helena Hotel, Edith's visit may have included an outing to enjoy the opulence of Helena's Broadwater Resort. In the late 1880s Charles A. Broadwater, a wealthy businessman involved in the banking, railroad, and real estate industries, financed the construction of a luxurious complex on 40 acres of land just west of Helena, that featured the Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium (Allen 1995, Baird 2019). Perhaps it was relaxation and pampering at the Broadwater resort/health spa, following a rigorous week reconnoitering Yellowstone National Park, that took Edith and John Ross to Helena. |
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The path home. No records of plant collecting or other activities by Edith or her father have been located to further detail their activities in Helena. So after a period of relaxation, the Rosses would have boarded the train at the Helena Station and returned to St. Paul via the Northern Pacific Railway. The most expeditious path from Minnesota to home, would have been for them to take the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railway from St. Paul to Rock Island, Illinois. That leg of the trip would have required at least 14 hours (Northern Pacific Railroad 1892, Potter 1890); from Rock Island it was a short jaunt across the Mississippi River back to Davenport. |
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