IV Water-Falls
[Figures in parentheses indicate approximate heights of falls in feet. These in most cases are not to be relied upon as strictly accurate, there having been no published record of actual measurements, except in the case of the Yellowstone Falls.]
Collonade Falls—F: 3—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Crystal Falls (129)—G: 8—1870—Washburn Party.—Characteristic.—The total fall includes three cascades.
Fairy Fall (250)—K: 4—1871—Barlow.—Characteristic.
Firehole Falls (60)—I: 4—Takes name from river.
Gibbon Falls (80)—I: 5—Takes name from river.
Iris Falls—P: 3—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Kepler Cascade (80)—L: 5—1881—Norris.—For the son of Hon. John W. Hoyt, Ex-Governor of Wyoming, who accompanied his father on a reconnaissance for a wagon road to the Park in 1881. Norris speaks of him as “an intrepid twelve-year old” boy who “unflinchingly shared in all the hardships, privations, and dangers of the explorations of his father,” which included many hundred miles of travel on horseback through that difficult country; and in admiration for the lad’s pluck, he named this cascade in his honor.
Lewis Falls, Upper (80)—P: 7—Takes name from river.
Lewis Falls, Lower (50)—Q: 7—Takes name from river.
Moose Falls—R: 6—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Mystic Falls—L: 4—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Osprey Falls (150)—D: 6—1885—U. S. G. S.
Ouzel Falls—P: 3—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Rainbow Falls (140)—R: 4—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.—Height includes total of three falls.
Rustic Falls (70)—D: 6—1878—Norris—Characteristic.
Silver Cord Cascade—G: 9—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Terraced Falls—R: 4—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Tower Falls (132)—D: 10—1870—Washburn Party—Characteristic.
“By a vote of a majority of the party this fall was called Tower Fall.”—Washburn.
“At the crest of the fall the stream has cut its way through amygdaloid masses, leaving tall spires of rock from 50 to 100 feet in height, and worn in every conceivable shape…. Several of them stand like sentinels on the very brink of the fall.”—Doane.
Undine Falls (60)—D: 7—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Union Falls—Q: 4—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Virginia Cascade (60)—H: 7—1886—By E. Lamartine, at that time foreman in charge of government work in Park.—For the wife of the Hon. Chas. Gibson, President of the Yellowstone Park Association.
Wraith Falls (100)—D: 7—1885—U. S. G. S.—Characteristic.
Yellowstone Falls (Upper 112; Lower 310)—H: 9—From the river which flows over them. CM
CM Record of the various measurements of the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River.
Folsom (1869) Upper Fall, 115 feet. Method not stated.
Lower Fall, 350 feet. Method not stated.
Doane (1870) Upper Fall, 115 feet. Line.
Langford (1870) Lower Fall, 350 feet. Line stretched on an incline.
Moore’s Sketch (1870) Lower Fall, 365 feet. Method not
stated.
Hayden (1871) Upper Fall, 140 feet. Method not stated.
Lower Fall, 350 feet. Method not stated.
Gannett (1872) Upper Fall, 140 feet. Barometer.
Lower Fall, 395 feet. Comparison of angles subtended
by Falls and by a tree of known height.
Jones (1873) Upper Fall, 150 feet. Barometer.
Lower Fall, 329 feet. Barometer.
Ludlow (1875) Upper Fall, 110 feet. Line.
Lower Fall, 310 feet. Line.
Gannett (1878) Upper Fall, 112 feet. Line.
Lower Fall, 297 feet. Line stretched on an incline.
U. S. G. S. (Recent) Upper Fall, 109 feet. Method not stated.
Lower Fall, 308 feet. Method not stated.
Chittenden (1892) Upper Fall, 112 feet between point of first descent and level of pool below. Measured by means of a transit instrument. Width of gorge at brink of fall, and a few feet above water surface, 48 feet.