EASTERN SECTION - Yellowstone Treasures - page 198

Meanders and the Northern Pacific Railway
Trout Creek is an excellent example of meanders, or the windings a stream forms when it
flows across nearly level ground. As the water flows through this remnant of the former
lake bottom, it gradually cuts through the glacial till and lake sediments. If the river en-
counters a small obstruction, it goes around it. As a curve develops, the water flows faster
on the outside of the curve, cutting still further, while on the inside of the curve, where the
water flows slower, a sandbar of deposited sediment builds up.
Over a century ago people noticed that Trout Creek's meanders at the time resembled
the Chinese yin and yang symbol, which represents the passive and active forces of the
universe. In 1893, the Northern Pacific Railway, which brought tourists from the east-
ern U.S., chose the thousand-year-old yin-yang symbol for the logo of their Yellowstone
Park Branch Line, proudly pointing out that the same symbol was found in Yellowstone.
However, natural events have altered the stream.
The word meander comes from the Meander or Menderes River in western Turkey (an-
cient Phrygia), proverbial for its windings.
Near Trout Creek, the stagecoach road led across the Central Plateau west to Lower Geyser
Basin. This road, completed in 1880, was used until the road from the Upper Geyser Basin to
West Thumb over Craig Pass replaced it as the main route in 1892. Today there's only a faint
trace of the 1880 road's eastern end.
7.8/7.6 Trout Creek crossing.
9.6/5.8 Turnout on the east above a large meander in the Yellowstone River. Called Grizzly
Overlook, this is a good place to spot wildlife. It's also the best place to see the surface ex-
pression of the Sour Creek Dome [GEO.26] , where the magma under the caldera comes quite
close to the surface. The dome's center forms part of the eastern horizon.
10.0/5.4 View of Avalanche Peak about 13 miles away when traveling south.