W
here the highway into Yellowstone Park’s north entrance crosses the Gardiner River there is a roadside marker for the 45th
parallel of latitude. The 45th parallel circles the globe halfway between the equator and the North Pole, passing hypothetically
through Minneapolis-St. Paul, Ottawa, Bordeaux, Venice, Belgrade, and the northern tip of the Japanese islands. A little distance
south of the sign, a parking area on the east side of the road is used by bathers in the "Boiling River." The trail leads upstream
around a half mile from the parking area to the place where large clouds of steam drift out of the Gardiner. Hot and the cold water
mix in pools along the river's edge. Bathers are allowed in the river during daylight hours only. Bathing suits are required, and no
alcoholic beverages are allowed. Boiling River is closed in the springtime due to hazardous high water and often does not reopen
until mid-summer.
The Gardiner River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River and approximately 25 miles long, traveling through northwestern
Wyoming and south central Montana. The entire river is located within Yellowstone National Park.
The river and the town of Gardiner were named for Johnson Gardner who was a free trapper in the early 18th century. In the
1830s, he worked northwestern Yellowstone and sold his furs to the American Fur Company. On September 13, 1869 the Cook–
Folsom–Peterson Expedition entered the park region and crossed the river at its mouth on their way up the Yellowstone. On August 26, 1870 the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition entered what was to become the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park at Gardiner and camped near the confluence before they crossed the river and proceeded south up the Yellowstone
river. Both these expeditions did not explore the Gardner and thus did not encounter the geothermal features of Mammoth Hot
Springs. The 1871 Geological Survey of the park region by F. V. Hayden did explore the Gardner and describe Mammoth Hot
Springs, but the Mammoth area itself was named by an illegal concessionaire Harry R. Hohr who tried to claim land in early 1871
in the newly explored park region.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTQh_eIt9XY
Photographs of the Gardiner and Boiling River by S.F. Roberts