{"id":5283,"date":"2012-09-27T02:22:42","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T08:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=5283"},"modified":"2012-10-02T08:19:55","modified_gmt":"2012-10-02T14:19:55","slug":"tale-little-invulnerable-amuses-washburn-expedition-1877","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=5283","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Yellowstone in 1870 on the Washburn Expedition with ‘Little Invulnerable’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
A drawing of "Little Invulnerable" by Private Moore, from Nathaniel Pitt Langford's Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The remote area that became Yellowstone National Park was a roadless wilderness when the famous Washburn Expedition explored it in 1870. That meant they had to carry supplies on packhorses.\u00a0Vital as these animals were to survival, the explorers rarely mentioned them. But, one horse\u2019s antics earned him a place in several journals and a nickname. Here\u2019s Nathaniel P. Langford\u2019s description of \u201cLittle Invulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of our packhorses is at once a source of anxiety and amusement to us all. He is a remarkable animal owned by Judge Hedges, who makes no pretentious to being a good judge of horses.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hedges says that the man from whom he purchased the animal, in descanting upon his many excellent qualities, said: \u201cHe is that kind of an animal that drives the whole herd before him.\u201d The man spoke truly, but Mr. Hedges did not realize that the seller meant to declare that the animal, from sheer exhaustion, would always be lagging behind the others of the herd.<\/p>\n

From the start, and especially during our journey through the forest, this pony, by his acrobatic performances and mishaps, has furnished much amusement for us all.<\/p>\n

Progress today could only be accomplished by leaping our animals over the fallen trunks of trees. Our little bronco, with all the spirit necessary, lacks oftentimes the power to scale the tree trunks.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a consequence, he is frequently found resting upon his midriff with his fore and hind feet suspended over the opposite sides of some huge log. \u201cThe spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.\u201d He has an ambitious spirit, which is exceeded only by his patience. He has had many mishaps, any one of which would have permanently disabled a larger animal, and we have dubbed him \u201cLittle Invulnerable.\u201d One of the soldiers of our escort, Private Moore, has made a sketch of him as he appeared today lying across a log, of which I am to have a copy.<\/p>\n

You can read about Little Invulnerable and more from a condensed version of <\/span>Nathaniel Pitt Langford’s \u00a0Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>Adventures in Yellowstone: Early Travelers Tell Their Tales,<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by M. Mark Miller.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The remote area that became Yellowstone National Park was a roadless wilderness when the famous Washburn Expedition explored it in 1870. That meant they had to carry supplies on packhorses. Vital as these animals were to survival, the explorers rarely mentioned them. But, one horse\u2019s antics earned him a place in several journals and a nickname. Here\u2019s Nathaniel P. Langford\u2019s description of \u201cLittle Invulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[447,10],"tags":[783,752,574],"yoast_head":"\nExploring Yellowstone in 1870 on the Washburn Expedition with 'Little Invulnerable' - Yellowstone Gate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Men exploring Yellowstone Park during the Washburn Expedition enjoy watching a pony named "Little Invulnerable" navigate the forest floor.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=5283\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exploring Yellowstone in 1870 on the Washburn Expedition with 'Little Invulnerable' - Yellowstone Gate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Men exploring Yellowstone Park during the Washburn Expedition enjoy watching a pony named "Little Invulnerable" navigate the forest floor.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=5283\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yellowstone Gate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-27T08:22:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-02T14:19:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/little-invulnerable-horiz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"501\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"M. 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