Mammoth Hot Springs

Most roads, along with the west, south, and east entrances, close to regular vehicle traffic on Sunday, November 1.

The road connecting the north and northeast entrances remains open year-round, weather permitting, providing access through Mammoth Hot Springs and Lamar Valley.

Guided snowmobile and snowcoach travel is scheduled to begin December 15, subject to conditions.

If you need accessible transportation, confirm the specific vehicle and boarding arrangements with the operator before booking a winter tour.

Visitors traveling to Yellowstone by car during the winter can access the park only via the road connecting the north entrance in Gardiner, Montana and the northeast entrance in Cook City, Silver Gate, Montana.

This route passes through Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Junction, and Lamar Valley and remains open year-round, weather permitting.

Communities surrounding Yellowstone remain open year-round and offer a variety of fall and winter recreation opportunities.

There is a funeral notice for Vernon Neil Ofus, who passed away at the age of 95 last Sunday.

Swan Lake Flats is a scenic meadow that you may know.

It's south of Mammoth Hot Springs and north of Norris.

And it's kind of this wide sweeping area that's near Bunsen Peak.

It shows off Sepulcher Mountain as well as Electric Peak and all the other mountains of that section of the Gallatin Range.

You really got to protect that herd, don't you? You do.

And people assume there's elk everywhere because they're all over Mammoth Hot Springs.

Well, they're in Mammoth because the grass is sweet.

And there's no wolves there.

This sediment varies in color, that flowing from some of the apertures being white as chalk, that from others of a delicate lavender hue and from others of a brilliant pink color the following are the results of analyses of the various specimens which we gathered by professor augustus deitz of montana here follows a table which the reader has not reproduced in close proximity to these springs are others of pure odorless water near the shore were several boiling springs around which the sedimentary increment had formed into mounds of various sizes and heights the deposit around one of these springs resembles a miniature forest of pines the most remarkable springs of this group six or seven in number are of pure ultramarine hue very large and wonderfully transparent the largest is forty feet wide by seventy feet long the sides are funnel shaped converging regularly to the depth of forty feet where they present a dark and apparently unfathomable chasm from the surface to this opening the sides of the funnel are furrowed and sinuous coated with a white sediment which contrasts vividly with the dark orifice at its base this group of springs exhibit in their deposits a great variety of shades and colors no two of them being alike their constant overflow has fashioned a concrete bank of commingled tufa eight feet in height and a quarter of a mile in length and on the margin of the lake the waves have worn this bank into large caverns which respond in hollow murmurs to their fierce assaults between the springs are numerous vents and craters from which heated vapor is constantly rising along the edge of the water and ten or twenty feet from shore many springs are bubbling none of which seem to be strongly impregnated with sulphur the beach for a mile or more is strewn with fragments of cintar of various colours which have been worn by the waves into many fantastic forms the five days during which we camped at this locality were occupied by every possible effort to find our missing friend but the labours of each day only served to increase our fears for his safety one hope that of meeting him at virginia city was still indulged but opposed to this were many painful conjectures as to his possible fate not the least prevalent of which was the one that he might have been shot from an ambush by an indian arrow our provisions were rapidly diminishing and our longer stay gave promise of unfavorable results the force of circumstances obliged us to adopt the gloomy alternative of moving forward the next day leaving one of our own party and two of the cavalrymen to prosecute a further search the loss of our comrade and friend was to us all a source of much unhappy reflection and the hope of finding him so entirely absorbed our attention that we had little curiosity to examine and so escaped very many of the wonders of this region which we should otherwise have seen in our constant passing to and fro in different directions through the forest along the lake and over the surrounding mountains we had glances of objects which had we been free from a heavy charge it would have been pleasant to visit and describe these however are reserved for future investigation the plan of our route led us in a northwesterly direction from the lake towards the headwaters of the madison we travelled through a dense pine forest unmarked by trails and encumbered by fallen timber for most of the distance the close of the first day's travel found us only twelve miles from the lake still in the midst of the deep snow with no place to pitch our tent and each man seeking unsuccessfully a dry spot whereon to spread his blankets under the shelter of the trees the next day we reached the east bank of the fire hole river the largest tributary of the madison down which we travelled passing several cascades many craters and boiling springs to a large basin two miles above the point of the union of the fire hole and burnt hole rivers we bade adieu to yellowstone lake surfeited with the wonders we had seen and in the belief that the interesting portion of our journey was over the desire for home had superseded all thought of further exploration we had seen the greatest wonders on the continent and were convinced that there was not on the globe another region where within the same limits nature had crowded so much of grandeur and majesty with so much of novelty and wonder our only care was to return home as rapidly as possible three days of active travel from the headwaters of the madison would find us among the settlers in the beautiful lower valley of that picturesque river and within twelve miles of virginia city where we hoped to meet with mr evarts and realize afresh that all is well that ends well judge then what must have been our astonishment as we entered the basin at mid-afternoon of our second day's travel to see in the clear sunlight at no great distance an immense volume of clear sparkling water projected into the air to the height of one hundred and twenty-five feet geysers geysers exclaimed one of our company and spurring our jaded horses we soon gathered around this wonderful phenomenon it was indeed a perfect geyser the aperture through which the jet was projected was an irregular oval three feet by seven feet in diameter the margin of sinter was curiously piled up and the exterior crust was filled with little hollows full of water in which were small globules of sediment some having gathered around bits of wood and other nuclei this geyser is elevated thirty feet above the level of the surrounding plain and the crater rises five or six feet above the mound it spouted at regular intervals nine times during our stay the columns of boiling water being thrown from ninety to one hundred and twenty five feet at each discharge which lasted from fifteen to twenty minutes we gave it the name of old faithful in our journey down the valley looking down through a crevice in the crust upon which we were travelling we discovered a stream of hot water of considerable size running nearly at right angles with and away from the firehole river on the summit of a cone twenty feet high was a boiling spring seven feet in diameter surrounded with beautiful incrustations on the slope of which we gathered twigs and pine-tree cones encased in a siliceous crust a quarter of an inch in thickness but all the curiosities of this basin sink into insignificance in comparison with the geysers we saw during our brief stay of but twenty-two hours twelve in action six of these from vents varying from three to five feet in diameter threw water to the height of from fifteen to twenty-five feet but in the presence of others of immense dimensions these soon ceased to attract attention one which we named the fan has an orifice which discharges two radiating jets of water to the height of sixty feet the falling drops and spray resembling a feather fan it is very beautiful its eruptions are very frequent lasting usually from ten to thirty minutes a vent connected with it about forty feet distant expels dense masses of vapour fifty or sixty feet high accompanied by loud sharp reports during the time the geyser is in action the grotto was so named from its singular crater of vitrified cinter full of large sinuous apertures through one of these on our first visit one of our company crawled to the discharging orifice and when a few hours afterwards he saw a volume of boiling water four feet in diameter shooting through it to the height of sixty feet and a scalding stream of two hundred inches flowing from the aperture he had entered a short time before he concluded he had narrowly escaped being summarily cooked the discharge of this geyser continued for nearly half an hour the castle situated on the summit of an encrusted mound has a turreted crater through which a large volume of water is expelled at intervals of two or three hours to the height of fifty feet from a discharging orifice about three feet in diameter the architectural features of the siliceous centre surrounding it which is very massive and compact indicating that at some former period the flow of water must have been much greater than at present suggested its name a vent near it is constantly discharging a large stream of boiling water and when the geyser is in action the water in this vent boils and bubbles with great fierceness the giant has a rugged crater ten feet in diameter on the outside with an irregular orifice five or six feet in diameter it discharges a vast body of water and the only time we saw it in eruption the flow of water in a column five feet in diameter and one hundred and forty feet in vertical height continued uninterruptedly for nearly three hours the crater resembles a miniature model of the coliseum our search for new wonders leading us across the fire-hole river we ascended a gentle incrusted slope and came suddenly upon a large oval aperture with scalloped edges the diameters of which were eighteen and twenty-five feet the sides corrugated and covered with a grayish-white siliceous deposit which was distinctly visible at the depth of one hundred feet below the surface no water could be discovered but we could distinctly hear it gurgling and boiling at a great distance below suddenly it began to rise boiling and spluttering and sending out huge masses of steam causing a general stampede of our company driving us some distance from our point of observation when within about forty feet of the surface it became stationary and we returned to look down upon it it was foaming and surging at a terrible rate occasionally emitting small jets of hot water nearly to the mouth of the orifice all at once it seemed seized with a fearful spasm and rose with incredible rapidity hardly affording us time to flee to a safe distance when it burst from the orifice with terrific momentum rising in a column the full size of this immense aperture to the height of sixty feet and through and out of the apex of this vast aqueous mass five or six lesser jets or round columns of water varying in size from six to fifteen inches in diameter were projected to the marvellous height of two hundred and fifty feet these lesser jets so much higher than the main column and shooting through it doubtless proceed from auxiliary pipes leading into the principal orifice near the bottom where the explosive force is greater if the theory that water by constant boiling becomes explosive when freed from air be true this theory rationally accounts for all irregularities in the eruptions of the geysers this grand eruption continued for twenty minutes and was the most magnificent sight we ever witnessed we were standing on the side of the geyser nearest the sun the gleams of which filled the sparkling column of water and spray with myriads of rainbows whose arches were constantly changing dipping and fluttering hither and thither and disappearing only to be succeeded by others again and again amid the aqueous column while the minute globules into which the spent jets were diffused when falling sparkled like a shower of diamonds and around every shadow which the denser clouds of vapour interrupting the sun's rays cast upon the column could be seen a luminous circle radiant with all the colours of the prism and resembling the halo of glory represented in paintings as encircling the head of divinity all that we had previously witnessed seemed tame in comparison with the perfect grandeur and beauty of this display two of these wonderful eruptions occurred during the twenty-two hours we remained in the valley this geyser we named the giantess a hundred yards distant from the giantess was a siliceous cone very symmetrical but slightly corrugated upon its exterior surface three feet in height and five feet in diameter at its base and having an oval orifice twenty four by thirty six and one half inches in diameter with scalloped edges not one of our company supposed that it was a geyser and among so many wonders it had almost escaped notice while we were at breakfast upon the morning of our departure a column of water entirely filling the crater shot from it which by accurate triangular measurement we found to be two hundred and nineteen feet in height the stream did not deflect more than four or five degrees from a vertical line and the eruption lasted eighteen minutes we named it the beehive how many more geysers there are in this locality it would be impossible to conjecture our waning stores admonished us of the necessity for a hurried departure and we reluctantly left this remarkable region less than half explored in this basin which is about two miles in length and one mile in width more than a thousand pipes or wells rise to the surface varying in diameter from two to one hundred and twenty feet the water in which varies in temperature from a hundred and forty degrees to the boiling point upwards of a hundred of which give evidence by the calcareous and siliceous deposits surrounding them that they are geysers and to all appearances they are as likely to be as any we saw in action the sides of these wells were covered with siliceous incrustations and were funnel-shaped and in many of the larger ones gradually converged for a distance of from twenty to fifty feet from the edge below which point the apertures enlarged laterally in all directions like a jug below the neck and were apparently unfathomable none of the springs in this locality appear to be impregnated with sulphur in this basin there are to be found no mud springs of which we discovered so many in the valley of the yellowstone and we found but one spring of cold water this entire country is seemingly under a constant and active internal pressure from volcanic forces which seek relief through the numberless springs jets volcanoes and geysers exhibited on its surface and which but for these vents might burst forth in one terrific eruption and form a volcano of vast dimensions it is undoubtedly true that many of the objects we saw were of recent formation and that many of the extinguished craters recently ceased their condition of activity they are constantly breaking forth often assuming new forms and attesting to the active presence of volcanic force a mountaineer who visited a portion of this region a year ago found at one place a small volcano which was constantly overflowing with liquid sulphur and lava and emitting smoke showing that the genuine volcanic elements were there and needed but the concentration of the forces now dissipated through thousands of vents to present a spectacle of grandeur surpassing that of vesuvius or etna the geyser is a new and perhaps the most remarkable feature in our scenery and physical history it is found in no other countries but ireland and thibet the geysers of the country last named are inconsiderable when compared with either those of iceland or the fire-hole or madison basin and those of iceland even dwindle into significance by the side of those of the madison until the discovery of the madison geysers there were but two of any note known to the world the great geyser and the stoker of iceland the phenomena presented by these have been sufficient at various periods during the past century to invite the personal investigation of some of the most distinguished of european savants von troll stanley olson hooker mackenzie and at a later day bunsen have visited iceland for the purpose of witnessing these aqueous eruptions and forming some satisfactory conclusion relative to the causes in which they originate the theory published by sir george mackenzie that the outbursts were produced by pressure on the air contained in cavernous recesses underground for many years received the sanction of the scientific world the periods intervening between the eruptions of the great geyser of iceland have been very irregular until within the past forty or fifty years since when it has generally projected a small jet to the height of twenty feet every two hours and a large one to the height of eighty feet every six hours mackenzie's theory was that there were two subterranean cavities connected with the main pipe one much deeper and larger than the other which rapidly filled with water after each eruption and that the pressure of the vapours upon them produced these periodic explosions ingenious as this theory appeared to be it was dissipated by the experiments made upon water by mr donne of ghent he discovered that water long boiled became more and more free from air by which its molecular cohesion is so greatly increased and that when it is exposed to a heat sufficient to overcome the force of cohesion the production of steam is so instantaneous and so considerable as to cause explosion bunsen ascribes the eruption of the geysers to this cause he found the water at the bottom of the well of the great geyser to be of a constantly increasing temperature up to the moment of an eruption on one occasion it was as high as two hundred and sixty one degrees fahrenheit his idea is that on reaching some unknown point above that temperature ebullition takes place vapor is suddenly generated in enormous quantities and an eruption of the superior column of water is the consequence the geysers of the madison exhibit precisely the same physical features and doubtless originate in the same causes they are surrounded too as are those of iceland by innumerable springs of hot water the bursting of a column into millions of particles resembles an explosion more than a mere eruption and the vast clouds of vapour which enshroud them and mingle with them in their ascent sometimes give an appearance of bulk to the upper part of the columns much greater than their real magnitude the water of the madison geysers like that of the geysers of iceland appears perfectly pure and doubtless could be used for cooking or drinking we had not the means of analysing it on the spot the centre was both carboniferous and siliceous the latter characteristic predominating but both prevailing sufficiently to have produced large incrusted mounds and numerous illustrations of petrification in various stages of progress all this where such immense volumes of water are being constantly ejected could be effected with a moderate infusion of silica or soda dr black gives the following result of an analysis of a quantity of ten thousand grains about one sixth of a gallon of water from the great geyser of iceland soda point ninety five alumina point forty eight silica five point four o muriate of soda two point four six dry sulphate of soda one point four six total ten point seven five that the same elements are held in solution in the waters of the madison geysers we have abundant proof in the vast incrusted field by which they are surrounded they are but a reproduction upon a much grander scale of the phenomena of iceland a wider field for the investigation of the chemist than that presented by the geysers may be found in the many-tinted springs of boiling mud and the mud volcano these were objects of the greatest interest to humboldt who devotes to a description of them one of the most fascinating chapters of cosmos it would be rash in us to speculate where that great man hesitated we can only say that the field is open for exploration illimitable in resource grand in extent wonderful in variety in a climate favored of heaven and amid scenery the most stupendous on the continent by means of the northern pacific railroad which will doubtless be completed within the next three years the traveler will be able to make the trip to montana from the atlantic seaboard in three days and thousands of tourists will be attracted to both montana and wyoming in order to behold with their own eyes the wonders here described Besides these intervals of the upper Yellowstone, one may look upon the strange scenery of the lower valley of that great river, the great falls of the Missouri, the grotesque groups of eroded rocks below Fort Benton, the beautiful canyon of the Prickly Pear, and the stupendous architecture of the vast chains and spurs of mountains which everywhere traverse that picturesque and beautiful country.

part v more about the yellowstone the interesting accounts that have been given in this monthly from time to time of the remarkable natural phenomena in the valley of the yellowstone have created a general interest throughout the country during the past summer the writer enjoyed unusual facilities for exploring this singular region and he gladly bears witness that the statements of mr langford were in no respect exaggerated indeed it is quite impossible for any one to do justice to the remarkable physical phenomena of this valley by any description however vivid it is only through the eye that the mind can form anything like an adequate conception of their beauty and grandeur we may make our story more clear to our readers if we take as our starting-point fort ellis a beautiful frontier military post located near the head of the fertile valley of the gallatin by the great kindness of the officers of that post we were provided with all the outfit that was necessary for our adventurous journey to the yellowstone on the fifteenth of july last we commenced our winding way over the grassy hills that formed the divide between the waters of the missouri and the yellowstone our course was nearly due east for about thirty miles when we came to the valley of the yellowstone and then we ascended the valley for ten miles farther and pitched our permanent camp near butler's ranch close to the lower canon and at the farthest point to which it would be safe to go with our wagons from this point we changed our mode of travel to pack animals here began the more difficult part of our journey the whole party were filled with enthusiasm to catch a glimpse of the wonderful visions of which we had already heard so much opposite our camp were the yellowstone mountains with peaks rising twelve thousand feet above sea-level and six thousand feet above the valley for beauty and symmetry of outline i have never seen this range equalled in the far west and several members of the party who were familiar with the mountains of central europe were struck at once with the resemblance to the alps but we will continue our way up the valley leaving behind us the lofty volcanic hills which wall us in on each side and enter the lower canon here granite walls rise on either side to the height of a thousand feet or more and through the narrow gorge the river dashes with great velocity the bright green color of the water and the numerous ripples capped with white foam as the roaring torrent rushes around and over the multitude of rocks that have fallen from above into the channel give a most picturesque view to the eye as we look from our lofty heights not the least attractive feature and one that to us amounted to a wonder was the abundance of fine trout which the river afforded there seemed to be no limit to them and hundreds of pounds weight of the speckled beauties were caught by the different members of our party but we cannot linger here although the scenery is very attractive so we hasten on to the devil's slide or cinnabar mountain as it is usually called it is one of the singular freaks of nature which occur very seldom in the west is formed of alternate beds of sandstone limestone and quartzites elevated to a nearly vertical position by those internal forces which acted in ages past to lift the mountain ranges into their present heights as we stand at the base and look up the sides of the mountains we are filled with wonder at the apparent evidences of the convulsions of nature which could have thrown three thousand to five thousand feet in thickness of rocks into their present position ridge after ridge extends down the steep sides of the mountain like lofty walls the intervening softer portions having been washed away leaving the harder layers projecting far above at one locality the rocks incline in every possible direction and are crushed together in the utmost confusion between the walls at one point is a band of bright brick-red clay which has been mistaken for cinnabar and hence the name of the mountain the most conspicuous ridge is composed of basalt and the igneous material was poured out on the surface when all the rocks were in a horizontal position during the jurassic period indeed all the rocks are either of the carboniferous jurassic or cretaceous stage during the day we passed many examples of volcanic action which in any other region would have excited attention small lakes covered with wild fowl and fringed with a luxuriant growth of vegetation occupied the old volcanic craters on the evening of the third day as we came to the junction of gardiner's river the warm springs began to appear near the edge of the stream the white calcareous deposit which always indicates that those springs do exist or have existed covered the bottom and from underneath this crust a stream poured a volume of water into the river six feet wide and two feet deep with a temperature of a hundred and thirty degrees a little farther up the stream were a number of hot springs of about the same temperature with nearly circular basins six to ten feet in diameter and two to four feet deep around them had already gathered a number of invalids who were living in tents and their praises were enthusiastic in favor of the sanitary effects of the springs some of them were used for drinking and others for bathing purposes from the river our path led up the steep sides of the hill for about one mile when we came suddenly and unexpectedly in full view of the springs this wonder alone our whole company agreed surpassed all the descriptions which had been given by former travellers indeed the langford party saw nothing of this before us arose a high white mountain looking precisely like a frozen cascade it is formed by the calcareous sediment of the hot springs precipitated from the water as it flows down the steep declivities of the mountain side the upper portion is about one thousand feet above the waters of gardiner's river the surface covered with the deposit comprises from three to four square miles the springs now in active operation cover an area of about one square mile while the rest of the territory is occupied by the remains of springs which have long since ceased to flow we pitched our camp upon a grassy terrace at the base of the principal group of active springs the hill which is about two hundred feet high presents the appearance of water congealed by frost as it quickly flows down a rocky declivity the deposit is as white as snow except when tinged here and there with iron or sulphur small streams flow down the sides of the snowy mountain in channels lined with oxide of iron colored with the most delicate tints of red others present the most exquisite shades of yellow with a deep bright sulphur to a dainty cream colour in the springs and in the little channels is a material like the finest cashmere wool with its slender fibres floating in the water vibrating with the movement of the current and tinged with various shades of red and yellow as bright as those of our aniline dyes these delicate wool-like masses are undoubtedly plants which seem to be abundant in all the hot springs of the west and are familiar to the microscopists as diatoms upon a kind of terrace covering an area of two hundred yards in length and fifteen in width are several large springs in a constant state of agitation but with a somewhat lower temperature than the boiling point the hottest spring is a hundred and sixty two degrees others are a hundred and forty two degrees a hundred and fifty five degrees and a hundred and fifty six degrees respectively some of them give off the odor of sulphuretted hydrogen quite perceptibly a qualitative analysis shows the water to contain sulphuretted hydrogen lime soda alumina and a small amount of magnesia it is beautifully clear and slightly alkaline to the taste the water after rising from the spring basins flows down the sides of the declivity step by step from one reservoir to the other at each one of them losing a portion of its heat until it becomes as cool as spring water within five hundred feet of its source our large party camped for two days by the side of the little stream formed by the aggregated waters of these hot springs and we found the water most excellent for drinking as well as cooking purposes it was perfectly clear and tasteless and harmless in its effects during our stay here all the members of our party as well as the soldiers comprising our escort enjoyed the luxury of bathing in these most elegantly carved natural bathing pools and it was easy to select from the hundreds of reservoirs water of every variety of temperature these natural basins vary somewhat in size but many of them are about four by six feet in diameter and one to four feet in depth with a foresight worthy of commendation two men have already preempted three hundred and twenty acres of land covering most of the surface occupied by the active springs with the expectation that upon the completion of the northern pacific railroad this will become a famous place of resort for invalids and pleasure-seekers indeed no future tourist in travelling over the far west will think of neglecting this most wonderful of the physical phenomena of that most interesting region the level or terrace upon which the principal active springs are located is about midway up the sides of the mountain covered with the sediment still farther up are the old ruins of what must have been at some period of the past even more active springs than any at present known the sides of the mountain for two or three hundred feet in height are covered with a thick crust of the calcareous deposit which was originally ornamented with the most elegant sculpturing all over the surface like the bathing pools below but atmospheric agencies which act readily on the lime have obliterated all their delicate beauty chimneys partially broken down are scattered about here and there with apertures varying in size from two inches to two feet in diameter long rounded ridges are also quite numerous with fissures extending the entire length from which the boiling water issued forth and flowed over the sides thus the sediment was continually precipitated in thin oval layers so that a section of these oblong chimneys presents the appearance of layers of hay in a stack or the thatched cabin of a peasant some of these chimneys were undoubtedly formed by geysers now extinct others by what may be called spouting springs as those which are in a constant state of violent ebullition throwing the water up two to four feet a phenomenon intermediate between a boiling spring and a true geyser the water is forced up through an orifice in the earth by hydrostatic pressure and overflowing precipitates the sediment around it and thus in time it builds up a mound varying in height according to the force of this pressure one of these cones is very remarkable surpassing any observed in any other portion of the west from its peculiar form we almost involuntarily named it the liberty cap it is entirely composed of carbonate of lime in flexible cap-like layers with a diameter at the base of fifteen feet and a height of about forty feet it is completely closed over at the summit this is probably an extinct geyser and was the most powerful one of this group sometimes the orifice is in the form of a fissure one hundred to three hundred feet in length and the mound built up by the deposition of the sediment will be of oblong shape as the mound rises the hydrostatic force diminishes until finally the spring entirely conceals itself at the summit and either becomes extinct or flows out through fissures in the sides classed with reference to their chemical constituents there are two kinds of springs in the valley of the yellowstone viz those in which lime predominates and those in which silica is most abundant in respect to beauty of form the calcareous springs build up monuments that far surpass the others the stalactites and beautiful fresco work of the mammoth cave of kentucky are precipitated from springs holding a great amount of lime in solution the remarkable forms which lime is caused to assume through the influence of water is well shown in all limestone regions the scenery in the vicinity of these hot springs is varied and beautiful beyond description i have already stated that they are located a thousand feet above the channel of the yellowstone and thus command a very extended view up and down the valley to the north the devil slide can be distinctly seen while on either side the mountains rise to the height of two thousand feet enclosing the valley as with gigantic walls from the summit still higher piercing the clouds are numerous basaltic peaks presenting a great variety of unique forms to the eastward is the bluff wall composed of twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet of strata revealing one of the most perfect geological sections observed in the west on the summit is a thick cap of basalt which extends up gardiner's river and forms the floor over which the waters of the east middle and west forks of that stream flow and dash down in most beautiful cascades in the sides of the caons of these branches are rows of basaltic columns as perfect as those so familiar to all who have visited fingal's cave in staffa in all my explorations in the far west i have never seen such exquisite exhibitions of this semi crystallized structure between the middle and west forks stands the dome-like form of mount everts clothed with a dense growth of pines its summit covered with fragments of basalt from its top the view is grand reaching over a radius of fifty to one hundred miles in every direction on the west are the higher ranges of mountains about the sources of the gallatin and missouri forks with their loftiest peaks covered with perpetual snow we must not linger here however amid these impressive scenes but wind our way up the valley in search of more wonders these will meet us in rapid transition from step to step we can only stop a moment to glance at one of the greatest beauties of the valley tower falls or tower creek where the water makes a vertical descent of a hundred and fifty six feet on either side the sombre brecciated columns stand like gloomy sentinels but an excellent description of these falls has been given in a former number of this monthly near this point the grand canon of the yellowstone river commences and continues about thirty miles to the great falls in some respects this canon is the greatest wonder of all the river has carved out a channel through the basalt volcanic breccia and hot springs deposit one thousand to twelve hundred feet deep and one to two thousand feet in width at the bottom of which the water foams along with torrent-like rapidity but the striking feature of this remarkable view is the effect of colours derived from the hot spring deposits which have a brilliancy like the most delicate of our aniline dyes none but an artist with a most delicate perception of colours could do justice to the picture the well-known landscape painter thomas moran who is justly celebrated for his exquisite taste as a colourist exclaimed with a sort of regretful enthusiasm that these beautiful tints were beyond the reach of human art between the upper and lower falls a fine stream called cascade creek empties into the yellowstone standing upon the east margin of the canon one can look up the channel of this little creek a few hundred feet and enjoy a full view of cascade falls which have given the name to the creek the water as it pours over a succession of basaltic steps separates into a number of little streams giving to the whole a most pleasing effect above the falls the river seems to flow quietly along over the surface but little below the general level and here it may be said to present some of its finest and most attractive views if below the falls this river surpasses all others in the west for its rugged grandeur above the falls it excels in picturesque beauty about half a mile above the falls on this creek the gorge is so narrow and deep that the traveller looks down from the margin above into an abyss so dark and forbidding that a very appropriate name comes almost involuntarily to one's lips the devil's den the sides of the gorge are very rugged composed of angular masses of basalt and obsidian cemented with volcanic ashes there is also a large amount of sulphur mingled with the ashes so that the debris looks like the remains of an old furnace on either side of the river as we ascend the valley are remarkable groups of hot springs there is a singular group on the south side of mount washburn which is well worthy of the attention of the traveller the deposit formed by these springs extends across the yellowstone river and occupies a large area most of these springs contain clear water but there are several which are called mud springs these mud springs do not differ in their origin from the others some are what may be called dead springs as those which have passed the period of their activity and now are filled with turbid water others are in a constant state of agitation and may be called living springs while others at certain periods throw out great quantities of mud and may be called mud geysers there is every grade from simply turbid water to thick mud the superficial deposits here are composed of basalts and hot spring deposits as silica and feldspar and as the aperture through which the hot water reaches the surface sometimes extends a considerable distance through this material it is dissolved from the sides of the passage and mingled with the boiling water becomes in due time much like boiling mush whenever the mud becomes so thick as to close up the orifice for any length of time a sort of explosion takes place which sometimes hurls masses of the mud to the height of fifty or one hundred feet at mud springs and crater mountains there are several of these mud springs with basins varying in size from a few inches to thirty feet in diameter mostly with circular rims and funnel-shaped orifices the most interesting of the mud springs occur in the valley of the fire hole creek some of them are filled with very black mud others of brownish clay but in a few instances the mud has the snowy whiteness which is due to the decomposition of the silica deposited from the hot waters to heighten the effect it is also tinged with the bright red from the oxide of iron some of these may be called alum springs from the fact that the mud is composed largely of alum sometimes there will be a group of fifteen or twenty of these little mud springs with orifices from two to six inches in diameter all of them operating at the same time with a low thud like noise we make our first camp on the north-east shore of the lake near the point where the river takes its departure from it here we had one of the finest views of this beautiful sheet of water this portion of the lake is about ten miles wide our camp was located in a broad open meadow-like space with the grass two feet or more in height adorned with bright flowers having a great variety of colors a dense growth of pine surrounded it and to the eastward the range of forest-covered hills was twelve hundred to eighteen hundred feet above the lake at this place we launched our little boat which was destined to perform most excellent service we had transported the framework on the back of a mule from fort ellis we covered the frame with a heavy canvas which rendered it perfectly water-tight and with this little craft twelve feet long three and a half feet wide and twenty-two inches high the entire length and breadth of the lake was navigated many times soundings of the lake were made in every direction and the greatest depth discovered was three hundred feet messrs elliott and carrington made a survey of the shore-line from the boat and with the numerous bays and indentations they estimated the distance to be about one hundred and seventy five miles so far as beauty of scenery is concerned it is probable that this lake is not surpassed by any other on the globe there is not space in the present article to make more than this passing allusion to it but we hope at some future time to do more ample justice to this region and trust that the few isolated facts which we now skim from the surface will sharpen curiosity for the complete account while some were making an exploration of this beautiful lake the writer with a small party made a trip over the high divide between the waters of the yellowstone and missouri rivers into the firehole basin we had already encountered many of the difficulties attendant upon travelling in this rocky and densely wooded region but we were not prepared for the impediments which seemed to block our pathway everywhere we were without a guide and endeavoured to make our courses with a compass the autumnal fires sweep through the dry pines at times so that many square miles are covered with dead trees these are soon blown down by the winds and their long bodies are lodged upon each other in every possible direction sometimes these fallen pines are piled up in a sort of irregular network for six or eight feet in height presenting insurmountable obstacles in the way of the traveller then again the small pines grow so thickly that it seems almost impossible to find an interval between so wide as to admit a pack animal with his load the traveller may thus wind about among the fallen pines or the dense growth of living trees for an entire day and yet at night find that he has not made a distance of more than five or six miles in a straight line after encountering many obstructions we arrived at the fire-hole basin and spent five days in exploring its wonders making charts sketches photographs and taking the temperatures of the springs the boiling point of water at this elevation is about a hundred and ninety two to a hundred and ninety six degrees we ascertained the temperatures of more than six hundred hot springs in this valley and there were as many more that were dying out to which we did not think it worth while to give our attention many also must have been overlooked by us so that within an area of about five miles square we may estimate the existence of about twelve hundred to fifteen hundred springs with basins of all sizes from a few inches in diameter to three hundred feet the springs in this valley are of three kinds but varying much in their active power first those in which the ebullition occurs only at intervals and which may therefore be called intermittent springs second such as are constantly boiling and bubbling up therefore permanent springs third those whose surface is always undisturbed and in which there is no bubbling or boiling up the first class reach the boiling point only when in operation when in a state of repose the temperature of the water is as low as a hundred and fifty degrees the second class have a temperature equal to boiling water or not far below it in this region varying from a hundred and eighty to a hundred and ninety six degrees some of the largest of the springs are in a constant state of agitation one of the largest in the fire-hole basin is represented in the accompanying sketch the basin is about two hundred feet in diameter and the sides of the crater which have been much broken down are about thirty feet deep the crater is so filled with dense steam that it is only at periodical times that it is cleared away so that one can catch a glimpse of the seething caldron below from one side of it five streams of water are ever flowing which in the aggregate form a river ten feet wide and two feet deep the delicate shades of colouring from the iron and sulphur are most finely displayed upon the surface over which this water flows but perhaps the most striking exhibition of nature's forces in this wonderful region is that of the grand geyser which is well shown in the accompanying illustration while we were in the fire-hole valley this geyser played only at intervals of about thirty-two hours but when it was in active operation the display was grand beyond description as we stood near the crater or basin it threw up with scarcely any preliminary warning a column of hot water eight feet in diameter to the height of two hundred feet and so steady and uniform did the force act that the column of water appeared to be held there for some minutes returning into the basin in millions of prismatic drops this was continued for about fifteen minutes and the rumbling and confusion attending it could only be compared to that of a charge in battle the steam poured out in immense masses rising in clouds a thousand feet or more in height after the grand geyser had ceased playing the water of the basin retired from the surface and the temperature fell gradually to a hundred and fifty degrees another geyser in the same group and named by the langford party old faithful was far more accommodating and played at intervals of only an hour throwing up a column of water at least six feet in diameter and one hundred and fifty feet high for a period of about fifteen minutes the ease with which this column of water was sustained at the great height during the period of its operation rendered it a marvel of beauty as well as of power we may say in conclusion that we have been able in this article to do little more than to allude to a few of the wonderful physical phenomena of this marvellous valley we pass with rapid transition from one remarkable vision to another each unique of its kind and surpassing all others in the known world the intelligent american will one day point on the map to this remarkable district with the conscious pride that it has not its parallel on the face of the globe why will not congress at once pass a law setting it apart as a great public park for all time to come as has been done with that not more remarkable wonder the yosemite valley END OF PART FIVE on certain portions of our globe almighty god has set a special imprint of divinity the alps the pyrenees the mexican volcanoes the solemn grandeur of norwegian fiords the sacred mountain of japan and the sublimity of india's at different epochs in a life of travel have filled my soul with awe and admiration but since the summer of eighteen ninety six there has been ranked with these in my remembrance the country of the yellowstone two-thirds across this continent hidden away in the heart of the rocky mountains eight thousand feet above the level of the sea their lives a marvellous section of our earth about one-half as large as the state of connecticut on three sides this is guarded by lofty well-nigh inaccessible mountains as though the infinite himself would not allow mankind to rashly enter its sublime enclosure in this respect our government has wisely imitated the creator it has proclaimed to all the world the sanctity of this peculiar area it has received it as a gift from god and as his trustee holds it for the welfare of humanity we then as citizens of the united states are its possessors and its guardians it is our national park yet although easy of access most of us let the years go by without exploring it how little we realize what a treasure we possess is proven by the fact that until recently the majority of tourists here were foreigners i thought my previous store of memories was rich but to have added to it the recollection of the yellowstone will give a greater happiness to life while life shall last day after day yes hour after hour within the girdle of its snow-capped peaks i looked upon a constant series of stupendous sights a blending of the beautiful and terrible the strange and the sublime which were moreover so peculiar that they stand out distinct and different from those of every other portion of our earth to call our national park the switzerland of america would be absurd it is not switzerland it is not iceland it is not norway it is unique and the unique cannot be compared if i were asked to describe it in a dozen lines i should call it the arena of an enormous amphitheatre its architect was nature the gladiators that contended in it were volcanoes during unnumbered ages those gladiators struggled to surpass one another in destruction by pouring forth great floods of molten lava even now the force which animated them still shows itself in other forms but harmlessly much as a captive serpent hisses though its fangs are drawn but the volcanoes give no sign of life they are dead actors in a fearful tragedy performed here countless centuries before the advent of mankind with this entire region for a stage and for their only audience the sun and stars i shall never forget our entrance into this theatre of sublime phenomena the pullman car in which we had taken our places at st paul had carried us in safety more than a thousand miles and had left us at the gateway of the park before us was a portion of the road eight miles in length which leads the tourists to the mammoth springs hotel on one side an impetuous river shouted a welcome as we rode along above us rose-gray desolate cliffs they are volcanic in their origin the brand of fire is on them all they are symbolic therefore of the entire park for fire and water are the two great forces here which have for ages struggled for supremacy no human being dwells upon those dreary crags but at one point as i looked up at them i saw poised statue-like above a mighty pinnacle of rock a solitary eagle pausing with outstretched wings above its nest it seemed to look disdainfully upon us human pygmies crawling far below living at such a height in voluntary isolation that king of birds appeared the very embodiment of strength and majesty call it a touch of superstition if you will yet i confess it thrilled me to the heart to find that here above the very entrance to the wonderland of our republic there should be stationed midway between earth and heaven like a watchful sentinel our national bird the bird of freedom at length a sudden turn revealed to us our first halting-place within the park the mammoth springs hotel the structure in itself looked mammoth as we approached it for its portico exceeds four hundred feet in length our first impressions were agreeable porters rushed forth and helped us to alight and on the broad piazza the manager received us cordially everything had the air of an established summer resort this i confess surprised me greatly as i had expected primitive accommodations and supposed that though the days of camping out had largely passed away the resting-places in the park were still so crude that one would be glad to leave them but i lingered here with pleasure long after all the wonders of the park had been beheld the furniture though simple is sufficient to satisfy our national nervousness the halls are so well stocked with rocking-chairs that european visitors look upon them with alarm and try to find some seats that promise a more stable equilibrium the sleeping-rooms are scrupulously clean soft blankets snow-white sheets and comfortable beds assure a good night's rest and the staff of coloured waiters in the dining-room steam-heat a bell-boy service and electric lights made us forget our distance from great cities and the haunts of men moreover what is true of this is true as well of the other hotels within the park and when i add that well-cooked food is served in all of them it will be seen that tourists need not fear a lengthy sojourn in these hostelries standing on the veranda of the mammoth hot springs hotel i saw between me and the range of mountains opposite a broad plateau on which were grouped a dozen neat and tasteful structures with the exception of the photographer's house in the foreground these constitute fort yellowstone a fort the visitor exclaims impossible these buildings are of wood not stone where are its turrets battlements and guns nevertheless this is a station for two companies of united states cavalry most of the houses being residences for the officers while in the rear are barracks for the soldiers no one who has visited the national park ever doubts the necessity of having soldiers there thus one of the most important duties of the united states troops stationed within its area is to save its splendid forests from destruction to do this calls for constant vigilance a fire started in the resinous pines which cover many of the mountain sides leaps forward with such fury that it would overtake a horseman fleeing for his life to guard against so serious a calamity soldiers patrol the park continually to see that all the camp-fires have been extinguished thanks to their watchful care only one notable conflagration has occurred here in the last eight years and that the soldiers fought with energy for twenty days till the last vestige of it was subdued the tourist comprehends the great importance of this work when he beholds the rivers of the park threading like avenues of silver the sombre framework of the trees and recollects that just such forests as adjoin these streams cover no less than eighty-four per cent of its entire area in a treeless country like wyoming these forests are of priceless value because of their utility in holding back in spring the melting snow some of the largest rivers of our continent are fed from the well-timbered area of the yellowstone and if the trees were destroyed the enormous snowfall in the park unsheltered from the sun would melt so rapidly that the swollen torrents would quickly wash away roads bridges and productive farms even far out in the adjacent country and subsequently cause a serious drought for many months another very important labor of the united states soldiers here is to preserve the game within the park it is the purpose of our government to make this area a place of refuge for those animals which man's insatiate greed has now almost destroyed the remoteness of this lofty region together with its mountain fastnesses deep forests and sequestered glens make it an almost perfect game preserve there are at present thirty thousand elk within the park its deer and antelopes are steadily increasing and bears foxes and small game roam unmolested here buffaloes however are still few in number they have become too valuable a buffalo head which formerly could be bought for a mere trifle commands to-day a price of five hundred dollars hence daring poachers sometimes run the risk of entering the park in winter and destroying them it is sad to reflect how the buffaloes of this continent have been almost exterminated as late as thirty years ago trains often had to halt upon the prairies and even steamboats were occasionally obliged to wait an hour or two in the missouri river until enormous herds of buffalo had crossed their path now only about two hundred of these animals are in existence the sole survivors of the millions that once thundered over the western plains and disputed with the indians the ownership of this great continent until very recently travellers on our prairies frequently beheld the melancholy sight of labourers gathering up the buffalo bones which lay upon the plains like wreckage floating on the sea hundreds of carloads of these skeletons were shipped to factories in the east now to protect the few remaining buffaloes as well as other animals our troops patrol the park even in winter the principal stations are connected by telephone and information given thus is promptly acted on no traveler is allowed to carry firearms and any one who attempts to destroy animal life is liable to a fine of one thousand dollars or imprisonment for two years or both still another task devolving upon the military governor of the park is the building and repairing of its roads no doubt the superintendent is doing all he can with the amount of money that the government allows him but there is room for great improvement in these thoroughfares if congress will but make a suitable appropriation for the purpose at present a part of the coaching route is of necessity travelled over twice this should be obviated by constructing one more road by which the tourist could be brought to several interesting features of the park that are now rarely seen every one knows how roads in europe climb the steepest grade in easy curves and are usually as smooth as a marble table free from obstacles and carefully walled in by parapets of stone why should not we possess such roads especially in our national park dust is at present a great drawback to the traveler's pleasure here but this could be prevented if the roads were thoroughly macadamized surely the honor of our government demands that this unique museum of marvels should be the pride and glory of the nation with highways equal to any in the world only a few hundred feet distant from the mammoth springs hotel stands a strange naturally molded shaft of stone fifty-two feet in height from certain points its summit calls to mind the headdress of the revolution and hence its name is liberty cap it is a fitting monument to mark the entrance into wonderland for it is the cone of an old geyser long since dead within it is a tube of unknown depth through that ages since was hurled at intervals a stream of boiling water precisely as it comes from active geysers in the park to-day but now the hand of time has stilled its passionate pulsations and laid upon its stony lips the seal of silence at only a little distance from this eloquent reminder of the past i peered into a cavern hundreds of feet deep it was once the reservoir of a geyser an atmosphere of sulphur haunts it still no doubt this whole plateau is but the cover of extinguished fires for other similar caves pierce the locality on which the hotel stands a feeling of solemnity stole over me as i surveyed these dead or dying agents of volcanic power in the great battle of the elements which has been going on here for unnumbered centuries they doubtless took an active part but time has given them a mortal wound and now they are waiting patiently until their younger comrades farther up the park shall one by one like them grow cold and motionless not more than fifty feet from liberty cap rise the famous hot spring terraces they constitute a veritable mountain covering at least two hundred acres the whole of which has been for centuries growing slowly through the agency of hot water issuing from the boiling springs this as it cools leaves a mineral deposit spread out in delicate thin layers by the soft ripples of the heated flood strange is it not everywhere else the flow of water wears away the substance that it touches but here by its peculiar sediment it bills as surely as the coral insect moreover the colouring of these terraces is if possible even more marvellous than their creation for as the mineral water pulsates over them it forms a great variety of brilliant hues hot water therefore is to this material what blood is to the body with it the features glow with warmth and colour without it they are cold and ghost-like accordingly where water ripples over these gigantic steps towering one above another toward the sky they look like beautiful cascades of color and when the liquid has deserted them they stand out like a staircase of carrara marble hence through the changing centuries they pass in slow succession from light to shade from brilliancy to pallor and from life to death this mineral water is not only a mysterious architect it is also an artist that no man can equal its magic touch has intermingled the finest shades of orange yellow purple red and brown sometimes in solid masses at other places diversified by slender threads like skeins of multicolored silk yet in producing all these wonderful effects there is no violence no uproar the boiling water passes over the mounds it has produced with the low murmur of a sweet cascade its tiny wavelets touch the stonework like a sculptor's fingers moulding the yielding mass into exquisitely graceful forms the top of each of these colored steps is a pool of boiling water each of these tiny lakes is radiant with lovely hues and is bordered by a colored coping resembling a curb of jasper or a porphyry yet the thinnest knife-blade can be placed here on the dividing line between vitality and death the contrast is as sudden and complete as that between the desert and the valley of the nile where egypt's river ends its overflow the desert sands begin and on these terraces it is the same where the life-giving water fails the golden colours become ashen this terraced mountain therefore seemed to me like a colossal checker-board upon whose coloured squares the two great forces life and death were playing their eternal game there is a pathos in this evanescent beauty what lies about us in one place so grey and ghostly was once as bright and beautiful as that which we perceive a hundred feet away but nothing here retains supremacy the glory of this century will be the gravestone of the next around our feet are sepulchres of vanished splendour it seems as if the architect were constantly dissatisfied no sooner has he finished one magnificent structure than he impatiently begins another leaving the first to crumble and decay each new production seems to him the finest but never reaching his ideal he speedily abandons it to perish from neglect it cannot be said of these terraces that distance lends enchantment to the view the nearer you come to them the more beautiful they appear they even bear the inspection of a magnifying glass for they are covered with a bead-like ornamentation worthy of the goldsmith's art in one place for example rise pulpits finer than those of pisa or siena their edges seem to be of purest jasper they are upheld by tapering shafts resembling richly decorated organ-pipes from paraffits of porphyry hang gold stalactites side by side with icicles of silver moreover all its marvellous fretwork is distinctly visible for the light film of water pulsates over it so delicately that it can no more hide the filigree beneath than a thin veil conceals a face it is a melancholy fact that were it not for united states troops these beautiful objects would be mutilated by relic hunters hence another duty of our soldiers is to watch the formations constantly lest tourists should break off specimens and ruin them forever and lest still more ignoble vandals whose fingers itch for notoriety should write upon these glorious works of nature their worthless names and those of the towns unfortunate enough to have produced them all possible measures are taken to prevent this vandalism thus every tourist entering the park must register his name most travellers do so as a matter of course at the hotels but even the arrivals of those who come here to camp must be duly recorded at the superintendent's office if a soldier sees a name or even initials written on the stone he telephones the fact to the military governor at once the lists are scanned for such a name if found the superintendent wires an order to have the man arrested and so careful is the search for all defacers that the offending party is usually found before he leaves the park then the superintendent like the mikado makes the punishment fit the crime a scrubbing brush and laundry soap are given to the desecrator and he is made to go back perhaps forty miles or more and with his own hands wash away the proofs of his disgraceful vanity not long ago a young man was arrested at six o'clock in the morning made to leave his bed and march without his breakfast several miles to prove that he could be as skilful with a brush as with a pencil after spending several days at the mammoth hot springs we started out to explore the greater marvels that awaited us in the interior the mode of travel through the park is a succession of coaching parties over a distance of one hundred and eighty miles the larger vehicles are drawn by six the smaller ones by four strong horses well fed well groomed high-spirited yet safe this feature of our national park astonished me i had formed no idea of its perfection or its magnitude here for example are vehicles enough to accommodate seven hundred tourists for a continuous journey of five days here too are five hundred horses all of which can be harnessed at twenty four hours notice and since the park is so remote here also are the company's blacksmith and repair shops within the stables also are the beautifully varnished coaches varying in cost from one to two thousand dollars and made in concord new hampshire twenty five hundred miles away on one of these i read the number thirteen and a half why did you add the fraction i inquired of the manager of transportation because he replied some travellers would not take a number thirteen coach they feared a breakdown or a tumble into the river so i put on the half to take ill luck away i dwell at length upon these practical details because i have found that people in general do not know them most americans have little idea whether the driving distance in the park is ten miles or a hundred especially are they ignorant of the fact that they may leave the coaches at any point remain at a hotel as long as they desire and then resume their journey in other vehicles without the least additional expense for transportation precisely as one uses a stop-over ticket on a railroad the fact that it is possible to go through the park in four or five days is not a reason why it is best to do so hundreds of tourists make the trip three times as rapidly as they would were they aware that they could remain comfortably for months when this is better known people will travel here more leisurely even now parents with little children sometimes leave them at the mammoth springs hotel in charge of nurses and receive messages by telephone every day to inform them how they are an important consideration also for invalids is the fact that two skilled surgeons attended on the army are always easily accessible moreover the climate of the park in summer is delightful it is true the sun beats down at noonday fiercely the thin air offering scant resistance to its rays but in the shade one feels no heat at all light overcoats are needed when the sun goes down there is scarcely a night here through the year which passes without frost to me the pure dry air of that great height was more invigorating than any i had ever breathed save possibly that of norway and it is probably the tonic of the atmosphere that renders even the invalid and aged able to support long journeys in the park without exhaustion in all these years no tourist has been made ill here by fatigue a few miles after leaving the hot springs we reach the entrance to a picturesque ravine the tawny color of whose rocks has given it the name of golden gate this is alike the entrance to and exit from the inner sanctuary of this land of marvels accordingly a solitary boulder detached from its companions on the cliff seems to be stationed at this portal like a sentinel to watch all tourists who come and go at all events it echoes to the voices of those who enter almost as eager as seekers after gold and a week later sees them return browned by the sun invigorated by the air and joyful in the acquisition of incomparable memories emerging from this golden gate i looked about me with surprise as the narrow walls of the ravine gave place to a plateau surrounded everywhere by snow-capped mountains from which the indians believed one could obtain a view of paradise across this area like a railroad traversing a prairie stretched the driveway for our carriages do tourists usually seem delighted with the park i asked our driver invariably he replied of course i cannot understand the words of the foreigners but their excited exclamations show their great enthusiasm i like the tourists he continued they are so grateful for any little favour one of them said to me the other day is the water here good to drink not always i replied you must be careful at once he pressed my hand pulled out a flask and said thank you while crossing the plateau we enjoyed an admirable view of the loftiest of the mountains which form around the park a rampart of protection its sharply pointed summit pierces the transparent air more than eleven thousand feet above the sea and it is well named electric peak since it appears to be a storage battery for all of the rocky mountains such are the mineral deposits on its sides that the best instruments of engineers are thrown into confusion and rendered useless while the lightning on this favorite home of electricity is said to be unparalleled presently a turn in the road revealed to us a dark-hued mountain rising almost perpendicularly from a lake marvellous to relate the material of which this mountain is composed is jet black glass produced by volcanic fires the very road on which we drove between this and the lake also consists of glass too hard to break beneath the wheels the first explorers found this obsidian cliff almost impassable but when they ascertained of what it was composed they piled up timber at its base and set it on fire when the glass was hot they dashed upon the heated mass cold water which broke it into fragments then with huge levers picks and shovels they pushed and pried the shining pieces down into the lake and opened thus a wagon road a thousand feet in length the region of the yellowstone was to most indian tribes a place of horror they trembled at the awful sights they here beheld but the obsidian cliff was precious to them all its substance was as hard as flint and hence well suited for their arrowheads this mountain of volcanic glass was therefore the great indian armory and as such it was neutral ground hither all hostile tribes might come for implements of war and then depart unharmed while they were here a sacred intertribal oath protected them an hour later those very warriors might meet in deadly combat and turn against each other's breasts the weapons taken from that laboratory of an unknown power can we wonder that in former times when all this region was still unexplored and its majestic streams rolled nameless through a trackless wilderness the statements of the few brave men who ventured into this enclosure were disbelieved by all who heard them one old trapper became so angry when his stories of the place were doubted that he deliberately revenged himself by inventing tales of which munchausen would have been proud thus he declared that one day when he was hunting here he saw a bear he fired at it but without result the animal did not even notice him he fired again yet the big bear kept on grazing the hunter in astonishment then ran forward but suddenly dashed against a solid mountain made of glass through that he said he had been looking at the animal unspeakably amazed he finally walked around the mountain and was just taking aim again when he discovered that the glass had acted like a telescope and that the bear was twenty-five miles away not far from the volcanic cliff which gave the trapper inspiration for his story we reached one of the most famous basins of the park in briefest terms these basins are the spots in the arena where the crust is thinnest they are the trap-doors in a volcanic stage through which the fiery actors in the tragedy of nature which is here enacted come upon the scene literally they are the vents through which the steam and boiling water can escape in doing so however the water as at the mammoth springs leaves a sediment of pure white lime or silica hence from a distance these basins look like desolate expanses of white sand beside them always flows a river which carries off the boiling water to the outer world no illustration can do justice to what is called the norris basin but it is horrible enough to test the strongest nerves having full confidence in our guide the park photographer we ventured with him outside the usual track of tourists and went where all the money of the rothschilds would not have tempted us to go alone the crust beneath our feet was hot and often quivered as we walked a single misstep to the right or left would have been followed by appalling consequences thus a careless soldier only a few days before had broken through and was then lying in the hospital with both legs badly scalded around us were a hundred vats of water boiling furiously the air was heavy with the fumes of sulphur and the whole expanse was seamed with cracks and honeycombed with holes from which a noxious vapour crept out to pollute the air i thought of dante's walk through hell and called to mind the burning lake which he describes from which the wretched sufferers vainly sought to free themselves leaving at last this roof of the infernal regions just as we again stood apparently on solid ground a fierce explosion close beside us caused us to start and run for twenty feet our guide laughed heartily come back he said don't be afraid it is only a baby geyser five years old in fact in eighteen ninety one a sudden outburst of volcanic fury made an opening here through which at intervals of thirty minutes day and night hot water now leaps forth in wild confusion this then is a geyser i exclaimed bah said the guide contemptuously if you had seen the real geysers in the upper basin you would not look at this meantime for half an hour we had been hearing more and more distinctly a dull persistent roar like the escape of steam from a transatlantic liner at last we reached the cause it is a mass of steam which rushes from an opening in the ground summer and winter year by year in one unbroken volume the rock around it is as black as jet hence it is called the black growler think of the awful power confined beneath the surface here when this one angry voice can be distinctly heard four miles away choke up that aperture and what a terrible convulsion would ensue as the accumulated steam burst its prison walls it is a sight which makes one long to lift the cover from this monstrous caldron learn the cause of its stupendous heat and trace the complicated and mysterious aqueducts through which the steam and water make their way returning from the black growler we halted at a lunch station the manager of which is larry all visitors to the park remember larry he has a different welcome for each guest good day professor come in my lord the top of the morning to you doctor these phrases flow as lightly from his tongue as water from a geyser his station is a mere tent but he will say with most amusing seriousness gentlemen walk one flight up and turn to the right ladies come this way and take the elevator now then luncheon is ready each guest take one seat and as much food as he can get where did you come from larry i asked from brooklyn sorr was his reply but i'll niver go back there for all my friends have been killed by the trolley cars larry is very democratic the other day a guest on sitting down to lunch took too much room upon the bench please move along sor said larry the stranger glared at him i am a count he remarked at last well sir said larry here you only count one hush exclaimed a member of the gentlemen's suite that is count i'll forgive him that said larry if he won't shuffle off his seat pointing to my companion larry asked me what is that gentleman's business he is a teacher of singing i answered fey said larry i'd like to have em try my voice there's something very strange about my vocal chords whenever i sing the black growler stops one tourist told me it was a case of professional jealousy and said the black growler was envious of my forte tones i have not forty tones i said i've only one tone well says he make a note of it only once in his life has larry been put to silence two years ago a gentleman remarked to him well larry good-bye come and visit me next winter in the east in my house you shall have a nice room and if you are ill still enjoy a doctor's services free of all expense thank you said larry please get me your card the tourist handed it to him and larry with astonishment and horror read beneath the gentleman's name these words superintendent of the insane asylum utica new york some hours after leaving larry's lunch station we reached another area of volcanic action our nerves were steadier now the close proximity to hades was less evident yet here hot mineral water had spread broadcast innumerable little mounds of silica which look so much like biscuits grouped in a colossal pan that this is called the biscuit basin but they are not the kind that mother used to make if a tourist asked for bread here he would receive a stone since all these so-called biscuits are as hard as flint we walked upon their crusts with perfect safety yet in so doing our boots grew warm beneath our feet for the water in this miniature archipelago is heated to the boiling point show me a geyser i at last exclaimed impatiently i want to see a genuine geyser accordingly our guide conducted us to what he announced as the fountain i looked around me with surprise i saw no fountain but merely a pool of boiling water from which the light breeze bore away a thin transparent cloud of steam it is true around this was a pavement as delicately fashioned as any piece of coral ever taken from the sea nevertheless while i admired that i could not understand why this comparatively tranquil pool was called a geyser and frankly said i was disappointed but even as i spoke i saw to my astonishment the boiling water in this reservoir sink and disappear from view where has it gone i inquired eagerly stand back shouted the guide she's coming i ran back a few steps then turned and caught my breath for at that very instant up from the pool which i had just beheld so beautiful and tranquil there rose in one great outburst of sublimity such a stupendous mass of water as i had never imagined possible in a vertical form i knew that it was boiling and that a deluge of those scalding drops would probably mean death but i was powerless to move amazement and delight enchained me spellbound talk of a fountain this was a cloudburst of the rarest jewels which till that moment had been held in solution in a subterranean cavern but which had suddenly crystallized into a million radiant forms on thus emerging into light and air the sun was shining through the glittering mass and myriads of diamonds moonstones pearls and opals mingled in splendid rivalry two hundred feet above our heads end of part six part seven of yellowstone national park six early pieces by various this librivox recording is in the public domain part seven yellowstone national park we soon approached another of the many geysers in the basin they are all different around one a number of colored blocks exquisitely decorated by the geysers waves appeared to have been placed artistically in an oblong frame when i first beheld them they looked like huge sea monsters which startled by our footsteps were about to plunge into the depths what is there in the natural world so fascinating and mysterious as a geyser what for example is the depth of its intensely coloured pool of boiling water no one can tell one thing however is certain the surface of the pool is but the summit of a liquid column its base is in a subterranean reservoir into that reservoir there flows a volume of cold water furnished by the rain or snow or by infiltration from some lake or river meantime the walls of the deep reservoir are heated by volcanic fire accordingly the water in contact with these walls soon begins to boil and a great mass of steam collects above it there must of course be some escape for this and finally it makes its exit hurling the boiling water to a height of one or two hundred feet according to the force of the explosion imagine then the amount of water that even one such reservoir contains for some of these volcanic fountains play for more than half an hour before their contents are discharged think also that in this basin there are no less than thirty geysers seventeen of which have been observed in action simultaneously thus far we have seen merely geysers which arise from pools but presently we approached one which in the course of ages has built up for itself a cone or funnel for its scalding ways that said our guide is the castle geyser it looks like an old ruin without a single indication of activity save possibly the little cloud of steam that hangs above it as if it were the breath of some mysterious monster sleeping far below if you doubt it he replied go nearer and examine it we did so i scrambled up its flinty sides and found an opening in the summit three feet wide i touched the rock it was still warm and yet no water was discernible no sound was audible within its depths if this be really a geyser i remarked it is no doubt a lifeless one like liberty cap my comrade smiled looked at his watch then at his notebook and finally replied wait half an hour and see accordingly we lingered on the massive ledges of the castle geyser and learned that it is the largest probably the oldest of all the active geyser cones within the park once its eruptions were no doubt stupendous but now its power is waning the gradual closing up of its huge throat and the increasing substitution of steam for water prove that the monster has now entered on the final stage of its career for here as on the terraces we are surrounded by specimens of life decay and death the young the middle-aged the old the dead they are all here the fiery agitation of the pool and the impulsive spurts of water are indicative of youth a steady splendid outburst proves maturity the feebler action of the castle shows the waning powers of old age last of all comes the closed cone like a sealed sarcophagus and that is death meantime the thirty minutes of expectancy had passed and suddenly with a tremendous rush of steam the castle proved that its resources were by no means exhausted at the same instant half a mile away the beehive geyser threw into the air a shaft of dazzling spray fully two hundred feet in height i realized then as never before the noble action of our government in giving this incomparable region to the people if this had not been done the selfishness and greed of man would have made a tour here almost unbearable a fence would doubtless have been built around every geyser and fees would have been charged to witness each wonderful phenomenon whereas to-day thanks to the generosity of congress the park itself and everything that it contains are absolutely free to all rich and poor native and foreigner forever consecrated to the education and delight of man but no enumeration of the geysers would be complete without a mention of the special favourite of tourists old faithful the opening through which this miracle of nature springs is at the summit of a beautifully ornamented mound which is itself a page in nature's wonder book the lines upon its wrinkled face tell of a past whose secrets still remain a mystery it hints of an antiquity so vast that one contemplates it with bated breath for this entire slope has been built up atom after atom through unnumbered ages during which time no doubt the geyser hour by hour has faithfully performed its part without an eye to note its splendour or a voice to tell its glory to the world old faithful does not owe its popularity entirely to height or beauty though it possesses both it is beloved for its fidelity whatever irregularities other geysers show old faithful never fails year in year out winter and summer day and night in cold and heat in sunshine and in storm old faithful every seventy minutes sends up its silvery cascade to the height of about one hundred and eighty feet of all the geysers known to man this is the most reliable and perfect station yourself before it watch in hand and punctual to the moment it will never disappoint you few realize on how large a scale the forces of nature work here at each eruption old faithful pours forth about one million five hundred thousand gallons or more than thirty three million gallons in one day this geyser alone therefore could easily supply with water a city the size of boston within this area of active geysers is a place called hell's half acre it is rightly named rough perpendicular ledges project over a monstrous gulf of unknown depth from which great clouds of steam are constantly emerging when the wind draws back for a moment a portion of this sulphur laden curtain the visitor perceives a lake below seething and boiling from internal heat for years no one suspected this to be a geyser but suddenly in eighteen eighty one the underlying force hurled the entire lake up bodily to the height of two hundred and fifty feet and even repeated frequently after some months the exhibition ceased and all was calm again for seven years in eighteen eighty eight however it once more burst forth with prodigious energy ejecting at each explosion more boiling water than all the other geysers in the park combined even the surrounding ledges could not withstand this terrible upheaval and tons of rock were sometimes thrown up with the water more than two hundred feet it is not strange therefore that this is called excelsior the king of geysers it is the most tremendous awe-inspiring fountain in the world when it will be again aroused no one can tell its interval would seem to be from seven to ten years said an enthusiastic traveller to me if the excelsior ever plays again i will gladly travel three thousand miles to see it i have a vivid remembrance of my last night at the upper basin the hush of evening hallowed it alone and undisturbed we looked upon a scene unequalled in the world around us liquid columns rose and fell with ceaseless regularity the cooler air of evening made many shafts of vapour visible which in the glare of day had vanished unperceived so perfect were their images in the adjoining stream that it was easy to believe the veil had been at last withdrawn and that the hidden source of all this wonderful display had been revealed no sound from them was audible no breeze disturbed their steadfast flight toward heaven and in the deepening twilight the slender white-robed column seems like the ghost of geysers long since dead revisiting the scene of their activity but geysers do not constitute the only marvels of these volcanic basins the beauty of their pools of boiling water is almost inconceivable to those who have not seen them no illustration can do them justice for no photographer can adequately reproduce their clear transparent depths nor can an artist's brush ever quite portray their peculiar coloring due to the minerals held in solution or else deposited upon their sides i can deliberately say however that some of the most exquisitely beautiful objects i have ever seen in any portion of the world are the superbly tinted caldrons of the yellowstone their hues are infinitely varied many are blue some green some golden and some wine-coloured in all gradations of tone and could we soar aloft and take of them a bird's-eye view the glittering basin might seem to us a silver shield studded with rubies emeralds turquoises and sapphires moreover these miniature lakes are lined with exquisite ornamentation one sees in them with absolute distinctness a reproduction of the loveliest forms that he has ever found in floral or in vegetable life gardens of mushrooms banks of golden rod or clusters of asparagus appear to be growing here created by the architect and colored by the artist of these mineral springs the most renowned of all these reservoirs of color is called the emerald pool painters from this and other lands have tried repeatedly to depict this faithfully upon canvas but finally have left it in despair in fact its colouring is so intense that as the bubbles rising to its surface lift from this bowl their rounded forms and pause a second in the air before they break they are still just as richly tinted as the flood beneath accordingly this pool appeared to me like a colossal casket filled with emeralds which spirit hands from time to time drew gently upward from its jewelled depths close by this is another boiling pool called the sunlight lake on this i saw one of the most marvellous phenomena i have ever looked upon the colours of this tiny sheet of water appeared not only in concentric circles like the rings of a tree but also in the order of the spectrum the outer band was crimson and then the unbroken sequence came red orange yellow green blue and violet in the centre moreover the very steam arising from it reflecting as it did the varied tints beneath was exquisitely coloured and vanished into air like a dissolving rainbow all these prismatic pools are clasped by beautifully decorated curbs of silica and seem to be set in rings of gold with mineral colors running through them like enamel so delicate are the touches of the magic water as the persistent heart-beats of old mother earth propel it over their ornamental rims that every ripple leaves its tiny mark hence it is no exaggeration but literal truth to say that beautiful mosaic work is being formed each time the films of boiling water are dimpled by the passing breeze the great variety of wonders in our national park was a continual source of pleasure and surprise to me thus in the midst of all the pools and geysers in the upper basin is one known as the mammoth paint pot the earth surrounding it is cracked and blistered by heat and from this rises a parapet five feet high enclosing a space resembling a circus ring within this area is a mixture of soft clay and boiling water suggesting an enormous caldron of hot mush this bubbling slime is almost as diversely tinted as the pools themselves it seemed to me that i was looking into a huge vat where unseen painters were engaged in mixing colours the fact is easily explained the mineral ingredients of the volcanic soil produce these different hues in a new form it is the same old story of the mammoth terraces fire supplies the pigments and hot water uses them all other features of the park are solemn and impressive but the mammoth paint-pot provokes a smile there is no grandeur here it seems a burlesque on volcanic power the steam which oozes through the plastic mass tosses its substance into curious lilliputian shapes which rise and break like bubbles a mirthful demon seems to be engaged in moulding grotesque images in clay which turn a somersault and then fall back to vanish in the seething depths now it will be a flower then a face then possibly a manikin resembling toys for children meanwhile one hears constantly a low accompaniment of groanings hiccoughs and expectorations as if the aforesaid demon found this pudding difficult to digest soon after leaving the upper geyser basin we approached a tiny lake which has in some respects no equal in the world with the exception of some isolated mountain peaks it marks the highest portion of our country in winter therefore when encircled by mounds of snow it rests upon the summit of our continent like a crown of sapphire set with pearls so evenly is it balanced that when it overflows one part of it descends to the atlantic another part to the pacific this little streamlet therefore is a silver thread connecting two great oceans three thousand miles apart accordingly one might easily fancy that every drop in this pure mountain reservoir possessed a separate individuality and that a passing breeze or falling leaf might decide its destiny propelling it with gentle force into a current which should lead it eastward to be silvered by the dawn or westward to be gilded by the setting sun on either side of this elevation known as the continental divide the view was glorious in one direction an ocean of dark pines rolled westward in enormous billows the silver surfaces of several lakes gleamed here and there like whitecaps on the rolling waves far off upon the verge of the horizon fifty miles away three snow-capped sharply pointed mountains looked like a group of icebergs drifting from the polar sea they did not move however nor will they move while this old earth shall last they antedate by ages the pyramids which they resemble they will be standing thus in majesty when egypt's royal sepulchres shall have returned to dust forever anchored there those three resplendent peaks rise fourteen thousand feet above the sea and form the grand tiara of our continent the loftiest summits of the rocky mountains as we began the descent from this great elevation another splendid vision greeted us we gazed upon it with delight beyond a vast expanse of dark green pines we saw three hundred feet below us lake yellowstone it stirred my heart to look at last upon this famous inland sea nearly eight thousand feet above the ocean level and to realize that if the white mountain monarch washington were planted in its depths its base line on a level with the sea there would remain two thousand feet of space between its summit and the surface of this lake in this respect it has but one real rival lake titicaca in the andes of peru descending to the shore however we found that even here so far from shipyards and the sea a steamboat was awaiting us imagine the labor of conveying such a vessel sixty-five miles from the railroad to this lake up an ascent of more than three thousand feet of course it was brought in several sections but even then in one or two mountain gorges the cliffs had to be blasted away to make room for it to pass it is needless to add that this steamer has no rivals it was with the greatest interest that i sailed at such a height on this adventurous craft and the next time that i stand upon the summit of mount washington and see the fleecy clouds float in the empyrean one-third of a mile above me i shall remember that the steamer on lake yellowstone sails at precisely the same altitude as that enjoyed by those sun-tinted galleons of the sky to appreciate the beauty of lake yellowstone one should behold it when its waves are radiant with the sunset glow it is however not only beautiful it is mysterious around it in the distance rise silver-crested peaks whose melting snow descends to it in ice-cold streams still nearer we behold a girdle of gigantic forests rarely if ever trodden by the foot of man oh the loneliness of this great lake for eight long months scarcely a human eye beholds it the wintry storms that sweep its surface find no boats on which to vent their fury lake yellowstone has never mirrored in itself even the frail canoes of painted savages the only keels that ever furrow it are those of its solitary steamer and some little fishing-boats engaged by tourists even these lead a very brief existence like summer insects they will float here a few weeks and disappear leaving the winds and waves to their will in sailing on this lake i observed a distant mountain whose summit bore a strange resemblance to an upturned human face sculptured in bold relief against the sky it is appropriately called the sleeping giant for it has slept on undisturbed while countless centuries have dropped into the gulf of time like leaves in the adjoining forest how many nights have cast their shadows like a veil upon that giant silhouette how many dawns have flooded it with light and found those changeless features still confronting them we call it human in appearance and yet that profile was the same before the first man ever trod this planet grim awful model of the coming race did not its stern lips smile disdainfully at the first human pigmy fashioned in its likeness this lake has one peculiarity which in the minds of certain tourists eclipses all the rest i mean its possibilities for fishing we know that sad experience has taught mankind to invent the proverb once a fisherman always a liar i wish then at the start to say that i am no fisherman but what i saw here would inevitably make me one if i should remain a month or two upon these shores lake yellowstone is the fisherman's paradise said one of isaac walton's followers to me i would rather be an angler here than an angel nor is this strange i saw two men catch from this lake in one hour more than a hundred splendid trout weighing from one to three pounds apiece they worked with incredible rapidity scarcely did the fly touch the water when the line was drawn the light rod dipped with graceful curve and the revolving reel drew in the speckled beauty to the shore each of these anglers had two hooks upon his line and both of them once had two trout hooked at the same time and landed them while we poor eastern visitors at first looked on in dumb amazement and then enthusiastically cheered can the reader bear something still more trying to his faith emerging from the lake is a little cone containing a boiling pool entirely distinct from the surrounding water i saw a fisherman stand on this and catch a trout which without moving from his place or even unhooking the fish he dropped into the boiling pool and cooked when the first scientific explorers of this region were urging upon congress the necessity of making it a national park their statements in regard to fishing were usually received with courteous incredulity but when one of their number gravely declared that trout could there be caught and boiled in the same lake within a radius of fifteen feet the house of representatives broke forth into roars of laughter and thought the man a monumental liar we cannot be surprised therefore that enthusiastic fishermen almost go crazy here i have seen men after a ride of forty miles rush off to fish without a moment's rest as if their lives depended on it some years ago general wade hampton visited the park and came as far as lake yellowstone on his return some one inquired what he thought of nature's masterpiece the canon of the yellowstone The canyon, cried the General.

No matter about the canyon, but I had the most magnificent fishing I ever saw in my life.

one day while walking along the shore my comrade suddenly pressed my arm and pointed toward the lake an indian i cried in great astonishment i thought no indians ever came here our guide laughed heartily and as he did so i perceived my error what i had thought to be an indian was but a portion of a tree which had been placed upright against a log the only artificial thing about it was a bunch of feathers everything else was absolutely natural no knife had sculptured it no hand had given a support to its uplifted arm even the dog which followed us appeared deceived for he barked furiously at the strange intruder there was to me a singular fascination in this solitary freak of nature and surrounded though i was by immeasurably greater wonders i turned again and again to take a farewell look at this dark slender figure raising its hand as if in threatening gesture to some unseen foe leaving the lake we presently entered the loveliest portion of the park a level sheltered area of some fifty square miles to which has been given the appropriate name of hayden valley in commemoration of the distinguished geologist dr ferdinand v hayden who did so much to explore this region and to impress upon the government the necessity of preserving its incomparable natural features even this tranquil portion of the park is undermined by just such fiery forces as are elsewhere visible but which here manifest themselves in different ways thus in the midst of this natural beauty is a horrible object known as the mud geyser we crawled up a steep bank and shudderingly gazed over it into the crater forty feet below us the earth yawned open like a cavernous mouth from which a long black throat some six feet in diameter extended to an unknown depth this throat was filled with boiling mud which rose and fell in nauseating gulps as if some monster were strangling from a slimy paste which all its efforts could not possibly dislodge occasionally the sickening mixture would sink from view as if the tortured wretch had swallowed it then we could hear hundreds of feet below unearthly retching and in a moment it would all come up again belched out with an explosive force that hurled a boiling spray of mud so high that we rushed down the slope a single drop of it would have burned like molten lead five minutes of this was enough and even now when i reflect that every moment day and night the same regurgitation of black slime is going on i feel as i have often felt when on a stormy night at sea i have tried to sit through a coarse dinner on an ocean steamer not far from this perpetually active object is one that has been motionless for ages a granite boulder enclosed by trees as by the bars of a gigantic cage it is a proof that glaciers once ploughed through this region and it was no doubt brought hither in the glacial period on a flood of ice which melting in this heated basin left its burden a grim reminder of how worlds are made think what a combination of terrific forces must have been at work here when the volcanoes were in full activity and when the mass of ice which then encased our northern world strove to enclose this prison-house of fire within its glacial arms one of our party remarked that the covering of this seething boiling area with ice must have been the nearest approach to hell's freezing over that our earth has ever seen another striking feature of our national park is its petrified forest where scattered over a large area are solitary columns which once were trunks of trees but now are solid shafts of agate the substance of the wood however is still apparent the bark the wormholes and even the rings of growth being distinctly visible but every fibre has been petrified by the mysterious substitution of a mineral deposit no doubt these trees were once submerged in a strong mineral solution tinted with every colour of the rainbow still more marvellous to relate an excavation on the hillside proves that there are eleven layers of such forests one above another divided by as many cushions of lava think of the ages represented here during which all these different forests grew and were successively turned to stone this therefore is another illustration of the conflict between life and death each was in turn a victor and rested on its laurels for unnumbered centuries life is triumphant now but who shall say that death may not again prove conqueror if not immediately death may well be patient he will rule all this planet in the end no one can travel through the yellowstone park without imagining how it looks in winter the snowfall is enormous some drifts in the ravines being hundreds of feet deep and owing to the increased supply of water the geysers throw higher streams no travelling is possible then except on snowshoes and it is with difficulty that some of the park hotels are reached as late as the middle of may of course in such a frigid atmosphere the steam arising from the geysers is almost instantly congealed and eye-witnesses affirm that in a temperature of forty degrees below zero the clouds of vapour sent up by old faithful rose fully two thousand feet and were seen ten miles away it can be well imagined that to do much exploration here in winter is not alone immensely difficult but dangerous in eighteen eighty seven an expedition was formed headed by lieutenant frederick schwatka but though he was experienced as an arctic traveller in three days he advanced only twenty miles and finally gave out completely most of the exploring party turned back with him but four kept heroically on one of whom was the photographer mr f j haines of st paul undismayed by schwatzka's failure he and his comrades bravely persisted in their undertaking for thirty days the mercury never rose higher than ten degrees below zero once it marked fifty two degrees below yet these men were obliged to camp out every night and carry on their shoulders provisions sleeping-bags and photographic instruments but finally they triumphed over every obstacle having in midwinter made a tour of two hundred miles through the park nevertheless they almost lost their lives in the attempt at one point ten thousand feet above the sea a fearful blizzard overtook them the cold and wind seemed unendurable even for an hour but they endured them for three days a sharp sleet cut their faces like a rain of needles and made it perilous to look ahead almost dead from sheer exhaustion they were unable to lie down for fear of freezing chilled to the bone they could make no fire and although fainting they had not a mouthful for seventy-two hours what a terrific chapter for any man to add to the mysterious volume we call life one might suppose by this time that all the marvels of our national park have been described but on the contrary so far is it from being true that i have yet to mention the most stupendous of them all the world-renowned canyon of the yellowstone the introduction to this is sublime it is a waterfall the height of which is more than twice as great as that of niagara to understand the reason for the presence of such a cataract we should remember that the entire region for miles was once a geyser basin the river was then near the surface and has been cutting down the walls of the canyon ever since the volcanic soil decomposed by heat could not resist the constant action of the water only a granite bluff at the upper end of the canyon has held firm and over that the baffled stream now leaps to wreak its vengeance on the weaker foe beneath through a colossal gateway of vast height yet only seventy feet in breadth falls the entire volume of the yellowstone river it seems enraged at being suddenly compressed into that narrow space for with a roar of anger and defiance and without an instant's hesitation it leaps into the yawning gulf in one great flood of dazzling foam when looked upon from a little distance a clasp of emerald apparently surmounts it from which descends a spotless robe of ermine nearly four hundred feet in length the lower portion is concealed by clouds of mist which vainly try to climb the surrounding cliffs like ghosts of submerged mountains striving to escape from their eternal prison we ask ourselves instinctively what gives this river its tremendous impetus and causes it to fill the air with diamond-tinted spray and send up to the cliffs a ceaseless roar which echoes and re echoes down the caon how awe-inspiring seems the answer to this question when we think upon it seriously the subtle force which draws this torrent down is the same power which holds the planets in their courses retains the comets in their fearful paths and guides the movements of the stellar universe what is this power we call it gravitation but why does it invariably act thus with mathematical precision who knows behind all such phenomena there is a mystery that none can solve this cataract has a voice if we could understand it perhaps we could distinguish after all but one word god as for the gorge through which this river flows imagine if you can a yawning chasm ten miles long and fifteen hundred feet in depth peer into it and see if you can find the river yes there it lies one thousand five hundred feet below a winding path of emerald and alabaster dividing the huge caon walls seen from the summit it hardly seems to move but in reality it rages like a captive lion springing at its bars scarcely a sound of its fierce fury reaches us yet could we stand beside it a quarter of a mile below its voice would drown our loudest shouts to one another attracted to this river innumerable little streams are trickling down the coloured cliffs they are cascades of boiling water emerging from the awful reservoir of heat which underlies this laboratory of the infinite one of them is a geyser the liquid shaft of which is scarcely visible yet in reality is one hundred and fifty feet in height from all these hot additions to its waves the temperature of the river even a mile or two beyond the canon is twenty degrees higher than at its entrance are there not other canons in the world as large as this it may be asked yes but none like this for see instead of sullen granite walls these sides are radiant with colour age after age and aeon after aeon hot water has been spreading over these miles of masonry its variegated sediment like pigments on an artist's palette here for example is an expanse of yellow one thousand feet in height mingled with this are areas of red resembling jasper beside these is a field of lavender five hundred feet in length and soft in hue as the down upon a pigeon's breast no shade is wanting here except the blue and god replaces that it is supplied by the overspreading canopy of heaven yet there is no monotony in these hues nature apparently has passed along this canyon touching the rocks capriciously now staining an entire cliff as red as blood now tinging a light pinnacle with green now spreading over the whole face of the mountain a vast persian rug hence both sides of the canyon present successive miles of oriental tapestry moreover every passing cloud works here almost a miracle for all the lights and shades that follow one another down this gorge vary its tints as if by magic and make of it one long kaleidoscope of changing colour nor are these cliffs less wonderful in form than color the substance of their tinted rocks is delicate the rain has therefore plowed their faces with a million furrows the wind has carved them like a sculptor's chisel the lightning's bolts have splintered them until mile after mile they rise in a bewildering variety of architectural forms old castles frown above the maddened stream a thousand times more grand than any ruins on the rhine their towers are five hundred feet in height turrets and battlements portcullises and drawbridges rise from the deep ravine sublime and inaccessible yet they are still a thousand feet below us what would be the effect could we survey them from the stream itself within the gloomy crevice of the canon only their size convinces us that they are works of nature not of art upon their spires we see a score of eagles nests the splendid birds leave these at times and swoop down toward the stream not in one mighty plunge but gracefully in slow majestic curves lower and lower till we can follow them only through a field-glass as they alight on trees which look to us like shrubs but many of these forms are grander than any castles in one place is an amphitheatre within its curving arms a hundred thousand people could be seated its foreground is the emerald river its drop curtain the radiant canon wall cathedrals too are here with spires twice as high as those which soar above the minster of cologne fantastic gargoyles stretch out from the parapets a hundred flying buttresses connect them with the mountain side from any one of them as many shafts shoot heavenward as statues rise from the duomo of milan and each of these great canyon shrines instead of stained-glass windows has walls roof dome and pinnacles one mass of variegated color the awful grandeur of these temples sculptured by the deity is overpowering we feel that we must worship here it is a place where the finite prays the infinite hears and immensity looks on two visions of this world stand out within my memory which though entirely different i can place side by side in equal rank they are the himalayas of india and the grand canyon of the yellowstone on neither of them is there any sign of human life no voice disturbs their solemn stillness the only sound upon earth's loftiest mountains is the thunder of the avalanche the only voice within this canon is the roar of its magnificent cascade it is well that man must halt upon the borders of this awful chasm it is no place for man the infinite allows him to stand trembling on the brink look down and listen spellbound to the anthem of its mighty cataract but beyond this he may not cannot go it is as if almighty god had kept for his own use one part of his creation that man might merely gaze upon it worship and retire part seven part eight of yellowstone national park six early pieces by various this libervox recording is in the public domain i have read with great satisfaction the excellent descriptive articles on the wonders of the upper yellowstone in the may and june numbers of your magazine having myself been one of the party who participated in many of the pleasures and suffered all the perils of that expedition i can not only bear testimony to the fidelity of the narrative but probably add some facts of experience which will not detract from the general interest it has excited a desire to visit the remarkable region of which during several years residence in montana i had often heard the most marvellous accounts led me to unite in the expedition of august last the general character of the stupendous scenery of the rocky mountains prepared my mind for giving credit to all the strange stories told of the yellowstone and i felt quite as certain of the existence of the physical phenomena of that country on the morning that our company started from helena as when i afterwards beheld it i engaged in the enterprise with enthusiasm feeling that all the hardships and exposures of a month's horseback travel through an unexplored region would be more than compensated by the grandeur and novelty of the natural objects with which it was crowded of course the idea of being lost in it without any of the ordinary means of subsistence and the wandering for days and weeks in a famishing condition alone in an unfrequented wilderness formed no part of my contemplation i had dwelt too long amid the mountains not to know that such a thought had it occurred would have been instantly rejected as improbable nevertheless man proposes and god disposes a truism which found a new and ample illustration in my wanderings through the upper yellowstone region on the day that i found myself separated from the company and for several days previous our course had been impeded by the dense growth of the pine forest and occasional large tracts of fallen timber frequently rendering our progress almost impossible whenever we came to one of these immense windfalls each man engaged in the pursuit of a passage through it and it was while thus employed and with the idea that i had found one that i strayed out of sight and hearing of my comrades we had a toilsome day it was quite late in the afternoon as separation like this had frequently occurred it gave me no alarm and i rode on fully confident of soon rejoining the company or of finding their camp i came up with the pack-horse which mr langford afterwards recovered and tried to drive him along but failing to do so and my eyesight being defective i spurred forward intending to return with assistance from the party this incident tended to accelerate my speed i rode on in the direction which i supposed had been taken until darkness overtook me in the dense forest this was disagreeable enough but caused me no alarm i had no doubt of being with the party at breakfast the next morning i selected a spot for comfortable repose picketed my horse built a fire and went to sleep the next morning i rose at early dawn saddled and mounted my horse and took my course in the supposed direction of the camp our ride of the previous day had been up a peninsula jutting into the lake for the shore of which i started with the expectation of finding my friends camped on the beach the forest was quite dark and the trees so thick that it was only by a slow process i could get through them at all in searching for the trail i became somewhat confused the falling foliage of the pines had obliterated every trace of travel i was obliged frequently to dismount and examine the ground for the faintest indications coming to an opening from which i would see several vistas i dismounted for the purpose of selecting one leading in the direction i had chosen and leaving my horse unhitched as had always been my custom walked a few yards into the forest while surveying the ground my horse took fright and i turned around in time to see him disappearing at full speed among the trees that was the last i ever saw of him it was yet quite dark my blankets gun pistols fishing-tackle matches everything except the clothing on my person a couple of knives and a small opera-glass were attached to the saddle i did not realize the possibility of a permanent separation from the company instead of following up the pursuit of their camp i engaged in an effort to recover my horse half a day's search convinced me of its impracticability i wrote and posted in an open space several notices which if my friends should chance to see would inform them of my condition and the route i had taken and then struck out into the forest in the supposed direction of their camp as the day wore on without any discovery alarm took the place of anxiety at the prospect of another night alone in the wilderness and this time without food or fire but even this dismal foreboding was cheered by the hope that should soon rejoin my companions who would laugh at my adventure and incorporate it as a thrilling episode into the journal of our trip the bright side of a misfortune as i found by experience even under the worst possible circumstances always presents some features of encouragement when i began to realize that my condition was one of actual peril i banished from my mind all fear of an unfavorable result seating myself on a log i recalled every foot of the way i had travelled since the separation from my friends and the most probable opinion i could form of their whereabouts was that they had by a course but little different from mine passed by the spot where i had posted the notices learned of my disaster and were waiting for me the rejoin of them there or searching for me in that vicinity a night must be spent amid the prostrate trunks before my return could be accomplished at no time during my period of exile did i experience so much mental suffering from the cravings of hunger as when exhausted from this long day of fruitless search i resigned myself to a couch of pine foliage in the pitchy darkness of a thicket of small trees naturally timid in the night i fully realized the exposure of my condition i peered upward through the darkness but all was blackness and gloom the wind sighed mournfully through the pines the forest seemed alive with the screeching of night-birds the angry barking of coyotes and the prolonged dismal howl of the gray wolf these sounds familiar by their constant occurrence throughout the journey were now full of terror and drove slumber from my eyelids above all this however was the hope that i should be restored to my comrades the next day early the next morning i rose unrefreshed and pursued my weary way over the prostrate trunks it was noon when i reached the spot where my notices were posted no one had been there my disappointment was almost overwhelming for the first time i realized that i was lost then came a crushing sense of destitution no food no fire no means to procure either alone in an unexplored wilderness one hundred and fifty miles from the nearest human abode surrounded by wild beasts and famishing with hunger it was no time for despondency a moment afterwards i felt how calamity can elevate the mind in the formation of the resolution not to perish in that wilderness the hope of finding the party still controlled my plans i thought by traversing the peninsula centrally i might be enabled to strike the shore of the lake in advance of their camp and near the point of departure for the madison acting upon this impression i rose from a sleepless couch and pursued my way through the timber entangled forest a feeling of weakness took the place of hunger conscious of the need of food i felt no cravings occasionally while scrambling over logs and through thickets a sense of faintness and exhaustion would come over me but i would suppress it with the audible expression this won't do i must find my company despondency would sometimes strive with resolution for the mastery of my thoughts i would think of home of my daughter and of the possible chance of starvation or death in some more terrible form but as soon as these gloomy forebodings came i would strive to banish them with reflections better adapted to my immediate necessities i recollect at this time discussing the question whether there was not implanted by providence in every man a principle of self-preservation equal to any emergency which did not destroy his reason i decided this question affirmatively a thousand times afterwards in my wanderings and i record this experience here that any person who reads it should he ever find himself in like circumstances may not despair there is life in the thought it will revive hope allay hunger renew energy encourage perseverance and as i have proved in my own case bring a man out of difficulty when nothing else can avail it was midday when i emerged from the forest into an open space at the foot of the peninsula a broad lake of beautiful curvature with magnificent surroundings lay before me glittering in the sunbeams it was full twelve miles in circumference a wide belt of sand formed the margin which i was approaching directly opposite to which rising seemingly from the very depths of the water towered the loftiest peak of a range of mountains apparently interminable the ascending vapor from innumerable hot springs and the sparkling jet of a single geyser added the feature of novelty to one of the grandest landscapes i ever beheld nor was the life of the scene less noticeable than its other attractions large flocks of swans and other water-fowl were sporting on the quiet surface of the lake otters in great numbers performed the most amusing aquatic evolutions mink and beaver swam around unscared in the most grotesque confusion deer elk and mountain sheep stared at me manifesting more surprise than fear at my presence among them the adjacent forest was vocal with the songs of birds chief of which were the chattering notes of a species of mocking-bird whose imitative efforts afforded abundant merriment seen under favourable circumstances this assemblage of grandeur beauty and novelty would have been transporting but jaded with travel famishing with hunger and distressed with anxiety i was in no humour for ecstasy my tastes were subdued and chastened by the perils which environed me i longed for food friends and protection associated with my thoughts however was the wish that some of my friends of peculiar tastes could enjoy this display of secluded magnificence now probably for the first time beheld by mortal eyes The lake was at least 1,000 feet lower than the highest point of the peninsula, and several hundred feet below the level of Yellowstone Lake.