The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-06-26
Wonders or California.
THE GEYsERs.

The Geysers of California are unequaled
among the hot springs of the world. They
are reached by steamer across the bay from
San Francisco to Petaluma, thence by
stage for about so miles over one of the
finest farming regions of the State From
Foss's Station-a favorite resort among the
mountains-the Geysers are twelve miles
| distant, and are reached by a wild, romantic
road. For two miles it winds along the
Hog bark, n mountain summit like the
eled until barely wide enough for carriage
wheels, and on each side one looks down
precipitous banks for one or two thousand
feet. If the wheels diverge ten inches from
the track the load of passengers would
reach the bottom much in the condition of
bushel of apples after passing through
cider mill.
The ridges diplay the dense shrubbery of
the mazineta, or mountain mahogany, upon
whose red juicy berries grizzly bears sub
sist and travellers quench their thirst the
strongly spiced bay or pepper wood, which
has the virtue of driving away fleas, and
the exquisite madrona with round fruit
tasting like the dried thimbleberry Here
bears and antelopes offer great temptations
I to hunters.
The roar of the Gcysers is heard, and
! their smoke seen two miles away, in favor
able conditions of the atmosphere After
being whired along the road which pitches
down sixteen hundred feet, with thirty-tive
sharp turns in two miles, the visitor finds
himself in narrow valley, viewing hun
dreds of steam,jets putting up from the
ground They are chiefly in ravine half
mile long, known as the DEVILS Canon.
Steep walls rise from fifty to one hundred
and fifty feet, bare, spongy, ashy, clayey
soil without the faintest sign of grass or
shrub. There are fully one thousand places
where steam issues from the SOIL Hot
water often bubbles up above the surface !;
but much more startling and impressive
is the boiling within hundreds of cavities
under ground. One feels that only the
flimsiest shell protects him from some vast
subterranean cauldron. At times the ground
vibrates so as to rattle crockery in the hotel
one-third of a mile away. Hot, cold and
boiling springs are found side by side, each
with its own individual hue-blue, brown,
black, red, green, yellow, pink or gray
Their constituents vary greatly, though
soda, magnesia, EPSON salts, and various
salts of iron, predominant.
| In passing up the canon, the visitor burns
his fingers and receives sitting blasts from
natural hot furnaces He must be cautious
where he steps, unless he would break
through the crust into some of the seething
pools below. Steamboat Spring is the
grandest of all. 1t has no water but con-
sists entirely of steam putting through an
aperture as large as the body of man, with
a roar like great steamship, the column
rising up for hundreds of feet The vent
holes are two Springs, few feet apart,
which will boil an egg in minute and
half, and from which the steam escapes
with great force. A stone as large as
mans fist, thrown into one of them, re-
bounds three or four feet, like an India-rub-
Der ball
These Springs are numerous for six miles
along the Pluton river and travellers de-
clare that they far surpass the famed Gey-
sers of Iceland. They are not volcanic but
result from chemical action. The smell of
birthstone, the Kissing steam, throbbing
waters, and underground roaring and trem-
bling, are peculiarly diabolical Indians
regard them with widest terror, and cannot
be persuaded to approach them and some
white visitors never dare to enter the can
on. They are among the most curious and
wonderful of the many curiosities and Won
ders of the Pacific coast
No other region of equal area can boast
half the natural beauties and marves of
California. Yosemite, the Sierras, Mount
Shaster, the Big Trees, the Geysers and
Lake Tahoe-the brightest gem in her
mountain coronet-aii are worthy of note
among the impressive features ofthe visible
universe Already they are sought annu-
ally by hundreds of foreigners and the
completion of the Pacific Railroad will
make them the pleasure grounds of the
world.