Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-08


caily beneath the brink upon which
you stand. Above, the walls OF the
canon On either side are most gayly
Illuminated by the white, red and
yellow dispositions fr0m the waters OF
the innumerable hot springs which
sweep, oozs and flow down from the
assures in them. The d~enuding power
Of waller Is grandly shown by the
thousand and a pinnacIes and min
aKets, which seem to fairly stick. BY
some wonderful adhesive agency, to
the steep, perpendicular faces OF the
canon walls, only waiting apparently
for a touch or 3 breath OF wind TO hurl
them down, whirling and Crashing.
into the dizzy depths below.
The thunder and thud sound of the
falls now call your attention. and I
never feits0 completely my inability
70 speak Of what I have seen as l do
in attempting In this letter to describe
the impression made upon me by this
magnificent waterfalls broad, deep
sheet OF water leaps, In one clean un-
broken snowy column down fourhun-
dred and fifty feet into a fOaming tum-
ultuous pool below, the waters pausing
there tor a moment, as 1t were, to re-
collect there energies and then rushing
on with headlOng Tspidity away down
the deep Windings of the canon: a
beautiful cloud OF spray and misty
halo hovers over the foot of the falls.
sWaying hither and thither by the
wind, and when illuminated by the
morning sun, g rainbow gorgeous and
perfect, always appears. and ever and
anon, as the watery cloud curtain
lifts, you catch a glimpse Of bright
little grass plot which Is nOurished
there by it, for nowhere else can veg
citation exist down there on the hot
bare walls.
Now when / come to compare this
fall with Niagara, at onee you will
truly say the sublimity Of Niagara lies
IN the immense volume Of water that
thunders down, and In no way can
the waters Of the Yellowstone ever
equal 1t, but when you turn to the
canon so fantastic ia its rugged depths,
its weatheT-beaten and Water-worn
walls, rising up in par
allels 1000 ieet, completely shut
tlngss out the morning and evening
light, you at ones say, "Niagara he's
no feature that can approach or supply
the place of this in my delighted wan
derlng eye"
THE FLOWING WATERS BEYOND.
Up TIE river above the falls, less
than quarter of a mile, we stand BE-
lore another, which we have given
the name Of "The Upper Falls y
he the river tumbles first In a swift,
ioamy cascade, then leaps from a
iedge156 feet. La many points Of pic
turesque beauty these falls an be
scarcely equsled.
Above the falls the river widens
out into a broad gravelly-bottomed
stream, flowing through a rolling
semi-Wooded country down to them,
rom the lake, sixteen miles. AT q
point about half way from the lake
we came upon a system of birthstone
at hot sulphur springs, and several
mud puns or volcanoes. The sulphur
springs are almost all of them in a
stale OF great agitation, aud in a num-
Der oil cases they are boiling up in
spurs or splnttering explosions, max
ing q sWash-SWash sound as the water
rises and falls in the basin or crater of
the spring, the margins of which are
often beautifully worked with sulphur
beading and enamefed with a preeipi-
tatlon ofhne snowy shining white.
Inc mud springs l can very truth
July compare, as far as appearance
and action go, to a cauidron Of mush
at a slow boiling point, the bubbles
rising up first slowly, and then sud-
denly expanding, bursting with a
amt s~plutterlng sound, and then all
eollapsing to lis former level, only to
repeat IN a lev seconds. Some one or
two Of these mud pots are more &C.
tive, and may be called small vOlca-l
noes, since they throw their sIimy
contents up at times to a considerable
hlght-hlty to a hundred and fifty
feet.
BEAUTIFUL PICTURE.
Toward the end Of July, the 18th,
l believe, we emerged from the shade
OF a belt of heavy. thick pine timber,
and stood out on a lovely grassy
bench that slOped away a few hun
dred yards in front OF Us to the smooth
gravel beach Of the beautiful Yellow
stone lake. A water picture too per
feet for pen or pencil p~Ortraiture; it
must be seen, NO described.
a zone OF lava peaks hemmed in
the eastern shore, and to the south
the vast proportions Of the Tetons
away down upon the Snake river di.
vide, one hundred and fifty miles,
were almost mirTOred in the calm
bosom OF the waters. The lake is
neither large nor small, but for its
great elevation Of $500 feet, it is the
largest on the continent; its greatest
length will not exceed twenty five
miles, and in width not over twenty,
but it Is so cut up into shore lines, of
bays and inlets, as TO present on our
map a water maFvin OF over one hun
dred and nifty miles; the water Is ex-
ceedingiy clear and cold, and in some
places the enormous number of min
ute green alg@ thieken it to some
depth from the surface to q eream-like
consistency. There are several small
Islands slightly raised above the water
level, all OF them quite thickIy tim
beEed with pine, and a clean beech
around them.
In the forests surrounding the hun
ter finds blscktail deer and elk in
great numbers, and the lake itself is (,
well stocked with large salmon trout.
We we're unable to find any other va
riety OF fish worthy Of notice here.
The wonders OF our journey were in
the great geysers at the head waters OF ]
the Madison river. The basin in
which they are found we reached by
striking over from the lake, west
eighteen miles through q heavily tim
bered country. 1
Until the reports published by sew.
erat members Of the Yellowstone ex- J
plcring expedition, which visited a l
considerable portion of this country
last year, were read and attention I
given, the only geysers extant were 8
those OF Iceland, but, according to
their accounts, the great stoker of Ice :
land was thrown entirely in the shade !
when compared with those geysers
seen by them in the Fire Hole basin: 1
and, when We started over to see for :
ourselves, we were somewhat incred- =
ulOus, but after having made a thor
Ough examination of q large numbe- Q
Of these scalding water Jets, we found 1
nothing overestimated. {
1h8ve stood near the funnel Of one
these great geysers, and have seen {
hot water make one bound up 3
rom its quiet spring-looking basin in g
70 the air, to a hight of two hundred +
Ieet, pause there scarce an instant, and
hen fail back into and overflow from a
rs sllleiied crater in a thousand wa Z
Lery stFeamers and a million prismatie 4
drops, only to repeat this action in a I
seconds. The column of water
vas not less than six feet ia diameter, =
and the period OF agitation lasted from >
fifteen to twenty minutes. In other ;
yeysers they were more brief in ae- =
ion. This geyser which I have at :
.empted to describe played only at ,
intervals OF from twenty to thirty :
hours. Z
Musical lnstrumsnts. 4
Have any Of our readers, while lis
ening to the mellifu0u5 strains of a C
,rand orchestra, or even while under a
he infietiOa oil the dOleful noise OF q d
uhepzv nruan Urnnnd ont nv anna "a u