Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-11-09
The New wonder Land.

A letter has been received by Pr0ieS-
sor Henry, the Secretary Of the Smith
sonian Institution. which gives graphic
account of the marvellous Yellowstone
region. The writer is Mr.. Elliott, the
artist who went with the Hayden Ex-
pedition, described in these columns
some time ago. The accounts Of the
Yellowstone country hitherto received,
even when brought by authorities so
respectable as Lieutenant Doane, have
been so extraordinary that confrmatory
testimony has been anxiously looked for.
Even now and with every respect for
the new witnesses part Of whose evi-
dence we shall quote, the official narra-
tive of the Hayden Expedition must be
deemed needful before we can altogether
accept stories Of wonder hardly short Of
fairy tales in the astounding phenomena
they describe.
What is known as the Great Canon" "
is depicted by Mr.. Elliott in way fully
attesting previous statements. tits huge
basaltic fssure, or rent in the earth, be-
ginning at Tower Creek, and ending at
the foot of the Lower Falls Of the Yel-
lowstone. Hence, it is twenty-five or
thirty miles long. The Canon varies
from one to two thousand feet in depth,
and along its bottom the river whirls
with immense velocity, appearing from
ilbove now blue and now a snowy
ribbon" The attrition of the stream
for countless ages has worn the sides Of
the chasm into strange shapes of
towers, points and pinnacles, and
these are "gayly painted by the waters
of the numberless warm and hot springs
which ooze out from the fiissures into a
variety of tints and tones, dazzling
white, intense red, purple, saffron, yel-
low, etc, and fairly bewildering the eye,
at first, by their singularity and gran
deur." The Canon is moreover fringed
in some places with rows of basaltic pill
lars, quite regular in form, from twenty
to thirty feet high, and standing without
crack or flaw, in regular tiers, one above
the other.
The great Falls are more imposing still.
They are a broad, evenly deep sheet o.
clear ice water, leaping down at one
bound four hundred and fifty feet" I'm
broken by any point or division, they
rush over the ledge vast curtain, as of
swift, foaming lace. These are the
Lower Falls, the Upper being just the
hight Of Niagara, or one hundred and
fifty feet, and but half mile distant
from the other. Thus, within that short
space the stream makes a descent of
SIX hundred feet. Not far away is the
lovely Yellowstone Lake, which has a
shore line of nearly hundred and sixty
miles, and depth, in some places, of
over four hundred feet The water of
the lake is icy cold, and it is frequently
"thick and green with millions of alge.
1t is we'll stocked, like the river, with
trout, some of great size, aud it contains
other inny monsters, the like Of which
are unknown elsewhere. But the chief
marvel of this section would seem to be
the Geysers of the Fire.hole Basin.
These are the headwaters of the Madi-
son, and in magnitude and extent Of
area reduce the famous boiling springs
of Iceland to complete insigniicancy
Mr.. Elliott writes:
| have stood by crater, and have seen
a column of hot (boiling) water six feet
in diameter ascend with single bound,
vertically, to hight of 200 feet--pause
there for an instant, and fall to its sillcl-
fed basin in thousand watery streams,
and million prismatie drops. This
was repeated ten or fifteen minutes, then
all would be quiet the water of the els
tern became as still as that of mill
pond, and apparently as inactive. This
geyser, which is one of many, we named
the Grand. 1t plays at irregular inter
walls of twenty-four to thirty hours, for
from ten TO twenty minutes Another,
named by Doane odd Faithful, " plays
at intervals of only an hour apart,
throwing up an immense steady column
to an elevation of $50 feet.
There are fifty geysers and over
thousand boiling springs, according to
this authority, within fifty miles of each
other, and il is evident that these objects
must rank as among the most remarka-
BILE physical wonders of nature.
These, however, are but portion Of the
strange sights to be seen in the Yellow
stone Valley. By way of still further
enforcing their memory OF the expedi-
ton, the party were favored, not long
since, with an earthquake, the character
of which is verified by several witnesses,
who, at the time Of the. shock, were iif-
teen miles apart We have heard
enough now to be satisfied that the
region in question must be among the
most wonderful of this wonderful cen
trail continent of ours, aud to suspect
that it deserves, in this wise, absolute
pre-eminence. Professor Hayden's Off
cial report, which we hope will not be
long delayed, will enable us to arrive at
conclusions more positive.