The Shasta courier., 1872-11-30
The Yellowstone Park.

Dr Curtis and Professor Bradley, both of
whom we're attached to Professor Hayden s
exped isien, sent out by the Government to ex-
! nIare the Yellowstone region and take the top
ourn rhSeal survey of the great National Park r
were nresent at the regular meeting Of the Cal
;fornia Academv of Natural Science on Mon-
day evening. Professor Bradley, in bis state
ment of what be had seen there said that they
encountered hot springs and gcysers innumer-
able. Many of the principal geysers IN the
basin have received their designation from
previous explorers. Some of the larger throw
nm bodies of hot water from two to three feet
in diameter to a hight of ninety feet and up
wards. "Old Faithful" so-called from its
regularity, spouts every sixty-fve minutes,
throwing body of water to hight OF l6O
| feet and continues in action for seven minutes.
Others spout at irregular intervals, some not
more frequently than once in twenty four
hours.
The grand fgeyser, which is the largest and
most magnificent known to exist in the world,
| in its buoyant moods elevates stream OF wa
ter to a hight of three hundred feet the erup-
ton being attended with a cloud of steam, and
causing the ground to shake violently for
some distance around about. Immediately
preceding .the eruptions of it the ground
vibrates as If from the pulsation of an. i'm
mense steam pump, and the vibrations contln'
ue until the column of water decends. The
geysers deposit silicious materials in various
FORMS The general elevation of the region
| about Yellowstone Lake is between SIX and
| seven thousand feet above the sea level, and
while camped on the shores of this sheet, the
explorers counted AIS prominent mountain
points.
| DR.. Curtis followed Professor Bradley in O
| few general remarks on the results of the ex-
pedition. In examining the geysers he had
found animal life in a temperature of 1885,
The creatures were of peculiar form andievi.
| IDENTIFY in transition state. The tempera-
ture Of some of these hot springs the ther-
mometer indicated to be as high as 100 deg.
The elevation of the Firehole basin is 1900
feet, and night seldom occurred during the
time the party were encamped therein that
frost was not experienced. On the 18th Of
August they were obliged to break the ice
while performing their ablutions, and the sur.
face would again freeze over while one was
engaged in the application of the towel, with
springs of boiling water springing from all
sides.
The great national park, in which all the
the wonders of nature described are located
embraces 3,795 square miles. according to
line laid down in the Act of Congress estab
fishing this great pleasure ground" With
in its limits are contaiued not less than ten
thousand boiling springs and geysers of vary
ing character and magnitude. The Yellow.
stone Lake has shore line of 375 miles. and
its bed is elevated above any piece of land
east of the Mississippi. 'Tis undoubtedly the
highest body of water in the world. Cas-
| cades and cataracts of great magnificence
abound in the preserve and many other mar
vels of scenery and curiosities of nature. The
park is easy of access through mountain pass
es on different sides, and a branch leading
thither from the Pacific Railroad could bt
constructed without encountering any grea
engineering difficulties.