Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-10-22
wagon and took Caper, md went to
look after them
The DEVILS Canon.
I THE CALIFORNIA GEYsER REGION.

IN THE CALIFORNIA GEYSER REGION.
From scribner's Monthly for October.
There are no spouting fountains in
the canon, but numerous Dubbling
springs, that sink and rise with spas
modic action. These number a hun
dred or two, and are of varying tenl-
perature and constituents. A few are
quite cold, closely adjoining hot
springs; while others have tempera-
ture of 100 to 207 degrees. Some ap-
pear to be composed Of alum and iron,
others OF sulphur and magnesia, while
a few are strongly acidulous. Here
the water is pale yellow, like that of
ordinary white sulphur springs there
1t is black as ink. The mingling of
these different currents, with the aid
of frequent steam injections, intensifes
the chemical action, the sputter and
tuning, that are necessarily going on.
These phenomena are not confined to
the narrow bed OF the gorge, but ex-
tend for a hundred or two feet
in places up it's sides, which
slope at pretty steep angle. These
posed or Stacked by chemical action,
and colored brilliantly with crystalized
sulphur, and sulphates of iron, alum,
lime and magnesia, deposited from the
springs and jets of steam, which are
highly charged with them. AS the
rocks decompose and leach under the
chemical action to which they are sub
jected, the soft silicious mass remain
ing, Of putty-like consistence, mixes
with these salts. Some of the heaps
thus formed assume conical shapes.
They have an apparently firm crust,
but are really treacherous- stepping
places. One of the most remarkable
steam vents in the canon is in the top
of such a pile, about fifty feet up
he steep slo pc. It blows like the es-
cape pipe of large engine. The
beautiful masses of crystalized sulphur
which form about it, as about the nu-
merous small fumeroles that occur
along both banks, tempt one to dare to
climb, and face the hot steam. The
mass shakes beneath the tread, and is
probably soft to a great depth.
Wherever In these soft heaps a. stick is
thrust in, the escaping warm air soon
deposits various salts. Of course
walk over such material is ruinous to
boot and shoe leather, while the splash
of acid water often Injuries the cloth
ing. Everybody stops to gather speci-
mems Of the various salts and rocks.
The guide presents to be tasted pure
Epson salts (sulphate of magnesia),
and salts of iron and alum, of soda
and ammonia. Few care to taste the
waters, however, which rival in their
chemical and sanitary qualities all the
springs of all the German spas together.
Perhaps the most remarkable of the
Geyser springs is that called, happily
enough, the Witches Caldron This is
a black cavernOus opening in the solid
rock, about seven feet across, and of
unknown depth, filed with thick
inky liquid, boiling hot, shat tumhles
and roars under the pressure of escaping
steam, emitting smell like that of
bllge-water, and seems to proceed from
some Plutonic reservoir. One irresist-
IDLY thinks of the hellbroth in Macbeth,
SO I" thick and slab," and repeats the
words Of the weird sisters
''Double, double, toll and trouble,
Fire burn and caldron bubble"
A clever photographer, Mr. Muy-
bridge, conceived the idea of grouping
three lady visitors about this caldron,
with hands linked, and alpenstocks
held like magic wands, in which posi-
ton he photographed them amid the
vapor scene with telling effect. Another
notable spot is the Devils Gristmill,
where large column of steam escapes
from hole in the rock with so much
force that stones and sticks laid at the
aperture are blown away like bits of
paper. The internal noises at this
vent truly resemble the working of a
gristmill. Millions hero is sponsor for
another spring called the Devils Ink
stand, notable for It's black waters,
specimens of which are taken off in
small Walls, and used at the hotel to
inscribe the names of guests on the
register.