West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1877-11-17
The Trout Fishing and SpOuting Springs
of the Yellowstone.
General Shcrmau's Lettcrs.l

INV hiouN iShihS anu NpOutlng springs
OF the Yellowstone.
General Shcrmaus Lettors.l
Up TO this time we had seen no rcvs.
erS or hot springs, but the next dav.
eight miles up from the falls, we came
To Sulphur Mountain, bare, naked,
repulsive hill, not of large extent, at the
base of which were hot bubbling springs
with all the pond crisp with sulphur.
and six miles from there up. or south.
close TO the Yellowstone. we reached
and camped at Mud Springs. These
also are hot, most of them muddy.
Water slushed around as in a boiling
pot. Some were muddy water and 9TH
ers thick mud, putting up Just like a
vast pot of mush. Below the falls the
Yellowstone is n rapid, bold current of
water so full of real speckled trout,
weighing from six ounces 10 four and n
half pounds, that, in the language of
a settler, ii is no trick at all to catch
them" They will bite at an artificial
fly, or better, at live grasshopper,
which abound here; but above the falls
the river is quiet, flowing between low,
grassy banks, and finally ending, or
rather beginning, in the Yellowstone
Lake, also alive with real speckled trout.
Below the falls these trout are splendid
eating, but above, 10y reason of the hot
water, some of the fish are wormy and
generally obnoxious by reason thereof.
though men pretend TO distinguish the
good from the bad by the color of the
spots. | have no hesitation i'm pro-
nouncing the Yellowstone, from the Big
Horn TO the source, the finest trout
fishing stream on earth.
From the Mud Springs the trail is due
west, and crosses the mountain range
which separates the Yellowstone from
the Madison, both tributaries TO the Mis-
souri,, descends this tributary TO the
west fork of the Madison, and here is
the lower geyser basin. 1t would re-
quire volume to describe these geysers
in detail. 1t must suffice now for me TO
say that the Lower Geyser Basin pre-
sents n series Of hot springs or basins of
water coming up from below hot enough
to scald your hand, boil ham, eggs, or
anything else; clear as crystal, with
basins of every conceivable shape, from
the size of a quill TO actual lakes one
hundred yards across. In walking among
and around these, one feels that in II
moment lac may break through and be
lost in species of hell.
Six miles higher up the West Madi-
son is the Upper Geyser Basin, the
spouting gcyser, the real object and aim
of our visit. To describe these i'm detail
would surpass my ability or the COM
pass of letter They have been de
scribed by Lieutenant Duane, Hayden,
Strong, Lord Dunran and many others.
The maps of Major Ludlow, of the en-
gineers, locate the several geysers accu-
rately. We reached the Upper Geyser
Basin at twelve o'clock one day, and
remained there till four o'clock p. m. of
the next. During that time we saw the
old 4" Faithful" perform at intervals
varying from sixty-two minutes to eighty
minutes. The intervals vary, but the
performance only varies with the wind
and sun. The cone, or hill, is OF soft
decaying lime, but Immediately about
the hole, which is irregular about six
feet across, incrustation is handsome so
that one can look in safety when the
geyser is at rest. So regularly are its
periods of activity that we could fore
tell its movements within few minutes.
Sometimes we stood near enough to feel
the hot spray, at others we sat at our
camp, about three hundred yards away.
Each eruption was similar, preceded by
about five minutes of spluttering, and
then would arise a column of hot water,
steaming and smoking, to the height Of
one hundred and twenty-five or one hun
dred and thirty feet, the steam going n
hundred or more feet higher, according
TO the state of the wind II was difficult
to say where the water ended and steam
began, and this must be the reason why
different observers have represented diff
ferent results. The whole performance
lasts about five minutes, when the
column OF water gradually sinks and the
spring assumes its normal state of rest.
This is but one of some twenty of the
active geysers OF this basin. For the
time we remained we we're lucky, for we
saw the Bee Hive Troyes in eruption.
The Town and GrottO were repeatedly
in agitation, though their Jets did not
rise more than twenty feet. We did
not see the Giant or the Grand in erup-
ton, but they seemed busy enough in
bubbling and boiling. One is fairly be-
wildered by the variety, extent and
activity Of these boiling and bubblinp
columns Of hot water. They do not
seem 10 me 10 be volcanic, but rather the
result Of the chemical action under
meath, which produces heat and gases,
which give force and activity 10 these
geysers. Externally they are not as
beautiful as the formation Of lime under
water-exquisite f. form, but crumblinp
in the hand and shaking when dry. The
specimens gathered by the curious and
carried of amount to nothing. The
real things is the quantity variety and
form Of action Of thescgeysers.
An Unnatural Son.
4 .ag. rua. grs.l q