Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-03-22

altitude of the lake is I ,427 feet above It'd,
water, and its present depth is about 800
feet, 1t is fed by the snow on the lofty
mountains that flank it on all sides. The
length of this beautiful sheet OF water is
about % miles, and the width 10 to Ii
miles. Professor Hayden declares that
there is nothing on the continent that
equals it in the brilliant hues of its waters
and the splendor OF its surroundings. The
clear green shading of the mountain
slopes, with the ultramarine tint lof its
shining surface, produce an effect upon
the observer which can neither be imagin.
ed nor adequately described. The ten-
perature is that OF cold spring water. In
the early part of the day its surface Is
usually calm. and its varied hues, from
livid green, shading off into deep ul-
tramarine, present picture OF beauty that
is dazzling to behold. During the later
hours strong wind sometimes arises,
stirring the calm lake into all the fury
of an ocean storm. The amount Of
vegetation produced in the depth Of the
Yellowstone lake is immense, vast ridges
OF it lining the shores at certain seasons,
after high wind has swept over the sur
face. The only fish found in the lake and
in the neighboring streams is the trout,
whose numbers are said to be inconceiv-
able. Most OF the fishes in the lake are
afflicted with the presence in the bodies
OF a peculiar intestinal worm, which. for
the time being. renders them unfit for use.
The presence of hot springs, with their
cones rising above the surface, is singu-
lar TACT, the water within the cones being
almost boiling hot. Trout have been
caught by persons standing upon these
cones. and cooked in the hot water with
out being removed from the hook, as de-
clared by tine United States Geologist
Professor F. V. Hayden.
But the most wonderful objects OF inter-
est in this region are the caiaracts and
canons of the Yellowstone, with the
spouting geysers in the valley of the Fire
Hole river. Neither language nor the
painters genius and skill are adequate to
describe either. The lower falls are more
than 800 teet high. The walls of the
grand canon are some =, 500 feet in depth.
and are colored by hucs so various and
brilliant that human art despairs of any
attempt to reproduce them. 1.-The wealth
of red and yellow, brown and orange.
pink and green. black, gray. and white
fascinates and bewilders every beholder,"
according to Professor Marshall, "seem,
ing to reproduce before his admiring gaze
all the ravished splendor of 4 very gor-
geous sunset, whose charms, no longer
evanescent, are here not painted but dyed
through and through these mighty cliffs.
and made as eternal rs the everlasting
mountains they buttresS." The geysers
ale even more grand and magnificent, be-
cause accompanied by much of the pomp
and circumstance OF elemental war in the
spouting ofimmense columns of hot water
to the height of 80 to $50 feet or more. in
the shooting up of vast volumes Of steam
to an occasional altitude of 900 or | 500
feet. and in the rumbling sound and Vi
brating motions that accompany the
earthquake shock. There are three known
geysers basins, but two of which have.
however, been explored. These are in
the valley OF the Fire Hole already re-
lowstone lake. from which they are reach |
ed by tolerablY well-worn trail. Some
Of the orifices OF the geyser cones are
twenty feet in diameter, and during an |
eruption a column of hot water, filling |
this orifice, rushed outward and upward |
with terrific force, and to altitudes.vary- |
ing from 10 to 27j feet in some cases. |
The cones. rims and basins formed by the
deposits from the springs and geysers are
among the most magnificent of their at |
fractions. Many OF them have all the |
beauty of finish and brilliancy OF coloring |
Of the finest porcelain. while the waters
within the rims and basins of many OF |
the springs are so perfectly transpar-
ent that the smallest objects may be seen
at the depth of forty or fifty feet