The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-17
The National Park.

ritory of Wyoming, bordering on Mon
tana and Idaho, lies tract of country
about So by 65 miles in extent, possess
ing greater combination of remarka-
BILE features than any other known area
of like dimensions under the sun. 1t
contains 1878 square miles. Its eleva-
ton above the sea level is from 5000 to
1900 feet. 1t lies mainly, but not en-
tirely, on the east side of the main
range of the Rocky Mountains. BY an
act of Congress, approved March l,
1872, this tract was withdrawn for ever
from sale and set apart as permanent
pleasure-ground for the amusement and
instruction of the people, under the de-
signation of the Yellowstone National
Park. The grandeur and variety of its
scenery, the salubrity of its summer
climate, and the health-giving qualities
of its thermal waters will, within few
years, make it the Mecca of the tourist,
pleasure-seeker, and invalid from all
parts of the civilized world. Among
its innumerable attractions are some OF
the grandest cataracts, cascades, can
yons, and mountain SUBMITS on the con-
tinent. Its spouting geysers, in number
and magnitude, exceed all others known.
It's numerous mud-springs, solfataras,
fumerOles, and beautifully terraced hot
springs, are beyond description in the
magnitude and spleEdor of their decora-
ton and action The sources of the
Columbia, the Colorado, and Missouri
Rivers are said to lie within this pleas
re-ground of the nations. Its noun
tain SUBMITS are covered with eternal
SHOWS, while many of the valleys are
made radiant with the sparkle of lakes
whose waters are clear as crystal.
The most magnificent of these lakes
is the Yellowstone, the source of the
river, lying nearly in the central por-
ton of the park Its form is similar to
that of the human hand with the palm
to the front and the fingers pointing
| downward. The altitude of the lake is
| 1927 feet above tide water, and its pres
ent depth is 800 feet. 1t is fed by the
SHOWS on the lofty mountains that flank
it on all sides. The length of this beau
tiful sheet of water is % miles, and the
width 10 to Is miles. Professor Hay
den declares that there is nothing on
| the continent that equals it in the brill
liant hues of it's waters and the SPLEEN
dor of its surroundings. The clear greer
shading of the mountain slopes, with
the ultramarine tint of its shining sur
face, produce an effect upon the observ'
er which can neither be imagined mol
adequately described. The tempera
ture is that of cold spring
water. In the early part of the
day its surface is usually calm, and it
varied hue, from livid green, shading
off into deep ultramarine, presents ;
picture of beauty that is dazzling to be
hold. During the later hours a stron!
wind sometimes arises, stirring the cain
lake into all the fury of an ocean storm
The amount of vegetation produced il
the depths of Yellowstone Lake is i'm
mense, vast ridges of it lining the shore
at certain seasons after high wind ha
swept over the surface. The only fis
found in the lake and in the neighbor
ing streams is the trout, whose number
are said to be inconceivable. Most o
the fishes in the lake are afflicted wit
the presence in the bodies of peculia
intestinal worm which, for the time be
ing renders them unfit for use. Tn
presence of hot springs, with thei
. cones rising above the surface, is sin
gular fact, the water within the cone
being almost boiling hot. Trout hav
been caught by persons standing upo
these cones and cooked in the hot waite
without being removed from the hook
rs declared by the United States GeolC
gist, Prof f. V. Hayden.
But the most wonderful objects of in
terest in this region are the cataract
and CANYONS of the Yellowstone, wit
the spouting geysers in the valley of tn
Fire Hole River. Neither language no
the painters genius and skill are AIDE
quate to describe either. The lower fall
are more than 800 feet high. The wall
of the grand canyon are some $500 fee
in depth, and are colored by hues s.
various and brilliant that human ar
despairs of any attempt to reproduc
them. "The wealth of red and yellow
brown and orange, pink and green
black, gray, and white fascinates ant
bewilders every beholder," accOrdin;
to Professor Marshall, GO seeming to re
produce before his admiring gaze al
the ravished splendors of very gOrgeou
sunset, whose charms, no longe
evanescent, are here not painted bu
dyed through and through these might,
cliffs, and made as eternal as the ever
lasting mountains they buttress." Th'
/ geysers are even more grand and mag
nifcent, because accompanied by mucl
of the pomp and circumstance of ele
mental war in the spouting of immense
columns of hot water to the height of 81
to 250 feet or more, in the shooting W
of vast columns of steam to an occsiOna
altitude of 1000 or 1900 feet, and in
the rumbling sound and vibrating mo
tons that accompany the earthquake
shock. There are three known
geyser basins, but two of which
have, however, been explored
These are in the valley of the Fire
Hole already referred to, and lie to the
westward of Yellowstone Lake, from
which they are reached by tolerably
well worn trail Some of the OriticcS
of the geyser cones are 30 feet in diane
| ter, and during an eruption column Of
hot water, filling this orifice, rushes out
ward and upward with terrific force, and
to attitudes varying from Is to 275 feel
in some cases. The cones, rims, and
basins formed by the deposits from the
| springs and geysers are among the most
magnificent of their attractions. Many
of them have all the beauty of finish and
brilliancy of coloring of the finest por.
celain, while the waters within the rims
and basins of many of the springs are SC
| rarfpctlv tranSrarpnt that the smallest