The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1878-03-30
THE NATIONAL PARK.

about fifty-five by Slxty-five miles IN ex-
tent, possessing greater combination
of remarkable features than any other
known area of like dimensions under the
sun. 1t contains 1878 square miles.
Its elevation above the sea level is from
5000 to $4,000 feet. 1t lies mainly,
but not entirely, on the east side of the
main range of the Rocky Mountains.
BY act of Congress, approved March 1,
1872, this tract was withdrawn for ever
from sale and set apart as a permanent
pleasure ground for the amusement and
instruction of the people, under the deS-
| ignation 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 a few
years, make it the Mecca of the tourist,
pleasure seeker, an invalid from all parts
of the civilized world. Among its in
Vulnerable attractions are some of the
grandeSt cataracts, cascades, canons,
and mountain SUBMITS on the continent.
Its spouting geysers, in number and
magnitude, exceed all others known.
Its numerous mud springs, solfataras,
fumeroles, and beautifully terraced hot
springs are beyond description in the
magnitude and splendor of their decor
alton and action. The source of the
Columbia, the Colorado, and the Mis-
souri, rivers are all said to lie within this
pleasure ground of the nations. Its
mountain SUBMITS are covered with eter-
nal 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 portion
of the park. Its form is similar to that
of the human band with the palm to the
front and the fingers pointing downward.
The altitude of the lake is 7,427 feet
above tide water, and its present depth
isabout 900 feet. 1t is fed by the SHOWS
on the lofty mountains flank it on all
sides. The length ofthis beautiful sheet
of water is about 22miles, and the width
10 to IS miles. Professor Hayden de-
clares that there is nothing on the con-
tinent that equals it in the brilliant hues
of its waters and the splendor of its sur
roundings. The clear green shading of
the mountain slopes, with the ultrama-
rine tint of its shining surface, produce
an effect upon the observer which can
neither be imagined nor adequately deS
cribed. The temperature is that of cold
spring water. In the early part of the
day its surface is usually calm. and lts s
off into deep ultramarine, presents
picture of beauty that is dazzling to be-
hold. During the later hours a strong
wind sometimes arises, stirring the calm
lake into all the fury ofan ocean storm.
The amount of vegetation produced in
the depths of Yellowstone Lake is i'm
mense, vast ridges of it lining the shores
at certain seasons after high wind has
swept over the surface. The only fish
found in the lake and in the neighboring
streams is the trout whose numbers are
said to be inconceivable. Most of the
fishes in the lake are afflicted with the
presence in the bodies of peculiar in
testinal worm which, for the time being
renders them unfit for use. The pres
ence of hot springs, with their cones
rising above the surface, is a singular
fact, 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
declared by the United States Geologist,
Professor F. V. Hayden.
But the most wonderful objects of in
terest in this region are the cataractS and
canons of the Yellowstone, with the
spouting geysers in the valieyo 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 feet high, The walls of
the grand canon are some $500 feet in
depth, and are colored by hueS SO vari-
Gus and brilliant that human art despairs
of any attempt to reproduce them
"The wealth of red and yellow, brown
and orange, pink and green, black, gray
and white faSCinates and bewilder," aC-
cording to Professor Marshall, seeming
to reproduce before his admiring gaze
all the ravished of very gorgeous sun
set, whose charms, nolonger evanescent,
are here not painted but dyed through
and through these mighty cliffs, and
madeas eternal as the everlasting noun
tains they buttress. The geysers are
even more grand and magnificent, be
cause accompanied by much of the pomp
and circumstance of elemental war in the
spouting of immense columns of hot wa
ter to the height of 90 to $50 or more,
in the shooting up of vast volumes OF
steam to an occasional altitude of I 900
or 1, 600 feet, and in the rumbling sound
and vibrating motions 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 a torerably well worn trail.
Some of the orifces of the geySer cones
are twenty feet in diameter, and during
an eruption column OF hot water, NIL
ing this orifce, rushes outward and up
ward with terrific force, and to attitudes
varying from IS to Pts feet in some
cases. The cones, rims, and basins
formed by the deposits from the springs
and geysers are among the most magnl-
ficent 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
so perfectly transparent that the smallest
objects may be seen at the depth of for
ty or fifty feet.-ZAe Educational Week
y.
BH~Consistency, stuck to for mere
|