The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-02-28

the Coast Range. Three or four miles
of climbing took us to the summit,
and then came a descent that was
really fearful. On the very verge of
the summit the driver cracked his
whip, and the four-horse team started
down the mountain side st full speed.
We found ourselves ihtoluntarily lean
ing to ene side or the other, trying to
keep that stage right side up. As we
flew down the steep winding road
with the speed of the whifiwifd, each
passenger held to the seat with flefv-
Gus grasp-speechless and almost
breathless-as if expecting to plunge
into the abyss below, even though
assured by Foss that he had "never
split load" In many places the
road lay between lofty, rocky cliffs on
the left and yawning chasms on the
right, aid Was SO harrow that had the
horses made single misstep, or the
wheels diverged from the track two
feet, we would have rolled down the
mountain side 500 or 1000 feet. Such
ride never took before, and hope
never to take again. I had seen some
rather exciting driving in !" the States
and over the Alps by the Swiss mount
aineers; but when we dashed down
100 feet in distance of three miles,
making many sharp turns, going most
of the way on full gallop, and reach
ing the bottom of the canyon in just
twelve minutes, it beat all the riding l
ever experienced.
The Geyser Canyon is bounded by
steep walls of rock, that rise from so
to $50 feet, while beyond, on either
hand, are the mountains, 1000 or 5000
feet high. Here in 1s47 was discov.
cred one of the great natural curiosi-
ties of California. Within distance
of less than half mile are hundreds
of steam jets and boiling springs, fill
ing the valley with vapor and the air
with hot sulphurous gas. The ground
is everywhere encrusted with thick de-
posits of epson salts, alum, sulphur
and magnesia, and is often hot enough
to burn your shoes. Great volumes of
steam issue from the holes in the soil
and rocks, as if 10000 tea-kettles were
boiling beneath the surface. Among
these steam jets are bubbling, boiling
springs of water, some clear as crys-
tai, others green or black, and hot
enough to cook your eggs for dinner in
few moments. Now and then the
ground shakes as if moved by young
earthquake. The valley is filled with
screeching, growing, discordant
sounds, sometimes heard for two miles,
and in cold weather the great cloud of
vapor which it sends up can be seen
from afar
One famous spring, called the
:. Witches Caldron," or "Devirs
Punch BOWL is seven feetin diameter,
with temperature of 200 degrees. 1t
boils so furiously that it splashes its
black water full five feet upon the
rocks around. Put your hand in, and
it is burned to a blister in moment.
This hot spring emits an abomihabie
odor, and sends up great cloud of
steam. 1t has been sounded to depth
of thousand feet without finding bot
tom. Just beyond the caldron is
what is called the Steamboat
Geyser." Through an orifice in the
rocky side of the ravine, two feet in
diameter, it pours out volume of
steam large enough to propel man-of-
war. 1t putfs and roars like high
pressure engine. Travelling on, we
lind small spring of boiling water
called the "Devils Inkstand." We
cooled some of the water and wrote a
letter with it. Still passing on, we
come to the Devils Tea-kettle,"
tremendously. But man has
helped the evil one to make the noise
by putting huge iron whistle on the
kettle. In one part of the canyon a
pure, cool brook runs SO near the hot
springs that you can throw in your fish
line, bring out trout, and without
out of your tracks you can
swing your line around, drop the trout
into boiling spring, and in few min
utes take boiled fish from your hook.
Judging from the names found here,
one would think this the headquarters
of Beelzebub's dominions. We have
the "Devil's lnkstand," the "Devils
ea-kettle," the "Devil's Kitchen"
the "Devil's Grist Mill" the "Devil's
Chair and the 'Devils Pulpit But,
soberly, we protest against naming
these marvellous works of God after !
Satan. We did not stop to decide
whether the origin of this wonderful
was volcanic or chemical,
or both; but, faint and exhausted with
the heat and gas and vapor, we were
glad to leave the old canyon-hissing,
roaring, boiling, as it has
done day and night for ages-not sorry
we had seen it once, but perfectly satis-
fed never to see it agai9-Cor. Troy