The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-04-15

MONROE, LOUISIANA,
out clearly in fringe Of delicate tra-
Gerry against the sky. AS we crossed
the stream and mounted the opposite
bank, vast monument of steam, fol-
lowed by a stream of water l6O feet
high, shot into the air at the further
end of the basin. tsThere goes Old
Faithful" exclaimed Dick, s'the only
reliable geyscr In the park. You can
always bet on seeing him every sixty
five minutes.
Already encamped here we found a
party of twenty American ladies aud
gentlemen, who were travelling through
the Park. They informed US that the
"Giantess'' (perhaps the finest, but GER
tainly the most capricious geyser of ally
was expected to play in the MORN
ing, and the "Castle'' to perform tho
next evening. There are nine principal
geysers, namely, the Giant, Giantess,
Castle, Grand, Beehive, Comet, Fan,
Grotto, and Old Faithful. With the
exception of the Grotto, which churns
and makes a great uproar, one of these
tremendous fountains may be expected
at any minute to cast stream of boil
ing water from one TO two, or even
three hundred feet in the air.
All geysers have not the same action,
and most of them, in style of action,
in the duration of their eruptions, and
in the intervals that elapse between
them, are apt individually to vary.
Some play with labored pumping,
others throw continuous stream,
some wear themselves out in a single
effort, others subside only to recon-
mence again repeatedly. Thus an
eruption may extend from two to
twenty minutes-the approximate time
occupied by the Grand; or even to one
hour and twenty minutes-a period
that the Giant has been timed to play.
The colors that tinge the edges of
the streams that they send forth, are
indescribably beautiful. The snowy
whiteness of the grounding is relieved
by dainty bluffs, pale pink and softest
ecrus, deep yellows shot with brown,
orange streaked with vermillton or
straying into crimson, chocolate merg-
ing into black, and interlined with
lemon-by colors, in fact, run riot, and
all glistening wet beneath the clearest
crystal water, that in the centre deep
en- into the heavenliest blue. From such
brilliancy it is relief to turn toward
the sullen hills Of purple pines.
Extinct domes and craters, overgrown
with fiourishing trees, or munds still
bare, and even steaming, with other
wise only their immense size to indi-
cate the mighty power that formed
them, are found here and there,
amongst those we'll known to be stitl
active. Many craters are surrounded
by the skeleton trunks of trees that
they have killed, and which, under the
action of their mineral waters, are
rapidly becoming petrified; whilst in
the conflict betwixt desolation and
verdure, which, owing to the frequent
variation of the centers of action, is
constantly in progress, the lowly bunch
grass steals ground wherever it can
draw blade.
OF all the geysers whose eruptions
we witnessed, the Grand was, 1 think,
the most interesting. It played each
evening at regular hour. We were
thus enabled to get comfortably into
front seats, focus our glasses, and dis
cuss the programme, as it were, before
the performance commenced. This it
did very abruptly, although the activ-
ity displayed by small vent hole,
and the furious bubbling in another
orifice connected with it, might be ac-
cepted as premonitory symptoms.
Suddenly, with single preparatory
spurt, the Grand shot a stream of water
over two hundred feet into the air.
For few minutes this pressure was
maintained with unabsted vigor, then
it suddenly ceased, and the waters
shrunk back out of sight in the caver-
nous hollow of the crater. Meanwhile
the vent and the caldrcn were still
r., ~ lnhorSn~ orl aosro