The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-09-29
The Yellowstone Park.

The Yellowstone Park.
1t will surprise most readers not familiar
with western distances that the Y Yellowstone
park is larger than the states of Delaware
and Rhode Island together 1t is situated
on the borders of Wyoming and Idaho
Territories, and was set apart for national
park in 1872, though its striking charac-
teristics were discovered ten years before.
1t is sixty miles long, from north to south,
and fifty-fve wide from east to west 1t
has a number of lakes, but its largest stream
is the Yellowstone, and its largest lake has
the same name. 1t has number Of noun
tains, ranging in height from seven to ten
thousand feet, capped with snow all the
year, and full of geological curiosities
Volcanoes and glaciers were evidently in
operation there at a late period The roads
run through chasms and gorges and over
the beds of streams now dry. The great
est variety Of wild animals is there. There
are bufaloes in the basins, and elk Craze
on the mountain Sides Moose haunt the
marsh and heavy woodlands. Six species
of bears inhabit the forests, and small game
abounds, though reptiles are few and far
between. Two-thirds of the area of the
park are clothed with dense forests of fir,
spruce and pine; choke-cherries, gooseber-
ries and currants, both black and red grow
along the streams. The meadows are
bright with familiar flowers Pasturage is
excellent. The nights are frosty, even in
summer; very hot days are seldom known,
and the winters though snowy, are not Sc
verely cold. The most remarkable features
of the park are its calcareous springs, whose
deposits harden into terraces as they dry
and glisten in the sunlight. The waters
are hot and seethe up from below with angry
aspect. There are many immense geysers,
the earth around which rumbles and shakes
and the air is hot with fetid odors. There
are springs of boiling mud, white, orange,
green, violet, purple, brown and blue.
There are huge cones with openings at the
tops, whence issue clouds of noisy steam
There are petrifed forests, where the
ground is strewn with trunks and limbs Of
trees which have solidifed into clear, white
agate. There are mountain sides worn by
glacial action into spectral shapes that look
almost human. There are cataracts of the
most stupendous majesty and power. There
are cratered hills, with rocks all around
that are warm to the touch and hollow to
the tread. There is a natural bridge, "a
rival to that of Virginia. In describing
the Hot Springs of the Yellowstone Lake,
Mr.. Wisner says: "Seldom are the water
and deposits of any two springs alike.
There are coral, honeycomb, basinstone,
pebble, scale and crystal formations, the
whole making kaleidoscope groupings Of
color and design. Down in the limpid
depths Of many of the springs are grottoes
and arch-ike structures. One dazzling
white pool, the very type Of purity, en-
frances the visitor, who stands with Won
dering eyes to look far down below upon
what may only be likencd to a resplendent
fairy grotto Of frosted silver encrusted with
pearls. Another crystal, clear, and color
less basin has rim blazing with hues Of
sapphire, opal, ruby and emerald. Still
another pool, full to the brim, has the cor
rugated sides of its profound deeps adorned
with tints of reddish gold Several basins
of unknown depth are mantled with SAT
from skum of the consistency of calf S
leather This leathery substance is not Of
a vegetable nature, but is deposited by the
mineral constituents Of the springs 1t
forms in layers, which are brightly mottled
with red, yellow, green and black on the
under surface, and the lowermost strata are
soldifed into pure, finely grained sheets,
resembling alabaster.' 1t was certainly
very happy forethought and wise act on
the part Of the Federal Government to set
this wonderfully picturesque region apart
for a national park, to be kept for the en-
joyment of visitors forever.