Daily Republican., 1883-10-01
LETTER FROM JOHN X. MARR.
DeseH lpe1On Of the American
"0eysers.0

''Geysers.
Since the Presidents visit to tn
National Park, 80 much has been sal
by able writers about the many al
fractions, and, by the way, none O
whom as yet have felt that they coul,
90 the country justice, feel mysel
ike throwing my pen aside in DISCUS
and exclaiming that language is in
adequate TO the task, but being an ole
resident Of the city Of Wilmington
thought it duty devolving upon me t,
attempt short sketch of the grea1
wonderland, which il well named in
deed.
We started from Walkerville, Mon.
tano, on the 28th of August, in compa-
ny with my brother and five other old
Rocky Mountain Rustlers Gas they are
termed here) with five saddle horses,
and a wagon loaded down with good
things for the occasion. All that day
we rode over high mountain tops, some.
times winding around large precipices.
The sight was grand and picturesque,
being favored with pleasant weather.
Many were the expressions of delight
at the balmy atmosphere. We will
not tire you with the many little Incl
dents that occurred on our trip, but will
hasten to give you brief account of the
most interesting sights to us, the gey-
sers.
The first geyser we visited was old
Faithful, 40 called from the regular
intervals at which she spouts. On ap-
preaching this great convulsion of ma.
ture we could here Kissing and 80 eth.
ing sound, as If a thousand locomotives
were simultaneously letting off ste am,
throwing the hot water about 200 feet
high, attended with large volumes of
steam rising upward for many hun
dred feet and moving away in clouds.
The next geysSr that took up our atten-
tion was the Saw Mill" One not be-
ing acquainted with this peculiar noise,
or in other words, being blind-folded
in coming towards this geyser, wonld
suppose that 1t was an immense saw
mill turning out thousands of feet of
lumber per minute.
A person standing near the geyser
when in motion would think that he
was about to share the same fate as did
the people on the Island of Java, al
short time ago. was very much
amused at an inscription put upon the
whitish crust of geyserite or siliceous
deposits that surround it, by some tour
lists !: "Leave your names, and at some
future time will call for you to fire BE-
low" Signed, the Devil" Not want
ing position of that kind, we
moved toward the famous grand geyser.
The grand geyser," unlike the rest,
has no raised cone, but sort of funnel.
shaped basin which sinks below the |
level. The basin is about forty-fve
feet in diameter, in the centre of which |
Is tube or mouth about 2T by feet
1t is impossible to describe the pecu-
siliceous formations with
which the rims, basins, ETC., of these
two springs are decorated. 1t is indeed
to see the thousand forms
and types OF beauty presented; although
diversified, each system Is perfect in
itself.
These two springs are contiguous, but
have no connection underneath, and
the action of one does not affect the 9th.
Or. The next one that comes before
our notice is the "Bee Hive" a very
pretty little geyser, so called from its
appearance-that Of a bee hive. In
viewing this at frs, you would not sup.
pose it belonged to the geyser family, las
Il shows but little signs of the action of
water around 1t, but its manner of per-
forming is the same a. the rest of gey.
,ers. We leave the "Bee Hive" and
about two hundred yards eastward, on
he summit of a little knoll, is the
'Giantess."
According to the evidence of some Of
he first explorers this is one of the
,randest and most magnificent geysers
n the basin. When in action it is about
~ to 20 feet in diameter at the surface,
md filled to the briH with water. No
me would take this to be a geyser,
,ut simply a mineral spring, were it not
or the channels and water marks made
" the descending torrent as it rushes
lOwn the hillside, and from far down
ntO the bowels of the earth is sent
orth repeated sounds like claps of
hunder and heavy conclusions like the
iring of a cannon under ground, and
tis said as regular as the discharge of a
'attery in siege, causing the earth to
remble beneath our feet, and filling one 4
' ith fear that the day of Judgment had F..
urely come, when we'd be called to ac-
cunt for the many mistakes made dur
ng our sojourn here, but thank heaven
We are saved to tell the tale. One Of {
ur party, who has been reading Henry
Ward Beecher's sermons about there {
eing no hell," does not agree with
i'm for he tn nks hell is surely at the
Giantess" geyser.
The last but not least is the "Muddy"
eyser, or commonly called the mud
olcano In peeping into this fearful
haldron one shrinks back with fear
its funnel shaped crater, thirty feet
t the top and ten or fifteen feet at the I
ottom, where at the depth of forty feet 6
he dark paint.iike fluid boils and /
urgles with constant roar, and throw
,g the mud in every direction emits the r
cry unpleasant fumes that character c
70 all of these horrible chaldrOns {
There are great many other geysers a
! the basin, which are not OF much 8
,connt,s so will not take up mo space Il
the columns of your paper, and when
return home will toll you all about n
lis wonderful country. j. II. NJ. r
-S I.
l.