Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-08-05

pulchre toward the Gardiner river and
the foot OF Evarts' Mountain, and the
west fork Of the Gardiner which brawll
down among the rocks at the base O
Sheepeater Cliffs.
The remarkable ealcareous deposit O.
lime, magnesia, sulphur, and other pre-
eipitates, left by the action and
ESaporation Of the Hot Springs
extends down anu has filed I'D q CON
siderable part Of this basin from Sepul
ehre Mountain to the river, and it
length Is certainly not less than three
miles and . half The foothills anC
mounds have been envelOped in thu
ehalky deposit, and the dells and de
pressions leveled up by it to a great ex
tent. The result Is the erection ofsome
nVe or six main terraces, varying from
perhaps $50 feet to 90 feet in elevation
above each other.
The surface of the plateau above is
covered with brOwBish white gravelly
grit worn by the wind and weather
nom the substratum. In many places
there are found irregular curved rims o.
lava-like material, marked by wavy
ripples. These are the old basins o
extinct hot springs, and here and there
running down the plateau are deep
trenches through which large stream:
of boiling water once flowed. There |;
yet much thermal activity beneath the
crust Of the plateau, which Is fairly
hOney-cOmbed with caves and assures
In some of these trenches there are now
small steam holes, from which hot
vapors are constantly arising. Half
way up the plateau there Is steam
vent from whose black mouth, three
feet " ide and of unknown depth, steam
issues i'm great volume and intensely
hot. Fifty yards farther on the great
black ySwning mouth Of McCartney's
Cave lies open on the level. This chasm
il cool, and has depth Of not less than
$50 feet. Beyond this, and in front o.
and about the hotel, are dozen crater<
OF extinct geysers, one Of them LOG feet
across. They vary from twenty-five to
sixty feet in depth. They must have
fallen in many years ago, for since then
huge trees have grown on the debris
down in the pits.
The white sad Red Terraces,
where the active hot springs lie, begin
just west of these craters. The lower
tier rises foot by foot above the plain
aud Is composed of magneSia SO soft il
most places that it yields at once to the
tread. Hot springs, richly impregpateG
with sulphur, lie on either hand. In
the foreground are two great columns,
built by now defunct springs-one forty
seven feet high and twelve feet In dia.
meter, known as the Liberty Cap, and
the other, not so large, called the Devils
Thumb. Directly behind these columns
the terraces are piled up one above the
ether in steep cliffs, AMI the ascent is NJ
longer easy. On the plateaus Of all Of
these terraces there are active hot
springs, the greetest display being made
At owe the lofty red cliff called the Pulpit
Terrace.
On the Different Terraces
there must be over hundred spring:
aid pools, each varying in some respect
rom the other. Some produce coral
like formations at the bottom and about
their rim so delicate that a touch break,
them. Others have hard, smooth side
that cannot be inj Hred by stout stick
On the dry terrace one may dig up the
formation and discover bushels or ton;
even of beautiful sub-surface aceretiOn'
aud incrustatiOns more attractive thsI
any coral shore ever seen.
This basin lies in the northern part o
the park and is tifty.seven miles from
Livingston, on the Northern Pacific
Railroad. This is
The Northern EnIrance
to the park on the route usually tsker
10y tourists, ~ u large hotel has just beer
opened at White MOutain Hot springs
Other hotels are to be erected at the
west entrance to the park on Madison
River, at the Upper Geyser Basin, al
Yellowstone Lake, at Soda Springs, al
the great tails Of the Yellowstone Rivel
south of the Grand CanOn), and a
Tower Falls, just north Of the canon
The TeIlOustone National Park
which Congress has dedicated and SCI
apart as a public park or pleasuring
ground for the benefit and enjoyment
of the people, lies partly in WyOminC
and partly in Montana Territories. Il
is 90 miles north and south by 81 mile:
east and west, comprises 1915 square
miles, and is all more than 5000 fee
above the sea.
Yellowstone Lake
has an altitude of 7,7SS feet, and thu
mountain ranges that hem in the val
leys rise on every side to the height o
10000 and 1900 feet, and are covered
with perpetual snow. The entireregiou
was at q comparatively recent geOlogl
cal period the scene of remarkable vol
canic activity, the last stages of which
are still yiSable in the hot springs anC
geysers. In the number and magui
Iude of these the park surpasses the
r, It Of the world. There are probably
fifty geysers that throw 3 column Ot
water to the height of from % TO 2Ot
s,ct and from 5000 to 10000 springs
chiefly of two kinds, those depositiug
lime and those depositing silica
There is every variety of beautl'
ful color, and the deposits from around
their border the most elaborate orna
menIation. The temperature OF the
CalcareOus springs is from 100 deg to
40 deg, that the Others rises TO 2OO deg
OF more. The principal collections are
The Upper and Lower Geyser Basins
Of the Madison river and the calcare
Gus springs on Gardeners river. The
park is also one of the most interesting
geographical localities in North Amer
lea, having within its limits or in its
vicinity the sources of vast rivers tiow-
ing i'm various directions. On the north
are the sources Of the Yellowstone; or
the west those of the principal forks Of
the Missouri; on the south, west and
north tn ose Ofthe Suake river, flowing
into the Columbia and through 1t into
the Pacific ocean, and those OF the
Green river, a branch of the Great Col
orado, which empties into the Gulf OF
California, while on the southeast side
ale the numerous bead waters of Wind
river.
Yellowstone Lake is beautiful sheet
of water twenty-t miles long and ten
70 fifteen wide. About fifteen miles
below or north Of the lake are the Up,
per falls, the waters making an abrupt
descent of l40 feet. Less than half a
mile below toward the Grand Canon
are the Great Falls. where the water
makes descent DISCO feet. The Grand
Canon is about twenty miles in length,
ana through it the river flows through
a space Of from 900 to 500 yards 10
width, the perpendicular sides rising to
a height of l, 200 to 800 feet The Lower