Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-09-22
TIE YELLOWSTONE PARK,


II The following very interesting lette
received by James w. McKeas, of NJ
S09 Lombard street, has been furnishe,
TO the REPUBLICAN for publication
LIVINGSTON, M. T., August %, 1854
DEAR BROTHER II guess you nav,
been waiting long time to hear from
me, but there has been nothing of in
terest to write about there has bee,
moth Ing doing here all summer, 90 ",
concluded to take q run through tn,
great National Park.
We left here (Livingston) OH the 1Ol
OF this month, and arrived at the man
moth Hot Springs Oh the 18th, withou
seeing much OF interest except noun
tain scenery, and that does not iuteres
ur, as We have plenty of that at Living
ston. We passed through Cramefar
aud Garderies, and found them town,
Of tents.
We spent all day Of the 14th at the
Springs. They are mineral springs, and
when the water cools the mineral har
dens, and this is what they call the for.
nation. 1t is hard enough in places &c
drive q wagon over, and sounds hol.
low, just like driving over a bridge.
This formation has built up higher and
higher, little At time, until il has
formed q great terraced mountain.
pouring out hot water and steam.
This mountain covers several thou.
sand acres OF land, but think the
springs are dying out gradually, al
| there are hundreds of places where the
water has been running at one time
that are perfectly dry now, but not with
standing this fact, the springs alone are
we'll worth trip TO this great Park. We
put some things in the spring to coat,
but they were gone when We came
back. 1t takes about four days to coat
any article properly, but We only could
leave these that We put In ON our return
twenty four honrs, and the coating is
not as heavy as 1t should be.
will send you horseshoe and some
other specimens. The whole town At
the springs is built on this mineral for.
maion, including the Mammoth hotel,
of over 400 room; it is the largest build.
ingI have seen since left st. Louis; they
charge IS per day for board, and the
livery men charge Sl5a a day for team.
We left the springs on the morning
OF the 10Th, and climbed steep noun.
tain for about half a day, without any
thing to drink but hot water, and Just
AS we were nearly to the sum init, we
found cold clear spring, right on the
road side, and / believe the road was
run around to that spring with the sole
purpose Of fooliDg people. Notwith-
standing the water was ice cold, and
as clear as crystal, 1t was so extremely
bitter that We could not drink it, but
after we got over the divide, we came
out into beautiful valley, or park,
where there was plenty of good water,
and grass for the horses.
During the day we passed several
beautiful little lakes, known as the
Swan, Grizzly Bears, the Twins and
the Lake OF the Woods. We crossed
several streams, but there are no fish In
any OF them. on account of the miner
ais. At night we camped about three
miles from the Norris Geysers, and the
next day we took look at the
most of them ; then we passed through
the Gibbons Canon, through which a
branch of the Madison river runs, and
in several places the canon Is so mar
row that the road runs in the river for
quite distance.
We crossed this stream four or five
times, and just as we were thinking of
camping, came to the Gibbons Falls.
which tumble over the rocks to depth
Of so feet. The next day we caInped
about three miles from the Lower Gey. |
sers here we found river of hot |
water the first ever saw or heard of. |
From the Lower to the Upper Geysers,
including a distance of IL miles, there
Is continuous string of geysers, steam |
holes, hot springs and other things that /
throw out steam and hot water con-
stantly.
At the Upper Geyser Basin is found
all of the heavy geysers; the rest do not
amount to much, but here is the Grand,
Splendid Castle, Giant, Giantess, Bee
Hive and Old Faithful; the latter ex.
plodes every 65 minutes. and :hrows
water and steam 14O feet high, and is
one Of the grandest sights that can be
The Giantess expiodes
'very IL or IA days, and throws hot wa
er 175 feet high, but we arrived about
Blk hours too late to see tn is one in
operation.
The Bee Hive commences to throw
lot water about IL hours after the
iiantess is through, and explodes 10
lines In succession. The remainder of
hese wonderful geysers are irregular
II their action, but the three mentioned
ire very regular, especially 0 d Faith
'ul, which never varies five minutes.
he Midway Basin consists principally ,
1 three good sized lakes of hot water.
ach of which has deep blue tinge. :
he next day we came back to the {
ALA.
There is nothing to be seen bet ween
here and the falls, and it is along mono
tonous drive of day and half, but
ne grandeur of the falls repay all of ,
hat. The upper fall 10 l62 feet high,
nd the lower $50 feet. They are simply
rand, and If [ had not ssen the springsl
nd the geysers, ] should say this was q
he grandest sightt ever saw, but as 1t Is !,
10 not know which to admire the most.
Here the whole Yellowstone river
y IL distance Of $50 feet over per.
endicular wall of rocks, with q wall of
aRged rocks on either side, and then a
W miles further down there is a
ascade ] 300 feet long, and then an. i
tber falls of 200 feet They are all Il
sautifui, grand and picturesque. After a
. had seen all there was to be seen,
q retraced our steps TO the geysers 1t
TO rain, and toward night G
turned cold and began to hail and Q
low, and we were obliged to camp in
old guard. keepers cabin until the c
orm was over. la
This cabin was made of poles nailed r,
trees, and filed in with mud, c,
ght square, with Fireplace
. it, and although it was such a prim- r
i've affair, we Jared pretty well, con- <
dering the weather was very cold lO
he snow fell a foot deep on the noun
.ins within a mile of the cabin. The
orm coutir ued three Gays, then IT. 81
roke away, and the sun came out u
right and clear about 10 o'clock in the Il
orning.
We started out to look at the Paint b.
OTIS, that we missed on cur way up. to
hese are large holes filled with boiling p