The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-07-11

fountain, is the fact that At regular intervals
OF about two minutes body or column Of
water bursts up TO the height Of eight feet,
with an explosion as loud as the report Of
musket, and then falls back Into IL; for few
seconds the water Is roiley, but 1t speedily
settles and becomes transparent as before
the efIiuxion. A slight, tremulous motion
Of the water, and low, rumbling sound from
the caverns beneath precede each explosion.
This spring was believed TO be connected
with the lake by some subtenanean passage,
but the cause Of Its periodical eruptions or
discharges Is entirely unknown. / have
never before heard OF q cold spring whose
waters exhibited tho phenomena Of periodl-
cal explosive propulsion in form of a Jet.
The Geyser Of Iceland and the various other
European springs, the waters of which are
projected upward with violence and uniform
ity, as we'll as those seen on the head waters
Of the Madison, are invariably hot"
There can be no doubt that this Is de
scription Of one Of the Geyser basins on the
Fire.Hole branch of the Madison, probably
ser 10 spoken of, and the lower basin has bnt
one large, spouting geyser, the fountain,
which, however, does not now throw its
waters 10 as great q height as stated In the
narrative, although DR.. A. c. Peale, in his
exhaustive paper Oh the geysers, thinks there
are indications in the surroundings Of this
gsyser Of occasional very violent eruptions.
Where the writer describes what he has him
self seen, he Is very correct and moderate In
his statements, and only where he relates
things from heaIsay does he enter the realm
of fiction. II would be interesting 10 know
who was the writer; but probably impossible
at this late day. OF Alvarez, who Is stated
In the article to have visited the region in
1888, Captain Bonneville says, in letter to
the Montana Historical Society, he recollects
his name as q trader, and thinks he came to
the mountains as he (Bonneville) was leav-
ing them lin 1884. He also states that he
did not personally know Of the thermal
springs and geysers, but his men knew about
them and called the location the Fire Hole.
In the "Contrbutions to the Historical
Society Of Montana" already referred to, is
a paper by Col. w. w. de Lacy, well known
civil engineer, describing q prospecting trip
up the South Snake River In 1868. The
party found no gold, but entered accidentally
the Shoshone and lower Fire-Hole geyser
basins. These might have offered greater
attractions TO some men than even golden
prospects, but this party did not appear 10
consider them of sufficient interest 10 detain
them an hour even. De Lscy's account of
what he saw Che did not himself enter the
Shoshone basin is as follows:
"on the 9th (of SeptembeD Se continued
our journey, and after travelling three miles
descended the mountain side into an open
country. In another mile we reached the
head of small stream, the water Of which
was hot, and soon entered a valley or basin,
through which the stream wandered, and
was occupied on every side by hot springs.
They were so thick and close that we had TO
dismount and lead our horses, winding In |
and out between them as We best could.
The ground sounded hollow beneath our
feet, and we were in great fear Of breaking
through, and proceeded with caution. The
water of these springs was intensely hot, of
q beautiful ultramarine blue, some boiling
up In the middle, and many Of them Of very
large size, being at least twenty feet in diam
eter, and as deep. There were hundreds of
these springs, and In the distance we could
see and hear others, which would eject col
umn of steam with loud noise. These were
probably geysers, and the boys called them
steamboat springs No one in the company
had ever seen or heard Of anything like this
region, and we were all delighted with what
we saw. This was what was afterward |
called the Lower Geyser BASIN Of the Madi- |
son, by Prof. hayden. We then went on for |
several miles, stopping occasionally to ad-
mire the beauty, variety and grandeur of the
sight, and At length came to large stream
flowing northerly, near the banks Of which |
we're scattering hot springs, aud some of
which had been hot once, but had now |
cooled apparently, the W ster being tepid and |
muddy, with strong smell Of sulphur"
Gradually It came to be generally talked |
of through Montana that wonderful volcanic |
phenomena existed near the sources of the |
Madison and Yellowstone, and in 1870 the
geysers may be said to have been really dis
covered by party Of gentlemen from Hell
ena, Montana, under the lead Of Surveyor.
General Washburne, and Lieut.. DosHe, with |
q squad Of soldiers from Fort Ellis. Tie
history of their journey has been often told
by Lieut.. Doane, In his admirable report to |
the War Department; by Mr.. Langford, in
Scribner's Monthly; and by others in various
magazines and newspapers. ..t
Great interest In further exploration Of the
region became at once widespread, both in
America and Europe, and q party Of the u.
s. Geological Survey, under DR.. Hayden,
passed the summer of 1871 In the Park, and
gave to the world the first detailed and sclen-
tlfc account Of Its wonderful phenomena.
Their report was promptly followed by an
act Of Congress setting the whole district
aside as National pleasure ground. This
measure We owe largely TO DIR. Hayden, and
rcC6us cNcubs nave suoWH tuc WIsuOu Vi us
In urging It, immediate passage,
even while the Park was considered almost
When we remember how
closely we have escaped having an extor-
tionate monopoly established in the Park
even now, when IL 10 declared public prop
erty forever, We may imagine what the case
would have been II 1t had been left open to
Since 1871 the Park has been
. much visited and . much written about
region. Government expeditions have tray
erssd it almost yearly, and 1t is new being
carefully mapped on q large scale BY the
Geological Survey. A photography Of the
Park, published by DIR. A. c. Peale In re-
cent report Of the survey, has 81 titles. One
railroad already runs to Its northern bound
lry. and another will probably soon reach 1t
from Snake River. Thousands Of tourists
visited 1t last season. 1t has long been the
pleasure ground of Montana. 1t bids fair to
fulfill the intention OF the trainers Of the Ma