Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-05
NEW
discoveries In the Yellowstone NationA
Park.

Discoveries in the Yellowstone NatlonA,
Park.
Among the arrivals in the city from
the north yesterday was Mr.. G. l..
henderson, one of the superintendent
OF the Yellowstone National Park, who
has resided in the park since 1882.
during that period he has made many
valuable researches and discoveries.
HIS Investigations in that portion of
the park lying in the forks of the Fire
hole River, south of Marshall's Hotel,
were especially important. The dis
coyeries made in the park last year are
considered of especial value aud i'm
P~ortance, both from their extent and
character. Mr.. Henderson, replying
to inquiries, said:
The whole of last November and
the first half of December was so fine
IN the Geyser basin that a party, con-
sisting of myself, Assistant S%uperinten-
lent w. j. Weimer, and George w.
Marshall, were enabled to make the
most careful search that had ever been
made in hat region of hot springs,
spouting geysers and mud volcanoes.
What the old guide book designates
as the Lower Geyser Basin contains
over a thousand objects of special in
terest, not over three of which have
been named OF ven noticed, and at
best the whole was condensed into a
few Lines or a single paragraph, and
for the reason that it was both a terra
| i~nooroito opI pporipo+o
"Thc Chemical Basin, of which there
are three divisions, contains vast bowls
or basins of decomposed rock, pulver-
lied and in a liquid, jelly-like form, of
every shade and color, and so hot that
it would be instant death to any living
thing which had the misfortune to slip
down the oily walls into one of these
seething abysses.
"The most remarkable of these boil
ing paint bowls I named Lindren's
Garden, in honor of Baron Won Lindren,
of Amsterdam, who, during his visit to
the National Park last October, was the
first to observe and to sketch the mar
| Vicious floral forms that rise necessarily
and bloom a brief moment and then
fade away, to be succeeded by a never
ending and ever-varying display of
lilies, roses, %sunfiowers. The kaleido-
scopic floral morphology is created on
the surface of a thick c~ream-colored
paintin a bowl thirty feet in diameter.
Every flower form is we'll defined and is
never repeated. No waste and no de-
lay;
This basin lies south of Chemical
Basin and is even more wonderful,
though in another way. 1t contains
over three hundred miniature noun
tains, each OF which sends out putfs of
steam, and several of them are active
mud volcanoes. One of these opened
at the top like the jaws of a bulldog,
and there. were five successive erup-
tons of white lava sent up vertically
about three feet, when the opening
closed with a snap, after which the
lava slowly trickled down the sides OF
the mountain and soon hardened into q
crust like dry putty. Another one
close by had an eruption, sending up
at each discharge, a few seconds apart,
small marble-shaped balls, most OF
which fell back into the crater.
Son the west bank of the Firehole
River an active geyser sent up every fiji.
teen or tweny minutes a volume of boil
ing water about ninety feet high. The
crater to the depth of thirty feet was
lined with a series of skull-like knobs
ranged in rows as if a phrenologist had
been collecting a cabinet of craniums.
There were skulls of every form and
| size, from that of an infant to a giant s
| in size, and from that of an idiot to a
Bacon in form.
"Near the Skull Geyser and close by
the river is a most singular looking
pool containing a coarse, black sand.
From some i~nexplicable cause this
black sand rises like a huge bubble and
falls back, leaving the water for an in
slant turbid, after which it becomes as
clear as crystal. Each succeeding
| globe becomes a larger until the
seventh, which bursts with a report
like the crack of whip. The looker-on
instantly makes a step backward until
he becomes accustomed to this pugna-
cious manner of coming to a climax.
| This geyser suggests its W name, the
Conclusion.
"About two miles east of the road
leading past the Fountain Geyser to the
Upper Geyser basin, is the largeA lake
of boiling water in the park or in the
world.
"Walpurgis Lake is nearly two miles
long by one in width at the widest
place. The shores are lined with a
black lavatic scoria, similar to that
found at Vesuvius. There is at the
head of this lake a powerful geyser con-
tinually in action. The west side OF
the cone neares the lake cleaned like
alabaster through vast clouds of vapor
| that filled the basin and floated away
into the woods on the northern shore.
The east side was as black as ebony.
The boiling torrent swept over the
marble front with a periodical dash
and roar that was deafening. 1t
seemed as if a black demon were de-
luging an angel with a flood of iniquity,
in spite of which it became purer and
whittier. 1t was named Mephistophcles
and Marguerite"
In speaking of the popularity of the
park as a national pleasure resort, Mr..
Henderson predicted that the travel
this year and number of visitors would
be more than double that of any pre-
vious season.-St. Paul Globe.
Nat a Good Plan