Morris tribune., 1886-10-27
THE YELLOWSTONE PARK.
More Than 100 Geysers and Upwards Of 1000 Hot
Springs-The Real Wonders OF the Park.

has more geysers than all the world
beside. Indeed, none are known ex-
cept those at Hecla, in Iceland, which
IN number are but as one to the near
by 100 and more in the park, and in
comparative beauty or force, if these
are proper words for geysers, almost
as nothing. The boiling springs
sometimes called geysers in California
have no such. developments. Here
columns of boiling water, of water
alone 1T can be called, are
sent from the bosom of the
earth, varying in size from a few
inches to many feet in diameter, &C
cording to the orifce from which there
is an escape.
The height Of the column is from a
few feet to $50 feet. Sometimes you
hear them roaring under the ear III |
from whence comes all these outpour-
ings, and here thereu-;1e a NOISE at
+UGfhes5 ike the rolling of dist ant thun-
der. At times also the volume of this
escape is greatly increased and
the roar is much louder. You
feel and hear these pulsations of the
earth near and under your feet just as
you behold the ascending column.
/ The spray is often as beautiful as the
spray from the Bridal Veil one sees at
the lofty and pretty waterfalls in the
Yosemite, or on the cascades of the
oh hi 81
columns ascend at times with all the
force of cataract, but moving in the
opposite direction. You look with
amazement at these ceaseless disturb
ances and wonder all the time as to
the producing causes, their long con-
tlnuance, and their possible or prob
able cessation. The heat within the
earth, OF course, produces the boiling
water, and the heat is so intense that
in it you cannot safely touch your fin
gers. The spray is of the finest sub
stance and is so light as to be moved
by the wind and thrown at times
many feet from the orifce. If too
near you feel it on your face or see it
on your clothes, and are very glad to
run from it to place of safety.
known as "Old Faithful" and every
one comes to see, and pause long in
seeing, it's constant spoutings, from
hour to hour, night and day, through
all the remembered years of past
time. 1t gives due notice of its COM
ing in the double form of the still
small voices ofthe earth and in the in
creasing roar of it's discharges. It's
visits are as regular almost as the
clock, and they are made once in each
hour. In hundreds of experiences
the time has not yet varied more
than ten minutes. These spoutings of
Old Faithful come from an orifce
seven feet in height by two feet in
width. In It's form, rise and faithful
work it has no comparison in the
world, as most of the large geysers
vary in their movements, and all to
appear at times for many days.
Some, indeed, have passed away al
together as far as one can tell. Some
also are remembered as seen once only
in all past time.
Some of the geysers are also quite
recent in the new explosions from the
earth, and some of them are constant
ly changing. Here and there you may
see hundreds of single jets making the
faintest motion, and those near by the
larger springs bubbling and boiling in
all the force of cauldrons of heated
water.
How many of these springs there
are no one can tell. The named or
noted ones number about Ill, and
it IS supposed there are 1900 and
more in the park, all told. Many of
the active geysers have been named
in the past. Some have done their
work and disappeared, but whether
for year, or for many years, no one
can tell. Among the names one is
the Kicker--and some clever lady,
probably Blaine Republican, not
liking the Kicker, named it the Mug
wump, in the Blaine and Cleveland
canvass, and it has gone by that name
ever since, and no other name will ev
er be attached to the once Kicker
Geyser. The "Sawmill Geyser," also,
by one OF our party, was named the
Mugwump. There are some special
wonders in all these wonders Of ma
ture. One Of these is the power these
geysers have in destroying or over
towering every surface thing within
reach. Live trees disappear where
the geysers are or have been at work.
You see them rising from the old CEN
tres of these deposits, blasted. dead
and ghost-like in their appearance.
In one place there are fourteen ter
races, all of which were made by the
outpouring of boiling springs. They
have left the earth not only covered
with geyserite, but stranger in appear
ance than anything else one sees upon
the face of the earth. At most an al
most snowy whiteness is left OF the
busy workings ofages gone by. Where
there were once great activity and
heat, near by are the cooler streams
with trout i'll them, and close within
reach the still heated waters where
they are placed and in five minutes
ready for the tongue or table. Though
a real fish story this is really no fiction,
for many have performed this kind of
fishing.
The colors of some of these flowing
waters, after they find a Judgment in
large pools or rise up in the earth, are
also beautiful, and as pure as emerald,
and every way purifying. Half doz-
en- Grand Army men threw their soiled
handkerchiefs into the fountain of Old
Faithful when it was almost quiet,
and those that were thrown out
again were as clean and fresh as soap
and water could make them. Some
of these purifiers are called "the DEVILS
Washtub," and the larger and more
heated ones "the DEVILS Lake" The
better nameis "the Queens Laundry"
With so much that is hot and con-
Stunning and disturbing, however, the
name of his Satanic majesty becomes
very familiar in the region of the gey-
SerS.
In keeping with this claim, i'll the
Norris Geyser Basin, one revels in sui
phur and is bewildered by the united
force and odors of the hot springs.
The earth shakes at times like little
earthquake, or as if its end was near.
Hotel grounds and all near by are
christened "the Fire Hole" ard with