Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-10-01
THE EXCELSIOR GEYSER.
Some Facts About the Yrllowstonc'S Most Ter
rifle Water Volcano.
Nnrl- Iaraln

The famous Excelsior Geyser, which
burst into active eruption in the Yellow
stone National Park, August -, is the
most terrible Volcano in the world. 1t
was discovered and made known the sci
entitic world by Professor Hayden in 1871.
At that time it was not distinctly charaC-
terized as Il geyser, but it attracted his
attention as Il marvelously active and sin
ister-lOOking CaldrOn of boiling water and
was so impressive that he chatered it in
his reports and made particular mention
of it both on his first and second explor-
ations of the Yellowstone geysGr basin.
The Excelsior, or, as it is called in some
of the governmental reports, Sheridan
Geyser, is situated on the right or west
erly bank of the Fire-hole river, about
eight miles south of the forks of the
Fire-hole, where they form a junction
with the Gibbon. 1t is the great feature
of what is known as Hell's Half Acre, a
detached terrace of volcanic springs Iy-
ing between the lower and upper geyser
basins. In each one of these two greater
basins there are numerous active geysers,
but at Hells Half Acre the Excelsior is
the only geyser, the other thermal pools
being simply hot springs-one of them,
however, termed the Great Prismatic
Spring, being of extraordinary size and
beauty.
The Excelsior and the Prismatic are
the two chief objects on the terrace.
When Hayden first saw the Excelsior it
was a deep blue cistern, scalding hot and
greatly agitated by the subterranean heat.
Its waters were level with the floor of the
terrace; it has a narrow, fissure- like out
let, furrOwed by the action of the water,
on the sinter of which the terrace has
been formed and through which its water
was discharged into the fire-hOIe. It was
then of a diameter of something like
fifty fees. On his second visit HAYDEN
found that the basin had been consider
ably enlarged by the action of the spring
and that its outlet channel had grown
wider and more irregular. For seven or
eight years it was an object of awe the
few travellers who found their way through
this weird region.
1t was the night of January 81. 1881,
however, that the great pool suddenly and
Unexpectedly bBrst forth as e geyser
with much of the Dreadful roar and sub
terranean rUmblings of fiery volcano
and with most destructive energy against
its own walls. The outburst or explosion
occurred after midnight, and was heard by
George ". Marshall. pioneer, who had
wandered into this wilderness of wonders
a year or two before and had made his
camp at the forks of the Fire-hole. where
helives to this day. It was in the dead of
an ice-bOund winter in the Rocky mount
ain realm, but Marshall says the noise, the
ruInblings, the explosions and the trem-
blings OF the earth that accompanied the
eruption awoke him at distance of GER
tainly eight miles and appalled, him.
Nevertheless, he surmissed what the up
roar portended. and early next morning
he rode over the Half-Acre to see what
sort of internal excavation had been 90
ing on during the night. His anticipa-
tion was verified. The Excelsior Pool
was then in a perfect frenzy. and the de-
struction it had wrought was terrible
The terrace and opposite bank OF the
river were strewn with masses of rock.
powders, and huge as well as small mass
es OF the siliciOUs sinter. of which not
not only the surface of the bank but its
substatum and even the lower depths and
channels of the great spring itself were
composed. In its terrible throes the
monster had belched yolleys of these
from it throat. 1t had thrown up also
deluges OF scalding water that had drench-
ed everything for hundreds of yards
around. had raised the level of the river
a foot, and heated its current for many
miles.
Thereafter the Excelsior became one of
the marvels of the region, though com
parativeIy few were fortunate enough to
witness its eruptions, which took place at
irregular intervals of fifteen to twenty
five days, and lasted six or eight hours.
These great commissions, throwing col
umn of water about 200 feet high tore
open the outlet and made 1t deep and
ragged channel. videnene6 the margins
OF the pool itself. and lowered the sur
face of the water about twelve feet to
the level of the lowest point of the out
let. The basin has nos q diameter of
200 feet