The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-08-11

us searching for a pool of water cool
enough TO be used a. a bath / found
one where the water, after quitting its
conduit. made a circuit round a basin Of
sinter. and in 80 doing cooled down suf-
~iciently to let one sit in it. Each of these
basins has the most exquisitely fretted
rim. 1t j. at their margin that eyapora-
ton is mos vigorous and deposition
takes place most rapidly, hence the rim Is
being constantly added 10. The color
Of all these wavy, frilllike borders are
sometimes remarkably vivid" Back of
the Mammoth Hot Springs the high,
mountains Of the Snowy Range add an
omnipresent beauty TO the scene that rs
constant in all parts Of the park.
One of the biggest fish stories of the
world comes from this district of the
park-how an angler can throw in his
fv and catch a trout in the clear, cold
waters of a running stream, and, with
out touching his prey with his hands or
taking il from his hook, toss it into a
boiling spring, 80 close by that he need
not stir from his tracks, cook the fish,
and bringing il { o him, have it for his
lunch. This feat can be done not only
below the Mammoth Hot Springs, but
also in the Yellowstone Lake. Mr.. Win
ser, speaking of his own experiences,
saws:
The writer performed it in the presence
of nine witnesses, ut a point not far from
a deserted cabin at the foot of the long
series of terraces. Selecting a likely pool
of the ice-cold stream, with a boiling
spring ID feet distant from the bank, he
stood upon a projecting rock and made a
cast. His flies soon tempted a trout to
his doom. The fish was small enough 10
be lifted out the water without the aid
of a landing net, and it was quite easy
to drop him into the bubbling hot spring
behind. His life must have been extin-
guished instantly. This procedure was
repeated several times, and each of
the spectators, who had purposely assem-
bled 10 test the truth of the.strange as
s%ertion, partook of the fish thus caught
and boiled. 1t required three to five
minutes to thoroughly cook the victims
Of the experiment, and it was the general
verdict that they only needed a little salt
TO make them quite palatable. A feat so
extraordinary could nowhere else be
practiced. 1t must be chronicled as one
of the marvels of the Yellowstone Ma
tional Park"
Some 10 or II miles south of the Nam
moth Hot Springs are the Obsidian or
Volcanic Glass Cliffs. They are about
200 feet high and four or five times as
long, and in appearance look like black
and green bottle glass. To me the most
interesting thing about these cliffs is the
ingenious way in which a road was built
over the talus of huge blocks that lay at
the foot of Glass Cliffs. Fires were built
ON the great rocks, and they were heated
to rs high a temperature as possible. The
fires were then rapidly withdrawn and
cold water dashed ON the heated mass,
which shivered the CLASSY blocks into
CLASSY gravel sufficiently small to pave a
good road around the obstacle. The Nor
ris Geyser Basin, some twenty-odd miles
south of the Mammoth Hot Springs. is
the first place where one m to n of
the greatest attractions of the park-the
geySers in action. This great basin is
full of geysers, hot springs, pools, and
extinct c%raters, besides the r solfataris,
here called frying pans" sputtering with
mud and clay. Where the colors Of these
vary as they sizzle around they are named
paint pots" In the Norris Geyser Basin
are some of the most active geysers in
the park, the Constant, the Twins, and
others. Some of them show that they
are quite recent in their existence, their
cones and debris being built over recent
w uprooted trees. In fact, one Superin-
tendent Of the park says that m active
vent existing in 1873 had no existence
in 1873. That others now unknown will
form in the future is quite reasonably
certain, and thus in a short time-that is
a short time for the life of a glacier-it
may he possible to study the interesting
course of one of these marvels of nature
from its earliest formation to the extinc-
ton of its fires.
II is almost impossible, and almost
wearisome lin print only, however, to
go with my readers through all the nu-
merous geyser basins of the Yellowstone
National Park, with their myriads of
spouting, boiling pots and fireholes-Old
Faithful, in the Upper Geyser Basin,
which about every hour is faithful TO its
contract of sending a spray of steam over
$50 feet into the air the Beehive, with
its DO feet of white flying column, and
numbers of other. 1t is said there are
nearly 500 springs in the Upper Geyser
Basin alone. 1t is bewildering &c the i'm
agination TO try and conceive half their
marvels and beauty without seeing them,
and they are fascinating beyond measure
when seen.
Outside of the manifestations of the
subterranean fires so strongly marked in
the geysers, fireholes, paint pots, &c, we
are surrounded by numerous other at
tractions-the great Yellowstone Lake,
the canons of the Yellowstone, and the
many grand falls Of that river. While /
could probably add some little informa-
ton concerning each 10 that possessed by
the readers of THE TINES, Twill refrain
from more than saving that | have deter
mined 10 see the Yellowstone National
Park in the dead of Winter this Winter,
too on snowshoes, and see it, arctic and
most beautiful side.
FREDERICK SCIIwArKA.
Farm and Garden Notes.