Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-08-25
YELLOWSTONE PARK.
INTERESTING DESCRIPTION BIZ A
SACRAMENTO LADY.
A Striking Word-Painting Of the
nderlaud-Seenes that Will
Never be Forgotten.

HcftF pt FOFROltS0.
Mrs. William Beckman, of this city, who
has travelled extensively, sends the follow
ing description of late visit to Yellow
stone Park. Her word painting of the
scenes in this wonderland will be read with
pleasure by those who have not had the
good fortune to witness the sights de-
scribed, and will call up pleasant memo
ries TO those who have:
Having just returned from 9 visit to Yel-
l0wstone Psrk, l thought il would be of
some interest 70 your readers were to tell
how ! enioyed it. Having spent the sum-
mer months East, and the quiet, peaceful
DAYS at the Chicago Convention, | thought
It best to finish up with something exciting.
I-@aving Minneapolis on Saturday morn
ing, via the Northern Pacific, We reached
Livingstone Oh Monday. We had followed
the muddy waters of the Yellowstone for
400 miles, passing the Powder, Little Big
Horn and Rosebud rivers, the scenes OF the
Custer disaster, and here leaving the main
line on the branch road for Cinnabar, find
the same river, only it is clear and limpid,
flowing through Paradise valley. Under
the shadow Of rock-ridged peaks it dashes
over its grayelly bed between its
tree-fringed borders. its waters alive
with trout and grayling. A piano.
rama of the Snow Mountains con-
stantly appearing, make succession of
the grandest pictures. | shall not give q
geological survey, only to say, without a
thought as TO cause or effect, it is enough
TO know that here, born of volcanic action,
streams of lava have coursed down those
peaks, glaciers have worn and corroded
deep riffs and stranded granite and gneiss
far up the slopes. The play of wind and
water is seen upon the softer material, and
the strangest, most fantastic forms OF peak
and pinnacle, mound and pillar. are every
where discernable. There are sombre
gulches and slopes, rich in color. Espe-
cially was this very effective at the ''Dev-
lis Slide Why is his majesty always
forced to slide over some place particularly
attractive? This is fiery enough in all con-
science-a strip of bright vermillion bor-
derei with red brown clay and bands OF
yellow, smooth enough, if he was not shod
Leaving the train at Cinnabar we took
stages to the Mammoth Hot Springs, eight
miles distant thought was very fortu-
nate in having a seat outside with the
driver until it began to rain shortly after
we were en- route. l had the cheerful pros
pect of being hung up on a clothes line to
dry, for We had lost our trunks, but il
seemed as if l had warmed up corner OF
the old fellows heat by telling him OF
some driving l had done in Yosemite and
through one of the big trees. He was
from California himself, SO pulled off his
coat and gallantly insisted on covering me
with it. So | was spared the wetting and
the clothes line did not suffer
! remember the Gardiner river and the
first boiling springs flowing therein
where they say you can catch q fish in the
cool part of the river, think, and cook it
in the hot water without unhooki1g it-or
cook it and cool it afterwards-well it is
not my story.
After we had reached the fine hotel and
had luncheon we sailed out TO visit those
wonderful terrace building springs. They
loom up through clouds OF steam two hun
dred feet above the plateau. There are
snow-white terraces basins and limpid
pools with coating on the sides of every
delicate tint; cream and salmon colors
deepen into brilliant shades, red, brown,
green and yellow, and here, too we see the
most delicate frost-work, honeycomb
patterns and exquisite designs in coral
carvings. Some basins are clear as crystal,
some of turquoise blue. The water over
flows the basins and rims of the springs
in gentle pulsings, noiselessly building up
layer after layer of this lovely fretting,
which crunbles at the slightes touch.
The crust in many places is thin and there
is ever issuing clouds of steam. There were
the Liberty Cap, Giants Thumb, Cupid's
Cave and so many places to see that the
afternoon was all too short to US to see all
we wished.
The next morning our party of three
started in private carriage with a driver,
for the tour of the park The woods were
through magnificent defile. Passing
through the Golden Gate, where there was
barely room for a roadway, built over the
river and on the sides of the cliffs, we en-
tered an open valley. Following this for
some miles we came to the obsidian cliffs,
the vertical colums reminding me of the
Giants Causeway, only those are of glass
and glisten like Jet at the Norris Geyser
Basin, twenty-three miles from the NAM
moth hot springs, we lunched, then pro-
ceeded on our way, coming in short time
to what seemed wonderful to us-our first
glimpse of a geyser. We thought the
Minute Man. grand, indeed, and could
have tarried here or in the vicinity
whole day, for at every turn some
thing new, strange or fantastic met
the glance. The water mutters, gurgles,
frying and sputtering beneath and on the
surface, and we tread with caution the
treacherous ground. We were hurried on,
however, to something more wonderful
all that afternoon Words are inadequate
to describe it. l can only give sort of
outline. We saw the lovely falls of the
Gibbon river, then crossed Canyon creek,
stopping at Flrehole valley. We rested
here comfortably enough, though six of us
ladies were put in one room to sleep. II
was the men who growled because like
number were put in an adjoining chamber.
The growler from Boston declared be
would not sleep" with man." but as he
was travelling with some elderly school
marms it would be rather even guess to
say that he did.
Near the hotel was clear limpid pool
we visited As l neared the brink, stoop-
ing over to peer down in its depths, little
frog tumbled in; instantly / plunged my
hand in to scoop him out. succeeded,
but my hand was badly scalded, and the
frog was dead long before touched him.
We were up with the sun the next morn
ing and off for the Upper Geyser Basin,
stopping first at the Fountain Geyser and
Paint Pot, fine white mass of silicious
clay which boils and bubbles like huge
pot of mush. This pot is 40 by 90 feet,
surrounded by numerous smaller ones, OF
various tints and colors. Leaving this we
hurried on to the Excelsior, the grandest
as we afterwards knew, of ali geysers We
crossed the Firehole river on foot bridge,
and went up at once to the edge of the cra-
ter. This geyser has not been in action for
several years until the present time, and we
were most fortunate in witnessing an erup-
ton of the most stupendous geyser in the
world. There was an immense vol
ume of steam. As we looked down
into the crumbling depths, it was
more terrible to me than when
stood on the crumbling walls of Vesuvius
and looked down in the crater, for it was
far more dangerous-the broken walks