Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-03-23
IN WONDERLAND.
A VISIT TO NATIONAL PARK ON
THE YELLOWSTONE.
Interesting Account of Sightseeing
and Experiences Enjoyed by
Camping Party.

A LADY correspondent, writing TO
gentleman residing in Sacramento, gives
the following account of a camping tour in
Yellowstone Park, which we are permitted
to publish:
Our party consisted of four ladies, two
gentlemen, cook, and man to pisch tent
and take care of horses We were very
comfortably fixed; had two wagons for
carrying bedding, tent, "grub," etc, two
saddle horses and carriage--epen took
stove along, which, by the way, was "a very
convenient article, as it isn't always
pleasant to cook over camp fire.
1t was made of very light sheet-iron and
would weigh not more than six or seven
pounds We tied it on the back of the
wagon, so whenever we stopped it took but
very short time to get the fire started
and the meal ready.
We left Bozeman August 80, 1888, with
provisions for two weeks and taking
enough provisions to last two weeks in the
Park means goodly supply indeed. as our
appetite grows daily. We would eat, re-
gardless of dirt, bugs, ants, etc, anything
we could get hold of. Two weeks is the
limited time for seeing the park thor
oughly. The tourists that come from all
over the world and are taken over the
transportation line in stage coaches are
allowed just four days to see it all. They
buy their ticket for the round trip and it
costs them $ll per day. As they cannot
possibly see one-half in that time | think
they are very much imposed upon, as
they naturally suppose, when they pur-
chase their ticket, they are to see every
thing.
The grand canyon of the Yellowstone,
considered by everyone that sees it the
finest scenery in the Park, they do not see,
as we have to take day and go horseback,
the only way it can be reached.
FIRST VIEW OF THE PARK.
The second day after starting on our
camping trip We got to Mammoth Hot
Springs, Wyoming Territory, eighty-two
miles from Bozeman, altitude 5000 feet.
This is the beginning of the Park, and
when you see the terraces of formation of
different hues caused by the mineral in the
water, and you see the boiling water on
one side and ice-cold water not a foot away
on the other side, and underneath YOU hear
rumbling noise like the sound of thunder
IN the oil tine, you think you surely
are in a land of wo lders. From the springs
we go three miles to the Golden Ca e.
There the altitude is 300 feet; you see
we make climb of LOO feet in those
three miles, so you can have an idea how
steep the roads are in the Park, as we keep
climbing all the time.
The scenery at the Golden Gate is sim
ply Undesirable. 1t is as though gold
had been melted and poured down one side
OF the mountain, and when the sun is
shining it glistens SO that it is almost i'm
possible to look at it with the naked eve.
We also see Rustic Falls at the Golden
Gate. They have fall of sixty feet.
THE GEYsERs.
The next point of interest is the Norris
Basin, twenty miles from the springs.
There you see the first geysers. The
Monarch is the principal one at that place.
1t shoots a spray of water seventy-five feet
perpendicular, and thirty feet in circum-
ference. 1t certainly is grand sight. We
also see Mud, Vixen and Hurricane geysers.
They are all wonderful in their way. The
Mud spouts up muddy water to the dis
lance of twenty feet. Just few feet away
you see the Hurricane, clear as crystal.
CHANGING little further on you see "paint
pots of sulphur" They bubble up like or
binary paint would if it were boiling fast
From Norris we go to
THE FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE.
And there we see the finest scenery in the
Park. When one sees the lower falls they
think they have beheld a grand sight.
They fall distance of 1862 feet perpendic-
ular. But that is nothing compared with
the upper falls. They have fall of 367
feet. Anything might say about them
would very feebly describe the grandeur
the eye beholds; and as you look down
into the water below you think how
expressive the word awful " is. You see
the water dashing there, as in kind of
agony, against the rocks, and if YOU crawl
out to the edge and throw rock weighing
six or seven pounds down into the water.
it will appear as feather floating around
before it reaches the bottom, and YOU will
give sigh of relief as you carefully crawl
back from your perching place. From
the falls we took our horses and followed
trail of five miles to
POINTS LOOKOUT AND INSPIRATION.
There we are LOO feet above river bot
tom, and we get a lovely views of the falls :;
the other way, the Grand Canyon of the
Yellowstone. That, too, is a picture for
an artist. In fact. / think il an artist
should paint it natural, people would be
incredulous, and say the artist was irving
to draw on their Imagination, and that it
was impossible for anything to be 50 highly
colored. AS far as the eye can reach YOU
will see. FIRST bright red, then gold, and
then patch of green, and so on until YOU
see every color imaginable 1t is as though
rainbow had suddenly lit up the skv
and had cast It's reflection on the rocks
beneath or let your imagination take
you TO the most glorious sunset YOU ever
saw, and you have but a faint idea of what
you see in the Grand Canyon of the Vel
lowstone. From the canyon we go to
THE YELLOWSTONE LAKE.
There we are at the highest point IN the
Park-altitude, S,S64 feet 1t is the larg.
est body of water at the highest point in
the world, and is thirty miles long and
five miles wide. 1t looks very much like
salt water, and is at times very rough The
Storm that come upon it are something to
be dreaded. We camped there two DAYS
and half. One Of the gentlemen went
fishing and caught some trout that would
weigh from four to five pounds apiece.
mere Is something very strange about the
fish in the lake. They have the appear
ance of being as good as any trout. until
you come to examine them and find them
full of worms. 1t seems singular that the
wormy ones should be confined to the lake
alone, as all the fish below the falls are
perfectly good. Scientific men cannot ac-
count for it.
After spending two and half DAYS at
the lake we went to the lower basin.
There we see
THE MAMMOTH PAINT-PoTs.
They are very interesting. There is
space of almost half an acre of boiling
substance exactly like paint, and the re-
markable thing is, that you see so many
colors together, first red, then a little
white, then brown and gray, and so on
until you see every color you can think of;
and there is what they call the flower
paint pots. In them the paint is very
much thicker than in the Others. and is
pure While. 1t will bubble up in the
shape of flowers, such as lilies, tulips, etc.
1t is really wonderful We also see there
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