Wichita eagle., 1890-02-28
YELLOWSTONE GEYSERS.
Ex-SUPT. HENDERSON TELLS OF A
VISIT TO THE NATIONAL PARK.

The Great spouters of That Wonderland.
Disappearance of the Bats Winc-SeaI-
ing Up of Different Geysers and Opening
| of Others-Thc Tempest.
l accompanied a party consisting of Mrs
J. Amory, Miss Anna. her daughter, and s
| B., her son, OF Fond du Lac, Wis, and Mrs
E. c. Waters, OF Billings, Mon, on a tour of
exploration.
Our purpose on leaving the Grand canyon
! was to visit the scene of recent eruption
| caused by the earthquake at the Black vol
canic basin, situated about midway between
! the Grand canyon and Yellowstone lake
| On approaching the volcanic basin the day
! we left the lake. we saw vast clouds of vapor
| rising at point south and east Of the Belcher
| Quickening the speed Of our horses, We
reached the field of action in time TO witness
| one of the most phenomenal exhibitions of
volcanic energy to be met with in this land Of
wonders where everything is phenomenal
There is a circular basin about one hundred
and fifty yards in diameter, in the center OF
which is a crater about sixty feet in circurr-
ference and about fifteen feet in depth. Out
of this crater assembled dense clouds of steam
that was given off in successive pufs.
THE MUD BELCHER
At first SO dense was the vapor we could
only hear the commotion in the caldron, as
il e thick pudding were slapped against the
wall by gigantic maSon's trowel. AT one
point We saw what seemed ike huge black
tongue or an enormous paint brush, reSem
bling the switch used by a blacksmith to keep
off flies, only thousand times larger, shoot
out beneath the clouds and reach twenty-five
feet up the sloplng crater, then slowly re-
cede, leaving a thick coat Of dark, shiny
paint on the wall. For few seconds the
wind came in putfs and forced back the cloud.
This mud volcano has evidently been inactive
for several hundred years. The outside wall
rises from ten 10 twenty feet and is composed
of the same pitchy substance GS that seen at
the point of present activity. There is
channel through which this mud once flowed
down into the Yellowstone river
Both walls are composed of the same ma
terial, and the quantity discharged during
former eruptiens must have been enormous.
The eruptionS occur at intervals of about an
hour and continue until these waves of mud
make the circuit of the crater. Terrific as
the exhibition of energy now is it is insignifi-
cant compared with what it must have been
when it sent its Jorrid lava IN a continuous
stream twelve feet wide and six feet deep
into the river over thousand yards distant.
On the following day We went from the
Lower Geyser Basin hotel TO see an early
eruption of the Fountain geyser. The Evan
geline geyser in the ParanasUs basin never
fails to excite the wonder and admiration of
the tourist when attention is called TO it. 1t
is heart shaped and has q beautifully silicated
border with two graceful curves that resen-
BILE the double lobeS of heart as drawn by
ST. Valentine artists.
No contrast can be greater than that which
we saw in the Evangeline and that which we
saw few moments later in the new gevser
situated about two hundred yards east OF the
Thanatopsis, or about four hundred yards
from the better known Fountain geySer Be
fore reaching the Parauasus basin, and as we
swept around the western base of PorcUpine
butte Mrs. Amory called attention to con-
tinuous discharge Of steam that rose to an
immense height about mile distant, and
suggested the propriety of Fastening in order
to see an eruption Of the Fountain. Know
ing well the location Of the Fountain geyser,
! had no hesitation in deciding that the great
steam discharges we were witnessing could
not be that of the Fountain, but must be an
entirely new outbreak, caused doubtless by
the earthquake.
Nor could | remember seeing anything in
that neig hbornood that could possibly have
developed into great steam aqueous geyser
OF the first magnitude, except the Bats Wing,
quiet geySer OF the gas-aqueous variety,
and one that had been growing less and less
every year from the fact that the two wings
of the twin lake that composed it had been
steadily deposiUlng white silicaIe substance
resembling lsinglass. This deposition going
on much faster In winter, Indicated judging
from the rapidity with which the lakes have
been diminishing since 1888, that IN a few
years the Bats Wing would become a suoter-
ranean lake, frozen over, SO TO speak, by the
accommodating deposits.
THE TEMPEST
On reaching the scene Of activity we soon
realized that there was much more than
steam. There was a turbulent roar as of
great waves dashing against each other, inn
mediately after which wave after wave swept
outward and drove Us from the position we
had taken. Then there was moments lull, |
at which time we followed the receding
waves few yards, TO be driven back as soon
as the seething caldron had accumulated |
into the air and outward in a vast circular /
sweep of over 80 yards
As the sun rose higher we got an occasional
glimpse Of the great torrid waves that dashed (
into each other ard rose to the height of over /
sixty feet, or II might have been even twice /
that height, as 1t was impossible to see how /
far these waves assembled amid the dense .
clouds that enveloped them, as mountain 4
in, ,f
gray.
what terrific tempestln | exclaimed, /
addressing Mrs. Arnory, the lady who had .
been the first 70 call attention 10 tois new and /
extraordinary g.isher. J
ut is a tempest, indeed" she replied, /
and added Mrs Waters. 'it could have no /
more suitable name if you we're to hunt the /
encyclopedias for month" And amid the
roar Of the contending waves, hurried from a
boiling sea, wo concurred in
naming it the Tempest geyser.
Before leaving the Tempest | instituted
search for the twin lake that / mad named
the Bats Wing geyser as long ago as $50;
but It was nowhere 10 be found. Tie infer
ence 10 be drawn from ali the facts Is that i
had been buried bv process Of self SEALING,
and that TIE subterraaoan gases at tRlS and
other points were po~srfgl enough when
tneir outlets are closed 70 cause sa earth
quake and eliminate in Just such exhibitions
OF volcanic energy as thst secn al tire Hurr1-
cane and Whirlpool csyEers in tie Norris
basin, the Black volcano On the Yellowstone
river. the EIcelsior--i E., Hslis Half Acre
On she west side OF tee Firehole river. and
the more resent Tempest on tba esst si5e d
the same river and ano1t three nile sower
down C l. Henderson Il s.. Paul Fioaeer
PreA