The Van Buren press., 1893-01-07
A YELLOWSTONE WONDER.
Living Spring That Is q barometer Il
All Sorts OF Weather.

All S0fts Ot WeAtnefs
Maj. Jones, government engineer in
charge of the Upper Mississippi and
tributaries, and in charge OF the road.
md waters of tho Yellowstone park
recently returned from AN exploring
tour through the Shoshone range o.
mountains, which skirts the park or
the east. He was shown by ranchel
4 barometer spring. and found it to bt
one OF the most wonderful freaks o.
nature ever discovered. The major
gave this account OF his trip and the
spring:
"Soda Butte is mound of travertine
Of the park. 1t was formed by the de
position of sediment from calcareous
spring similar to those at Mammoth
Hot Springs Th spring is now dead
but along the creek just below are sew
eral small ones highly charged with
gases and salts of sulphur. soda, etc.
Zone of these has developed into a
popularity that is decidedly unique.
Passing by it recently in the midst of a
severe storm, was struck with the Pc
culiar inly blaclSness of the sediment
upon the bottom of the spring and the
short outlet which leads its waters into
the bottom of the creek. Just then a
ranchcr came along and, seeing me
said:
''See my barometer9 That spring is
the finest barometer in the United
States. Whenit it's going torain, or raise
- with the weather, that spring gives
the hull snap away by turning black
all over its bottom. Otherwise its bot
tom is all the same as the lilies of the
field mister. The gray of the mornin'
and the roses and pinks of the evcnin'
kinder get mixed and mingled all over
it, and she's daisy then. The bottom
turns whittier than the swan when it's
going to snow; redder than u volcano
when it's going to be hot; grccner than
an emerald when tenderfoot looks in
it
II thought he was telling me fairy
story. A month later found me again
at the spring The day was semi-clenr,
but line. Ominous little clouds were
gathering in the upper sky, and it was
getting to be something of "a question
what was coming. Snow in the noun
tains in November is mething serious.
Going to have little change in
the weather. suggested l to the
rancher, who stood near me.
sc sN.,+ ~, =,
no.
II went to the spring. The blackness
was wholly gone, and in its place was
the pearly gray of the morning, while
In the outlet the gray was softly
blended with delicate hues of pink and
carmine. It was beautiful to the eve.
but the fumes of hydro-sulphuric acid
were unbearable.
sit is q very curious fact that the
sediment from this spring changes color
with the changes OF weather.
"When mother earth wrinkled out
the Rocky Mountains there was left a
very soft and tender spot in the region
where the Yellowstone park now
lies Here surface crust of rock was
softened from close contact with the
heat which is supposed to hold her in
terror in flnid condition, and there
was raging OF volcanoes through
craters and assures many miles in
length. The face of nature must have
been lurid show in those days. Great
rivers of melted rock flowed down the
mountain sides, spread over great areas
of valley and plain, and incidentally
piled up the grandesto OF all the wonders
of the park, the Shoshone mountains
This range is a mass of peaks, in width
about sixty miles, in length more than
a hundred, which are almost wholly
composed of lava 1t lies in app rently
horizontal beds, cut into mighty canons
by the streams, and peculiarly wealth
cred into the vertical cliffs which cap
the submits of the peaks / have
measured thickness of over five thou
sand feet of lava among these lofty
peaks, which reach with considera BILE
uniformity attitudes of ten thousand to
twelve thousand feet above the level of
the sea- The mountain walls are
weathered into peculiar shapes of CO.
lossal magnitude, making the scenery
novel and magnificent.
''rhe record of the rocks shows no
place in all the earth where SO much
volcanic energy has been expended, and
the geysers and springs now in action
nre considered to be part of the dying
throes of the, pent-up spirit Of volca-
noes"