The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-09-03

chair. Then you reach the active geysers
and boiling springs. some having greater
heat than others. You look with awe as
the guide tells you of the DeviI's Punch
Bowl. the Devils Tea Kettle. the DeviP
Iukstand, the Devils Grist Mill, the
Devils FoOtbath. the Devils Safety
Valve. the Witches Caldron and all me
different things that have been dedi-
Gated to the devil. You SAND
by the grist mill, you hear gurgling
waters striking the earth. and there Is no
sound but that of grist mill to compare
with it. The Devils lnkstand Is hole In
which iron-eharged water is continuously
boiling al 90 degrees of heat. The water
is so dark that when used with pen IL
leaves a mark on paper that looks
like pale ink. The average writer prefers
writing fluid that is not quite so heated,
although it might have suited COl0nel
Irish when he felt in his journalistic days
that he wanted TO write rednot editorial.
You turn from the walls of combna-
ton of minerals. the principal one being
sulphur, which glIstens in the sunlight, to
the DEVILS Foolbath and the Witches
Cadr0n, which adJoln one another ana
which are divided only by a small ledge OF
rock. The one IN which, according 10 the
truthful guide. Old Nick cOols his feet.
registers 1S5 degrees of heat the year
round. while the caldron. around which
the witches in Macbeth" would have de-
lighted to dance, maintains uniform heat
of PIP degrees.
The main geyser in this spot throws
water up distance of nearly two feet,
while all around it are innumerable little
geysers that bubble up ana, like the brooE,
flow on forever. their contribution serving
to keep up the maximum heat. Within
few feet of this caldron, the steam oil
which is hot enough TO Scald the lace,
there is hole in the side OF the canyon.
1t is no larger than the mouth OF tea cup.
and IL has been chrlstened the "DeVIFs
Safety Valve" Correctly it has been
named. for the noise that proceeds from It
is SO realistic that you imagine yourself
near some great engine that Is letting
off its surplus steam.
Above this there is a large mound of
nearly pure sulphur, from the top of which
steam. This, the guide tells you, no man
has ever explored, for it is so soft that il
Will not pear any weight. What it is, is
the mystery Of the canyon. Then you
are shown any number OF geysers of
various sizes and degrees of heat, and
an arsenic spring, few mud springs, soda
and alum springs, and are given an 0ppOr-
tunlty OF placing your hand on the DevlHs
Saddle, strange formation OF rock. You
place your hand upon it, Nobody tells
you to remove IL. You do so after being
soon impressed that it is hot After
Sbu nave III a oOlb VI way
gaZed upon so many curious things you
are led TO the DeylPS Pulpit, where you
rest and try To realize what you have seen,
but what you have passed through and the
apparently uncanny objects you nave gaZed
a, which in hurry-up manner have been
explained 10 you, leave such a confusion
oil ideas that you are scarcely able 10 I'M
derstand the magnitude of them and to
comprehend the extent of natures
WORKS. From the pulpit you obtain a
grand view of the canyon yOu have passed
through, look upon the perennlals that
flourish within a few feet OF the geysers
and wonder how it is possible for flora or
tree to live in such an atmosphere. You
may wonder, but the act is that trees ana
flowers do grow. and are as attractive
those growing In more favored locality.
Then you are taken over ground that
trem oles as you walk over 1t and are led
20 pretty shaded nook where grows an
immense oak. trunk of which Is hollow.
TINS has been named the Devils Post
office" 1t runs itself, for 70 one has yet
had the temerty TO apply for the position
Of postmaster. Within The hollow trunk
there has been deposited al various times
by those who have passed 1T screeds writ
ten to the devil, some humorous, some
supposed 10 be so, and others that are DOT
at all com plimentary. Then in the line
you follow you are directed 10 spring of
ice-cold Water that TO the parched lips
alter the long tramp tastes like nectar.
Leaving this curiO of nature, cold
spring so close to almost unbearable heat,
you traverse beds of sulphur which are so
hot That you are made aware OF the fact
through the soles of your footwear, and
reach the far-famed Steamb boat Geysers,
two large ones and innumerable small
ones. The roar of these is exactly the
same as that produced by a steamboat
exhausting steam, and it is heard at times
miles awav from the source.
A half mile from this wonderful canyon
there is an acetic and few mud springs.
The acetic, which maintains a heat of go
degrees. furnishes water that when there
is added TO il little sugar becomes excel
lent lemonade. Were IL not for little
iron taste ii would pass for the beverage
that Is known as portable lemonade. a
short distance beyonu these springs is an
other wonder that shows the possibility
of the soil and effect of the climate
of California. 1t is only fig tree
that was planted nearly forty years
ago by the man who discovered the
geysers. II forms circle so perfect
that you can scarcely believe that IL is not
annually trimmed by an expert. Its cir
conference is 30 feet, making the diane
ter over seventy. Its yield of fruit last
year was 10 excess of 1900 pounds. The
leaves are gigantic, and If it was OF this
variety that Eve made her a dress il is no
wonder that II was sufficient to clothe her
One torn haphaZard from a limb measured.
not including the stem, fifteen and a quar-
ter inches in length by fourteen and three
quarters in width.
These are only a few of the wonders
that are presented to the gaze of the
traveller in wonderland. To write IF them
all. TO describe the many springs that fur
nish waters that give tone to the system,
to tell of the grand sights 20 be seen from
the top OF Cobb and other noun ains that
are reached by sure-foOted little burros, to
dwell on the bathing qualities of the
waters. on the rainbow trout that fill the
pools and run up stream aud on the deer
that roam the forests is not within the
range of a newspaper article, but to be en-
jOyed and appreciated must be seen.