The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-04

roads. They consist Of several craters
filled with blue pasty mud all emitting
disagreeable odors. After about eight
miles we reach Mud Volcano" unlike
anything yet seen In the park. 1t Is
called volcano, for 1t has none Of the
real characteristics of a geyser. We
alight from our carriage and visit this
strange phenomenon, onlya few rods off
the road. Here Is deep hole with a
funnel-shaped crater at the base Of the
cliff, thirty feet deep.
When first discovered by General
Washburn's party in 1870, they found
limbs of trees 125 feet high encased In
clay and its scattered contents 200 feet
from it," Now its violence Is greatly
lessened and the discharges from 1t
are every two seconds. Like the dull
reports Of a mortar gun, thud! thud!
thud! is heard and from this Orifice
comes stream in puffs like the pulsa
tion of great waste pipe of an engine,
which can be heard for half mile.
Creeping up to the edge, which Is
dangerous to stand near to, we see this
sickening lead-colored mass of mud Of
the consistency of soft mortar, con-
stantly belching out only to roll back
and choke up its foul throat and be
vomited forth again and again, with
terrible force into the steaming pit.
From the latter comes the most sicken-
ing sulphurous odOrs. How long this
ugly griffin has been lying there under
this hill no one knows, but 1t Is unques-
tionably the ugliest freak of Wonder
land. Fire and birthstone are terrible
enough to associate with purgatory. but
the laundering, the groaning. the gulp-
ing of this boiling black mud belching
out of this great black .cavernous
to <,,,,1, IoII To VI h -
HAYDEN VALLEY.
From this morbidly fascinating scene
we turn with a sense of relief to the
river and a new feature of the land
scape-Hayden valley. This Of itself
is q beautiful park, the largest in the
reservation. extending along the yell
lowstone river to Alum creek and west
ward to Mary's mountain. seven miles
from the Grand Canyon. 1t is six miles
long and ten miles wide, broad, grassy
expanse with not q tree upon 1t. 1t
was once a vast arm Of the lake and
comprises some fifty square miles. 1t
Is well watered by Trout and Alum
, creeks and is frequented by the wild
animals of the country as winter re-
Sort" especially for buffalo, elk and
deer, which are found here in large
luUlucTS. OuI SuiuC says II HuuuIcu
buffaloes and thousands of elk wintered
here in 1894. The views in this valley
bounded with snow-capped Mount
Washburne rising 10,3S5 feet high are
grand in the extreme.
At twelve miles on our journey we
| reached Sulphur Mountain or Crater
Hills" We leave the main road and
cross the valley for half mile drive to
reach 1t. 1t consists of a group of iso-
lated hills or "buttes," each about $50
feet high. The whole surface of this
locality, including large detached rocks,
Is covered with pure sulphur in color
and material. Here pure sulphur can
be shoveled up by the wagon load. The
| chief attraction, however, is large boil
| Ing spring at the base of the highest
| hill. The spring is Is by 20 feet in size
| and its waters boil up constantly from
| three to seven feet in height. The fumes
are intensely sulphurous and disagree
| able and great clouds of vapor escape
| from 1t. The whole surrounding sur
face Is covered with myriad little steam
vents, all highly impregnated with sui
| Dhur. while the overflow streamets
have highly colored yellow border.
This Is dangerous ground to tread upon.
On the west side of the road are nu,ner-
GUS mud caludrons and springs constant
ly etecting their muddy paste along the
roadside ~
NEARING THE CANYON,
We are now four miles from the Grand
Canyon Hotel and the road skirts along
the banks Of the Yellowstone river hun
dreds Of feet above 1t over rolling
country until we reach Upper Falls"
when II defects from the river and
Winds like letter 8 through q timber
belt across Cascade Creek" 13O feet
high and climbs the steep hillside to the