The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-14
ENTRANCE TO PARK THROUGH "ooLDEN GATE"

says. 1.-THE Norris Geyser Basin might
be called deaths valley Jonathan
Edwards would have found in this ba-
sin enough sulphur and birthstone to
have made his sermons on everlasting
punishment decidedly more realistic"
FASTENING ON.
But we shall never get on with our
journey, IL We attempt to describe any
more OF these wonderful phenomena,
Those we have mentioned are. however.
but hints of what are to come. Here
We again utilize the "Lundelius cam
era" and photograph these wonders as
mementoes Of our trip. Resuming our
journey to Lower Geyser Basin" a
distance of twenty miles. the road leads
through stretches Of handsome tall pine
trees. some without branch for q
hundred feet above the ground. often
as far as the eye can reach. In three
miles we reach Elk Park" a meadow
about five miles in area. with the Glib
bon river winding through 1t. This is
| a great resort for elk, and the contrast
between the Norris Basin just left and
this region Is refreshing In the en-
treme.
Just before entering "Gibbon Can
yon," say a quarter of a mile off the
main road, Is q remarkable phenomena
in the so-called "Gibbon Paint Pots"
They are surrounded by dense forest
of pine timber and cover several acres.
Here are perhaps FIVE hundred mud
and boiling springs of Intensely Gu
rious and brilliant coloring issuing
from numerous openings in highly col
ored clay. 1t is a strange sight TO wit
ness these great pots of eurgiing,
splashing and exploding mud of every
color of the rainbow, throwing out clOts
of this pasty stuff upon the banks.
which, on examination, are found to
be as smooth to the touch as velvet.
The noise made by this bubbling mush
Is not unlike the thud of a steamers
paddles striking the water. The Hot
Springs also are of various colors, and
highly impregnated with various salts.
and over all is a pail of vapor issuing
from the ground, and from assures on
the side hills.
GIBBON CANYON.
This mountain pass affords the only
fairly easy means of exit from Norris
Geyser Basin to Fire Hold Valley. The
wild grandeur of the passage of five
miles or more in this Canyon is diff
ficult to portray. 1t Is wild, craggy
deflle, whose cliffs. rising some 1,500 to
1000 feet, seem reluctant to open wide
enough to allow both the road and river
to pass These basaltic rocks are COW
cred with green, red and yellow moss,
| also with pine trees reaching to their
very submits. while all along at their
base are bubbling geysers and kissing
steam vents. which fill the air with
sulphurous vapors.
While many of these springs are Gu
rious and interesting, we will mention
| only one, the Beryl Spring, a fiercely
boiling caldron pouring its scalding
| overflow across the roadway beneath the
| feet of our horses, while the steam from
1t obscures the road. This beautiful
pool is fifteen feet in diameter and has
no superior in the Park. When il Is
| boiling, the steam rises to the height
of fifty feet and no precious stone ever
| sparkled more exquisitely while the
reflection from the sky and surround
ing objects is beautiful beyond power
| of pen to describe.
We have followed along the banks of
| the Gibbon river. which runs like a
| letter ) under the frowning crags of
| Mount Schurz for eight miles. and as
| the Canyon grows wilder, the river
| races along more madly. until 1t reaches
| Gibbon Falls, where ii plunges nearly a
hundred feet into still gloomier depths
and is lost TO view. Leaving the ter
| races of the Canyon. the road passes
| through a park region by a gradual
| descent into the Lower Geyser Basin"
! where the streams form a confluence
with the Fire Hole river. which Joins
the Madison and becomes the principal
| source of the Missouri.
! THE JOURNEYS END.
Nearing Fire Hole Basin we pass
through acres of dead trees of the prim-
eval forest. Ascending a ridge. on the
right is the Madison range, the western
-. q L t..
| first glimpse of the "Feton Mountains"
| of Idaho seventy miles distant In the