Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-10-05
and IT SHOWED, TOO.


winds were raw. The white capped
waves rolled briskly, and one could
easily imagine what blizzard might
be. Next morning it was winter
suro enough, the mercury shivering
at % degrees and the wind blowing
almost gale. Steam was turned on
in the building, big fire roared in
the lobby fireplace and people
marched about mired up to their
ears in overcoats and wraps. 1t
looked as if stray polar expedition
might have tarried there over night.
(This was in mid-summer.)
Rather early we started on a drive
of about twenty miles to the Canon
hotel. Our route lay, for the most
part, along the banks of the Yellow
stone river, which flows from the
lake and whose clear waters move
rapidly. Very little timber is near
the road, and grass is more plentiful.
At one place we actually saw a small
meadow, where some men were
moving little hay. Somewhat
more than half way we passed Mud
Geyser and Sulphur mountain. I
suppose that there is more sulphur
in this mountain than exists at any
other one spot on earth in fact, it
is almost literally pure sulphur. The
Mud Geyser is an ugly sight, but at
the same time one that attracts at
tention. 1t is hole about forty
feet deep and perhaps thirty feet in
diameter. At the bottom is secth-
ing cauldron of sulphrrous mud of
the consistency of thick paint and as
hot as blazes. 1t surges and rumblcs
and sputters at terrific rate and
smells worse than a Dutch cheese
shop. 1t was not in eruption when
we were there, and rarely is at all,
but last year it "got on :. turribul
tear" as our driver expressed it, and
spattered everything for acres around
with hot sulphur and mud, killing
trees and everything else it touched
as dead rs Hector is said to have
been.
Near the hotel the river becomes
rough, and number of pretty shoals
occur. The Upper Falls are close
by, and one thinks them "a right
smart sight," to quote from specta-
tor, until some of the real wonders
of the vicinity have been seen.
The Canon hotel is the best hos
telry in the whole park. It is situa-
ted on commanding cminence,
about a thousand feet above the
river, and the general view of the
surrounding country is fine. Back
of the hotel the woods como close
down; near the edge many bears
come 20 feed upon scraps from the
hotel, and thither we repaired about
dark to see them. When your hum
bile scribe and a young lady appeared
upon the scene several black bears
were up in big pine, walking about
on the limbs like birds, and faceti-
> GUS tourist alleged that at the sight
of us these cautious beasts had made
stampede to the tree for safety.
The truth of it really was that a big
grizzly had interrupted their medita-
tions. 1t is said that cold shivors
creep up and down the spine of the
black bear when the grizzly ap-
proachcs, and that he loses no time
in moving up tree. There he is
safe, i0r the grizzly can't climb.
IN THE GRAND CANON.
But the star attraction is the
Grand Canon of tho Yellowstone,
which begins just below the hotel,
say n quarter of mile away, and
continues for some twelve miles.
Tourists only follow it for about
three miles. A fine view is had
from Point Lookout, as indeed is
the case along almost tho entire
route. Near the terminus of the
road, however, we find tho browning
view of all from Inspiration Point.
What a sight for mortal man to be-
hold What tongue has the power
to speak? What pen can begin to
express tho faintest idea Of this
wondrous sccne2 What mind can
comprehend the awful immcnsity,
and what brush can linn tho gor.
geous beauty Of this matchlcss work
Of creation? Tar and away on
either hand stretches vast chasm,
half milo wide and a quarter of a
mile deep, narrowing at the bottom,
in which flows the turbulent Yellow
atone. In places the sides slope
gradually, and in others precipitous
cliffs rise to height of thousand
feet and moro. Over all arc spread