The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-11-26

I
enormous height, is not now sufficient
to carry the enlarged weight, so often
| at least.
On February q this enormous gey-
ser was reported as playing again, at
| ter II years silence, and a new geyser
| as having burst out at the fountain.
But, on thorough investigation, l am
| sure the report is overdrawn, having
| been sent out by some winter wan
| derer for excitement.
The Excelsior eruptions have been
very extensive, for its great volume of
hot water was always sufficient to
melt the ice and kill the fish for over
two miles in Fire Hole river.
AS an illustration Of a geyser, you
are to think Of them as of rubber
hose, the size of whose nozzle deter
mines the distance they will throw
stream; while with a clearly defined
nozzle removed, the stream will only
fall lifelessly from the open end of
the rubber pipe. So it may prove la
ter that some of the apparently dead
geysers are not dead, or quiet because
| Of less force, but because of less clear
ly defined thrOats, thus demanding
greater force, which they do not pos
| sess. AS a matter Of fact, some of these
geysers do in time actually mend their
| threats or pipes and then begin again
| to play, The grand geyser is a case
| of this kind, as, after a long rest, it
was doing business again at the old
stand, this year. as Mr.. Howe, the OBJ
| servant keeper at the upper basin, told
| me, though I just missed seeing it
| play.
Doubtless many Of the hot pools are
| former geysers whose currents are now
| temporarily directed to the other open
! ings These new openings may be so
| large even as to produce only quiet
| flowing streams entirely unobserved; or
| they may be directed in internal cur
rents mingling far below, to rise again
or not These pools may any of them
| begin playing at any time, for we have
| seen that they are not silent because
| of less energy, but of energy directed
| into other channels. Some of these
mend their broken pipes more quickly
! than others, from various causes, like
! that of the presence of more or less
| free silica in the water
THE CHANGING GEYSERS.
The Fountain geyser broke our
! hearts by becoming irregular in 1899.
| Another geyser burst out not a hundred
| feet away and ran a very brilliant but
| irregular career for a short season. But
the sum total of its force was so near
| ly equal to that of the old Fountain
| in given time, that it was easy, to
determine their relation there not be-
!
simultaneously. The new geyser threw
it's triple streams farther than the old
but with smaller proportions, because
| It's three exits We're smaller. There is
no doubt that break had taken place
| below in the pipe of the old geyser,
and the current was firing from a
smaller nozzle. hence more brilliant.
Some FASTENED to write for the press
that the Fountain geyser was dead,
and the park would soon be extinct.
Other interested parties printed it
abroad that a new and glorious geyser
had broken out, and wanted to give it
some political name. which I think
would have been fitting, because of its
| fickleneSs. Neither party was correct
as it was the same thermal force, and
in 1900 I saw Fountain geyser playing
again with its old regularity and I'M
| diminished glory as Natures plumbers
| had mended her broken pipes.
A STRIKING CASE.
The Black Grower is another strik-
ing case. This is a cone three feet
in diameter, four feet high. Through
this cone an enormous amount Of APP
parently superheated steam rushes con
| tinuously with such tremendous force
as to produce q roaring gong that can
| be heard two miles All at once a Sc
| ries of very small vents broke out Of
the crust in front of it, and soon the
place some 80 little Whistlers kept up
| their noise But the sum total Of the
many was equal to the larger one now
| ceased. Moreover there had been de-
! Veloping another growler some hun
| bred feet northward l do not believe
the new one has anything to do with
the old one, but rather it is an indie
| pendent steam geyser reversing the ex-
| perience Of the Old Growers, in that
| group of whistlers have gradually built
! a strong united silcated throat and so
! broken up the partition between them
! selves, forming thus a vast combine;
| the many Whistlers making now one
! huge trust" which by and by be-
| comes so vast it breaks to pieces by its
| own force and returns again to the
many. l presume these two steam gey-
| sers are thus playing back and forth
| between one large opening and many
| small ones.
| I had a fine chance, last season, to
| study the cone Of the Old GROWER, as
! but little steam was then emitted. It
| has a fine sounding board of silicious
| sinter, and prettily lined with a spe-
! cies of white porcelain of various
| tints. This Old Growler is even now
gradually receiving its former strength
| from the many little whistlers that will
later give. their steam again to the
| large opening. They in time will be
filled over, with sinte or geyserte.
This article can be heightened to any
| extent from careful observations al
| ready made. but these few illustrations
suffice to demonstrate that each sev-
ser and fumerole on this vast solfatero
has it's individual silicifed tube to it's
| own origin.
1t must also show that these later
| forces of volcanic periods are not ma
| terially changing in energy, and that
| centuries may pass before any real
| force may exhaust itself; perhaps new
| er, and this may be earth's perpetual
vent. 1t is at least Gods work in
| forming the earth's crust by the mar
| riage of the gases.
Let me, in conclusion, relate enc re-
markable' CONFUSION that may be il
| Illustrative of how a redoubled force be-
comes sometimes evident: or how
| hindered force sometimes asserts it
| self
A HIDECUS HOLE.
The Mud volcano is a very hideous
| revelation of the park. II is funnel
| shaped sink about 40 feet deep and 40
feet across the top. A tunnel runs
| southwark whose upper arch is about
10 feet from the bottom of the dismal
pit Up against the top of this tunnel
| every second is hurled some three cart
loads of cdoriferous. soft. Shiny. black
mud This then shoots out to the OPP
posite side Of the funnel. falling back