The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-07

air was dmDrOSlhl. NO letlu CITY SliiSiios
telling of automobiles, street cars and gar
bage wagons, but "odors of Eden and
aromas of Araby the Blest. The lowly
sage brush has been maligned by travel
ers. 1t Is here in abundance. filling all the
bare spaces. and has rich, aromatic odor
distinctly agreeable, something like the
herb called ''oId man." which our grand
mothers kept in their handkerchief boxes.
Slowly do the horses toll up these in
clines. We reach about six thousand feet
above sea level, and yet go higher. Zig
tagging from side to side. arrive at the
top of a cliff, where, after a moment for
breath. the driver cracks his long whip,
avoiding, or but carefully touching his
spirited animals, and then we bowl rap
idly down the other side, spinning along a
narrow road, so near the edge as to be
fascinatingly dangerous. We hold our
breath and wonder If we shall ever see
home again, yet are half ashamed to utter
the take care" that trembles on our lips,
for these drivers know their business so
well. Around sharp curves and in and out
we fly, seeing nothing in front of us often
but the tops of acres of tall pines and
wondering il we are to drive straight on
to them, when, 10, We round another curve
"a devils elbow" perhaps-and there
stretches another vista Of the lard-white
| road, only to hide itself in another bend OF
the cliff. So the journey goes through this
day of delight
At noon, when we stop to eat luncheon at
the Norris lunch station, we make our first
exploration Of the boiling springs. One can
not begin TO name these-they are numer-
GUS and wonderful, each with its own
characteristic. The guide goes on before
and tells us that this is the Devils bath
tub" and we watch 1t fill with boiling hot
water and then empty itself. The devil is
| too we'll recognized in the park. Here is his
frying pan"-a small spring exactly skill
| let-shaped his ''kitchen"-a deep hole
which one descends by ladders. If he
wishes, and various other household con-
veniences. These hot springs are fantastic
| things, with the most exquisite color, the
most beautiful of shapes; it would seem
| that nature, having found a beautiful
| shade, a perfect pattern. uses them in
many forms. For instance, the sapphire
pool, the emerald, the beryl. the morning
glory all represent in perfection their
names. They are all found in this white
formation" as it is CO l. and the effect
of these trimming pools of colored water
| in their white surroundings cannot be
| transferred by pen. Here again, the ex-
| quisite handiwork OF nature is seen. Not
content with making a pool of clear water.
blue, or green, or terra-cotta, she furnishes
the thin delicate edge Of its basin with a
lace-work that might have been done by
sculptor.
On this day we pass the great obsidian
| cliff, looming darkly up at our left, for
though 1t is glass 1t is black glass, and our
| souvenir hunter descends-hammer in hand
to get a piece OF obsidian. Here, the
| guide-book tells us, Is the only piece of
| glass road in the world, running along the
base OF this cliff. On farther, the thirsty
| ones OF the crowd get out to drink of the
| famous apollinaris spring, and all climb
back asserting that it compares with the
bottled article.
IN A TENTED FIELD.
| One Of the promises of the tour was that
we should sleep in tents one night, and at
| noon on Tuesday we espied in the distance
a snowy line OF tents adjoining 'Larry's"
| lunch station. Larry is a garrulous Hi
bernian noted in the guide-books, whose
| jokes have delighted tourists for some ten
years. Our party took three meals with
Larry and found a great similarity between
| his jokes and his meals; but he is one of
the features OF the trip. Our tents were al
| most convenient enough to be ridiculous
| for tents. They had all the necessities and
/ were actually supplied with stoves. Each
| tent has six rooms and hall. In the morn
| ing voice shouted, "All who want hot
| water put out their small pitchers" and
where should this luxury come from but
from the "Old Faithful geyser, a stones
throw away. They have a barrel set on
wheels and all they do is to ladle out the
boiling water and bring it to the tents. We
are cautioned not to drink it. however. Our
tents were all covered with legends, auto
graphs and sketches made by former tour
lists. Parties of students, newspaper men
and scientists had all contributed of their
wisdom and wit. and some of them were
| very funny indeed.
| This place Is called the upper basin and
is. indeed, a perfect basin, surrounded by
high hills; We noticed this particularly
while waiting for the sun to rise. 1t was
sunrise over the rest of the world. but
dark and cold in this basin. This is the
greatest of the geyser fields They were all
about US, little and big, regular and irreg-
| oioA, ooihc pidyiuS, dS does Ola t'a1thful,
| regularly, year in and year out; others
| only once in several hours, several days or
| several weeks. Our immediate wish was to
see Old Faithful, as it was nearly the time
to play; so up We trooped, some climbing
up to the very edge and peering in, others
| remaining safely in seats provided, still
others on an adjoining knoll, with kodaks
| all ready-for the kodak fiend was ever
with us. After awhile there came a slight
| roaring, as Of some internal machinery;
! then. modestly at first, but rapidly rising
| higher, came a stream OF silvery, steam
ing water, projected $50 feet into the air,
| breaking into snowy spray and driving
| the curious spectators back to safety.
| About five minutes this wonderful phe-
| nomenon continued and then the waters
gradually abated and Old Faithful slum-
| bered for sixty-five minutes. We saw her
again by moonlight. but no word of mine
could picture that scene OF almost awful
unreality. a long afternoon gave us ample
time TO journey by foot over this entire
formation; in some places the sign dan
| gerous would warn US away from particu-
larry thin places, and much of the time we
were walking through tiny streams OF hot
| water and steam-heated sand. But ii was
wonderful trip. Here was the Castle
| geyser, which we waited for over an hour
to see and then left. only TO be able TO look