The Republican journal., 1916-03-30

past SuS strange Ul6CUlt-uhe 1OFlu6Il00
of the Biscuit Basin, and past the beauti-
full Morning Glory Spring, across the
bridge over the Fifehole, and up the hill
to our camp at the Upper Geyser Basin.
As we drove over the bridge Riverside
Geyser was playing, throwing its volume
of water diagonally across the river,
where it caught and held beautiful rain
bow effects in the rays of the setting
sun. We fingered a moment until the
eruption was over, then drove up to the
tents on the hill above, wearied by our
long ride, but none the less ready to ex-
plore the wonders of the Geyser Basin
after supper. From the observation
platform on the crest. of the hill, one
could look off over the entire Basin, and,
seeing the puffs and columns of steam
arising in all directions, Will more truth
fully than POLITICALLY declared that it
looked "for all the world like Pitts
burgh!
The camp was situated half mile or
more from Old Faithful Inn, and the
famous geyser of that name, but when
after supper someone suggested wal k
over to see Old Faithful play, we all
agreed with alacrity, and started off by
twos and threes. Picking our way over
the formation was a more arduous task
than we had realized, and before we
were more than half way to our destina-
ton we were grateful for the guide
book advice to bring rubbers to wear
on the geyser formations. We jumped
over the narrow streams that flowed In
all directions, and forded the wider ones,
carefully avoiding the deep places, now
making a wide detour to avoid treacher-
Gus looking spots, and now going out of
our way to examine some strange shaped
geyser crater. We crunched through
the thin crust at almost every step. ard
| fear we were often Sin hot water" be-
fore we finally reached Old Faithful in
time for it's eight o'clock performance.
We had heard a great deal, and read
more, about this remarkable geyser, but
descriptions are all inadequate, and no
matter how many times one sees the
great column of boiling water, with its
attendant clouds of steam, rise to $50
foot height, one always plans to come
back to the next performance. This is
the only geyser in the Park that can be
absolutely depended upon, and among
its uncertain brethren it stands pre-
eminent, its eruptions occurring every
hour, and lasting from three to five
minutes.
We fingered by the Beehive, not far
from Old Faithful, whose crater, shaped
exactly like its prototype, was giving
some signs of activity, but soon tre-
mendous cloud of steam and a great
roaring sound from the direction of our
camp, called US back post-haste. Slip
ping and sliding over the treacherous
formation, and sometimes losing the
way in our haste, We finally arrived
breathless to find everyone in camp
gathered to watch the Giant" which
was playing in earnest. This is the
largest geyser in the Park, and is ex-
tremely irregular, playing at intervals
of seven to twelve days, and we felt
ourselves extremely fortunate to witness
an eruption. The mighty column of
water shot upward to height of $50
feet, attended by a terrific roar that
seemed to shake the earth. 1t continu-
ed with gradually diminishing volume
for over an hour, and we watched it,
spell-bound, while the gathering dark
ness closed in about US.
When we finally sought our tent,
wearied from our long day, it was with
the feeling that we had indeed seen one
of natures miracles, and thoughts of
the wonders to come mingled with the
intermittent roar of the geysers in our
dreams all night.