The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1920-09-01

From Mammoth springs you go on
through Silver Gate into the Hoodoos
| immense limestone bOulders scattered
as If by a cyclone on sort OF fitting
tableland on the south slope of Mt. Ter.
race. Then through the Golden Gate,
a fitting name to this copper colored
outlet to a goodly expanse of level
mountain prairie--a sudden and pleas,
ant contrast from the rugged crags
and peaks of Mt. Bunsen and Mt. Ter
race. Twenty miles south you are in
the Norris geyser basine, a cauldron of
steaming and spouting geysers and
pools with Roaring mountain and the
mammoth Paint Pot that provoke a
smile-appears as if number of elfish
mps were underneath and stirring
things up in blubbery mass.
Forty miles on you reach the upper
geyser basin, the real thing in the gey.
ser line of which Old Faithful holds the
center of attraction. owing to its un.
failing regularity of playing every 70
minutes to q height of $50 to 1870 feet.
For entertaining pleasure this field has
the best hold on the crowds. Many
wait here to see the action of certain
gey sers that play at stated intervals.
By chance we had the good fortune to
see the grand in action, throwing its
volume $50 feet high. Que of the most
unique things in, art is seen here in the
Old Faithful inn-a rare monument of
primitive material The deposits in this
field are entirely different from those
at Mammoth, being pure SILICA and
forming very much slower. only one
thirtieth of an inch annually and very
durable-not so with the lime forma-
tons as they crumble quickly when
weathered.
If ] should portray my feelings.
frankly and unreservedy. l would have
to say that the impressions at Lower
Falls Of the Yellowstone, 80 feet high,
are the most striking of all. Descending
u kind of stairway 1900 feet to the foot.
made of sections Of saplings, stone and
gas pipe railing in the early morning
from to o'clock: standing there in
the presence of this gigantic thing. is
overpoWering-a strange mlnSllng OF
childlike fear and wonder possesses the
spectator. The clouds of mist rising
from the basin of the falls creep up the
sides OF the steep slopes. studded with
spires. cathedrals and uncanny figueS
of phantom Sargoyles-crouched as if
about to leap into the awful chasm OF
horrors and rareSt beauty. The mag
nificent colorinG Of the flowing mist
up the sides of the canyon. 1t appears
as if rainbows in sections were waving
over them or covered with the finest
oriental tapestry. The outstanding col.
Tor. yellow. shading into orange and
purple. and the variegated color OF
brick on the slopes for a background
The entire setting fringed with mosses
and grasses of deepest green near the
silvery white raging stream Of the river,
with the emerald of the pines
above, arched by the sapphire blue of
the canopy in the heavens.
1t drives homes an awful lesson that
we humans are so prone not to learn.
viz Our insignificance as compared to
the universe. when we try to go 1t
alone" on our own finite resources. Of
ten defying these eternal laws of the
God of nature instead of getting In tunet
WITH them, but apprOpriatinss.s -aEss I,
means for our own selfish ends, and our
invarable final outcOme-defeat.
The geologist and scientist call it by
names. but the self same pow
er that holds the stars in place in like
with the same eXactness per-
forms all these things. Philosophize as
we may, with the most cultured knoWl-
edge, there is still gap in the explana- ,
ton and none is as satisfying and final
"a the one WOrd--GOd.