others throwing up water only, and some mud, exceed in 

 number and variety those of Iceland or in any other part of 

 the globe. 



It was not until 1864 that anything definite was known 

 of this region, when Captain W. W. de Lacey, and a prospect- 

 ing party, reached the Lower Basin Geyser, on the Madison 

 River; but in 1870, an exploring party, with General 

 Washburn, Surveyor General of Mentana, made a more 

 complete survey of this district, and published the results in 

 " Scribner's Monthly Magazine,^' and in 1871 and 1872, a 

 complete survey was made, and at that period Congress 

 appropriated it as a National Park for ever. 



The park contains 3,500 square miles, the average height 

 above sea level being about 8,000 feet, it is covered with snow 

 for about nine months in the year, and sometimes with frost 

 at midsummer. The "hot springs" are "omnipresent 

 among the dense timber, on the plateaux, in the valleys 

 II and even in the beds of lakes and rivers ; with their 

 " deposits they have floored whole valleys, as in the geyser 

 " basins of the Firehole or Madison river; of all sizes, from 

 II mches to acres ; and all temperatures, from, tepid to boil- 

 " ing; and at a dozen or more localities, are active geysers 

 " some fifty in number, throwing water, in extreme cases,' 

 200 feet in height.-" 



They have raised mountains, as for instance, the White 

 Mountain, at the top of which, at about 200 feet in height is 

 a broad terrace, with basins 150 to 200 yards in diameter 

 from which the boiling water, saturated with calcareous 

 matter or, as stated by Mr. Langford, in Cassell's " Science 

 for all," silicious, pours down the hill sides forming pools 

 and terraces, whose margins vary from a few inches to six or 

 even eight feet in height, and in color vary from dazzlin- 

 whiteness to yellow and red, the color becoming darker as 

 the terraces are lower down, and the waters cool. 



Near the head of the Madison river there are two valleys 

 of twelve and twenty square miles area respectively the 

 higher of which contains the greatest number of hot sprin-s 



