YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 



793 



deep and gloomy cation known as Devil's Den, in 

 which the basaltic rock is evolved into multitudes 

 of tower-like pinnacles and columns, just above its 

 mouth the creek breaks into a highly picturesque 

 and beautiful fall of 15G feet in vertical height, 

 which constitutes one of the chief attractions of the 

 locality. Below this point the Yellowstone flows 

 through an open country, bounded by lofty hills. 



The Yellowstone, though not the region of the 

 great geyser.*, possesses a remarkable abundance of 

 hot springs, significant of excessive volcanic activity 

 in past times. Some of these are dead, their former 

 existence being indicated by calcareous deposits ; 

 others are evidently failing ; but many are still in 

 full activity. There is an interesting group of these 

 springs on the east side of Mount Wasllbnrn, extend- 

 ing over au area of 10 to 15 square miles. But the 

 mist remarkable group, not merely in that locality 

 but in the world, is that of the Mammoth, or the 

 White Mountain Hot Springs, near the northern 

 boundary of the Park. These extend from the mar- 

 gin of Gardiner's River, up the sloping side of White 

 Mountain, to an elevation of nearly 1000 feet above 

 the river level. As springs they are less remarkable 

 at present than some of those in other regions of the 

 Park, but the conditions pro.lnccd by their former 

 history give them peculiar value. An area of about 

 two square miles is covered by snow-white calca- 

 reous de|iii;<, which extend over the entire side of 

 the mountain, and present the appearance of a series 

 of frozen cascades. 



The steep mountain sides 

 are ortvvmmted with a succes- 

 sion of s;mi-circular basins, 

 with margins from a few laches 

 to 6 or 8 feet in height, which 

 are scalloped and adornad with 

 bead-like tracery in every 

 shade of scarlet, green, and 

 yellow, on a white ground- 

 work. The watar from the 

 active springs gath.-rs in pool* 

 in these basins, and flows over 

 their mirgins in cascades, 

 gradually losing its heat as it 

 descends the mountain slope. 

 Ou the summit of the hill is a 

 l.irg.- spring, whose dimensions 

 are 25 by 4 > feet. Its water U 

 perfectly transparent, while 

 the sides and rim of basin are 

 beautifully ornamented with 

 coral-liko'an 1 other forms of 

 calcareous deposits, of many 

 shades of color. The over- 

 flowing water of this basin 

 makes its way d r.vu the hill 

 in the cascades described, 



while the whole scene, with the delicate fretwork of 

 its terraces and its exquisitely soft shades of color, 

 is of a beauty seldom equalled. The branch of the 

 Northern Pa'cilic Railroad which enters the Park 

 , from Livinu'stoti, ends near this locality at Cinnabar, 

 whence coaches convey tourists six miles further to 

 t M Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, which is the initial 

 point of the usual Park tours. 



Another interesting locality on the Yellowstone, 

 about ten miles below the falls, is Sulphur Mdun- 

 tain, which rises on the west side of the river to a 

 height ofl")0 feet from a nearly level plain. This 

 hill is perforated bv numerous fissures and craters, 

 from which sulphurous vapors issue in profusion, 

 while the sides of the fissures are lined with crystals 

 of sulphur, and the ground is hot from internal fires. 

 !Near by arc some springs of boiling mud. Two 

 miles to" the east of this locality is another remarka- 

 ble croup of mud springs, mid n few miles above 

 Sulphur Mountain oerurs what if known as Mud 

 VOL. IV.-2Z 



Volcano, a crater of boiling mud 25 feet across. The 

 surface of the mud is about 30 feet below the crater 

 level, and is in constant ebullition, while dense 

 clouds of steam rise to a height of several hundred 

 feet. By the occasional explosive outbursts masses 

 of mud are hurled to great distances. There are 

 three large hot springs in the vicinity, one of them 

 a geyser, with a period of activity about every six 

 hours. 



The whole region of the Yellowstone Park contains 

 from 5000 to 10,000 hot springs. These nre chiefly 

 of two kinds, calcareous and silicated, and deposit 

 lime or silica around their borders, often in elabo- 

 rate and elegantly ornamented forms, whose colors 

 vary almost as greatly as their shapes. The tem- 

 perature of the calcareous springs range from 160' 

 to 170 degrees or over, the boiling point of the region 

 Vicing from 198 to 199 degrees. The Gardiner River 

 hot springs arc principally calcareous; in other 

 phu-es, as on Firehole River, the springs are sili- 

 cated. 



The most surprising phenomena of the Park, its 

 geysers, nre principally found on the stream just 

 named, and near Shoshone Lake, at the head of 

 Lake Fork of the Snake River. Firehole Rivet- 

 is a fork of the Madison, which in its turn is a 

 tributary of the Missouri. Within the locality here 

 indicated there are probably 60 geysers which throw 

 columns of water to a height of from 50 to 200 fed, 

 while the vents of all kinds number thousands. On 

 every .side is seen evidence of volanlc activity on 



Pulpit Terrace. 



a stupendous scale in past ages, of which the gey- 

 sers and hot springs form the slowly subsiding 

 remnant throughout the Park, indeed, the work of 

 aneient Inva outflows is visible in broad sheets of 

 basalt, whieh form meSRS Or table lands in (he valley, 

 while- on the bills volcanic breccias are weathered 



