The Days of a Man 1895 



whenever possible, and in the long vacations we 



sometimes wandered far afield. During the summer 



rbe of this year we had two fine outings. Leaving home 



Yellow j n ear ly June, we first visited the Yellowstone, this 



stone again . . rr \ \ i 



time as tourists, not as official explorers having 

 the freedom of the park. 1 Nevertheless, the Upper 

 Geyser Basin, with Old Faithful and his colleagues, 

 and the Great Fall of the Yellowstone were as 

 impressive as before. , 



Our second trip was to Summit Soda Springs on 

 one of the upper sources of the North Fork of the 

 American River. This was at that time an agree- 

 able resort a small -hotel and several cabins 

 grouped about a fine carbonated spring with a pretty 

 waterfall behind, and the tall pines crowding close. 

 With the tiny chipmunks, always eager to take 

 advantage of chance charities, we became great 

 Mountain friends. For indeed the dwarf mountain forms of 

 chipmunks ^jg c h arm i n g beastic, the various species of the 

 Western and Asiatic genus Eutamias are live- 

 lier and more sociable than the one Eastern Tamias. 

 To me they are more interesting also, as the splitting 

 into many species of Eutamias perfectly illustrates 

 the effects of isolation and localization, every sepa- 

 rate mountain forest having its own kind which 

 seldom wanders far, and therefore does not mate 

 with cousins even only a little removed. They thus 

 offer some of the best examples of what I have called 

 "geminate species." 2 



Not far from the springs rises the Devil's Wood- 

 P ^ e ' an amazm dyke of perfect basaltic columns 

 scarcely less remarkable than the Giant's Causeway 

 in Ireland or the Repos de I'Aigle in Auvergne. 



1 See Chapter xiv, page 337. 2 See Chapter xiv, page 329.* 



E5363 



