43S 



NATURE 



{Sept. 26, 1872 



of the JMadesin is first struck, and every few miles a group 

 of dead or dying springs is met witli. In tlie distant view 

 the appearance of the whole country may be not inaptly 

 compared to a vast limekiln in full operation. The last 

 branch of the Madesin is almost entirely fed by water 

 from the hot-springs, and its temperature is 60" or 80' all 

 the time. The vegetation that grows along the banks, 

 and in the stream itself, is a marvel of luxuriance. The 

 mountains that enclose the valley on either side are com- 





FlG. 7. — Giant Geyser. 



posed of basalt and obsidian. As we proceed down the 

 valley, toward the junction of the east fork with the I\Ia- 

 desin, the springs grow more abundant, and we soon come 

 to the great basin of the Firehole, in which the most 

 pov/erful geysers are found. 



The entire valley of the Firehole, averaging about three 

 miles in width, is covered with sihceous crust as white as 



snow. The elevated mounds and numerous columns of 

 steam reveal where the most important groups of springs 

 and vents are located. In the Lower Geyser Basin, though 

 there are many groups of most interesting springs, none 

 of them can rank as geysers of the first class. Over an 

 area of about three miles there must be at least a thousand 

 active, quiet, dead and dying springs. One of the most 

 remarkable of the springs in this lower basin has built up 

 for itself a cistern, which is so elaborately beautiful that 

 Mr. Hayden calls it the (7rr/;//<v/«/vr/fountain( Fig. 5). The 

 whole basin is about 150ft. in diameter. Near the centre 

 is the rim of the spring, which is about 25 ft. in diameter; 

 the water is in constant agitation, occasionally spouting up 

 a column of water like an artificial fountain, and filling up 

 ihe reservoir and the sides for a radius of 50 ft. or more. 

 The siliceous accumulation made by this spring descends 

 for several hundred feet in innumerable semicircular 

 steps varying from one-fourth of an inch to two inches in 

 height, and is exquisitely beautiful in all its details. When 

 in active operation, a column of water is thrown 30 ft. to 

 60 ft. high, the water spreading over a radius of 50 ft., and 

 filling the numerous reservoirs that surround the immense 

 rim of the basin. There are other funnel-shaped basins 

 with elegantly-scalloped rims, covered all over the inner 

 side to the depth of 10 ft. to 20 ft. with bead-like tubercles 

 of silica. Sometimes these siliceous beads are arranged 

 in large numbers like fungi or corals, or like the heads of 

 cauliflowers. 



A short distance from this beautiful geyser is a remark- 

 able group of mud springs. One of them has a basin 50 ft. 

 in diameter, which is covered over thickly with puffs, like 

 an immense cauldron of thick hasty-pudding (Fig. 6.) The 

 exact symmetry of these puffs, their uniformity of size, and the 

 fineness of the material, render them exceedingly beauti- 

 ful ; and there is among them every shade of colour from 

 a bright scarlet to the most delicate pink or rose, with a 

 base as white as snow. The most fastidious manufacturer 

 of porcelain would go into ecstacies over this magnificent 

 bed of mortar, tliat has, perliaps, been worked and re- 

 worked for many thousands of years. 



These springs occur in small groups all over the Ijasin, 

 and are often in close proximity to geysers or to perfectly 

 quiet springs. They are found in every stage, from simply 

 turbid water, through all grades of consistency, to thick 

 stift" mud, through which the gases force themselves with 

 a suppressed thud-like sound. Each of these mud springs 

 probably commenced as a geyser, or at least a boiling 

 spring. The water is at first clear, then becomes turbid, 

 and grows gradually thicker, until the heat dies out. 



The Upper Geyser Basin is located very near the 

 source of the Firehole River, and between it and the 

 Lower Geyser Basin there is an interval of about 

 five miles, in which the hills come close to the 

 river on both sides, and the springs occur only in 

 small groups. Near the centre of the upper basin, 

 which is about two miles long and half a mile wide, there 

 is one ofthc most powerful geysers of the basin (Fig. 7). The 

 preliminary warning is indicated by a tremendous rumbling, 

 which shakes tlie ground all round with a sound like dis- 

 tant thunder; then an immense mass of steam bursts out 

 of the crater as from an escape-pipe, followed by a column 

 of water 8 ft. in diameter, and rising by steady impulses to 

 the height of 200 ft. Mr. Hayden compares tlie noise and 

 excitement it produced to that of a battle charge. He 

 says the fountain continued to play for the space of fifteen 

 minutes, when the water gradually subsided, and settled 

 down in the crater about 2 ft., and the temperature slowly 

 diminished to 150°. There are here two separate basins, 

 one of which is in a constant state of violent agitation, 

 while the other plays only at intervals of thirty-two hours ; 

 and although, so far as the eye can detect, there is a par- 

 tition of not more than 2 ft. in thickness between them, 

 neither of them seems to be affected by the operation of 

 the other. The decorations about these springs arc beyond 



