196 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



exposed on tlie river side, where tbey have been cut into by tlie water. 

 These layers are irregular in composition and very hard, especially in the 

 lower ones, which are the older. From these the specimens of pealite 

 described in the rei)ort for 1872* were obtained. In some of the shal- 

 low pools near the crater, smooth pebbles of various shapes are found, 

 as in the pools surrounding other geysers. The de]3th of the crater, as 

 ascertained by dropping a line into it, was 25 feet. 



1870. — Langford, describing the eruption witnessed by the Washburn 

 party, says : 



The Giant discharged a vast body of water, and the only time we saw it in eruption, 

 the flow of water, in a column 5 feet in diameter and 140 feet in vertical height, con- 

 tinued, uninterruptedly, for nearly three hours.t 



Doane gives the time as 3J hours.f 



1871. — During our stay in the Uijper Basin, in 1871, no eruption of 

 the Giant occurred, but Mr. Jackson, who was in the basin longer, saw 

 it in action. The eruption he saw is the one described by Colonel Bar- 

 low. § He says: 



It throws a column of water the size of the oiieningto the measured altitude of 130 

 feet, and continues the display for an hour and a half. The amount of water dis- 

 charged was immense — about equal in quantity to that in the river — the volume of 

 which during the eruption was doubled. But one eruption of this geyser was ob- 

 served ; its periodic times were not, therefore, determined. 



Colonel Barlow does not give the date of this eruption, but it was on 

 either the 6th or 7th of August, for we left the basin on the morning of 

 the Cth, and he followed us on the morning of the 8th. 



1872. — The Giant was not seen in eruption during the three days I 

 was in the Upper Basin. When visited it was found boiling, vigorously 

 spurting at times above the top of the crater. There appeared to be 

 periods of increased activity, when some of the smaller vents became 

 quiet. This fact was also observed by Professor Bradley, who says : || 



When the two large vents [Giant and Young Faithful] began to show activity, 

 though boiling to only small elevations, these little ones became quiet. 



The question of symj^athy between these vents and the geysers can- 

 not, however, be definitely determined, upon the limited data obtained 

 up to the present time. 



1873. — Edwin J. Stanley witnessed an eruption of the Giant, and de- 

 scribes it graphically as follows : ^ 



The first thing I observed when it gave signs of action wasthe cessation of the little 

 steam-jet, whe'n the geyser nearest it began to surge at a fearful rate, throwing a 

 great volume of water to an altitude of 20 or 30 feet. It played bnt a moment, and 

 the next one went through a similar operation, when, as if ashamed of their signifi- 

 cant failures to rise in the world, or in honor of the grand chief of the realm who was 

 about to appear, they all retired from the scene of action and became quiescent. Then, 

 with a terrible rushing and rumbling below, with a powerful efibrt and fearful heavings 

 that caused the very earth to groan, and seemed sufficient to tear the solid walls of the 

 crater into a thousand atoms the Giant came forth in the majesty of his mighty power. 

 A volume of boiling water, the size of the nozzle of the crater, was projected to a great 

 altitude, the action being repeated several times. Then for a moment all was quiet. 

 Thinking it only a feint, we attempted to approach the orifice and make investiga- 

 tions, when we were met by an immense volume of steaming water, as if just from one 

 of Hecate's caldrons, causing another disorderly retreat. It now commenced in ear- 

 nest, and we surely witnessed one of the grandest displays of water-works ever beheld 

 by mortal eyes. The foundations of the great deep seemed literally to have been 



* Page 153. 



t Scribner's Monthly, Vol. II, 1871, p. 124. 



t Yellowstone Expedition of 1870, p. 31. 



§ Reconnaissance of the Yellowstone River, p. 26. 



II Report of U. S. Geol. Survey for 1872, 1873, p. 236. 



H Rambles in Wonderland, New York, 1878, pp. 114-115. 



