PEALE.] 



UPPER GEYSER BASIN CASTLE GROUP. 



205 



1870. — Lang-ford speaks of the Castle being in action at intervals of 

 two or three hours and spouting to the height of 50 feet,* and Doane 

 s^.ys he saw it on one occasion throwing water to the perpendicular 

 h3ight of 60 feet, with the escape of heavy volumes of steam, t They 

 were of the opinion that the geyser was becoming extinct or at least 

 had passed its most active stages of existence. 



1871. — We saw no honajide eruption of the Castle in 1871, but it was 

 in frequent action, spurting irregularly to the height of 10 or 15 feet 

 several times when we were in the neighborhood. 



1872. — The eruptions we witnessed in 1872 began with a succession of 

 jets numbering about 20 per minute, which reached various heights. 

 These lasted about 15 minutes and were followed by a steam, mingled 



ith spray, which escaped in pulsations which soon ceased and the 



team escaped with a steady roar, which afterwards changed to an es- 



cape of cloud-like masses of steam. This gradually died down and 



ended an hoitr and twenty minutes a,fter the beginning of the eruption. 



The following are the eruptions that were noted : 



iS-^o. 



Date. 



Eruption be- 

 gan. 



Duration of 

 ■water period. 



Duration of 

 steam period. 



Maximum 

 height. 



Mean height. 



1 



2 



1872. 



August 18 



August 19 



August 20 



h.m. s. 

 9 10 00 a.m. 

 10 30 00 a. m. 



7 24 20 a. m. 



m. s. 



is'oo' 



16 00 



h. m. s. 

 122"o'o'+ 



Feet. 



Water 34 



Water 93 



Steam 115 



Water 51 



Feet. 



Water 21 



Water 57 



Steam 81 









In the second eruption the maximum of the water period was at- 

 tained 3 minutes 40 seconds after the eruption began. The steam was 

 still escaping when we left the vicinity of the geyser, so that the period 

 was not determined. The intervals are 25 hours 20 minutes and 20 

 hours 54 minutes 20 seconds ; but we cannot be certain that the erup- 

 tions were consecutive as the night intervened in each case. 



1873. — Professor Comstock witnessed parts of two eruptions. His 

 description is as follows : 



AVhen we eutered the basin early on tlie morning of August 25, the Castle was roar- 

 ing vigorou.sly, and a small amount of vapor escaped steadily from the vent at the 

 summit. This gradually dwindled, and no eruption took place until the following 

 day, although spurts of 2 or 3 feet only occurred at irregular intervals. Shortly 

 Ijefore 4 p. m. on the following day, a large mass of water was ejected in a column 

 which was maintained for two minutes at a height of nearly 30 feet. Leaving the 

 basin one hour later, the roaring, which continued after the eruption, was still very 

 audible at a considerable distance. From this it may, perhaps, be justly inferred 

 that an eruption had taken place just before our arrival on tbe iirevious day. There 

 was a certain fitfulness of action before and after the main ejection, all of which may 

 proi^erly be con.sidered as part of one eruption, lasting more than one hour. We ob- 

 served the x)henomena from a little distance, when we were unable to devote any time 

 to special examination, t 



1874. — The Earl of Dunraven gives a graphic account of the eruption 

 of the Castle, which I quote in full : 



Far down in his bowels a fearful commotion was going on ; we could liear a great 

 noise — a rumbling as of thou.sands of tons of stones rolling round and round, piling 

 up in heaps and rattling down again, mingled with the lashing of the water against 

 the sides as it surged up the funnel and fell again in spray. Louder and louder grew 

 tbe disturbance, till with a sudden qualm he would heave out a few tons of water and 

 obtain momentary relief. After a few jiremonitory heaves had warned us to remove 

 to a little distance, the symptoms became rapidly worse; the row and the racket in- 

 creased in intensity ; the monster's throes became more and more violent; the earth 



*Scribner'8 Monthly for 1871, vol. ii, p. 124. , 



tlieport of Yellowstone Expedition of 1870, p. 30. 



t Report of Reconuaissance of N. W. Wyoming, by Capt. W. A. Jones, p. 250, 251. 



