issues from the cave it divides into nu- 

 merous irrigating channels, and spreads 

 fertihty over an area of more than 

 eighty square miles. Echo River in Mam- 

 moth Cave is navigated by boats for 

 nearly a mile, and in some places is two 

 hundred feet wide. The Poik River in 

 Austria flows through the famous cave 

 of Planina. The cave can only be ex- 

 plored by a boat. Professor Schmidt, 

 with three companions, navigated the 

 river for more than a mile. Along the 

 continental shores man}^ outlets of sub- 

 terranean rivers may be seen. In 1857 

 all that part of the sea adjacent to the 

 southern point of Florida received an 

 immense eruption of fresh water. Intel- 

 ligent observers estimated that for more 

 than a month this remarkable inundation 

 of a subterranean river discharged as 

 much water as the Mississippi, and 

 spread all over the strait, thirty-one 

 miles wide, that separates Key West 

 from the mainland of Florida. 



Among the woffders of Yellowstone 

 Park the geysers are the most noted. One 

 of them is called Old Faithful, because 

 he always spouts on time. He gives a 

 grand exhibition every hour, whether he 

 has an audience or not. He spouts, and 

 sputters, and hisses and throws a huge 

 column of hot water into the air, and then 

 quiets down and gets ready for another 

 performance. Another geyser in Yel- 

 lowstone Park is called the Beehive, be- 

 ing cone-shaped Hke the old-fashioned 

 beehive. It throws up a column of water 

 more than two hundred feet. Castle 

 Geyser is another that throws up a larger 

 column of hot water than either of the 

 above. The falling water has built up 

 a huge crater that resembles a castle, 

 hence its name. But the largest geyser 

 in Yellowstone Park is called the Giant- 

 ess. The well or orifice through which 

 it sends up its column of water is more 

 than twenty feet in diameter. The 

 steam arises after the water has been 

 ejected. A body of water more than 

 twenty feet in diameter ascends in one 

 gigantic column to the height of ninety 

 feet. Then from the apex of this col- 

 umn five jets shoot up, radiating slightly 

 from each other to the height of two hun- 

 dred and fifty feet from the ground. The 

 earlli trcmlilc^ under the descending de- 



luge of this vast column of water, a thou- 

 sand hissing sounds are heard in the air, 

 rainbows encircle the summits of the jets 

 with a halo of celestial glory. The fall- 

 ing water plows up and bears away the 

 shelly strata, and a seething flood pours 

 down the slope into the river. It is the 

 grandest and most terrible fountain in 

 the world. Visitors have to wait hours 

 and sometimes days before the geyser 

 will entertain them with an exhibition of 

 its power and beauty. 



Commander Ford, of the British 

 Navy, says that one of the gesyers of 

 Iceland, called the Stroker, can be ex- 

 cited to action by throwing stones and 

 turf down into the pit, and that the gey- 

 ser resents the insult by throwing them 

 up. He found that it usually took about 

 forty minutes after throwing in the 

 stones before they were thrown up. It 

 occurred to him that he might send his 

 dinner down and have it sent back to 

 him well cooked. So he wrapped a leg 

 of mutton and a fowl in a cloth and 

 threw them into the boiling caldron, 

 where he would never see them again 

 unless they were thrown up. After 

 waiting the usual forty minutes he be- 

 gan to regret his venture, but the geyser 

 was only seven minutes behind time, and 

 up came his leg of mutton and fowl done 

 to a turn. Aside from the beauty of the 

 columns of water, vapor and steam gey- 

 sers send up, the waters are all the time 

 depositing carbonate of lime and silica, 

 and building up craters of many inter- 

 esting forms. 



The principle on which artesian wells 

 act is very simple and can be understood 

 by any schoolboy. Though this princi- 

 ple is very simple, there are so many 

 varying conditions that many expensive 

 failures result. Millions of dollars have 

 been spent to get pure wells of flowing 

 water, with nothing to show but holes in 

 the ground or a flow of useless mineral 

 water, but sometimes a good quality of 

 mineral water is obtained. At Henrv', 

 Illinois, a flowing well of sulphur water 

 is highly valued by the people, who come 

 many miles to obtain it, while a few 

 miles north of Henry, at Bureau Junc- 

 tion, there is a well of soda water which 

 is very palatable. 



Some of the best authorities say that 



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