GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TERRITOEIES. 65 



groups of hot springs in the world. The springs in action at the pres- 

 ent time are not very numerous or even so wonderful as some of those 

 higher up in the Yellowstone Valley or in the Fire-Hole Basin, but it 

 is in the remains that we find so instructive records of their past 

 history. The calcareous deposits from these springs cover an area of 

 about two miles square, (see chart, Fig. 12.) The active springs extend 

 from the margin of the river 5,545 feet to an elevation nearly 1,000 above, 

 or 6,522 feet above the sea by barometrical measurement. We may 

 commence our description at the springs near the margin of Gardiner's 

 ^iver. As we pass up the valley from the junction of Gardiner's Elver 

 with the Yellowstone, we see all over the sides of the hills upon our left 

 the debris of volcanic rocks mingled with the Cretaceous clays. Indeed, 

 the entire surface looks much like the refuse about an old furnace. The 

 tops of the rounded hills are covered with the fragments of basalt and con- 

 glomerate, and the great variety of somber colors adds mupch to the ap- 

 pearance of desolation. One or two depressions, which appear much like 

 volcanic vents, are now filled with water to the rim, forming stagnant 

 lakes fifty to one hundred yards in diameter. We i)ass over this barren 

 elevated region, 200 to 400 feet above the river-bed, for two miles, when 

 we descend abruptly to the low bottom, which is covered with a thick 

 calcaereous crust, indicating the former existence of hot springs. At 

 one point a large stream of hot water, 6 feet wide and 2 feet deep, flows 

 swiftly along its channel from beneath the crust, the open portion of 

 the channel clearly revealed by the continual steam arising. The tem- 

 perature varies from 126^ to 132o. On the 28th of August the tem- 

 perature v^as 130°, and about the 15th of July ]3revious it was 126°. 

 There is a greater quantity of water flowing from this spring than 

 Irom any other in this region. A little farther above are three 

 or four other springs near the margin of the river. These have 

 nearly circular basins 6 to 10 feet in diameter, and do not rise above 

 100^ to 120^. Around these springs are gathered, at this time, a number 

 of invalids, with cutaneous diseases, and they were most emphatic in 

 their favorable expressions in regard to the sanitary efl'ects. The 

 most remarkable eifect seems to be on persons afflicted with syphilitic 

 diseases of long standing. Our path led up the hill by the side of a 

 wall of lower Cretaceous rocks, and we soon came to the most abun- 

 dant remains of old springs, which, in past times, must have been very 

 active. The steep hill, for nearly a mile, is covered with a thick crust, 

 and, though much decomposed and covered with a moderately thick 

 growth of pines and cedars, still bore traces of the same wonderful 

 architectural beauty displayed in the vicinity of the active springs 

 farther up the hill. After ascending the side of the mountain, about 

 a mile above the channel of Gardiner's Eiver, we suddenly came in full 

 view of one of the finest displays of nature's architectural skill the world 

 can produce. The snowy whiteness of the deposit at once suggested 

 the name of White Mountain Hot Spring. It had the appearance of a 

 frozen cascade. If a group of springs near the summit of a mountain 

 were to distribute their waters down the irregular declivities, and they 

 were slowly congealed, the picture would bear some resemblance iu 

 form. 



We pitched our camp at the foot of the principal mountain, by the 

 side of the stream that contained the aggregated waters of the hot 

 springs above, which, by the time they had reached our camp, were 

 sufficiently cooled for our use. Before us was a hill 200 feet high, 

 composed of the calcareous deposit of the hot springs, with a system 

 of step-like terraces which would defy any description by words. The 



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