GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



69 



Mountain and return. The deposits upon the verj summit are great, 

 tliough now there is very little water flowing from the springs, and 

 that is 01 a low temijerature. 



Traces of even greater activity than we see at present are found 

 in some localities, and it is more than probable that the force is grad- 



Fig. i6. 



ually dying out from 

 year to year, and that 

 finally it will cease en- 

 tirely. We have nu- 

 merous localities in the 

 West where there have 

 been vast groups of hot 

 si)rings and geysers, 

 but at the present time 

 only the ruins are left. 

 It would seem proba- 

 ble that the heat which 

 gives the temperature to the atmospheric waters rises through numerous 

 fissures from one common source in the interior of the earth, so that 

 when from some cause this heat is checked in its upward progress in one 





CHIMNEY, GARDINER'S RIVER. 



Fig. 17 





place, it finds vent in an- 

 other, and thus passes 

 from point to point over 

 a district. It is probable 

 that they have existed 

 since the period of vol- 

 canic activity, and that 

 now they are diminishing 

 in force, and that event- 

 ually nothing but the de- 

 posit will remain. Large 



numbers of old chimneys ^^^^ chimney, Gardiner's river. 



are scattered over the surface, formed by what may be properly called 

 pulsating geysers. (Figs. 16 and 17.) 



Between one of the largest oblong mounds and the base of the upper 

 terrace, there is a kind of a valley -like interval, which has once been tlie 

 center of much activity, but at the present time there are numerous 

 small jets from which the water is thrown to the height of 2 to 4 feet. 

 But it is to the wonderful variety of exquisitely delicate colors that this 

 picture owes the main part of its attractiveness. The little orifices from 

 which the hot water issues are beautifully enameled with the porcelain- 

 like lining, and around the edges a layer of sulphur is precipitated. As 

 the water flows along the valley, it lays down in its course a pavement 

 more beautiful and elaborate in its adornment than art has ever yet 

 conceived. The sulphur and the iron, with the green microscopic vege- 

 tation, tint the whole with an illumination of which no decoration-painter 

 has ever dreamed. From the sides of the oblong mound, which is here 

 from 30 to 50 feet high, the water has oozed out at dilferent points, 

 forming small groups of the semicircular, step-like basins. (Fig. 18.) 



Again, if we look at the principal group of springs from the high 

 mound above the middle terrace, we can see the same variety of brilliant 

 coloring. The wonderful transparency of tlie water surpasses anything 

 of the kind I have ever seen in any other portion of the Avorld. The 

 sky, with the smallest cloud that flits across it, is reflected in its clear 

 depths, and the ultramarine colors, more vivid than the sea, are greatly 

 heightened by the constant, gentle vibrations. One can look down into 



