GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITOEIES. 



9 



o 



impression among the mountain-men was, tliat this is a periodic spring, and 

 plaj'cd once in six hours precisely. In order to test this belief, I directed 

 my assistant, Mr. Campbell Oarrington, with one non-commissioned offi- 

 cer of the escort, to return from our camp on the lake, and note ininuteley 

 the movements of this spring for twenty four hours in succession. The 

 following interesting report was made by Mr. Carrington : 



"We arrived at the mud- geysers ten minutes after 9 o'clock a. m., 

 July 1. The pool was calm, with the exception of the little boiling bub- 

 bles that are always on its sur- 

 face. In circumference it 

 measures nearly 100 feet. 

 While selecting a place to 

 camp, unsaddling our horses, 

 &c., we heard a loud, hissing 

 noise, as an escape of steam. 

 Hurrying to the geyser, I saw 

 a wave about three feet in 

 height rise and die away to the 

 left; three similar ones fol- 

 lowed in quick succession. It 

 then, with a dull, heavy sound, 

 accompanied by dense col- 

 umns of steam, suddenly burst 

 up to the height of 20 feet. It 

 continued in action for the 

 space of fifteen minutes, when 

 it ceased flowing as suddenly 

 as it had commenced. The av- 

 erage height of this flowing was 

 about 15 feet, although some 

 jets reached fully 30. Five 

 minutes after the eruption, the 

 pool measured 25 feet in cir- 

 cumference and 3 in depth, 

 where before it was 100 feet in 

 circumference and 11 in depth. 

 Ten minutes after (at 9.45 a. 

 m.) I noticed that it was slowly 

 commencing to rise again. It 

 continued to do so until twen- 

 ty minutes after one, (1.20 p. 

 m.,) when it began to boil near 

 the center, a black formation 

 making a ring around the boil- 

 ing i)art. This boiling gradu- 

 ally increased in violence, last- 

 ing twenty minutes; it then suddenly stopped, and a wave 2 or 3 feet 

 in height arose, dying away to the left, and the flowing then took ])lace 

 as before described. Average height of this flowing, 15 feet ; duration, 

 20 minutes. 



"This rising, falling, and overflowing took place eight times in twenty- 

 four hours, the circumstances connected with each one being almost 

 (3xactly the same. Appended below is a table of the time and length of 

 flo wings : 



" Time of jloivings. 



"Arrived at 9.10 a. m. 



" First flowing, 9.20 a. m. to 9.35 a. m. 



length, 



15 minutes. 



