132 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



Fig. 35- 



phyry of a light- violet color containing crystals of sanidine. As we pro- 

 ceed down the river we find that this rock is replaced by an argillo- 

 trachyte-porphyry, the white color of which contrasts strongly with 

 the other colors seen on the sides of the caiion. The unequal hardness 

 of the different rocks has allowed it to weather into curious and fan- 

 tastic shapes, spires, towers, and minarets standing out on either side, 

 adding to the i^icturesqueness of the scenery. There have once been 

 many hot springs throughout this region, and it is to them that the 

 greater portion of the coloring seen in the caiion is due, the iron deposits 

 giving the reds and the sulphur the yellows. There still are a number 

 of springs along the river's edge, although from the toi) of the canon 

 they cannot be distinguished. The center of attraction, however, is the 

 lower fall, (Fig. 34). The river suddenly narrows to a width of only 

 100 feet aud rushes over a ledge of trachyte, falling 397 feet to the bot- 

 tom of the caiion. The water at the edge of the fall is very deep and 

 of a deep green color. Huge bowlders thrown in are carried hy the force 

 of the current far out from the edge of the fall. When we approach 

 the brink and look over into the abyss we begin to realize the littleness 

 of man when in the presence of nature's grand masterpieces. Down, 

 down goes the whirling mass, battling and writhing as the water dashes 

 against the rocks with a noise like the discharge of artillery. Here and 

 there a resisting rock is met with and the watei rebounds, broken into 

 myriads of drops, which throw back to us the sunlight resolved into its 



primitive colors. The 

 bottom of the canon 

 reached, the immense 

 mass of water seems 

 to dissolve itself into 

 spray, and then recov- 

 ering, it flows down 

 the gorge an emerald- 

 green stream, dashed 

 with patches of white, 

 beating with furious 

 waves the rocky walls 

 that imprison it. 

 Taken in connection 

 with the varied tints 

 of the canon itself, 

 red, yellow, orange, 

 white, the dark-green 

 pines fringing the top, 

 and the bright green 

 of the spray -nour- 

 ished moss on the 

 .sides of the fall, we 

 have a picture of al- 

 !inost unequaled mag- 

 nificence and gran- 

 ^^^"^Jdeur. It is a scene 

 of which one never 

 tires and in the description of which language fails. As we stand 

 above the lower fall and look toward the south we have a fine view 

 of the upper fall, (Fig. 35,) which is distant about half a mile. This fall 

 differs altogether from the lower one and does not so soon imi)ress one 

 with its height, which is 140 feet. The water pouring over the edge 



^^— .^ggwttt^4;S 



UPPER FALL OF YELLO\VSTONE RIVER, 140 FEET. 



