70 THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 
wonders, so as to charge visitors a fee, as is now done at Niagara 
Falls, for the sight of that which ought to be as free as air or water. — 
If this bill fails to become a law this session, the vandals, who are — 
now waiting to enter into this wonder-land will, in a single season, 2 
despoil, beyond recovery, these remarkable curiosities, which have : 
required all the cunning skill of nature thousands of years to pre- 5 
pare.” If such were the danger then, how much greater would it — 
be when the surrounding country had become thickly populated. 
Having thus proven the wisdom of this liberal appropriation, let ‘ 
us turn our attention to a brief review of the main features of the — 
park in its present wild condition 4 
First, as regards the evidences of waning subterranean heat, so 
`- abundantly manifested within the limits of this reservation. It is — 
a remarkable fact that the springs in different localities are widely 
dissimilar in many respects, and even those in the same locality — 
often differ as greatly from each other in some of their character- 
istics. The White Mountain hot springs of Gardiner’s River arè 
a noteworthy example of this, and did there exist no other reason — 
for the formation of a park in this region, the fact that here the 
successive steps in the history of the ancient volcanic action are 
I venture to say that nowhere in our country, not even in the tri 
wonderful cañon of the Colorado, is so much of geological histor 
material. The area within which all this is comprised is 
_ less than ten square miles. Some of the most interesting prod 
-are so delicate, and many of them are formed in situations $ 
a culiar, that frequently the work of years might easily be demoli 
in a very few seconds. It is true that in many cases spoliation 
may be rectified, but there are numerous formations which have 
been and are now progressing so slowly, that the work of a 
lation can tee keep pace with the destructive effects of na 
erosion. _ 
_ And yet this riale section furnishes but a small po 
of the attractions of the park to the scientific observer. Ho 
o Z: pres mud a fumaroles, solfataras and 
