224 BOOK OF A HUNDRED BEARS 



I do not know why it has not been restocked. 

 Certainly we are entitled to see some beavers at 

 work. It is, I suppose, due to the fact that the 

 beavers are the shyest of all fur-bearing animals, 

 and would absolutely refuse to exhibit for the 

 benefit of tourists. 



Just beyond is Roaring Mountain, with an 

 enormous steam vent at the top that can be heard 

 for a mile. The heat has killed the trees for many 

 acres about it, and here again is an example of the 

 curious intermittence of these phenomena. Prior 

 to 1902, the noise and heat were slight. In that 

 year it burst forth and has continued. 



As we approach the Norris Basin Hotel these 

 examples of volcanic action increase. Every- 

 where are boiling springs, mud volcanoes, tremors 

 and threatenings. This region, to my mind, is the 

 very center of the volcanic disturbances of the 

 Park. The geysers are not large, but the whole 

 region gives you the feeling that 3^ou are standing 

 on a crust that may at any time give way. New 

 springs and volcanoes appear frequently, and old 

 ones cease. Acres and acres of forest are dead 



