270 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Apeil 21, 1887- 



he ^porknjtm %onmt 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Pvb, Co. 



SPRINGTIME IS COMING. 



SEE! on the elm boughs the robin is swinging, 

 Hark to the note of the bluebird clear ringing, 

 List to the tidings they sweetly are bringing, 

 Springtime is coming, and summer is near. 



Now o'er the ledges in cataracts leaping, 



Now in still pools 'neath the dark hemlocks sleeping, ^ 



Now in long curves through the brown pastures sweeping, 



Hear, the brook tells us that springtime is near. 

 Swift to the northward the wildfowl are winging. 

 Soon in the shallows the trout will be springing, 

 Soon in the meadows the bobolink singing, 



Springtime is coming, and summer is near. 



Soon on the hillside the grouse will be drumming, 

 Soon 'round the flowers the bee willbe humming, 

 All their notes saying that summer is coming. 

 Summer is coming and springtime is near. 



Daily the shadows are length'ning before ua. 

 Soon will the leaves cast their soft shelter o'er us, 

 Nature exulting will join the glad chorus. 

 Summer is coming, and springtime is near. 



Welcome the guests with a greeting of pleasure, 

 Open your hearts to receive the sweet treasure, 

 Tune all your voices to join in the measure, 

 Summer is coming, and springtime is near. 

 Chablestown, N.H., Easter Sunday, 1887. Von W. 



WINTER IN WONDERLAND. 



THROUGH THE YELLOWSTONE PARK ON SNOWSHOES. 



m. 



AT the Lower Basin we found Mr. James Dean and wife 

 in charge. They were living in one of the comfort- 

 able log cottages belonging to the hotel. Mr. Dean is one 

 of the old assistant superintendents, who for years did 

 more to save the Park from destruction by fire than any 

 other assistant. Stationed in the cottage at Norris he 

 daily rode each way on the road, putting out fires and re- 

 moving obstructions from the geysers and springs; keep- 

 ing a sharp lookout for specimen fiends. It is to be re- 

 gretted that Congress did not appropriate money for the 

 protection of the Park and place such men as Mr. Dean 

 in charge. The Yellowstone Park Association have had 

 him in charge of their hotel at this place ever since 

 they started. During the winter he has been keeping 

 a record of the maximum and minimum thermometer 

 readings, the depth of snow fall and earthquake shocks. 

 The latter occurred first on the 5 th of November. There 

 was first a slight shock, with a long rumbling sound ac- 

 companied with a jar, the sound coming from the east 

 and passing on west, where it appeared to strike the hill 

 on the west and stop. 



On the 7th, or more properly the 8th, at 12:50 A. M., 

 occurred a second shock. There was a rumbling, and 

 then a shaking and swaying of the cabin so that the 

 dishes rattled. Mr. Dean was awakened by the move- 

 ment of the house; a large dog asleep in the next room 

 was frightened, and going to the door begged to be let 

 out. This was the heaviest shock felt, and, I believe, the 

 one that was so heavy at Norris. The next night, Nov. 

 9, there was a rumbling sound which came from the east, 

 a very sudden shock or jar, the sound passing on and 

 ending apparently at the hill on the west; the whole thing 

 was over in less than ten seconds. On Nov. 27 the same 

 rumbling sound was heard coming from the east; as it 

 passed under the cabin there was a slight shock felt. On 

 Dec. 20, at 7:30 P. M., a slight jar and shock was felt, 

 accompanied with the usual rumbling noise. This account 

 is as Mr. Dean gave it to me, and can be depended on as 

 reliable, without any sensational additions. 



The thermometer readings for that part of January 

 while the Schwatka explorers were finding the snow so 

 deep on Willow Creek, and the cold so intense (—51°) I 

 give below. The readings arejaken at noon from self- 

 registering thermometers: 



Max. Min. Max. Min 



Jan. 6. . . . +26° — 1° Jan. 8. . . . -18' —31" 

 Jan. 7. . . . + 5° — 5° Jan. 9. . . . 0" —22° 

 The highest in January was on the 3d, +33°, and the 

 lowest the 8th, or night of the 7th, — 31°. 



The snowfall up to date was for October, November 

 and December, 58in. ; January, 51in. ; February 1 to 18, 

 44in., a total of 153in. or 12ft. 9in., a very respectable 

 amount of snow, considering that March and April are 

 very snowy months, some years as much falling in these 

 two months as in all the others put together. The snow 

 was drifted around the buildings in immense piles. This 

 hotel is the only one at all exposed to the wind, the others 

 are sheltered either by timber or hills. Around each 

 building on three sides would be a narrow space, the snow 

 drifted in perpendicular walls. On the other or north 

 side it will be piled up against the building 7 and 8ft. 

 deep. 



On Feb. 18 I made a new pair of snowshoes for Jack, 

 his being, for him, unmanageable. This took most of the 

 day. Flocks of ducks were often seen flying up or down 

 stream. Their "quack, quack" could be heard in the 

 streams on each side of the group of houses. 



On the 19th, a clear day, I visited the Lower Basin, 



crossing the open meadow between the hotel and the 

 Fountain Geyser. On this flat I found the snow from 1 

 to 3ft. deep. I turned aside to the Third Geyser Group, 

 but saw nothing unusual here. The Surprise Geyser 

 showed no signs of having had an eruption this winter, 

 and the other pools and springs on the flat were about as 

 usual. At the Fountain I was rewarded by a beautiful 

 sight. A small grove of trees about a hundred yards to 

 the northeast were a mass of ice formed from the steam 

 that had drifted to them from the Fountain Geyser. The 

 central tree was a white monument, a tower resting on a 

 base seemingly formed by arches of ice uniting around 

 the tree some 10ft. from the ground, making a grotto 

 through whose passages one could walk, the tree's trunk 

 supporting the whole. This monument was surrounded 

 by others, each one glittering in the bright sunshine and 

 well worth a fifty-mile snowshoe trip to see. 



Approaching nearer and going around the group, I 

 noticed a great change. Most of the limbs and twigs had 

 no ice or snow on them on the side away from the geyser. 

 Toward the geyser there was a thin ribbon of ice fastened 

 by one edge to the twigs and small limbs, while on the 

 body and large limbs the ice was in masses. These rib- 

 bons were two inches wide and less than a quarter inch 

 thick. Tbey were made up of bands of different shades 

 of ice. Next the limb was a clear, transparent strip a 

 quarter inch wide, then came a band of white ice, then a 

 thread which was perfectly clear, next a line beautifully 

 shaded, like porcelain. The whole was like a ribbon of 

 banded agate, the outer edge being a pure dead white. 

 The last addition of frost to the ribbon was a little thicker 

 than the rest and somewhat more wavy— sometimes 

 almost like a fringe. These ribbons followed the line of 

 everything that supported them. In a few places they 

 were broken off; but on the whole, everytliing that could 

 supx^ort their weight was thus ornamented. 



Leaving here after spending an hour and only once 

 attempting to make a sketch of this beautiful grove, I 

 moved on to the great Paint Pots and other geysers. 

 Here I saw nothing as interesting as the frost work. The 

 coloring was not as brilliant as in summer. The ice and 

 snow came up to within a few inches of the pools and to 

 where the water fell from the geysers. Wherever the 

 hot water had cut channels through the fields of ice, the 

 bottoms of the streams were colored, as is usual where 

 the water is hot. 



Returning to the Fountain I enjoyed, before I left, an- 

 other look at the Monument Grove. While looking at 

 it the Fountain went off, and I was soon surrounded by 

 clouds of steam from the overflowing water. As a strong 

 cold wind was blowing from the southwest, I left here to 

 get away from the steam, following down one of the 

 channels on a run with the hot water only a "little way 

 behind me. Getting to the flat I used my snowshoes again. 

 In recrossing the meadow I saw many very thin places in 

 the snow, and some spots where the ground was bare. 

 Either the ground is warmer here from internal heat or 

 the snow has blown off, as there were many wet places. 

 It seems probable that the slight depth of snow here may 

 be accounted for by the heat having melted most of it. 



Rabbit, fox, coyote, wolverine and lynx tracks crossed 

 and recrossed one another on the flat. They tell me here 

 geese and swans have been seen in the Fire Hole River 

 this winter, but I saw none. 



Soon after my return to the hotel, Mr. Kelly came in from 

 Norris with a man Sullivan, whom Mr. Dean had sent 

 for to work around the place. Sullivan had started from 

 the Mammoth Hot Springs with a very poor pair of snow- 

 shoes. Foolishly passing the tent we had propped up, he 

 went on a little further, and when night overtook him, 

 camped in the snow. Breaking off dead limbs he lit a 

 fire by some dead trees and this he kept up all night. In 

 the morning he was down in a hole in the snow, out of 

 which he coidd not see. He had frosted his feet during 

 the night while gathering firewood. The next day he 

 made in to the Norris Hotel in an exhausted condition. 

 He went to bed soon after arriving and Mr. Kelly let him 

 sleep some sixteen hours. The third day, after having 

 rested up, Sullivan started for the Lower Basin. Mr. 

 Kelly accompanied him, intending to go only part way, 

 but finding that S. was inclined to stop too often, Kelly 

 concluded to come on to the Basin with him, fearing that 

 if he was left alone he would not make in or freeze to 

 death in the night. By alternately encouraging and 

 threatening, Kelly induced him to keep on until he got 

 him safe to the hotel. If left alone there is little doubt 

 that Sidlivan would have frozen to death that night, as 

 it was very cold, — 21 °. Mr. Kelly, although a new hand at 

 snowshoeing, has been out frequently on the road, help- 

 ing men in, and looking for the overdue. He was out 

 after some of the Schwatka party when their own men 

 would not go, was out looking for Con when he came to 

 our camp, helped Sullivan through, and rescued for Mr. 

 Jones a horse that had been left on the road exhausted. 



On the 20th, a bright cold morning, the thermometer 

 reading — 21°, we started from the Upper Basin. As the 

 telephone wire was down we took a piece to repair it, ex- 

 pecting to find it broken where it passes over a hot 

 spring where, when it is very cold, the wire gets heavily 

 loaded with frost from the steam. The road was often 

 crossed by small game tracks. We flushed two dusky 



grouse, saw several pine squirrels and a flying squirrel. 

 These last I did not suppose, a year ago, were to be found 

 in the Rocky Mountains, but they are very abundant 

 about some parts of the Park. I have seen them only at 

 nightfall. I think they are about but little in the day- 

 time. Soon after crossing the Fire Hole River, I saw a 

 very large lynx. I called Jack's attention to him and he 

 thought it was a lion until he saw there was no long tail. 

 A little further on we came to a place where the lynx 

 had watched our approach. Wishing to know more 

 about us he had crossed the road and was passing to the 

 windward of us when I saw him. He was grayish on his 

 back, had reddish gray sides and light gray belly— a Cana- 

 dian lynx and a very large animal of its kind. Its track 

 measured 4in. wide and Gin. long. It did not stop long 

 in sight, but soon disappeared in. the timber. I gave a 

 cat-like call, hoping to stop it, which I did, but it was be- 

 hind some brush and out of sight. Here it stayed a mo- 

 ment and then trotted on. 



While traveling through this section I was constantly 

 on the watch for bison or their sign, as I have reason to 

 believe there is a small band wintering within a circuit of 

 two miles or so of this locality from signs seen in the 

 early spring last year. I was disappointed in not seeing 

 them. Had I had the time, I would have devoted a week 

 to looking them up. 



We soon came to the Midway Geyser Basin, a part of 

 the Lower Basin, and sometimes called "Hell's Half 

 Acre." Here are the Excelsior Geyser, Prismatic and 

 Turquois Springs, with several others of lesser note. 

 The whole surface of the formation was covered with 

 snow and ice, except in a few narrow channels made by 

 the overflowing waters. Even some of them ended in 

 fields of ice and snow, especially those from the Prismatic 

 Spring, only one or two streams finding their way to 

 other pools of hot water, the rest disappearing in the 

 snow. Leaving our snowshoes we traveled from place to 

 place in these channels, which we could easily do, as the 

 water in them is very shallow. At the Turquois Spring 

 the snow and ice came so close to the hot water that we 

 could not walk along the edge of the spring without 

 stepping in the hot water. The spring was as beautifully 

 blue as in summer — even more so by contrast with the 

 surrounding banks of snow. We could walk around the 

 Prismatic Springs without trouble, as the overflow is 

 about the same everywhere, melting the snow off for 

 from 10 to 50ft. Here the coloring, as usual in winter 

 through the Park, was dull. 



Wading through banks of snow we came to the great 

 Crater of the Excelsior, the largest and most powerful 

 geyser in the Park and in the world when it was in action. 

 It was boiling and bubbling all over, and most of the sur- 

 face was hidden by dense clouds of hot vapor. The cen- 

 ter was boiling more violently at times. Now and then 

 one could catch a glimpse of a mass of water 25ft. in 

 diameter, thrown up from 5 to 6ft., sending to the shore 

 waves which constantly wear the banks away, undermin- 

 ing the sides iintil they cave in, only to be worn out again 

 by the constant wave motion of the hot water. There is 

 often a roar as the steam rushes up through the water, 

 giving one the impression that there is going to be an 

 eruption at once. 



There has been a great amount of sensational stuff 

 written about this geyser. One writer has it in eruption 

 at the time of the Charleston earthquake, throwing out 

 red hot rocks, flames, water, steam, sulphurous gases, 

 smoke; in fact, a volcano. Others have seen every indi- 

 cation cf "its having just gone off, it was so wet around 

 there," forgetting that the waters of the Prismatic Spring 

 flow all around it. No reputable witness claims to have 

 seen it in action since the fall of '82, which was the only 

 time I was fortunate enough to see it in all its glory. It 

 did throw out pieces of geyser formation some 4in. in 

 diameter and 2in. thick; they were the largest pieces I 

 saw thrown out. I have heard people say that they have 

 seen it "throw out rocks as big as that stove." 



As a proof that no eruption has taken place this winter, 

 on all sides banks of ice and snow, from 1ft. to 5ft. deep, 

 came down close to the edge of the crater. On the west 

 and south sides there was no room to walk, and we had 

 to keep back on the snowbanks. On the side toward the 

 Prismatic Spring great icicles hung from the formation 

 almost to the surface of the water. On a piece of fallen 

 formation, forming a little island near the shore, was a 

 little snow. The porous nature of the formation makes 

 this rock a very poor heat Conductor, and I believe this 

 to be the cause of so much ice and snow so near the great 

 bodies of hot water. We visited the other pools, but saw 

 nothing of special interest. Just before reaching the 

 bridge where we recross the Fire Hole, we met the man in 

 charge of the Upper Basin Hotel, Mr. Roake, and his son 

 Willie, a 12-year old boy, both out on snowshoes, the boy 

 being able to do his ten miles in a day with any one. 

 They had just repaired the broken wire where the break 

 was supposed to have been, and were looking for us, ex- 

 pecting to see us on the road. With this addition to our 

 company we went on, noticing many ice-covered trees 

 like those at the Fountain Geyser, wonderful and beauti- 

 ful beyond words. Soon after Mr. Roake turned back 

 with us, we came to a large lynx track which had struck 

 Ms trail, followed it a little way, and then crossed the 



