[Illustration: THE GREAT GEYSER BASIN OF THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE.]
WONDERS
OF THE
YELLOWSTONE
EDITED BY
JAMES RICHARDSON.
_New Edition, with new Map and Illustrations._
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1886
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington
_CONTENTS._
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
The Crown of the Continent--Yellowstone Lake--Ancient
Volcanic Action--Modern Thermal Phenomena 1
CHAPTER II.
Early Explorations--Lewis and Clarke's Expeditions--Trappers'
Yarns--Colonel Raynold's Expedition--The Washburn
Expedition--Colonel Barlow's Expedition--Dr.
Hayden's Geological Survey 5
CHAPTER III.
Route from Fort Ellis to Bottlers' Ranch--Fort Ellis--Prospect
from the Divide--Snowy Mountain--Trail Creek--Pyramid
Mountain--The Bottler Brothers--Yellowstone Valley 15
CHAPTER IV.
Bottlers' Ranch to Gardiner's River--River Valley--Second
Cañon--Cinnabar Mountain--The Devil's Slide--Western
Nomenclature--Precious Stones 21
CHAPTER V.
Hot Springs of Gardiner's River--Third Cañon--Rapids--Valley
of Gardiner's River--Thermal Springs--White
Mountain--Hot Springs--Natural Bathing-pools--Diana's
Bath--Liberty Cap--Bee-hive--Extinct Geysers--Beautiful
Water--Vegetation in Hot Springs--Antiquity
of Springs--Classification of Thermal Springs 27
CHAPTER VI.
Gardiner's River to Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone--Forks
of Gardiner's River--Gallatin Mountains--Basaltic
Columns--Falls of Gardiner's River--Mountain
Prospect--Over the Divide--Agatized Wood--Delightful
Climate--Mountain Verdure--Volcanic Ridges--Ravines--Third
Cañon of the Yellowstone--Hell-roaring River--Hell-roaring
Mountain--East Fork of the Yellowstone--Ancient
Springs and Calcareous Deposits--First Bridge
over the Yellowstone--Rock Cutting--Tower-creek Cañon--Column
Rock--The Devil's Den--Tower Falls--The
Devil's Hoof--Mineral Springs--Mouth of Grand Cañon 43
CHAPTER VII.
Over Mount Washburn to Falls of the Yellowstone--Ascent
of Mount Washburn--Extensive View--Steam Puffs--Elephant's
Back--Grand Cañon--Yellowstone Basin--The
Three Tetons--First View of Yellowstone Lake--Madison
Mountains--Gallatin Range--Emigrant Peak--Geological
History of the Yellowstone Basin--Ancient
Volcanic Action--Descent of Mount Washburn--Hell-broth
Springs--The Devil's Caldron--Cascade Creek--The
Devil's Den--Crystal Cascade 61
CHAPTER VIII.
The Grand Cañon and the Falls of the Yellowstone--Description
of Grand Cañon--Descent into the Cañon--History
of Grand Cañon---Lower Falls--Upper Falls 78
CHAPTER IX.
From the Falls to the Lake--River above the Falls--Alum
Creek--Boiling Springs--Crater Hill--A Narrow Escape--The
Locomotive Jet--Sulphur Springs--Mud Puffs--No
Vegetation--Temperature of Springs--Muddy Geyser--Mud
Volcano--Mud-sulphur Springs--The Grotto--The
Giant's Caldron--Movements of Muddy Geyser 90
CHAPTER X.
Yellowstone Lake--Setting of the Lake--Shape of the Lake--Shores
of the Lake--Yellowstone Trout--Worms in
Trout--Waterfowl--The Guide-bird--Fauna of Yellowstone
Basin--Islands in the Lake--The First Explorers 105
CHAPTER XI.
Around the Yellowstone Lake--Hot Springs of Pelican
Creek--Hot Springs of Steam Point--Fire Slashes--Difficult
Travelling--Little Invulnerable--Poetry in the
Wilderness--Volcanic Peaks--Mounts Langford, Doane,
and Stephenson--Brimstone Basin--Alum Creek--Upper
Yellowstone--Wind River Mountains--Valley of Upper
Yellowstone--The Five Forks--Bridger's Lake--Yellowstone
Mountains--Heart Lake--Madison Lake--Mount
Sheridan--Flat Mountain--Bridger's "Two
Ocean River"--A Companion lost--Lakes and Springs--Hot
Springs on the West Shore--Bridge Creek--Dead
Springs--The Elephant's Back 114
CHAPTER XII.
Upper Geyser Basin--The Grand Geyser Region--Firehole
River--Madison Lake--Mountains about the Lake--Cascades--The
Geysers--Old Faithful--The Bee-hive--The
Giantess--Castle Geyser--Grand Geyser--The Saw-mill--The
Comet--The Grotto--The Pyramid--The Punch
Bowl--Black Sand Geyser--Riverside Geyser--The Fan--The
Sentinels--Iron Spring Creek--Soda Geyser 133
CHAPTER XIII.
Lower Geyser Basin--Down the Firehole--Prismatic Hot
Springs--The Cauldron--Old Spring Basins--The Conch
Spring--Horn Geyser--Bath Spring--The Cavern--Mud
Springs--Thud Geyser--Fountain Geyser--Mud Pot--Fissure
Spring--White Dome Geyser--Bee-hive--Petrifaction--Hot
Spring Vegetation--Cold Spring--General
View of the Basin--The Twin Buttes--Fall of the
Fairies--Rainbow Spring 162
CHAPTER XIV.
Natural History of Geysers and other Thermal Springs--Iceland
Geysers--History of _The Geyser_--The Strokr--Eruption
of _the_ Geyser--Growth of _the_ Geyser--Mechanism
of Geysers--Artificial Geysers--Life and Death of
Geysers--Laugs--New Zealand Hot Springs--_Te Tarata_--Hot
Springs of the Waikato--Origin of Mineral
Springs--Chemistry of Mineral Springs 180
CHAPTER XV.
Mr. Everts's Thirty-seven Days of Peril--Lost--Loss of
Horse--Midnight Dangers--Starvation--Return to Lake--No
Food in the Midst of Plenty--Bessie Lake--Thistle
Roots--Hunted by a Lion--Storms--First Fire--Vain
Efforts to find Food--Attempt to cross the Mountains--The
Lost Shoe--Forest on Fire--Hallucination--Turned
back--The Doctor--Physiological Transformations--Descending
the River--Loss of Lens--Discovery
and Rescue 199
CHAPTER XVI.
Our National Park--The Yellowstone Reservation--Dr.
Hayden's Report--Text of Act of Congress--Appointment
of Hon. N. P. Langford Superintendent of Park 250
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
GREAT GEYSER BASIN _Front_
HOT SPRINGS OF GARDNER'S RIVER 27
DIANA'S BATH, GARDNER'S RIVER 31
LIBERTY CAP, GARDNER'S RIVER 36
EXTINCT GEYSER, EAST FORK OF THE YELLOWSTONE 50
THE DEVIL'S HOOF 58
GETTING A SPECIMEN 72
THE DEVIL'S DEN 76
UPPER FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE 86
THE MUD VOLCANO 100
YELLOWSTONE LAKE 106
THE FIRST BOAT ON YELLOWSTONE LAKE 113
BREAKING THROUGH 122
THE GRAND GEYSER, FIREHOLE BASIN 144
THE GIANT GEYSER 153
FAN GEYSER, FIREHOLE BASIN 158
THE BEE-HIVE 161
GRAND CAÑON AND LOWER FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE 194
IMAGINARY COMPANIONS 236
THE GIANTESS, FIREHOLE BASIN 252
MAPS.
HAYDEN'S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL
PARK.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
THE CROWN OF THE CONTINENT.
In the northwest corner of the Territory of Wyoming, about half way
between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, and in the same
latitude as the State of New York, the grand Rocky Mountain system
culminates in a knot of peaks and ranges enclosing the most remarkable
lake basin in the world. From this point radiate the chief mountain
ranges, and three of the longest rivers of the Continent--the Missouri,
the Columbia, and the Colorado.
On the south are the Wind River Mountains, a snow-clad barrier which no
white man has ever crossed. On the east is the Snowy Mountain Range,
and the grand cluster of volcanic peaks between it and Yellowstone
Lake. On the west is the main divide of the Rocky Mountains. On the
north are the bold peaks of the Gallatin Range, and the parallel
ridges which give a northward direction to all the great tributaries of
the Missouri from this region.
Set like a gem in the centre of this snow-rimmed crown of the
continent, is the loveliest body of fresh water on the globe, its
dark-blue surface at an elevation greater than that of the highest
clouds that fleck the azure sky of a summer's day, over the tops of the
loftiest mountains of the East. Its waters teem with trout, and the
primeval forests that cover the surrounding country are crowded with
game. But these are the least of its attractions. It is the wildness
and grandeur of the enclosing mountain scenery, and still more the
curious, beautiful, wonderful and stupendous natural phenomena which
characterize the region, that have raised it to sudden fame, and caused
it to be set apart by our national government as a grand national
play-ground and museum of unparalleled, indeed incomparable, marvels,
free to all men for all time.
Evidences of ancient volcanic action on the grandest scale are so
abundant and striking throughout the lake basin, that it has been
looked upon as the remains of a mammoth crater, forty miles across.
It seems, however, to have been rather the focus of a multitude of
craters. "It is probable," says the United States geologist, Dr.
Hayden, with his usual caution, "that during the Pliocene period the
entire country drained by the sources of the Yellowstone and the
Columbia was the scene of volcanic activity as great as that of any
portion of the globe. It might be called one vast crater, made up of a
thousand smaller volcanic vents and fissures, out of which the fluid
interior of the earth, fragments of rock and volcanic dust, were poured
in unlimited quantities. Hundreds of the nuclei or cones of these
volcanic vents are now remaining, some of them rising to a height of
10,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea. Mounts Doane, Longford, Stevenson,
and more than a hundred other peaks, may be seen from any high point on
either side of the basin, each of which formed a centre of effusion."
All that is left of the terrific forces which threw up these lofty
mountains and elevated the entire region to its present altitude, now
finds issue in occasional earthquake shocks, and in the innumerable
hot springs and geysers, whose description makes up so large a portion
of this book of wonders. Nowhere else in the world can the last-named
phenomena be witnessed on so grand a scale, in such limitless variety,
or amid scenes so marvellous in beauty, so wild and unearthly in
savage grandeur, so fascinating in all that awes or attracts the lover
of the curious, the wonderful, the magnificent in nature.