from widely extended sources. Much of it comes from the northern slopes
of some of the mountains about the Grand Canyon, Observation Peak,
Storm Peak, etc. Another branch swings around Bunsen Peak, forming
an elongated horseshoe, and insinuates its watery tentacles among
the slopes of Electric Peak--the south side--Quadrant Mountain, and
Antler Peak. A sub-system of this branch stream--the Middle Gardiner,
so-called--extends southward from the toe of the horseshoe, past
Obsidian Cliff and Beaver Lake to the region about Roaring Mountain,
nearly to Norris Geyser Basin.
“The scenery along the Gardiner is striking. The dun-colored clay and
conglomerate walls rise in massive buttressed slopes surmounted by
palisades, to a height of a few hundred feet on one side and 1,000 and
1,200 feet on the other. The eastern walls are by far the finer. Spires
and pinnacles have been eroded from the soft earthen slopes and form
conspicuous objects. The most striking and noted is Eagle Nest Crag, a
solitary, rounded column upon the inaccessible apex of which is perched
an eagle’s nest. Yearly the parent birds raise broods of young eagles
whose protruding heads can frequently be seen and whose plaintive cries
are plainly heard.
“Soon after crossing the stream for the last time a sharp ascent is
begun. This continues until the hotel plateau is reached at Fort
Yellowstone. As the coaches mount the grade the outlet of a river
is seen on the western bank of the Gardiner. The rocky ground there
is more or less broken and quantities of steam arise. This river
flows from the hot springs of the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs,
underground through the hill over which the road winds.
“In olden days this was a favorite camping place. The hot water made
bathing agreeable, culinary and laundry work easy, and if one was
inclined he could easily catch his trout in the Gardiner and then,
swinging his line, plunge the victim into Boiling river and cook his
fish, all at one operation--so they say.
“Passing Fort Yellowstone when the plateau is reached, the coaches
are whirled swiftly across a geyserie or travertine plaza, upon
which the fort or cantonment--and it is one of the best posts in the
country--fronts to the hotel, a mammoth structure which commands a fine
view to the south.
“At last we are fairly within the great Yellowstone Park--the heart of
Wonderland.
“From the time our train started from Livingstone until it again sets
us down there, six days will have passed. When we leave the coach at
the hotel the first half of the first day has passed into history. The
afternoon will be spent in clambering over the parti-colored terraces
of Mammoth Hot Springs.
“After the tourist has registered, retired to his or her room,
performed the usual ablutions, and shaken off the dust of travel from
one’s garments, the luncheon is eaten. It is then customary to make
all arrangements with the transportation company, as a new order of
exercises will be inaugurated upon the morrow.
“When next, we start, the coach, horses and driver, to which we
are assigned, became ours for the entire round of the park. It is
advisable, therefore, if particular acquaintances or friends desire to
ride in company, to explain this to the powers that be, that such an
arrangement may be effected. By the time this matter is attended to,
the voice of the guide is heard announcing that all is ready for the
event of the day--the visit to the formation, as it is termed.
“To the right, from the hotel front, rises Terrace Mountain. At the
extremity of the plaza and at the base of the mountain as viewed from
here, and a part of the mountain, rise the wonderful terraces. Even at
this distance they present a remarkable appearance. As we approach them
the singularity of their origin and appearance becomes more and more
pronounced; but as we climb the slopes and view the pools of rainbow
colored waters, and examine the terrace fronts with their infinite
patterns of etchings and bead work, we stand in open-eyed amazement at
what seems a miracle of creation.
[Illustration: MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS.]
“Whether we stand in front of the terrace walls and examine the
exquisite chased work, built up by minute secretions from the hot
waters as they trickle slowly down; whether we stand on the heights
above and gaze upon acres of water divided and subdivided into many
shaped basins, and so brilliantly colored as to seem impossibly
colored; or whether, as we climb higher, and are transfixed almost,
at the beautiful, delicate, fragile and algaic forms seen--it is all
the same, we now begin to understand what the word Wonderland means,
and are prepared for whatever we may stumble upon, and ready to admit
that the half has not been told and cannot be--seeing only, if not
believing, is certainly understanding.
[Illustration: CASTLE GEYSER CONE AND DIANA’S POOL, YELLOWSTONE PARK.]
“The water found in these pools varies in temperature, but it is all
hot. Some of the pools are very small, others almost lakelets.
“Such brilliancy of coloring was never excelled, and the variety of
color, sometimes even in the same pool, is simply astounding. What one
sees here is found upon successive terraces on the mountain side, and
is reached by easy gradations by using foot paths or trails. After a
time we are somewhat bewildered as to where we are, whether in the
infernal regions; with the ancient deities; in a zoological garden;
among Egyptian queens and mummies; where angels tread, orange trees
bloom, or where railways are being built, or cupids shoot arrows.
“The Upper Geyser Basin is the goal of the tourist, so far as the
geysers are concerned. There are here about a dozen geysers that expel
the contents of their reservoirs to heights ranging from one hundred
to two hundred and fifty feet. There are as many more that play to
elevations less than one hundred feet. This family of geysers is like a
large family of children; a strong family resemblance runs through all
of them, but individually no two are much alike.
“The Castle has a very large, castellated, siliceous cone; the Grand
has none whatever, nor is there any resemblance in their eruptions. The
Oblong and the Giantess each expel their contents from deep, pit-like
reservoirs, but there the resemblance between them ends. The Bee Hive
and Old Faithful each have cones, as entirely unlike as are their
splendid columns of water and vapor. Some throw the water as straight
in the air as a tree stands; others hurl it out at various angles, or
even in arches. Some send it forth in a solid, steady, majestic column;
others in an irregular, churn-like fashion.
“But there are other things than the geysers here. Emerald Pool, Sunset
Lake, and Black Sand Pool are, with one possible exception, the most
delicate, beautifully colored bowls of water to be found in the park.
The word color acquires a new significance as one stands at the verge
of these truly heavenly pools, shut in among mountains.
“The particular attraction at the Fountain Hotel has been the Fountain
Geyser near the hotel. This geyser has a basin some thirty feet in
diameter, connected with another of about the same size just north of
it. Much of the time these basins are full of water, thus, apparently,
forming a large double crater.
[Illustration: NORRIS GEYSER BASIN, YELLOWSTONE PARK.]
“In 1899 a new geyser, called the New Fountain, broke out in the north
basin, resulting in a decided curtailment of the old Fountain Geyser’s
eruptions. The new geyser is not yet old enough so that its periodicity
and peculiarities are fully known. Its eruptions, however, are more
stupendous and much beyond those of any other geyser which the writer
has seen. Excelsior Geyser at Midway Basin, the greatest geyser--when
it plays--in the world, is closely approached by this new giant, in
both the magnitude and the grandeur of the display.
“The geyser is rather spurty in character, and when in full operation
plays from three orifices. In its general action it is not unlike
the Fountain or the Great Fountain. It will boil furiously and throw
the water quite regularly to a height of ten to fifteen feet. Then,
becoming semi-quiescent for a few moments, it will again break loose,
and simply hurl into the air, with almost inconceivable force, a solid
body of water of immense bulk, to a height of fifteen to thirty feet.
Then changing again it will send upward an enormous volume of water to
a height of 100, 150, or even, in exceptional spurts, 200 feet.
“After a period of momentary quiescence, the geyser will often break
out with a violent explosion, when the scalding flood, transformed into
millions of white, beautiful beads of crystal and spray, is sent in all
directions, to all heights, at all angles, from the three apertures.
The water is all torn to pieces and is thrown out and comes down, in
a perfect avalanche. The geyser then is a very leviathan at play. It
throws out pieces of geyser formation, bits of trees, and geyser eggs,
as they are called, small, white, rounded, polished stones.
When the eruption ends it comes abruptly, at once, not as the Great
Fountain’s, with a series of dying, tremendous throbs as if its great
heart were broken. The eruption ceases, the great body of water drops
rapidly down into the central cistern and runs into it from the geyser
knoll in pretty little cascades, until the surplus is thus carried away
and the water level outside of the basin is lowered. Then it is all
over.
Regarding the Canyon let me again quote from Dr. Hill:
“And now I want to say a word in regard to the Grand Canyon. You stand
on Inspiration Point and look down 100, 200, 300, 1,000 feet, and
there, away below, is a green ribbon, worked in and out as if to hold
together the lower edges of the canyon’s walls. It is the Yellowstone
river. You look off toward the south and see, in a sort of recess, a
little column of white. It is the Great Falls of the Yellowstone, 308
feet high. You examine the slanting walls of this tremendous canyon and
you see such a display of color as the eye of man never looked upon.
Someone has said that it looks like a blown-up paint shop. Just there
to the right some huge pots of white and yellow and red paint have been
tipped over, and it has flowed right down in parallel streaks to the
water’s edge. Farther along is a gigantic tower carved out of a solid
crimson rock. Here to the left all along are turrets and castles and
cathedrals, there a Parthenon, over there St. Mark’s glittering in
gold, there Taj Mahal, as white as spotless alabaster. Colors green and
brown and saffron and orange and pink and vermillion and russet cover
every rock until the scene is bewildering. What shall one say as he
looks upon such a scene? Nature teaches us about God. Then the Grand
Canyon has been cut and painted by the divine hand as if to give us
some idea of John’s vision of heaven. Walls of jasper, streets of gold,
gates of pearl, foundation stones of emerald and sapphire, and topaz
and amethyst. Yes, they are all there. Who can look upon such a scene
and say there is no God and no heaven?
[Illustration: GRAND CANON OF THE YELLOWSTONE.]
“If the enthusiast wishes to get a sight of the canyon much different
from any other, and in the opinion of many the finest obtainable, he
should go beyond Inspiration Point. The Lower Mount Washburn trail
leaves the road near Inspiration Point. There is an enormous boulder
right at the intersection, of which more anon. Follow this trail for a
mile perhaps, and a projection will be noticed leading well out into
the canyon. From this crag the walls are emblazoned with every color
or combination of colors that are probably to be found anywhere in the
canyon. It is perhaps less brilliant than the magnificent array found
at Grand View. In each case it is a canyon view pure and simple. The
Lower Falls, so conspicuous a factor of the landscape from both Lookout
and Inspiration Points, do not appear in either of these.
“I have mentioned a boulder at the junction of the main road and the
Washburn trail. This boulder is worthy of inspection by tourists. It is
of granite, eighteen feet high and twenty-four feet long by twenty feet
in breadth, dark in color. It was transported from its native heath by
a glacier and deposited where it now lies when the glacier receded. Mr.
Arnold Hague of the United States Geological Survey states that the
nearest point from whence it could have been torn is at least thirty or
forty miles distant.
“To thoroughly appreciate, yes, I will say to fall in love with the
canyon, one must needs see it under different conditions. See it when
the sun is flooding it with noon-day radiance; when the winds sweep
the masses of vapor through it, deluging its walls with moisture; when
the sun is vanished from earth and evening’s shadows slowly creep from
crag to crag and base to summit. To look upon the canyon when in the
full glare of the sun, one would never realize what a softness and
mellowness comes over it when the clouds hide the golden orb.
“I had seen the walls under varying lights and shades, but upon one
occasion I saw it in a new dress. It had snowed somewhat during the
night. When I reached the road at the canyon brink, everything seemed
transformed. The trees were cottoned over with snow, the road was a
white avenue, the rocks were whitened. But the canyon itself--what a
change had come over it! The sun, of course, was invisible. The heavy
masses of foliage that on either side crown the precipice with a ribbon
of green were powdered with snow. The crevices and moderate angles
of the walls wore a soft mantle of purest white. The other parts of
the canyon were gently sprinkled with the fleecy material. The leaden
clouds hung in parallel ridges above the gorge. Nature was in exquisite
attire, and how softened! I wouldn’t have missed it for a good deal.”
After returning to the Mammoth Hotel with his soul filled with the
wonders of nature, Mr. Wheeler said:
“As we leave behind these scenes, now almost sacred, we muse and then
regret--regret that we had not arranged to spend at least another week
here, and see more of what we have seen, and search out much that we
have not seen.
“There are so many side trips that can be made, so much to study, such
comfort and health in this elevated region, that now, when it is too
late, we see where we made a mistake in not planning for a two-weeks’
trip. Well, there is this silver lining to our cloud: We can take the
trip over again and spend a month, if necessary.
“And that is just what we determine to do some other year. So we reach
Mammoth Hot Springs in a happier frame of mind, eat our last dinner in
the park, mount the outgoing coach, and end our sixth and last day of
our park tour by stepping into the Pullman car at Cinnabar and being
whirled homeward at forty miles an hour.
“In 1885 Mr. Charles T. Whitmell of Cardiff, Wales, in a paper read
before the Cardiff Naturalist Society regarding the Yellowstone
National Park, said: ‘Were there but a living glacier and an active
volcano the cup of wonders would be full.’ The volcano is yet to be
found, but the glacier is there, was there when Mr. Whitmell made his
address, but the existence of perpetual ice was not known then.
“About eleven miles southeast of the Hoodoo Basin, between
Stinkingwater Peak (11,600 feet high) and Sunlight Peak (11,977
feet above sea level), the United States Geological Survey found a
large glacier, or, indeed, a series of them. They gave to it the
name of Sunlight Glacier. It is more than a mile across. The surface
is crevassed with walls of clear green ice, and it has a typical
terminal moraine. It is deep within the mountains, and in the summer
of 1895 Col. W. S. Brackett of Peoria, Ill., and others saw it from a
distance. Residents of Montana have also seen it. While it lies just
outside the limits of the park proper, it is, notwithstanding, part and
parcel of the wonders of the Park region. It is difficult of approach,
owing to the rough character of the country.
“There are glaciers in the Bear Tooth Range, south of Red Lodge, east
of the Park, and several on the Three Tetons, just south of it.”
Verily, the variety of wonders in “Wonderland” are many, and still
they come. Many people have heard of Death Gulch, in a portion of
Yellowstone National Park, where beasts soon die. This summer (1899)
a party of Montana Scientists visited Death Gulch. “Truth is stranger
than fiction, and Dame Nature herself has surprises that are past all
perfect explanation.” The following is from the Helena Independent
Sept. 16, 1899:
“Many persons have heard of the wonderful gulch in the northeastern
part of the Yellowstone National Park named Death Gulch, but while
accepting many other stories of Wonderland, have only passed this
particular story by as a fabrication. The story is that all things
living that enter this gulch never come out again. That was the story
as it was once told, but a year or two ago a member of the United
States Geological Survey wrote a scientific article about the canyon in
which it was explained that only under certain conditions was animal
life taken in the mysterious gulch. Even after that article appeared
many who heard of the gulch and its strange secret called it all a
fairy tale.
“A semi-scientific expedition of well known Montanians has just
returned from a visit to Death Gulch and the Granite range. The party
was composed of Rev. James Reid, President of the Agricultural College,
Bozeman; Dr. Frank Traphagen, who has the chair of natural sciences
at the college and who is a chemist of wide reputation; Peter Koch,
cashier of the Bozeman National Bank and treasurer of the college,
and his son, and Ed. C. Alderson of Bozeman, one of the best known
mountaineers and guides in the state. Rev. Mr. Reid, who came over from
Bozeman last week, said that the party had visited Death Gulch and that
Dr. Traphagen, the scientist of the party, had made some interesting
investigations. The trip was begun more than a month ago, and although
the weather was not at all times propitious, it was on the whole an
enjoyable outing.
“Death Gulch, said President Reid, is in the National Park, on Cache
creek, about three miles from the point where it empties into the east
fork of Yellowstone river, and twenty miles from Cooke City. Its sides
are steep and high, but wild animals have no difficulty in creeping
down to the bottom where there is a little stream. In the gulch, and
within the space of a quarter of a mile, we saw the carcasses and bones
of eight bears, one or two coyotes and an elk. All had met death in a
strange, but, in the light of science, not mysterious way. They had
been asphyxiated, nothing more nor less. Rising out of the bottom of
the gulch is a gas resembling, and which practically is, sulphuretted
hydrogen. The smell of the gas was strong upon us and could not be
mistaken. This gas is poisonous, and I can readily see how, on a still,
sultry day or night, the gulch might become filled with the gas and
be a menace to every breathing thing that entered there. The day we
visited the gulch there was a strong breeze blowing up the canyon, but,
in spite of that, the odor of the gas was strong.
“The theory has been that the gas, being heavier than the air, settles
in the bottom of the gulch, and that animals might die of it where a
man who was taller than they would feel no bad effects. That theory may
be all right, but I noticed that our dogs, who accompanied us, didn’t
seem to feel any bad effects from the gas; however, as I said, the wind
was blowing up the canyon, and I believe that on a sultry, still day
the gulch would not even be a safe place for man.
“The bodies of the animals that met death in the gulch have been well
preserved, the gas seeming to have the effect of embalming them to a
certain extent. Two of the bears that we saw must have weighed in life
in the neighborhood of four hundred pounds each. I suppose some of the
bears have been attracted into the gulch by the smell of elk or other
animals that have died there, entered in and been overcome themselves.
“Dr. Traphagen took several samples of the gas, intending to make
some experiments with them upon arriving at his laboratory. How did
he obtain them? That was a simple thing. He filled several bottles
with water then emptied them at the bottom of the gulch. The air,
impregnated with the gas, rushed into the bottles as the vacuums were
formed. The bottles were then securely corked and preserved. Of course
the gas obtained in that form was diluted, but it will be sufficiently
strong, I believe, to answer Dr. Traphagen’s purpose.
“The Bozeman party visited the famous Grasshopper mountain, near
Cooke City, the first published description of which appeared in the
Independent less than a year ago. On this mountain, buried in solid ice
and snow, are two strata of grasshoppers.
“There are many persons, perhaps, said President Reid, who may doubt
the story of this wonderful mountain, but, after all, it is not such a
strange phenomenon. The grasshoppers are certainly there, and while it
is not an easy task to reach this mountain, which is in the heart of
the Granite range, any one of a scientific or curious mind can convince
himself by going there. The presence of the grasshoppers in the glacier
may be explained by the probable fact that two great flights of
the insects attempted to pass the mountain at different times, and,
becoming exhausted or stiffened by the cold, lit upon its side and were
buried in the snow storm.
“The expedition saw many glaciers and little lakes high up in the
mountains of the Granite range, which was explored for the first time
in 1898 by Dr. Kimball of New York and party under the guidance of Ed
Alderson. Many of the lakes visited, said President Reid, are still
frozen and most of them are surrounded by vast snow fields. Kersey
lake, the largest one of these explored by the party, empties into the
Broadwater, a stream larger than Clark’s Fork. The lake is about half a
mile long, and was the only one visited where there was good fishing.
“The party had intended to make the ascent of Granite Peak, believed to
be the highest mountain in the state, but owing to storms it was unable
to reach the top. The mountain is about 13,000 feet high, and with
Dewey Peak, 11,400 feet, and Snow Bank, 11,750 feet high, were named by
Dr. Kimball and party. The East and West Rosebuds rise in the glaciers
of the Granite range. The Granite range has been visited by but few
white men. There is no big game among its glacier-locked peaks, and
even the prospector has not penetrated its vastnesses.”
On account of its vastness the depth of its canyons, its perpendicular
cliffs, and its high and rugged mountains, there is no doubt but that
there are many wonders in the Yellowstone National Park region yet to
be found.
It is not strange that foreign travelers have named it “The Wonderland
of the World.” Professor Hayden, the chief of a division of the United
States Geological Survey, said: “Such a vision is worth a lifetime,
and only one of such marvelous beauty will ever greet human eyes.” I
often think of the time myself and companions, in 1864, were within
a few miles of this marvelous place prospecting for gold, and that
those geysers were there then puffing and spitting out brimstone; and
the indications show that they have been carrying on this wonderful
performance for ages--wild animals and birds of the forest being the
only audience to witness the play--not a civilized soul knew of such a
place then, and, for that matter, for several years after.
All the natural scenery in the park is carefully guarded and is now
as it was when first discovered. But millions of dollars have been
expended in a mechanical way to improve the park. The drive that begins
at the railway depot is 150 miles in length and is stocked with elegant
stage coaches and cabs made especially for the mountain roads. Hundreds
of horses are constantly at work during the summer season conveying
the thousands of people from all over the world to and fro from one
hot spring and geyser to another. There are hotel accommodations for
a thousand people. The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, which is located at
Mammoth Hot Springs, is a very large one. At other points hotels and
lunch stations are maintained through the park season. These hotels are
heated by steam, lighted by electricity, and supplied with bath rooms,
and in one case--the Fountain Hotel--with water from one of the hot
springs. There is also telegraph communication from this place in the
heart of the Rockies with all the civilized world.
And it would not surprise me to hear that Old Faithful and Mount
Ætna were whispering to each other through the means of the wireless
telephone one of these days. Thus are the wonders of nature and of
science--all in one.