THE UPPER GEYSER BASIN.
June 24, 1892.
After a good night's sleep, we left the hotel at half-past eight this
morning for an excursion to the Upper Geyser Basin, forty miles
distant. The roads were in bad order, very dusty, and the mosquitoes
thick. Geysers and boiling springs were to the right and left,
everywhere. At one place we got out of the wagon, and crossed a bridge
over a small stream to what is called the Devil's Half Acre. There
were really a dozen or more acres, containing great volumes of steam
and hot water rushing up and around. Many little streams ran toward a
big basin, some of them yellow, some green, and some blue, but on
examination I found that the water itself was clear. The mud or clay
which formed the bed of the streams, or was being carried along in
the current, was colored. We thought the Devil's Half Acre a dangerous
as well as a disagreeable place, and, recrossing the little stream,
continued on our way, arriving at the hotel at the Upper Geyser Basin
in four hours. We had just arrived when we were informed that the
famous Old Faithful Geyser, which has spouted for many years every
sixty-five minutes, would go off in a short time. It is situated a few
rods from the hotel, and as we drew near, it commenced to spout up an
immense column of water and steam one hundred and fifty feet or so in
height. Then, in about five minutes, it subsided into a hole in the
ground. We could hear the roar of the steam and water underneath, the
commotion shaking the ground.
Soon after this exhibition, another geyser, called the Bee Hive,
situated near the hotel, spouted, and made a splendid display. I think
we saw in this basin as many as twenty large spouting geysers, and
hundreds of boiling springs, many of them of surprising beauty. One,
which attracted my attention particularly, was a slowly boiling spring
which threw up colored clay, and looked exactly like a large sponge.
This was about three feet long, two feet wide, and as many high.
Driving along the road, we frequently saw signs put up by the
Government: "Do not drive on here," and "Danger"; so one is impressed
with the idea that some day the tremendous volcanic power underlying
this entire valley may burst out and make one vast crater of lava,
mud, water, and steam.