For five miles along the desolate shores of Firehole River the course
is now taken in a region of mostly extinct geysers, yet with active
hot springs and steam jets, and having ashes and cinders covering wide
spaces. Ahead is the largest collection of geysers in the world, with
clouds of steam overhanging--the Upper Firehole Basin. Hot water runs
over the earth, and the "paint pots" color the surface in variegated
hues. Here are some forty of the greatest geysers in existence, in a
region covering two or three square miles, all of them located near
the river, and their outflow making its initial current. The basin is
at seventy-three hundred feet elevation above the sea. When the author
visited this extraordinary place the guide, halting at the verge,
said: "Now I have brought you to the front door of hell." He was asked
if there were any Indians about there, and solemnly replied: "No
Indian ever comes into this country unless he is blind; only the white
man is fool enough to come;" then after a moment's pause he continued,
"And I get paid for it, I do." The great stand-by of this Upper Basin,
and the geyser that is first visited, is "Old Faithful," near its
southern or upper end. This most reliable geyser, which always goes
off at the time appointed, is a flat-topped and gently rising cone
about two hundred feet in diameter, and elevated towards the centre
about twenty feet. The tube is an orifice of eight feet by two feet
wide in the centre of this cone, with water-worn and rounded rocks
enclosing it. Steam escapes all the time, and the hard, scaly and
laminated surface around it seems hollow as you walk across, while
beneath there are grumblings and dull explosions, giving warning of
the approaching outburst. Several mounds of extinct geysers are near,
with steam issuing from one of them, but all have long since gone out
of active business. Soon "Old Faithful" gives the premonitory symptoms
of an eruption. The steam jet increases, and also the internal
rumblings. Then a little spurt of hot water comes, hastily receding
with a growl, followed by more steam, and after an interval more
growling, finally developing into repeated little spurts of hot water,
occupying several minutes. Then the geyser suddenly explodes, throwing
quick jets higher and higher into the air, until the column rises in a
grand fountain to the height of about one hundred and fifty feet, the
stream inclined to the northward, and falling over in great splashes
upon that side of the cone, dense clouds of steam and spray being
carried by the wind, upon which the sun paints a rainbow. After some
four minutes the grand jet dies gradually down to a height of about
thirty feet, continuing at that elevation for a brief time, with
quickly repeated impulses. When six minutes have elapsed, with an
expiring leap the water mounts to a height of fifty feet, there is a
final outburst of steam, and all is over. A deluge of hot water rushes
down to the Firehole River; and thus "Old Faithful" keeps it up
regularly every hour. The eruption being ended, you can look down into
the abyss whence it came. Through the hot steam, rushing out with a
strong draught, there is a view far down into the rocky recesses of
the geyser. The water left by the eruption stands about in transparent
shallow pools, and is tinted a pale blue. "Old Faithful's" mound is
built up of layers of geyserite--hard, brittle, porous, full of
crevices, and having all about little basins with turned-up rims that
retain the water. This geyser is the favorite in the region, not only
because of its regular performance, but possibly because its odors are
somewhat less sulphurous than those emanating elsewhere.
The geysers of the Upper Basin contribute practically the whole
current of the Firehole River, their outflow sending into the stream
ten million gallons daily. Across the river to the northward, close to
the bank, is the Beehive, its tube looking like a huge bird's nest,
enclosed by a pile of geyserite resembling a beehive, three feet high
and about four feet in diameter. Nearby is a vent from which steam,
escaping a few minutes before the eruption, gives notice of its
coming. The water column shoots up two hundred feet, with clouds of
steam, but it is quite uncertain, spouting once or twice in
twenty-four hours, and usually at night. Behind the Beehive are the
Lion, the Lioness, and their two Cubs, and to the eastward of the
latter the Giantess. The Lion group has only uncertain and small
action, while the Giantess is on the summit of a mound fifty feet
high, with a depressed crater, measuring eighteen by twenty-four feet,
and usually filled with dark-blue water. This is the slowest of all
the geysers in getting to work, acting only at fortnightly intervals,
but each eruption continues the greater part of the day, with usually
long-previous notice by violent boiling and internal rumblings. When
it comes, the explosion is terrific, the column mounting two hundred
and fifty feet, a perfect water-spout the full size of the crater,
with a half-dozen distinct jets forced through it. To the northwest of
the Lion and across the river is the Castle, so named from the
castellated construction of its crater. It stands upon an elevation,
the side towards the Firehole falling off in a series of rude steps.
The tube is elevated about ten feet within the castle and is four feet
in diameter. It is of uncertain eruption, sometimes playing daily and
sometimes every other day, throwing a column of one hundred and fifty
feet, falling in a sparkling shower, continuing about forty minutes,
and then tapering off in a series of insignificant spurts. The
Saw-Mill is not far away, rather insignificant, its tube being only
six inches in diameter, set in a saucer-like crater about twenty feet
across; but its water column, thrown forty feet high, gives the
peculiar sounds of a saw, caused by the action of puffs of steam
coming out alternately with the water jets. It generally acts in
unison with the Grand Geyser, a quarter of a mile northward, which
goes off about once a day. The Grand Geyser in action is most
powerful, causing the earth to tremble, while there are fearful
thumping noises beneath. The water in the crater suddenly recedes, and
then quickly spurts upward in a solid column for two hundred feet,
with steam rising in puffs above. The column seems to be composed of
numerous separate jets, falling back with a thundering sound into the
funnel. The outburst continues a few minutes, stops as suddenly as it
starts, and is repeated six or eight times, each growing less
powerful. Along the river bank nearby are the Wash Tubs, small basins
ten feet in diameter, each with an orifice in the bottom. If the
clothes are put in, the washing progresses finely until suddenly out
goes the water, and with it all the garments, sucked down the hole.
After awhile the basin fills again, and back come the clothes, though
sometimes they are very dilatory in returning. The Devil's Well, about
fifty feet away, is usually accused of complicity in this movement. It
is a broad and placid basin of hot water, with a beautiful blue
tinge, in which tourists sometimes boil their eggs and potatoes. It is
sentinelled by the Comet Geyser, exploding several times daily, but
through an orifice so large that it does not throw a very high column.
The great geyser of this Upper Basin is the Giant. It has a broken
cone set upon an almost level surface, with the enclosing formation
fallen away on one side, the interior being lined with brilliant
colors like a tessellated pavement. It is somewhat uncertain in
movement, but usually goes off every fourth day. It gives ample
notice, certain "Little Devils" adjoining, and a vent in the side of
the crater, boiling some time before it sends up the enormous column
which plays ninety minutes. The outburst, when it starts, comes like a
tornado, and the stream from it runs into and more than doubles the
current of the river. The column is eight feet in diameter, rises two
hundred and fifty feet at first, and is afterwards maintained at two
hundred feet. There is a deafening noise, and the steam clouds seem to
cover half the valley. The column goes up perfectly straight, and
falls back around the cone with a deluge of hot water. The Catfish, a
small geyser, is nearby, and to the northward a short distance is the
Grotto. This is an odd formation, its crater perforated with orifices
around a low, elongated mound, which point in different directions;
and when it goes off at six-hour intervals, the eruption is by streams
at an angle, giving a curious sort of churning motion to the water
column, which rises forty feet, continuing twenty minutes. The
Riverside has a little crater on a terraced mound just at the river's
edge, and is a small, irregular but vigorous spouter, throwing a
stream sixty feet. The Fan has five spreading tubes, arranged so that
they make a huge fan-like eruption, one hundred feet high in the
centre, this display, given three or four times a day, continuing
about fifteen minutes. The Splendid plays a jet two hundred feet high
every three hours, continuing ten minutes, and may be spurred to
quicker action. The Pyramid and the Punch Bowl are geysers that have
ceased operations. The former is now only a steam-jet, and the latter,
on a flat mound, is an elegant blue pool, elevated several feet, and
having a serrated edge. The Morning Glory Spring, named from its
resemblance to the convolvulus, is a beautiful and most delicately
tinted pool. The investigators of these geysers have been able to get
the temperature at a depth of seventy feet within the tubes, and find
that under the pressure there exerted the boiling-point is 250°. Upon
this fact is based the theory of the operation of the geyser. The
boiling-point under pressure at the bottom of a long tube being much
higher than at the top, the expansive force of the steam there
suddenly generated drives out violently the water above it in the
tube, and hence the explosive spouting.