The National Park, besides the extraordinary geyser and hot-spring
formations exhibits the grand scenery of the Yellowstone Falls and
Canyon. The Yellowstone River has its source in Bridger Lake, to the
southeast of the Park, and flows northward in a broad valley between
generally snow-capped mountain ridges of volcanic origin, with some of
the peaks rising over eleven thousand feet. It is a sluggish stream,
with heavily timbered banks, much of the initial valley being marshy,
and it flows into the Yellowstone Lake, the largest sheet of water at
a high elevation in North America. This lake has bays indented in its
western and southern shores, giving the irregular outline somewhat the
appearance of a human hand, and there are five of them, called the
"Thumb" and the "Fingers." The thumb of this distorted hand is thicker
than its length, the forefinger is detached and shrivelled, the middle
finger has also been badly treated, and the much swollen little finger
is the biggest of all, thus making a very demoralized hand. The trail
eastward over from the Upper Firehole Geyser Basin comes out on the
West Thumb of the lake, mounting the Continental Divide on the way,
and crossing it twice as it makes a curious loop to the northward, the
second crossing being at eighty-five hundred feet elevation, whence
the trail descends to the West Thumb. Yellowstone Lake is at
seventy-seven hundred and forty feet elevation, and covers about one
hundred and fifty square miles, having a hundred miles of coast-line.
The scenery is tame, the shores being usually gentle slopes, with much
marsh and pine woods. Islands dot the blue waters, and waterfowl
frequent the marshes. The most elevated portion of the immediate
environment is Flat Mountain, on the southwestern side, rising five
hundred feet, but beyond the eastern shore are some of the highest
peaks of the Park, exceeding eleven thousand feet. Hot springs adjoin
the West Thumb, and there is an actual geyser crater in the lake
itself. Towards the northern end the shores gradually contract into
the narrow and shallow Yellowstone River, which flows towards the
northwest after first leaving the lake, having occasional hot springs,
geysers, paint pots and steam jets at work, with large adjacent
surfaces of geyserite and sulphur. The chief curiosity in operation is
the Giant's Cauldron, boiling furiously, and with a roar that can be
heard far away. The pretty Alum Creek is crossed, its waters, thus
tainted, giving the name. South of this the Yellowstone is generally
placid, winding for a dozen miles sluggishly through prairie and
timbered hills, but now it contracts and rushes for a mile down rapids
and over pretty cascades to the Upper Fall.
Restricted to a width of but eighty feet, the river shoots far over
this fall, the current being thrown outward, indicating there must be
room to pass behind it. The fall is one hundred and twenty feet, and
suddenly turning a right angle at its foot, the stream of beautiful
green passes through a not very deep canyon. The appearance of the
surrounding cliffs is quite Alpine, though the rocks forming the
cascade constantly suffer from erosion. About a half-mile below is the
great Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. Before reaching it, a little
stream comes into the river over the Crystal Fall, about eighty feet
high, rushing down a gorge forming a perfect grotto in the side of the
canyon, extending some distance under the overhanging rocks. The
surface of the plateau gradually ascends as the Lower Falls are
approached, while the river bed descends, and this makes a deep
canyon, brilliantly colored, generally a light yellow (thus naming the
river), but in many portions white, like marble, with patches of
orange, the whole being streaked and spotted with the dark-gray rocks,
whose sombre color in this region is produced by atmospheric action.
The river rushes to the brink of the Lower Fall, and where it goes
over, the current is not over a hundred feet wide, the descent of the
cataract being about three hundred feet, and the column of falling
waters dividing into separate white streaks, which are lost in clouds
of spray before reaching the bottom. Only a small amount of water
usually goes over, about twelve hundred cubic feet in a second. Before
the plunge the water forms a basin of dark-green color, and both blue
and green tints mingle with the prevailing white of the cascade.
Towards sunset, when viewed from below, there are admirable rainbow
effects. The river is quite narrow as it flows away along the bottom
of the canyon, which now becomes deep and large. The grand view of
this beautiful picture is from Point Lookout, a half-mile below the
falls. Unlike any other of the world's great waterfalls, this cascade,
while a part, ceases to be the chief feature of the scene. It is the
vivid coloring and remarkable formation of the sides of the canyon
that make the chief impression. These change as the sun gives light
and shadow, the morning differing from noon and noon from night. It is
impossible to reproduce or properly describe the beautiful hues in
this wonderful picture. The prevailing tint is a light yellow, almost
sulphur color, with veins of white marble and bright red streaked
through it. The colors blend admirably, while the cascade in the
background seems enclosed in a setting of chocolate-brown rocks,
contrasting picturesquely with the brighter foreground. Throughout the
grand scene, great rocky columns and pinnacles arise, their brilliant
hues maintained to the tops, and the scattered pines clinging to these
huge columnar formations give a green tinge to parts of the picture.
The _débris_, forming an inclined base about half-way down, is colored
as brilliantly as the rocks above, from which it has fallen. In the
view over the canyon from Point Lookout, the contracted white streak
of the cascade above the spray cloud is but a small part of the
background, while the river below is only a narrow green ribbon, edged
by these brilliant hues. Some distance farther down the canyon,
another outlook at Inspiration Point gives a striking view from an
elevation fifteen hundred feet above the river of the gorgeous
coloring of the upper canyon.
This grand Canyon of the Yellowstone extends, as the river flows, a
distance of about twenty-four miles. It is a depression in a volcanic
plateau elevated about eight thousand feet above the sea, and
gradually declining towards the northern end of the canyon. Above the
Upper Fall the river level is almost at the top of the plateau, and
the falls and rapids depress the stream bed about thirteen hundred
feet. About midway along the canyon, on the western side, is Washburne
Mountain, the surface from it declining in both directions, so that
there the canyon is deepest, measuring twelve hundred feet. Across the
top, the width varies from four hundred to sixteen hundred yards, the
angle of slope down to the bottom being fully 45°, and often much
steeper, in some cases almost perpendicular where the top width is
narrowest. This Grand Canyon is the beautiful beginning, as it were,
of the largest river in the world,--the Missouri and the Mississippi.
Upon the trail in the southern part of the National Park which goes
over from the Firehole River to the West Thumb, and at quite an
elevation upon the Continental Divide, there is a quiet little sheet
of water, having two small streams flowing from its opposite sides. To
the eastward a babbling brook goes down into the West Thumb of the
Yellowstone Lake, while to the southwest another small creek flows
over the boulders towards Shoshone Lake. This scanty sheet of water,
properly named the Two-Ocean Pond, actually feeds both the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans. The one stream gets its outlet through the
Mississippi and the other through the Columbia River of Oregon.