Part 19 (2/2)

A TOUR OF THE PARK.

_Lower Geyser Basin to Upper Geyser Basin._

Distance, nine miles. Road follows the Firehole River. Midway Geyser Basin, already described, is pa.s.sed four miles out. No other object of interest is met until the visitor actually arrives at the _Upper Basin_.

This locality is probably the most popular with the tourist of any in the Park. Its two rivals, the Grand Canon and the Yellowstone Lake, are so unlike it as not to admit of any comparison. It is the home of the genus _geyser_, as seen in its highest development. There are fifteen examples of the first magnitude and scores of less important ones.[BC] The quiescent pools and springs are also numerous and of great beauty.

[BC] For list of names of geysers, with heights of eruptions, see Appendix A, VII.

The first important feature _en route_ is the _Biscuit Basin_, which is reached by a side road leading to the west bank of the Firehole River. It contains a fine geyser and several beautiful springs. The most interesting are the _Jewell Geyser_ and the _Sapphire Pool_. Near this locality is the _Mystic Falls_, a fine cascade, on the Little Firehole River.

_Artemesia Geyser_ comes next to the attention of the tourist. It has been known as a geyser only since 1886. It is on the right of the roadway, at a considerably lower level.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

SKETCH MAP OF THE UPPER GEYSER BASIN

_Opp. page 228._ ]

The _Morning Glory_ is a little further up stream. In this beautiful object the quiescent pool is at its best. Its exquisite bordering and the deep cerulean hue of its transparent waters make it, and others like it, objects of ceaseless admiration.

The _Fan Geyser_ is close by the Firehole on the east bank, not far above the Morning Glory. The _Riverside_ is also on the east bank at the point where the road crosses the river. It is an inconspicuous object when not in eruption, and one would scarcely suspect it of being a geyser. It spouts obliquely across the river, and not, like most geysers, vertically.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_Gandy._

Grotto Geyser Cone.]

Next in order, after crossing the river to the Westbank, is the _Grotto_, remarkable for its irregular and cavernous crater. A little further on, close to the river, stands the broken crater of one of the Park's greatest geysers, the _Giant_. Lieutenant Doane compared its crater to a ”huge shattered horn.”

A few hundred feet further up stream, still close to the river, is the _Oblong_. Directly across the road, but a short distance away, is the _Splendid_, well worthy of its name; and near it, sometimes playing simultaneously, is the _Comet_.

To the westward from the Firehole, nearly on the divide between it and Iron Creek, is a lovely spring, called the _Punch-bowl_. Across the divide in the _Iron Creek_ valley is the _Black Sand Basin_, a unique but beautiful pool. Near it is another attraction, _Specimen Lake_, so named from an abundance of specimens of partly petrified wood. The limit of curiosities in this direction is _Emerald Pool_, which competent judges p.r.o.nounce to be the finest quiescent spring in the Park.

Returning to the Firehole by a different route, we pa.s.s a large spring or geyser known as the _Three Crater Spring_. Its three craters are connected by narrow water ways, making one continuous pool, though fed from three sources.

A thousand feet to the north, stands the most imposing crater in the Park, that of the _Castle_ geyser. It is frequently seen in moderate eruption, but rarely when doing its best. As ordinarily seen, it throws a column of water only 50 or 60 feet, but at times it plays as high as 150 or 200 feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._

Castle Geyser.]

[Ill.u.s.tration:

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