Part 11 (1/2)

One of the most graceful animals the children of the west have ever seen is the bighorn, or Rocky Mountain sheep. It browses on the gra.s.s found on the steep slopes where the hunter has hard work to reach it. Its ears are quick to hear the slightest sound, when it will toss its head and flee from possible danger with long leaps.

Among the Rocky Mountains are mines of silver, gold, and copper which have brought fortunes to many people of the United States. The silver mines especially are among the richest in the world. The men who work in them generally leave their families at home, and go away to ”rough it”

as they say, for a mining town seldom has many comforts and the boys and girls who do go there to live miss the good schools, and many other things to which they have been used.

About fifty years ago gold was discovered in the state of California which lies on the sh.o.r.es of the Pacific Ocean. The news filled the country with excitement. As time pa.s.sed by the gold mines did not prove as rich as the people expected, but they discovered that the country was valuable in other ways. Trees grew to enormous size there and the warm, moist climate of the western coast was the best possible for raising fruit. To-day the children of California feast on pears, plums, apricots, grapes, peaches, oranges, and still other fruits which grow very large and beautiful. There are many wheat farms, too, in California where rich harvests reward the men who own them.

Beyond the Rocky Mountains and lying between them and a lower range called the Sierra Nevada, is a high plateau, where the rain falls into streams which dry up or form lakes before they can make their way to the sea.

The largest of these is called the Great Salt Lake whose water is four times as salty as that of the sea.

The Colorado Canyon.

There are still other plateaus southeast of the Great Basin where the streams have worn away deep valleys called canyons. The largest of these rivers is the Colorado, whose canyon is so wonderful that travelers in the west always wish to visit it.

In some parts of the canyon the steep cliffs rise on either side for about a mile up into the air. As the traveler in the valley below looks up he can see the stars s.h.i.+ning in broad daylight. The rocks at the sides are of different colors-gray, brown, red and purple. The best time to visit the canyon is at sunrise or sunset. Then the light from above falls first upon one color and then upon another, making a beautiful sight as the shadows change from moment to moment.

The National Park.

The United States is a great country, as its people believe, and certainly no others in the world can boast of a park so large as theirs.

When Lewis and Clark had traveled a long distance up the Missouri River they reached that part of the country which is now called the Yellowstone Park. A better name would be ”Wonderland” for such it is to the thousands of people from all over the world who visit it every year.

This great reservation is sixty-five miles from north to south and fifty-five miles from east to west. It contains not one, but many charming parks, lovely valleys, sparkling waterfalls, high mountains, deep valleys and one beautiful lake, called the Yellowstone Lake.

We can travel in a comfortable parlor car to the very entrance of the Wonderland where we will first visit the Mammoth Hot Springs whose waters are as clear as a mirror. They contain lime and iron, and for this reason many people drink the water which they take as medicine.

The largest of the Hot Springs bursts out of the ground near the summit of a high hill, from which it pours down over the slope and as it falls, makes deep basins in the earth below.

Some of these basins are tiny and others quite large. They are of different colors-red, green, and yellow, and the edges are worn away into the prettiest sort of beadwork by Mother Nature.

Now let us leave the Hot Springs and visit the geysers about fifty miles away. Each has a name of its own. There is the Giantess, which from time to time throws up a great quant.i.ty of water for a short distance. You must be careful not to venture too near when the Giantess wakes up, or you will be soaked with water in an instant.

Another geyser is called Old Faithful, because you can depend on his appearance at just such a time. He shows off his accomplishments once every sixty-five minutes. Old Faithful sends up a few little jets of water at first but every moment they become larger and stronger, till suddenly, with a tremendous roar, the water spouts up one hundred and thirty feet in the air. By the end of five minutes the water subsides and only a small stream rises.

Still another geyser is called the Beehive, on account of the shape of its cone. The water does not fall to the ground again but moves up through the air as fine spray.

One of the most interesting of all the geysers is the Castle. As you near it, the air around may be perfectly quiet. Then, all at once, you you will hear a loud rumbling noise as though quant.i.ties of stones were rolling over each other, and at the same time the las.h.i.+ng of water is heard under the earth. The noise becomes almost deafening, the earth trembles under your feet, and if you are wise you will hasten to some spot quite a distance away. Suddenly a column of water rises straight up into the air at least one hundred and fifty feet. The spray from it falls over the ground around like heavy rain and those who have not been wise enough to flee like yourself are drenched with hot water.

We must not leave the Wonderland without visiting Yellowstone Lake. It is very beautiful and stretches its long arms in among the mountains as though to embrace them. On the western sh.o.r.e of this lake you may catch trout if you will. Then, if you are hungry, you may take a few steps and drop the fish, still on the hook, into a boiling spring. Behold! your dinner of delicious trout is ready for your eating.

Yellowstone River flows out of this wonderful lake and at first moves smoothly and quietly. Then, as it is about to make its way through a mountain-pa.s.s, it makes leaps and bounds in the form of cascades and waterfalls, wearing the earth into a deep canyon, which is as full of interest as that of the Colorado.

In your visit to the Rocky Mountains you will, no doubt, wish to climb Pikes Peak. It is named for Major Pike, who tried to climb to the summit but failed.

”Only a bird could succeed,” he afterwards said. Now-a-days, however, hundreds of travelers go every year to the top of Pikes Peak.

Niagara Falls.