Practical Guide to Yellowstone National Park (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890. Excerpt: ... UPPER GEYSER BASIN. The following, from the facile pen of Mr. John Hyde, is one of the finest general descriptions of this basin ever written: "The principal geysers of the Park, which are also the most powerful in the known world, are situated in this basin, which extends from Old Faithful down the main Firehole River to a point just below the mouth of Little Firehole River, and along Iron Spring Creek, a branch of the last named stream. The more important springs and geysers are scattered along the main river. This basin is about four square miles in extent, and is triangular in shape, owing to the convergence of Firehole and Little Firehole rivers as they flow northward. The chief geysers are contained within an area of perhaps one square mile, along the course of the main stream and on either side of it. The main river flows from southeast to northwest through the basin, taking a more northerly course, however, after the waters of Iron Spring Creek and the Little Firehole unite with it. The volume of the main stream is sometimes greatly increased, and very rapidly, too, just after eruptions of some of the larger geysers, and its temperature is noticeably affected by these springs. The surface of this basin is a succession of knolls and ridges crowned with geysers and boiling springs. On every side are heavily timbered mountain slopes, 1,500 feet or more in height, with here and there outcroppings or escarpments of rough basaltic rocks from the dark groundwork of pines. Clouds of steam hang like a pall over the basin and slender columns of vapor float gracefully and silently upward from among the tree-tops of the surrounding forest, betraying the presence of springs hidden away in the dark solitudes of primeval nature. The air is laden with sulphurous ...