The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive

by Hiram Martin Chittenden

The last exhibitions of volcanic energy were in the form of basaltic eruptions. These took place in part through ordinary volcanic craters, and in part through cracks or seams in the rocks, where they may still be seen forming extensive dykes. The basalt is of relatively limited extent, but its striking and picturesque forms wherever it appears make it more interesting to the tourist than any of the other rocks.

The great variety of superficial appearances which these volcanic rocks have assumed makes the Park one of the best laboratories in the world for their study.

The continuance of these various outpourings doubtless extended into Quaternary time. Then came the Glacial Epoch, the epoch of wide-spread ice-carving, which still further modified the surface of the country. The paths of the ancient glaciers have in several instances been made out and their transported material may readily be distinguished. One glacier flowed from the Gallatin Range eastward across Terrace Mountain, where it joined another moving westwardly from the Absaroka Range. The united streams continued down the Gardiner and Yellowstone Valleys, in which vast masses of drift still mark their ancient route.

Glacial action and the common agents of denudation have given the Park country its present general aspect. These later modifications have indeed been extensive, and the great variety of form now seen in the valleys, cañons and hills is the result of their combined action. The Yellowstone Cañon is a marked example of erosion on a large scale. A direct result of its formation was the partial draining of Yellowstone Lake, which had previously existed at a much higher level than now, and spread over the entire area of the present Hayden Valley.

Since the cessation of the basaltic lava flows there seem to have been no further lava outpourings in this region. The old volcanoes have been long extinct and their craters have been modified almost beyond recognition. But evidences of the power which once worked beneath them are still abundant, although no longer on so imposing a scale. It is the hot springs and geysers still in existence which partly render this region so widely celebrated. That this thermal action originates mainly in the same source of energy which once poured out the vast fields of lava, there is no reason to doubt. Many plausible explanations are advanced to account for the existence of subterranean heat, but whatever may be its real origin it is doubtless the same for both classes of phenomena.

The action which is now observable has continued in an ever-decreasing degree since the close of the lava period. Over vast tracts of the Park plateau, the rocks are entirely decomposed to unknown depths by the ascending superheated vapors. Some idea of the extent of this action may be obtained at the Grand Cañon, which has cut its way a thousand feet downward into the decomposed volcanic rock without yet reaching its bottom. The infinite variety of chemic products resulting from this decomposition has given the Cañon its wonderful coloration.

The same condition largely prevails over the Park plateau. Where now are dense forests and no superficial evidence of unusual conditions, there will frequently be found, by digging beneath the surface, the familiar proof that thermal activity once prevailed there. In constructing the tourist route from the Upper Geyser Basin to the Yellowstone Lake, where for nearly the whole distance there is a complete absence of hot springs, the evidences of former volcanic activity were found to be abundant.

Facts like these clearly demonstrate that, from a geologic standpoint, thermal activity in the Park is gradually becoming extinct; and many persons, taking alarm at this evidence, imagine that the unique phenomena of the Yellowstone are of an evanescent character, and that the time is not far remote when they will be known only as matters of history. There is, however, no occasion for such misgiving. The present condition is the result of processes that run back probably for millions of years; certainly for periods of time compared with which recorded history is insignificant. The same rate of progress would produce no perceptible change in the lifetime of an individual.

Some who have visited the geyser regions more than once assert that, after an interval of several years, they observe a marked diminution in thermal activity. But this is probably because a second visit ordinarily makes a less vivid impression than a first. The weight of reliable evidence is certainly the other way. Mr. David E. Folsom, leader of the Expedition of 1869, made a tour of the Park during the present season of 1895. He says: “I had a very vivid recollection of all I saw twenty-six years ago, and I note no important change.” Professor Arnold Hague, probably the best living authority upon the scientific features of the Park, has compared the hot springs and geysers by means of authentic records covering intervals of several years, and he declares that he finds “no diminution in the intensity of action or in the amount of discharge from the springs and geysers, since they have been subject to careful observation.” While it is certain that springs are constantly becoming inactive, it is no less certain that others replace them, and it may be confidently assumed that the progress toward ultimate extinction will be inappreciable in our time or for many generations to come.

The distribution of thermal springs over the surface of the earth is probably more general than is commonly supposed. Only one extensive area is practically without them, and that is the Continent of Australia. Africa, also, has very few. But in other parts of the globe they are found almost without number, ranging from the Equator to the Arctic Circle, and from sea-level to the lofty table lands of Thibet.