First in importance, among the many points of interest accessible from this locality, are the Hot Springs Terraces. These have been built one upon another until the present active portion constitutes a hill rising 300 feet above the site of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. The formation about these springs, it will be remembered, is calcareous, and to this fact is due its distinctive character, so different from the silica formations which prevail nearly every-where else in the Park. The overhanging bowls which these deposits build up are among the finest specimens of Nature’s work in the world, while the water which fills them is of that peculiar beauty to be found only in thermal springs. Speaking of this feature Dr. Hayden says:
"The wonderful transparency of the water surpasses any thing of the kind I have ever seen in any other portion of the world. The sky, with the smallest cloud that flits across it, is reflected in its clear depths, and the ultramarine colors, more vivid than the sea, are greatly heightened by constant, gentle vibrations. One can look down into the clear depths and see, with perfect distinctness, the minutest ornament on the inner sides of the basins; and the exquisite beauty of the coloring and the variety of forms baffle any attempt to portray them either with pen or pencil." [AZ]
[AZ] Page 69 Hayden’s Report for 1871. See [Appendix E].
Cleopatra Spring, Jupiter Terrace, Pulpit Terrace, Minerva Terrace, the Narrow Gauge Terrace—an incongruous name for a long fissure spring—the White Elephant, another fissure spring, and the Orange Geyser, a very pretty formation, dome-shaped, with a pulsating spring in the top, are among the most interesting of the active springs.
Liberty Cap is the cone of an extinct spring and stands forty-five feet high and twenty feet through at the base.
Bath Lake is a warm pool of considerable size, much used in bathing.
Scattered over the formation in every direction are caves, springs, steam-vents, handsome deposits, and curiosities without number to attract and detain the visitor. Many of them, like Cupid’s Cave, the Devil’s Kitchen, and McCartney’s Cave, are of much interest. In the last-mentioned cave, or, more properly, crater, an elk fell one winter when the crater was level full with light snow. His antlers caught between the sides of the crater, holding him in a suspended position until he perished. He was found the following spring by Mr. McCartney.
Besides the hot springs features, there are other important objects of interest in this neighborhood.
Terry Engr. Co.