SITKA BAY, ALASKA.
JUPITER TERRACE, MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS.—This is a particularly fine view of this celebrated curiosity. The reflection of light and shade is admirable, and affords a good idea of the dazzling splendor of the formation when viewed in the light of the sun. We can but stand mute and dumb with admiration in the presence of such marvelous creations of Nature. No art can paint or imitate them. They are Nature’s own product, and stand unsurpassed even in human imagination.
IN THE BELT VALLEY, NEAR GREAT FALLS.
On the brink of this infernal pit, distributed over a considerable space, were transparent pools of water of the most brilliant hues, indigo, orange, carmine and emerald, down in whose depths are queer formations of petrifying algæ, and bubbles that look like pearls. Near this beautifully colored and transparent spring is Mud Geyser, a basin full of mush, that lazily sputters as though it were hung over a slow fire, awaiting the spoon of a tardy diner. There is another mud volcano near Sulphur Mountain, the crater of which is thirty feet deep and twenty-five feet in diameter, and which is in a state of constant ebullition, throwing up great quantities of mud and steam to a height of 200 feet, and at times shaking the mountain with its terrible convulsions. Great as were the wonders which we saw in Norris Basin, it proved to be only the threshold of the colossal, the overpowering, the awful sights which we were yet to behold.
The well-constructed roadway leading south from the Norris Geyser Basin is along the Gibbon River, by Johnson Peak and Hot Springs, into Gibbon Cañon, which, however, is distinguished for its gracefully sloping sides rather than for its cliffs and depths. A little way to the west the cañon becomes wilder, and just below Beryl Spring is a high shelf in the river, over which the rushing waters plunge in a fall of ninety feet. But the descent is gradual, so that instead of torrential dash the waters, after breaking on the sharp projections of the rock face, slide into the river below and then speed away to join Madison River, into which is drained the overflow of the many active geysers. Though not precipitous, Gibbon Falls is a beautiful sheet of liquid crystals, rolling down terraces and ledges exquisitely colored by the presence of different minerals, and in the sunlight exhibiting a sheen and brilliance almost equal to that of Yellowstone Falls. The charm is enhanced by deep coverts of pine that are reflected in the placidly-flowing stream above and below the falls, and by the castellated bluffs that confine the waters. The prospect from the cañon walls is also delightful, for towards every point there is a lovely panorama of remarkable diversity, including mountains, valleys, parks, rivers, and geysers, the latter showing themselves many miles north and south, while steam from boiling caldrons rolls skywards and gathers in volume until immense cumulus clouds are formed that hang ominously above the valley, or are drifted away to break upon the sides of the surrounding mountains.