YELLOWSTONE RIVER, NEAR MUD GEYSER.
“Scrambling to the edge of one of the bastions and looking down, we could see the river far below, dwarfed to a mere silver thread. From this abyss the crags and slopes towered up in endless variety of form, and with the weirdest mingling of colors. Much of the rock, especially of the more crumbling slopes, was of a pale sulphur-yellow. Through this groundwork harder masses of dull scarlet, merging into purple and crimson, rose into craggy knobs and pinnacles, or shot up in sheer vertical walls. In the sunlight of the morning the place is a blaze of strange color, such as one can hardly see anywhere save in the crater of an active volcano. But as the day wanes, the shades of evening, sinking gently into the depths, blend their livid tints into a strange, mysterious gloom, through which one can still see the white gleam of the rushing river and hear the distant murmur of its flow. Now is the time to see the full majesty of the cañon. Perched on an outstanding crag, one can look down the ravine and mark headland behind headland mounting out of the gathering shadows and catching upon their scarred fronts of red and yellow the mellower tints of the sinking sun. And above all lie the dark folds of pine sweeping along the crests of the precipices, which they crown with a rim of green. There are gorges of far more imposing magnitude in the Colorado Basin, but for dimensions large enough to be profoundly striking, yet not too vast to be taken in by the eye at once, for infinite changes of picturesque detail, and for brilliancy and endless variety of coloring, there are probably few scenes in the world more impressive than the Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone.” Along the twenty miles of cañon where the walls are highest they have been carved by glacial agencies and weather-worn into many curious forms, generally columnar, but sometimes presenting the appearance of spires, domes, turrets and crenelated battlements, and everywhere the matchless colors of yellow, red, green, and many tints are present. After passing down the extreme length of the cañon, we took the less traveled road running east from Yancy’s Camp and visited the petrified forests; and here we began to comprehend more thoroughly than before the mysteries of the Yellowstone Park Basin. The evidence is here abundant that in the remote past this entire region of 375 square miles was a pleasant vale, where a luxuriant forest abounded, and many monster animals, long since extinct, found a pleasant abode. Following this period of delightful natural conditions, there succeeded a flood of ice that came sweeping with almost unimaginable force from the north, grinding, tearing and destroying until the region was denuded and the very earth furrowed and torn into the wonderful disfigurements which we now behold. In this terrific flood the mountains were precipitated and folded upon the forests and buried with the monster animals that had sought refuge in the spots which became their cemeteries. In the rents thus made the grinding ice flowed until it reached the internal furnace of the world, which generating gases and steam, explosions followed that tore wider the earth’s womb and made the region a fiery cave. Into the devious caverns thus formed water from underground rivers continues to flow, over subterranean fires that convert it into steam, and thus at the many vents we observe the ever active, though constantly waning, energies of the volcano.
TOWER FALLS, IN THE GRAND CAÑON.—At this point the waters of Yellowstone River spring at one bound over a precipice 156 feet high, forming one of the most beautiful and picturesque falls to be found in any country. The castellated rocks surrounding the falls stand like grim sentinels guarding their beautiful treasure, and have been well and appropriately named, for their resemblance to ancient towers and battlements is so striking as to be recognized at a glance. This is one of the most attractive points along the entire length of Yellowstone Cañon.
A PETRIFIED TREE IN THE BAD LANDS OF DAKOTA.—In many parts of the Northwest, particularly in the Bad Lands of Dakota and Yellowstone National Park, there are whole forests of petrified trees, partly standing or lying about in promiscuous profusion. A fine photograph of a portion of one of these trees is given on this page. According to the scientific theory, these forests were overwhelmed by the ice-flood many centuries ago, and each tree became, through chemical action, a thousand years or more thereafter, a gem-like pillar of the most exquisite beauty. Petrified remains of gigantic animals that roamed these ancient forests are found in abundance in the same regions.