The United States is a great country, as its people believe, and certainly no others in the world can boast of a park so large as theirs.
When Lewis and Clark had traveled a long distance up the Missouri River they reached that part of the country which is now called the Yellowstone Park. A better name would be “Wonderland” for such it is to the thousands of people from all over the world who visit it every year.
This great reservation is sixty-five miles from north to south and fifty-five miles from east to west. It contains not one, but many charming parks, lovely valleys, sparkling waterfalls, high mountains, deep valleys and one beautiful lake, called the Yellowstone Lake.
We can travel in a comfortable parlor car to the very entrance of the Wonderland where we will first visit the Mammoth Hot Springs whose waters are as clear as a mirror. They contain lime and iron, and for this reason many people drink the water which they take as medicine.
The largest of the Hot Springs bursts out of the ground near the summit of a high hill, from which it pours down over the slope and as it falls, makes deep basins in the earth below.
Some of these basins are tiny and others quite large. They are of different colors—red, green, and yellow, and the edges are worn away into the prettiest sort of beadwork by Mother Nature.
Now let us leave the Hot Springs and visit the geysers about fifty miles away. Each has a name of its own. There is the Giantess, which from time to time throws up a great quantity of water for a short distance. You must be careful not to venture too near when the Giantess wakes up, or you will be soaked with water in an instant.
Another geyser is called Old Faithful, because you can depend on his appearance at just such a time. He shows off his accomplishments once every sixty-five minutes. Old Faithful sends up a few little jets of water at first but every moment they become larger and stronger, till suddenly, with a tremendous roar, the water spouts up one hundred and thirty feet in the air. By the end of five minutes the water subsides and only a small stream rises.
Still another geyser is called the Beehive, on account of the shape of its cone. The water does not fall to the ground again but moves up through the air as fine spray.
One of the most interesting of all the geysers is the Castle. As you near it, the air around may be perfectly quiet. Then, all at once, you you will hear a loud rumbling noise as though quantities of stones were rolling over each other, and at the same time the lashing of water is heard under the earth. The noise becomes almost deafening, the earth trembles under your feet, and if you are wise you will hasten to some spot quite a distance away. Suddenly a column of water rises straight up into the air at least one hundred and fifty feet. The spray from it falls over the ground around like heavy rain and those who have not been wise enough to flee like yourself are drenched with hot water.