Had to lie in bed to keep warm, wished I was at home ... stormed all night. We are in for it. Snowed all day ... the season is in our favor, we shall make haste home as soon as the blockade raises.[132]
Therefore, they left the Thumb of the Lake and started toward Firehole Basin on September 17. They were exultant over the exploration; accurate journals were kept. It was generally felt that their observations were of great value and the exploration would be considered important. Allow Langford to describe their reactions:
Strange and interesting as are the various objects which we have met within this vast field of natural wonders, no camp or place of rest on our journey has afforded our party greater satisfaction than the one we are now occupying, which is our first camp since emerging from the dense forest. Filled with gloom at the loss of our comrade, tired, tattered, browned by exposure and reduced in flesh by our labors, we resemble more a party of organized mendicants, than of men in pursuit of Nature’s greatest novelties. But from this point we hope that our journey will be comparatively free from difficulties of travel.[133]
Having finished an assignment, they were thinking of home and their neglected affairs. Notwithstanding the grandeur of nature’s wonders in the Yellowstone Lake region they were about to get the surprise of their lives. This marvel of wonders occurred on the evening of September 18. Just as they emerged from the woods into the Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful was shyly preening her billowy plume, and as the vanguard shouted, “Look!” she gracefully mounted, wave upon wave, until a mighty torrent vaulted heavenward, where it unfurled like a watery flag, as if in welcome to its known immortalizers. Thus, the Fairy Queen had the honor of first saluting those weary explorers, and never since that eventful day has she failed any visitor.
In that gloryful presence Lieutenant Doane solemnly declared, “The earth affords not its equal. It is the most lovely inanimate object in existence.”[134] To General Washburn, the Giantess, when quiet, was like a hallowed fountain and in eruption, grandly magnificent, with “each broken atom shining like so many brilliants with myriads of rainbows dancing in attendance.”[135] What ecstasy! A whole kingdom of fairy spirits seemed determined to outdo each other. There ensued an orgy of thermal activity. During the short visit of twenty-two hours, twelve geysers were seen in action. It was then that their experience waxed “more and more wonderful until wonder itself became paralyzed.” In this basin they overcame the tendency to apply the wretched Satanic nomenclature so fully employed elsewhere. Instead, the names bestowed bear witness to a profound appreciation. It was for them alone that Old Faithful marked the hours by sending up “a plume of spun glass iridescent and superb, against the sky.”[136] When the Giant played, “Our whole party went wild with enthusiasm; many declared it was three hundred feet in height.” The picturesque name “Broken Horn” was then proposed; it is most descriptive and worthy of being retained. The Grotto reminded them of
... a miniature temple of alabaster whiteness, with arches leading to some interior Holy of Holies, whose sacred places may never be profaned by eye or foot.[137]
Geysers soon to become known as Giantess, Lion, Grand, Turban (or Turk’s Head), Splendid, Beehive, Fan, Castle, Rocket, and Grotto performed with unrivaled courtesy. What an array of Titans! Surely the world would also want to know about this.
And then there were the pools, the amazing springs of Yellowstone—thousands of them, all colors, a riot of aquatic pigmentation—Emerald, Sapphire, Gentian, Grand Prismatic, Rainbow, Topaz, and glamorous Morning Glory. The amazing intricacy of color-blend in the water did not then excel in beauty the surrounding border incrustations. Indeed, the most delicate embroidery could not rival them in their wonderful variety and complexity.[138]
How was such symmetry of design created? Species by the score of tiny plants called algae and diatoms thrive in hot water, temperatures ranging from approximately 100° to 170° F. These plants have the capacity to assimilate silica held in solution, and as their lives are short they build sinter formations in the same manner as coral reefs are fashioned. These algae are, therefore, active geological agents in soil building on a considerable scale.[139] However, the intricate mineral incrustations and lacy embroidery surrounding the boiling hot springs and geysers are entirely the product of deposition due to evaporation.
As the party progressed through the hierarchy of basins, Upper, Biscuit, Midway, and Lower, samples were taken and names given to many thermal features. They were leaving the Firehole region, but before an exit was made, or its spell broken, their whole experience was given a proper evaluation, and the greatest natural history idea of a millennium was born.