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Trumball Journal
Index
THE WASHBURN YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION.
NO. II.
Page 9
Our last camp on the lake was near the extremity of the south-west arm.
Close by us was a collection of warm springs--the largest, most numerous,
varied, and peculiar which we had then discovered. Several were from fifty
to eighty feet in length, by from twenty to fifty in width. The water was
generally clear, and of great depth. All were hot, but of different
temperatures. Around the larger ones the ground was marshy, and largely
composed of a reddish earth, which looked like wet brick-dust. A number of
hot streams flowed from these springs into the lake. the lake-shore was
covered with a subsilica, broken into small pieces, and washed smooth by the
action of the waves. Many of these pieces were pure and white as
alabaster. Many of the smaller springs were mud-springs, boiling and
spluttering incessantly. These were generally a few feet below the surface,
and encased in clay banks. They emitted a strong sulphurous smell, which
rendered a close examination rather disagreeable. Several springs were in
solid rock, within a few feet of the lake-shore. Some of them extended far
out underneath the lake; with which, however, they had no connection. The
lake water was quite cold, and that of these springs exceedingly hot. They
were remarkably clear, and the eye could penetrate a hundred feet into their
depths, which to the human vision appeared bottomless. A gentleman was
fishing from one of the narrow isthmuses, or shelves of rock, which divided
one of these hot springs from the lake, when, in swinging a trout ashore, it
accidentally got off the hook and fell into the spring. For a moment it
darted about with wonderful rapidity, as if seeking an outlet. Then it came
to the top, dead, and literally boiled. It died within a minute of the time
it fell into the spring.
On the 17th of September, the party left Lake Yellowstone for home, by
way of the Madison River. Our immediate objective point was a small lake,
in which the Fire Hole River, the main branch of the Madison, has its
source. This was supposed to be about twelve miles west of us. In crossing
the divide we found that the snow-storm had been general; bout two feet of
snow still remaining. We failed to find the lake, but finally camped in the
snow, on a small stream running to the south, probably into the lake. The
mountains were everywhere thickly timbered. Nearly all the trees had great
lumps, like hornets'-nests, upon their trunks. They were generally large,
but scraggy and irregular, and wholly unlike the tall, straight pines of the
Sierras. It is said that a long time before I could conceive the utility of
a forest so vast in a locality so remote and inaccessible. It was suggested
to me by a comrade that the trees protected the snow, preventing it from all
melting at once during the first warm days of spring, and thereby producing
a freshet destructive of every thing in its wake. I can think of no other
reason for their creation.
The following day we traveled north-west, and soon reached the Fire Hole
River. After passing by a fine cascade--which we stopped but a short time
to examine--we forded the river, and camped about noon in the midst of the
most wonderful geysers yet discovered in any country. the basin in which
they were situated was over two miles long, and about a mile wide. It was
nearly destitute of vegetation, but there were a few clumps of trees
scattered through it, and in one place we found grass enough for our
horses. The basin was chiefly on the west side of the river, but there was
a narrow strip, with an average width of three hundred yards, on the east
side, which was literally alive with geysers and steam-jets. We remained
two days in this wonderful basin. The most prominent geysers which we saw
in operation we named as follows: "Old Faithful," which was farthest up the
river on the western bank; "the Castle: which was a third of a mile below
"Old Faithful;" "The Giant," which was a half-mile below "The Castle;" "The
Grotto," a short distance below "The Giant;" then crossing the river, lowest
down was the "Fantail," and much higher up, nearly opposite "Old Faithful,"
were "The Giantess" and "Beehive."
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