Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899: Volume LIV, No. 4, February 1899Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899: Volume LIV, No. 4, February 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
There was no difference in the appearance of the portion of the gulch
where the eight bears had met their end and the region above and
below. A hundred yards or more up stream the solfataric deposits
become less abundant, and the timber grows close to the brook; a short
distance beyond this the gulch ends. No bodies were found above, and
only bears were found in the locality described. It will be observed
that Weed's experience differs in this respect from ours, and the
appearance of the place was somewhat different: he found elk and small
animals in addition to the bears, and describes the death-trap as
occupying the mouth of the basin at the head of the gulch, above the
point where the last springs of acid water cease. The rill observed by
us has its source far above the animals; indeed, it trickles directly
through the worm-eaten carcass of the cinnamon bear--a thought by no
means comforting when we realized that the water supply for our camp
was drawn from the creek only a short distance down the valley.
It is not impossible that there may be two or three of these gullies
having similar properties. That we should have found only bears may
perhaps be accounted for on the ground that the first victim for this
season was a bear, and his carcass frightened away all animals except
those of his own family. For an illustration of a process of
accumulation of the bones of large vertebrates, with all the
conditions present necessary for fossilization, no finer example can
be found in the world than Death Gulch; year after year the snow
slides and spring floods wash down this fresh supply of entrapped
carcasses to be buried in the waste cones and alluvial bottoms of
Cache Creek and Lamar River. Probably the stream-formed conglomerate
that we noted as we ascended the creek is locally filled with these
remains.
The gas is probably generated by the action of the acid water on the
ancient limestones that here underlie the lavas at no great depth;
outcrops of these limestones occur only a few miles away at the mouth
of Soda Butte Creek. This gas must emanate from fissures in the rock
just above the bears, and on still nights it may accumulate to a depth
of two or three feet in the ravine, settling in a heavy, wavy stratum,
and probably rolling slowly down the bed of the rill into the valley
below. The accompanying photographs were made during our visit.
THE LABOR PROBLEM IN THE TROPICS.
BY W. ALLEYNE IRELAND.
A great deal of space has been devoted in American magazines and
newspapers recently to the question of how this country has become a
colonial power. Destiny and duty, strength and weakness, accident and
design, honesty and corruption have been called on by writers, singly
and in various combinations, to bear the responsibility of the new
departure in the national policy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account