Wonders of the YellowstoneRichardson, James (Geologist)
History
Wonders of the Yellowstone
Richardson, James (Geologist)
Yellowstone National Park
rounded ridge with a fissure extending its whole length, its interior
lined with beautiful crystals of pure sulphur. Only hot vapors and
steam issue from this fissure, though the bubbling and gurgling of
water far beneath the surface can be distinctly heard. Back of this
ridge are several small springs which throw up geyser-like jets of
water intermittently to the height of three feet.
On the west side of this deposit, about one-third of the way up the
White Mountain from the river and terrace, where was once the theatre
of many active springs, old chimneys or craters are scattered thickly
over the surface, and there are several large holes and fissures
leading to vast caverns below. The crust gives off a dull hollow sound
beneath the tread, and the surface gives indistinct evidence of having
been adorned with the beautiful pools or basins already described. At
the base of the principal terrace is a large area covered with shallow
pools some of them containing water, with all the ornamentations
perfect, while others are fast going to decay, and the decomposed
sediment is as white as snow. On this sub-terrace is a remarkable cone
about 50 feet in height and 20 feet in diameter at the base. Its form
has suggested the name of Liberty Cap. It is undoubtedly the remains
of an extinct geyser. The water was forced up with considerable power,
and probably without intermission, building up its own crater until
the pressure beneath was exhausted, and the spring gradually closed
itself over at the summit and perished. No water flows from it at the
present time. The layers of lime were deposited around the cap like
the layers of straw on a thatched roof, or hay on a conical stack. Not
far from the Liberty Cap is a smaller cone, called, from its form, the
"Bee-hive." These springs are constantly changing their position; some
die out, others burst out in new places. On the northwest margin of
the main terrace are examples of what have been called oblong mounds.
There are several of them in this region, extending in different
directions, from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards in length, from
six to ten feet high, and from ten to fifteen feet broad at the base.
There is in all cases a fissure from one end of the summit to the
other, usually from six to ten inches wide, from which steam sometimes
issues in considerable quantities, and on walking along the top one
can hear the water seething and boiling below like a cauldron. The
inner portion of the shell, as far down as can be seen, is lined with
a hard, white enamel-like porcelain; in some places beautiful crystals
of sulphur have been precipitated from the steam. These mounds have
been built up by a kind of oblong fissure-spring in the same way that
the cones have been constructed. The water, continually spouting up,
deposited sediment around the edges of the fissure until the force was
exhausted, and then the calcareous basin was rounded up something like
a thatched roof by overlapping layers.
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