To Geyserland

Where in confusion canyons and mountains and swift running rivers with painted banks abound, and elk and deer, buffalo and bear range through the wilds unterrified by man and gun, and tall, straight pines in almost unbroken forests plant their feet in a tangle of down-timber that centuries were required to produce; where in the earth there are vents through which roar and rush at exact intervals columns of boiling water, sometimes more than two hundred feet high, or in which painted mud blubbers and spurts; where pools by thousands at scalding heat boil and murmur; where under one's feet is felt the hollow of the earth and through hundreds of holes of unfathomable depth come deep growls of Nature in her confinement; where dyes have been daubed in delirium on hillsides and river's brink; where a canyon gashes the earth thousands of feet through colors so vivid and varied that no record can write them down; where one of the highest navigable lakes in the world washes the feet of mountains that hold aloft the snows through every month of the year; where the supernal and the infernal are blended in a harmony that only Infinitude can produce, and every miracle of Creation has been worked; where one can be lost in a wilderness as long as he will and come face to face with almost every form of creative eccentricity—there is Geyserland.

Yellowstone National Park is reached via the Union Pacific and its connection, the Oregon Short Line, the New and Direct Route, over one stem from Kansas City and Leavenworth, and over another from Council Bluffs and Omaha. By way of the latter you cross the Missouri River over a magnificent steel bridge and traverse the "Lane Cut Off," a splendid illustration of modern railroad construction. If you journey over the stem from Kansas City, your way leads through a succession of thriving cities and towns amid the finest farming region of the West, and through beautiful Denver, through Cheyenne, thence through Wyoming, and a portion of Utah, to Ogden, from which point Salt Lake City, 37 miles distant, is reached.

The Cascades of the Firehole River, and Hayden Valley between Yellowstone Lake and the Falls. larger

Leaving the central system of transcontinental lines, access to the Park is had in a night by way of the Oregon Short Line Railroad from Salt Lake City, Ogden, or Pocatello to the station, Yellowstone, Montana, at the western border, nineteen miles from the Fountain Hotel.

All along this route are strewn stretches of delightful scenery, and fields of rare fertility; but these things the tourist does not see—he awakens for breakfast at Yellowstone, and an hour thereafter is following the course of the beautiful Madison, well on his way into the Park and to the wonders that there await him.

Keppler Cascades larger

As a whole, the scenery of the Park is restful and satisfying. What it lacks in the stupendous it makes up in softness of coloring and the gentle undulations that lead gradually to the massive mountains. The green of the pines, lightened and darkened here and there with the shades of different species, is everywhere. The waters of the rivers are dimmed by the shadows; the cascades have a glimmer and sparkle quite their own, and now and then peep out in the sweeps of the distance, little lakes that shimmer in the sun. Vagrant clouds of steam, signs of the geysers and boiling springs, are seen all over the landscape, especially in the early morning when a little of the night frost still lingers in the air. Many grotesque shapes are taken on by the rocks, and there is hardly a spring or pool that does not suggest its name by its form. From the Lake Hotel can be seen facing skyward, the profile of a human face so perfect it has long been called "The Sleeping Giant." Yellowstone Lake is a marvel of beauty; the dense forest comes down to its shores, little dots of islands sprinkle its surface, its waters are crystal clear away into the deep, and under the kiss of the sun the face of the sea takes on a glory altogether splendid.

Western Entrance larger

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Gibbon Falls larger

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The stage coach, the old-fashioned one with the lofty seat for the driver and the boot and the thorough-brace, the rocking-cradle vehicle that served so well when civilization was beating its way westward fifty years ago, holds the first right-of-way through the Park. Driven from use almost everywhere else by the iron horse, it has found safe refuge there, and neither the railways nor the automobiles can enter to oppose it.

The Mud Geyser, and A Coaching Party larger

A good half of the pleasures of the tour is found in the coaching. To watch for the coming of the stage at the door of the Inn where the baggage is piled, and the porters and bell boys stand expectant—to hear the clatter of the wheels, the sound of hoofs, and to see the gaily harnessed horses in conscious pride swing the coach gracefully under the Porte Cochere—to be wheeled over the winding, dustless roads at ten miles an hour behind prancing leaders and wheelers—to be garbed as you please without thought of style or detail—to breathe air distilled among the fragrant pines—to be touched by breezes that fan your cheek and dishevel your hair—to be free from all care and abandon yourself to the delights that come with the everchanging scenes that panoramic Nature is constantly unfolding to your gaze—is to experience an exhilaration never to be found among the busy haunts of men.

The drivers, gentlemanly and skillful, are full of information, and you do the 158 miles from Yellowstone around the circle back to Yellowstone with so little fatigue that you regret the trip is not longer.

Two companies of United States Cavalry are stationed at Fort Yellowstone, and, during the summer detachments of these troops are placed in different parts of the reservation. Their duties are to patrol the Park, prevent the spreading of forest fires and the commission of acts of vandalism. The troops have authority to make arrests for any violation of Park regulations. Hunting is especially prohibited, and all guns are officially sealed at the entrance to the Park.

The Crater of Oblong Geyser larger

Punch Bowl Spring larger

The commanding officer at Fort Yellowstone is Acting Superintendent of the reservation. All rules and regulations emanate from the Department of the Interior, and printed copies of them will be found posted in all Park Hotels.

The Government has constructed a system of macadamized roads of easy grade throughout the Park, and these are kept sprinkled daily during the Park season.

Grotto Geyser Formation larger

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Rapids above Upper Falls larger

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Upper Geyser Basin larger

Nature has lavished her gifts on the region of the Yellowstone—wild woodland, crystal rivers, gorgeous canyons and sparkling cascades—all under the guard of mountain sentinels around whose lofty heads group every form of cloud castle that vagrant winds can build. But of all the wonders that God in His mysterious way has there worked to perform, none is so strange—so startling—as the geysers.

To count them, great and small, would be like counting the stars, and to measure in words their awful power, or picture their splendor of sparkle and symmetry—that, no one can do. They must be seen to be appreciated, and once seen—the memory and mystery of them will linger to the end of the longest life. They are as different as geysers can be. There are dead geysers—dead from bursted throats—mere boiling pools now—shaped to resemble a variety of familiar things; with depths that the eye cannot sound, and colors—blues, greens, purples, reds—down their deep sides and in the wonderful tracery about their rims, so blended, so beautiful that one may well believe that all the paints on the palette of the Master were commingled in their decoration.

One blubbers and gurgles and grumbles awhile, and then with an angry roar lifts a great column of mud into the air. Another steams and growls through an orifice hundreds of feet wide in seeming angry spite that years ago it blew out its throat and ceased to gush forever. [A] But the geysers that most attract are the regular-timed spouting wonders—the Giant and Giantess, Old Faithful, the Grand, the Fountain, the Castle and others whose names mark the geography of the Park.

The Geysers in Winter larger

The Geysers

They are variously located in three distinct basins which are far enough apart to give the traveler by stage a few geysers with each day's entertainment. These basins are great wastes of a white deposition called in Park vernacular "the formation" under which must be boiling one of the mighty cauldrons of the earth, for one can feel under foot a tremble, and can hear through a hundred orifices the hiss of steam and the angry murmur of the waters below.

The coming and going of the geysers is an astonishing and awe-inspiring spectacle, and so accurately timed and so certain to perform are they, that no one need miss the experience. The geyser passive is a hole at the summit of a cone. The cone rises gradually from the plane of the formation and, ragged and deep, growls hoarsely and steams fitfully. Thus it is a moment before its time for activity, and then comes the geyser active. There is a loud preliminary roar and then suddenly, with a rush and power almost terrifying, a white obelisk of scalding, steaming water is lifted into the air sometimes 250 feet, and there held scintillating and glistening in the sun until the play is over, when it sinks gradually back from whence it came, and the fitful growling and steaming begins anew.

Every geyser has a time of its own and there are thousands of them, varying in size from the little growler that sputters and spits a thimbleful from its tiny throat, to the Giant that three times a month plays for ninety minutes, 250 feet high.

How old the geysers are, recorded time does not tell, but one or two of the wise men, who are always measuring the duration of things by some system of calculation, have determined by multiplying the deposition from each eruption by the height of the cone, that the Giant, for instance, has been playing some thousands of years.

If those who come and go across the land every year on pleasure bent only knew how curious and beautiful geysers are, the National Park would count its visitors by multitudes.

Old Faithful larger

The Great Falls From Below larger

Old Faithful at Sunrise larger

In imagination, lift in a symmetrical cone two hundred and fifty thousand gallons of scalding, steaming water one hundred and fifty feet high and hold it there three minutes; jewel the grand fountain with a million diamonds; filter through it the hues of innumerable dancing rainbows; commingle in confusion every sound of splash and splutter—and you will have a faint idea of Old Faithful in action.

It is the immutable water-clock of the Yellowstone—the most perfect illustration of geyseric phenomena—the most famous and beautiful geyser in the whole world.

The note of the beginning of the play of the geyser is an angry growl down deep in its throat whence almost instantly the water, in rapid recurrent leaps, forms the stately fountain that plays for three minutes and then slowly sinks into the earth to await its time to rise again. Sometimes the winds unfold from its top an iridescent banner of spray; but more often the fountain form is a perfect cone.

Old Faithful plays every seventy minutes and never disappoints. Visitors to the Park may therefore see it under various conditions of light. In the daytime, under the sun, it glistens and gleams with prismatic hues; but the most enchanting hour to witness its performance is that when night is falling—when the dusk is around it, and the last faint tints of the sun linger in the sky. Then it is a spectre in ghostly white standing against the sombre background of the wilderness—a sight strange and startling and never to be forgotten.

It has long been the custom at Old Faithful Inn to flood the geyser at night with the rays of a searchlight. Then the spectacle takes on new features—all the rainbow hues are there, and looking through the fountain along the sweep of light, one sees a bediamonded form more beautiful than any ever wrought by the hands of the Ice King.

Verily, Old Faithful is one of the most wonderful presentations in all the repertoire of Nature.

The Great Falls from Point Lookout larger

The Canyon and Falls of the Yellowstone beggar description. They are twin wonders in a Wonderland. Is there any other gorge as gorgeous as that Canyon? With such gaiety of coloring—with such delicate and lovely shades of yellows and reds, purples and pinks, greens and crimsons, all commingling in harmony from the green-fringed brink, down, down the craggy sides into sombre depths where the writhing, gleaming ribbon of river thousands of feet below, plunges along on its winding way to the sea?

And the falls—the drapery of the canyon—the two silvery curtains that hang at its head—a great river pouring over a precipice and falling in glassy sheets hundreds of feet, then ruffling and flouncing and festooning until lost into the rainbow-hued mist at their feet.

See all this as thousands have and thousands will from "Inspiration Point"—a rocky balcony over the gorge, with the eagle's nests below you—or from "Artist's Point" on the other side, where Moran transferred the glories of canyon and falls to canvas; or see it from any of the other places where tourists love to linger and look, and you will see the most tremendous, stupendous, alluring and altogether splendid spectacle that Nature ever spread out for the wonder, amazement and delight of mortal eyes.

MAP OF OREGON SHORT LINE, UNION PACIFIC, OREGON-WASHINGTON RAILROAD & NAVIGATION CO., SOUTHERN PACIFIC AND CONNECTIONS (facing pgs) larger

Bridge above The Rapids larger

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The Upper Falls larger

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
Oregon Short Line Railroad larger

Corrected by observations made during season 1910. From Haynes' Official Guide—Yellowstone National Park

The structural features are the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and the garrison of Fort Yellowstone, around which, and in the vicinity of the springs, the landscape gardener has produced many beautiful effects. Here are found the most remarkable terrace-building hot springs in the world. The formation is calcareous, and the deposition by the waters has built up through the centuries cataracts in stone of indescribable beauty through which the paints from the earth have been mingled and blended with a vividness of coloring and a perfection of shading that none but the Master's hand could work.

The waters are of such extraordinary transparency that the eye can only guess at their depth. They are held steaming and pulsating in great over-hanging bowls, from which they gently flow down over the stony cataracts, carving and decorating as they go. Jupiter and Pulpit Terraces are the master-pieces of Nature here; but there are hundreds of other curious and beautiful things to see. The drive to and from Norris is alive with interest. It leads through the Golden Gate, and on the way can be seen Obsidian Cliff, Roaring Mountain, Beaver and Twin Lakes and other attractive and curious features of topography.

Mammoth Hotel larger

The animals of the Park are objects of peculiar interest. No sound of gun or bark of dog is ever heard, and the animals, though wild, have become so tame that they give only curious notice to tourists as they pass. Deer, elk and bear roam at will throughout Geyserland. The red squirrel and the chipmunk scamper along the roadway, and those furry little bundles, the wood-chucks, flatten out on the rocks and take no heed of your passing. It is an everyday sight to see deer and their young by the roadside, and now and then you get a glimpse of an antlered elk, with his family of cows, swimming the streams of the Park. So much has been accomplished by law in robbing man of his terrors to the wild, that all of the animals in the Park, except those that—like the mountain lion and sheep, frequent places inaccessible to travelers—have well-nigh lost their fears.

The bears, some of them wrapped in robes that would command a fancy price, come down in the evening from their homes in the hills to feed around the hotels. The after-dinner entertainment they afford to guests is an everyday pleasure.

Feeding the Bear larger

The Giant Geyser larger

Eagle Nest Rock larger

New Grand Canon Hotel larger

They happen along at the end of each day's drive—great roomy structures alive with light and full of comfort and good cheer. And such inns they are—generous lobbies to lounge in before old-fashioned fire-places, with their blazing, snapping logs—beds to sleep in, clean and restful—prettily furnished rooms—and cookery and service almost too good to be true. To find all these things in a far-away wilderness is to wonder what magic was worked to bring them all about.

The great inn at Mammoth has in its foreground, three hundred feet high, the wonderful, many-colored, and beautifully-formed Hot Springs Terraces which belong in the list of the water-made wonders of the Park.

One of the inns—Old Faithful—cannot be matched anywhere in the world. It is a lofty, wide-spreading structure of logs, with a touch of Swiss about its gables and windows. Within, the logs are everywhere—partitions, balustrades, stair-steps, and newel posts—even the drinking fountain is a log. It must have been a mighty task to search the forests for all the queer forms of growth that enter into the construction of the curious, rustic interior. And the lobby, with its four great cheerful fireplaces—its huge corn popper—its clock and twenty-foot pendulum, and all the log-made galleries above it—that charms and comforts beyond the power of words to tell.

Old Faithful Inn larger

The inns are located nearby the greatest marvels of the Park and their sites have been selected to show them off with admirable skill.

From the Fountain the geysers of the lower basin can be seen at their play.

Old Faithful Inn looks out upon a great steaming, spouting field, and has its namesake—the glory of all the geysers—almost at its doors. So near, indeed, is it, that all the night through, at intervals of seventy minutes, can be heard the old monster in eruption.

On a slope that sweeps gently down to the waters sits the Lake Inn. The forest creeps down to it on three sides, and the outlook from its goodly porches is over the broad expanse of Yellowstone Lake—one of the highest of navigated seas, and as passive, clear and prettily tree-trimmed a sheet of water as there is in the world. You may reach this inn from Thumb by steamer or by coach; but if you would have two hours of ecstacy, take the steamer. Thumb is a lunch station, and the lunch there is a creation.

The Canyon Inn is almost on the brink of the gorge where falls the Yellowstone. It is a duplication in excellence of the other inns, and when you bid it good-bye it is to begin your last day's tour of the Park. Then comes Norris, with its geysers and its awful "Black Growler," and a lunch that will send the tourist on his homeward way with a grateful heart. After that—Yellowstone—and the whistle of the engine and the waiting Pullman—your tour is ended and the Park a pleasant memory.

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Pulpit Terrace larger

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The M. & Y. Stage Company, operating from Yellowstone, Montana (The Oregon Short Line terminus at the western entrance to the Park) is licensed by and is under the direct supervision of the United States Government.

The line is equipped with elegant new two and four-horse Concord coaches and two-horse surreys, and the finest of horses.

The coaches accommodate eight and eleven passengers, the surreys three and five passengers. The drivers have been especially selected for the service, are well informed, and will point out every interesting feature of the Park.

The five days' coaching over the line of this Company takes in all interesting sights in the Park, and every effort is made by the management to secure the comfort and pleasure of passengers.

Stop-over privileges at any Park hotel are allowed without additional stage charge; but twenty-four hours' advance notice must be given to the Stage Company of the coach to be taken. Parties so desiring can arrange for special coaches or surreys for the Park trip. For further information regarding coaches and transportation facilities through the Park, address F. J. Haynes, President M. & Y. Stage Company, St. Paul, Minn., or Yellowstone Park, Wyo.

Lone Star Geyser larger

Owing to the frequent changes of fares throughout the United States, this publication will deal only with the round-trip fare from Salt Lake City, Ogden, Pocatello and Yellowstone. Following fares from Pocatello and Yellowstone are open to all passengers:—Fares from Ogden or Salt Lake are side-trip fares available to holders of transcontinental tickets of any class reading between Cheyenne, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and points east thereof, on the one hand, and points west of the eastern state line of Nevada via the Southern Pacific Company, San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake R. R. or Western Pacific Railway, or west of Pocatello, Idaho, via the Oregon Short Line R. R. on the other hand.

For the season of 1911 the first date that passengers can leave Yellowstone (western entrance) and make the tour of the Park is June 16th; the last date leaving Yellowstone, September 16th.

The baggage limit on coaches is 25 pounds. Excess rate per pound 10 cents. Trunks are not transported through the Park. They may be stored free of charge at Yellowstone, Pocatello, Ogden or Salt Lake City, or they will be sent around to Gardiner by rail for tourists going out that way. Tourists entering via Gardiner and touring the Park by coaches operating from there, if routed out through the western entrance, will transfer to the M. & Y. Stage Line at Norris. They should arrange at Mammoth for transfer of baggage and Oregon Short Line Pullman reservations.

Provisions will be made at Yellowstone station for the care of ladies' hats, and for cleaning and pressing clothing while passengers are en tour through the Park. A nominal charge will be made for this service.

OREGON SHORT LINE RAILROAD

Mammoth Hot Springs larger

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Castle Geyser larger

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