Edward F. Colborn

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”