Chapter XIV A Tour of the Park. — Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Geyser Basin
Distance, twenty miles. The first object of interest, after ascending the long hill above the Springs (four miles), is the Gallatin Range of mountains, which bursts into full view upon emerging from Kingman Pass. Its various peaks—Joseph, Gray, Bannock, Quadrant, the Dome, Mt. Holmes, and others—still retain the heavy snow drifts of the previous winter. Some of these peaks remain in sight for thirty miles along the tourist route.
Swan Lake (4.5 miles) is a little pond on the right of the road.
Willow Park (8 miles) comprises the valley of the lower course of Obsidian Creek. It is a dense growth of willows, and forms an attractive sight, either in the fresh foliage of spring or in its autumnal coloring.
Apollinaris Spring (10 miles) is on the left of the roadway, in a pine forest. Tourists generally stop and try its water.
Obsidian Cliff (12 miles) is composed of a kind of volcanic glass, black as anthracite, which abounds at this point in enormous masses. The Indians once quarried implements of war and the chase here, and many fine arrowheads have been picked up by explorers. The building of the first road along the base of this cliff has some historic celebrity, owing to the novel method employed. It was done by Colonel Norris, who thus describes it:
“Obsidian there rises like basalt in vertical columns many hundreds of feet high, and countless huge masses had fallen from this utterly impassable mountain into the hissing hot spring margin of an equally impassable lake, without either Indian or game trail over the glistering fragments of Nature’s glass, sure to severely lacerate. As this glass barricade sloped from some 200 or 300 feet high against the cliff at an angle of some 45° to the lake, we—with the slivered fragments of timber thrown from the heights—with huge fires, heated and expanded, and then men, well screened by blankets held by others, by dashing cold water, suddenly cooled and fractured the large masses. Then, with huge levers, steel bars, sledge, pick, and shovels, and severe laceration of at least the hands and faces of every member of the party, we rolled, slid, crushed, and shoveled one-fourth of a mile of good wagon road midway along the slope; it being, so far as I am aware, the only road of native glass upon the continent.” BA
BA Annual Report Superintendent of the Park, 1878.
The reader may now be inclined to take issue with our judgment of Norris’ practical turn for road building. He will at least readily indorse our opinion of the old mountaineer’s literary ability. (See “Norris Peak,” Appendix A.)
Beaver Lake has its outlet opposite the base of Obsidian Cliff. It is formed by ancient beaver dams, now entirely overgrown with vegetation. The old dam extends in a sinuous line entirely across the valley, and, although apparently less than a yard thick, is quite impervious to water. The lake is a great resort for water fowl later in the year.
Roaring Mountain (15.5 miles) is a high hill on the left of the road, with a powerful steam vent near the summit. Nothing which can now be heard from the road would suggest the name.
Twin Lakes (16 miles) are two exquisitely beautiful ponds, if only seen in a good sunlight and with a tranquil surface. The peculiar green of the water is perhaps to be seen nowhere except in the National Park. A most singular feature of these two lakes is that, although so close together, they never simultaneously exhibit the same colors.
The Frying Pan (17.75 miles) is a small basin of geyserite, on the right of the road, vigorously stewing away in a manner which reminds one of a kitchen spider in operation.
After passing Obsidian Cliff evidences of hot spring action constantly increase, until they reach their climax in the Norris Geyser Basin. There are but few other places in the Park where the odor of sulphur is so general and offensive as on this portion of the tourist route.
Norris Geyser Basin is clearly among the more recent volcanic developments of this region. Its rapid encroachment upon the forest growth, and the frequent appearance of new springs and the disappearance of others, indicate its relatively recent origin. Compared with the Firehole Geyser Basin it is of minor importance; but coming first to the notice of the tourist it receives a large amount of attention. It has only one prominent geyser, the Monarch, which throws a column about 100 feet high. The Constant is visible from the roadway in the bottom of a large tract of geyserite which is unsafe for pedestrians. It makes up in frequency of action what it lacks in power. The most noteworthy feature of the basin has received the appropriate name Hurricane. It is a prodigious steam vent whose violent gusts bear a striking resemblance to the driving blasts of a tempest. It also discharges a large amount of water. The Black Growler, close by the road side, is a similar phenomenon.
Among the less important features of this basin may be mentioned the Congress, Constant, Arsenic, Echinus, Fearless, Pearl, Vixen, Minute Man, and Mew Crater, all geysers; the Emerald Pool, a quiescent spring; and the Locomotive and Mud Geyser, boiling springs.
From the Norris Hotel a drive of three miles up the Gibbon River, on the cross road leading to the Grand Cañon, carries the tourist to Virginia Cascade, a unique and picturesque water-fall in a rocky cañon of considerable beauty.