Jack in the Rockies: A Boy's Adventures with a Pack Train

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER VII

  GEYSERS AND HOT SPRINGS

  They were afoot before the sun had arisen next morning, and theoutlook over the lake was beautiful. Away to the east and southwere many mountain peaks, the names of which they did not know; butall grand and majestic, and far away to the south was one largerthan any of the others, and covered with snow. As Jack looked atthem, he saw these snowy crowns take on a glow of pink, and thengrow brighter and brighter, and then could see the sunlight creepdown the sides of the mountains, and finally it was broad day. Theislands in the lake interested him, and he thought them beautiful.

  As they passed the geologist's camp, they saw him standing with hisback to the fire, and he called out good morning to them; then,signing to Hugh to draw near, he said, "Excuse me for asking you,but I suppose you have been to the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins?"

  "Well," said Hugh, "we've been to one geyser basin; that one on theway to the falls, but that's the only one we've seen."

  "Well," said the geologist, "of course you know your own affairsbest, but it seems to me you will make a great mistake if you donot get to the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins, because it's therethat the most wonderful geysers are to be seen."

  "Well," said Hugh, "we're travelling through here to see thesights, and I'd be mightily obliged to you if you'd tell me whatwe'd better do. We are strange to the country, and don't knowanything about it."

  "I shall be very glad to help you in any way that I can," said thegeologist, "and you certainly should not miss the geyser basins.You can follow the trail along the lake here for about twentymiles, and then turn to your right, at the end of the Thumb, andstrike northwest across through the timber, to the streams runninginto the Firehole River, and follow them down, and that will takeyou to the Lower Geyser Basin; then from there you must travelup the Firehole to the Upper Geyser Basin. Then, if you want to,you can cross over to Shoshone and Lewis Lakes, and go on south,following Snake River, to Jackson's Lake. From there you can gowherever you please, but if you choose to follow up Pacific Creek,and pass through Two Ocean Pass, that will bring you back on theupper Yellowstone, and then you can come down to the lake again."

  "Well," said Hugh, "we want to go south, and to get down on thestreams that run into the Platte. I reckon we might as well godown to Jackson's Lake the way you say, and then strike across thecountry, over into the Wind River drainage, and then over onto thePlatte."

  "Yes, I guess that is one very good way to go if you know the wayacross the range," said their friend.

  "Well," said Hugh, as he started on, "we'll try to find a way, andanyhow we're mightily obliged to you for telling us about those twogeyser basins, and we'll sure see them before we go south;" andsaying goodbye to their acquaintance, they rode on.

  A few miles further along the trail, they came to a natural bridge,spanning a brook which now carried little water, but showed thatin the spring it was much larger. The stream had burrowed its waybeneath a dike of lava, at right angles to its course, and wasbridged by a nearly perfect arch of rock, about six feet thickabove the keystone. From the top of the bridge on its lower sideto the bed of the stream is about sixty feet, and the bridge istwenty-five feet long, and the arch fifteen feet in width. The lavastands in upright layers, from one to four feet in thickness, andseems to have separated into these thin plates in cooling.

  Beyond the bridge, the dim trail which they followed led for themost part through the pleasant green timber, but at midday theypassed over several hog-backs, from which the timber had long agobeen burned off, most of the tree trunks had rotted away, and onlya few charred fragments of the roots remained on the ground. Noyoung growth had sprung up to replace the old, and the ground wasbare: not merely bare of timber, but bare even of underbrush, weedsand grass. Exposed for years to the full force of the weather, therains and melting snows had swept away all the rotted pine needles,twigs and fallen branches which had formed the old forest floor andsoil, leaving only the fine lava sand and gravel, without any soilto support vegetation. Dry, thirsty and desolate, these hog-backsresembled the desert, a barren waste in the midst of the green pineforest.

  Hugh turned to Jack and said, "You see, son, what the forest firesmay do in these mountains. When the timber burns off, unless thereare seeds in the soil to spring up at once, the snow, meltingquickly, washes away the soil, and leaves the rock, whether it issolid or broken up fine like this here, uncovered and without thepower to support anything. Every year the snow melting quicklywashes off a larger tract, and so these little deserts increase insize. The time is coming, I am afraid, when these mountains willall be burned over, and then what the ranchmen down on the prairieare going to do for water for their hay meadows and their crops Idon't know."

  "But, Hugh," said Jack, "aren't there laws forbidding people to setthe timber on fire?"

  "Yes," said Hugh, "there's plenty of laws, but the trouble isnobody pays any attention to them."

  Toward evening they camped on the shores of the lake, at what Hughsupposed was the Thumb, and he told the boys that the next day hewas going to start off northwest through the timber, and try tostrike the streams leading down to the Firehole.

  Making an early start, they rode up the hill, following a deepravine through the cool green timber, over ground covered withfeathery moss, where the hoofs of the animals made no sound as theystruck the ground. Soon the lake was lost to view, and then, onall sides of them rose the tall straight boles of the pine trees.There seemed not very much life. A few small birds were seen inthe tops of the trees. Some gray jays gathered near them when theystopped at midday to eat, and uttered soft mellow whistles, and twocame down very close to Jack and Joe, and picked up little bits ofdried meat that they threw to them.

  Soon after they started on, they came to a stream, and followingthat down, about three or four o'clock rode into the Lower GeyserBasin.

  Here was a large wet meadow, with green grass, and plenty ofgood camping spots; and before long they had the lodge up, andclosing the door, started out to make a tour of the basin. Themany geysers, large and small, and the wonderful hot springs ofsurpassing clearness and deep blue color astonished and delightedHugh and the boys. Many of the springs were very hot, seeming toboil from beneath, bubbles of steam following one another to thesurface, and then exploding. One of these large springs, abouttwenty-five feet long and more than half as wide, gave a vigorousdisplay, beginning first to boil at the middle, and then to spout;at length throwing the water about in all directions, from twentyto forty feet in height. The margins of all these geysers and hotsprings were beautifully ornamented with yellow gray and pinkishdeposits of stone, which took the form of beads and corals andsponges, and all the tree trunks and branches seen in and near themwere partly turned to stone. Close to the geysers were what arecalled the paint-pots. These are boiling pools of finely dividedclay of various colors. The air seemed to be forced up slowlythrough the thick fluid, making little puffs, much like thosethat one would see in a kettle of boiling indian meal. Some ofthese paint-pots were very large, others small, and they were ofa variety of colors--some red, some white, some yellow, and somesoftly gray. The clay was exceedingly smooth to the touch.

  The Geyser Basin was long, and contained a great many wonderfulsprings and geysers, of which some, like the Grotto, had built upgreat craters for themselves, twelve or sixteen feet high.

  The Grotto was at the end of the Lower Geyser Basin, and from herethey turned back to go to their camp. Much talk was had during theevening of the wonderful things that they had seen, and of whatthey expected to see in the morning.

  An early start brought them to the Upper Geyser Basin not longafter the sun had risen. Not far from the Grotto which they hadseen last night was the Giant, with an enormous crater, from whichgreat volumes of steam were escaping, and where the water could beheard boiling below the surface, and occasionally rising in greatjets which splashed over the top. They camped near at hand, andturning out their horses, proceeded on foot to see Old Faithful,th
e Bee-hive, the Giantess, the Grand, and many other largegeysers, besides many hot springs wonderful in color and in thepurity of their waters.

  Just before they reached Old Faithful, the roar of its dischargewas heard, and its wonderful shaft of water was seen rising, bytwo or three rapid leaps finally to a height of over one hundredfeet, with clouds of steam reaching far higher, and drifting offwith the wind. The great column of water maintained its height forfully five minutes, and then, dropping by degrees, it sank downand disappeared. All about the crater the naked shell of silicawhich surrounds it was flooded with water, so hot that Jack andJoe, who tested it with their fingers, shook them violently and atonce thrust them into their mouths. The crater of this geyser isvery beautiful. It stands on a little mound and is four or fivefeet high, and its lips are rounded into many strange and beautifulforms, beaded and shining like glistening pearls, while all aboutit are little terraced pools of the clearest water, with scallopedand beaded borders. The margins and floors of these pools aretinted with most delicate shades, white, buff, brown and gray,and in many of them are beautiful little pebbles, which are alsoopalescent.

  Many cruel hands had been at work breaking down these beautifulborders, to carry them away, and people who had visited the placehad scrawled their names on the smooth pebbles and in the beautifulflooring of the pools.

  Hugh said to Jack, "Well, we come from the Indians, and we belongin a cow camp; but we ain't low down enough to spoil pretty thingslike these, by writing our names on 'em, are we, son?"

  "No, Hugh, we're not," said Jack, "and I'm mighty glad of it. Idon't think anybody that had any love for pretty things would wantto spoil them in this way, or take any of this beautiful borderingaway with them. You get these pretty things away from theirsurroundings, and they are not pretty any longer. It's like pickinga beautiful flower and carrying it away with you; before you'vegot far, it's all faded and gone, and good for nothing except tothrow away."

  During the day, which seemed to them all too short, the geyserswere good to them. The Bee-hive played, throwing up a slender shaftof water to a height of about 200 feet; the Grand Geyser sent up astream eighty feet in height; the Castle played, but its exhibitionwas not very showy compared with the others that they had seen. Buttoward afternoon, the greatest of all the geysers, the Giantess,gave an exhibition of her power, throwing up a vast quantity ofwater, sometimes to a height of one hundred feet. While the geyserwas playing, Jack and Joe brought a large tree stump and threw itinto the basin, and it was instantly whirled to a height of 200feet, looking at the last like a tiny piece of wood. The wind,which was blowing, kept the steam and water from going nearly ashigh as the stump went. The roar of the geyser was tremendous,and its force shook the ground all about, so that those who werelooking on were almost afraid.

  As they returned to camp that night they saw a party of touristsmoving about among the geysers, and passing near they could seethat they were busy with axes and a pick, cutting away and pryingout the borders of some of the geyser pools. It was an irritatingsight, but they could do nothing, and much of the way back to campwas devoted to talking of the wickedness of destroying the beautiesof this place, and declaring that the government ought to dosomething to protect the wonders of the region from the destructionwhich constantly threatened them.

  At night, after supper, they sat in the lodge talking about whatthey should do to-morrow, and for the following days. Generally,their idea was to travel in a southeasterly direction, and finallyto bring up at Mr. Sturgis' ranch; but just how they should go wasuncertain. Neither Jack nor Joe had ever before travelled in themountains, and they were therefore quite dependent on Hugh foradvice. Jack said, "Of course, Hugh, we want to get back to theranch, but then, too, we want to see as much as we can of whatthere is in the mountains; but I suppose we'll have to travelby some trail or some road, because we can't take the horseseverywhere."

  "Well, that's so," said Hugh; "we can't go everywhere, but thenagain, when you are travelling with a pack train there's mightyfew places where you can't go; you're mighty free and independentwhen you're packing. Of course you can't take a pack train up a cutcliff; but, on the other hand, the rough mountains and down timberdon't cut much figure; you can pretty much always go round, andkeep your general direction. You can go and come about as you wantto."

  "Well," said Jack, "of course I never travelled before with a packtrain in the mountains, but I tell you I like it. It's a mightypretty sight to see the white packs winding in and out among thetimber, or to see them following one another along a narrow ridge,or zigzaging up and down a steep hillside, as we've seen them sincewe've been here in the Park."

  "Yes," said Hugh, "it's a nice way to travel; of course it's alittle slower than a wagon, and it takes you some time to load andunload; but then again you can often go straight, instead of goinga long way round, and I like it."

  "I tell you," said Joe, "I like to watch these horses. I don't knowwhether they've ever been in the mountains before, but it seemsto me they're smart. They seem to know a whole lot, and I noticethat when they're going along among the trees, sometimes I see ahorse start to go between two trees, where I think there isn'troom enough for the pack, but generally they get through. Then,sometimes, going under branches it seems to me that the pack hasgot to strike the branches, but the horses generally get under themwithout touching. Of course if they follow old Baldy close, thereis always room enough; but now and then that dun horse tries tocut off a corner, and get in ahead of one of the others, and thensometimes I think he's bound to get caught. He only did so once,day before yesterday, and then he went between two trees wherethere wasn't room enough; then he pushed and pushed and pushed fora long time, and I had to run round in front of him and drive himback, and then he got out."

  "Yes," said Hugh, "horses that are used to the mountains, or mulesor burros, get to be mighty smart in going through thick timber,and if the packs are properly put on, there isn't likely to be muchtrouble, unless you strike down timber. Of course, down timber isbad."

  "Well, what is down timber, Hugh?" said Jack. "I've heard of placesin the woods back east where a hurricane goes along and tears upall the trees in a strip for miles in length. They call that awind-fall there. Is that the way down timber is made here?"

  "No," said Hugh, "we've plenty of wind here, but it don't oftenact that way. Down timber comes like this: say that you have arough and rocky mountain side, where the timber stands thick,most of the trees will be from six to ten inches in diameter, butthey'll all be pretty near of a size. Now, suppose a fire passesover this, and kills all these trees; likely it doesn't burn themto amount to anything, but it's hot enough to sort o' cook thesap, and kill the trees. They'll stand there naked, with the barkgradually drying up and peeling off them, maybe for twenty, thirtyor forty years; and likely while they're standing there, there'llbe a new growth of young pines springing up among them, and grow toquite a height. But after a while these dead trees get white andweathered, and the dead roots that hold them in the ground keep onrotting and rotting, and at last these roots become so weak thatthere's nothing to support the tall trunk that stands there, andthen with every big wind that comes blowing along, some of thetrees get blown over, and fall to the ground. They don't all fallat once, but some may fall to-day with a south wind, and some mayfall next week with a west wind, and some the week after with anorth wind. In this way they're falling all the time, and in allsorts of directions, and presently the timber will lie piled up onthe ground there, criss-cross in all directions. Now, if the logsare not more than a foot or two above the ground, and don't lietoo close together, you can take your train through them, but ifthey lie three or four feet high, of course the horses can't stepor jump over them, and you've either got to go winding round amongthem, picking out the low places where the animals can get across,or else you've got to chop your way through, or else you've got toback out and go round. That's down timber."

  "But Hugh," said Jack, "I should think it would be kind ofdangerous to rid
e through one of those patches of dead timber whenthe wind is blowing; they might fall on you."

  "Well," said Hugh, "so they might. I've sometimes had to ridethrough a patch of that timber when the trees were falling allabout, but I never happened to have one fall on me, nor on anyanimal that I was driving. The chances are mighty few that you'llget hit. I mind one time a big tree fell, with the top about twentyfeet from one of my animals, and threw dirt and splinters all abouthim. The horse was scared a whole lot, and ran away; but of courseI got him again."