extends sixty-five miles north and south, and fifty-five miles east
and west, comprising 3,575 square miles, and is all 6,000 feet or more
above sea-level. Yellowstone Lake, twenty miles by fifteen, has an
altitude of 7,788 feet. The mountain ranges which hem in the valleys
on every side rise to the height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and are
always covered with snow. This great park contains the most striking
of all the mountains, gorges, falls, rivers and lakes in the whole
Yellowstone region. The springs on Gardiner's River cover an area of
about one square mile, and three or four square miles thereabout are
occupied by the remains of springs which have ceased to flow. The
natural basins into which these springs flow are from four to six feet
in diameter and from one to four feet in depth. The principal ones are
located upon terraces midway up the sides of the mountain. The banks
of the Yellowstone River abound with ravines and canons, which are
carved out of the heart of the mountains through the hardest of rocks.
The most remarkable of these is the canon of Tower Creek and Column
Mountain. The latter, which extends along the eastern bank of the
river for upward of two miles, is said to resemble the Giant's
Causeway. The canon of Tower Creek is about ten miles in length and
is so deep and gloomy that it is called "The Devil's Den." Where
Tower Creek ends the Grand Canon begins. It is twenty miles in length,
impassable throughout, and inaccessible at the water's edge, except
at a few points. Its rugged edges are from 200 to 500 yards apart, and
its depth is so profound that no sound ever reaches the ear from the
bottom. The Grand Canon contains a great multitude of hot springs of
sulphur, sulphate of copper, alum, etc. In the number and magnitude
of its hot springs and geysers, the Yellowstone Park surpasses all
the rest of the world. There are probably fifty geysers that throw a
column of water to the height of from 50 to 200 feet, and it is stated
that there are not fewer than 5,000 springs; there are two kinds,