CHAPTER VI

UPPER GEYSER BASIN

It was about noon when we reached the UPPER GEYSER BASIN, and I felt that it would be profitable to take a little rest before going any further into the mysteries of this "wonderland." OLD FAITHFUL was due to play shortly after we reached the camp, but I was too far away when it was announced she was in action to get the full benefit of the display, and went back to the camp to wait another seventy minutes.

The long drive in the forenoon, and the exposure to the cold, caused me to feel weary and dull, nevertheless I made an effort to be on hand at every eruption, which to me became more and more fascinating.

OLD FAITHFUL INN accommodates 400 guests. It is constructed of boulders and logs, with peaks, angles, dormers, French windows, etc.

This most restful and impressive abode of the tourists is only two or three minutes' walk from Old Faithful Geyser, and so located as to give from its balconies a splendid view of the display.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OFFICE OLD FAITHFUL INN _Haynes, St. Paul_]

The office-room is 75 feet square and 92 feet high, and reaches to the roof, with a ma.s.sive chimney that rises to the top. The building is surrounded with beautiful grounds, furnished with rustic seats. The chimney is fourteen feet square with eight fireplaces, and balconies are built around three sides. While everything is of the rustic order, there is nothing commonplace about the hotel or its furnishings. "It is a creation of art from the foundation to the peak of the roof."

OLD FAITHFUL GEYSER in the forefront of Old Faithful Inn is like a sentinel, and so named because of the regularity of its eruptions. Its crater, from which the water is expelled to a height of 150 feet, is an oblong opening, two by six feet, at the top of a mound of geyserite. Its eruptions sometimes vary a few minutes, in the meantime giving warning with two or three short spurts, increasing in volume until the maximum height is reached. The display is short, most of the water falling back into the crater, but no more fascinating or impressive scene could be found. The formations around are brilliant in color, resembling the more subdued tints and hues seen at the Mammoth Hot Springs.

In the early part of the afternoon, a number of tourists, including my brother and sister, went with a guide to GEYSER HILL. After their return, they had much to say about what they had seen and heard. Later in the day I felt rested and wanted to make the trip, and my brother and sister went with me. They had learned all they could from the guide and were ready to name the various geysers, springs, and pools, and describe their operations to me. Of these, the Giantess, Beehive, and Sponge Geysers, were the most interesting. The GIANTESS occupies the most prominent position on the hill. Its displays attain a height of about 100 feet, and are accompanied by shocks and tremors much like earthquakes. The entire eruption lasts from twelve to twenty-four hours. The crater appears to be about thirty feet in diameter, and after each eruption a steam period ensues. In 1911, the eruptions varied from four to twelve days. Some years previous to this, the eruptions took place about once a month. It is believed that while activity, as a whole, is decreasing in the geyser regions, a century brings only a slight change.

I stood near the crater of the Giantess during the steam period. For a moment the vapor cleared away, and I could see down the great neck of the crater into a yawning chasm, so angry and terrible, as to make me feel that I had seen with the eye what the Bible describes as the bottomless pit, where the sulphurous flames belch forth, and "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44).

If there are those who have doubts as to the reality of the lake of fire, of which Jesus told His disciples, in the 16th chapter of St.

Luke, they should by all means go to the regions of the Yellowstone: for here, vividly presented to the vision, are the realities of a burning underworld, with only a thin crust between it and the habitation of human beings.

The Bible clearly teaches that h.e.l.l is located in the center of this earth, and therefore it must be conceded that the ebon throne of Diabolus is somewhere in the heated regions below, the intensity of which the geysers, pools, springs, and volcanoes are continually demonstrating.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GIANTESS GEYSER IN ACTION _Haynes, St. Paul_]

Whatever may be involved in the separation of soul and body, it is nevertheless true that the immortal spirit that has not appropriated the atoning blood must dwell in the confines of the bottomless pit, which is described in the Scriptures as being in the center of this earth. Here are the flames by which Dives was tormented when he begged Abraham to send Lazarus with a drop of water to cool his parched tongue, and made an appeal for some one to go to his father's house to warn his five brothers not to come to that place of torment. Abraham had to refuse both requests, saying, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pa.s.s from hence to you cannot; neither can they pa.s.s to us, that would come from thence." Then, when he wanted some one to go to his father's house to warn his brothers, Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." But still the doomed man continued and said, "If one went unto them from the dead, they will repent," but he was told, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." How true this is! After all the influence that can be brought to bear upon people, they rebel against G.o.d and follow their own precepts; and true to fallen human nature, ask for greater evidence of His power. "The wicked shall be turned into h.e.l.l, and all the nations that forget G.o.d"

(Ps. 9:17). This and other plain scriptures should be sufficient to warn men to flee the wrath to come. Optimism and presumption everywhere characterize the mult.i.tudes when it comes to this most important question concerning the future welfare of the soul.

The man who had allowed the devil to deceive him and take him at last to his abode in the regions of torment, was still presumptuous and persistent. He wanted help, which it was impossible for him to receive, and also warning given to his father's house, which they had refused to take through Moses and the prophets.

It is necessary at this period of the world's history to have an object lesson like that of the Yellowstone National Park to convince people of the infallibility of G.o.d's word. It is the time of the fulfilment of prophecy concerning the last days, of which Paul says,

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, LOVERS OF PLEASURES MORE THAN LOVERS OF G.o.d" (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

Many pleasure seekers are now thronging Yellowstone Park, and in ten thousand demonstrations are having to face the realities of G.o.d's word and the life that is to come. I saw some of them standing near the yawning craters of the geysers under deep conviction, and no doubt silently resolving to live different lives, while others frankly stated that the depths of their beings had been disturbed, and that it was no time to trifle with the soul.

There is no such thing as shirking the responsibility, where Nature co-operates with the Almighty on such a tremendous scale in the display of His power. A person may try to stifle his conscience and refuse to yield to the voice that speaks from above, but he can not evade the fact that the issue must be met; and why not yield to the pressure and make the decision now? Life at best is short, and it is perilous to crowd into some future time the things that should be taken under consideration now.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SPONGE GEYSER _Haynes, St. Paul_]

The TEAKETTLE and the VAULT give warning before the Giantess erupts.

The Vault plays eight feet high, twenty-four hours before the Giantess.

TOPAZ at the base of the Giantess mound is a pool of remarkable beauty. I was much interested in the PUMP near the Sponge Geyser. It is a hole eighteen inches across, out of which comes a thumping sound, resembling a hydraulic ram.

The SPONGE GEYSER has a beautiful cone of flinty formation resembling that of a sponge. Eruptions are about four feet high, occuring a minute and a quarter apart.

The BEEHIVE GEYSER has a cone four feet high and three feet across, and plays to the height of 200 feet. Its indicator, a small fissure north of the cone, foretells its eruptions. It is supposed that there is some relationship between the Beehive and the Giantess from the fact that the Beehive plays at intervals of from eight to twelve hours after the Giantess and has been seen to play before the Giantess.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BEEHIVE GEYSER _Haynes, St. Paul_]

The DOUBLET POOL is near the Giantess and is marked "Dangerous." The geyser formations acc.u.mulate very slowly and the water here flows out over a thin crust.

The LION GEYSER, with the LIONESS and two CUBS, occupies a prominent place not far from the Giant. Its eruptions occur usually in series of three, about two and one-half hours apart, after which follows a quiet period of about twelve hours. The first eruption is the highest and most charming in appearance. The water is forced up fifty or sixty feet high, the eruption lasting about five minutes.

During some seasons the Lioness has not played at all. In 1903 it is said that the Lioness and both Cubs played at the same time to a large party of tourists. The larger Cub plays with the Lioness to a height of about thirty feet, the smaller one plays oftener, but only a few feet high.

CASTLE GEYSER is on a prominence opposite Geyser Hill. The mound on which it is situated covers about three acres, rising more than forty feet above the river. It has the most prominent cone in the Upper Basin, resembling an old castle. At intervals the steam escapes and throws out jets of water, though it erupts only every two days. Near Castle Geyser is CASTLE SPRING, a beautiful pool of water, highly colored.

The SAWMILL GEYSER gets its name from the peculiar noise it makes during an eruption. It plays at intervals of three or four hours and at a height of about forty feet. Its indicator is near-by; they both start together and suddenly begin to throw water in all directions.

The GRAND GEYSER discharges water in forked columns 200 feet high. It is said to play much more frequently in the spring than in the fall.

This is because the water supply is greater in the mountain regions at this season.

TURBAN GEYSER is near the Grand. The early explorers believed that internal fires were seen in its crater; if so, it was caused, no doubt, by the light playing on bubbles of gas. Firehole Lake furnishes a good example of this phenomenon. The Turban Geyser plays about twenty-five feet high. Sometimes its eruptions occur with the Grand Geyser.

The ECONOMIC GEYSER gets its name from the fact that during its eruptions nearly all the water flows back into its crater. In form it resembles Old Faithful, but plays only about fifteen feet high.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CASTLE GEYSER _Haynes, St. Paul_]

BEAUTY SPRING attracts much attention. It is a large, silent pool remarkable for its coloring. Almost every person, when approaching it for the first time, remarks about its beauty, hence, our guide said, it received its name. A rusty color predominates in various shades from the richest brown, blending into green and yellow tints.

b.u.t.tERFLY SPRING is about four feet across and has an opening in each wing. It looks like a b.u.t.terfly in both color and shape. These double springs, of which I saw a number, as heretofore stated, have a spiritual significance, ill.u.s.trating the two works of grace, justification and sanctification, so clearly taught in both the Old and the New Testament.

The EAR is a most remarkable small spring. Not only is it in the shape of an ear, but its lobe seems to be pierced, and the earring is a tiny geyser. "It is here that messages are transmitted, so the story goes, to regions below."

BEACH SPRING reminded me of an oyster, the opening in the center corresponding to the dark spot. It is surrounded by a flat, submerged beach.

[Ill.u.s.tration: b.u.t.tERFLY SPRING _Haynes, St. Paul_]

After we had visited the springs and geysers on the hill, we returned to the camp to await the next number on the day's program.

CHAPTER VII

UPPER GEYSER BASIN (CONT.)

Shortly after dinner the news was circulated that a religious service was to be held in the office of the camp, where the guests a.s.sembled around the large fireplace. I learned from some friends that our party was expected to conduct the meeting. Later, the manager asked me to take charge of the service. She said that it would be impossible to get the people in until after 8:30 o'clock, as Old Faithful would be due to make a display about that time, and that the great searchlight from the hotel would be turned on the geyser when the water reached its maximum height. This caused much excitement among the guests, and every person sought the best position to get a view of the display.

Immediately afterward the people gathered in for the service. Song books were pa.s.sed around and a lively interest was taken in the singing, in which nearly every one joined. My brother and his wife sang a number of pieces together which greatly pleased the audience.

My brother then preached a short sermon and I followed, giving them some interesting history concerning the Pillar of Fire church. This seemed to be the subject in which most of them were interested, and I was glad to be able to give them the information they desired. There is so much akin to the supernatural in the Yellowstone it made the preaching of the Gospel easy on this occasion.