This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ...70O FEET. Even this, explanation has generally been rejected as inadequate. But the fact that the most eminent geologists and physicists in America are driven to adopt it for want of a better alternative, may serve to show how absolutely unique are the phenomena which here perplex the philosopher and fascinate ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ...70O FEET. Even this, explanation has generally been rejected as inadequate. But the fact that the most eminent geologists and physicists in America are driven to adopt it for want of a better alternative, may serve to show how absolutely unique are the phenomena which here perplex the philosopher and fascinate the traveller. But the wonders even of the Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove are eclipsed by the other great national park, of which mention was made at the commencement of this chapter--that of the Yellowstone region. I was unfortunately prevented from visiting it, and must therefore avail myself of the description given in the Leisure Hour for June 1872, by the artist attached to the Alaska Survey party. "For years marvellous tales have been rife among the hunters and mountaineers of the Far West, about a mysterious country in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, some three hundred miles south from the line of the British possessions. This region comprises within its limits the sources of the Columbia, whose waters flow westward toward the Pacific, and those of the Yellowstone--a large stream which, after trending eastward for several hundred miles, joins the mighty Missouri in its course to the Mexican Gulf. It was asserted that the course of the Upper Yellowstone was broken by cataracts surpassing that of Niagara; that it flowed in one place through a canon, or gorge, whose vertical sides measured more than a mile in depth; that on the shores of the Yellowstone Lake were scattered the remains of idols, war-clubs, and utensils of an extinct race; and that the country abounded in hot-water geysers and mud volcanoes, surpassing all others hitherto known in height and volume. It was further added, that the Indians looked upon the mysterious...
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