Show THE NATIONAL PARK Reply by Capt Chittenden to a French Scientist NO FAILURE OF HEAT ENERGY Where Ono Outbreak Closes Another Takes Its Place Features of the Great Wonderland Are Constantly Changing Tho Frenchman Mistook Mis-took This for n Cessation of For Instances and Particulars Given by Cape Chittenden i a Thoroughly Convincing Manner There was recently published in a French scientific paper Clel Et Terre of Paris an article on the Yellowstone Yellow-stone National park In which tho wrIer wrI-er who had lately visited the park holds that the ETcysers are rapidly approaching ap-proaching extinction The article has been widely copied throughout the United States and has gono a long way toward creating an Impression that the Yellowstone Wonderland so far as relates to tho hot springs andy and-y ers Is practically a thing of the past 1 Both In his premises and conclusions tho author of this article Is wholly astray and it is a good example t how even a scientific observer may draw wrong conclusions IC he fails to examine nil sides of a question A few examples will Illustrate Roaring mountain which the author of tho Clel Et Terre article did not hear roar never has roared to any noticeable notice-able extent Some enthusiastic explorer explor-er In past years happened by this hill wlun there was nn excessive escape f Btcam heard the loud shrill soim which It caused and dignified the lull with the name of lloavlng mountain But it1 is doubtful If any one ever heard it roar any moro than It doe now certainly I cer-tainly it Is as active as it ban been for fifteen or twenty years past The Growler Is another example In which the authors conclusions are exactly ex-actly the opposite oC the facts This Htoain vent has quadrupled in power in the past ten years A close observer ob-server would have seen this If he had taken no e of the great destruction which Is going on In the surrounding trees There aro several acres of ground around this spring on which the trees have been killed during the pua six years Obviously Its force and volume have greatly Increased or Its destructive destruc-tive Influence would not be so much extended t A little inquiry would have further shown this Investigator that close by the Growler the Government has In recent re-cent years been compelled to change Its road because of the outbreak of new springs and geysers of great energy en-ergy and power In fact this entire basin called the Norris Geyser ba Bin Is steadily Increasing In activity The Old Fountain geyser In the Lower Low-er Flreliole basin has Indeed become extinct but Its energy has been transferred trans-ferred to another near by which appeared ap-peared simultaneously with the disappearance disap-pearance of the old The Great Fountain geyser displays the same activity that it did when first described by Folsom in 1SG9 L Excelsior geyser has erupted but two or three times slnco the discovery of tmes thin region I is the most powerful geyser in the park and during its last eruption It burst through the rim which separates it from the Flrehole river This let the water in the pool escapo and lowered Its level several feel The relief of pressure thus brought about very likely accounts for its failure to erupt In recent years but Its volumes oC discharge Is as great as It ever was Old Faithful shows no perceptible change cither in regularity or height of eruption crpton The Bco Hive Is less frequent In eruption than it used to be but others In the neighborhood arc more active Geyser action on the shore of the Yellowstone lake Is I more vigorous than It was ten years ago Mud geyser In the past few years has shown more violence and power than before since it I was discovered The springs on Sulphur mountain appear ap-pear exactly as they did ten years ago The various features throughout the park known as Paint Pots show no perceptible change The Mammoth hot springs show more change than any other feature But this Is due to migration rather than extinction While the springs on one side are dying out those on the other are Increasing and II la dllllcult to say on which side the balance lies To those long acquainted with tho park tho changes do not appear extensive exten-sive The total sum oC thermal energy en-ergy displayed seems to be about the 1 name as It was twentyfive years ago Springs die out and others take their places tint there is a constant change 1 of this sort going on I an observer I wanted to make out a case on ex parto testimony that the geysers arc becoming 3 becom-ing extinct he could easily do so With equal ease he could make out exactly the onpo io case I Is entirely probable that the broad operation of general causes Is on the 3 Hide of ultimate extinction of all thermal ther-mal activity in this region The evolution evolu-tion of the earth is on that direction But the process Is i u very slow one and the tourst hi the year 2000 wjll find things In this roglon very much as we find them today Apart from the geysers and hot pprlngtt tlin other scenic attractions remain re-main the sume but are more accessible accessi-ble than ever before while the function of the park as 0 game preserve In yearly year-ly increasing In Importance HIRAM M CHITTENDEN Captain of Engineers U S Army |