"The Hoodoos," Strange Rock Formations in Yellowstone Nat. Park, Wyo.

Publication

"The Hoodoos," Strange Rock Formations in Yellowstone Nat. Park, Wyo.

Description

"THE HOODOOS," YELLOWSTONE NAT. PARK, WYO. Immediately upon passing between the two huge fragments of travertine which form the Silver Gate we find ourselves in the midst of a great jumble of similar limestone rocks, some of them as big as large houses, heaped closely together in the wildest confusion over a tract of otherwise fairly level ground not less than a square mile in area. These weird formations, silvery gray in color and curiously angular in shape, like chiseled blocks fallen in utter ruin from the walls of some mighty temple, are known as "The Hoodoos" and the observer finds himself at first completely at a loss to account for their existence and the profusion of them in this spot. but it really is not difficult to explain how "The Hoodoos" came into being. Directly behind them, along the slope and crest of terrace Mountain, we can see a long palisade of exactly the same sort of travertine, the remains of hot springs terraces which perished, no doubt, long ages ago. In the opposite direction, lower down the valley of Glen Creek, are vast deposits of disintegrated limestone. It seems altogether probable that during a vast period of time this lime was being carried down to its present position by the waters of the hot springs from the underlying beds. Thus these beds were gradually eaten out, leaving caverns which finally gave way, precipitating the travertine strata above in fractured blocks into the hollow, where they now lie. (View looking S. W. Elev. 7,000 ft. Lat. 45° N.; Long. 111° W.)