Yellowstone National Park, ca 1940

largest and one of our most beautiful vacation lands is Yellowstone National Park there it is that white area in northwestern Wyoming it touches Montana and Idaho and doesn't it touch your imagination a little to think that the world's greatest outdoor museum all the flowers and forests and mountains are reserved for you there's a broad smooth highway that leads from your door into an unforgettable vacation Mountains to be climbed canyons to be explored you won't need any special equipment not even a fishing license it wasn't as easy as there's a generation ago today you have only to get in your car and go there are several entrances that let's come in from the north you've just entered Yellowstone National Park you're a mile and a half above sea level and the air is clear and invigorating all around us is the evidence of the park's volcanic origin but in spite of the rock barriers built by Nature broad safe highways traverse the park and a great national playground is opened to all American under summer skies we have ice and snow and yet here's Mammoth Hot Springs that water was heated deep down in the mysterious depths of the earth there are few spots in the world where you can get closer to nature secret laboratories the water brings heat and lime from far underground little by little it overflows the terraces and runs down slowly the sparkling water fills these sculpted white terraces but let's get on they call these weird formations the hoodoos we're driving leisurely to the south there are scenes of breathtaking beauty in every direction now we can take leave of all responsibilities nothing to do but soak up the sunshine and feast our eyes we're as fancy-free is the water that comes leaping from the ledges and tumbles down into the canyons but let's look at the mountains themselves there are 3,400 square miles of mountains and valleys in the park if you know that this is one of the largest and most successful game refuges in the world antelope feed peacefully on grassy slopes movemove a black bear but don't worry he's friendly he won't bother when you first look at this oddity you will think it's chocolate but don't try eating it and don't put your fingers in this one because some of these Springs run well over the boiling point a tour of these bubbling Hot Springs is something you'll never forget they add strange shapes and colors to the natural profusion of Larkin forests some of them throw water two or three feet into the air and they're really baby geysers hot water not only bubbles out of the ground it runs down the mountains and makes spectacular Falls no fishing here they couldn't live in Firehole River some of the springs are beautifully colored vivid blues and reds and yellows the paint pots are especially colorful here's an illustration of the tremendous forces at work under the surface of the earth there's almost as much variety in this phenomenon as there is in people we've seen hot springs and paint pots water hot and cold blowing on the surface it's when the water is confined in a narrow tube and heated that things begin to happen steam on the surface there's one thing it's free to expand and move around geysers occur when high temperatures and the depths of the earth approach too close to the surface here's what happens the surface water trickles down through cracks in Ross and subterranean water seeps in the pit geysers plumbing is heated becomes live steam and wants more room it can't go anywhere but better so up it goes driving the cooler water ahead of all this may take a few minutes or hours or many years old faithful has played with average regularity every 65 minutes it's a majestic all inspiring sight reaching up with a plume of white steam that towers above everything and seems to dominate the world in Yellowstone you may camp out with your own equipment and supplies or live in hotels and lodges stop for a swim if you like in the clean pure or spring water back in the car again refreshed we continue our travels we don't want to miss anything from time to time we stop for a closer view of something that catches our fancy we discover that wild animals are dangerous only when we treat them as enemies these black bears don't mind having their picture taken at all there's an interesting geyser by the way did you know that at this altitude water boils at 200 degrees instead of 212 degrees if you could get a planner you can boil water that was barely lukewarm there's one for mr. Ripley here is an unlimited collecting ground for everybody scientists or laymen take your trailer alone there's free parking here and you can tempt as long as you like bubbling grumbling spouting fuming mother nature has a new trick for us at every turn even if there weren't any geysers or hot springs there's the Grand Canyon don't confuse this one with the larger Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona this is smaller but marvelously colored they sort of cameo of canyons 4/5 of Yellowstone is thick with policy but you can see waterfalls twice as high as famed Niagara fo and you will tingle with excitement as the water plunges down in its tireless journey to the sea if you want to see grizzly bears you come here to the bear feeding grounds an armed ranger is on guard and you'll be perfectly safe you will see a lot of moose especially in the evenings from the canyon you'll go northward to tower Falls and hear some of the most inspiring scenery in America the road bends back near Yellowstone rivers the rivers Gorge at this point the Falls of Tower Creek and the Palisades of basaltic Rock far above the following Yellowstone all these things are well worth the trip to see them birds of Buffalo live in these mountains a symbol of our vanished frontier the early pioneers pushed their way laborious ly across this country but it's only in our great national parks that we've preserved unchanged they're really wild things and the immense wilderness they knew you can get off the beaten track if you want to get entirely away from everything civilized and familiar or you can drive through in a comparatively short time the modern motorcar takes you from your front door to this natural treasure house gives you a comfortable vacation then brings you back rested and refreshed with a deeper appreciation of natural beauty and of the great country in