The Henson Journals

[69]

1st Sunday after Trinity, June 13th, 1909.

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. A fine & warm day. To our astonishment we discovered that there is no church of any kind here in spite of the fact that a cantonment of soldiers & a large hotel generally filled with visitors are here established. Sunday has no Divine Service. To our humiliation we learned that the entire supply of religious books in our package consisted of my Bible. No prayer Book was found in the combined equipment of an American bishop & of an English canon! However we improvised an unrubrical but sufficient version of Mattins. The bishop read prayers, & I read the lessons. Then we went forth to view the 'Magnalia Dei', of which this place is full.

The Hot Springs baffle description: a vast series of platforms has slowly been created by the action of the water, which bubbles up after the manner of an artesian well. It is very hot, & heavily charged with divers sediments, which reveal their character by the colourings of the deposits. From below the springs have something of an aspect of a petrified water–fall: viewed more closely they appear to be a series of arrested geysers. The brilliance of the colouring, the fantastic beauty of the basins carved out by the falling water, the eccentric arrangement of the formations, the clouds of steam – all seen in a setting of noble hills on the higher points of which the snow is lingering, make up [70] a scene which cannon fade from the memory. It is at once the delight of the observer & the despair of the narrator. "Who shall declare the noble work of The Lord? Or shew forth half His praise?"

After lunch I slept for an hour. Then we called on Major Harry Benson, & presented our letter of introduction. He & his wife received us kindly. He said that there were 300 soldiers in the Park; that they had little trouble with poachers or with tourists – that there was a resident Magistrate specially appointed to enforce the Park regulations. Mrs Benson said that in the course of her ride this morning, she had come across a herd of elk.The bears have become so tame as to be something of a nuisance. Thus they invade the soldiers' quarters & endeavour to tear off the roof of the meat–stores.

The Bishop, Ella & I strolled round the hill behind the hotel, gaining the most beautiful views & enjoying a fresh breeze.

After dinner we paid our hotel reckoning for the tour in the Park (64 dollars for us both) & deposited our valuables with the cashier. Then we strolled out to admire the evening lights on the hills. The Bishop and I mounted the hill–side & looked again on the amazing pageant of the hot springs. The soldier on duty had just discovered a trace of ugly–looking traps, set by poachers to snare beaver, fox, cayote, or any such beast.

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