This general survey was no sooner taken than our glorious
Splendid began to play. The roaring column, tinted with the sunset
glories, gradually climbed to a height of two hundred feet, leaned a
little to the southeast, and bent like a glorious arch of triumph to
the earth, almost as solid on its descending as on its ascending side.
No wonder it is named "Splendid."
Whoever has studied waterfalls of great height--I have seen nearly
forty justly famous falls--has noticed that when a column or mass of
water makes the fearful plunge smaller masses of water are constantly
feathered off at the sides and delayed by the resistance of the air,
while the central mass hurries downward by its concentrated weight.
The general appearance is that of numerous spearheads with serrated
edges, feathered with light, thrust from some celestial armory into the
writhing pool of agonized waters below. In the geyser one gets this
effect both in the ascending and in the descending flood.
Four times that first night dear old Splendid lured me from my bed to
watch her Titanic play in the full light of the moon. During all this
time not a hot spring ceased its boiling, nor a smaller geyser its
wondrous play, for this gigantic outburst of power that might well have
absorbed every energy for a mile around. Obviously they have no
connection.
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