Note 118 — Chapter III · Concluding the Route to the Great Salt Lake City. (continued 2)

These springs of sadly prosaic name are the greatest curiosity to be seen on the earth. They lie but a short distance east of the junction of the Fort Hall and the California roads, and are scattered over, perhaps, 40 acres of volcanic ground. They do not, like most springs, run out of the sides of hills, but boil up directly from a level plain. The water contains a gas, and has quite an acid taste: when exposed to the sun or air, it passes but a short distance before it takes the formation of a crust or solid coat of scarlet hue, so that the continued boiling of any of these fountains will “create a stone to the height of its source (15 or twenty feet) some 10 to 20 feet in diameter at the bottom, and from 2 to 3 feet at the top.” After arriving at a uniform height, the water has ceased to run from several of the “eyes” to burst out in some other place. The water spurts from some of these very beautifully.—Horn’s “Overland Guide to California,” p. 38. They are also described by Colonel Frémont: “Expedition to Oregon and North California (1843-44),” p. 136.