to find it.  Several islands of varying sizes are dotted over the surface of the water, which at times is as smooth as a little mill pond, and at others almost as turbulent as the sea.  The shores are entirely irregular in their formation, and Promontory Point extends out into the water a great distance, forming one of the most peculiar inland peninsulas in the entire world.  Along the southern shore, inlets and bays are very numerous, some of them natural in character, and others full of evidence of brisk, and even terrific, volcanic action.

From the peculiar rocks and eminences along the shore, reflections are cast into the water of an almost indescribable character.  They are varied in nature and color, and, like the lake itself, differ from anything to be seen elsewhere.  Another unique feature of this lake, and one that has to be seen to be understood, is the presence on the banks, and even out in the lake itself, of hot springs and geysers full of boiling water and steam.  Some of these springs have wide and secure edges, or banks, on which a man can stand and fish.  Then, on his right hand, he has the icy-cold water of the lake, from which he can obtain trout and other fish, until he begins to dream of a fisherman’s paradise.  Dr. Hayden, the explorer, already referred to, was the first man to take advantage of the opportunity and to cook his fish unhooked in the boiling water to his left, merely making a half turn in order to do so.  When the Professor first mentioned this fact, he was good humoredly laughed at, but, as stated in an earlier part of this chapter, the possibility has been so clearly demonstrated, that people have long since admitted as a possibility what they had first denounced as an utter absurdity.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE HEROES OF THE IRON HORSE.

Honor to Whom Honor is Due—­A Class of Men Not Always Thoroughly Appreciated at their Worth—­An Amateur’s Ride on a Flying Locomotive—­From Twelve Miles an Hour to Six Times that Speed—­The Signal Tower and the Men who Work in it—­Stealing a Train—­A Race with Steam—­Stones about Bewitched Locomotives and Providential Escapes.

No one who has not given the matter special consideration has the remotest idea of the magnitude and importance of the railroad system of the United States.  Nor has any one who has not studied the statistics bearing on the question the faintest conception of the cost of the roads built and in operation.  The cost in dollars and cents for a mile of track has been ascertained to a fractional point.  Expert accountants have figured out to a hundredth part of a cent the cost of hauling a passenger or a ton of merchandise any given distance.  There are even tables in existence showing the actual expense incurred in stopping a train, while such details as the necessary outlay in wages, fuel, repairs, etc., have received the attention which the magnitude of the interests involved deserves.