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Audio Transcript
Ranger/Naturalist Sally
Plumb relates a bit of Yellowstone
folklore to Yellowstone Ecology
Institute participants
at Mammoth Hot Springs
Ranger
Plumb: "Far
to the east of here
in a place that would
someday become known
as Billings, Montana,
they meet a group of
Native Americans. The
Native Americans talk
about this strange country
to the west. They call
it "Mi tsi
a da zi." Well,
we know enough of their
language to be able
to translate that into
the "River of the
Yellow Rock." And
sure enough there is
a big river that is
flowing by and there’s
yellow cliffs. But the
Native Americans say
that this river flows
out of this strange
country and if you follow
it back towards its
headwaters, you’ll
find that the earth
trembles at times… that
water shoots straight
up out of the ground… that
it looks like there
are places where smoke
comes out of the side
of mountains. Well you
don’t really know
if you believe it, but
you decide the trapping
might be good. So you’re
going to follow this
river of yellow rock
back towards its headwaters.
Well you walk for miles
and miles and all of
a sudden you encounter
something that looks
like that, in front
of you. And so if you’re
really good with two
hundreds years ago and
you didn’t really
expect to see anything,
what are some of the
thoughts that might
be going through your
heads?"
Participant: "Fire
real fire"
Ranger
Plumb: "Sure"
Participant:" Run!
Run!"
Ranger
Plumb: " Yeah,
Exactly, you might be
thinking that. If you
are as dirty and grungy
as I described you might
wondering…"
Participant:"Its
a bath…a hot bath"
Ranger
Plumb: "Or
you might be wondering
is it dangerous? Or
you might sniff and
go "what, what
is that?"
Participant:"What’s
that smell?"
Ranger
Plumb: "Yes,
Exactly. What? What
is that smell? We have
had about two hundred
years to figure out
what that is and what
that smell is. And the
dangers, and so today
we think we know what
causes it. And Mother
Nature puts together
four ingredients to
form something like
the hot springs that
you are seeing here,
and some of these are
pretty inherently obvious.
Can any of you think
of any of those?"
Participant:"Water"
Ranger
Plumb: "Sure,
water, heat"
Participant:"Pressure"
Ranger
Plumb: "Okay,
The right kind of rock
or we’ll say the
right kind of plumbing
system in the rock.
And that actually is
both, the right kind
of rock and right kind
of plumbing system.
See how you guys got
it. I always tell the
kids again (but you
guys won’t have
this advantage) that
they can cheat if they
forget the plumbing
system just by looking
at my name."
Participants laugh
Ranger
Plumb: "And
when I ask the kids,
(I quiz them at the
end of the talk) and
I can see them leaning
forward and trying to
read my name."
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