[Geysers] Wonderland Nomenclature

[Nathan Dutzmann]

I am now one of the few, the proud, the people who
have read "Wonderland Nomenclature" cover-to-cover. 
(Okay, admittedly I only skimmed the bibliography, but
other than that I read every word, including the list
of obsolete place names.)  For multiple reasons, it
has been more than five years since I last managed to
set foot in Yellowstone, and Lee Whittlesey’s book was
like a giant letter from my favorite place.  I suppose
it goes without saying, but the book is highly
recommended for anyone who wants to find out more
about the history of the park, although it probably
does help if you, like me, rate highly the
entertainment value of, say, Webster's Dictionary. 
The amount of research that went into the book is
astounding, the variety in the background of park
place names is fascinating to a Yellowstone
aficionado, and the stories sprinkled throughout the
text bring the history of the park to life.

Having read through the whole book, I do have some
questions for Mr. Whittlesey or anyone else who might
have some insight.

1. Introductory page before Page I: The subtitle
mentions "Photos of Significant Characters," which are
absent from the book.  I would be interested to see
photographs of such flamboyant characters as P.W.
Norris or G.L. Henderson, if these are the
"Significant Characters" mentioned.  Are such photos
available online or elsewhere?

2. Introduction: In the list of sources for
Yellowstone place names given in the introduction, one
possible source that was not mentioned was signage. 
Is this simply because it is safe to assume that if an
interpretive sign is place next to a feature calling
it "Guinea Pig Geyser," that's because it is
officially "Guinea Pig Geyser"?  Admittedly my memory
is a bit dubious after so many years, but I seem to
recall that Aurum Geyser, for example, has a name
placard in front of it, and the lack of '*' or '+'
next to the name in WN indicates that this is not (was
not?) an official name.  On the other hand, the name
is so entrenched that I suppose it's as close to
official as you can get; would it be safe to assume
that this is always the case?  I'm only curious about
this because it seems likely to me that a majority of
Park visitors get their notions of features' names
from signage more than any other source.

3. Also, have any refinements to the priority rules
for names been made in the years since WN was written,
either for Yellowstone in particular or for geologic
features anywhere in the U.S. in general?  For
example, are there any rigorous rules for determining
which name should be kept when historical precedent
conflicts with entrenched usage?  Or even what
qualifies as "entrenched"?  I won't jeopardize the
harmony of this list-serve by mentioning any
particular geysers in Gibbon Geyser Basin named for
geometric concepts or natural disasters, but it seems
that there must be enough particular cases of conflict
that "official" rules should be established.  Or is it
naive to think that such rules could be created?

4. Page 18: Speaking of Aurum Geyser and failing
memory, I thought I once read a discussion on this
list about Aurum having another name as well.  No
other name is mentioned in WN.  Is my memory faulty
here?

5. Page 270: The somewhat dubious description of a
Giantess Geyser eruption by Augustin Seguin is listed
as possibly being either Fan & Mortar or a poor
account of a Giantess eruption.  Is it possible that
he was describing Grand Geyser?  Grand would still be
to the "right" rather than the "left" of Giant, but it
would at least be close enough that getting the
bearing for the one based on the other would seem
logical (as opposed to the much larger distance that
separates Giant from Giantess).  The "two unequal
sprays" of the eruption could (maybe?) be Grand and
Vent or Grand and Turban.  And the paragraphs that
follow in WN about Robert and Carrie Strahorn
demonstrate that the names of Grand and Giantess were
at least occasionally reversed.  Just a thought.

6. Page 419:  I had often entertained the pleasant
notion that my favorite river, the Firehole, might
just be the first leg of the longest river journey on
earth (Firehole – Madison – Missouri – Mississippi). 
Imagine my happy surprise when I discovered that
someone else had the same thought over 100 years ago,
as mentioned in the entry on Madison Lake (the source
of the Firehole).  However, the assertion is neither
confirmed nor denied, and it seems like it would be an
easy thing to determine.  Red Rock River is mentioned
as a competitor in the text, and if flowing into and
then out of a lake is allowed then it would seem that
[anything flowing into Yellowstone Lake] - Yellowstone
Lake - Yellowstone River – Missouri - Mississippi
would be a competitor as well.  Does anyone know the
actual winner?

7. Page 439: More of a comment than a question: The
fact that Minerva was the goddess of artists and
sculptors is listed as a probable reason for the
naming of Minerva Spring and Minerva Terrace.  During
the Roman era in great Britain, the city that is now
known as Bath, England (the only place in Britain with
hot springs) was called "Aquae Sulis" - "The Waters of
Sulis," for the Celtic goddess Sulis, who reminded the
Roman conquerors of their goddess Minerva.  Hence the
local goddess Sulis Minerva.  Thus, although I imagine
there is no way of knowing whether the namer of
Minerva Spring would have known this, there is
actually precedent in classical antiquity for viewing
Minerva as the patron goddess of hot springs.

8. Although I can't seem to relocate the reference, a
lengthy, unpublished essay by Mr. Whittlesey about the
waterfalls of Yellowstone was mentioned at one point
in the text.  Would it be possible to obtain a copy of
that manuscript?

9. Obsolete Place Names: Have the locations of any of
the "unknown" or "uncertain" place names in the
Obsolete Place Names list been determined since WN was
published?

10. The character who emerges from the pages of WN as
easily the most entertaining figure in Yellowstone
history is G.L. Henderson.  His witticisms,
creativity, and even charlatanism make for great
reading.  Are there any resources in print or online
that have collections of his writings or biographical
information about him?

11. One last question regarding "official" place
names.  I was wondering what standard was used in "The
Geysers of Yellowstone" for listing a geyser’s name
without quotation marks, given that some of the
"official" geysers in that book (e.g., Aurum Geyser,
since we’re picking on that one) do not appear to be
official according to WN.

By the way, for anyone who has purchased WN, I would
highly recommend having the book bound.  For $40, I
had my copy beautifully hardbound, with gold-embossed
title lettering.  The downside is that the man who
bound my copy said that he was one of the last two or
three hand bookbinders in the country and I believe he
has since retired.  But the results are truly
beautiful and added much to the experience of reading
it.

That's all.  (All?  I’ve written a book myself
here...)

I'd appreciate any information about the questions
listed above.  A big thank-you to Lee Whittlesey for
the labor of love that produced "Wonderland
Nomenclature"!

Sincerely,
Nathan Dutzmann



		
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