[Geysers] Wonderland Nomenclature

[Richard L. Powell]

Nathan:
    Would you please advise as to where I can get a copy of Wonderland 
Nomenclature?
     Thanks,
                            Dick Powell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nathan Dutzmann" <nathandutz at yahoo.com>
To: <geysers at wwc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 3:13 PM
Subject: [Geysers] Wonderland Nomenclature


>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
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free!
> http://my.yahoo.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Geysers mailing list
> Geysers at wwc.edu
> https://mailman.wwc.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers
>
>
>