[Geysers] A 1901 trip to the geysers

[Lee_Whittlesey at nps.gov]

Dear GOSA folks:

As happens fairly often in my ongoing history research, I've again found an
early account of a trip to Yellowstone. I find these accounts often, but
they generally do not have as much geyser detail as this one does. I want
to share it with you guys to get your impressions of which features on
Geyser Hill, in the Grand Group, and in the Daisy Group this author was
discussing. The writer was Robert A. Dellett, who traveled to Upper Basin
in 1901, with a Wylie Camping Company party.

In the account that I've transcribed below, he uses place names that are
unfamiliar to me. Perhaps some of these names were in local usage in 1901,
told to Dellett's party by their guide, and perhaps others were ones that
Dellett simply made up. This should be a fun exercise for those of you who
think you know the Upper Geyser Basin.

I've inserted my questions in brackets in Mr. Dellett's account below. If
you think you know the answers to any of my questions, please write to me
personally at Lee_Whittlesey at nps.gov or place your answer on this
listserver.

I look forward to hearing from a number of you, and good luck in Final
Jeopardy.

Lee Whittlesey
Park Historian, NPS
Yellowstone National Park


Directly south of our camp [near Grotto Geyser], and located about one
hundred yards away from it are the Splendid, the Daisey and the Comet
Geysers, with the Pansey and Lilly Pools. [Okay, one of these is Brilliant
Pool, but what is the other one?]....

Leaving the Daisey, we proceeded down towards the river and came to the
Oblong Geyser.....

Crossing the footbridge...we were shown the Sun Flower [Chromatic Pool?]
and Beauty Pools, the latter being the largest pool without any visible
outlet...We are shown the Wave [Spring] and the Pan [East Economic
Geyser?], called so on account of something curious in their formation of
coloring; and then came to the Economic Geyser. [Here follows a long
description of what the crowd did when they saw Economic Geyser erupting.]

[After descriptions of Turban Geyser and Grand Geyser, the writer mentions
"Oyster Spring," which is present Belgian Pool, and then describes Bulger
Geyser, Sawmill Geyser, and Castle Geyser. Now the test gets harder for
you...]

After looking at the Castle from a distance, we once more turn our faces
toward the up grade and are shown a very curious pool called the Broken
Heart [what feature  is this?], probably ten feet across one way and
fifteen the other, but exactly like a heart split open. It is a little
spring and the coloring is of an orange shade, at the edge, turning to
almost white in the center of the pool. The Ant Hill [what feature is
this?] is the next one we are shown, which is a raised formation
surrounding a little pool two or three feet across, and it is from the
formation of the sides of this pool it gets its name, it being a mass of
little holes, just such as ants go in and out in their hills on cooler and
dryer territory. Once more we turn and again find ourselves on the bank of
the river. Here we see the Bee Hive, one of the curious and very pretty
geysers, rising with a dome-shaped formation from the very bottom of the
river; it certainly looks like a gigantic Bee Hive. Here, too, is the
Chimney, also rising from the very edge of the water to a height of ten or
twelve feet, round and tapering, for all the world like a chimney; and the
likeness is further increased by the roll of steam which constantly curls
up from the opening on top. It is full of hot water, and is constantly
overflowing, the waste trickling down its sides into the river at its base.
Here, too, near the edge of the river, we are shown the Bottomless Well
[what feature is this?], having a mound-like formation about three or four
feet high enclosing a pool some six or eight feet in diameter. This pool is
full of black looking water from which the usual cloud of steam is
constantly rising, though there is no visible commotion on the surface of
the water; we are told that this well has been sounded to a depth of 2,000
feet without touching bottom, and while they did not say so, they might as
well have added that at that point the lead melted from their sinker, so
that they could not get anything to go down further.

[Here the writer describes party members' expressions of wonder to their
guide.]

Again turning from the river and once more turning our faces toward the
thick grove of pines which forms the southern boundary of the basin, we
proceed up the side toward other wonders. The next curiosity we are shown,
in this land of boiling water and steam, was a cold spring, curious only on
account of the intense heat of the water in the springs all around it [what
feature is this? Perhaps a cold spring in the woods between Liberty Pool
and North Goggles Geyser? He drinks from it and describes it as alkaline
and tepid, and then describes tasting water from several of the hot
springs.]

A little farther on we were shown the Watch and Chain [what feature is
this?]; no ordinary Waterbury, tin or even silver watch, but a gold one of
immense proportions, though so perfect in its formation, that we could not
but wonder at it as we admired it. This consists of a perfectly round pool
about ten feet in diameter, with a smaller pool, also perfectly round about
two and one half or three feet in diameter on one side of and connected
with the larger pool, a perfect watch in shape and appearance, while
strangest of all is the chain, which is the outlet from the smaller of the
two rings or pools, and which traced its way down over the hillside in a
crooked irregular way, for all the world like a watch chain which has been
laid down on a table or stand. So much for the shape. But the coloring of
this double pool is the crowning glory of it all, for the color of the
formation around the edge of these pools and extending as far as the eye
can penetrate the depths is a rich orange or golden yellow, while the
crooked trail of the stream forming the chain is also a rich golden yellow,
forming in all one of the most striking formations in the Basin. The
Spectacles [probably Goggles Spring] near by is a formation for which the
visitor must draw largely on his imagination to see the resemblance, but
people seem to think they can not only see the spectacles, but also the
eyes behind them...This brings us to a group of interesting geysers--the
Lion, Lioness, and Cubs--[he describes them]. Near this cluster we were
shown the Devil's Ear [Ear Spring]...The Beach [Spring] and Quaker [Doublet
Pool] are two interesting and curious pools...

[Here the writer gives a long description of Sponge Geyser.]

Turning from the Sponge, we are shown the Owl's Eyes [what feature is
this?], two little pools, perfectly round, about three or four feet in
diameter and very like an immense pair of eyes. The Topaz Pool is a beauty,
being a comparatively quiet little lake, probably thirty or forty feet
across [!], of the daintiest shade of pale blue imaginable, for all the
world like an immense tub into which a very small portion of indigo has
been dropped. The beauty of this pool is in the coloring of the water. Near
by is the Tea Kettle, a boiling spring some three feet in diameter, with an
elevated rim [long description].

[Here the writer spends considerable space describing Vault Geyser and
Giantess Geyser pools.]

The Sapphire Pool [what feature is this? Infant Geyser?] is close to the
Giantess, and is a pool very similar to that just described, the beautiful
coloring of the water being its chief charm. The Lobster Pool [what feature
is this? Mottled Pool?] is a curious fellow, shaped like a lobster with a
mass of green and red formation [that] completes the illusion and proclaims
the appropriateness of the name. Near the Lobster is the Pea-Nut, a little
brown fellow, for all the world like a broken-backed pea-nut, one section
of the pool being about four feet long, while the other is probably three,
the connecting link being narrower than the pools proper; here, too, the
color adds to the appropriateness of the name. But the pool of the most
exquisite beauty is a little fellow called the Butterfly...[long
description, which continues with visits to Black Sand Basin and Biscuit
Basin]

[Dellett's party, incidentally, saw an eruption of Giant Geyser and spent
several newspaper columns describing it, ending with this summation of its
intervals in 1901: "I will state that the Giant was at one time fairly
regular in his eruptions, but for several years the almost daily eruptions
have ceased, until this year the eruption we saw was [only] the third of
the season, and one of them was in the night; in fact most of the recent
eruptions have been in the night, so we may consider ourselves very
fortunate that we saw it..."]