[Geysers] GL Henderson / Geyser History

Thu Jan 6 07:47:34 PST 2005

MA---Yes, you are welcome to cut and paste the geyser parts into the
listserver. Others would probably enjoy reading it.

The Infant Cones, by the way, are EAST of Orange Spring Mound, in the
timber and not really part of OSM.

Why don't you call me on the telephone sometime just to visit?

Best,

Lee
x2261

                      "MA Bellingham"                                                                                                
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                      01/05/2005 11:12                                                                                               
                      AM MST                                                                                                         
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Happy New Year!  I am now catching up on my list serve reading and noticed
a question about GL Henderson. The Henderson “Yellowstone Park Manual and
Guide” (two versions, separate years) are some of the rarest of Ynp
guidebooks, since they were published in newspaper form and thus very few
survived. More than one probably was used to get a cooking fire going or
used in the bush for other purposes…

Ten or more years ago I typed up both Henderson guides into a pagemaker doc
formatting them like the original newspaper guides.  Scott and someone else
mentioned they would like reading more Henderson.  The YNP Archives has a
copy of my documents, or if there were enough interest, I would be willing
to cut and paste the “geyser only” info into some other kind of doc for
emailing, or I could post things on one of the YNP chat pages and you could
copy and paste what interests you.  We would need to clarify what is
“geyser only”, as Henderson waxed on prolifically on everything from
Mammoth, Norris, Firehole, Glen Africa, etc etc. and etc.

It’s a lot of information; a four page newspaper spread amounted to a 40
page Word document. Oh for today’s OCR software…way back when I typed it
all…

Henderson Sample:
THE GRAND
has no cone and a stranger would scarcely expect from its appearance such a
fine  display  when  in  action.  There  are frequently as many as fourteen
splendid  discharges,  reaching  an  altitude  of over 200 feet and is held
there  steadily  for  several  seconds.   The  Fumarole,  or  safety valve,
continues  to  discharge puffs of steam during the period of eruption. When
the  steam  jets  cease  the  eruption  is over.  With the exception of Old
Faithful all the geysers have this fumarole accompaniment.
THE TURBAN
is  but a few yards from the Grand and its waters whirl with great velocity
in a spiral form.

Henderson  sample  from  1885:   In  1882,  when  there  was  no  Assistant
Superintendents  to  keep  watch over these geysers, some persons loaded up
the  Beehive  to  the  muzzle  with  tin cans filled with pebbles and other
substances.  The  geyser  was  quiescent for over fourteen days.  The Grand
becoming grander than usual, it was inferred that the waters of the Beehive
had  found  a  subterranean  passage  and  had  become a part of the Grand.
However,  she  at  last  awoke  and  with one tremendous effort cleared her
throat  of  all obstructions, sending the grape and cannister over 500 feet
into  the  air, and woe be to the wretch who might stand in the way of this
enraged  Zantippe  when  she  began her house cleaning.  One good thing has
been  done  in the Upper Geyser Basin, there are finger boards near all the
great  geysers  and hot springs that enable strangers to know what they are
looking at, also indicating the way to the next nearest object of interest.
Assistant Superintendent J.W. Weimer took an active interest in this matter
and  did for the Upper Geyser Basin what the writer aimed to do for Mammoth
Hot  Springs.   The  Norris  Basin  and  the lower Firehole river have been
almost entirely neglected in this regard.

I went for a ski at the MHS upper terrace loop on New Year’s Day to start
2005 in Yellowstone.  There is a new-to-me boardwalk near Orange Spring
Mound enabling visitors to legally get closer to what Henderson named “the
Infant Cones” those little cones behind Orange Spring Mound. Canary Spring
is cookin.

Gardiner and Mammoth had a huge dump of snow, near one foot.  It was very
nice. Happy New Year!  See ya at Lower Hams on April 22.

MA

MA Bellingham
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