OK, here is something bona fide. Courtesy of M. A. Bellingham who sent the link to me. Published in "Littell's Living Age", Volume XXX of July, August, September,1851, was a series of article and letters regarding the remarkable "Geyser Fountains in California." The location being discussed is The Geysers. And the major point is that "conventional wisdom" has it that true geyser activity has never been observed there. Well, maybe it never was, and this bit of info is not intended to change the thoughts. Indeed, some of the statements imply acid water (deposits of sulfur, turbid water, and so on). However, for the record, in these discussions are statements such as: "The spouting geysers, boiling maelstroms, springs of hot water, steam pipes, &c." This would seem to imply a distinction between geyser and "simple" boiling pool. Elsewhere it is said: "...jets of steam and water thrown out to a distance of twenty or thirty feet." Cool. And among these special features were some named such as Agassiz Maelstrom, Silliman's Fountain, Pluto's Cauldron, and "Panther geyser". for the record... Scott Bryan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20050328/adf6469d/attachment.html>