[Geysers] From Lee Whittlesey: fascinating old geyser films

[Lee_Whittlesey at nps.gov]

The Travel Film Archive has placed some interesting old Yellowstone and
geyser films on the internet.  Go to www.travelfilmarchive.com, type in
"Yellowstone" in the Search window, and you will see the choices.

As a geyser person, I was most interested in film numbers two and three,
especially number three, which is a silent film from 1926 by Henry G.
Peabody. He was a photographer and writer who was quite active in the park
in the twenties. He produced a 1926 book entitled THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL
PARK, which is a hard book to find---I examined a copy at the Library of
Congress. His 1920s film of geysers is four minutes long, is entitled
"Geysers of the Yellowstone," and is some of the oldest footage of geysers
that I've seen. Shown in eruption are Riverside, Grotto, Daisy, Grand,
Turban, Saw Mill, Lone Star, and Old Faithful. Each clip is prefaced with a
text-board that gives the geyser's interval and sometimes a bit more
information.

Film number two is "A Flying Trip from Eugene, Oregon to Yellowstone Park,"
filmed in 1936. It too is silent.  Interesting parts include a fair number
of thermal shots such as the "elk head" footbridge at Midway Geyser Basin,
biscuits at Sapphire Pool, and Dragon's Mouth Spring.

Film number one is Henry G. Peabody's "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,"
again 1920s and again about four minutes long. It shows the old Melan Arch
bridge built by Chittenden in 1903 and other shots of the canyon area.

There are some other YNP films here that are younger, but you might find
them interesting.

Lee Whittlesey
Park Historian