<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1264" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"> <DIV>Nathan asks interesting questions that no doubt will also be answered to by Lee Whittlesey. Was this triggered by the thing I posted to this list a couple of weeks ago? Anyway, to answer a few of Nathan's eleven questions from my non-official perspective:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. Photos are no doubt all over the place. In the 1977 version of Aubrey Haines' "The Yellowstone Story," Norris is pictured on page 241 and Henderson on page 295. The same volume also has Langford, Hayden and etc. etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. Simply having a sign next to some feature decidedly does NOT make it official. See #11 below.</DIV> <DIV>3. No significant refinements have been made to the priority rules. See #11 below.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>6. Is it not the Amazon that is hands-down the longest river in the world?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>8. Lee (and others) have published a book about the waterfalls, which I'm sure would be far more complete than any earlier, unpublished essay.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>10. I, too, would like to see more of Henderson's stuff.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>11. "... I was wondering what standard was used in 'The Geysers of Yellowstone' for listing a geyser's name without quotation marks..."</DIV> <DIV>     Well...... I suppose when you get right down to it, I just sort of "did it" based on personal opinion. (My book, you know!) However, this does get into the business of official versus entrenched versus acceptable versus unofficial versus something completely new. And, with the help of Lee, who has recruited others, I'm hoping to improve the situation in the 4th Edition of the book (which is largely written but won't be out [probably] until early 2006). I've submitted a list, asking which name within quotes can have the quotes eliminated; which accompanied by an "UNNG designation can have the UNNG _and_ quote marks deleted; which can lose the UNNG but not the quotes; and which still gotta have UNNG and quotes.</DIV> <DIV>     Boy, how I'd love to get rid of every UNNG in the book, because I think it's rather sloppy.</DIV> <DIV>     Now, I wonder how much of the following Lee will agree with...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>OFFICIAL -- Approved by the U S Board on Geographic Names, which if you didn't realize it is one of the very most ancient of USA agencies, having been established in (I think) 1792 or some such; now operates within USGS. USBGN may approve a single name application (form available online -- for Yellowstone, must be submitted to the park) or, by approving a particular book or map or such, all the names therein [gee -- maybe I oughta submit my book]. Names so-approved are the ONLY ones that are actually OFFICIAL. Examples: Grand Geyser; (ha) New Crater Geyser</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>ENTRENCHED is, I feel, not the same as Acceptable. If a name is entrenched, meaning that "everybody" uses it and has used it so extensively that it would be pointless to try to change it, then it certainly needs no quote marks. Although not officially official, it is so close that it might as well be official. Examples: Uncertain Geyser; Dilapidated Geyser; Westside Group; A-0 Geyser; Hillside Geyser (West Thumb).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>ACCEPTABLE has gotten extensive use and violates no naming rules or conventions, but it hasn't necessarily been around all that long; having been published in one form or another (especially by NPS but also in such items as my book and GOSA publications) helps here. So in general, probably, this level needs to keep the quote marks. Examples: "Boardwalk Geyser" (lord, how I still hate that name); "Composite Geyser"; "Phoenix Geyser"; probably "Aftershock Geyser", although relatively recent, violates nothing and is in use. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>UNOFFICIAL is decidedly a gray area but, to me, is virtually the same as "acceptable" in large part because of "official" use by government agencies. For example, "Daughter of Green Dragon Spring" [yay], which was published in that on-line NPS-USGS-YVO paper by Heasler etc. And with that, by the way, I think the quotes can now be eliminated from Son of Green Dragon Spring -- it's been used for many years and now has been published in government documents. There are many others in this category.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>NEW would be recent things. I would love to eliminate all UNNG things, but I know that that simply won't happen, so these have got to have both UNNG and quotes. I suppose at this point this would have to include this year's UNNG-GNT-4 "Solstice Geyser" (which I see I left off the list I sent to Lee!).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We don't need another book, so I'll quit at that.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>