<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML xmlns:st1 = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16421"></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=role_body bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7> <DIV>The answer to </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 4/27/2011 7:55:51 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, david.schwarz@alumni.duke.edu writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">   Is it fair to say that the following article is completely devoid of anything resembling a legitimate fact?</BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"> http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40716FA3F5B11738DDDAF0A94DA405B818CF1D3    The article, published Feb. 26, 1901 claims that on Feb. 18, 1901 a geyser "200 feet south" of Fountain erupted from a 5-foot vent in a solid column to a height of 500 feet for 90 minutes, and then briefly at intervals of two hours.  200 feet south of Fountain is in the island of trees inside the current boardwalk.</BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>Well, not likely, but. For one thing, I really like the "about 200 feet immediately" description of the location [emphasis mine]. It does not say directly south. So this actually leaves quite a lot of wiggle-room for there to be something. Query the figure of 200 feet. What today is called Spasm has in the past undergone some pretty powerful stuff. 500 feet, no. But in the winter cold......?</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">    The article adds as an afterthought that Excelsior erupted for 5 hours on Washington's birthday (Feb. 22), flooding the Firehole and scalding fish up to two miles downstream.</BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV> The Excelsior business is entirely possible. There have been several rather credible reports of Excelsior in the winter and spring of 1901. In his "Wonderland Nomenclature," Whittlesey does not cite this New York Times article, but he does have the following:               "Reports of Excelsior eruptions in 1901 were more substantive.  Once again the reporter was long time Yellowstone observer G.L. Henderson who stated in a newspaper article entitled "In the Game Again--'Hell's Half Acre' is on the Rampage Once More" that Excelsior Geyser played for five hours on February 22, 1901.<A style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" title="" href="aoldb://mail/write/template.htm#_ftn1" name=_ftnref1><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[1]</A>             Two other newspaper articles published shortly after this make reference to Excelsior's alleged 1901 eruptions.  One was published about a week later and in it Col. E.C. Waters gave his opinion that Excelsior "is now in action."  The other, published April 11, 1901, simply stated that Excelsior was once again active."<A style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" title="" href="aoldb://mail/write/template.htm#_ftn2" name=_ftnref2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[2]</A> <DIV style="mso-element: footnote-list"> <HR align=left SIZE=1 width="33%"> <DIV style="mso-element: footnote" id=ftn1> <A style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" title="" href="aoldb://mail/write/template.htm#_ftnref1" name=_ftn1><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[1]</A><st1:City w:st="on">Henderson</st1:City> in <st1:place w:st="on">Livingston</st1:place> Post, February 28, 1901.  <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Henderson</st1:place></st1:City> did not specify whether the eruption was continuous for five hours or broken into separate eruptions for that time period.</DIV> <DIV style="mso-element: footnote" id=ftn2> <A style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" title="" href="aoldb://mail/write/template.htm#_ftnref2" name=_ftn2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[2]</A>"Col. Waters' Views", <st1:place w:st="on">Livingston</st1:place> Post, March 7, 1901.  "<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Yellowstone</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Park</st1:PlaceType>", <st1:place w:st="on">Livingston</st1:place> Post, April 11, 1901. </DIV></DIV></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">  </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>