Great Fountain Geyser  (100-150 ft.), most beautiful of fountain geysers, Yellowstone Park, U.S.A.

Publication

Great Fountain Geyser (100-150 ft.), most beautiful of fountain geysers, Yellowstone Park, U.S.A.

Description

The chief object of interest in the Lower Basin, and one of the most wonderful sights in the Park is the Great Fountain Geyser. This is the finest example of geysers of this class in the Park. Fountain geysers have no cone, but a large pool which, when at rest, looks much as the quiet springs. Around the pool of the Great Fountain Geyser is a broad, circular surface about two feet in height, which has been formed by the silicious deposit. The pool is about ten feet in diameter, and contains hot water of a deep blue color and is almost perfectly transparent. the basin is filled with small rounded bits of geyserite, called "geyser eggs," and in no other place are these to be found. Eruptions of the Great Fountain Geyser take place at intervals of about ten hours and last about thirty minutes. About a half hour after the crater and basin begin to overflow, the great mass of water is suddenly thrown up into the air, sometimes as high as 150 feet and rarely less than 100 feet. There are no continuous jets as in other kinds of geysers. As this torrent of water descends, it flows away in all directions over the geyserite surface. This is one of the finest sights in the whole Park and no tourist can afford to miss it. Mr. Folsom thus describes an eruption of this geyser which he witnessed; "At that moment hthe escaping steam was causing the water to boil up in a fountain five or six feet high. It stopped in an instant and commenced settling down--twenty, thirty, forty feet-until we concluded that the bottom had fallen out, but the next instant, without any warning, it came rushing up and shot into the air at least eighty feet, causing us to stampede. It continued to spout at intervals of a few moments for some time, but finally subsided."