Extinct Geyser Cones, Monument Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Nat. Park, Wyo.

Publication

Extinct Geyser Cones, Monument Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Nat. Park, Wyo.

Description

EXTINCT GEYSER CONES, MONUMENT GEYSER BASIN, YELLOWSTONE PARK. At a distance of about 3 miles S. W. of the Norris Basin, if we turn aside from the highway, cross the Gibbon River and climb by a blazed trail to the top of a steep hill about 700 ft. above the road, we find ourselves in the midst of a curious geyser field which is seen by few visitors because a considerable effort is necessary to reach it. The so-called Monument Geyser Basin is not a basin at all, being on a mountain top instead of in a valley, but the dozen or more grotesquely shaped geyser cones which it contains are exceedingly interesting. Their chalky hue and curious forms, resembling armless and mutilated statues, have given the place its name. Though a little steam and faint rumblings still issue from some of the cones, most of them are entirely extinct, the waters having evidently built them up, as was the case with Liberty Cap, until they gradually sealed themselves over and died. How many such geyser fields have flourished, expired and completely decayed in the long past of Yellowstone Park we cannot reckon with any more certainty than we can foretell how many new ones may come into existence in the future of this still disturbed region. (Elev. 7,900 ft. Lat. 45° N.; Long. 111° W.)