Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Forty-five-foot-high (14 m)
Liberty Cap,
an extinct hot spring cone, is named for the con-
ical hats given to emancipated Roman slaves, later worn during the French Revolution, and
then depicted on early American coins. In 1874, the visiting British Earl of Dunraven looked
at this formation and wrote: “Professor Hayden calls this the Liberty Cap; locally it goes by
another name.”
Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces
The spring that built Liberty Cap has been inactive at least since 1871. The formation is
estimated to be about 2,500 years old. Travertine may have sealed the small orifice at the top
