Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fountain Paint Pot
Red Spouter
formed in a grassy area soon after the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake. When
the water table is high, its two large vents or pools are perpetual spouters. A
perpetual spouter
erupts continuously. When there's less water, Red Spouter's pools become noisy fumaroles.
The gray crater sometimes sports bright red patches.
Leather Pool
was named for the brown
bacteria
that used to line it. But after the 1959 He-
bgen Lake earthquake, it became a clear blue pool. The brown color has returned to the rocks
lining the pool, but the water remains fairly clear. A trace of the former pipeline to Fountain
Hotel can still be seen.
At a slightly lower level, you'll pass
Fountain Geyser
(not the same as Great Fountain Gey-
ser) to the north of the boardwalk. It and sometimes its neighbor
Morning Geyser
were major
attractions for the hotel guests—rather like Old Faithful still is today for guests at Old Faithful
Inn.
A Fountain Hotel guest of 1899 wrote a vivid description of an eruption of Morning Gey-
ser. Guests were aroused about midnight one August night by gongs and bells and porters
shouting, “The new geyser is playing!” Tourists rushed to the geyser basin in all states of dress
and undress. “Upward into the black night shot a stupendous column of water three hundred
feet high. The porters were the first to arrive and playing their red calcium lights on the won-
derful body of falling water gave us a display of fire and water that must be seen to be appre-
ciated….”
