136 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



ains, on the Madison Eiver, is marked Burnt Hole, and was probably 

 so called from Bridger's description of the Fire Hole Basins. It is too 

 far north, but is evidently meant for the Lower Basin. 



In 1863, a party of prospectors on their way from Snake Eiver to "Vir- 

 ginia City passed through the Lower Geyser Basin. Capt. W. W. De 

 Lacey speaks of it as follows : 



In another mile we reached the head of a small stream, the water of which was hot, 

 and soon entered a valley/or basin, through which the stream meandered, and which 

 was occupied on every side by hot springs. They were so thick and close that we had 

 to dismount and lead our horses, winding in and out between them as we best could. 

 The ground sounded hollow beneath our feet, and we were in great fear of breaking 

 through, and proceeded with great caution. The water of these springs was intensely 

 hot, of a beautiful ultramarine blue, some boiling up in the middle, and many of them 

 of very large size, being at least 20 feet in diameter and as deep. There were hundreds 

 of these springs, and in the distance we could see and hear others, which would eject 

 a column of steam with a loud noise. These were i^robably geysers, and the boys called 

 them " Steamboat Springs." No one in the company had ever seen or heard of any- 

 thing like this region, and we were all delighted with what we saw. This was what 

 was afterward called the " LoAver Geyser Basin" of the Madison, by Professor Hayden.* 



The Washburn and Doane expedition of 1870 passed through the 

 Lower Geyser Basin on their return from the Upper Basin to Virginia 

 City, but they did not devote any time to its examination, considering 

 it mainly a basin of extinct springs, although they remarked ujion the 

 great quantity of water flowing from them. They, however, described 

 the Gi-eat Spring of the Egeria Group with more interest. 



The Lower Geyser Basin was the first visited by the survey in 1871, 

 and we at first supposed we were in the Upper Basin. Fortunately we 

 made on that account a much more careful examination of the springs. 

 Our descriptions, published in the report for 1871, are the first details 

 of the Lower Basin ever published, at least in book form. As this basin 

 possesses less attractions to the ordinary traveler than the Upper Basin, 

 a shorter stay is usually made in it, and on account of this and also from 

 the fact that the si^rings are scattered over so large an area, less is 

 known of the periods of its principal geysers than of the geysers of the 

 Upper Basin, which are not only more numerous but also closer together, 

 so that several may be observed at the same time from one point of 

 view. 



In the following pages I have described the springs in groups, after 

 first describing the springs of the East Fork of the Fire Hole. The lat- 

 ter are beyond the limits of the LoT^er Basin, but it is more convenient 

 to consider them here, as they are too few in number to warrant a chap- 

 ter being devoted to them, and they are of the same character as the 

 springs of the latter. 



EAST FORK SULPHUR SPRINGS. 



First Group. — This group of springs is on the southern branch of the 

 East Fork of the Fire Hole, about 2 miles from the forks in the valley 

 from which the Howard road ascends to the plateau to reach the level 

 of Hayden's Valley. The small stream coming from the group is warm 

 and filled with bright green vegetation. The springs occupy an area of 

 about 200 square yards. The deposits are mainly silica and sulphur. 

 The first spring met with has a temperature of 182° F., and is on the 

 right bank of the creek, and is a clear sulphur spring with a light yel- 

 low deposit. The overflow is considerable. On the opposite side of the 

 creek, a little back from the stream, is another sulphur with a tempera- 



* A Trip up the South Snake River in 1863, in ''Historical Society of Montana, Con- 

 tributions," Vol. I, page 132. 



