198 EEPOET UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



1877. — The geyser was not, so far as known, seen in action during this 

 season. 



1878. — The geyser was visited a number of times during our stay in 

 the Basin, and always found boiling vigorously, with occasional spurts 

 or jets which reached above the top of the cone. It was not seen in 

 action by any member of our party. Its period is evidently a long one. 

 The following temperatures were taken : Surface, 194° F. to 198° F.; 

 13 feet below the platform level, 198° F. It was difficult to keep the 

 pole carrying the thermometer in the water, as the spurts were projected 

 with great vigor from the orifice of the geyser. The platform and cone 

 presented the same appearance as in 1872.* 



No. 4. Young Faithful Geyser. — This geyser is on the platform with 

 the Giant. I do not know where or how it obtained the name, but it 

 is so called in Dunraven's Great Divide; and as this designation is the 

 only one it has had, as far as I can learn, I have retained it. It has a 

 mound of beautifully beaded geyserite, rising 6 feet above the level of 

 the platform, or terrace, and having a circumference of 232 feet at the 

 base. On the summit of this mound are two orifices, or basins. The 

 first measures 2.J feet by 6 feet, and at the bottom are two holes from 

 which the water is projected simultaneously. The greatest depth reached 

 in this with the line was 17^ feet. 



The second orifice, or basin, is 3 feet higher than the first, and is a foot 

 in diameter and 12 feet in depth. 



This geyser acts somewhat continuously, with irregular spurts from 

 10 feet to 20 feet. It is probable, judging from the deposits about it, 

 that it has i^eriods of action that would place it among the important 

 geysers. Its behavior during the eruptions of the Giant have not been 

 noted. The temperatures taken this year are as follows : Surface, 197° F. ; 

 13 feet below the surface in orifice No. 1, 200° F. The temperature in 

 this geyser had never been taken before, on account of the violent spurt- 

 ng of the water from it. 



No. 6. Oblong Geyser {Flshte XYII). — This handsome basin was thought 

 to be merely a hot boiling spring in 187 L, but in 1872, when it received 

 its name, it was suspected to be a geyser, although not seen in action. 

 It has never before been described, although it figured in the report 

 for 1872 (i>. 155). It is an oblong pool 50 feet in length by 31 feet wide 

 at the end nearest the river, and 21 feet at the opposite end. At the 

 bottom are two large cavern -like bowls that are of great depth and 

 over which the water appears of a deep greenish-blue tint. The ridge, 

 or platform, separating these two bowls is 7 feet below the surface of 

 the water. The bowl nearest the river end is the largest and deepest. 

 The rim of the geyser is raised from 2 to 6 inches and is elaborately or- 

 namented with large, white, globular masses of geyserite, somewhat 

 like those in the crater of the Turban Geyser, only more numerous and 

 more regular. Outside of these is a layer or rim about 2 inches high, 

 which has an appearance as though it had been cut out by a die, so 

 clearly defined and regular is it. The basin thus described is on the 

 summit of a broad platform (about 250 by 150 feet), which is about 5 

 feet above the level of the river. The water boils in the center, and 

 when examined on the morning of September 11, 1878, had a tempera- 

 ture of 1950 F. at the surface and 196o F. below the surface. The 

 overflow passes off from the center of the south side of the basin, flow- 

 ing into a series of shallow basins ornamented like the main spring, on 

 a diminutive scale. They are gray and yellow in color. Similar basins 



*In the Report of the Superiutendent of the Park for 1881, page 57, an eruption of 

 the Giant is noted as occurring on Oct. 5, 1881, at 8 p. m., lasting 25 minutes, the 

 column reaching 250 feet in height, accompanied by terrific earth-trembliug. 



