IE GREAT FOUNTAIN UKYSER, LOWER GEYSER BASIN, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 
DESCRIPT I OH BY W. H. HOLMES WHO GAVE THE GEYSER ITS NAME' IN 187 2 . 
"During our somewhat protracted stay in the lower basin, I 
found time to observe pretty carefully all the geysers of any con- 
siderable importance. Among the six or eight which throw columns 
of water to the height, say, of 30 feet, there is only one that 
possesses the dignity and grandeur of the great geysers of the 
upper basin. Although, in some respects, it is much inferior to 
its more popular rivals, in others it is certainly superior. In 
approaching the crater of this geyser the observer is not at first 
impressed with its importance, as the outer rim of the basin or 
rather table - in the center of which the fissure is situated - is 
raised but two or three feet above the general level. This ele- 
vated part I should estimate to be upwards of 120 feet in diameter, 
and„ with the exception of the crater, it is built up nearly to a 
level with the border. The surface, formed entirely of siliceous 
deposit, is diversified by an infinite number of forms and colors. 
The depressed parts in some places are so level and white and hard 
that a name could be engraved as easily and as well as upon the 
baric of a beech-tree. In others there are most exquisitely modeled 
basins and pockets, with ornamented rims and filled with perfectly 
transparent water, through which thousands of white pebbles of 
geyser ite could be seen lying in the white, velvety bottoms. Rising 
above the general level are innumerable little masses and nodes of 
cauliflower-like and beaded silica, standing out of the shallow 
water like so many islands. Those near the crater swell into very 
