dez nuts
Explanation:
In 1870 Nathaniel P. Langford and General Henry D. Washburn, escorted by U.S. Army captain Gustavus C. Doane, set out on a journey through the wilderness of northwestern Wyoming to explore the economic potential of the land. In the third week of September, nearly a month into the adventure, Langford gave name to what later became Yellowstone National Park’s most famous natural feature: Old Faithful geyser.
The Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition began on Aug. 22, 1870, and within days, it was evident to the explorers that they were in a wild land unlike any other in the United States. In an article titled “The Wonders of Yellowstone,” published in Scribner’s Magazine, Langford later wrote of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River:
“A grander scene than the lower cataract of the Yellowstone was never witnessed by mortal eyes…It is a sheer, compact, solid, perpendicular sheet, faultless in all the elements of grandeur and picturesque beauties.”
Langford’s sentiments of the region echoed those expressed by Charles W. Cook, David E. Folsom, and William Peterson, who in 1869 became the first to venture into the Great Geyser Basin of the Yellowstone River area. In the lower portion of the basin, these three ambitious explorers watched as Great Fountain Geyser erupted, sending a burst of steaming water splashing into the sky. Cook said of that moment: “We could not contain our enthusiasm; with one accord we all took off our hats and yelled with all our might.” They didn’t know it, but Cook, Folsom, and Peterson were standing in the midst of what is now recognized as the world’s largest concentration of geysers—500, of varying size and explosiveness, have been identified within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park.
The reports by Cook, Folsom, and Peterson of the wild depths of Yellowstone inspired the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. Following the latter exploration, it was concluded that the region offered little promise for business and economic growth. This, along with reports and articles describing Yellowstone’s unusual and fascinating natural features, led to increased in interest in simply setting the land aside in a national park.
Yellowstone National Park was established on March 1, 1872, with Langford serving as its first superintendent. Langford promoted the value and natural beauty of the area, generally in defense against criticism that Yellowstone was unattractive and not amenable to easy visitation, given its remote location and vast area, encompassing some 3,468 square miles (8,983 square km). Old Faithful eventually emerged as one of Yellowstone’s most promoted features. Having earned its name for its routine eruption, nearly once an hour in Langford’s time, Old Faithful was a dependable and stunning attraction.
Old Faithful is a cone geyser, consisting of a mound of siliceous sinter (geyserite). It is now known to erupt at intervals ranging from 33 to 120 minutes. The precise length of time from one eruption to the next is determined by each eruption’s duration. According to statistics kept by naturalists at Yellowstone, eruptions lasting less than 2.5 minutes typically result in intervals averaging about 65 minutes, whereas eruptions lasting longer than 2.5 minutes produce intervals averaging about 92 minutes.
On the scale of geologic time marking Old Faithful’s existence, the geyser’s eruptions are about as regular and predictable as they come. Sitting around an extra 30 or so minutes while the old vent recovers from an eruption of long duration is well worth the wait—several thousand gallons of steaming hot water jetting upward, into the backdrop of the Montana sky, is an unforgettable sight.
