Cascade Geyser
History
The following history of Cascade Geyser was compiled by Rocco Paperiello.
1886-1887, & 1889:
Apparently Cascade was active 1886-87 and 1889. No records have been found for 1888 or 1890, but the geyser may have been active in 1890 since Beehive Geyser was apparently dormant that year.
1891:
There is an 1891 reference to a "Young Frequent Geyser" located "1000 feet from Old Faithful", a "new performer" which erupted that season at six minute intervals. Whether or not this referred to Cascade Geyser is not known. Cascade is about 800 feet from Old Faithful. Since Beehive is known to have been fairly active this season, perhaps "Young Frequent" was not present Cascade Geyser.
1895-1887:
Cascade Geyser is known to have been active in 1896. Because there was a mention in a guidebook that year, Cascade may have been also active some in 1895 (allowing for the fact that guidebooks often required a year to become published and hence often reflected information acquired a year in advance of their publication date). The 1896 reference: "This comparatively new geyser plays with much regularity, about every ten minutes, in which the water is hurled thirty or forty feet high, and a great quantity of steam passes off at each eruption."
This compares quite favorably with what T.W. Burglehaus wrote to Arnold Hague that summer--that "Riverbank" Geyser was playing every eleven minutes to forty feet. And a final reference that year stated that Cascade Geyser played thirty feet high in September.
1897-1899:
Cascade Geyser was again active in 1897. Geologist Walter Weed recorded that it erupted every 17 minutes. Journalist Henry Finck appears to have seen Cascade ("only a few years old") erupting that summer, and he lamented the dormancy of nearby Beehive Geyser and blamed it on the activity of Cascade. This checks perfectly with the known dormancy records of Beehive for 1897.
G.L. Henderson stated that Cascade Geyser was active in 1898 ("erupts at intervals of from 30 to 40 minutes"), and Walter Weed was back in 1899, recording that Cascade Geyser was active that season to heights of only fifteen feet. Perhaps the geyser was beginning to grow weaker, for by the season of 1901, tables stated that Cascade was "irregular".
By 1912, Cascade Geyser was dormant. There is one apparent reference to an eruption or general eruptive activity for 1903, by an admittedly less than literate observer. Rube Shuffle stated that "Cascade, what spouts, very irreg'lar, thirty foot high...sends a roarin' stream into the river, steamin' like mad."
1914:
From the changes made for the upcoming 1915 "Circular of Information, Yellowstone National Park" by Milton Skinner in 1914 we read: "Cascade Geyser" height 30 feet, duration of eruption 3 minutes, Interval between eruptions 1 hour, has been quiet since 1898 to the fall of 1914. [Skinner 1914, Letter Box 37, Mammoth Archives]
1948 & 1950:
Geyser was noted as "active" in 1948, and again in 1950. [Marler 1948 & 1950 reports].
1959:
George Marler wrote in his 1973 Inventory: "On the morning of August 18, 1959 one of the first sights to greet me was Cascade in eruption. From then through the next 4 weeks it erupted with considerable frequency and regularity. The last eruption observed was on
September 15.
. . .interval 14 to 30 minutes. . . . height 20 to 30 feet; duration about 1 minute.
But the following is from one of Marler's own notebooks: September 16, 1959 Cascade [erupted at] 9:32 a [m] (Note that Beehive erupted at 2:00 pm).
1983:
Geologist Rick Hutchinson reported[ed] that Cascade Geyser erupted once in 1983 following the Mt. Borah earthquake. [Hutchinson to Lee H. Whittlesey, December 27, 1984.]
At least 2 other people reported seeing rare eruptions over the winter of 1983-1984. (These are unconfirmed).
1988:
See 1989 GOSA Transactions, for activity in 1988. [report by Mike Keller]
January 20 - 22, 1988:
40 eruptions recorded, most durations about 2 minutes, intervals 12 - 27 minutes on 20-21Jan, and 2+ hrs on 22 Jan. heights 4 to 12 feet.
1990:
Finally on July 23-24, 1990, there was possible geyser activity from this geyser. This activity was inferred "based on briefly billowing steam clouds above the crater and apparently-disturbed algae in the steep runoff channel to the river". [Bryan in Sput, July-August, 1990]
1992:
(The following was added by David Monteith)
T. Scott Bryan's _The Geysers of Yellowstone_ also includes a single eruption (this time just one eruption) in 1992.
There has not been a mention of Cascade geyser in the Sput since the 1992 eruption, v6n4p31. This eruption occurred on July 25 and reached an impressive 3 ft. The Sput also discusses the possible 1990 activity in conjunction with what started as 10ft bursts from Bronze Spring on July 23-24, v4n4p25-v4n4p26. These are the only two mentions of Cascade Geyser that I have indexed from the first ten years of the Sput.
[ Cascade Geyser ]
Comments and Questions are Welcome
This Page is hosted by Geocities.