Gandy.
Grotto Geyser Cone.
Next in order, after crossing the river to the Westbank, is the Grotto, remarkable for its irregular and cavernous crater. A little further on, close to the river, stands the broken crater of one of the Park’s greatest geysers, the Giant. Lieutenant Doane compared its crater to a “huge shattered horn.”
A few hundred feet further up stream, still close to the river, is the Oblong. Directly across the road, but a short distance away, is the Splendid, well worthy of its name; and near it, sometimes playing simultaneously, is the Comet.
To the westward from the Firehole, nearly on the divide between it and Iron Creek, is a lovely spring, called the Punch-bowl. Across the divide in the Iron Creek valley is the Black Sand Basin, a unique but beautiful pool. Near it is another attraction, Specimen Lake, so named from an abundance of specimens of partly petrified wood. The limit of curiosities in this direction is Emerald Pool, which competent judges pronounce to be the finest quiescent spring in the Park.
Returning to the Firehole by a different route, we pass a large spring or geyser known as the Three Crater Spring. Its three craters are connected by narrow water ways, making one continuous pool, though fed from three sources.
A thousand feet to the north, stands the most imposing crater in the Park, that of the Castle geyser. It is frequently seen in moderate eruption, but rarely when doing its best. As ordinarily seen, it throws a column of water only 50 or 60 feet, but at times it plays as high as 150 or 200 feet.
Terry Engr. Co.
Haynes, Photo., St. Paul.