OLE FACE-FULL ET AL
You already know, of course, that many offices have a malfunctioning drinking
fountains known affectionately among employees as “Old Face-full!”, but I’ll bet you did
not know that we have hundreds of real geysers we haven’t even used yet!
My youngest sister, who lives at Sumter, South Carolina - far removed from geyser
country - recently visited her daughter and son-in-law at their self-built log cabin in the
mountains of Colorado. They “did” Yellowstone National Park as a part of her visit and she
brought back taped evidence that geysers out number tourists in some areas.
I did not realize there were so many active geysers in the world, much less that
many in Yellowstone alone!
It’s quite possible that my sister got more than the usual serving of geysers because
her son-in-law is a University geology professor gregariously fascinated by gushing geysers
others never heard about. Their tapes of the geysers are proof that much is to be made
known about the oversupply of geysers we have available.
The best known geyser, beyond doubt, is the one designated “Old Faithful”
because it has a schedule with never varies of gushing skyward in a fantastic display
every of water and steam every seventy minutes, I think it is. We , as mere mortals,
understand and appreciate this tendency on the part of this one geyser to show some
sense of purpose through being aware of time which is the same thing we talk so much
about “saving.”
Yellowstone’s geysers have been using time rather extensively for centuries and as
a result we can see beautiful, extended displays of formations on rock, rills and anything
else which got in its path in times past. Some are silent, except when gushing, other are
noisy in a Niagara sense with intense murmurs of rushing, roiling water overcoming voiced
commentary on the tapes with their steady rush to get to wherever such waters end up.
As you look at the fantastic creations of water in motion carrying minerals for
deposit at exactly the right spot in the formation of the displays we marvel at the
complex variations.
There is no end to it, and no beginning that we can see ... it simply “is”. The changes
themselves, are so slowly made that we are not aware of them as we see them
happening. They will be seen and enjoyed by “tomorrow’s” visitors.
One cannot help but be impressed with the majesty of it all; with the intense
feeling of creative evolvement which haunts every such location. It is easy to see how the
early residents of the general area are said to have made it special thing to either avoid
the entire area completely as a taboo Holy area of magic and mystery. Try to imagine
their feelings when geysers rose up from the very core of the Earth and reached for
heavens above in a futile but unending quest.
Iceland, I think it might be, has learned to put thermal power to work heating their
homes. Considering distances involved, I don’t think we can look forward to such a use
here. Pipelines would be prohibitive in many ways and there is also the probability that
some might be saying: “Uh, oh! The geyser bill has gone up again!”, or “It’s an OPEC
conspiracy, I’ll bet!”
We may not know exactly what to do with them, but we should be thankful for our
plentiful supply of geysers, none the less. They remind us of so many basic factors in our
being.
They remain a mystery and mankind needs something he has to wonder about.
a.l.m. July 6, 2002 [c613wds]
