The Geysers: A Narrative Genre
1807
As European settlers moved westward across the continent, they gravitated toward these springs of warmth and vitality. In 1807, the first European to visit the Yellowstone area, John Colter, probably encountered hot springs, leading to the designation "Colter's Hell." Also in 1807, settlers founded the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, where, in 1830, Asa Thompson charged one dollar each for the use of three spring-fed baths in a wooden tub, and the first known commercial use of geothermal energy occurred.
1847
William Bell Elliot, a member of John C. Fremont's survey party, stumbles upon a steaming valley just north of what is now San Francisco, California. Elliot calls the area The Geysers—a misnomer—and thinks he has found the gates of
As European settlers moved westward across the continent, they gravitated toward these springs of warmth and vitality. In 1807, the first European to visit the Yellowstone area, John Colter, probably encountered hot springs, leading to the designation "Colter's Hell." Also in 1807, settlers founded the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, where, in 1830, Asa Thompson charged one dollar each for the use of three spring-fed baths in a wooden tub, and the first known commercial use of geothermal energy occurred.
1847
William Bell Elliot, a member of John C. Fremont's survey party, stumbles upon a steaming valley just north of what is now San Francisco, California. Elliot calls the area The Geysers—a misnomer—and thinks he has found the gates of