In imagination, lift in a symmetrical cone two hundred and fifty thousand gallons of scalding, steaming water one hundred and fifty feet high and hold it there three minutes; jewel the grand fountain with a million diamonds; filter through it the hues of innumerable dancing rainbows; commingle in confusion every sound of splash and splutter—and you will have a faint idea of Old Faithful in action.

It is the immutable water-clock of the Yellowstone—the most perfect illustration of geyseric phenomena—the most famous and beautiful geyser in the whole world.

The note of the beginning of the play of the geyser is an angry growl down deep in its throat whence almost instantly the water, in rapid recurrent leaps, forms the stately fountain that plays for three minutes and then slowly sinks into the earth to await its time to rise again. Sometimes the winds unfold from its top an iridescent banner of spray; but more often the fountain form is a perfect cone.

Old Faithful plays every seventy minutes and never disappoints. Visitors to the Park may therefore see it under various conditions of light. In the daytime, under the sun, it glistens and gleams with prismatic hues; but the most enchanting hour to witness its performance is that when night is falling—when the dusk is around it, and the last faint tints of the sun linger in the sky. Then it is a spectre in ghostly white standing against the sombre background of the wilderness—a sight strange and startling and never to be forgotten.

It has long been the custom at Old Faithful Inn to flood the geyser at night with the rays of a searchlight. Then the spectacle takes on new features—all the rainbow hues are there, and looking through the fountain along the sweep of light, one sees a bediamonded form more beautiful than any ever wrought by the hands of the Ice King.

Verily, Old Faithful is one of the most wonderful presentations in all the repertoire of Nature.