Lone Star Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, 1951

About this postcard

Lone Star Geyser sends a tall column of steam and spray from a rocky, mineral-stained mound, with a dense stand of dark conifers behind it and bare, sunlit ground in the foreground. The printed caption places it in Yellowstone National Park near the Grand Loop Highway between Old Faithful and West Thumb. Lone Star is a cone geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin, reached by a trail from the road; its eruptions are less predictable than Old Faithful's, and the surrounding pine forest is typical of the park's geyser country. The message records a July visit interrupted by snow: the senders were waiting at Silver Gate, Montana, for a snowplow to open a park road after a recent snowfall, even as they reported sunny weather. Silver Gate sits just outside Yellowstone's northeast entrance, and snow can linger in the park's high country into summer.