Lone Star Geyser is a cone type geyser located in the Lone Star Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

. The basin is a backcountry geyser basin located 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Old Faithful Geyser

Old Faithful Geyser

Old Faithful is a cone geyser located in Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Old Faithful was named in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition and was the first geyser in the park to receive a name...

 and the Upper Geyser Basin. The geyser is reached via an old service road open to hikers and biking with the trailhead near Kepler Cascades

Kepler Cascades

Kepler Cascades is a waterfall on the Firehole River in southwestern Yellowstone National Park in the United States. The cascades are located approximately 2.5 miles south of Old Faithful. The cascades drop approximately 150 feet over multiple drops. The longest drop is 50 feet...

 on the Grand Loop Road

Grand Loop Road Historic District

The Grand Loop Road Historic District encompasses the primary road system in Yellowstone National Park. Much of the system was originally planned by Captain Hiram M. Chittenden of the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early days of the park, when it was under military administration...

.

Lone Star erupts about every 3 hours and last about 30 minutes and reaches a heights of 35 to 40 ft (10.7 to 12.2 ).

History

Aubrey L. Haines, the Yellowstone park historian from 1960 to 1969, relates two stories as to how this geyser was named:

• In 1882, two Northern Pacific Railroad surveyors working in the Upper Geyser Basin region came upon the geyser and assumed because of its remote location that they were the first to discover it. They named it Lone Star Geyser in their notes.
• In 1879, Colonel W. D. Pickett and J.M.V. Cochran, two hunters who had camped near Old Faithful, referred to the geyser as Lone Star during a discussion they had with Henry Bird Calfee, a noted Yellowstone photographer, during a later part of their hunting trip.
• The Hayden
  Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden
  Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Army during the Civil War.-Early life:Ferdinand Hayden was born in Westfield, Massachusetts...
  
   Geological Survey of 1872 named this geyser Solitary Geyser
  Solitary Geyser
  Solitary Geyser is a fountain-type geyser in Yellowstone National Park, located above the Upper Geyser Basin. Eruptions last about a minute and are four to eight minutes apart; most eruptions are less than six feet in height...
  
   but that name was later given to another geyser northeast of Old Faithful.