Soda Springs geyser history involves mistaken Yellowstone connection

In 1937, the federal government attempted to force the town of Soda Springs, Idaho, to shut down a newly discovered geyser. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior issued a demand to cap the spring based on the mistaken belief that it was disrupting the schedule of the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park, located approximately 140 miles away.

The geyser was created when local businessmen drilled a 315-foot hole for a commercial bathhouse, accidentally hitting a pressurized chamber of carbon dioxide and mineral water. While the eruption threatened to flood the town, scientists later confirmed that the Soda Springs geothermal system was entirely separate from the Yellowstone system.

The flow was eventually capped, but the site remains a local attraction known as Geyser Park, which features a captive geyser controlled by an automated timer.