Terminal Geyser, is a odd hydrothermal feature in Lassen Volcanic National Park, located southeast of Boiling Springs Lake and Drakesbad.
In 1874, Dr. H.W. Harkness, who had come to inspect Cinder Cone, also paid Terminal Geyser a visit and wrote, “This geyser is ejecting boiling water to the height of ten feet.” Harkness’ guide informed him that it originally had a height of twenty to twenty-five feet. The guide did not elaborate on what caused the reduction of the geyser’s eruption.
In June 1890, a Chico Enterprise correspondent provided this
observation: “The old geyser above Willow Lake which will be
remembered by many tourists, is now extinct. Every sign of steam, hot water or eruption has gone. This geyser has been in active operation perhaps for hundreds of years. It may be that it will break out with renewed force, or appear in some other place.”
Another visitor to the geyser in July 1897 wrote: “The water in this spring used to spout to a height of 16 feet, but now rises but 2 or 3 feet. It is said somebody rolled a large rock off the mountain into it, spoiling one of the best wonders of that section.”
During the 1920s and 1930s, Clinton Walker, one of the owners of the property, became distressed over visitors throwing rocks into the geyser, disturbing the eruptions. It may be from these various accounts that someone finally applied the name “terminal” to this feature.