There's a place right down the hill. It's called Andrews' Geyser. That's a catchy name, right?
Anyway, it's been there for years. I take that back- it's been in the vicinity for years. Since it is not a real geyser they can move it around a bit easier. Someone had the idea to catch a mountain stream, tame it in a pipe and let it roar down a mountain side. At the bottom they'd turn the genie loose. Andrews' Geyser was born.
It is to honor a man named James Andrews who helped construct the railroad from Old Fort up to Ridgecrest. I don't know a lot about him. Maybe he blew his top. Maybe he was all wet. Maybe he was just a damn good engineer. My guess is that someone thought a geyser might be a way to make money. Back in the late 1890's there was a hotel within spitting distance. It burned down after a few years. I've always wondered why they didn't hook up fire hoses to the geyser.
This is a shot of it back in the 1940's or so. We don't get many steam locomotives these days.
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