Oregon’s Unstoppable Lone Geyser

old perpetual geyser, lakeview

Southern Oregon’s Old Perpetual Geyser is still spouting after reports in 2010 of its inactivity. While it may not shoot 200-degree spring water sixty feet into the air every ninety seconds like it used to, the only geyser in Oregon is still seasonally active. Excavators accidentally created Old Perpetual—along with two other geysers—in 1923 when they were drilling a hot water pipe for Hunter’s Hot Springs, named after developer Harry Hunter. It sits just north of Lakeview atop a geothermal basin with the pools of the resort nearby. Two of the geysers died off, but Old Perpetual remained, becoming Lake County’s must-see tourist attraction.

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  1. says: Anonymous

    Charley Crump’s geyser. He hit me with his car when he was pulling out of the Shell station. Or I hit him on my bike. I don’t know witch. Big geyser.

  2. says: Ricky Collins

    Crump gyser!!!! There were two. a big one and a small one. The big one someone threw rocks down in the pipe and it stopped going off. The small one my stepdad Stanley Wood used to set off with a small coffee can filled with rocks with a rope tied to it . He lowered it down the pipe and ran , pulling it out of the pipe setting it off. One time after deer hunting nearby we were soaking our feet in the small pool around it , As soon as we got up to leave and it went off on it’s own, the only time I ever saw it erupt on it’s own. Good memories !!!!!

  3. says: Anonymous

    There was another geyser in about 1958-1959 that started near Lakeview that as a child we visited. Thus geyser was said to be vandalized by rocks thrown in its vent to block it…which it did. Do you know the name of that geyser? When was it vandalized? It was said to go higher than Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park.

  4. says: James Batton

    Frank Williams & Son were the skilled well drillers who made this famous gyser possible. Frank brought the first steam powered drill to the area when he homesteaded 75 miles north, near the town of Summer Lake. He drilled other wells in the area including artesian wells. In the early 1900’s drilling wells was no small feat.
    I enjoyed listening to the stories of his many adventures and seeing photos in the family album.
    Frank is my Great-grandfather.