Nature
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In 1862, mountaineer and explorer Kendell Vanhook Bumpass first saw this steaming, hissing, thumping hydrothermal area, which now bears his name. He and his partner, Major Pierson B. Reading, filed claim to these boiling springs with the intention of mining the minerals and developing it as a tourist attraction. Those plans may have been dashed when Bumpass stepped through the treacherous crust into a boiling mud pool at nearly 240°F (115°C), suffering burns so severe that he lost his leg, and his dreams of fortune here never materialized.
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