History
Flaming Geyser was operated privately from the 1920s until the 1960s when the park fell into bankruptcy. When the land risked takeover by home development, Washington State Parks purchased the land and has managed it since. Urban legend of the park's history describes how miner Eugene Lawson aimed to profit from the ignited methane emission. While Lawson is a real historical figure who owned the Lawson Mine between 1895 and 1898 prior to two fatal explosions in 1902 and 1910, there is little record of involvement with Flaming Geyser.
In March 2009, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Department announced that due to a serious financial shortfall, they were considering closing and "mothballing" a number of state parks. As of January 2011, closure is still a possibility despite the legislature's recent investment in repair to the park's electrical infrastructure. Officials cite little success from volunteer donations on license renewal fees.
Read more about this topic: Flaming Geyser State Park
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Spain is an overflow of sombreness ... a strong and threatening tide of history meets you at the frontier.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“All history is a record of the power of minorities, and of minorities of one.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)