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Drumheller Fountain
Public fountain
Nickname(s): Frosh Pond
Former name(s): Geyser Basin
Design	John Charles Olmsted, Lawrence Halprin
Dedicated to	Joseph Drumheller
Owner	University of Washington
Location	Seattle, Washington
Coordinates: 47.653817°N 122.307814°W / 47.653817; -122.307814

Drumheller Fountain is an outdoor fountain on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. The fountain was given its name in 1962 to honor the University Regent Joseph Drumheller, who gifted the central fountain machinery to the University in honor of its centennial.

The fountain operates from dusk to dawn daily between mid-April and the last football home game in November. The fountain holds an estimated 1 million gallons of water of which it pumps an estimated 30,000 gallons per hour for its jets.

Since the early 1900s, the fountain has been nicknamed "Frosh Pond" due to its association with pranks, particularly those targeting innocent freshmen. Additionally, items ranging from rainbow trouts to a Domino's delivery truck have also made appearances in the fountain.

The fountain is used by mallards to raise ducklings. The University installs a duck ramp to help ducklings enter and leave the raised edges of the fountain. Installed typically in April or May and maintained for approximately a month, the ramp allows sufficient time for the young ducklings to develop their flying skills and venture out of the pond.

History

Design of Geyser Basin (1906-1909)

Official Ground Plan of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909

The original plans for Geyser Basin were developed by the Olmsted Brothers for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Recounting the inspiration later, John Charles Olmsted, who led the landscape design, described the circular basin as recognizing the "bold circular curve of the railroad" which bounded the southern part of the undeveloped campus. Geyser Basin was the center of Arctic Circle, the largest of several circular elements in the plan. It was set as the terminus of The Cascades, a cascading fountain. South of the basin were formal gardens, hedged with Douglas Fir trees to form the Rainier Vista view corridor.

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the UW campus toward Mount Rainier in 1909, Geyser Basin at center

Construction (1907-1909)

By November 1907, that the basin was dug to a "4ft depth, to furnish storage of 1,250,000 gallons of water as a fire reserve" owing to the insufficiency of city water mains. The concrete walls were poured in May 1908, and the clay padding of the bottom of the basin was largely completed around this time. A temporary wooden water pipe was run from 15th Avenue for the eventual filling of the basin while another mains was built.

John Charles Olmsted called for a grandiose water feature in the basin, a "water display imitating a geyser as nearly as possible." Referencing Yellowstone's Old Faithful, he called for the basin to operate in a sequence of calm, agitation and sudden eruption. He suggested having the central jet reach a maximum of 50 to 60 feet in the air with side jets encircling the basin at 6ft intervals. He also suggested dying the water with aniline blue.

A more modest installation of a single central jet was completed by April 1909. The final cost was tallied as https://cdm16118.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p200301coll1/id/2791/rec/7. During the fair, the fountain was the centerpiece of a formal garden extending onto the Rainier Vista, adorned with a geometric layout, roses enclosed by Japanese barberry, and a carpet of 80,000 English daisies.

Even before completion, the basin became a focal point for student activity. By tradition, freshman found in violation of rules established by the sophomore class rules were penalized with a "ducking" in Lake Washington. Upon the availability of a new body of water on the grounds, students initiated the tradition of immersing freshmen in the basin as early as September 27, 1908.

Post-AYPE (1909-1936)

The fountain and the fair grounds were returned to the university at the close of the exposition on October 16th, 1909. Owing to its use in hazing, the basin became known as Frosh Pond by the student body. Over the years, not only freshmen, but also faculty, ROTC recruits, sailors, divers, and people engaging in (unauthorized) winter swimming have found themselves in the pond.

The fairgrounds experienced a managed decline as the opulence of the exposition receded. The basin's titular geyser appears infrequently in photographs from the time, and many images showing tall weeds growing in the water. Students jokingly referred to the waters as a "pond soup". The city maintained the vista gardens as a park until returning them to university in 1914. By this time most of the surrounding temporary buildings, including the Cascades fountain, had been dismantled.

• 
  Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the UW campus toward Mount Rainier in 1909, Geyser Basin at center
• 
  Geyser Basin and Agriculture Building at AYP Exposition
• 
  College of Fisheries students practice seining in Geyser Basin, 1921

Remodeling (1936-1937)

By 1935 the basin was in disrepair, having been used as an informal wetland habitat. The availability of Works Progress Administration, Public Works Administration and other grants began a new wave of building beginning in 1936. 21,204 dollars were approved for the remodeling of the basin on August 11th, 1936. University landscape architect Butler Sturtevant directed the planning.

The basin was dismantled throughout fall 1936. By April 1937, a new structure was constructed in its place. The new structure consisted of a central basin with the same apparent radius as the original basin, and an additional 18 foot wide external ring over which a new sidewalk was created as a lid. A new system pumped water into the basin from Portage Bay, and supplied water and water pressure to the Harris Hydraulics Laboratory approximately 1500ft away and 100ft downhill. The outer ring stored water to flush ash from the University's power plant. At the same time, a cast stone coping similar in design to the original was installed. This coping remains today.

Although the bottom remained unlined, it was decided that nothing would be allowed to grow in the basin.

Concrete bottom, a new fountain, and dedication (1960-1962)

A new concrete bottom for the pond was poured in spring 1960 to eliminate seepage that was endangering the campus tunnel system. The bottom also made the structure once-more amenable for a fountain. University President Charles Odegaard directed efforts.

A fountain design was developed by the firm of landscape consultant Lawrence Halprin. Initial sketches showed a central jet surrounded by a "mushroom" jet, and a ring of spray jets. The Washington Alumni Association donated a ceremonial mace topped with a simulacrum of this design. Ultimately, the final arrangement did away with the mushroom, surrounding the central jet instead with two rings of six jets spraying 20 and 30ft. out from the center.

Joseph Drumheller, president of the university's board of regents, donated $40,000 to cover the cost of fountain's design and installation. Drumheller funded the gift in part with shares of El Paso Natural Gas .

The fountain was officially dedicated in a short ceremony at 12:20 pm on April 27th, 1962. The ceremony was held on the north edge of the fountain and was attended by Warren Magnusson, the board of regents and the student body president. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Drumheller pulled three switches activating the two outer rings of jets and the central jet. The fountain operated from 11am to 10pm.

Fountain teething (1962-1963)

The fountain was designed so the central jet could be regulated manually or in response to a wind meter. By the end of 1962, facilities staff determined that regulating the central jet alone was insufficient, as overspray from the lower jets still occurred when winds reached 15 to 20mph. They configured the fountain to turn completely off for the day in these conditions.

The fountain was placed into reduced service for several months beginning in June 10th, 1963 when it was noticed that the pumps, housed in the basement of the chemistry building, interfered with a sensitive inferometer. Operation resumed when the research was completed.

In December 1963, the fountain was turned off at the request of a contractor doing tunnel work nearby. The seepage and overspray saturated the soil. Facilities measured the seepage, attributed to the outer wall, and determined that the cost to university did not justify an expensive waterproofing renovation.

The water pipeline to the hydraulics laboratory was rebuilt in 1969.

Leaks and renovation (2001-2006)

Conservation measures largely halted the fountain's operation between summer 2001 and summer 2002 as Washington dealt with a drought and energy crunch. Facilities staff noted that the resulting savings were not a significant portion of the University's overall conservation effort, and that leaving the fountain off served primarily to avoid the perception of wastefulness.

The fountain was returned to daily operation in October 2002. An increase in water usage was detected, indicating a possible leak. The basin was drained in November so the structure could be evaluated. In April 2003, facilities services attempted to fix the leaks by replacing a pipe buried beneath the basin and resealing the joints between the bottom and walls of the basin. The fountain again returned to service in June 2003 , although it was quickly determined that the leaks continued.

An outside engineering firm was engaged in November 2004 to study the feasibility of a larger renovation of the fountain. The outer pond underneath the sidewalk was filled with concrete to reduce leakage through the outer walls of the basin and to improve the structural integrity of the sidewalk above it. A polyurethane lining was installed to prevent future leaks. Although modifications to depth and water jet volume were studied, no changes were made.

Use by waterfowl

A duck ramp, built for the spring of 2021, attached to Drumheller Fountain.

The fountain was turned off during the 1970s energy crisis and quickly attracted ducklings. A physical plant carpenter designed and installed a duck ramp to help the ducklings surmount the basin's tall coping.

The use of the ramp was temporarily discontinued around 2008 due to fears that ducks were contributing to the degradation of fountain's water quality. The University instead retrieved and moved ducklings to shelters or whole families to other waterways. Following a controversial botched trapping in 2008, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife ruled that the ducks should not be trapped and the use of the ramp resumed.

The design and location of the ramp has evolved slightly over the years. The current ramp was constructed in 2004, with changes since incorporating additional signage and railing to encourage onlookers to keep their distance.

Recent history (2007-present)

A plan to re-landscape Rainier Vista, including the distinctive rose beds surrounding the fountain, was developed in 2008. The plan sought to unify the disparate plantings of the vista in the spirit of the original Olmstead configuration. The plan coincided with changes at southern foot vista as part of the development of Sound Transit's University of Washington station in 2016. Ultimately, changes would be confined to the lower vista closest to the station.

A reenactment of the 1909 cross-country Model T race held as a part of the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Expo concluded at the fountain on July 12th, 2009.

The fountain has been drained for regular inspection and repair of its lining about every two years. A temporary fence is erected while the basin is empty. These cleanings usually begin around mid April and conclude in June before commencement.

On February 6, 2019, a University of Washington student suffered a head injury after falling near the fountain after a campus snowstorm and later died of a blood clot in her lung. Although the cause of the student's death was later determined to be unrelated to the fall, the incident sparked backlash on social media directed at the university's president, Ana Mari Cauce, regarding the condition of the campus sidewalks during inclement weather.

See also

• Campus of the University of Washington

External links

• Drumheller Fountain - University of Washington - Seattle, WA at Waymarking

Category:1900s in Seattle Category:Fountains in Washington (state) Category:University of Washington campus