Steamboat Springs, a small community in northern Colorado, is known for its winter sports and to a lesser degree for its numerous warm springs along the Yampa River. The town got its name in the early 1800’s from French trappers who heard a hollow, resonant “chugging” sound that they thought was a steamboat on the river. Instead it was a small underground chamber that expelled hot water at regular intervals. The town’s founder, James Crawford, staked his land claim next to the spring in 1874. Even though the geysering, that once reached heights of 5 to 14-ft (1.5 to 4.3 m), was destroyed by blasting for the railroad in 1908, the town still retains the name