Hot springs on the Goosenest? Not so fast!
A historic report on volcanoes in northern California by the volcanologist Howell Williams made a curious claim about Goosenest volcano.
The Goosenest is north of Mount Shasta and is one of three large shield volcanoes which trace out the Cascade Volcanic Arc axis. In his 1949 report "Geology of the Macdoel Quadrangle", Howell Williams mentioned the 1881 "A History of Siskiyou County" by H.L. Wells, which said that a hot spring formerly existed at the top of the Goosenest (shown in today's photo). However, Williams was unable to find it “nor was any informant questioned who could corroborate its existence” . The language is flowery, but we take it to mean that Howell questioned the locals in the area, who clearly didn’t think the hot spring existed. Since scientists believe the eruption of Goosenest volcano was likely a brief, one-time eruption, a hot spring persisting to the present day would be unusual.
Curious about the claim, a CalVO researcher read back into the original 1881 source. It does not mention hot springs on Goosenest! Instead, it seems that Howell Williams misread a discussion of the hot springs high on Mt Shasta and attributed it to the (much older and likely extinct) Goosenest volcano. This demonstrates a good reason why you should always check the original sources and also pay attention to the local knowledge in the area. Scientists in the 19th century were just as likely to misremember a fact as we are today, but they didn't have easy access to all the tools we have to check ourselves.