Published by Thomas Houseworth & Co. of San Francisco as number 1146 in their Great Geyser Springs series, this albumen stereoview documents the Geyser Hotel in Sonoma County, California, with J. C. Susenbeth identified on the mount as proprietor. Houseworth & Co. was awarded the highest prize bronze medal at the 1867 Paris International Exhibition for the superiority of their stereoscopic and mammoth photographic views of Pacific Coast scenery, a distinction prominently advertised on the pink reverse.

The two-story wood-frame hotel stretches across both views with a wide wraparound veranda on the lower level and an open gallery above, both enclosed by white railings and supported by slender columns. A large oak or bay tree dominates the foreground, its trunk rising from bare packed earth. Numerous guests are visible along the lower porch, some seated and others standing, with at least one American flag visible near the upper story. A hillside dense with trees rises immediately behind the structure.

The Geysers resort in Sonoma County was a celebrated nineteenth-century tourist destination, drawing visitors from San Francisco via stage road to view geothermal steam vents and to take the waters at resort hotels along Big Sulphur Creek. The orange mount carries the series title "Great Geyser Springs" vertically on the left border and the publisher imprint on the right.

The front mount reads: "1146. Geyser Hotel, Sonoma County, Cal. / J. C. Susenbeth, Proprietor." A handwritten notation, possibly "1870," appears in ink at the lower right of the recto.