Page:A Guide to the National Parks of America (1915).djvu/83

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56
The National Parks of America

openings that indicate the dangerous nature of the ground between the Giantess and the nearest point of the river.

On the edge of the high bank of the river is the broken crater of the old Cascade Geyser. Immediately opposite on the west side of the river is the small round opening of the Chinaman Spring.

At this point the tourist turns a little north of west to the cone of the Beehive, the most artistic and symmetrical of all.

Crossing the bridge below the Beehive and going south to the very head of the basin the tourist arrives at Old Faithful Geyser, the tourists' friend. Other geysers may be more powerful, others may throw their water higher, others may have more beautiful craters, but Old Faithful has some of each of these qualities, and, in addition, it plays often and with regularity. It had the honor of welcoming the first explorer, and never since that day has it failed any tourist who cared to look at it.

The head of the Upper Basin is 9 miles from the Fountain, 29 miles from Norris, 49 miles from Mammoth Hot Springs, 54 miles