tive operation.

One of the most noted geysers of this district is "Old Faithful." It
stands on a mound thirty feet high, the crater rising some six feet
higher still.

The eruptions take place about once an hour, and continue fifteen or
twenty minutes, the column of water shooting upward with terrific force,
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet.

The great mass of water falls directly back into the basin, flowing over
the edges and down the sides in large streams. When the action ceases,
the water recedes from sight, and nothing is heard but an occasional
escape of steam until another eruption occurs.

[Illustration]

Just across the river and close to the margin, a small conical mound is
observed, about three feet high, and five feet in diameter at the base.

No one would suspect it to be an active geyser. But in 1871, a column of
water entirely filling the crater shot from it, which by actual
measurement was found to be two hundred and nineteen feet high.

Not more than a hundred yards from the river, there is a large oval
aperture eighteen feet wide and twenty-five feet long. The sides are
covered with a grayish-white deposit which is distinctly visible at a
depth of a hundred feet below the surface.

This geyser is known as the "Giantess," and a visitor in describing it
states that "no water could be discovered on the first approach, but it
could be distinctly heard gurgling and boiling at a great distance
below. Suddenly it began to rise, spluttering and sending out huge
volumes of steam, causing a general scattering of our company.

"When within about forty feet of the surface, it became stationary, and
we returned to look upon it. All at once it rose with incredible
rapidity, the hot water bursting from the opening with terrific force,
rising in a column the full size of this immense aperture to the height
of sixty feet.

"Through, and out of the top of this mass, five or six lesser jets or
round columns of water, varying in size from six to fifteen inches in
diameter, were projected to the marvelous height of two hundred and
fifty feet."

[Illustration: View in the Grand Canon]

THE CANONS OF THE COLORADO RIVER.

The length of the Colorado River, from the sources of the Green River,
is about two thousand miles.

For five hundred miles of this distance, the river has worn deep cuts or
gorges through the soft rock, called canons.

The rocky sides of these canons form lofty vertica