The Rocky Mountains - Fabulous Western Canada: Capture the Excitement of the Great West! - page 116

the three workers and consolidated its
property rights on the site by creating a
nature reserve the same year.

To accommodate the many rich tour-
ists who fl ocked to Cave and Basin's
hot springs at the end of the 19th cen-
tury, tourist infrastructures and luxury
hotels were built. The most presti-
gious of these was the Banff Springs
Hotel , now known as the
Fairmont Banff Springs, which certainly
deserves a visit.

Two years later, in 1887, the nature
reserve became Canada's fi rst nation-
al park. First named Rockies Park, it
was subsequently rechristened Banff
National Park. Today, it is the most well-
known and visited of Canadian parks.
Though incredibly beautiful, its renown
also means it is generally overrun with
visitors from all over the world.

The Cascade Gardens offer a mar-
vellous view of Mount Cascade. The
gardens' spectacular landscape includes
arbours, waterfalls and a lovely selec-
tion of colourful annual and perennial
fl owers.

Banff

At fi rst glance, Banff looks like a small
town made up essentially of hotels, mo-
tels, souvenir shops and restaurants all
lined up along Banff Avenue. The town
has much more to offer, however.

The Buffalo Nations Luxton
Museum is dedicated to the lives
of the Aboriginal peoples of the north-
ern plains and the Canadian Rockies.

WHY ARE THE CAVE AND BASIN
SPRINGS HOT?

By penetrating into fi ssures in the rock, water makes its way under
the western slope of Sulphur Mountain, absorbing calcium, sulphur
and other minerals along the way. At a certain depth, the heat of the
earth's centre warms the water as it is being forced up by pressure
through a fault in the northeastern slope of the mountain. As the water
fl ows up to the surface, the calcium settles around the source in pale-
coloured layers that eventually harden into rock, called “tufa.” These
formations can be seen on the mountainside, at the small exterior
spring located near the
entrance to Cave and
Basin National Historic
Site.

3 Cave and Basin National Historic

Site and its open-air mineral
water pool. © Travel Alberta