The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-05-22
DOWN TWO THOUSAND FEET.

DOWN TWO THOUSAND FEET.
Exciting Details OF n Trip to the Roynl
Gorge of the Grand Canyon OF the Ar
kansas in Colorado.
Leaving the hotel Immediately follow
ing an early breakfast, drive of twelve
miles brings us to the Grand Canyon OF
the Arkansas. Disappointment is bitter,
and feelings of resentment almost be-
yond control, as nowhere can the eye
discover the canyon. In the immediate
foreground the pinion growth is rank
and dense; just beyond, great bleak
ridges of bare, cold rock contrast strong
" with the profusion of foliage hiding
everything beneath from sight, while
away in the dim distance the snow
crowned peaks of the continental divide
are outlined sharp and clear against the
solid blue of the morning sky. Though
grand beyond anything we have seen in
amazing extent of vision, the mind is 80
wrapped up in the anticipation of full
realization of the gloom, and vastness
and solemn grandeur of the Grand Canyon
as to resent almost angrily the apparent
absence. A half-dozen steps from the
clump of pinion trees where the horses
have been fastened, and all thoughts OF
resentment, of disappointment and cha
grin vanish, and very cry of absolute
terror escapes us. At our very feet is
the canyon another step would hurl us
into eternity. Shuddering, we peer
down the awful slopes; fascinated, We
steal little nearer to circumvent very
mountain that has rolled into the chasm,
and at last the eye reaches down the
sharp incline 1000 feet to the bed Of
the river, the impetuous Arkansas, forty
to sixty feet in width, yet to us mere
ribbon of molten silver. Though surg
ing madly against its rocky sides, leap
ing wildly over gigantic masses OF rock,
and hoarsely murmuring against its pris-
on bars I'VE see not, nor do we hear,
aught of it's fury. The solemn stiffness
of death pervades the scene; the waters
as we see them are as if polished, and
as stationary as the mighty walls that
look down on them from such fearful
height. Fairly awed into bravado as
reckless as it is strange to us, we crawl
out upon tottering ledges to peer into
sheer depths of untold ruggedness; we
grasp with death like clutch some over
hanging limb, and swing. out upon
promontory, beside which the apex of
the highest cathedral spire in the world
would be as a sapling in height. We
crawl where at home we would hardly
dare look with telescope, and in the
mad excitement of the hour tread with
perfect abandon Drinks the bare
thought of which, in subsel luent sober
senses makes us faint of heart and dizzy
of head. Eager now for still greater
horrors OF depth, blind to everything
but an intolerable desire to behold the
most savage of natures upbeavals, the
short ride to the Royal Gorge is made
with lily concealed impatience. If our
first experience upon the brink of the
Grand Canyon was startling, this is alb
solutely terrifying, and the bravest at
the same point became most abject of
towards in comparison at the other.
At the first point of observation the
walls, though frightfully steep, are
nevertheless sloping to more or less
extent; here at the Royal Gorge they
! are sheer precipices, as perpendicular
as the tallest house, as straight as if
built by line. So narrow is the gorge
that one would think the throwing of a
stone from side to side the easiest of
accomplishments, yet no living man has
ever done it, or succeeded in throwing
any object so that it would fall into the
water below. Many tourists are content
with the appalling view from the main
walls, but others more venturesome
work their way 600 to 1000 feet down
the ragged edges of mountain that has
parted and actually slid into the chasm /;
and as we have to come to see it all, the
Chamber down must be accomplished.
For some distance we scramble over and
between monstrous boulders, and then
reach the narrow and almost absolutely
perpendicular crevice of gigantic mass
of rock, down which We must let our
selves 100 feet or more. AS we reach
the shelf or ledge of rock upon which
the great rock has fallen and been sun
dered, we glance back, but only for
second-the thought Of our daring max
ing us sick and dizzy. But step or
two more and the descent just made
sinks into utter insigni6cance, compared
to what is before us. Then we had the
huge walls of the parted rock as the
rails If a staircase; now we have naught
but the smooth, rounded surface of the
storm washed boulders to cling to, and
on either side of our narrow way depths
at the bottom of which mans body
could never be discovered with human
eye. Behind us the precipitous rocks
over and through which we came ahead
of us the slender barrier of rock over
hanging the appalling chasm, and all
there exists between us and it. Cowards
at heart, pale of face, and with painful
breath, we slowly crawl on hands and
knees to the ledge. and as the fated MUIR
derer feels the knotted moose fall down
over his head, 80 feel we Us our eyes ex-
tend beyond the rocks to catch one awful
glimpse of the eternity of space. Few
dare look more than once, and one glance
suffices for a comprehension of the
meaning of the word depth never before
even dreamed Of, and never afterward
forgotten. The gorge is zoos feet sheer
depth, and most precipitous of any chasm
on the continent. The opposite wall
towers hundreds of feet above us, and if
possible to imagine anything more terri
tying than the position on this side, that
upon the other would be, were it's brink
safe to approach. Overhanging crags,
black and blasted at their SUBMITS, or
bristling with stark and gnarled pines,
reach up into profoundly dizzy heights,
while lower down monstrous rocks
threaten to topple and carry to destruc-
ton any foolhardy climber who would
venture upon them. Among all the
thousands who have visited the Grand
Canyon and the Royal Gorge, harm has
befallen none, for despite the seeming
horror of the situation, the appalling
depths and rugged paths, the fascination
of the danger appears to give birth to
greatest caution. The canyon, except
in the dead of winter, is approachable
only from the top, the walls below being
so precipitous and the river such tor
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