The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-05-15
DOWN TWO THOUSAND FEET.

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 eve
discover the canyon. In the immediate
foreground the pinion & owth is rank
and dense; just beyond, great bleak
ridges of bare, cold rock contrast strong
ly 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 so
wrapped up in the au icipation 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 oil 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 n 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 a mere
ribbon of molten silver. Though surg
ing madly against its rocky sides, leap.
ing wildly over gigantic masses Of rock.
aud hoarsely murmuring against its pris-
on bars 1--WE see not, nor do we hear
sught of its 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
iook down on them from such fearful
height. Fairly awed into bravado as
reckless as it is strange to us, we crawl
out upon tottering lodges to peer into
sheer depths of untold ruggedness; we
grasp with death-like clutch some over
hanging limb, and swing out upon a
promontory, beside which the apex of
the highest cathedral spire in the world
would be as saping 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 subse luent sober
senses makes us faint of heart and dizzv
OF head. Eager now for still greater
horrors of depth, blind to everything
but an intOlerable desire to behold the
most savage of natures upheavals. the
shot ride to the Royal Gorge is made
with illy-concealed impatience. II our
hrst experience upon the brink of the
Grand Canyon was startling, this is alb
solutely terrifying, and the bravest at
the same point became most ahiect of
towards in comparison at the other.
AT the first point of observation the
walls, though frightfully steep, are
nevertheless sloping to a 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
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 dbeen sun
dered, we glance back, but only for q
second-the thought of our daring MAX
ing us sick and dizzy. But a step or
two more and the descent Just made
sinks into utter insignifcance, compared
to what is before us. Then we had the
huge walls of the parted rock as the
rails If staircase now we have naught
but the smooth, roU Ulded surface of the
storm-Uashed boulders to cling to, and
on either de of our narrow way depths
at the bottom of which a 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. Oowards
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, so feel we as 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 comprehension of the
of the word depth never before
even dreamed of, and never afterward
forgotten. The gorge is 2, ,008 feet sheer
depth, and most precipitous of any chasm
on the continent. The opposite wall
tOXvpra hundrada of feat ahOUa r1s and if