The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-10
1.-THE GREATEST THING IN THE
WORLD"
BY J. W. HANSON, D. D.

One of the least known of the great
spectacles of the sublime in nature
and certainly unequaled elsewhere on
earth-is the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado. Comparatively few have
as yet seen its unparalleled grandeur.
1t is far from the abodes of men, and
on all sides long miles of arid, rock
strewn plains and rugged mountains
repel those who would invade its
"ancient solitary reign" By water
the approach is well-nigh impossible.
Only brave Major Powell ever ac-
complished the wonderful feat of
running" the stream thousand
miles, undoubtedly, as brave deed
as this century has witnessed.
1t has long been one of the many
cherished desires of my heart to see
what all lovers of the greatest natu-
raj scenes agree to be the ne plus
ultra of natures works. The wish
has been gratifed, and hereafter it
will stand in my mind as the one SUI
preme symbol of the Creators power
-Jehovah's masterpiece. No hui
man language can come nearer des-
cribing it, than the daub of the
schoolgirl can represent the rainbow,
or than the orrery of the pedagogue
can counterfeit the stellar multitudes
that spangle nights armament.
But let me begin at the beginning.
The Atlantic and Pacific railroad is
section of the great Santa Fe system,
and is.the only method of travel that
conveys the traveller anywhere within
possible reach of this stupendous
spectacle. Whether you have been
going East or West you have been
alternately ascending and descending
until::you reach Flagstaff, Arizona, at
an altitude of 6,866 feet. Here you
debark for sixty-five mile stage
ride, behind team that l have seen
equaled by no other line out of the
Yosemite. You have at once in sight
the magnificent San Francisco noun.
tains, their symmetrical peaks cleav.ng
the air at height of 1900 feet,
wooded to their SUBMITS, and man.
tied with snow even in the middle of
July. The stage rolls over their
sloping fanks at height of 5000
feet, and.alternately ascends and de-
scends from 1000 to 5000 feet. The
first and.the last third of the way g
through magnificent forests of yell
low, black jack, and pinyon pines.
The middle third is desolate ge-
illogical ruin-an enormous plateau
strewn With debris of lava, sandstone,
black cinders and red Stag, with
which the higher elevations are yet
streaked, showing where once the
molten floods flowed, and made hct
gehenna of all this region. The
plains are strewn with the broken
fragments, worn and carved by the
glaciers that afterward came.
All along are prairie-dog towns, oc-
casional deer, antelope, and other
animals, and the ground is decorated
by blue and white lupines, mariposa
lilies, yellow and red cactus blooms
and other flowers. 1t is an exhilarat-
ing drive between seven and seven,
and the vast Colorado Plateau" its
varied scenery, vegetation and OBJ
jects of interest, so keep every fac
ulty in the qasi Uive that fatigue is
almost forgotten.
The journey ends within a few
rods of the brink, rim, edge.-what
shall l call iti of this-and here
again there is no fit word in my vo-
cabulary to name this greatest thing
in the world" 1t is not gulf, nor
gorge, nor canyon, nor chasm,
nor a fissure, but all of these
in one. There should be a new
word coined by some linguistic
genius by which to call this most
wonderful of all the geological and
spectacular phenomena that the eye
of man has ever beheld. "The cloud
capped towers, the gorgeous palaces"
first came into my mind, but l in
stantly rejected the sentence as too
feeble to attach to this great won
der.
But 1 am anticipating. Those who
may have read no description of "The
Grand Canyon" should have, and
those who have seen attempts to des-
cribe it should recall. few statistics.
The Colorado river rises in Utah,
and pursues a southerly course
through corner of Arizona, forms the
boundary between Nevada and Cali
fornia, and disembogues into the.
Gulf of California in Mexico. From
the head of its main branch, the
Green, near the source of the Yellow
-