St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-18

better than any VIII NSSl :'Ao"'
cause the whole thing is strictly tor
business and not merely TOT 'ie ue-i
lectation of the crowd.
The fresh horses caught ana saa-
died, the party remounts, ana the
hardest work of the day begins Win
the start for the second camp, Al lhe
second camp the pack mules are
brought up and the travelling iaroer
opened. Over the wood hre the boys
fry a slice of ham and some -potatoes'
and in the ashes the Dutch oven turns
ont a batch of baking powder biscuit.
Coffee, boiled in the old-tashloileu
way. and served scalding hot IN TN
cups, with condensed milk, tastes IKE
nectar. 1t is a much safer drink
moreover, than the water freSh from
the spring at this camp, for the water
is strongly impregnated with alkah'
and neither slakes the thirst eftectu-
ally at first nor leaves any lasting re-
lief. Nevertheless, the canteens are
refilled with it. and about in the aft
ernoon. if the party is still energetic
enough for it, the horses are mount
ed once more and the last stage OF
the march is taken up.
Taken up is a very happy phrase,
albeit conventional. Almost from the
moment of leaving camp the climb be-
gins, and it is a climb so steep that at
certain points the only salvation of the
rider is to hook his arm about the POM
mel of his Mexican saddle and hang
on for dear life. The horses hate 1t.
1t requires all the urgency of cheerful
chirrup and swishing whip to keep
them to their work Even such aids to
progress sometimes fail, for these
horses, through long practice, have
come TO understand human nature
pretty we'll, and if one thinks he has
rider he can trifle With hewill soldier %
Then, of course, if this horse happens
to be pretty we'll to the front of the
caValcade, the whole march stops short.
Every other horse dips his toe-calks
into any little crevice he may find on
his own bit of semi-vertical rock and
clngs with rigid legs. Establishments,
blows and profanity are alike wasted
if the soldering horse has will Of
his own, and there is nothing for his
rider to do but dismount and lead him
the rest of the way.
And here let me warn the tourist
who may fancy that little climbing
all day, will be not ungrateful by way
of change; if the stretching of ones
muscles were the only thing to be
taken into account this would be true,
but the rarity of the air, say at 7,0O0
feet above sea-level and in the arid
belt, is a most important and highly dis
agreeable factor in the problem.
Breathing is enough of a task here
during the least possible eXerton;
while scrambling up a trail so steep
that one almost has to crawl as well
as rad the ground, it becomes posi-
lively painful. The best relief, when
the summit is reached, is to stretch
ones self fiat on ones back for fifteen
minutes and make long, slow, care
fully measur inhalatio and eXhala-
tions till the normal conditions of res
piration seem to be restored.
The summit of the ridge reached,
the trail follows it along through
dense growth of pinon and cedar.
About in the evening some one at the
head of the line shouts, Here we
arer' as he passes out of the thicket
into an open space, with wonderful
picture spread before him. The party
is on top of a cliff of bare sandstone,
polished and scanned by the weather.
wear of centuries. 1t is at the head
of Navajo canyon, whose boxed eX-
tremity curves like a horseshoe. Look
ing across at the opposite SIDE of the
curve, and a little below the level on
which the observer stands, as 1one
might look from the upper gallerysof
a theater at the mezzanine tier on the
other side of the horseshoe, the OBJ
server finds himself looking down ON,
and into, the Spruce Tree House.
shall not attempt to describe it. That
is better left for Nordenslkjold, who
gave the ruin it's title after cutting
down a spruce tree nearly 200 years
old which had grown out of one or
its chambers Suffice it here to say
that the world does not possess a pct
ure of more utter desolation. The nyS-
tery surrounding this deserted human
habitation in the widest corner of
wild canyon, with it's evidences of cul-
tivated skill and cunning, and remains
indicating that the disaster which
overlook it's inhabitants must have
come suddenly as a bolt from heaven,
strikes one first with a sense of sol
enmity, and finally with one of ghastE-
ness, which swallows up every other
impression.
While the evening meal of fried ham,
biscuit, potato tomatoes and coffee
is cooked, the party descend by a
breakneck foot trail to the bottom of
the canyon, quench their thirst at a
spring which is supposed to have sup
piled the cliff dwellers in their pa1my
days, and Chamber, by the aid of the
fallen spruce tree, up the other side
and into the house. Literally it is
collection of houses, so joined together
as to make one great dwelling of
many rooms for a tribe, band or fam
ily Here are scattered treasures ga
lore for the relic hunter, to- be had for
stirring up the rubbish of the crum-
bled walls, broken bits of pottery, ears
of corn, pieces ofzfeather cloth, slivers
of the 1after and floor wood, and the
like.
When every one has wandered over
the ruin to his hearts content, climbed
to the upper stories and crawled
through infinitesimaI doorways, "a new
way is chosen to get back to camp.
Instead of recrossing the canyon the
explorers scale the face of the rock,
which forms the roof of the whole
house system, and walk around the
horseshoe W WilSfc Tic III Z pieiAiLiSo
and the odors of cookery convince the
nostrils that a new era of cliff life
has set in. Their appetites satisfied, the
group in bivouac study the varied ef-
fects of moonlight on the opposite cliff
and it's tenant1ess dwellings, and then
steal off, one by one; to bed of
spruce boughs, a Navajo blanket, and
a night-long panorama of prehistoric
dreams.
In the morning breakfast follows the
first stirring of the camp. Then the
horses are captured in the canyon,
where they have been interned by a
rail thrown across the only trail they
could possibly follow out, and brought
up to the top of the cliff. The ride to-
day is a short one, and wholly on one
level. The party pass around the curve
of the horseshoe, and over the rock
that roofs the Spruce Tree house, and
presently into the woods and through
them to the cliff palace. Here again
they find themselves at the head of a
box canyon, but one wider and wilder
than that Visible from last nights