The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-08-15

l have seen of Alps and Apennines,
of White Mountains and Sierras, of
Alaskan glacier and vomiting Vesu
vius,-all in one ensemble, as they
are grouped in my mind, fall short
OF that grand, gloomy and peculiar"
miracle of the works of nature. No
where else has she ever equaled,-
nowhere else has she ever dared try
to approach this seven-thousand feet
deep, miles wide cash, filled with ar
chitectural sublimities and pictorial
splendors, as though a god had
dreamed of chaos and sought to re-
alize his vision in stone. Every
wonder seeker should devote one
summer vacation to this great object.
Every one who journeys to Southern
California should "break his journey"
in the language of our English cous-
ins, or as we Americans more lightly
say, "take trip" to this ne plus
ultra of natural wonders. 1t is just
twenty-four hours this side of Los
Angeles that the tourist debarks
from the train at Flagstaff, Arizona,
and takes his sixty-five miles stage
ride to the brink of the canyon. In
another summer it is expected that an
electric railway will supersede the
stage, when there must be hundreds
where now only scores visit that won
der-realm.
But there are other marvellous
sights to be seen in this immediate
vicinity. One of them is the remains
of
The Ancient CIif-Dwel1ers.
They are scattered over different
parts of Arizona, but eight miles from
Flagstaff in Walnut Canyon is one
of the best of the survivals Of the
pre- historic race that once occupied
these strange dwellings. The canyon
is deep ravine, in the sides of which,
nearly inaccessible, are the ancient
homes of the cliff dwellers. The
softer strata in the sides of the can
yon are excavated, and the harder
strata constitute the floor and roof.
They are several stories high,-or
rather there are several tiers of the
houses, one above another, = and
often several rooms in single abode.
Their remains pottery, stone tools
and weapons-show that they were
allied with the ancient Aztecs, and
that their homes we're built as places
of defense against more warlike
race. Some think tie Pueblo Indians
are their descendants, but who or
what they were, when they lived,
whence they came, whittier they
went are among the unsolved conun-
drums of history. Instead of delv.
ing among Scottish antiquities, why
does not John MacLain resume his
Ohio status quo ante and busy him
self with the more ancient relics of
the Colorado Plateau, and tell us
what we want to know of this extinct
race?
Near Flagstaff also, are the houses
of the
Ancient Cave-Dwellers.
They are circular excavations, from
eight to twenty feet in diameter, and
were only accessible, originally, by
steps or ladders, and so easily de-
Tended. The same enigmas attend
their history as belong to the cliff
dwellers. Which preceded or which
succeeded the other is unknown.
Which, if either, constructed the great
system of irrigation that once made
so much of the land fertile, which
once made this land of mystery and
desolation an empire of life, is only
'conjectured. 1t must have been since
the belching fires and fumes of the
thousands of extinct volcanoes scat
tered their black debris far and wide;
and since the subsequent ice age with
its mighty plowshares carved and
sculptured the lava. But when, or
how long since, no one can tell. "We
only know they came and went"
Perhaps the most curious of the OBJ
jects in this weird region is
The Petrified Forest
1t is usually reached from Hol-
brook, which compels tedious stage
ride of more than fifty miles, (th9
round trip but it is very easy of ac-
cess from Adam Hanna's, a lonely
ranch house about a mile from the
track. Mr.. Hanna will give the trav-
eler comfortable entertainment, an
convey him to the forest, only eight
miles.
The train stops on request, or when
tagged, and the visit to the forest
may be made by the least hardy with
connarative ease