Arizona republican., 1899-04-01


 height of St. Peters, che Pyramid
 of Cheops, or the Strasburg Cathedral;
 eight times the height of the Bartholdi
 Statue of Liberty; eleven times the
 height of Bunker Hill monument
 Looking back from this level the huge picturesque towers that border the rim | shrink to pigm:es and seem to crown perpendicula- wall. Unattainably far iH the sky. Yet less than one-h%f the descent has been made, and less than onethird the entire distance of the trail to the river accomplished. For more than three miles now riding cn l horse or mule back is entirely prac- 1 ticable (Hance's rock cabin lies only short distance ahead, where dinner and rest are to be had under the shade of cottonwoods by the side of a living spring. Further on, the trail continues down a widening gorge plentifully set | with shrubs and spangled, in season, with the bloom of the yucca. prickly pear, primrose. maiigOld and a score Of unfamiliar shOwy flowers, white, blue red and yellow. surprisingly fresh and vigorous above dry red. stony soil. Small lizards dart across the path-brOwn lizards. spotted lizards, striped lizards, lizards with tails of peacock blue-and an occasional 11OIH H6u LO1u SGtG IlIDlt3S out Ol iu6 way. No other reptile is encountered Soon the course of a clear rivulet is reached, whose windings are followed to the end The red wall limestone gives place to dark brown sandstone. whose perfectly horizontal strata rapidly rise above the head to prove the rate of descent along the apparently gentle de- cline. Overshadowed by this sandstone Of chocolate hue the way grows gloomy and foreboding, and the traveller stops moment beneath a slanting cliff 300 feet high, where there is an Indian grave and pottery scattered about A gigantic niche has been worn in the face of this cavernOus cliff, which in recognition of it's fancied Egyptian character, was named the Temple of Sett by the celebrated painter, Thomas Moran. A little beyond this temple it becomes nece ssary to abandon the ami mals. The river Is still d mile and d half distant. The way narrows now to 8 mere notch. where two wagons could barely pass, and the granite begins to tower glOomily overhead, for we have dropped below the sandstone and have entered the archaean-a frcwning black rock streaked, veined and swirled with vivid, red and white smoothed and polished by the rivuiet and beautiful as a mosaic. Obstacles are encountered in the form of steep ipterposing crags, past which the brook has found a way, but ever which the pedestrian must chamber After these lesser difficulties come sheer descents. which at present are passed by the aid of ropes. The last considerable drcp is a forty-foot bit by the side of a pretty cascade, where there are just enough irregularities in the wall to give tCe-hold. The narrowed cleft be- comes exceedingly wayward in it's course, turning abruptly to right and left, and working down into twilight depths. It is very still At every turn ore looks to see the embouchure upon the river, anticipating the sudden shock of the unintercepted roar of wa ters. When at last this is reached, | over final downward chamber. the traveller stands upon a sandy rift con tronted by nearly vertical walls many hundred feet high, at whose base a l black torrent pitches in a giddying on- ward slide that gives him momehtarily | the sensation of slipping into an abyss |
 With so little labor one may come 10 | the Colorado river in the heart of it's | most tremendous channel. and gaze upon a sight that heretofore has had |
 
 Africa. Dwarfed by such prodigicus mountain shores, which rise immedi- ately from the water at an angle that | would deny footing to mountain sheep, it is not easy to estimate conf 1ently the width and volume of the river. Choked by the stubborn granite 1t this point, it's width is probably be- .ween two hundred and fifty and three hundred feet, it's velocity fifteen miles Ill hour, and it's volume and turmoil equal to the Whirlpool Rapids of Mi lgara. Its rise in time of heavy rain S rapid and appalling, for the walls hed almost instantly all the water that alls upon them. Drift is lodged in the ,, evices thirty feet overhead For )nly a few hundred yards is the tor uous stream visible, but it's effect up 'n the senses is perhaps the greater for hat reason. Issuing as from a noun ain side, 1t slides with oily smoothness or space and suddenly breaks into iolent waves that comb back against he current and shoot unexpectedly lere and there, while the volume swayS ide-like from side to side, and long urling breakers form and hold their utline lengthwise of the shore. despite he seemingly irresistible velocity of he water. The river is laden with lift, huge tree trunks, which it losses ike chips in it's terrible play.
 Standing upon that shore one can arely credit PCwelIs achievement, in pIte of it's absolute authenticity. Never 7as a more magnificent self-reliance displayed than by the man whic not rly undertook the passage of Colo ado river out won his way. And af- CT viewing a fraction of the scene at lose range, one cannot hold it b the iscredit of three of his companions hat they abandoned the undertaking ] ct far below this point. The fact that hose who persisted got through alive 5 hardly moro astonishing than that ny should have had the haTtlihood to ErSiSt- ENr ii could nnt have haar l