The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-05-26
GREAT CANYON OF PALo DURo
A Chasm that Appalls the Traveller
in Texas.


1t may not be generally known that some
of the grandeS; and ruggedest scenery in
the country is To be met with on the plains;
but such is the fact And this is no more
surprising than the frst glimpse of it, even
| when the sightseer knows it is there Sup
/ posing him To be riding down from Amarillo
on horseback, he will see, after he has left
| the town few miles. nothing but the wide
stretches of the plains, dotted here aud
/ there with the dugouts and shacks of the
/ settlers and threaded with the few fence
! lines; and all the scene distorted and dane
| ing in the mirages which lift aud lower and
/ fade out like clouds of silvery mist and
! though at times settle and look like CLASSY
/ lakes mirroring fantastic scenes
/ BY the time he has Travelled ten or a
dozen miles he will see far away 10 the
southwark a dim red line running due east
and west like wagon trail That Is what
I he takes il To be, for it looks exactly like
one As he rides nearer il slowly widens
toward him and he recalls the fact that the
great cattle trails of the old days were
sometimes a hundred yards wide in those
parts Of the country where water abounded,
and knowing that there l. water IN the Palo
Duro he will decide that that Is what it Is
aud ride on
Not until be Is within a hundred yards
uf the brink will he realize that he Is watch
in- the opposite w.,ll Of the canyon Then,
suddenly. and with the appearance ofactual
movement the scene will right itself In
voluntarily he viii check hi- horse lest
coming nearer, another appalling shift
might Zip him, steed and all night out over
the frnge Of grass 100 yards away, which
marks the brink of the ehasm
y o. Il sis approaches, studying the
face o.. the opposite wall, he Is amazed at
the startling distance al which It hangs
the grasS over there Is mere color, aud little
humps Of green, which he knows are priekly
pear hy their outline. seem no bigger than
hunch,s OF buffalo grass By the time he
has come o. the brink and dlsmounled he
viii begin 10 realize that the great red wall,
bla;ched sith white in places aud every
vhcre sea1aed with cracks aud caves, l.
fully half a mile away And the bottom
II the will see that only when lying face
downward with his toes digging franiically
iu;o the tough sd, be peers down. down,
uDo feet ur more There 1t rises, rough
as at the top, from the edge Of a wildly
picturesque iit,le valley, s,rewn with trees
Jha, look 20 bigger than bushes. among
which hr dimlv outlined the huge masses
Of r,ck that from time to time have broken
oa the walls and tumbled down And
Chatting up through the bushes uf simmer
ius Ike silver in the open places he sees the
sun on the water Of Palo Duro Greek
Far up aad down the valley as the eve
can ~ec the yicw Is the sane, everywhere
the same rugged rising precipitous walls,
the same picturesque valley aud the salne
bits of sunlight on the water As he sazes
down again along the face Of the sheer
sail beneath hiH. near to the bottom, he
may see a bird slowly wingug it. way up
ward toward him He thinks it is thrush,
and watches II euriouSly--up up 1t comes,
larger and larger It Is crow 1t rises
nearer and still increases in bulk. aul he
decides thar il i 4 burEari-but IL Is far
down yeg 1t Tises faster, bigger and bigger,
until !, / right under his face. and then.
With mighty wing beats passes before his
eyes, 4 golden eagle Startled at his iuyol-
uutary movement, il sail, away acru,s the
Chasla, and, perchinc Ca the opposite wall.
seems no bigger than il did when he first
-aw ii flying, a thousand yards below. With
an idea Of the immensity Of the canyon
thus liked in his mind, his next wish will
b. 50 get down into IT,
To do this it viii be necessary for him to
ride eight or ten miles to the westward,
here Terra Bhnco runs in from the south
At which point the walls Of the canyon are
much less abrupt and the bed much shal-
loWer Here the old trail 70 Fort Sumner
and Les Cruces crossed in the DAYS Of the
trrighter and now the Pce,s Valley aud
Northern Railroad. which, in the three
miIss down 10 Canyon City, makes grade
of over a thousand feet Going down in the
bed of.the old trail, he finds in the valley
the traces made by the treighterS aud trail
outfits who passed here, back and forth,
during the twenty or more years they drove
the cattle ont frOm New Mexico and freight
ed in the supplies There are huge walls
II rock and dirt, behind which they built
their fires and spread their beds when the
wind was blowing from the west and deep
holiows worn IN the hard earth, where
night by night the tethercd horses stood.
Above this place there Is no canyon, and
wherever the stream Is not "bog2y' it can
be- crossed without difficulty; but below,
clear down to the Red River, hundred
miles away, in the whole course of the
canyon. there are not more than four or
i've places where it is possible for teams to
yet up or down in many miles Of the course
the walls are too steep even for man To
scale them.
The bed of the canyon is well wooded,
but. owing TO the inacceSsibility, little OF
the timber has been taken out, although
the demand for it makes il valuable Some
years ago the manager OF the 7 Anchor
ranch decided 10 get some of 1t cut for
posts: accordingly, he sent three or four
/ men down there with axes and camp sup
! plies, which they packed in on ponies, and
/ told them to cut Thousand posts aud
snake them out to where they could be
/ rot with a wagon. They worked for
| couple of weeks, and then came back, hay
ing cut the required number, and then
{ learned that there was too much brush and
rock in the valley to permit dragging them
out They are in there yet, and will be
until the camping and hunting parties have
used them all up for frewood.
As might be expected in such place,
there is considerable game. Wild turkey
and blue quail are abundant at every sea
son, and during the winter wild ducks are
| plentiful there are also few deer to be
found and occasionally black bear. The
hunting, however, is not nearly as good as
the fishing, for the creek, which is really
a little river, unlike the other streams Of
the Pan Handle, does not sing into the
sand for half its length, but runs free and
open, atfording fine pools and rapids which
are full of bass, perch, catfish and croppie.
After ALL though, it is the indescribable
wildness of the canyon which makes a camp
ing trip in it enjoyable Everywhere the