El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-10

ert glare All day we wound through
these hills. now beneath vast bluffs
at the waters edge. and then again in
more open places. each revealing new
and more beautiful vista.
Toward evening graceful sweep of
the river brought us into more open
basin opposite the mouth of the San
Carlos Creek. This stream. which
car barely be said to flow, comes in
from the Mexican side, and is the only
flowing tributary of the Rio Grande
that we passed between the COnchos
and the Pecos. Near its headwaters
in the wild and rugged San Carlos
Mountains is little settlement of In
dams, the remnant of a once famous
desperate tribe from which the creek
and the mountains take their name.
Opposite it is wide. sloping plain of
limestone. from the center of which
rises wonderful symmetrical butte
thousand feet high, the summit OF
which is a head presenting the profile
of an old man, which We named the
Sentinel, from the watch which 1t
kept over the entrance of the Grand
Canon
We travelled fully one hundred miles
to this point by river, but as the crow
flies it is only about fifty miles below
Preside. We camped upon the Texas
side, beneath limestone bluff. A
mile below us down the river was
vast mountain wall, the vertical es-
carpment of which ran directly north
and south across the path of the river,
and through which the latter cuts its
way. The river disappears in a mar
row vertical slit in the face of the es-
carpment. This mountain is the
Sierra Santa Helena, and the rift in
it's face is the entrance to the so-called
Grand Canon of the Rio Grande. Why
this particular canon is called Grand
is not known, for many of the canons
below were not only as deep, but far
longer and in every way equally de-
serving of the name. But Texas is
poor in topographic names; most Of
the features are without names at all.
This was the case even with the great
est mountain through which this can
on passed. Later the Mexicans told
us that the feature was called the
Sierra de Santa Helena. and this par
ticular canon will be spoken of as the
Grand Canon de Santa Helena
The Sierra de Santa Helena is an
elongated. quodrangular mountain
block half a mile high, twelve miles
wide. and fifty miles long. and lies di-
rectly across the path of the river.
Its summit is a plane surface slightly
tilted to the west. The edges are pre-
cipitous scarps. Imagine this block
cut through vertically with the finest
saw. and the rift of the saw will rep
resent the canon of the river.
Before entering the canon. let us
| look at it as did DR.. G.. G. Parry, of
the Mexican Boundary Survey. who,
deeming it impossible, climbed the
heights and saw from above. The gen.
eral suface of the plateau presents no
indication of a Intercourse, and you
are not aware of its presence till you
stand suddenly on its abrupt brink.
Even here the running water is not al
ways visible, unless advantage be Ia
ken of the projecting points that form
angles along the general course of the
river. From this dizzy height the
stream below looks like mere thread,
passing in whirling eddies or foaming
over broken rapids; and stone hurled
from above into the chasm passes
completely out of sight behind the
overhanging lodges. From the point
formed by it's last projecting lodges
the view is grand beyond all concep-
ton. You can here trace backward
the line of the immense chasm which
marks the course of the river till it
emerges from it's stupendous outlet.
The next morning, after the custom
airy involuntary wetting at the rapids
by which we made our nightly camps,
we rowed straight for the narrow slit
in the mountain. The river makes a
sudden bend as it enters the canon,
and almost in the twinkling of an eye
we passed out of the desert glare into
the dark and silent depths of it's gil
gantic walls, which rise vertically
from the waters edge to narrow rib
bon of sky above. Confined in mar
row channel less than twenty-five feet
wide, without bench or bank upon
which to land. our boats glided along
without need of oars, as we sat in adj
miration of the superb precipices which
hemmed us in on each side. The SOL
emnity of the scene was increased by
the deathlike stiffness which prevailed
and by the thought of those who had
tried the journey and either lost their
lives or narrowly ecaped destruction
The walls rose straight toward the
sky, unbroken by bench or terrace,
and marked only by an occasional line
of qualification in the cream colored
marbles and limestones which COM
posed them. The waters flowed noise
lessly and swiftly through this canon.
with hardly a ripple or gurgle except
at one place. Their flow is so excell-
ent as to be appalling. With the ends
of our oars we could almost touch eth
er wall. The solmenity and beauty of
the spectacle were overwhelming.
We had only gone a few miles when
halt was suddenly forced upon us.
Directly ahead was a place where one
side of the great cliffs had caved away,
and the debris spread across the mar
row passage of the river. This OBJ
stacle was composed of great blocks of
stone and talus rising two hundred
feet high, which, while obstructing the
channel, did not dam the waters, but
bave them way through the interstices
of the rocks. The boulders were most
ly Ouadrangular masses Of limestone