Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1901-09-25
Makes a Visit to the Grand Canyon and Writes of Its Inrmensity and Awe-Inspir- ing Character.
Railroad Completed to tine Can- you's Rim and a Hotel Will Be immediately Erected For the Accommodation of Visitors.

lived in Arizona all my life and have never seen the Grand Canyons This confession, made by a prominent Prescott man, would certainly seem strange to the hundreds of tourists, who are every week journeyiug over the Santa Fe road from the east and from the west just to visit this same world famous Grand Canyon of the Colorado river.
 And yet, after all, it is only human nature to overlook and ignore places of even international repute, when they happen to be near home. The writer knows at least a hundred per sons who were born in that classic city of Boston and who have lived there all their lives and vet have never climbed Bunker Hill monument or visited the historic site of the battle of Lexington. How many people living in Los Angeles and Passedena have ever made that unique and de- lightful trip to the summit of Mt. Lowe, which even eastern tourists feel in duty bound to make before he leaves Southern California?
 Comparatively very few. But to return to the subject of the one and only Grand Canyon. All your read CTS know that it lies in the northern part of Arizona, that it is nearly 200 miles long and over twelve miles wide from rim to rim and that it can be reached from Prescott by days rail road ride and stage journey. What your readers probably do not know, however, is that on the very day, with the laying of the last tie and the driv- ing of the last spike, within few rods of this hotel, was completed a branch road of the Santa Fe system, which will land passengers on the AtIN Dlllll LII illC tllOCO Ol the worlds wonders, Up to the present time the railroad has extend ed from Williams only to a point within ten miles of the canyon, where tourists were met by an old fashioned four horse stage coach and driven either to the Bright Angel trail or to the Grand View.
 Leaving the Grand Canyon hotel at Williams after luncheon the railroad trip of three hours carries one across level stretches and thence through a series of natural parks, such as are peculiar to Northern Arizona. Thus 1 far there has beer nothing to indi- cate any phenomenon of nature. We have passed through forests of tall pine trees with those splendid San Francisco peaks towering up in the horizon, but we have not really seen anything which could not be found elsewhere in Arizona ur on the Pa cific coast.
 As we near the journeys end we ask ourselves whether this trip was worth the time and money we had put into it. Eager with expectation and yet with fear of disappointment, we alight from the train, hurry up the trail to the hotel, when suddenly, without any warning whatever, the Grand Canyon bursts upon us. A most stupendous panorama. That wonderful Assure in the earth's sur face" ''Sublimest of Gorges." ri | tian of Chasms" These names and many more have been bestowed upon the canyon by authors in their at tempts to describe its almost awful grandeur and immensity. To try to describe the Grand Canyon of the Colorado river would not only be presumptuous but impossible. One might try to describe another planet. It is so big, so unreal and so wonder ful, so unlike anything else in the world. No artists brush or author $ pen has ever done it justice.
 Perhaps the feature which impress es one most forcibly on first seeing the canyon is its size. If it were only half as broad and half as deep. it would still give the same impression. Twenty Yosemites might be almost lost to view in its vast reaches and in- | tricate systems of canyons and dizzy heights! As to the colorings of the canyon, those pinkish red and pale yellow tints are so delicate, so super naturally beautiful that they would discourage any attempt at word ! picture.
 Of course if you are strong enough to stand the hard trip, you will de- scend into the canyon over either the Bright Angel or the Hance trail to the Colorado river, for in this way only can one get any idea of the immense proportions of the canyon. The trip is made very comfortably on sure footed little mules to within a mile and half of the river, where it is necessary to abandon the animals. It is seven miles from the rim of the canyon to the white, sandy shore of ! the swift torrent and every inch of the tortuous trail is interesting, be- cause of the ever changing pano- rama.
 ! If the length of ones stay at the ! Grand Canon is limited to two or three days it is we'll to do the river trip the first day and then dive or walk to the other places. From "Rowe's Point" you can see the river in five different places and have an unobstructed view of the canyon for miles in both directions, including the peculiar formations known as SOlomon's Temple and the Battleship Iowa. Arriving at the canyon on a Wednesday afternoon for example, you can make the trip down tO the river on Thursday. drive to Rowe's Point and to O'Neill's Point Friday morning and return to Williams Fri day afternoon. But before leaving the canyon do not fail to have a chat with the most famous and oldest guide to the canyon, Capt. John Hance. To visit the Grand Canyon and not hear one or two of Capt Hance's stories would be ike the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. Hance has been more extensively written up in the papers and maga- zines than any one character this side of the Rockies. As story teller he has no rival in Arizona surely. Per haps one of his best tales is the one he told to a party of women from tie east, who listened with ab,prbing at tention to his description of how he and his pard dug the Grand Canyon