, 1901-10-17
SUPERB
ALMOST BEYOND DESCRIPTION
is THE GRAND CANON OF
THE COLORADO.
Hundred and Fifty Miles Long
and Thirteen Miles Wide in Places
w.. o. Owen Writes Entertain
inoiy Of One Of the Most Beauti-
full Spots on the Face Of the Earth.
Grand canon, ArIz., Oct. IA

IL hohlt VI thlo III hoplS hol
is probably familiar to as great a num-
Der of persons as that of any other
natural wonder on our planet.
II must nor he confouu6ed with the
so-called Grand canon of the Arkansas:
it is something entirely apart from
that, and incomparably srander and
more beautiful. That il Is the most
remarkable rent on the earth's crust
known to man admits of no argument
it is conceded the world over AS
our school Biographies tell us. the Colo
a river is formed nv the junction
of the Green. rising in our own Wyo
ming. and the Grand. meeting in Utah.
Thence the Colorado flows southwest
erly and enters Arizona. ia which ter.
ritory is found by far the greater part
Of the Grand Canon This mighty
gorge is 25O miles long and in its ex-
IRENE depth. sinks $500 feet below the
surface.
MANY impressions are
abroad as tn the nature of the canon,
II is wonderful and inspirins in every
way and needs no byperbole to en-.
nance its grandeur.
Compared with other resorts it has
received little advertising. but being
now accessible by rail entirely. within
a few wears thousands of persons will
witness this great American attraction.
as there is no excuse for remaining
away.
Over the Santa Fee railway one can
90 directly to the Bright Angel hotel.
right or the brink of the canon, From
the Bright Angel trails and roads run
in every direction in and to the sew.
eraI points whence the finest views of
the canon are tn he had.
The Arizona climate is delightful
and mild and all conditions couspire
to make a trim one will not soon for.
got
The first human being. as far as any
record goes, to traverse the Grand
Canon Is Major Powell. ex-director.in-
chief Of the limited States Geological
survey. In 1868 with a party of men he
embarked at Green River City. on the
Union Pacific railway. in Wyoming,
and after a most ~eyentful and thrill
ing tourney emerged from the canon
unframed. Near the Bright Angel.
most Of his men deserted him. climb
ed the awful wall of the gorge on the
north side and were killed by the In.
dams for their mains.
The Grand Canon is not a box can
on" nv any mean although MANY peo-
ple have IT pictured that way. 1t Is
a gorge about & OOO feet deem hut its
walls are by no mean vertical. They
dron down nv a succession OF leaps
from the rim To the rivers edge: and
n a straight plank could be laid be-
~ OoO feet long As the vertical drop
Ia only about r 200 feet IL will be seen
that for every foot down there are
about three and a half feet out-or, in
ditch language, the walls have a slope
III they were unbroken) of three and
one-half to one.
The canon at this point, bright An
geD at right angles to its course, has
a width Of thirteen miles from rim to
rim, but the widest guesser would
hardly place it at more than a third of
that. so deceptive is the distance.
Imagine a level plateau covered with
dense pine and cedar timber and seem
ingly unbroken as far as eye can reach
and you have a picture of the country
bordering the canon. Ther Is moth
ing In the landscape to warn the travel
er that the gorge is before him,
not until the very brink Is reached
does one become aware OF It's AWFUL
yawning depth. The transition from
solid earth and rock to open. empty
space, Is SO abrupt n startling as al.
most to take ones breath.
Now, that you may obtain some mo-
ton of the Grand Canon's appearance,
fancy yourself standing on the south
rim and looking north. The opposite
wall of the canon is thirteen miles
away! A mile lower than you and
three and a half miles to the north, is
Tho Colorado river flowing west. but II