The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-01-01
PARK ARIZONA CANYON.


PARK ARIZONA CANYON.
In referring editorially to the set
ting aside of tracts of land for public
use to relieve the congested conditions
of our cities the Brooklyn Eagle says:
National parks serve as great a pur-
pose as the city parks and although
they are visited by fewer people, just
at present, the number of visitors is
constantly increasing, and they min
| lister to more esthetic needs than do
the small and populous pleasure
grounds of the town. Before the cen
| fury is out, and when transit is cheap
| and sufficient, when, too, the popula-
| tive centers of the land have moved
still further westward, and great
cities have been reared in what is
now the desert, the blessings of these
parks will be vastly more obvious. and
| they will be accessible to thousands
where they are now frequented by
| dozens.
1t is for that time that Congress
must prepare, lest it should fall I'M
der the opprobrium of the coming
generation and pass into history as a
| legislature that was ignorant of and
| indifferent to some of the highest
needs of the people, and careless of
advantages that are to be had for
| hardly more than the asking.
| While federal authority still extends
over Arizona, there is one district
| that it should exempt from permanent
settlement and private control or own
ership, that it's wonders and glories
may be for all the people of the world
and for all time. This is the district
in the northern part of the territory
that is traversed by the Colorado riv-
er. This region contains the most
stupendous spectacle that the globe
affords The canyon of the Colorado
is but just beginning to be known,
and while the district is still unten-
anted, save by few bands of In
dams, it sould be secured as nation
al park. For more than 20 miles the
river tumbles through a rift in the
earth that is more than mile below
the level of the plateau. This rift, a
hundred miles wide at the bottom,
where it is completely filed by the
river, widens as it extends upward,
until at the rim it is from ten to thir-
teen miles across, and i'll this space
are crowded most wonderful sculp-
lures, in the most wonderful colors-
the carvings of the elements, the sur
vivals of erosion and earthquake, out
of beds that were laid down i'll the
ocean floor millions of years ago, lift
ed by the shrinking of the EARTH anC
baked by its internal fires into reds
and browns and yellows. The whole
geologic process and fabric are laiC
bare by the cleavage of the crust the
| -, ~ ta ND
successive deposits of sandstone anC
limestone, into the formation of which
entered the bony substance of count
less animals.
1t would be to the lasting shame Of
this country if this region were to bC
given over to private owners, who
would have little use for it, except tC
peddle out the privilege of viewing
its wonders at so much a head, ant
cheapening and vulgarizing the spec
tacle by erecting f.nces and observa
ton stands and blasting away thu
foreground for shops and buildings
There is an innate delight i'll aspec
} and wildness which this view con
fers, and the petty makeshifts anC
earning devices of men seem in suci
place intrusive, sacrilegious. Gov
! eminent has, to be sure, created {
forest reserve along the rim, but W,
all know how little that means, ant
how defiantly and safely timbe
thieves and individual aggressors in
wade the rights and property of TIN
, nation. The big trees of California
are threatened with extinction, ant
government has sold vast areas of lanC
to lumber companies at two and tire
dollars an acre, when single trees Of
= those lands were worth hundred
, dollars. The trees, moreover, serve
, practical purpose as conservators o
, the water supply, especially importan
in the west, and the national park
l are among the few districts that ar
, protected by the military agains
wasteful fires, against advertisin
outrage, and against the use of rifles
; that not only destroy the native ami
: mails, but seriously endanger the live
S of visitors. We have parked the Yo
semitic and the Yellowstone and tire
smaller reservations. Every stat
should have park, and the creates
wonder of the land, the Colorad
canyon should be converted into
public holding forthwith.