St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-03-26

could imagine this mountain turned up
side down it could be placed IN the grand
canon at Bright Angel and then you
could walk across the L miles that sepa'
rate the two sides of the canon. Inc
grand canon is great holein the ground,
nearly 1000 feet deep and its sides pre-
sent such an uneven contour that no PIC
ture or painting can do it justice. way
down at the bottom of the canon, so
hidden by high walls that you can only
see it at certain points OF vantage on the
rim, the Colorado river flows swiftly
towards the sea. Surely the railroad
folder is right when it says, The great
round world has nothing like it." The
picturesuueness OF the canon is
greatly increased by sunlight effects as
the walls OF the gorge are OF red lime
stone and sandstone and the color effects
change every hour of the day.
The fun of doing the canon Is tax
ing the trail down 10 a point 1900 feet
above the river. The stream can be
reached on foot from there, but most OF
the tourists are satisfied with a days
Journey on mule or horseback and do
not take what the veteran guide calls
the "waIkomobi'e." 1t is considered an
easy trail, but if there are any harder
ones | have failed to find them as yet on
two continents. An army officer who
was with us said he bad seen worse trails
in the Philippines that were much
shorter, but that this was the longest
and hardest trail ne ever trailed, yet it is
a perfectly safe trail and there have been
no accidents since it was opened two
wears ago. Ladies take the trail as
easily as the gentlemen, and the lady
from St. Tohnsbury who had never ridden
horseback in her life rode like trooper,
so the army officer told her afterwards
The ladies all ride astride, as the horse or
mule can keep his balance better that
way and the la ~ is in less danger OF
Slipping off The trail winds around
Dretipi Gus cliffs for nearly six miles and
ends 1900 feet above the river. Even at
this height from the river it looks like a
small brook when it is really 800 feet
wide and in the spring freshets as turbu'
lent as Niagara. Each turn of the trail
brings more wonders to view and mOIe
Jagged walls are seen and the trip,
though full of sCary places, is we'll worth
taking. At Jacobs ladder the guides ask
| all to diSmOunt from the mules or horses
| (no burros are used on any trail in the
| canon). 1t is really an unnecessary re.
quest as all are more than willing to get
as near to mother earth as possible
where the trail consists of series of
steps over a foot high. This is the only
place on the trail where | dismounted
and the rest of the time chung to the back
of my white mule who never slipped once
on the trip In making the sharp turns
of the zigzag trail he would stop before
turning and look of into eternity before
swinging around into the trail. This
added a peculiar zest to the trip which
was not anticipated. | called my mule
| lay Gould because he was long on the
curves.
The day after we rested our bones by
riding around the rim and at Rowe's
Point we bad the finest view Of the
canon. Here you can see 70 miles up
and down the canon and the view from
| this point is indescribabIe.
You know the story of the American
who fell asleep in the catacOmbs at Rome
and awoke with the sight of tombs all
around him. He thought it was the judg
ment day and with native pride cried
out, "Hurrah Tor the United States
America is first at the Judgment day"
1t is with the same feeling and local
pride that think am probably thehrst
nan from St. Johnsbury that has seeu
the grand canon OF the Colorado. hope
it will soon be, however, case of
c piuribus unum."
ARTHUR F. STONE.
Pasadena, Cal, March Is, 1902.
Elk President Grover Cleveland cele-