The Newtown bee., 1904-06-10
GRAND CANYON OF
 ARIZONA. As Seen Through the Eyes of an Esteemed Newtown
 Gentleman,
 B. L. JOHNSON. CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.
E. L. JOHNSON .
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

til he has added his name to the list of those who have gone down the trail at Bright Angel. The trail is all within
 the canyon walls and leads down from
 the rim to the Colorado river, four miles below. It was constructed in 1891 and up to the present time no accident has happened to those patron izing 1t: Eight hours are required for going down and back, allowing two The trip can be made on foot, but
 usually horses or mules are preferred.
 Mules are more sure footed. In many
 places the trail is just wide enough for
 the animals feet. A guide is provided
 and trail stock, and the charges for
 each are moderate. The tourists
 usually start about 6. 30 in the morn-
 ing, and there are plenty to see them
 on for the downward trip, and when
 they appear on the rim at 5.3O on re-
 turn, an equally interested crowd of
 lifting and cold -blooded experiences of
 those who went down. A goodly num-
 Der of those "who want to, but das-
 sent" stand on the rim to catch
 glimpses of those who go on the trail.
 An EngliShman who was there when
 we were, said: "You Americans lave
 the reputation of telling big stories of
 what you lave in your country but you
 can't exaggerate this. The traveller,
 John r. Stoddard, gives better de-
 correspondent, and | am sure those
 who have made the trip can find in his
 description the counterpart in their
 own experience: i've made the de-
 scent to the Colorado by means of a
 crooked scratch upon a mountain side,
 which one might fancy had been
 blazed by 3 Zigzag flash of lightning. { As 1t requires four hours to wriggle
 down this path, and an equal amount
 of time to wriggle up, l spent the
 greater part of day on what a con-
 rade humorously styled the quarter deck of 2 mule.' A square legitimate seat In the saddle was usually impos- hence when going down, braced my feet and lay back on the launches of the beast, and, in coming up, had to lean forward and clutch the pommel, l to keep from sliding off. In many places, however, riding was impossible, | and we were compelled to scramble | over the rocks on foot. That there is | an element of danger in this trip can not be doubted. At times the little possibly have passed each other, skirts . precipice where the least misstep would hurl the traveller to destruction, | and every turn of the zigzag path is so | sharp that first the head and then the | tall of the mule inevitably projects | above the abyss, and wigwags to the l mule below. In several places the | animal simply puts its feet together and :t0boggans down the smooth sur face of the slanting rock, bringing up at the bottom with jerk that makes the tourist see a large variety of con- Stellations. There is, however, A IMAGINATION IN GAMBLING WITH
 DANGER, when desirable prize is to be gained. The stake we risk may be our lives, | yet, when the chances are in our favor, | we often love to match excitement | against the possibility of death. When, after two or three hours of continuous descent, we looked back at our starting 1 point, 1t seemed that we had never | stood upon the pinnacles that lowered l 90 far above us. The effect was that | of looking up from the bottom of a | gigantic we'll. 1nstinctively I asked | myself If l should ever return to that | distant upper world, and 1t gave me l an individual insigniticance to stand in | such Sunken solitude"
 We get no glimpse of the river from | the rim of the Canyon at Bright Angel, l because after we look down 4OOO feet, | there is a jut of from the plateau, and | another drop of two thousand feet to | the river below, that at that place is | 25O feet wide. The river there can |