The Newtown bee., 1904-03-18

the world. The logs lie in great Sec
tions, some only few inches thick
and others eight and 10 feet, while the
ground for miles is strewn with pieces
from the size Of peas up to pieces so
large one can not lift them. The col
ors are marvellous, some times ranging
in one log from the pa!est pearl,
streaked with pink and amber and
rose, up through the shades of smokey
topaz to blood red, and purple streaked
with black. Some have called it the
"jewel Forest" and indeed it lis good
name for it. The only imaginable col
or not represented is green. After
long looking we found one large trunk
with green tinge in it. One could
spend hours and days, even weeks here,
going about and never firing of the
specimens, every one of which seems
to be more curious and beautiful than
the last No one can describe it, for |
no one can imagine it who has not seen
it. The most famous of the logs is the |
''Natural bridge" 1t is huge log,
from beneath which the sand has
washed away until it spans gorge 60
feet deep. 1t is 40 feet from end to |
end, and the log is estimated to weigh |
about 1900 pounds to the foot, for it is
very heavy. Its own weight alone
would make one fear its breaking.
Last April pillar of masonry was
erected under the middle of it SO that
this would not happen. Everyone
crosses it of course. We ate our din
ner in the gorge beneath this bridge.
How long it has stood there no one
knows. From some things is is esti-
mated towards 5000 years. There was
one of the dwarf evergreens growing
at the foot of the chasm beneath, that
when cut last year was estimated to
be 1000 years old. The trip i'll itself
was delightful and made doubly so by
our having for driver and guide man
who has lived in the west for years,
and he spent the whole day in telling
US stories, some funny and some other
wise, and all vastly interesting. He
ran away from his home in Virginia
when he was ten years and came west,
Nebraska and Dakota first, then Mon
uana and southwark. He was cow
boy for years, mixed up in all sorts of
rumpuses from fights over dogs to reg
ular Indian battles. He;is'rather slow
of speech, so slow as to almost draWl,
but he knows how to tell good story.
The "Forest Hotel,' as the place
where we are stopping is called, is not
in reality hotel, but a long, low, one
stored ranch house. The sitting
room is delightful. There is sort of a
sale carpet on the floor but it is almost
covered with Navajo blankets. Two
big roOmy sofas are covered with same,
and two of the most bea utiful blan-
kets l ever saw hang on the walls.
Most Of the wall ornaments are In
dian. On one side are Indian baskets
and mats. On another an Indian bow,
in beautiful case of deer skin. On a
silk covered cardboard are mounted
Indian arrow heads. In the middle of
the cardboard at the bottom is fasten-
ed the largest of the lot, between four
and five inches long, it's point up.
Around this, horseshoe fashion are ar.
ranged the next in size, then the next,
and so on, tips all pointing upward
and outward. 1t is fine scheme for
4 mounting the arrow heads. Many of
them are of dark flint, similar in color
to those that Will had, but quite
a number of them are Of petrified
wood, very beautiful indeed. Besides
these things are curious Indian neck
]aces, made of queer mixture OF
things. Some times tn ere will be per.
haps half dozen bright red beads,
such as were given to them by the ear
" traders, then tiny piece of bone,
with hole through it, then a few
pieces of shell worn smooth by long
rolling about on the beach, then a
bright colored, irregular piece of stone,
likewise with hole through it, and SO
on throughout the necklace The
ceilings of the rooms are low and the
rockers. Taken all in all it is de-
lightful room. Most of the rooms open
off from the veranda, so that one has
the somewhat novel experience of go.
ing out of doors to reach his bedroom
!, However it is not so bad as in the
Mexican adobe house, where, in case
there is second story, it is reached by
a ladder from outside. No interior
stairways being built. The country
about here is often referred to as the
had lands" and it is an appropriate
name. In the water courses a few
cottonwoods grow, but beyond these
and few dwarf cedars on the high
mesas, nothing but 'greasewood, a
low spreading bush and turpentine
weed, which not even a mountain goat
will touch, it is so bitter. On the
higher mesas are few dwarf ever
greens, and on the plains once in a
while tuft Of grass. You would not
dream that anything could live here.
Yet there are quite number of horses
and cattle, all in good condition, not
one of whom are fed by their owners.
About go miles south they say ante
lope are plentiful, and rabbit hunting
good. In the banks I noticed small
holes which the guide tells us are made
by sand rats, rat with long hind legs,
which belongs to the ''kangaroo rats. :"
I saw only one small bird, little fel-
low, a bit smaller than our sparrow, OF
seaA
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