Arizona republican., 1904-02-12

it, and throw as hard as you possibly can, and it seems simply to drop over the ledge at your feet. Pull your watch and time it, and in from eight to twenty seconds you will hear 1t strike on the rocks below you. The upper layers of rock are sandstone, and so have eroded faster than the uD- deriving granite, and this leaves what is known as the lower plateau, 5000 feet below the rim. This plateau from the rim scenes to be covered with punches of sage bush, which the guide will tell you are cedar trees. From ad- vantageous points on the rim, and six or seven miles away in an air line, the Colorado river can be seen., It appears to be an inoffensive little stream. but in reality it is a torrent as wild as Niagara in the lower gorge and twice as wide. Our adjectives are all over worked. and there is nothing in the English language that can give any idea of the immensity of the Grand Canyon. One so fortunate as to have seen it has an impression that will never be forgotten, and one that is so touched with reverence for the Divine Architect that adequate description is impossible.
 The artist revels in the coloring of the canyon. There are three distinct strata of the upper sandstone, white, red and a slaty blue. These have wash ed down into each other more or less and, with the green vegetation and the blue haze of distance over all, you have d color scheme that has led more than one artist to destroy his canvas in despair. And there is enc color ef- feet at sunrise, another at noontide and a third at sunset. In fact, it is an ever changing panorama of light and shade. The storm effects must be something grand, if one could be there to see them. And yet the guides say that many tourists miss them for fear of getting wet It certainly must be a rare sensation to stand on the rim in the sunshine and witness the electric displays of a terrific thunder shower in the canyon below you.
 The climate of the canyon is inter- esting. There may be all the variety possible to it's variety of altitude. On the rim, 1000 feet above sea level, there may be a foot of snow, but there is never any snow in the canyon. Some of the earlier explorers found their IT dAlS dDONt llitIn SIOWDOuAu, ana Ddu to camp in the canyon until the snows above them melted. May is the ideal month in which to visit the canyon, as there are 800 different varieties of wild flowers that bloom along the trails and the airis heavy with fragrance.
 The canyon is not one solid rock wall facing another The river itself fol- lows a very winding course, and in ad- dition the main walls are cut into b-y secondary canyons, and the rocks at the points of juncture are sometimes left in architectural effects. It is this complexity of the horizontal plan that makes all attempts at portraying the canyon so unsatisfactory The south rim is covered with pine forest. and there is nothing in the surrounding landscape to lead one to suspect the presence of such an awful chasm until one steps to the very rim. It is inter- esting to note that whereas the Colo rado flows for 250 miles between these abrupt walls, at Yuma, just before en- tering the Gulf of California, 1t is a wide, slow stream and is walled in to keep 1t from overspreading the city.
 Until within two years it has been possible to reach the canyon only by 7O-mile stage trip from Flagstaff. Arizona. The Santa Fe road now runs 9 branch line to the head of Bright Angel trail The accommodations for tourists are comfortable but primitive. and so completely in harmony with the surroundings that one almost regrets. to see the new s1O0.OOO hotel that is now going up. and which will be known as Bright Angel Tavern. Those who have visited the canyon often tell us that the old Hance trail is the prettiest one to go down. Grand View hotel is at the head of this trail. and is reached by stage either from Bright Angel or from Flagstaff.
 No one who goes to the canyon can miss seeing the character of the can yon. Capt. John Hance. who has been guide in the canyon for nineteen years. says he wants to be buried in the canyon. and. if he thinks you will believe 1t. will tell you that he dug the canyon. You cannot miss him if you would. He is in the employ of the San ta Fe at Bright Angel hotel and never misses being seen nor an opportunity cf telling who he is.
 Much might be said of the interest ing people to be met at the canvon ne writer in brief stay met them from all parts of the world-AustraIia New Zealand. England and the remot- est states of the union. and not ona Who regretted that he came. It is q trip which broadens your knowledge increases the scope of your sympathies and makes you glad to be alive. No one taxing transcontinental trip can afford to miss it.