Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-15
THE GRAND CANYON
One of the Wonders of Arr
IONA.
SOME SPLENDID VIEWS
EVERY ONE WANTS TO GO TO
THE BOTTOM.
Women Stand Fatigue Better Than
the Men-Some Curious Charac-
tiers Met With.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
HOTEL Ell TOVAR,

yon of the Colorado. Few pens are brave
enough TO attempt 1t, and none is equal to
the task. If you want to read what ia
nous writer's have said about 1t send 30 cents
to the general passenger agent of the Santa
Fe railway at Chicago and get book con-
tanning a dozen or more pathological rhap-
sodies. All of them contain fine bits of
word painting, but none convey more than
a meager idea of what the canyon looks
like and it seldom looks the same from
hour to hour. With every shifting cloud it's
outlines and colors seem to alter. AS the sun
rises and sets in the heavens it's majestic
outlines change like the scenes of a piano.
rama. You may sit on the rim from break
fast to dinner, gazing over the same area
and see dozen pictures differing in color
and intensity. 1t is a stupendous intaglfo,
carved in the silent desert by the Colorado
river and the rain and winds. 1t is like an
inverted mountain range, 217 miles long,
reaching depth of 1880 feet, with series
of depressions averaging 5000 feet chiseled
out of the earth by the erosion of ages.
1t is the generally accepted theory that
this great chasm is solely the work OF
water-of the floods that come down from
the mountains every spring and summer
but Mr. Ardonez, a distinguished Mexican
geoloSist, who came here not long ago,
made a suggestion which may not be en-
tirely new but is worth mentioning. 1t is
MS 1Qed Inat Wnlle the eartn was COOLING
the soil and the rocks contracted and split
a deep and wide fsSure In the surface OF
the plateau; and that its sides have since
been worn down and polished by the action
of the water. That seems reasonable.
Some Splendid Views.
There are various places along the rim
from which splendid views of the canyon
may be obtained. Each is different Each
has its own glories, but what is known as
the Grand View Is the best, because from
that promontory the eye has a wider vista
a double view There the canyon curves
around like monstrous serpent and one
can follow.it a distance of nearly eighty
miles Thomas Moran painted his famous
pictures from what is known as Morans
Point. He thinks the colors Of the rocks
and the clays appear more brilliant there
than elsewhere.
You can wander along the rim for sixty
miles. There is no obstruction for all that
distance, and you can look down a mile
into the bowels of the earth 1t is perfect
ly safe to those who keep their eyes open.
There has never been an accident and
never a suicide, which is very strange, be-
cause at the mountain resorts of Europe
somebody is always jumping over a preci-
pice plunging into a cataract; and you
will recall how many people have taken
their lives at Niagara. Perhaps the Grand
Canyon has been exempt because until re-
Gently 1t has been isolated; so difficult
to reach. Perhaps the people who have
come here with the idea of suicide have
been SO impressed with the grandeur of the
minds. Occasionally there is a little scare
Sometimes women get hysterical
Chicago woman had nervous prostration
going down one Of the trails through the
canyon not long ago, and the guides had to
blindfod her, tie her hands behind her
and strap her on a mule. 1t took them
seven hours to get her back to the hotel.
The other day a Polish jeweler from New
ma n q
in the morning to see the sun rise and
did not come back to the hotel for forty
eight hours. He says he wandered along
the rim of the canyon until he thought he
had gone far enough and then concluded
TO save time by cutting cross-lots through
the woods. There was nothing to guide
him. He was a city man and not accus-
toned to steer by the sun; so he wandered
round and round until he tired out
and laid down to rest. tie slept all night
and resumed his wanderings next morning.
He kept going and resting at intervals
until shortly after daylight on the second
morning he suddenly came upon the rear
of FL Tovar. He saw men stirring in the
powerhOuse and rushed into the building
before 1t could disappear from his sight
Before he had time to tell his story he col
lapsed on the floor from weakness, for he
had not had mouthful to eat or drink
since dinner the night before he started
on his long tramp. He must have walked
around In a circle all of this time. He
could not have been more than a mile or
two from the hotel, because there are
trails and wagon roads in every direction
He does not remember seeing any of them
and dozen frontiersmen and Indians were
searching for him all of the second day
and night, and building fires on high points
to attract his attention. They did not
think of searching nearer than five miles
away.
This is the first experience of this kind
since the new hotel was built, and the trails
are so well marked that it is almost i'm
possible for a man to get lost, even If he
tried
In a Government Reservation.
The Grand Canyon is within a govern
ment forest reservation, sixty by eighty
miles in size About two-thirds of 1t is on
the eastern and the other third on the
western side. The timber Is In fairly good
condition. There was bad fire two years
ago which ruined several hundred acres of
fine forest, but there is little danger of its
recurrence because of the vigilance of Cap
tain Fenton, the superintendent, and his
corps of foreSterS.
1t Is thirteen miles from one rim of the
canyon to that on the opposite side and
there are two trails by which the western
side may be reached. One Of them, the
Bright Angel trail is opposite the new no.
tel and although 1t is eighteen or twenty
miles to the top the climb is comparatively
easy. 1t follows a stream of clear pure,
cold water which comes tumbling down
narrow canyon on the western side and
Major Powell. during his first memorable
exploration of the canyon, called it the
Bright Angel river, because it was such a
grateful discovery.
Capt Fenton says that the country on
the western side of the canyon is much
better than that on the eastern side; that
the timber Is larger and thicker, water is
more abundant and there are great many
deer and other big game The forest re-
serve includes strip of thirty miles along
the edge of the canyon, and west of that,
to the Utah line, the land has been taken
up by Mormon ranchmen, who have large
herds of cattle. Nearly all of the inhabit-
ants Of that corner Of Arizona are Nor
MONS John D. Lee, the leader in the
Mountain Meadow massacre had a ranch
at ferry over the Colorado about a hum
dred miles north of here, where he lived in
corcealment for more than twenty years.
He was finally discovered. identified, ar
rested, convicted and executed for COM
plicity in the murder of caravan of peo-
pie In northern Utah while on their way
to California. His widow now keeps a ho-
tel at Holbrook, Arizona, one of the most
important stations on the Santa Fe road;
and several of his sons and daughters are
living in this locality.
Everybody who comes here wants to go