Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-15

to wear In the saddle. Everybody is COM
PEELED to ride astride. There is not side
saddle In this part of Arizona.
The guides carry canteens Of water and
lunch Is served at little oasis where there
Is spring and few tents about three
is occupied by a colony of q dozen or more
consumptives and sufferers from asthma
The hot. dry air OF the canyon is a specific
TOT those diseases and such sufferers are not
other guests must be protected from con-
tagion as FAR as possible
Cameron's Bonanza.
There are four trails, each having Its
partisans. The nearest to the hotel and
that used by the largest number Of visitors
Is known as "Cameron's Bonanza" for 1t Is
owned by skillful politician Of that name,
who collects dollar from every person
that uses II, and his revenues run from $25
to $40 daily. He even charges the guides
who conduct tourist parties up and down
every day, and 1t Is said that he always
puts dollar in the slot when he makes the
trip himself. The railway company tried
10 ouy Cameron out, In order to make the
trail free. and offered him 5000; but he
demanded $4,000. and, like the other gen.
tleman who killed goose that laid a
golden egg, he Is going to lose everything
The government has declared all trails pub
lie property and they will be free after the
first of January next. 1t Is expected that
Mr. Cameron will make a big claim for in
demnity and he may be able to collect
something for the work he has done in
keeping the trail in condition. 1t may be
that he will make a fight in court He has
located mining claims upon the trail in five
different places, including the camp at the
spring. He contends that he built the trail
in order to pack his ore to the top of
the canyon.
There are many mining claims down here;
several of more or less value are now being
worked and promise profit, but most of
them are manifestly worthless and are
purely speculative, the owners hoping to be
able to get some indemnity out of the gov
eminent. One mine at the bottom of the
canyon has yielded a considerable quantity
of copper, 20 per cent pure. which was
brought up the trail in sacks on the backs
OF burros and shipped to a smelter at Ell
Paso There are large deposits Of very
the river. The samples were the best ex
hibited at the ST. Louis exposition. 1t Is
not worked, however, because there Is so
little demand. Platinum has also been dis
covered and other rare minerals, down IN
the bottom, and John Hance, the Oldest of
the guides who claims that he dug the
canyon. has theory that the washings
from the gold mines of Colorado for
and lodged along the walls Of the gorge,
where he would recover them If any ons
would furnish the capital.
Some Curious Characters.
Hance is a curious character. He claims
to be the biggest liar In Arizona. He
amuses tourists with fantastic yarns about
his adventures and the strange things he
has seen in the canyon and rivals Baron
Munchausen in the size of his stories He
has a good deal of competition from other
liars down in this part of the country, how
ever. People explain the difference by say
ing that Hance would get mad If people
believed him. while the others get mad III
they do not. Hance has lived alone in
cabin here for nearly quarter of CEN
fury, with a few cattle and horses to oc-
cupy his time. He lives on the rim of the
canyon during the summer months and
when 1t gets cold he drives his stock down
the trail and stays at the bottom until
spring. A year ago he sold out and decided
to go to Honolulu, where he has brother,
to spend the rest of his days. He bought
through ticket, but used 1t only as far as
Los Angeles, where he turned around and
came back. He said it made him dizzy to
see many houses and people, and has
decided to die here.
There are several other curious characters
about the place. The canyon seems to have
a peculiar attraction for men Of queer ideas.
Scattered along the rim for a hundred
miles are all sorts of hermits and idealists,
who prefer the society of nature to that
of man. Some of them have an eye for an
honest dollar also. At Peach Springs, near
the southern end of the canyon. a man To-
Gated a desert land claim Immediately
across the approach to the gorge, inclosed
1t with a barbed wire fence and charged
everybody 50 for passing through. When
the Secretary of the Interior heard of this
enterprise he Cancelled the claim.
1t IS a singular fact that three-fourths
of the people who come to the canyon are
women. a large number of them are well
along in years, and the endurance and the
nerve they show is extraordinary. Nearly
every woman who comes here insists upon
going down to the bottom of the canyon,
while only half of the men show that
amount of energy. Two New York women
have been here for months. They have
visited all the places of interest within $50
miles, including the Mokl and Supai In
dams, and have followed all of the trails
to the river. Every one of these excursions
is enough to use up the strongest men.
One would not naturally expect to go
shopping a the Grand Canyon, but an enor-
nous amount of money is expended here at
a curious house near the hotel. 1t occu-
pies novel building-a reproduction of an
Indian pueblo at Moki. which was built
under the direction of Mr.. Voth who lived
among the MokiS for many years. Most of
the work was done by Indians and the
upper part of the house is occupied by two
or three families of Pueblos who live just
as they do at home and the tourists are
saved a long, fatiguing journey to see the
living pictures. During the day most of
their time is occupied posing for photo
graphs, for. of course, every tourist has
camera with him.