Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-09-04
WONDER OF NATURE
IN GRAND CANYON
Great Chasm, Miles Across, Is Mag
nificent, Everehanging Spectacle.

HOTEL Ell TOVAR, GRAND CAN
YON. Arizona. Aug. l0.-I shall not
try TO describe the Grand Canyon of
the Colorado Few pens are brave
enough to attempt II, and none is
equal to the task. If YOU want TO
read what famous writers nave said
about 1t, send 80 cents to the general
way at Chicago and get a book con-
taining a dozen or more pathological
rhapsodies. All of them contain fine
bits of word painting, but none con
veys more than rneager idea OF what
the canyon looks like: and II seldom
looks the same from hour to hour
With every shifting cloud its outlines
and colors seem to alter. As the sun
rises and sets In the heavens its ma
jestic outlines change like the scenes
Of a panorama. You may sit on the
rim from breakfast to dinner, gazing
over the same area, and see dozen
pictures differing In color and inten.
sity. 1t is a stupendous intaglio,
carved in the silent desert by the Col
| orado river, and the rain and winds.
II is like an inverted mountain range.
| 2l7 miles long. reaching a depth OF
1880 feet. with a series of depres
sions averaging 5000 feet chiseled
out of the earth by the erosion of
ages.
II 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.. Ordonez.
a distinguished Mexican geologist,
who came here not long ago. made n
| suggestion which may not be entirely
new but Is worth mentioning. 1t Is
his idea that, while the earth was cool
| ing, the soil and the rocks contracted
and split a deep and wide fissure In
the surface OF the plateau, and that
| its sides have since been worn down
and polished by the action OF tho
| water. That seems reasonable.
| There are various places along the
rim from which splendid views of the
canyon may be obtained. Each is diff
ferent. Each has its own glories: but
| what Is known as the Grand View Is
the best. because from that promon
tory the eye has a wider vista dou
Bile view, there the canyon curves
around like monstrous serpent, anf
one can follow it distance of nearl,
eighty miles. Thomas Moran paint
cd his famous pictures from what u
known as Moran's Point. He thinks
the colors of the rocks and the clay
Iappear more brilliant there than else
where.
You can wander along the rim 70
sixty miles There Is no obstruction
for all that distance and you can lool
down a mile into the bowels OF tn
earth. It is perfectly safe to thos
who keep their eyes open. There ha
lnever been an accident and never
suicide. which Is very strange, be
, cause at the mountain resorts of FL
! rope somebody is alwaysJumping owe
: a precipice or plunging into catal
act. and you will recall how man
people have taken their lives at N
, agara. Perhaps the Grand Canyo
} has been exempt because until recen
7 ly II has been so isolated, 50 difficn
, to reach. Perhaps the people VIII
l have come here with the idea OF su
D eide nave been so impressed with th
l.. grandeur OF the spectacle that the
| have changed their minds. Occasion
+ tlly there is a little scare. Som
times women get hysterlcal. A Oh
cago woman had nervous prostratio
3 going down one Of the. trails throus