New-York tribune., 1905-06-09
WESTERN RAMBLE.
The Wondrous Gorge of the MYs-
terious Colorado.

half a purpose to write description or 1t. but.
now that 1 have seen IT, feel that description
- =. is for me- impossible. The hand that
r--ote the Hymn TO Sunrise in the Vale Of
chauouni might have made word-picture Of
,hi. wonderful scene, or better still. might have
.xn-essed the emotion 1t inspires; but that hand
a. AZ rest and no fellow to IL exists on earth.
o,. word however, can be written, and that is
a word Of urgent counsel, to the American trav-
sller not TO seek the rnarvels Of Europe till he
has first looked upon this marvel of his native
and. The journey to it be made with ease
and comfort. and indeed, is one Of the most in
.,ructive and delightful Journeys that feasi-
be on our continent The pilgrim, from New
York who purposes to travel westward by the
Santa Fe Route makes the first part Of the trip
nv the Erie Railroad; and, speeding through
the lovely valleys OF the Delaware and the Sus-
ouehanna, is landed at the Dearborn. in Chi
caeo, in time to board in the same station.
either OF the Santa Fe night trains for the Pa
cifo Coast orulence and haste will prefer the
California Limited. Leisure will be content with
III. Overland. which provides every comfort and
"a scarcely inferior in speed; and I do not know
thst a deeper sense of relief from the strain Of
oocupation and care can elsewhere be found
than in one Of its cleanly, spacious carriages,
when you sink to rest, the train rolls out of
Chicago. and you feel that, for few days at
isast your business is repose.
Il happened that our train was late and did
not reach Williams till about o'clock IN the
evening OF the third day. Williams, named after
q famous scout. whose grave is the top OF
6 neighboring mountain, is the station at which
the traveller leaves the main lire Of the Santa
Fe TO make the run by a branch to the Can
yon-a distance. northerly. OF about sixty miles
/ came TO FL Tovar Accordingly in the middle
mis- bI,r hen he hofe
scene Of brilliant animation. There is no vii
iage but there are two hotels-El Tovar and the
Bright Angel-the former spacious new one,
artistcally rustic in architecture and decoration.
hut finely appointed. The pilgrim. accordingly
need not fear that he will be subjected to hard
chip in expedition to the Grand Canyon OF
Arizona Toyar was Spanish explorer who
penetrated these wilds three hundred and sixty
five years ago and participated in the discovery
Of the Canyon.-a prodigy of nature not previ-
ously known, except 70 the Indian inhabitants
Of this region: and so his name is ftly chosen
10 designate not only the hotel. which is the
travellers bourne. but the place itself, which,
perhaps. one day will be town rural village,
as lovely as an Athenian grove. was reused at
dawn by the blithe singing of many BIRDS and
I saw the sun rise over spectacle so grand that
all words are powerless to portray it. You
do not stand upon mountain and look toward
other mountains. across a vale; that. In some
regions notably in the district of the English
lakes where Skiddaw defes Helvellyn.-is a
thrilling experience: but you stand upon plain
which is between six and eight thousand feet
above sea level and gaze down on the tops or
mountains. scattered through an abyss that is
more than a mile deep and more than two hun
dred miles long covering an area Of more than
thousand square miles and being diversified
by more shapes of rock and land and more
shades of color than the Imagination Of man
could ever conceive or the hand Of art ever
depict At morning the rays of the sun are
slow in penetrating TO the deep recesses Of this
stupendous chasm. Vast wreaths Of mist float
upward and drift away. The shadows of the
cliffs and peaks slant westward. as the light is
eiffused into these colossal of the under
world Far down in the sinister, haunted depths
among these subterranean mountains and ra-
vines, the trees, massed in great groves. present
the appearance of a carpet of grass. Some tents,
erected on the margin of the distant Angel
trail look like little rectangular shapes Of white
stone. The black, swift rushing Colorado Riv-
er holding its irresistible course through this
pageant Of sublinity and terror seems mere
thread Of dusky water,-a brook that child
might span with a little leap: yet its breadth in
places is fully three hundred feet Far north
ward, along the opposite verge of the chasnl.
thirteen miles away, the tremendous rampant
walls are cleaning white with snow. No sound
breaks the awful silence. except the twitter
Of the birds or the sigh Of the wind in the
pines and live oaks that fringe this terrific
cleft-as of a shattered universe. all chaos and
horror As I gazed. through ever-clearing and
ever-changiug vistas, over this scene of unpar-
elleled ma gnihcence. it seemed to me that was
looking on the ruins Of imperial cities, the gf-
santic remnants Of a strange, glorious prehis-
toric civilization, long since dead and gone; on
mosques and minarets; palaces. with spiry pin
nacles and futed columns; vast terraces and
colonnades; stately avenues. amid crumbling
mansions; boundless amphitheatresi and the
frowning battlements OF many a rugged fortress,
on inaccessible heights, above many q yawn-
ing precipice and grim and fatal cavern Of death.
The spectacle is sublime. but also it is terrible
Nowhere have felt so deeply the sense of hu-
man nothingness in the presence Of physical
nature AS I stood there, at the dizzy edge Of
the vast cliff an eagle rose from the wales and
mountain tops below, and, with superb motion,
winged his triumphant flight, upward and still
upward. till he seemed TO vanish into heaven
Many pages have been written about the mys-
terious Colorado River and about the wondrous
gorge through which it makes its way The
river is two thousand miles in length, rising in
Utah and flowing in caprtcious course, out
chiefly south and west. till 1t ernpties into the
Gulf of California in Mexico. Thirty-six years
ago Major Powell explored it-sailing from
Green River City. in Utah, to the mouth of the
Rio Virgin River, a distance Of about thousand
miles-and wrote his splendid journal Of an ex-
petition from which even the courage of Caesar
might have shrunll: for, in those days. IT was
believed that the river ran at intervals beneath
the earth. surface, disappearing In measureless
caverns; and also that stupendous cataracts,