River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1907-02-21

lived on the prairies of the middle
states it seems so. The horses and
mules are we'll broken and sure-foot-
ed. The guides take every precau-
ton for safety and would not have
missed the trip for almost any con-
sideration. / pinned my faith to
sure-footed mule and my confidence
was not misplaced. He always look
ed out for number one, and as he
did not attempt to pitch me off, l
got there too.
Soon after breakfast the guide
brought around the beasts, and we
took our mounts. There were some
ladies in our party but | looked in
vain for side saddles. Think of my
wife, who has not been on horseback
for twenty-five years, mounted Ia la
chothespin) for a seven hour ride
down and up a narrow and rocky
trail that was so steep and crooked
that sometimes we could look only
a few steps ahead. | could not help
but take out my kodak and get
snap shot.
II being January and an elevation
of 5000 feet, there was snow on the
ground at the top and for the first
thousand feet down the sides Of the
canyon, wherever it could catch onto
a rock or shelf, making one more
color of dazzling white to add to
those already spoken of. AS we
went Engaging down the trail, a
feeling of citation comes over us, and
we shout to the frowning cliffs
around us. They answer US back
with an echo. The gentleman just
ahead of me had very musical call
in imitation of bugle which he
gave every little while. The trail
follows along narrow shelves on the
sides of the canyon and has to be
kept in constant repair to make it
safe.
The guide soon calls on us to dis
mount as it is too steep for riding.
This place is called Jocob's Ladder,
the rungs of which are logs of wood
placed about four feet apart and are
spiked to the sloping rock SO that
we cannot slip. After this descent
of hundred feet or so, we remount
and steadily pursue our downward
way.
Sometimes we look ahead and see
our trail far below US and we won
der how in creation we can ever get
there without falling the rest of the
way down But just then an unsus-
pected turn in the trail brings
lateral canyon in view, down whose
sides we find our way. The first
thousand-foot strata is of limestone
and where it is freshly broken off is
almost us white as alabaster. Below
this there is 800 feet of gray and
bright red sandstone in alternate
colors and looks like an immensely
wide ribbon hanging over the sides.
Below this there is 1900 feet of
bright red limestone. Below all
these there are many strata of rock,
each a different color. Some have
greenish hue, others beautiful law
ender and still others notified with
brown or black. AS we near the
river the rocks are barren quartz
and granite and are almost black.
There is no other spot on earth
where so many bright colored rocks
can be shown in so short distance.
When we were about half way down
our guide, who was a short distance
ahead came back to us and said we
must hurry on to a wider place in
the trail, as we were going to meet
a pack train. The leader soon came
in sight, and was sagacions mule
who had earned his promotion by
long experience. He had no pack
and was wise enough to do his work
we'll, SO as to keep his Office. The
train was loaded with water. Each
mule has two six rallon cans of this
precious fluid strapped on his back.
The large hotels here are supplied
with water which is brought 100
miles by tank cars by railroad, and
il costs them nearly 500 day dur
ing the summer season. There is
no way to transport heavy engines
and pumping machinery down into
the canyon and the pressure on the
pipes would be SO great that they
would burst. We reached the lower
end of our journey soon after noon
and after viewing the river, which
here is 500 feet wide and 80 feet
deep, we ate our lunch on the bare
rocks in the bright sunshine. The
finest place to see the canyon is
from the plateau about 1000 feet
down. Here we stopped and | took