Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-06-15

AEaEl. &NSaeIsIs&AA1tlA AAAN
| out there is only greasewood' whicn ~
! dicates soil that 1t does not even
| now pay to reclaim; rabbit prush' ~
| dlcative of clay and sand, ana ehuuu
| ing some alkali: and salt business
| which grow where all other vegeta
| ton perishes, because of the alkan III
| the soil No rivers here, few springs
| many salt lakes or sinks, oartel,
| stony, or sandy soil where tne hot
| wind rises in whirls OF dust on SYciE
! summer day Here are occasional
| flats coated with alkali in summer on
which. alone of all the desert lanes,
abolutely no vegetation grows III
| their soft mud in winter, horses anu
| wagon are hopelessly mired Nothlls
| of use except sage brush for IRE Wool
| ard salt bushes. whose value in tax
| ing aIka1i from the soil has only just
| hcen learned No wonder tnat.
| broadly speaking. the western third OF
| Utah was then deemed uninnapNaoie'
| THE SOUTHEASTERN PLATEAU.
But what OF the tract, as large as
some whole states or Counts s, tne
south of the Uintas, and east or i,e
| Wasatch? Surely 1t is habitableT 20
| Thought the people 80 years ago IN
| 1879. But what did they hnd
A Mormon colony o, 80 men, 20 wo-
| men, and 56 children called on
mission" TO found cry IN Sc, So,
Juan county. at last made their way
| to the Colorado river. IT required
| three months at what Is now known
as Halls Ferry, to cross ana asCeiiG
| the opposite cliffs, 4 distance IN an OF
only five miles The guides OF lne
| marty the first white men to pehe-
trate this wilderness. had narrow es,
rapes from perishins by hunger ara
| accident; and the suiferings OF these
| forgotten pioneers have never been
told l. print. But their journey ~
| vcaled u.rtain Gases in the river peuS
| and elsewhere; also Americas new
| est strangest, grandest, wonderiahn'
The scenery becomes more grand ana
fantastic. the canyons deeper, the cui-
tiyable valleys fewer, the further south
east we go, till perpendicular clhs.
high pinnacles and rugged towers VI
pinkish sandstone mark much or the
| country The strata are not folueu,
but simply upturned or tilted Many
OF the plateaus are capped with laVa
or sandstone, which has protected inc
underlying strata from the erosion that
has in places carved deep, often I'M
passable box canyons H tssui .t1.
strange. and indescribable Notice the
naInes--Desolation Labyrinth ana
saltwater canyons along the Green
River. Cataract canyon of the Colo
rado and Glen canyon, 1000 TO S,uoo
feet deep. near the mouth of the san
Juan whose vast cliffs and gorses re-
| senble vet do not rival the sun more
magnificent scenery of the Marble and
the Grand Canyon of the Colorado III
northern Arizona.
AMERICAS NEW WONDERLAND.
The plateau is wooded IN somo places,
IN others covered with desert SANDS;
In nj
with an arid, rainless summer, con
tanning concealed pitfalls IN the form
of serpent Ike caverns that suddenly
yawn from unknown depths.
From cliff 10 cliff over the White
canyon depends an arch so magnificent
and shapely as 10 rank among the most
splendid achievements of nature--the
Augusta natural bridge, the largest
rock formation of this kind In the
world. on each side are walls so gigan-
tic that the large cottonWoods at the
base and the huge pines around the
nbutments seem like mere shrubbery;
while the dashing stream beneath
dwindles 70 a ryulet when viewed from
the colossal arch The first men to
reach tho top of this bridge We're nem-
bers OF the Culmer party In April 1904.
; They measured the height--265 feet
(others say l6b feeD from the stream
|, to the arch, which Is SO feet thick, 35
|
Caroline bridge, with a span of $50 feet,
is similarly huge, but clumsy; lS2 feet
10 the top and 80 feet Wide at the mar
rowest point. Edwin bridge arches
across 206 feet Is II feet nigh, 10 feet
thick and 30 feet broad. Simple look
ing, ancient and mostly undeciphered
hyroglyphics cover the walls Of this
and other canyons, while structures
built by the oliff-dwellers nestle among
the lodges. Their huts We're made In
a remote antiquity said 10 date back
10 the glacial period.
ANCIENT CLIFF JEWELLERS,
They were Hat skulled but some
what intelligent people, and We're pro-
ceded by the cave jewellers, moro
primitive race with narrow skulls Tho
latter lived ages before metals were
used--before even bows and arrows
were known. Their axes We're of stone,
to which wood handles were bound with
yucca hbers Their spearheads san
dals, linen cloths, fcathered funeral
robes bone Implements and needles
have All been found but no copper or
bronze, The clin houses are fragile
shells always near arabic ground They
contain corn cobs and punkln seeds.
Probably some were used only az store
houses. others as burial places others
as temples or forts. The people seem
10 have lived on the fertile plains
Southeastern utah, much drer now
than I'm the days of the cliff-dwellers.
was likewise hopeless for human habi-
tation until the railroad had CROSSED
the coal had been discovered ana fer
tile GASES had been found out, Now
It's day IL also dawning, and the sounds
OF human industry have once more
startled the primeyal silence of this
| remarkable desert