The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1908-12-25

stone into images, columns, monu-
ments, towers and strange, fantastic
forms that have no names. lrrespec-
tive of its coloring, IL would deserve to
rank among the worlds wonders. Yet
its coloring is the greatest wonder OF
all. Here may be seen red wall 500
feet high and 100 miles long Yonder
is a coal black cliff OF hardened lava
rising from a valley floor of snowy
alkali. From any vantage point, one
may survey glowing landscaps that
shows 100 shades Of pink. gray, red,
chocolate, carmine, crimson, mauve,
brown, yellow and olive. Near Indian
Wells is seemingly interminable line
of tall rock sentinels. all garbed in diff
ferent hues, on guard in this land Of
enchantment. No wonder the Spanish
explorers, when they first beheld II
more than $50 years ago, named it "El
Pintado Desierto."
Nine miles north of Adamana is
Dead River canyon, from the rim OF
which one obtains view of the Paint
ed desert that can hardly be matched
for scenic interest. The drive re-
quires not more than two hours. over
road that derives more than ordinary
interest from the circumstance that it
crosses the old Central Overland stage
route, the far western extension of
the historic Santa Fe trail. Although
this has not been traversed for more
than quarter of a century, the deep
ruts worn by the wheels of the stage
coaches, freighting caravans and prai-
RTE schooners of the emigrants, bound
for the far-off land of gold in the excit-
ing years that began with 40, are still
plainly visible.
Just on the brink of the canyon is
an ancient cedar tree, the only one for
miles around. Tradition has it that
here was the famous rendezvous and
camping place of band of despera-
does and cattle rustlers that terrorized
this part of Arizona for many years.
Hence the spot is locally famous as
the Robbers Roost."
To describe even the small portion
of the Painted desert visible from
! Robbers Roost is as hopeless as to
describe an Arizona sunset. AS far as
the eye can carry is a succession of
buttes, terraces and castellated hills
that seem to display all the colors of
! the rainbow. Pervading all is the mys-
tic purple haze of the arid lands that
blends chaos itself into symphony of
color more celestial than of this sordid
a.Nh Il
black, fiat-topped mesa, beyond which
| lies the land of the Hopi Indians. To
the north is the land of the Navajos-
the American Bedouins. But this is
desolation itself, uninhabited even by
the hardy tribes that find in the desert
/ a congenial home. At ones feet is the
sandy. boulder-strewn bed of a forgot
ten river whose healing flow ceased
ages ago, when this gorgeous land of
thirst bore a far different aspect
! green with tropic vegetation and melo-
dious with the songs of birds. From
the parched desolation rise simmer
ing heat waves, so that one shrinks
from the descent into the canyon as
from a fiery furnace.
However. Il is not as bad as it locks.
A circuitous path leads to the canyon
floor, over glittering beds of gypsum
and thick deposits of mineral paint.
Near the bottom the edge of vast de-
post of silicified wood is reached.
This is not the famous Petrified forest
of Arizona, which Is Is miles south,
but In many respects II is not less.
wonderful. Officially It is known as
the North Sigillaria forest. II is pro-
posed to set aside ~ square miles of
II as national monument, that Il may
be forever preserved as a public pos
| session.
II ones eyes be sharp he may find
many strange and curious things min.
gled with the sand, slick and rock
fragments. There are corals and the
fossil bones of fishes that disported
themselves in ocean depths when this
lofty Arizona plateau was far below
sea level. There are the fossilized re-
mains of prehistoric birds, animals and
reptiles for which science has not yet
invented names. On larger scale are
thousand freaks of erosion--the work
of sandstone and rainstorm, of wind.
water, frost, snow, heat and all the
irresistible forces of nature. Yonder
stands host Of gigantic, silent, stone
figures-some of almost angelic beau
ty, and others diabolic in their gro
tesqueness-among which Colorado's
Garden of the Gods might be lost and
passed by unnoticed, so numerous are
the greater wonders.
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