Arizona republican., 1909-06-11

Water sweeps into this Assure from the cinder hills and collects in pools where it freezes during the colder months, and the ice does not entirely melt during the summer. The bot tom of the cave is only fifteen or twenty feet be.ow the surface. but the Assure extends for a considerable distance, just how far no one has yet discovered.
 The Painted Desert.
 The following description of the painted desert from the able pen Of Rev. Frank c. Reed is SO much more vivid than anything that could be written by this writer that it is here reproduced:
 From Sunset crater looking to the notkeast there is spread out for scores of miles until it blends i'm perceptibly into the horizon, the won derful, mysterious painted desert. Its cliffs and rocks and sands cover the widest range of tint. from fairest white 10 deepest orange; yet 1t is never seen twice the same. Beneath the blaze of the afternoon sun. tenn pered her and thre, it may be, with fleecy clouds, it's colOrs shift and shade and blend in ever changing and unspeakable beauty. At times storm may be seen to sweep over it's eX- panse, and then the added beauty of the rainbow hues are mingled with the colOring of the desert itself. But however seen, it is a sight which must remain forever stamped indeli- bly upon the memory. The majestic peaks rising on the left, snow clad, it may be, or with light clouds shrOud- ing their summits; the green, verdure clad mesas between, with the de- lightful contrasts of the hue of the pines. and the lighter color of the undergrowth; OLeary. with it's wealth of foliage and odd triple head. and at it's feet the wild, forbidding lava bed: the huge bowl of the crater in the foreground intensifying the effect of the whole; and over all and more than all else, the beautiful weird desert with it's exquisite tinting of cliff and plain shimmering and shift ing in the varying sunlight and fill ing the beholder with a sense of won- der and awe which has in it some thing almost uncanny-the marvel ous effect of it's beauty and it's mys- tery intensified by the crater's gap ing mouth. It is a scene unique. all most unearthly, yet beautiful-a wide reaching, never varying picture, whose like it would be impossible to find elsewhere.
 Natural Bridge.
 In the Tonto basin vicinity south east from Flagstaff is another natural curiosity which is well worth visit. It is the natural bridge of Arizona This beautiful piece of scenery is located deep down in the canyon, hun dreds of feet from the top of the rim, and within 200 feet of the bottom. The canyon walls to the west are abrupt. dropping down nearly 1000 feet The bridge is in reality a solid formation of rock several hundred feet long north to south. and about half as wide from east to west, with both ends apparently broken off abruptly. A clear stream flows under the bridge more than 200 feet below. A strange phenomenon in connection with this bridge is that numerous springs break out on top of 1t, though it is supended in mid air. as it were, between the two canyon walls. Like [ of Northern Arizona, 1t is a thing for curious and reflective minds to ponder oyer.
 Montezuma's Castle. 4
 One of the most notable prehis- toric ruins of Arizona is Montezuma's castle, situated about forty-eight miles from Flagstaff in the Verde valley. This magnificent monument of an- ! tiquity is surely a castle in propor { tions, though there seems to be no ' reason why it should have been given ! the name of Montezuma It is fifty ! feet in height. with five stories, and l contains twenty large rooms and eight small ones, besides number of closets It is built in a cliff about a ] quarter of a mile in length, and ! about 260 feet above the creek bed. l Several long ladders, one placed above the other, are necessary in or der to gain entrance to the first | floor. The walls of the building were f constructed of stone and mortar. Logs IS to 20 inches in diameter