Omaha daily bee., 1910-05-14

and shades upon the rich reds and light
browns OF the sandstone that forms its
arch and buttresses and comprehend the
gracefulness Of its outlines and proper
lions as a whole and you seem unable to
tear yourself away from the spell Of its
might and beauty. You feel you would like
to take up your abode in one OF the ancient
cliff dwellings near by and become a child
of nature again.
SnrRent Not Found.
BY going down the San Juan river from
Bluff twenty-five miles to the new oil
town of Goodridge and crossing the river
over the new steel bridge now nearly COM
pleted, and then taking southwesterly
course Of about fifty miles across the
country. one may visit the recently dis
covered natural bridge known to the In
dams as Nonnezoshi (the stone arch).
This is the largest natural arch yet found
and measures 3OS feet in height and 275
feet between the abutments. II extends
from a bench on one side across into a
cliff on the other and hence spans the
canon in which it is found. This canon,
called by the Indians Nonnezoshiboko ex-
tends from the slopes OF Navajo mountain
northwest and joins the Colorado river
few miles below the mouth of the San
Juan. 1t is deep irregular gorge, in
places so narrow that one has to walk In
the stream to make his way along it's
course. The arch is situated about six
miles above the mouth of the gorge in an
exceedingly picturesque and beautiful part
OF the canon.
This region formerly belonged to the Nav
ajo reservation, then was segregated and
held open to entry for time, and now is
included in that part of Utah recently
set aside as a reservation for the Pahutes
1t is scanned by deep gorges extending
north and northwest toward the San Juan
and the Colorado and broken by high
cliffs and stretches of smooth, steep sand
stone, so that it is almost mpenetrable.
Few even of the Indians are we'll &C
quainted with this region. 1t is celebrated
as the place where Hoskinlmi, one of the
most reserved leaders among the Navajo
successfully evaded Kit Carson in 1866
when the latter taught the Navajo such a
terrible lesson; but not even Hoskinimi
seems to have penetrated as far as the
Nonnezoshi The members of the Utah
Archaeological expedition and of the sur
veying party of the United States General
Land office, who visited the bridge to-
gether August Il. 1909, are evidently the
first white men to have seen this greatest
of natures stone bridges
Mystic Flying Buttress.
This remarkable freak in the earth's crust
is hardly bridge in the true sense of the
term, but is more properly an enormous
flying buttress that has been chiselled out
by the ages and left as a specimen of the
handiwork of the Master Builder. The
surface formation of this section is the
same thick bed of red and yellow sand
stone found in the region of White Canon
and Nonnezoshi has been cut out of the
cliff in the same manner that the White
Canon bridges were formed. 1t is a grace
full arch looked at from any position. and
is only about twenty feet thick In the mar
rowest part.
This slender arm of the cliff stretches
out across the canon like a rainbow In
its shadow on the bench at one side are
the remains of what was probably an an
cient fire shrine. One can easily imagine
a group of cliff dwellers gathered around
the sacred fire with offerings to the Sun
Father and the Earth Mother The Pa
hutes look upon 1t with awe, and Mr.. c. A.
ColVille, who took party there In No
vember, tells us that their Pahute guide
Whitehorsebiga, would not pass beneath
the arch because he had forgotten the
prayer that must be said before doing so.
On the slopes of Navajo mountain you
pass two smaller arches that would each
be an attraction by itself were they not
overshadowed by the grander Nonnezoshi
Freaks of the Elements.
In Pritchett valley, twelve miles by trail
southeast of Moab. in Grand county, is a
stone arch that plainly has been formed in
different manner from those above de-
scrlbed. All about this valley the thick
rod and yellow stratum lies on the surface
and stands out in weather-worn domcs and
spires that remind one of an ancient Mos
lem city.
In numerous places over these bare cliffs
large cisterns have formed, into which rush
the waters from the surrounding rocks
every time a stern sweeps over this region
1t happened that in one place where a
cave was worn out of the side of the cliff
one of these cisteIns formed back of IL
in the cliff above. Gradually the cistern
kept growing larger and deeper and the
cave kept extending its area backward inch