The Ely miner., 1911-06-16
GeAnv c4xNon a. mx co1aeA0o

vegetation contends against late Tor
foothold among the rocks. But the
beasts of the forest and the flowers of
the field rarely intrude upon these
lonely solitudes.
It is conceded that the Grand canyon
cannot be adequately painted in words,
yet some comparisons may give an
idea of it's immensity. Its total length
from the confluence of the Green river
to it's outlet in the Gulf of California
is more than 700 miles. With it's nu-
merous laterals. some of which are
shown in the accompanying illustra-
tions, its length is more than 1000
miles. The great scenic section COM
monty meant by the words, the Grand
canyon of Arizona, with depth Of
more than a mile from the rim of the
river, is PIT miles long. It has been
estimated that If all the earth and
rock that has been and will be exca-
waited for the building of the Panama
canal, from the first inception Of that
great enterprise by the French COM
pany to it's ultimate completion to sea
level by the American government
could be dumped into this great rift
in the Arizona plateau, it would still
require twenty thousand times as
much more to fill it; and the surface
area of the built up territory would be
more than 10000 square miles, or
equal to the whole of Switzerland, or
to Massachusetts, Delaware, Conecti-
cut and Rhode Island. combined. If it
were possible to take the whole chain
Of the Allegheny mountains, turn them
upside down and dump them into tho
Grand canyon, there would still be a
tremendous canyon left. If the tallest
peak east of the Rockies could be
planted at the level of the Colorado
river, its summit would still be far
below the feet of the observer stand
ing on the rim. The greatest of the
pyramids of Egypt is 485 feet high, the
Washington monument is 555 feet tall
and the hat on the statue OF William
Pen that surmounts the City hall at
Philadelphia is 557 feet above the
level of the street. If one placed the
Pyramid of Cheops upon the floor Of
the canyon, planted the Philadelphia
City hall upon its apex, and then
poised the Washington monument up.
on that their aggregate height would
reach only Q quarter of the way to the
top.
1t is A years since Maj. Powell, long
the distinguished head of the United
States Geological survey, signaled to
his fellow countrymen that he had
made the run of LOCO miles of Ameri-
can canyons. The scientific world
stood agape, for the feat was believed
to be all btu impossible. Up to Pow
ellis time man thought of the canyon
as something altogether forbidding
and unapproachable- little was 1t
known, so much was 1t dreaded-and
even now, when men have descended
to the river by man-made trails and
the telephoto lens has searched out
the unreachable places, though tour
lists have confronted it with battery
of cameras, thought biologists have
borne their testimony and artists have
sketched and painted, and travellers
have exhausted vocabularies to give
expression to their wonder-still we
have caught but a glimpse Of this
manifold mystery, for the particular
view that enthralls us is but one Of
ten thousand views.
Thomas Moran, whose masteTul
painting of the canyon adorns the capt
tol at Washington. and who, above all
other painters, has succeeded in de-
picting its Elusive atmosphere, once
said: a. xan understand how man
can attempt to paint the canyon, but
how can a man be foolish enough to
attempt 70 describe it,"