Charlevoix county herald., 1911-12-16


Se&Al line of the railroad is situ-
~ ated the little city Of Will
liams, Ari7. The place received its
prosaic nafiie from the noted pioneer
scout, Bill Williams, who lies buried at
the foot of Bill Williams mountain
nearby. The city has picturesque To-
cation, $3.50 feet above sea level, and
is at the junction Of the Grand Can
yon railroad which leads to the won
| derful erosion, some 60 miles north.
The Grand canyon is acknowledged
to be incomparably the worlds grand
est natural wonder. Within the gigan
tic stretch of the canyon, varying
from five to twelve miles in width,
the Colorado river and it's tributaries
wind their ways for over 200 miles.
Most of the walls of the canyon rise
to the incredible height of 5000 to
5000 feet, and display every variety
Of curving ridge and ravine, Of fell
precipice and rocky gorge.
Fully 100 tourists, en- route to Cali
fornia, daily switch off here for a view
of the Titan of Chasms-the most
gigantic example of erosion on the
globe The marble and gigantic walls
of this stupendous water-worn trench
are from 200 to $500 feet high, often
very precipitous and perpendicular,
sculptured into wildly fantastic forms,
and brilliantly tinted in deep red and
yellow, brown and gray, purple and
black. The canyon is about 240 miles
long; and, through the rocky gorge,
the work of centuries, the turbulent
river winds it's way with varying de-
scent. The channel contracts and then
expands tortuous ribbon Of silver,
whose boundaries of objects, though
gigantic in size, are lost to sight in the
magnificent environments.
Scene of SpIendor
In some places these huge cliffs fair
ly overhang the water, and the boat
man, looking upward, can see but
narrow strip of blue sky. Frequently
clouds gather over the top Of the
gorge. and one floats along in dark
ness. From the rim above, the rush
ing and the whitening of the waters
below may be seen, but the distance is
so great that no sound is ever heard.
Stolid. indeed, is he who can front the
awful scene and view it's unearthly
splendor of color and form without
Guaking. This labyrinth of immense
architectural forms is endlessly varied
in design, fretted with ornamental de-
vices, festooned with lace-like webs
formed from talus from the upper cliffs
and painted with every color known to
. he In
of marvellous delicacy.
Never was a picture more har-
monous; never a flower more ex-
quisitely beautiful The Grand canyon
country is not only the hugest, but the
most varied and instructive specimen
Of earth building and destruction on
the globe. Nowhere else on earth is
there such all example of deep gnaw-
ing waters or of water high-carving
New York may boast of its Niagara;
California it's Yosemite; Kentucky, it's
Mammoth Cave; Virginia, its Natural
Bridge, and Wyoming, its geysers-all
wonderfully elaborate and grand in
their way, but here. in an altitudinous
mesa, is chasm that would hide them
all and then be but partially decorated,
much less filed.
Wonders of ChaIcedony Park.
While the Grand canyons are the
greatest. they are by no means the
only objects of interest in this land of
wonders. With its castle domes, thumb
buttes and solitary sugar-loaf peaks;
it's mesas of bare rock, beds of ashes
or leagues of yellow and vermilion
sands. Arizona abounds in the strange
and the wonderful. Chalcedony park,
in Apache county, covers 1000 acres,
amid a vast desert of sandstone and
lava, with the fragments of thousands
Of gigantic pines and cedars brought
by flood or glacier and changed by
natures chemistry into brilliant min
| erals of exquisite colors. At intervals,
one sees on every side gulches torn
out CT the solid rock by the ceaseless
grinding of flint on flint, exposing
broken logs OF every conceivable
| length and size, in all shapes and
colors imaginable. Throw over all the
| Dla zing rays of the southern sun and
you are surrounded with jewels, miles
and miles of them, so brilliant as %
dazzle the eyes and make Aladdin's
tabled cave a rushlight in comparison
| Onyx, chalcedony, carnelian, jasper.
agate and every variety of delicately
| veine6 marble, with masses of tur-
quoise, of garnet. of rose quartz, of
topaz, of emerald-all bewilder and
surprise the beholder.
And this is not all In many locali-