The Winslow mail., 1911-06-17


of distance.
One cannot conceive the vastness of
1t all and is met by a series of sur
prises, as it is borne in upon him that
yonder gorge, or rock, or peak, or cape
lies miles in the distance. At the
bottom of the gorge the river, turbu-
lent and picturesque, madly rushes on
amid it's rock environment, lashing it.
self into foam. About the mighty
peaks scars the eagle, and struggling
vegetation contends against fate for a
foothold among the rocks. But the
beasts of the forest and the flowers of
the field rarely intrude upon these
lonely solitudes.
1t is conceded that the Grand canyon
cannot be adequately painted in words,
yet some comparisons may give an
idea of it's immensity. It's 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, it's length Is more than 1000
miles. The great scenic section COM
monty meant by the words, the Grand
canyon of Arizona, with a depth of
more than mile from the rim of the
river, is PIT miles long. 1t 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 $4,000 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 the
Grand canyon, there would still be
tremendous canyon left If the tallest |
peak east of the Rockies could be
planted at the level of the Colorado |
river, it's 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 it's apex, and then
poised the Washington monument up
on that their aggregate height would |
reach only 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 1000 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-s little was it
known. SO much was it 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 a battery
of cameras, thought geologists 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 masterful
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 Il can understand how a man
can attempt to paint the canyon, but
low can man be foolish enough 10
to describe it,"