The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-05-12

ton were plucked PIP podily by the
roots--not from where you see IL, but
from sea level-and carefully set down
In the Grand Canyon. you probably
would not notice 1t next morning, un-
, less it's dull colors distinguished 1t In
That innumerable congress of larger
and painted giants.
All this. which is literally true, is a.
mere trifle of what might be said In
trying to fix n standard OF comparison
Tor the Grand Canyon. But L fancy
there Is no standard adjustable to the
human mind. You may compare all
you will-eloquently aud from wido
experience and at last all SMILES fall.
The Grand Canyon is just the Grand
Canyon, and that is all you can say
never have seen any one who was pre-
pared for 1t. never have seen any
one who could grasp II in q weeks
hard exploration; nor any one except
some rare Philistine. who could even
think he had grasped it. I have seen
people rave over IT. better people
struck dumb with 1t, even strong men
who cried over it; but l have never
yet seen the man or woman that ex-
pected It..
1t adds seriously 10 tho scientific
wonder and the universal !mpressiye-
ness of this unparalleled chasm that IL
is not in some stupendous mountain
iaHSe' out Ia vast, arid, lofty floor
of nearly 100000 square miles-as IL
were. crack in the upper story of the
continent There is 10 preparation for
IL. Unless you mad been told YOU
would no more dream that out yonder
! amid the pines the fiat earth Is slash
ed to Its very bowels, than you would
expect to find an iceberg in Broad
way. with very ordinary running
| Jump from the spot where you get
your first glimpse of the canyon you
could so down 1000 feet without
touching. 1t is sudden as well.
But 1t is no mere CLEFT. 1t Is ter
r!hc trough 5000 to 1000 feet deem.
ten to twenty miles wide, hundreds of
miles long, peopled with hundreds of
peaks taller than any mountain east
OF the Rockies, yet not one OF them
with its head SO high as your feet.
and all ablaze with such color as no
eastern or European landscape ever
knew. even in the Alpen- glow And
as You sit upon the brink the divine
scene-shifters give you n new canyon
every hour. With each degree OF the
suns course the great countersunle
mountains we have been watching
fade away, and new ones. as terrific.
are carved by the westering shadows.
1t Is like dissection of the whole cos
fnosony. And the purple shadows, the
dazzling lights. the thunderst forms and
sio"stoFrnS, tue clouds and the rain
bows that Shift and drift In that vast
subterranean arena below your feet,
And amid those enchanted towers and
castles which the vastness of the
scale lends you to cali rocks" but
which are in fact as big above the
river-bed as the Rockies from Dem
YER and bigger than Mount Washing
ton from Fabyan's or the Glen.
The Grand Canyon country Is not only
the huEcst, but the most varied and In
structive example on earth of one of
the chief factors OF earth building
erosion--it ] sthe mesa country--the
Land OF Tables. Nowhere else on tho
footstool is there such an example of
deep gnawnG water or of water high
carving. The sandsto mcsas OF the
Southwest, the terracing of canyon
walls, the castellation. battlementing
and cliff making, the cutting down of
I n whole landscape except its precipi-
tous islands OF ilat-topped rock, the
thin lava tabiecloths on tables 100
! feet high--these are Few of the
| things which make the Southwest
! wonderful alike to the scientist and
! tho mere sightseer
That the canyon is not too hard Is
perhaps sufficiently indicated by the
fact that have taken ladies and
children and men In their seventies,
was by n seyenty-mile stage ride. and
f, walked all the way from tho rim TO
bottom OF canyon and came back on
| a horse the same day. and was next
! morning ready to go on q long trsmn
along the rim. N