Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1913-01-03

verse has spread divine harmony of
color.
In some Of these painted desert
sketches and coloring is as rich as
that Of the Grand canyon; and the
prospect, If less sublime, is more
varied and of softer aspect The view
is limited only by the power Of hu-
man vision. The winds and storms
and rushing waters of ages have
chiseled basalt, sandstone and clay
into images, monuments, towers,
spires, minarets, pagodas. temples,
flying buttresses and a thousand
nameless fantastic forms. Irrespec-
tive of the colorings, these Painted
Desert bad lands deserve to rank
among the scenic wonders of the
southwest. Yet the coloring is the
greatest wonder of ALL Here may be
seen a red wall 500 feet high and 100
miles long. Facing it may be a coal
plack mess of hardened lava. rising
from a valley floor of snowy alkali.
from any vantage point one may sur
vey glowing landscape that shows q
score OF shades of pink, gray, green,
RED, cholocate, carmine, mauve. brown,
and yellow.
In Deadrlver Canyon.
II one drives north from Adamana
TO the Painted Desert district that IL
Is proposed to set aside as a national
monument, he obtains his first view
from the rim of Deadriver CANYON. To
describe the vista from this point is
as hopeless an undertaking as for an
enamored youth to describe the
charms Of his lady love. AS far as
the eye can carry is a succession of
puttes, terraces and castellated hills.
painted with almost the glory of the
rainbow. Pervading all is the mvstic
purple southwestern haze (due to the
lmpalpable dust Of the desert that
would blend chaos itself into a har.
monious land Of enchanted dreams.
of to the northwest is a black fiat.
topped mesa, beyond which lies the
land OF the Hopi Indians. At ones
feet is the sandy, boulder-strewn riv.
er, whose healing flow ceased aees
ago, perhaps when this gorgeous
desolatlon was green with tropic
vegetation and melodious with the
songs OF birds. From the parched
wastes rise shimmering heat waves.
invisible undulations, so that one in.
voluntarily shrinks from the descent
into the canyon, as into a fiery fur.
nace
However, 1t really is not as hot a.
m q neyf fv1of t@r
pate. A circuitous path leads to the
bottom of the canyon, over glitterine
beds of gypsum and thick deposits
OF mineral paint. Near the bottom
the edge Of vast deposit of silicified
wood Is reached. This is not the
famous Petrified Forest (which ia
about Is miles SOUTH, but in manv
respects 1t is not less wonderful
Officially 1t is known as the North
Sigillaria Forest. Here the petrified
tree trunks are not agatized, as in
the more famous deposits farther
south, and the amazing coloring that .
distinguishes the petrified wood in
the latter locality is wanting.
For hours one may wander throupb
labyrinth of winding gorges, around
titanic monuments and over distorted
buttes and crazy hills until the mind
becomes puzzled and confused with
inc endless variety Of form, and until
the eye is surfeited and weary with
me dazzling succession Of tints and
eolors. Yet one may follow this little
strip OF the Painted Desert for hun.
dred miles, seeing something new and
wonderful with almost every rod
And this is but patch Of the Painted
Desert no more wonderful in it's ans.
iere beauty and weird charm than a
tccre OF ether patches of ecual or
gr.arer extent