Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1914-09-06

miles of beautiful smooth hard road,
and IS an easy climb. This is the
| new OX-boW, and the old OX-bow
hill, formerly a genuine terror, may
still be see nto the west in the Rive
country. Sixty miles of the Tonic
| basin spreads out to the south from
the summit of Ox-bow and on a clear
| Cay. as all the days seem to be, is
most inspiring view The Four
Peaks dominate the southwestern
ridge here, even as they do the east
| efn horizon from Phoenix, but are
soon lost sight of, not to be seen
again until the desert south of Wick =.
enburg is reached on the home trip.
| The north point of the Four Peaks is
the highest, being credited by the
| U. 5. geological survey maps, from
which all of our figures are taken.
with an altitude of 7,645 feet, or 129
feet more than the peak on the
| south of the group. The pretty viii
lage of Payson, just SIS miles from
the dam. offers comfortable accom-
modations and everything in supplies
to the traveller Payson is a mile
! high, and though there isn't much
Farming done in the vicinity, there
are a few corn and potato fields that
| are strictly first class From Payson
! it's a rough but mighty interesting
seventeen miles to the Goodfellows
and their Natural Bridge, which was
the chief objective point of our little
trip. We mention the GoodfelloWs
first because without their work the
bridge would be just about as ac-
cessible as the Grand Canyon was
| before the railroad was built in from
Williams. Thirteen miles from Pay
son, after several fords and a flock
! of rugged hills we came to the fork
| in the road, marked by Natural
| Bridge sign put up by the Good
| Fellows. They tell you at Roosevelt
that it's twelve miles from Payson
/ to the Bridge. but it's seventeen.
! There are lot of fine camping
places between Payson and Pine, and
! we saw many automobile and wagon
parties along the road 1t would cost
thousands of dollars to build A road
| like David Goodfelow and his sons
I have carved out of the hillside, es-
| peclally the last mile and a quarte.'
! with its 500 foot decline to the lower
rim Of Pine Greek canyon which is
spanned by the great bridge The
first glimpse one gets from the hill .
top of the little emerald gem of a
ranch hundreds of feet below is as
thrilling as it is beautiful, and its
charm grows as one learns the story
of the Bridge, the farm and the
winding road that winds so inviting
ly around the big hills Of the
twenty-five acres in cultivation over
four are right on top of the bridge
and one walks through the alfalfa
and fine old vineyard on the way
to the trail that leads down into the
canyon and under the arch. and UNI
less the guide has told you the fact
that you're walking on the bridge is
never suspected, for it's too big to be
seen from the top. The formation of
this great wonde. is as interesting as
its structure is beautiful and the
following is quoted from a mono
graph on the subject of Natural
ID iuStS, MlllltH Dy RtOlOSlSl dlO
issued by the United States govern
ment:
THE only case of a valley of ero-
sion spanned by a travertine deposit
reported from North America occurs
hea. the little Mormon village OF
Pine, about 30 miles south of Flag
staff, Arizona, and can be reached
|
days, or in one day now by car. Not
only is the bridge unique in re-
spect to its origin, but is, moreover
ere of the most beautiful natura
bridges in the United States, anC
with the exception of those in Sar
Juan county Utah. one of the largest
The vertical distance from the toI
Of the bridge to the creek bed i!
about 12S feet on the north and 15'
feet on the south end. The opening
beneath the bridge averages abou
40 feet in width. and the length a
the narrowest place, approximate,
400 feet. The thickness of the arcl
is approximately Is feet, leaving thu
height of the opening beneath thu
erch between so and 10 feet. TIL,
altitude of the bridge above the sei
level is approximately 400 feet Tn
origin of the bridge is as follows:
Several large springs that FLOW
, into the valley from the east sid
contain lime in solution which, upol
evaporation or loss of carbon dioXide
IS deposited as tsavertine For man.
, years these springs have been de
posting travertine in an old vale.
of erosion cut into red porphyry. A
a result of this an almost level floo
of travertine of approximately tn
game height as the springs Increase
i'll width toward the west, film
the valley until it has forced tn
:, stream against the porphy-y wall o
: the west side. In one place tn
travertine was strong enough to sup
port itself, until it was built over tn