The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1915-07-02
VISIT TO THE GRAND
CANYON ATFENDEDBY
HAIRRAISING SCENES
,nuo DESCRIPTION OF TRIP TO
THE WONDER OF
ARIZONA.
CHARACTER IS AWE INSPIRING
nsscent One That Can Never Be
FORGOTTEN and Fewer Would Make
II If They Realized Dangers That
Reset Them.
(By Reese Thomas Amis.)
SOMEWHERE IN THE WEST

SOMEWHERE IN THE WEST.
Someone has said the Grand Can.
Won of Arizona beggars descrip-
tiOn. After a seven mile trip on mule
back down its almost perpendicular
walls into its verymaw, l am prepared
TO thoroughly endorse this statement.
The canyon is the worlds greatest
natural scenic wonder. Just as
Macaulay says of Boswell as a biogra-
pher, so the canyon is first, other
scenic wonders are nowhere.
After a three days journey through
this most sublime scenic spectacle,
Irwin Cobb confessed his vocabulary
was too limited, his command Of the
English language too weak and feeble,
TO depict it in terms commensurate
with its grandeur and awe-inspiring
character 1t would be presumption
on my part to attempt to describe it
when such master of expression
and writer of such descriptive pow.
er as the peerless Cobb fails. Speak.
ing with the utmost reverence it
seems the Almighty exhausted his
creative powers in making the can
Won and then was unable to coin a
word in the English language ade-
Quate to describe it.
But, as | promised a moment ago,
shall not flag my brain in a fruitless
search of adjectives to apply to the
canyon. Just step over by it ON the
way to the expositions If you are
coming west this summer or fall), but
shall merely tell OF trip that eight
Of us took recently, from the rim of
the canyon down the Bright Angel
trail to the Colorado river, $500 feet
below, in the very heart of this thir-
teen mile wide gulch, riven into the
bowels of the earth by wind, weather
and water. 1t would be dead and
Withered soul that would not be thrill.
ed-and scared almost to the point Of
speechlessness by such an adventure.
Our train was late in getting up to
the rim Of the canyon, and SO | had
time only for cup of coffee before
the descent was made. A good thing
il was that | had only this much, for
would surely have lost any more than
that the first time l peered over the
mules ears thousand feet or two
straight down into nothing. Rather a
strange paradox that ones breakfast
should want to come up as he looks
down.
About 9 o'clock our calvacade got in
readiness and with cow boy as
guide-he thought about as little Of
his life as any one | ever saw-we
started out muleback down the trail
This was one time that ignorance was
true bliss, for about. ninety per cent
Of the party would have turned bach
and dismounted had each known
what was ahead. Although the de
scent was easy stages all Of US re
pented of our folly shortly. For II
less than fifty yards the trail mar
rowed down to a thread, almost, and
began zig Tag down the cliffs
There wasn't nearly as much laughter
as when we started. The smiles frozt
on our faces at the first real pros
pect over the canyon, and the snail''
pace Of the mules seemed too fast
They appeared to make too muci
speed in rounding the narrow turn IL
the trail.
About this time ! began to fee
very urgently the need of some break
fast before going any further. Other
OF the party confessed to me private
ly, after we got back that at abou
the same moment they betohugh
themselves of other very good am
sufficient reasons why they shoul'
90 back to the hotel. Had someDod
had the nerve to speak out, my opir
Ion is that the trip would have bee
called off right there, and we Woul
all have been content to view the car
yon from the rim. But no bold ma
spoke out, and so on we went.
Just when we had gotten thorough
~ saturated with fear, a photogri
pher appeared in front of us on tn
trail, hanging from the edge OF notl
lns, and requested US to halt for
moment while he snapped us.