The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1915-07-09
ARIZONA CANYON
INSPIRES FEARFUL
FEELING OF AWE
DANGEROUS DESCENT INTO
",,wNING DEPTHS is ACCOM-
pLlsHED WITH MUCH FEAR.
povN The PERCEPTIONS CLIFFS
-As Journey Back Up the Rim of the
Z CANYON is Easier.-Fear Has Been
| ovsrcone.-The enjoyment Grand.
eur Of scenery.
lBy Reese Thomas Anlis J

There is a very common proyerb
that an honest confession is good for
tbe soul. III relieve mine right now
i was scared. 1t is generally ac-
cepted that the heart is stationary
fort of the human anatomy, except
when human gets mixed up with it.
tic not thoughA Had it not been for
nv Adams apple, mine would have
gone straight out of my m>ath a
dozen times before we got 20 the bot
tom of those three thousand foot
cliffs A man could have rlddled the
central part of my body that morning
and never touched my heart.
Down, down ever down, the trail
led 50 crooked at places that even
q snakes back would have slmost
beeD broken in trying to follow it.
There were no great sweeping
curves such as up or down Il noun
tain by train, but short sharp angles,
at every turn of which there burst into
view some new vision or unexpected
pbase of the canyon. The whole trail
IS an ever changing panorama OF
matchless vistaS.
1t is about four miles from the
head of the trail to what is known
as Half Way House, though by bee
line it is hardly more than fourth
Of that distance. From the bottom
it is so steep that it is impossible to
see the FL Tovar Hotel at the edge
of the rim, though from the Half
WAY House, which is short dis
lance from the base OF the abyss, it
can be seen, perched like fly speck
on the brim.
At Half Way House the party hal
ted for half hour to rest the mules,
and to get drink of the cold NOUN
tain water which bubbles up there.
1t took no urging to get us off those
Quardopeds and to reach out in the
little patch of grass to allow our pal
plating cordiac regions to become
sOothed.
If the first half of the trail was bad
land, by the way, it seems the gentle
man who named it Bright Angel was
Of an ironical turn of mind) the last
half was worse Coming down the
rim there was always a SOLID wall OF
stone on the right as protection, on
the DEVILS Corkscrew there is moth
ing excep about eighteen inches OF
round rock and a little dirt under
foot I'm quite sure that none but
the devil could have fashioned that
trail. There's not human ingenuity
enough in the world to have conceiv'
ed and executed such piece OF
deviltry There was a lne1lnfui
dead silence as our mules crept down
1t foot by foot, gazing down thou
sand or more feet beneath us into the
real bottom of the canyon. We
didn't make much more nois,' than q
negro going through graveyard al
midnight's holy hour. Though the
temperature must have been one
hundred in the sun. l am quite sure
that if we could have gotten cur con
sen to turn loose the reins for a NON
ent We would have found cold per
Splraion over our entire anatomy
Speaking off hand and from tie vivic
memory | have of this part OF the
canyon, should say that the angle
Of descent of the trail is beween 8!
$500 and 80 99-100 degrees. 1t i;
no longer a mystery to me how ny
can walk down a perpendicular wal
without falling and breaking his
noodle.
In some way or other, ] have no
Oeen able to figure it out yet, oul
party finally got down the cork screw
and from there along the very bot
tom Of the canyon to the roWdy, toar
ing, rambunctious river. Standing
lnere under the massive cliffs o.
granite and gneiss, schist and lime
stone, which reached perpendicular
up into the heavens and cleavet the
stars the view was worth the terror
ana anguish of soul and peril o
oody that we had experienced in get
uhS down, Certain it is that there Il
no View more splendid, more awful
more magnificent, in this country o.
any other It's memory is indelible.
Inc climb back up the walls OF thu
canyon had a number of uneasr nom
eh's, when it was not exactly plea
ant TO contemplate the scenery owe
Two thousand foot precipice, yet on
nerves had become more accustomed
In IL
" Inc canyon, and we were far bette
able to enjoy the view than in coming
down.