The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-02-17

been meeting people all along our way,
and when next day at the Canyon we
met another gentleman from Portland
We felt that our home town was we'll
represented there, for that day, at least.
The night brought little relief from
the overpowering heat, and when about
dusk our train stopped at Needles, the
last station in California, we ent out to
the rear platform in search of air. The
arrival of the train was evidently the
event of the day in Needles, for the sta
ton was a scene of festivity and our
ears were greeted with gay strains
of music from band. The observation
platform, crowded with tourists, was
quickly surrounded by eager Indian
squaws from the nearby reservation;
young, old, and middle-aged, with their
hands full of strings of colored beads.
"Buy beads, nice beads, teen-ceent,
teen-ceent," they coaxed, holding .neir
wares out for inspection. In the back
ground stalked blanket-wrapped Indian
braves, laden with bows and arrows,
too dignified to mingle with the squaws,
but none the less alert for a prospective
customer. ''Teen-ceent" sounded a
reasonable price enough, but no sooner
did an unwary tourist display desire to
look more closely at string of the
beads than the price of that particular
string changed like magic to ''tweerty-
five ceent," or 'feefty ceents, as the
case might be. But still "teen ceent' -
was their slogan, and with stoical Indian
patience, 'teen ceent" they were still
crying as the train pulled out of the sta
ton after it's half hour stop. We re-
NAMED outside until the last strain of
band music had died away in the dis
lance, and we had crossed the Colorado
River into Arizona, and then retired to
our section to dream of eating desert
sand, with sage brush dressing, garnish-
ed with red and yellow beads.
We arose early next morning though
not so early as we thought, since the
clocks had been set ahead an hour and
we were on Mountain instead of Pacific
time-to find our train slowing for its
stop at the Grand Canyon. We hasten
ed to leave our Pullman, and were soon
climbing up the short but steep incline
to the hotel, Ell Tovar, where our first
consideration was for breakfast
81 Tovar is a long, low, rambling
structure of rustic design, built on the
very edge of the canyon, over five thou
sand feet above the Colorado River. Sit
uated between the mighty chasm in
front, and the ancient forest behind, it's
construction is in perfect harmony with
its surroundings. 1t has ample accom-
modations for about two hundred guests.
but owing to the heavy tourist travel,
we found it full to overlooking, and al
though we registered before breakfast
we were unable to get room until the
departure of the evening train. People
who had telegraphed several days ahead
found themselves in the same situation,
SO it was a case of first come, first
served" We were fortunate in regis
tering early for the Rim Drive in the
afternoon and for the Bright Angel Trail
trip next day, as many who came after
US were disappointed in finding all reser-
vations sold.
After breakfast we walked east along
the canyon rim to Yavapai Point, about
mile and half away. 1t was a rough
scramble for the most part, though the
trail was we'll defined, for many detours
led to points that jutted out here and
there over the canyons brink, and alti-
tude and heat were both discouraging 70
rapid progress. 1t would be an impossi-
BILE task to adequately describe the Won
ders of the canyon, whose grandeur and
immensely literally took our breath
away. The farther edge, thirteen dizzy
miles away, was dim in the distance,
while beneath US yawned chasm Sc
huge that hundred Yosemites might be
lost in its depths. Canyons within can
yons lay before US. and gigantic cliffs
like mountains, eroded into fantastic
shapes-here "Cheops Pyramid" there
the "Battleship," and beyond 1.-The
Temple of Zoroaster," while far away,
hardly visible, we caught glimpses of a
narrow ribbon of water-the Colorado
River, three hundred feet wide, mile
below us and seven miles away by trail.
The formation of the canyon walls is
largely sandstone and limestone in varie-
gated colors, which are further tinted
by the magic Of the atmosphere until
the whole scene seems q mass of reds,
AA~