Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-04-11
LETTER FROM WEST.
CONTINUED from Page Fivel

When we arrived In January several
varieties of flowers were IN bloom, and
the tall cottonwood trees were almost
ready to burst forth into leafy boughs
of bright green foliage The warm
DAYS and cold nights furnished the
sleeping tonic which SO many health
seekers are delighted TO find. As we
learned from our ASnowb0un6" friends
OF the increased cold IN Vermont, we.
on the other hand, enjoyed increased
warmth, summing ourselves beneath
rustling palms IN the soft breezeS OF
January and February. For Yer
monter TO write about roses, fruit and
the fragrance Of orange blossoms IN
March is a distinct pleasure, indeed
However, the irrigated portions Of
Arizona cannot claim all her attrac-
tions for the desert and the rugged
mountainous heights possess her real
natural beauties. To some travellers
the desert Is repellent, know, but TO
me the vast breadth and mysterious
silence are most fascinating My first
impression was that Of freedom and
spaciousneSS. As Henry Van Dyke
has so aptly said, ''the deserts are the
breathing spaces Of the West" / did
not find the deep burrows of sand, or
feel that overwhelming power Of bar
ren deSolation and loneliness which
had always associated with the word
desert" for there are vegetation and
yerdant growth. The sand is hard
and well-packed. making it possible
for the tourist to drive his car any
where and everywhere among the
green sagehruSh, greasewOod and cac-
Il
The ever-changing h1es in sky and
sand, from the noon-day glare 70 the
harmonious glow of q sunset which
wells the distant mountain peaks IN
purple shadows and blends the spec
trail colors into 3 Iow-hanging haze
stretching for countless miles, give
the desert an indescribable charm and
offer its lover q series of paintings
that are worthy TO be hung only from
the blue dome of our divinely-ereated
world
The morning and the evening make
UP the day for 1t Is there under the
spell of silence that we come into
( contact with elemental life and are
enabled to feel the heart throbs of
[ humanity, realizing the presence of
an omnipotent Power that alone Is
able to create Then man becomes one
/ OF the creeping things, obeying natur-
al law and living out hfe-plan.
Beyond forty miles Of this intangi
| BILE desert charm lies the legend OF
/ Superstition mountain, mysteriOusly
hidden within the deep reeesses of its
massive walls Here IN primitive ages
there came a great flood covering the
whole earth with rushing water Chief
White Feather, leading his people,
succeeded after many hardships IN
scaling the PERCEPTIONS sides of Super
z IL
moment, the great chief lifted his
voice TO the lightning heav-
ems and asked that his people be
spared. A bolt from the sky flashed
down, struck the precious medicine
stone which he carried, broke IL into
a thousand pieces and instantly
changed White Feather and his fol-
lowers to pinnacles of stone" These
plnnacles, resembling human forms,
may be clearly seen today But,
/ stranger than that, there is q horizon
tai line Of white rock quite ike the
/ fOaming spray OF a torrent, which is
I clearly marked across the face of the
mountain near the summit This TO
/ the Indian marks the height reached
/ by the water during the food. "A
I goldman known as the Drinker, sent
/ the flood and afterwards made new
men out Of mud 70 replace all those
who had been drowned. The best
ones from the standpoint of artistic
T finish were sent down into the valleys
/ where they became the good Pima In
+ dams. The poorer Jobs ne shipped
| up into the mountains where they be
I came the evil Apaches. And some
| that were too bad even to be made in
/ TO ApacheS he turned into giant cac-
nI1
I that grow on the side Of the mountain
I proves this.
/ Leaving with the rugged red rocks
/ OF Superstition mountain our appreci-
+ alton of its mysterious legendary life,
/ we gradually wound our way up into
| the heights of the MazatzaI range
i Curve after curve presented 2 new
scene Of rock formation along the old
i Apache trail which was first bIaZed
/ by the Apache Indians, the most fe-
rocious tribe that evsr lived In
connection with the Apaches one re-
/ calls the story Of Geronimo. the
chief, who I'm 1922 with twenty men
under him and hampered by four
teen women, Withstood an American
army OF two thousand men and q
Mexican force of several thousand
more, killed hundreds of men, women
and children, terrOrized all that sec
ton Of the United States and Mexico
and did it all without losing one OF his
own men, We do not wonder that
| the Apache name still lives!
In turn we passed HelPs Kitchen
| Whirlpool Rocks, Mormon Flat and
| Tortifla Flat, until we reached Can
yon Diablo- Here could be heard the
| Devils echo as we shouted into the
/ black deTy+hS below from the shelf "A
/ rock on which we stood.
Whirling on into new ravines and
/ up new mountain sides, darting be
/ tween iutting rocks, and scaling bare
faced cliffs through q veritable bat
tlefeld OF the gods, we came In view
/ OF Fish Greek canyon several hundred
feet below This, thought, must be
the climax Of the wonders OF the trip
The Tourists Inn IN the deep VALLEY
was a mere speck on the landscape
while bridge which spanned ths