The Coconino sun., 1918-06-21
THE REAL CANYON
 IS SELDOM SEEN


 to the river, and still fewer the two days necessary to spend night in it's depths. But it is necessary to see the canyon from within if one is to have even a superficial idea of it. The rim view is noble in the extreme; it is in- spring, to some even terrifying; to all it affords an emotional experience whose memory remains for lifetime. But, after all, it presents only one as- pect of very many, for the great gulf offers sensations of infinite variety,
 For this reason there is probably no great place in the world seen by so many and known to So few. The su- premacy of the Grand Canyon in the worlds scenic gallery is universally acknowledged. Not far from a hun dred thousand persons visit it annual ly. The boundaries proposed for the nation park which Congress IS now considering inclose about thousand square miles of magnificence which phrase and photograph fail even to suggest.
 The fact that so few who visit the Grand Canyon really see it grows out of the public disposition to consider it a side trip of the transcontinental journey. People planning to spend weeks or months at the Pacific resorts accept the popular misconception that "the canyon can be done in day or two" en route. Many leave it with some realization that they have mere ly looked in through crack in the fence, but, with prearranged reserva- tions, they naturally hold to their pro- grams; besides, they argue, nobody else stays more than day or two, so, in spite of appearances, that must be all its worth; besides, hotel, car riage, and trail accommodations are organized on the idea that the stay will be brief. Thus the greatest spec tacle of it's kind, and many think of any kind, in the whole world has be- come a side show to Western vaca- tio1
 Reasons for This Misconception.
 This colossal blunder naturally would cure itself in good time if the Grand Canyon could only be made as comfortable to live in as it is to stop in, and if it's innumerable details were made comfortably accessible. Many visitors eat breakfast on the train coming and spend the succeeding night on the train going; they have "seen" the Grand Canyon in between. The excellent hotel, so charming to live, If people would only live in it, almost suggests the hurry of a crowded street, so rushed is it with the visitors of single night.
 But, after all, there are two good reasons why the visiting public should not be charged with lack of appreci- ation. One is this general preconcep- tion that the Grand Canyon is one or two days spectacle. The other is that the private interests which have built the trails and otherwise planned the manner in which the public shall see it have adopted the same idea; it is natural that they should not invest more money in roads and trails than just enough to take care of the busi- ness that naturally offers. A man who, after he has spent one day on that part of the rim which is devel- oped and one day going to the bot tom of the Canyon, finds that further exploration involves expensive special equipment and special guides, and that the Canyon floor is unprovided with good lateral trails or more than the one camp; in other words, one who plans an undertaking which resembles and expedition, must possess enthusi- asm and a pocketbook beyond the usual.
 Artists and leisurely travellers some times do this, but it is out of the ques- tion for the great body of busy Ameri- cans. Their turn will come when the Grand Canyon becomes a national park and is studied and developed for the special purpose of making it's in- finite treasures comfortably accessible to all. Meantime it is unreasonable to expect private interests to do more for the public than they find profit | able.
 Those who have lived with rather than glanced at the Grand Canyon be- come increasingly moved by it's glo- ries. It has inspired more literature and art than all the other scenic places of America combined. It is the cen ter of steadily increasing pilgrimage of painters. It perhaps may be said that the Grand Canyon and the region VI WIiCn it ID thc CiiIhaA nispIe tie highest as well as certainly the most extensive expression of landscape art in America today.
 An interesting example of the way the Grand Canyon "gets" those who live little with it is found in the technical, and to most of us the in comprehensible, reports of the govern ment topographers and geologists who studied it for years. Apparently in spite of themselves, these men to whom rocks and canyons are the grim business of life, often interrupt their dry technical pages by brief bursts of enthusiasm not inspired in the least by science, but by the pure emotion of sublimity.