Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1920-01-29


N covery Of a gorge crowded with
natural wonders within a few
hours motor ride of a busy city, says
London Graphic. Yet such is the story
of Red Rock canyon, in southern Cali
| fornia, an enchanted spot, so rich in
its unique beauty, and of such scien-
| tific import that the president of the
| United States Is asked by some Of
the leading men and organizations of
the Pacific coast to set it apart as a
national monument. This romantic,
rainbow-hued gorge contains a wealth
of amazing structures reared and
carved and even painted by the ele-
ments, and yet comparable only to the
classics of ancient and modern archi-
lecture. Its fossil beds, practically I'M
touched, give promise of paleontolog-
| zeal treasure, and recent finds in it's
caves interest ethnolOgists.
The canyon is a cash in the south
| ern end of the Sierra Nevada noun
tains. It's mouth opens upon the
northwestern edge of the Mojave des-
For nearly a century the prosaic pio-
/ neers who passed that remote way paid
no heed to it's vivid charm. 1t was
! the decision to extend the state high
way from Los Angeles to Bishop that
led to the discovery of the beauties
of this gorge. Until the surveyors re-
| turned and reported the existence of
strange and wonderful rock formations
no one knew of their presence. This
Is all the more remarkable when we
remember the Americans love of
travel, and that these are the days
of railways and motorcars. Shortly
now the canyon with it's many Wen
ders will be on the main trail of civ
ilization, and tens of thousands Of
tourists and others will soon admire
it with rapture and establishment. The
new roadway approaches to within so
feet of the scenic marvels which the
| government is petitioned to protect and
preserve.
Miracles of Form and Color.
That section of the canyon which
|
little more than four square miles, is
several miles removed from the desert,
and lies at an altitude of 5000 feet.
On approach from either direction
turn brings the walled-in miracles of
form and color suddenly into yiew-an
enhancing picture; pillars and col
umns, plain and fiuted and chased
pilasters and colonnades, tiny and IT,
tanic, tier upon tier, mile after mile,
far skyward; arcades, baluStrades, cor
ridors; temples, castles, cathedrals,
towers, domes, spires, SphinXes, gar
goyles-all perfectly nodded and ex-
quisitely adorned by the lord Of crea-
ton.
Moreover, they are untouched and
unmarried as yet by the laundering
vandal hand Of man; a buried city,
an acropolis, and scores of other fan
cies BECOME realities, On an eminence
at the canyons head stands the Tenn
pie of the Sun, an impressive gray
pile, 125 feet high, approached through
series OF terraced entranCewayS,
with partially crumbed walls forming
an ellipticsl Enclosure approximately
$50 feet in diameter-an ideal amphi-
theater Those who look upon this
temple find it difficult to believe that
tits not human handiwork. Near by,
dominating the mystic region, rises the
massive Sentinel Tower, imposing
rather than beautiful. 1t is apparent
ly harder and more substantial than
its neighbor. Biologists say it has
held its commanding bulk aloft for
thousands of centuries. The walls are
pinkish gray, and the ponderous fiinty
capstones a brilliant red. A mile d.
agonally opposite is the colossal pile
known as the Acropolis. This is, per-
haps, the browning feature. More than
$50 feet high and 1000 feet long and
solemnly aloof has been likened to
the Athenian Acropolis because of a
marked resemblance, and as well 20
the mammoth temple ruins of Baalbec
in northern Syria. Seen from any angle
it is mysterious, awe-compelling, GER
tain TO leave a lasting imprint on the
mind of all observers.
The Closed Cathedral.
Still Is another masterpiece in the
Closed Cathedral, a study in magnitl-
cent coloring, so gorgeous and yet so
softly harmonious that no wielder of
the brush dares hope to equal 1t. 1t
is of tremendous size, with an en-
trance 25 feet high and 10 feet wide,
solidly blocked at a depth Of II feet.
Pure white, deep, blue, yellow, red,
green, and all the intervening shades
figure in the decorative scheme, and
In places give the suggestion Of
stained-glass windows. The whole as
pect is of antiquity, enhanced by a
crack or fault diagonally through the
front-evidence of slide before the
processes of erosion began. The ca
thedral effect is so realistic that one
lnvoluntarily listens for bells to In
tone the hour or call to prayers