The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-01-03

Jack Lait wrote a characteristic appreciation
of Zion canon for a railroad administration book
let, in which he said:
Zion canon is epic written by Mother Ma
ture in her most ecstatic humor, illustrated by
Creation in its most majestic manifestations pub
Nshed by God Almighty as an inspiration to all
mankind. Zion canon is the most beautiful spot
on this continent. l think l have seen all the
famed show-places that the evolution Of the
earths formation has made. And of them all
Zion to me stands first, stands alone"
Zion has the double charm of form and color
and 1t is hard to say which is the appealing.
The entrance to the canon is spacious and i'm
pressve. The course up the Rio Virgin is tor
tuous and the variation of view and of formation
Of the lofty walls is great. At the end of six or
seven miles of canon the wall narrows to the
stream what there is beyond is practically I'M
known. Thus from the plateau above the visi-
tor may look down thousands of vertical feet into
the painted canon with its river. From the river
bank he may look up thousands of feet with
changing view at every turn of the canon
I've entrance TO the canon is most impressive
Tc ne west rises the West Temple (765O feet).
tlanked by the Towers of the Virgin The puar-
dian to the east is the East Temple $4,000
f1anked by the Waterman (635O) and Bridge
mountain (6.650). Then come the Streaked Wall
on the west side and the Brown Wall on the east
side, topped respectively by the Three Patrisrchs
lures of the wall formation include Ell Goberna
dor. the Great Organ and the Temple of Sinawaya.
The visitor finally comes to point where the
chasm is more than 1000 feet deep and the walls
so nearly touch that he looks up to see no skv
The walls are practically vertical and parallel and
warp III and out thus cutting Off the blue above
Here is revealed the secret of the MAKING ~
Zion. as is pointed out by DR.. G. K Gilbert of tho
United States geological survey. This chasm ia
All example of downward erosion by sandbearinu
water which acts like the marble saw Tho ont
Is not entirely vertical, because the current hoe
carried the cutting sand to one side or the other
and the cut undulates both in its vertical ond
horizontal sections.
The forms along the canon walls ara ex+roo-
binary. And the colors are even more strkino
The famous Vermilon Cliff Of the Painted Desert
here combines with the White Cliff and We 500 a
thousand feet OF white superimposed on two
thousand feet Of red But this startling combine,
ton is but the beginning of veritable riot ~
color. The Vermilion Cliff rests on tho poIn+oa
Desert stratum-35O feet of a deeper rod cot ~
by purple and mauve shales. Below tbis 10 q h,r
dred feet OF brown and gray conglomerate Tho
GROWING touch Is the colorng of the unnor CIV
mits OF the White Cliff. Here there are in n,ooo,
several hundred feet Of varicolored sbalos 49,,
Nmestones whose seepage Enthusiastically stains ~
glstening white. In consequence of the meot,n,.
OF these many colors Zion is as porpeops os
gypsy scarf, and sunrise and sunset nroduoo 80
believable effects f0"ee on-
For example, take the West TEMPLE rro,
foundation Of mingled reds. YELLOW. -.