The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-08-25
EXPEDITION HEAD
TELLS OF WONDERS
Natural Bridge Found
in the Valley of
the Moon"

The following is taken from the
Mackay Miner and is written by r..
w. Limbert, who was in charge Of
The Statesman's expedition into this
new found wonderland:
II the future traveller to the Valley
OF the Moon cares to add another
score to his string of experiences, let
him 60 to Arco and on thru the
fertile Lost river valley down past
the Box canyon; thence over the
Arco pass and up Beverland canyon
until the road idwindles to horse
trail, keeping on until this in turn
becomes q game trail, climbing,
winding and twisting until his neck
begins to ache from the exertion Of
looking upward Passing now and
then under the shade of a pine tree
to rest and gain his breath until at
last he seems about to run into an
abrupt limestone cliff, hundreds per-
haps@thousands Of feet in height.
The canyon up which he travels has
narrowed down until he becomes
hemmed in between the walls that
leave but two ways to 60 or look
forward and up, or backwards and
down. One last turn in the trail
and there lies one of the most spec
tacular and impressive views in all of
Idaho's wonderland of beautiful
scenery.
Far above, bridging the canyon
from wall. to wall, like a gigantic
rainbow, or inverted quarter moon,
is an arch Of size and beauty i'm
possible aptly to describe. It is
when he passes underneath that the
beholder commences to realize the
proportion and grandeur to this new
addition to Idaho's known scenery;
but best Of all is when he has pre-
sisted in his climb and again has
paused to rest,and view the scene be-
low; he finds the arch has become
the frame to a picture that neither
pigments nor camera can in justice
reproduce,
Above, spanning the sky, circles
the arch, below stands pine trees
dwarfed by the comparison. As the
eye travels from point to point the
view changes from rock walls and
becomes series of rolling hills,
some green, others yellow and
brown. Each waterway as the
shadows lengthen stands out in dis
tinct relief until all fade in the pur-
plish haze of the sky line only to be
broken here and there by the higher
volcanic peaks of the Moon Valley
proper.
If the visitor remains as / did, un-
till the pines cast q shadow several
times their length, the arch seems
to become as in the picture, hung
and festooned with streamers OF
moss caused by the play Of light on
the structure of the rock.
The canyon walls in the slanting
rays Of the sun turn from yellow to
gold and along the top Of the arch
creeps band of the same color. II
he moves his position to the left, and
II there happens to be q cloud bank,
he will see sunset that only the
west with its vast distances and color
can give. As he observes more
closely about him the history of this
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apparent. In past geological ages q
vast dixie of limestone was thrown
up to become slowly eroded into can
yons and gulleys by the elements;
rain, snow water, frost and wind.
At some time the torrent had
found crevice thru which it rushed
until it, too, had eroded and become
what, was possibly a tunnel or a cave.
This in turn, in the thousands OF
years that elapsed, has been worn
fdown grain by grain. and drop by
drop, until 1t appears as it stands TO-
day; and will stand for hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of years to come,
until earthquake or erosion weakens
it to fall with crash into the depths
below and the Bridge of the Moon
becomes history,