The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1921-06-18

rim is 1,50O feet higher than the South rim.
Presumably you will be able to this suspen-
sion bridge this season The national park service
Is working on the bridge nov aad has been for
tnis bridge is Some Considerable especially
Wyou have ever travelled Bright Angel trail, down
which all the materials and tools have to Be
packed. Anyway, here's a sample of the kind of
aalnss that may happen any minute on that
Homer J. Arm is one of the packers engaged In
getting stun down Bright Angel trail. The other
Gay he was taking down string Of animals Sew
eral of them were loaded with INT for blasting
At one of the sudden turns Of the pack animals
slipped. The rest got excited. Pretty soon one
animal went on the TRAIL All eleven In the string
were tied together. Before long two more were
dragged on the trail. About this time Arm sue.
ceeded in getting into the middle Of the mixup
He cut the other eight animals loose and they
staid the trail.
OF course all three of the animals that fell on
were killed One fell 1000 feet-without injuring
his pack. One fell 200 feet-without exploding
the $50 pounds Of INT in his pack. And that's
what getting the bridge stuff down Bright Angel
trail ia like.
look at the map gives the lay Of the land
Bright Angel trail begins Ell Tovar on the
South rim and winds down to the Colorado at
the bottom Of Granite gorge. Hermit trail begins
farther to the west and also goes down to the
river. Part of the way down. the Tonic trail
running and west connects Hermit and
Bright Angel trails.
At the foot of Bright Angel trail there Ia an
aerial cabietram, which is used to ferry across
venturesome visitors. The cross marks the site
of the suspension bridge. The new trail will run
north along Bright Angel creek. The visitor will
ascend to the North rim at Bright Angel point
II Is 16 miles across the Grand canyon here
The descent from El Tovar to the river is about
4,50O feet. The North river Is about eOOO feet
above the floor of the Grand canyon
The view from the North rim is radically differ
ent The temples lie In its foreground. One looks
down upon them at close range. The Granite
gorge Is miles in the background and the opposite
rim presents an apparently straight wall. The OBJ
server Is twelve fifteen hundred feet higher
than the south rim and sees 1t the desert
plain for many miles south, with a far horizon
OF distant mountains. Many who have seen both
prefer the south rim view which has the temples
in broad perspective and confines the eve TO the
spectacle Of the canyon. Others prefer the north
rim because of its cIoseness to the TEMPLES and IT'S
grasp of distant horizons In the future thousands
of travellers will content until they see the
canyon from both rims.
Building the suspension bridge once the mn.
terial is on the spot, will not be difficult The
worst of the job is getting the stuff to the site
muleback The material for the bridge will
consist principally of steel wire seven-eiehths and
threeeighths of inch respectively in diameter.
heavy wooden timbers, strips of flooring of nine.
foot length and tools and blasting powder The
matter of getting the long cables down is going 10
require the harnessing of at least four mules tam
dem and stringing of the load between them The
main cables will weigh between 700 and 800
pounds apiece. A cable will be gathered into sew
eral coils with about twenty to thirty feet of
slack between each coil. These coiled cables will
then be put on mules coil to each.
At the bridge site an anchor of steel rails and
concrete will be constructed in the solid rock
THE upper cables will then be carried across to the
north side and secured in like fashion From end
to end these upper cables will measure about 500
feet Eighty feet below them the floor of the
bridge will be anchored to the walls of the gorge
From the overhead cables side cables Will come
down and run through the heavy timbers. The
nine-fopt planking will be riveted to these rafters
and hog mesh wiring will be strung along either
side of the bridge protect tourists. The bridge
will be built forty feet above the ordinary height