The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1921-07-09


Presumably you will be able to use this suspen-
sion bridge this season. The national park service
Is working on the bridge now and has been for
some time. But you can easily guess that building
this bridge is some considerable job-especially
II you have eves travelled Bright Angel TRAIL down
which all the materials and tools have to be
packed Anyway. here's sample Of the kind of
doings that may happen any minute on that
famous trail.
Homer ]. Arna Is one Of the packers engaged In
getting stuff down Bright Angel trail. The other
day he was taking down q string Of animals. Sew
eral Of them were loaded with INT for blasting.
AT Of the sudden turns one Of the pack animals
slipped. The rest got excited. Pretty soon one
animal went OF the trail All eleven in the string
were tied together. Before long two more were
dragged of 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 of
were killed. One fell 1000 feet-without injuring
his pack. One fell zoo feet-without exploding
the $50 pounds Of INT In his pack. And that's
what getting the bridge stun down Bright Angel
trail is like
A look at the map gives the lay Of the land
Bright Angel trail begins near Ell Tovar 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
U
running east and west connects Hermit and
Bright Angel trails.
At the foot Of Bright Angel trail there Is an
aerial cabletram which Is used to ferry across
venturesome visitors. The cross marks the site
of the suspension bridge. The new trail win run
north along Bright Angel creek. The visitor will
ascend to the North rim at Bright Angel point.
III Is l6 miles across the Grand canyon here.
The descent from Ell Tovar to the river Is about
400 feet. The North river Is about 5000 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 or fifteen hundred feet higher
than the south rim and sees over 1t the desert
blsin for many miles south. with far horizon
Of distant mountains. Many who have seen both
mrcfer the south rim view which has the temples
An broad perspective and confines the eye to the
spectacle Of the canyon. Others prefer the north
rim because Of s cl0seness to the temples and its
grasp OF distant horizons In the future thousands
Of travellers win not be content until they see the
canyon from both rims.
Building the suspension bridge, once the ma
terial IL on the spot win not be di61cult The
worst or the job b getting the stun to the site
On mule-back The material for the bridge WIZ
consist principally Of steel wire. and
xhreeeighths of IN inch respectively In diameter:
heavy wooden umberA strips Of flooring OF nine
foot length ard tools and blasting powder. The
matter Of getting the long cables down y going 70
require the Harvesting u 1t least four mules tan
dem and stringing Of the load between than. Inc
main cables viii weigh between 100 and 500
pounds apiece cable win Be gathered into sew
eral coils, with about twenty to thirty feet o.
.anck between each cdl These coiled cables VIII
4hen be put on mules coll to each
40 H. and