The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-06-18

- VI the Oranu canyon and of the
surrounding country. For the North
rim is 1,5OO feet higher than the South rim.
presumably you will be able to use this suspeu-
SION Orldge 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
TINS Drldge Is some considerable job-especialy
you nave ever travelled Bright Angel trail down
"hlch all the materials and tools have TO be
PACKED Anyway, here's a sample of the kind of
doings that may happen any minute ON that
famous trail
homer D. Arm Is one of the packers engaged in
getung stun down Bright Angel trail The other
0ay ne was taking down a string of animals Sew.
erai OF them were loaded with INT for blasting
AT one OF the sudden turns one of the pack animals
slipped The rest got excited Pretty soon one
animal went off 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 on the trail.
OF course all three of the animals that fell off
were killed. One fell 1000 feet-without iniuring
his pack One fell 200 feet-wlthout exploding
the $50 pounds Of INT in his pack And that's
what getting the bridge stuff down Bright Angel
trail is like.
look at the map gives the lay of the land.
Bright Angel trail begins near FL Tovar on the
South rim and winds down to the Colorado ar
farther to the west and also goes down to the
river. Part Of the way down, the Tonic trail.
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 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 Ell TOvar to the river Is about
$500 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 opposte
rim presents an apparently straight wall. The OBJ
server Is twelve fifteen hundred feet higher
than the south rim and sees over 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 eye to the
spectacle Of the canyon. Others prefer the north
rim because Of its closeness to the temples and its
grasp Of distant horizons. In the future thousands
of travellers will not be content until they the
canyon from both rims.
Building the suspension bridge, once the ma
terial Is on the spot will not be difficult. The
worst of the job is getting the stuff to the site
on muie-Dack. Inc material Tor the Oruge Will
consist principally Of steel wre seven-eighths and
three-eighths 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 Ii going to
require the Harvesting of at least four mules tan
dem and stringing Of the load between them. The
main cables will weigh between 700 and 800
pounds apiece. cable will be gathered into sew
eral coils, with about twenty to thirty feet Of
h0fxu These cOflQd
then be put on mules, coil to each.
At the bridge site an anchor Of steel rails and
concrete win 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
70 end these upper cables will measure about 500
feet Eighty feet below them the floor of the
bridge viii be anchored to the walls Of the gorge.
From the overhead cables side cables will come
down and run through the heavy tmbers The
nIne-foot plaHking will be riveted to these rafters
and a hog mesh wiring will be strung along either
side of the bridge to protect tourists. The bridge
will be built forty feet above the ordinary height