The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-06-24

surrounding country. For the NORTH
rim IL LOO feet higher than the South rim.
Presumably you win be able to use this suspen.
sion bridge this season. The national park service
~ working on the bridge and hus been for
some time. But you can easily guess TINT building
this bridge Is some considerable job--especially
II you have ever 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 ]. Arm Is one Of the packers engaged in
getting stun down Bright Angel trail. The other
day he was taking down string Of animals Sew.
erai OF them We're loaded with INT for blasting,
Az one Of the sudden turns one Of the puck animals
slipped. The rest got excited. Pretty soon one
animal went off the trail All eleven In tie string
We're tied together, Before long two more were
dragged off the trail. About this time Arm sue
eeeded In getting into the middle Of the mlxup
He cut the other eight aninluls loose and they
stald the trail.
OF course all three Of the animals that fell OH
were Killed One fell 1000 feet--wthout lnjurlng
his pack. One fell 200 feet--wlthout exploding
tho $50 pounds OF INT hi 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 hegins near III Toyar ON the
South rim and winds down to the Colorado at
the bottom OF Granite gorge. Hermit trail begins
farther 10 the west and also goes down 10 thu,
river. Part of the way down. the Tonto trail
running east and west connects Hermit ana
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 visitorwiiI
ascend 10 the North rim ut Bright Angel point
& II Is 10 miles across the Grand canyon here.
& The descent from III Tovar 10 the river is about
1880 feet. The North river is about 6,00O feet
above the floor Of the Grand canyon.
The view from the North rim Is radically difrer.
ent. The temples lie IN It's 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
plain for many miles SOUTH with 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 viii not be content until they see the
canyon from both rims.
Building the suspension bridge, once the ma.
terial is on the spot. will not be dIfticult The
worst Of the job is getting the stun TO the site
on mule-baek. The material for the bridge will
consist principally of steel wire seven-eighths and
three-eighths OF an Inch respectively In diameter;
heavy wooden tlmbers, strips OF flooring OF nine
foot length and tools and blasting powder The
matter of getting the long cables down Is gong to
require the Harvesting of at least four mules tan
dem and stringng of the load between them. The
main cables will weigh between 700 and 80l
pounds apiece. A cable viii be gathered into sew
aral 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 ant
soncrete 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 enc
10 end these upper cables will measure about 5ot
Feet. Eighty feet below them the floor of th'
fridge wiz be anchored to the walls Of the gorge
from the overhead cables side cables will CONS
Down and run through the heavy timbers. TIL,
sine-foot plankng will be riyeted to these rafter
nd hog mesh wiring will be strung along eithe
sde OF the bridge to protect tourists. The bridg'
SilI be built forty feet above the ordinary heigh