The Colorado statesman., 1924-07-19

OF the national monuments chosen for nlus'r'
tion Bryce Canyon has just been gwen h"'roi" ,
park honors A bill for its creation as the otai
National park was passed in the closing hours oi
the last session of congress. Its feature Is ooA
canyon three miles long and two miles "iue' cu'
1000 feet into the Paunsaugunt plateau Oh souli
eastern Utah. There is wonderful variety Vi
erosiona form, which painted in every Color
shade and tint of the spectrum-reds, plhks'
creams tans, lavenders. purples, blues green's
chocolates and whites. 1t takes high rank among
natural wonders. The act provides that before
Bryce Canyon becomes Utah National park all
lands in the area must be conveyed to the United
States Utah and the Union Pacific own 64o acres
The Petrified Forest contains the most wonder
full collection of petrified trees in the world Ihese
trees lie in three groups which really are not TOR
ests at all, for most of the trunks were washed
to their present positions on an eroded plain by
prehistoric floods from forests far away. Many
of the trunks exceed 100 feet in length. One log,
Ill feet long, bridges a canyon 40 feet wide. The
state of naturalization of the wood almost places
it among the precious stones. Not only are chal-
cedony, opals and agates view but even jasper
and onyx.
The Devils Tower Is extraordinary mass of
igneous rock and is one of the most conspicuous
features of the Black Hills region of Wyoming. 1t
has been a landmark from prehistoric times. First
there is the level plain then a rounded wooded
hill 600 high and on top of that the tower 600
feet high and mile in circumference Its sides
are huted by great columns which stand perpen-
dicuar except where they flare out at the base
and in at the top These columns. about feet in
diameter. are mostly pentagonal. but some are
fourslded and some sixsided.
El MORO National monument is landmark to
thrill good American Two enormous connected
rocks of varcolored eroded sandstone rise abrupt
ly from the arid plain. One suggests a castle and
is called El Morro. The other is called Inscription
Rock because it bears priceless historical records.
For nearly four centuries ago these walls echoed
the clanll of the steel harness of Conqustadores
and the prayers of franciscan Martyrs, There
was a spring there and shallow cave and soldier
and priest turned aside to them from the old Zuni
trail And there they cut their names and the why
and wherefore of their comngs and goings.
An Inscription perhaps as important as any Is
this cut by Don Juan de Onate IA years before
the Pilgrims landed Plymouth Rock:
Paso por aqui de adelantado don juan de onate
del descubrimiento de Ia mar del sur le ell April
del 1906.
Passed by here the provincial chief Don Juan de
Onate from the discovery OF the Soulh Sea oh ''e
10th of April 1906
This approximately fixes the date of the found
ing of Santa Fe, ms 1t is known Onate fixed his
capital there upon his return from the Gulf of
California
Scarcely less interestng-is the inscription, here
with reproduced by Don Diego de Vargas Zapata
Lujan Ponce de Leon:
Aoui estaba ell On Do de Vargas quien con-
qusto nestra santa fe la real corona todo ell
nueva Mexico costa ano de 1892
Here was the General Don Diego de Vargas who
conquered to holy faith and the royal all
New Mexico at his own expense. year of 1892
The Indians had risen against the Spaniards In
Santa Fe in 1850, massacred them and driven them
out and destroyed far possible all traces of
civilization and Christianity. For twelve years
they enjoyed their ancient independence. 1t was
Diego de Vargas who reconquered the region in
1893.
There are thnn 80 of these inscriptions
They contain great in those tmes-Nieto
who escorted the first missionaries to Zuni in 1929
Lujan who avenged the murder of Fray Francisco
Letrado in 1882: Archuleta. Uribarri--and on
down into the first half of the Eighteenth century
Where in all the world is there more fascinat
ing historical relic than Inscription Rock7