The Monmouth inquirer., 1926-07-22

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RADIO River, widely regarded
- as the worlds most imposing
LaSSgMI natural wonder, has suddenly
taken on a new and startling
interest.
A few years ago, when 1t was as
inaccessible as the North Pole, John
Wesley Powell won fame by making
the first trip through it. A little later
another adventurer conceived opening
a trail from the canyons rim down to
the river, a mile below. 1t seemed
grotesque, but the impossible was ac-
complished, and its, accomplishment
has made the canyons innermost won
ders accessible to thousands OF tour
lists each year. They come from all
quarters Of the world every season in
greater numbers to traverse the
Bright Angel Trail That trail is
truly a monument to the daring and
devotion of its builder He worked
at it for ten years, almost without help
or financial backing, at one period
spending almost half a year alone Ia
the vast gorge. But today Ralph
Cameron, builder of the Bright Angel
Trail, occupying a seat in the United
States Senate voted to him by the
neople of Arizona, has his reward.
Greatest Artificial Lake
But the conquest of the canyon had
hardly been realized when the engi-
neers discovered new use for it. At
Boulder Canyon, Arizona, the greatest
dam In the world, third OF a mile
high, should impound a lake which,
spreading over a great area in Arizona
and Utah, would be, next to Lake
Michigan, the largest fresh water body
entirely within the United States.
Harnessed to mighty turbines, the wa
ter, falling hundreds of feet, would
produce power greater than Niagara,
and irrigate an area several times that
Of the Nile Basin, which served for
uncounted centuries as granary of the
ancient world.
The Boulder Canyon dam has not
yet been built, but the people OF the
Southwest are as confident of it's con-
struction as that the Colorado will
continue to flow between its giant
walls.
Now comes new chapter in the
romance of the Colorado. The in
trepid "wildcatters' of the oil indus
try, scouting for new sources Of petro-
leum, have brought in an oil well right
in the canyon! Drilling from mar
row shelf at the gorge's bottom. they
have overcome unbelievable obstacles.
Perpendicular walls of rock grizzly for
babe construction of road or trail to
transport machinery and supplies.
From the river succession of rock
walls rise in gargantuan terraces to a
height Of 5000 feet.
The "Great American Desert"
The little Mormon town of Moab,
eighteen miles upstream, is the near
est supply base. But Moab Is not
railroad town; drive of forty miles is
still required to reach the Denver &
Rio Grande railroad. Salt Lake City
is $50 miles away, to the northwest.
Standing at the foot Of the derrick
which marks the site of the new oil,
well, ones back is fairly against an
500 foot cliff, which is matched by an
other Immediately across the river.
Looking up, one imagines that If he
could climb one OF these walls he
would be outside" But, trying this,
he finds himself on plateau or ter
race, with another cliff little way
ahead To climb this, in turn, would
only bring him face to face with still
another cliff. and so on till he had
mounted full 5000 feet from the river.
Not only must this succession OF
cliffs be mounted, but to traverse the
rock terraces. gashed and torn. is only
less difficult. And finally, the ascent
to the outer rim accomplished, one
confronts waste of ridged, scanned
and boulder-strewn desert. endless
save for distant mountain peaks.
Manifestly, the oil "wildcatters"
could not maks xoads, 80 they built