Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1926-08-18

L HE SdAyOH u llC WV
RADIO River, widely regarded
- as the worlds most imposing
4S2I 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 tran is
truly a monument to the daring and
devotion of its builder. He worked
at 1t for ten years, almost without help
or financial backing, at one period
spending almost half year alone IN
the vast gorge. But today Ralph
Cameron, builder of the Bright Anger
Trail, occupying seat in the United
States Senate voted to him by the
people of Arizona, has his reward.
Greatest Artificial Lake
But the conquest of the canyon had
hardly been realized when the engl~
neers discovered a new use for 1t. AT
Boulder Canyon, Arizona, the greatest
dam in the world, third Of mile
high. should impound a lake which,
spreading over 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 a power greater than Niagara
and irrigate an area several times that
of the Nile Basin, which served Tor
uncounted centuries as granary OF the
ancient world.
The Boulder Canyon dam has not
vet been built, but the people oil the
Southwest are as confident OF its con-
struction as that the Colorado will
continue to flow between its giant
walls.
Now comes a 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 a mar
row shelf at the gorge's bottom, they
have overcome unbelievable obstacles.
Perpendicular walls of rock grimly for
babe construction Of road or tran 10
transport machinery and supplies
From the river a succession OF rock
walls rise in gargantuan terraces to
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; a drive of forty miles Is
still required to reach the Denver q
Rio Grande railroad. Salt Lake CITY
is ESQ 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 II ne
could climb one OF these walls NJ
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, wouiC
only bring him face to face with stll
another cliff, and so on till ne ha'
mounted full 5000 feet from the river
Not only must this succession o
cliffs be mounted, but to traverse tn
rock terraces, gashed and torn. is oni,
less dificult. And finally. the ascen
to the outer rim accomplished, on
confronts a waste of ridged, seame'
and boulder-strewn desert. endles
save for distant mountain peaks
Manifestly, the oil "wildcatters
could not make roads. SO they Duil