The Grand Cañon of the Colorado | Page 2

it as "the biggest chasm on earth"--"so big is it that all
other big things,--Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Pyramids,
Chicago,--all would be lost if tumbled into it." Naturally enough,
illustrations as to size are sought for among other cañons like or unlike
it, with the common result of worse confounding confusion. The
prudent keep silence. It was once said that the "Grand Cañon could put
a dozen Yosemites in its vest pocket."

The justly famous Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone is, like the
Colorado, gorgeously colored and abruptly countersunk in a plateau,
and both are mainly the work of water. But the Colorado's cañon is
more than a thousand times larger, and as a score or two new buildings
of ordinary size would not appreciably change the general view of a
great city, so hundreds of Yellowstones might be eroded in the sides of
the Colorado Cañon without noticeably augmenting its size or the
richness of its sculpture. But it is not true that the great Yosemite rocks
would be thus lost or hidden. Nothing of their kind in the world, so far
as I know, rivals El Capitan and Tissiack, much less dwarfs or in any
way belittles them. None of the sandstone or limestone precipices of
the cañon that I have seen or heard of approaches in smooth, flawless
strength and grandeur the granite face of El Capitan or the Tenaya side
of Cloud's Rest. These colossal cliffs, types of permanence, are about
three thousand and six thousand feet high; those of the cañon that are
sheer are about half as high, and are types of fleeting change; while
glorious-domed Tissiack, noblest of mountain buildings, far from being
overshadowed or lost in this rosy, spiry cañon company, would draw
every eye, and, in serene majesty, "aboon them a'" she would take her
place--castle, temple, palace, or tower. Nevertheless a noted writer,
comparing the Grand Cañon in a general way with the glacial Yosemite,
says: "And the Yosemite--ah, the lovely Yosemite! Dumped down into
the wilderness of gorges and mountains, it would take a guide who
knew of its existence a long time to find it." This is striking, and shows
up well above the levels of commonplace description; but it is
confusing, and has the fatal fault of not being true. As well try to
describe an eagle by putting a lark in it. "And the lark--ah, the lovely
lark! Dumped down the red, royal gorge of the eagle, it would be hard
to find." Each in its own place is better, singing at heaven's gate, and
sailing the sky with the clouds.
Every feature of nature's big face is beautiful,--height and hollow,
wrinkle, furrow, and line,--and this is the main master furrow of its
kind on our continent, incomparably greater and more impressive than
any other yet discovered, or likely to be discovered, now that all the
great rivers have been traced to their heads.

The Colorado River rises in the heart of the continent on the dividing
ranges and ridges between the two oceans, drains thousands of snowy
mountains through narrow or spacious valleys, and thence through
cañons of every color, sheer-walled and deep, all of which seem to be
represented in this one grand cañon of cañons.
It is very hard to give anything like an adequate conception of its size,
much more of its color, its vast wall-sculpture, the wealth of ornate
architectural buildings that fill it, or, most of all, the tremendous
impression it makes. According to Major Powell, it is about two
hundred and seventeen miles long, from five to fifteen miles wide from
rim to rim, and from about five thousand to six thousand feet deep. So
tremendous a chasm would be one of the world's greatest wonders even
if, like ordinary cañons cut in sedimentary rocks, it were empty and its
walls were simple. But instead of being plain, the walls are so deeply
and elaborately carved into all sorts of recesses--alcoves, cirques,
amphitheaters, and side-cañons--that were you to trace the rim closely
around on both sides your journey would be nearly a thousand miles
long. Into all these recesses the level, continuous beds of rock in ledges
and benches, with their various colors, run like broad ribbons,
marvelously beautiful and effective even at a distance of ten or twelve
miles. And the vast space these glorious walls inclose, instead of being
empty, is crowded with gigantic architectural rock forms gorgeously
colored and adorned with towers and spires like works of art.
Looking down from this level plateau, we are more impressed with a
feeling of being on the top of everything than when looking from the
summit of a mountain. From side to side of the vast gulf, temples,
palaces, towers, and spires come soaring up in thick array half a