The Grand Canyon of Arizona | Page 8

destroyed a
vast Eocene lake, which covered as large an area as perhaps half a
dozen Eastern States, and at the same time carried away about twelve
thousand feet of strata. Lazy? When you consider that from north to
south, for a hundred or more miles, the whole region has been heaving
and tossing, curving and buckling, arching and crumpling its strata,
faulting by rising, faulting by sinking, until the geologist who would
study the faults finds, in the area of one half-mile, near the mouth of
Shinumo Creek, his work for a lifetime cut out for him.
No! No! Mr. College President! You must look more fully. You must
guess again! The Canyon is not lazy. It is merely a gigantic natural
representation of yourself. You are the embodiment of energy of body,
mind and soul; yet you are never seen hurried or disturbed. You have
the serenity of genius. So with the Canyon. It has done and is doing
great things. It has been a persistent worker during the millions of years
of its existence, but it has the calm serenity of consciousness of
strength. What you took to be laziness is the restfulness of divine
power.
When First Seen. These are some of the effects the Canyon has upon
men. I once walked up to the rim with a lawyer, who to-day is one of
the foremost figures of the San Francisco bar, a man of lion-like
courage and almost reckless bravery. At the first glimpse he fell on his
knees, clasped me around mine, and begged me to take him away,
declaring that a gift of all Arizona would not lead him to take another
glimpse into its awesome depths.
I know of one lady who, for weeks afterwards, would wake up almost
every night, and feel herself falling into the fathomless gorge.

Yet the next day the lawyer went with me down to the river, and to this
day declares it was the "most memorable trip of his life;" while the
timid lady, to my own knowledge, has made over five trips to the
Canyon.
Those of less susceptible nerves cannot conceive the effect the first
sight of the Canyon produces upon such supersensitive natures as these
to which I have referred. I have seen strong men fall upon their knees. I
have seen women, driven up to the rim unexpectedly, lean away from
the Canyon, the whole countenance an index of the terror felt within,
gasp for breath, and though almost paralyzed by their dread of the
indescribable abyss, refuse either to close their eyes or turn them away
from it. Some few remain away for a day or two until their nerves
become more steady. Yet I have never known one of these susceptible
observers, these keenly sensitive natures that, on due consideration, has
not been thankful for the experience, and in every case has either
returned to fully enjoy the Canyon, or has longed to do so.
But, you ask, what is the Canyon for? The answer is simple, and
reveals a very humble task as the main work of this vast and
gorgeously-colored abyss. It merely acts as the home of a great river,
that for hundreds of miles does not serve a single useful purpose to
man.
Yet purely material uses are of the lowest kind. The Grand Canyon has
a far higher mission than that I have spoken of, and others that are
suggested in various chapters of this book. The Grand Canyon is God's
greatest gift of His material handiwork in visible form on our earth. It is
an expression of His divine thought; it is a manifestation of His divine
love. It is a link, a wonderful connecting link, between the human and
the Divine, between man and his Great Creator, his Loving Father,
Almighty God.
CHAPTER II.
On The Grand Canyon Railway To El Tovar
History of the Grand Canyon Railway. The Grand Canyon Railway

leaves the main line of the Santa Fe at Williams, Arizona. It is an
integral part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway System,
that operates its own lines between Chicago, Los Angeles and San
Francisco.
Though surveys had been made years ago from Ash Fork, Williams and
Flagstaff, it was left for the Tusayan Development Company of New
York, who owned a group of copper mines located twenty miles south
of the head of Bright Angel Trail, actually to build the railway part way
to the Canyon. It was later extended to the rim by the Santa Fe, and
afterwards practically rebuilt. The original purpose was to reach the
mines referred to and convey the ore to Williams, where the smelter
then erected is to be seen on the hillside east of the town.
The promoter of the mines and railway