The Western United States | Page 4

basin a bed of
salt appeared, for this substance could not be carried away, as the water
had been, by the thirsty air.

Remarkably perfect beaches still exist around the shores of this old lake,
and on them are found the pearly shells of multitudes of fresh-water
mollusks. The presence of these shells leads us to believe that after the
salt lake dried up, the river again broke in and formed a new lake of
comparatively fresh water which also, after a time, dried up.
The wonderful fertility of the Colorado delta is just beginning to be
appreciated. Canals have been dug to take the water from the river and
distribute it over the land. Year by year the cultivated lands are being
extended. The change which irrigation is making upon the surface of
one of the worst deserts in the country is indeed remarkable.
The Colorado River is working on quietly and steadily. We may think,
and truly, that it has already done a great at work in excavating the
mighty cañons along its course, but, in reality, the work already
accomplished is small in comparison with that which remains to be
done.
In time, if the land is not disturbed by the forces which build mountains,
the plateaus through which the river now flows in such deep cañons
will be carried away in the form of sand and mud. Broad valleys will
replace the cañons, and the Gulf of California will become a fertile
plain. As the highlands wear away the process will go on more and
more slowly, for there will be less rainfall. The river will become
smaller and its basin more arid. All these changes will be brought about
through the crumbling of the rocks, and the removal of the waste matter
by the running water.

A TRIP INTO THE GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO
We may read of the Colorado plateau, and of the Grand Cañon with its
precipitous walls of variously colored rock, but unless we actually visit
this wonderland, it is hard to realize the height and extent of the plateau
and the depth of the gashes made in its surface by running water,
gashes so deep that they seem to expose the very heart of the earth.

Nature has chosen a remote and half-desert region for the location of
this, the most picturesque cañon in the world, as if she wished to keep it
as long as possible from the eyes of men. Once a traveller could not
view the cañon without making a long and weary journey across
hundreds of miles of desert; now it is quite different, for one can almost
look into its depths from the windows of a palace car. But to appreciate
and understand fully the stupendous work that nature has done
throughout this region we must leave the cars at a somewhat distant
point, and before reaching the cañon become acquainted with the
country in which it lies through the old-fashioned ways of travelling on
horseback or wagon.
Flagstaff was formerly the starting-point for travellers to the cañon, and
we will choose it now, for the old stage road offers an interesting ride.
The road first winds around that lofty snow-clad peak, the San
Francisco Mountain, which can be seen from all northern Arizona.
Leaving the mountain behind, we strike out directly across the high
plateau. The country is nearly level, and the open park-like forest
extends in every direction as far as one can see.
It is difficult for us to believe that we are seven thousand feet above the
sea, a height greater than that of the highest mountains in the United
States east of the Mississippi Valley. It is this elevation, however,
which brings the summer showers and makes the air cool and pleasant,
for the lowlands of this portion of the United States are barren deserts,
upon which the sun beats with almost savage heat.
After the rainy season green grass and an abundance of flowers appear
in the open meadows scattered through the forest. But, as a rule, the
entire absence of water strikes one as being very strange. Where are the
springs and running streams which usually abound in mountainous
regions? Throughout the whole distance of seventy miles from
Flagstaff to the cañon, there are but one or two spots where water is to
be found. These places are known as "water-holes"; they are simply
hollows in the surface of the ground where the water collects after the
showers.
There is another strange feature about the plateau over which the road

leads; instead of sloping down toward the Colorado River and the
Grand Cañon, the surface slowly rises, so that the little streams which
are formed after the heavy rains flow away from the river.
Our journey draws to an end,