The Western United States | Page 5

but there is nothing to indicate the
presence of the cañon until we get glimpses through the trees of an
apparently bottomless gulf. The gulf widens upon a closer view, we
reach the edge, and all its wonderful proportions burst upon us. Does
the Grand Cañon look as you thought it would? Probably not, for it is
unlike any other in the world. The cañon is very deep. The river has
worn its way for more than a mile down into the plateau, which once
stretched unbroken from the cliffs upon which we stand, across to those
upon the opposite side, nearly ten miles away.
The clear air makes objects upon the opposite side and in the bottom of
the cañon seem much nearer than they really are. You may think that it
is an easy task to go to the bottom of the cañon and climb back again in
a day, but in reality it is so difficult an undertaking that only those who
are accustomed to mountain climbing can accomplish it.
It is not merely the great width and depth of the cañon that impress us,
but also the bright, variegated colors which the different rock layers
display as they stretch in horizontal bands along the faces of the cliffs,
or sweep around the towers and pinnacles until their detailed outlines
are lost in the distant blue haze.
Our eyes wander far down, toward the bottom of the cañon, following
the alternate lines of precipitous cliffs and slopes covered with rock
fragments. The cliffs and slopes succeed each other like the steps in a
giant stairway, until at the very bottom the opposite walls meet in a
gorge so narrow that in only a few places does the river come into view,
glistening like a silver thread.
A hotel stands among the trees a short distance from the brink of the
cañon. Living here is expensive, for every article of food has to be
brought upon the cars and wagons for a distance of hundreds of miles.
Even the water has to be brought in wagons from a distant spring.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--A SCENE ON THE TRAIL]
In visiting the cañon we have the choice of going on horseback or on
foot. While the latter method is much harder, yet one feels safer upon
his own feet while moving along the steep and narrow trail. Our start is
made in the cool air of the early morning. Leaving the top of the
plateau, where among the pines the summer air is seldom sultry, and
the winters are cold and snowy, we descend, until, by luncheon time,
we are far below the heights and in the midst of an almost tropical
climate. This difference in climatic features between the top and bottom
of the cañon is equal to the change which the traveller experiences in a
trip from the pine forests of the northern United States to the
cactus-covered plains of Arizona.
As we look down from the top of the trail it does not seem possible to
pass the great cliffs below, and yet there must be a way, since others
have gone before us. All that we have to do is simply to follow the
beaten path. Nature has conveniently left narrow shelves, crevices, and
less precipitous slopes here and there, which need only the application
of the pick and shovel to be made passable even for pack animals.
Where the trail winds into shady recesses, we find stunted fir and pine
trees clinging to the crevices and stretching their roots down into the
waste rock collected upon projecting ledges.
Down, down we go. The belt of the yellow pine and fir is left behind,
and we come to the habitat of the piñon pine and juniper. These two
will flourish where there is less moisture than is needed by the trees
which grow nearer the top. Soon the trees have all disappeared and
such plants as the greasewood, cactus, and agave take their place. Here,
if it were not for the walls of rock rising on every hand, we might
imagine ourselves upon one of the desert plains of Arizona.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--CLIFFS ON THE TRAIL INTO THE GRAND
CAÑON]
New views open at every turn in the trail, as it winds along the narrow
shelves of rock with precipitous walls above and below. Now it zigzags
back and forth down a gentle slope, but is soon stopped by another

precipice. In one place, to escape a rocky point, the trail has been
carried around the face of a cliff on a sort of shelf made of logs. It then
passes through a crevice formed by the splitting away of a huge piece
of the wall. In many places the grade is so steep that the trail is