GRAND CANON OF THE COLORADO 417 



THE MAKING OF THE GRAND CAN OX OF THE COLORADO 



By Professor a. R. CROOK 



CURATOR, ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



r I ^HE Grand Canon of the Colorado furnishes the most impressive 

 -*- illustration of canon-making forces to be found, and presents a 

 fascinating chapter of world history. 



Nearly every visitor to the Canon attempts an explanation of the 

 manner of its making, and their explanations may be broadly grouped 

 under five types — the explanation of the Indians who for centuries 

 have inhabited the Colorado River region, that of one of the oldest 

 white settlers in Arizona, that of a successful Chicago business man, 

 that of a famous literary man, and finallv that of men who have studied 

 various phases of world making long enough to have learned the chief 

 principles involved. 



The Indians who have lived in Arizona, generation after genera- 

 tion, might be expected to have some notion of the origin of the Canon. 

 Their explanation is that a wise chieftain long mourned the death of 

 a beloved wife. Finally, in pity, one of the gods made a great cleft 

 in the earth, took the chieftain to the Happy Hunting Ground to see 

 his wife; and then upon their return, fearing that others might go 

 that way, the god hurled a river in the cleft where it is now flowing,, 

 effectually barring the way against intruders. The ' god-made ' theory 

 of the Indians is unsatisfactory as the infant science of any race 

 alwavs is. 



The explanation of one of the oldest settlers in the region is hardly 

 better. It is that of the widely-known John Hance. One morning 

 he entertained the writer with the picturesque stories which he has 

 poured into the ears of many an amused traveler, telling how thirty 

 years ago he went from the Atlantic coast to Arizona to find room for 

 his energies. In the east he was crowded. In Arizona he found oppor- 

 tunity to expand. A few years ago he used to tell that he dug the 

 canon, but says that he no longer makes the statement, because a little 

 girl asked him where he put the dirt ! The man-made explanation 

 of the white man is no more satisfactory than the god-made theory of 

 the Indian. 



A Chicago business man who knows how to make dollars, thinks 

 he knows how the canon was made, and after visiting it said to the 

 author : " I'll tell you how that canon was made. Once there was a 



VOL. LXIX. — 27. 



