THE GRAND CANON OF THE COLORADO RIVER IN 



ARIZONA. 



PRIN. WM. I. MARSHALL, 

 Lawndale School. 



THE Colorado River is pre-emi 

 nently "The River of Canons." 

 Formed in eastern Utah by the 

 junction of the Green River, 

 rising in northwest Wyoming, and 

 the Grand, which has its sources in the 

 mountain rim which walls in the Mid 

 dle Park of the State of Colorado, not 

 a mile of the Colorado River is in the 

 state of Colorado. 



About two-fifths of its nearly 2,000 

 miles, reckoning from the sources of 

 the Green, which is the main stream, 

 flows through canons, the series cul 

 minating in magnitude and grandeur in 

 the Grand Canon of the Colorado in 

 Arizona. In 1875, the Government Print 

 ing Office at Washington printed in a 

 finely illustrated quarto volume of 291 

 pages, under the modest and unpreten 

 tious title of "Exploration of the Colo 

 rado River of the West and Its Trib 

 utaries, Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, 

 and 1872 Under the Direction of 

 the Secretary of the Smithsonian In 

 stitution," the fascinating and graphic 

 story of one of the most perilous 

 explorations ever undertaken by man, 

 and one whose origin and success 

 ful outcome were due to the scientific 

 enthusiasm, the great endurance, the 

 fertility of resources and the dauntless 

 courage of Maj. J. W. Powell. Few 

 men with two arms would have dared 

 to enter upon, or could successfully 

 have completed the task, and he had 

 left his good right arm on a battle-field 

 of our civil war. 



In 1882, the United States Geological 

 Survey, of which Maj. Powell was then 

 director, printed Vol. II of its Mono 

 graphs, being the "Tertiary History of 

 the Grand Canon District, by Capt. C. 

 E. Dutton, U. S. A.," a sumptuous 

 quarto of 264 pages, with maps and 

 splendid illustrations. 



These two books are, and must ever 

 remain the great authorities on "The 

 River of Canons," and I shall only 



write briefly of the route to and scenic 

 splendors of the Grand Canon. 



It is accessible from various points 

 along the Santa Fe Railway, but most 

 easily at present by a stage ride of 

 seventy-three miles, at an elevation 

 above the sea varying from 6,866 to 

 nearly 9,000 feet, from Flagstaff, Ari 

 zona a beautifully situated mountain 

 town at the southern base of the San 

 Francisco Peaks, a cluster of volcanic 

 mountains, the loftiest of which rises 

 nearly 13,000 feet above the sea, and 

 some 6,000 feet above Flagstaff. 



At Flagstaff is the famous Lowell 

 Astronomical Observatory, and about 

 it are many points of much interest, es 

 pecially Walnut Creek Canon, with its 

 extensive ruins of the cliff dwellers' 

 houses built midway up the face of the 

 almost vertical cliffs. 



The first and last thirds of the stage 

 ride to the Canon are through the great 

 Conconino Forest of long-leaved pines 

 much scattered and with no under 

 brush but commonly with splendid 

 grass and unnumbered wild flowers 

 covering all the open spaces between 

 them. 



The middle third is over a more des 

 ert region, but not destitute of grass, 

 and with stunted pines and cedars 

 growing on most of the ridges and hills 

 along the way. 



For the past two years there has 

 been little rain and the route last July 

 was much more dusty than when I went 

 over it first in 1895, an< ^ deemed it one 

 of the most enjoyable stage rides I had 

 ever taken; but rains late in July made 

 it much pleasanter when I returned in 

 August, this year, for a third visit. 



Along the whole seventy-three miles 

 there is no lake, pond, river, creek, 

 brook, rivulet, or rill, no running water 

 except springs at two points many 

 miles apart which have been piped into 

 troughs for stock. 



This absence of water over so wide 



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