THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO 



205 



the work are fruitless. You know you are going to fall 

 off anyway and with your eyes open you may have your 

 downward trip brightened by the sight of others in flight. 

 To me, the trip down does not enhance the glory of 

 the picture that one carries away after a view from 

 the rim. In fact it detracts from it. The canyon is 



THE POWELL MONUMENT 



A view of the monument to Major John Wesley Powell showing the 

 altar and bronze tablet. The monument was designed along the 

 lines of the old Aztec sacrificial and ritualistic structures with as 

 little of the elements of modern design as possible. 



not a place that invites intimacy. It is a sight to behold, 

 one to study day after day from various points on the 

 rim, and one the contemplation of which is calculated to 

 tax the imagination and inspire the observer. The 

 effect of intimacy is apt to prove iconoclastic. Of course, 

 if a trip in the canyon is approached in the proper spirit 

 and is planned to admit of several days' sojourn in its 

 depths, the real inner spirit of the place is sure to be 

 felt. I can imagine nothing more wonderful than a few 

 nights spent on the lower plateau with the brilliant stars 

 seen above as from the bottom of a well and the moon- 

 light and dark shadows making vast temples and pyramids 

 of the cliffs and buttresses of the canyon walls. But 

 most people do not do this. They merely mount a mule 

 and scream their fainting way down the trail and back 

 again, after which they hustle aboard the train in frantic 

 haste to reach home and tell their friends of the har- 

 rowing experience. 



The Hermit Trail is a much less terrifying route. It 

 is laid on an easier grade, is fairly wide and seldom 

 skirts the face of the cliff. Were it not for the fact that 

 it leaves the rim at a point some miles from the hotel, it 

 would no doubt be universally patronized. Due to the 

 fact that a certain active and imaginative resident of the 

 State of Arizona has plastered almost all of the canyon 

 with mining claims, it is impossible to build a train from 

 rim to river without his consent. As a result the Hermit 

 Trail only goes as far as the granite rim. The hotel 

 interests wished to continue this trail to the river and 

 to build some comfort stations and a structure to house 

 tourists over night on the lower plateau. Such improve- 

 ments are greatly needed, and, if made, would receive 



the hearty approval of those who love the canyon. But 

 the owner of the claims will not permit any such thing 

 except for a sum despite the fact that this is a national 

 monument and supposedly under federal control. 

 Whether any mineral has ever been discovered there or 

 not I do not know. Possibly a trace here and there 

 has been found, but certainly no deposits in paying quan- 

 tities. But then, possibly this enterprising person is going 

 to transmute the metals or disprove the theory that it 

 is impossible to get blood out of a turnip. I venture 

 to say, however, that if any gold is taken out of these 

 claims, it will not come from "pockets" in the cliffs. 

 The most serious obstacle to the development of 

 places for accommodating the tourist in the canyon is 

 the lack of water. There are only two or three places 

 above the river in the vicinity of the hotel where water 

 can be had, and at these points the quantity is limited. 

 Of course they are on mineral claims. Nearly every- 

 thing but the scenery is, but this should not excuse the 

 Government from the obligation to either develop or 



ON NEW HERMIT TRAIL 



This pathway down the precipitous sides of the Canyon was recently 

 completed and is considered rather easier traveling and less of a 

 strain upon the traveler who may be nervous about descending the 

 steep slopes to the floor of the Canyon. 



permit others to open up the canyon to those who would 

 like to go through it in some degree of comfort. 



If one is really bent upon doing the trip properly, and 

 is willing to suffer a few frights, there is but one prac- 

 tical route. Start from the hotel and drive along the 

 rim road some 10 or 11 miles to the head of the 

 Hermit Trail. There, after due ceremonials incident to 

 a change in the means of locomotion, some really trust- 

 worthy mules will be led forth to serve as the ship of 



