THE GRANITE GORGE, I,300 FEET DEEP Photo by Kolb Brothers 



Composed of igneous rock. The granite is capped with a 200-foot layer of tonto sand- 

 stone. In many cases the granite can be climbed, but this upper cap overhangs for miles, 

 so that it is next to impossible to climb over it except where lateral streams have broken it 

 down. The inner plateau, varying in width from a half mile to three miles, is directly above 

 this tonto sandstone. Nearly all the temples, as they are called, rest on this formation. 

 The granite extends nearly sixty miles in the first or upper part of the Grand Canyon, then 

 disappears, emerging again near the lower reaches of the Grand Canyon. Some of the 

 worst rapids we had to negotiate on the journey were found in the granite gorge (see also 

 page 146). 



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