52 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
hard rocks of the mountains the streams have succeeded in cutting 
back only a short distance and have formed canyons like that of 
South Cheyenne. At some places in South Cheyenne Canyon this 
backward cutting has proceeded rapidly because the granite is shat- 
tered, but at the Seven Falls the joints and fissures in the rock ex- 
tend to one side, as shown in Plate XXX, whereas the stream tumbles 
over a wall of the most massive rock imaginable, and the canyon ends 
so abruptly that it seems almost as if it had been the work of 
man. If the rock were not of this character the stream would prob- 
ably have cut considerably farther back, and in that event the Seven 
Falls would probably have been replaced by a series of cascades. In 
time this cutting will doubtless be accomplished, for the stream is 
always at work—it knows no cessation from its labors—and, although 
the work of cutting the granite is extremely slow when compared with 
human standards, it is continuous, and if conditions remain the same 
as they are to-day the canyon will be cut far back into the mountain, 
until, in even more remote time, the mountains themselves may be 
worn down and a plain may be found where now we have our grand- 
est scenery. The regularity and smoothness of the walls of South 
Cheyenne Canyon are due largely to the massiveness of the granite 
in which the canyon is carved. 
The traveler should climb to the top of the falls, where he can ob- 
tain a much better idea of the magnitude of the gorge, and then he 
will doubtless be impelled to climb still higher, to Inspiration Point, 
which is said to be the spot most beloved by Helen Hunt Jackson, 
the place where she wrote many of her most noted works of fiction. 
One can hardly imagine a more inspiring sight than that of Colorado 
Springs and the broad stretch of plain seen from this point; and 
here, amid the grandeur of the mountains, the romantic imagination 
of so ardent a lover of nature would readily be quickened into new 
life. She pays this tribute to Inspiration Point: 
Beautiful cradle of peace! There are some spots on earth which seem to 
have a strong personality about them—a charm and a Spell far beyond any- 
thing which mere material nature, however lovely, can exert; a charm which 
charms like the beauty of a human face; and a spell which lasts like the 
bond of a human relation. In such spots we can live alone without being 
lonely. We go away from them with the same sort of sorrow with which we 
part from friends, and we recall their looks with the yearning tenderness with 
which we look on the photographs of beloved absent faces. 
Although Helen Hunt Jackson died in California, her last request 
was that her body be brought back and laid to rest in this spot on 
Cheyenne Mountain that she so dearly loved and that the place be 
marked only by the boulders which nature had provided. This was 
done, and many thousand travelers still visit the grave annually 
and pay tribute to the gifted author, though her body now lies in 
Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs. 
