92 
THE GRAND (;a5J0N DISTRICT. 
Tliere is notliing gloomy about such colors. Under a burning sun that is 
i-arely clouded they have a brilliancy seldom seen in any rocks, and only 
suipassed by the sugary whiteness of the Jurassic sandstone or the brilliant 
red of the Vei’milion Cliffs. 
Directly in the southward prolongation of the axis of the Toroweap 
Valley there stands a basaltic cinder cone immediately upon the brink of 
the inner gorge. Its altitude above the surrounding plain is 580 feet. The 
summit is readily gained, and it is an admirable stand-point from which the 
entire panorama may be viewed. We named it Vulcan’s Throne. To the 
eastward about forty miles of the main chasm are well in view. The alti- 
tude of the cone, though small in comparison with surrounding objects, is 
sufficient to bring into view about eight miles of the opening of the inner 
gorge, while in the foreground its depths are seen. To the westward the 
scenery is much more broken and diversified. The chasm is seen through 
the entire stretch in the Uinkaret Plateau and reaching a few miles into the 
Sheavwits. But about twenty miles westward it makes a southward turn 
and disappears. From the north the Toroweap Valley descends from near 
Mount Trumbull. It is cut down only to the base of the Upper Canon 
Wall and opens into the main chasm on the level of the plain above the 
inner gorge. There is reason to believe that at some prior epoch it was 
cut a few hundred feet deeper than its present floor, and was subsequently 
built up by many floods of basalt coming from the cones on the Uinkaret 
and by considerable quantities of alluvium washed from its cliffs and over- 
looking mesas. On the south side of the Grand Canon is a valley quite the 
counterpart of the Toroweap. It enters the main chasm directly opposite 
to the Toroweap, so that the two form the arms of a transept, the main 
chasm being regarded as the nave. Vulcan’s Throne is situated almost 
exactly at the intersection of the axes of nave and transept. 
It would be difficult to find anywhere else in the world a spot yielding 
so much subject-matter for the contemplation of the geologist; certainly 
there is none situated in the midst of such dramatic and inspiring surround- 
ings. The chasm itself, with its marvelous story of erosion, and the two 
lateral valleys adding their quotas of information are grand subjects indeed; 
but other themes are disclosed which are scarcely less sui’prising and sug- 
