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THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT. 
extremely feeble, is unfailiug and the water excellent. The Milk Spring, 
though very much more copious, has been known to fail in very dry sea- 
sons. Thompson’s Spring is an important camping place in the study of the 
extreme southern portions of the Kaibab, for it is the last spring of water in 
that direction which can be depended upon. A good trail leads to it from 
De Motte Park, the distance being about 17 miles. 
From this point we may visit several interesting localities. Following 
downwards the main ravine about five miles we find it at length betraying 
evidence that it is near the brink of some amphitheater. Climbing the 
steep bank to the main platform 300 feet above, we move towards the 
southwest, and in half an hour more are upon the verge of one of the 
finest and perhaps the most picturesque of the gorges in the whole Kaibab 
front. It is a tributary to the Bright Angel Amphitheater, and has been 
called by us The Transept. Though only of the second or third order of 
magnitude among the lateral excavations along the Grand Canon, it is far 
grander than Yosemite. At the very head of the gorge the walls plunge 
downwards at once more than 3,000 feet. As the gorge deepens towards 
its junction with the main amphitheater the aspect of the lateral walls, as 
they recede from us, becomes most imposing. The details of their sculp- 
ture are very beautiful and thoroughly systematic, and every characteristic 
is sustained throughout their whole extent. The entire length of the cham- 
ber is seen in perspective. Beyond its opening we see the grandeur of the 
central canon with butte beyond butte, and the vast southern wall of the 
main chasm in the background fifteen miles away. To many spectators 
the dominant thought here might be that this stupendous work has been 
accomplished by some intelligence akin to the human rather than by the 
blind forces of nature. Everything is apparently planned and cut with as 
much definiteness of design as a rock-temple of Petrsea or Ellore. 
Another interesting locality is the cape where the Transept joins the 
main amphitheater. It is easily reached from Thompson’s Spring. Here 
is disclosed the 
