278 



The National Geographic Magazine 



ramas are unfolded before us. The colors 

 illusive and divinely artistic, shift and 

 change and blend as we gaze in. wonder 

 and amazement. 



THE MOST WONDERFUL HIGHWAY EVER 

 BUILT BY MAN 



We are now entering upon what many 

 travelers have described as the most won- 

 derful highway ever made by man. A 

 great thoroughfare built for 40 miles 

 through the heart of a rugged range of 

 mountains and for the most part literally 

 carved from the living rock. As we go 

 along note the coloring on the rocks, and 

 believe me when I tell you the colors 

 shown are not exaggerated, for it would 

 be impossible for human artist to dupli- 

 cate, far less to exaggerate, the colors 

 which the Divine Hand has put upon 

 these stones. 



I need not tell you that road-building 

 in a country like this was difficult; that 

 fact stares you in the face at every point. 

 When the surveying party reached the top 

 of Fish Creek Hill the engineer called a 

 halt. He wanted time to think ; and the 

 problem before him demanded thought. 

 He looked over the cliff into a blind can- 

 yon, into which there was not even a 

 foot trail. A thousand feet sheer below 

 him he could discover faintly a tiny 

 stream of water and a few green trees. 

 How was he going to get there with a 

 wagon road over which tons and tons 

 of machinery must be hauled ? A hurried 

 reconnaissance disclosed the fact that to 

 go around the canyon meant adding 15 

 miles to the road. It was not to be 

 thought of. So he decided to blast a road 

 down the face of the steep cliff, and it 

 was done. 



It would be simply terrifying to go 

 over the road today but for the fact that 

 the government has built it broad and 

 comfortable, with easy grades and many 

 safe turnouts, for standing here at the 

 edge of the road a pebble slioped from 

 the fingers shoots almost straight down 

 a thousand feet without stopping. 



At one point we get a view of the road 

 almost to the blind end of the canyon, 

 and can also see the line of road as it 



turns back on the other side. Just before 

 we make this turn we cross a pretty little 

 bridge 60 feet above Fish Creek. Down 

 in the bottom of the canyon we find 

 Frazier's Road House, a comfortable 

 little inn, with good beds and a genial 

 landlord. Here we shall spend the night. 

 In this canyon, a miniature grand canyon 

 of the Colorado, we will witness the 

 golden glory of a sunset whose splendor 

 will be impressed forever on our mem- 

 ory. Later we shall sit in the twilight 

 and watch the stars steal forth in skies 

 that seem to touch the walls of the can- 

 yon all around us. 



The brooding mystery of the scene and 

 the witchery of the hour will sink deeply 

 into our hearts and color our dreams for 

 many nights hereafter. 



In the morning early we make our start 

 to climb out of the canyon. Another 

 panorama of mountains, uncanny buttes, 

 steep-walled canyons, and narrow val- 

 leys passes before us. Freakishly shaped 

 rocks, grotesque and awe-inspiring, tower 

 above us. What wonder that the Indian 

 viewed the country with superstition and 

 awe ! 



At places we skirt dark chasms. Here 

 the road has been cut from a rock. that is 

 milk white. Here the mountain-top was 

 blasted off and the road built from the 

 river up. Here we have a long swing on 

 the edge of a profound forge, and as we 

 pass along we are thankful indeed that 

 our road is wide and safe. 



Higher and higher we climb, every 

 moment catching glimpses of difficult 

 problems in road building worked out 

 successfully. We pass through great 

 cuts, and here and there the road has been 

 built up from below with masonry. 



THE ROOSEVELT DAM AND OTHER MARVELS- 



Our road has brought us to the top 

 of the narrow gorge Salt River has cut 

 through the mountains, and we look down 

 upon one of the world's greatest engi- 

 neering works in process of construction, 

 the Roosevelt dam. This wonderful 

 structure of sandstone and cement will 

 rise 284 feet above the river. It will be 

 1,080 feet long on top and 170 feet thick 



