DUTTO.N'.J 



THE PLATEAU PROVINCE. 



.) 



1 



Xo attempt will be made here to characterize the Sierra Nevada, partly 

 because it is not thoroughly understood, but especially because it is re- 

 mote from the region here to be discussed, and presents few considera- 

 tions essential to that discussion. The Grand Canon District is a part 

 of the Plateau Province, and to this province as a whole we may now de- 

 vote our attention. 



As already indicated, it lies between the Park and Basin Provinces, and 

 its topography differs in the extreme from those found on either side of it. 

 It is the land of tables and terraces, of buttes and mesas, of cliffs and 

 canons. Standing upon any elevated spot where the radius of vision 

 reaches out fifty or a hundred miles, the observer beholds a strange spec- 

 tacle. The most conspicuous objects are the lofty and brilliantly colored 





Fir.. 2.— Bntte of the Cross. Trias. 



cliffs. They stretch their tortuous courses across the land in all directions, 

 yet not without system; here throwing out a great promontory, there 

 receding in a deep bay. and continuing on and on until they sink below 

 the horizon or swing behind some loftier mass or fade out in the distant 

 haze. Each cliff marks the boundary of a geographical terrace and 

 marks also the termination of some geological series of strata, the edges 

 of which are exposed like courses of masonry in the scarp-walls of the 

 palisades. In the distance may be seen the spectacle of cliff rising 

 above and beyond cliff, like a colossal stairway leading from the torrid 

 plains below to the domain of the clouds above. Very wonderful at 

 times is the sculpture of these majestic Malls. There is an architectural 

 style about it which must be seen to be appreciated. The resemblances 

 to architecture are not fanciful or metaphorical, but are real and vivid; 

 so much so that the unaccustomed tourist often feels a vague skepticism 

 whether these are truly the works of the blind forces of nature or 

 of some intelligence akin to the human, but far mightier; and even 



