224 
NATURAL BRIDGES OF UTAH 
called Ashdown gorge, is impassible except on horseback. The 
waters of this gorge collect far up near the rim of the Plateau 
in a broad ampitheatre called Cedar Breaks. The automobile 
road in the other tributary leads to the plateau and then along 
the rim to a point where Cedar Breaks can be seen from above. 
The Plateau in this vicinity attains an average height of nearly 
10,000 feet, while its base, at Cedar' City, less than 15 miles dis¬ 
tant, is 4,000 feet lower. The strata are characteristically horizon¬ 
tal, except at the western base where they are highly tilted toward 
the east, due to proximity of the great Hurricane Fault. The 
sedimentary rocks exposed on the western face range from Car¬ 
bonic to Tertic age, with a lava flow on the top. The varicolored 
formations exposed in the lower part of the canyon alone are 
easily sufficient to attract widespread attention. 
Ashdown Gorge constitutes a narrow defile, scarcely more than 
a hundred feet wide and nearly a thousand feet deep. Through¬ 
out its length of three or four miles the gorge is only sufficiently 
wide to accommodate the stream. No tributaries enter it, either 
large or small, except at heights far above the level of the canyon 
floor, much in the manner of hanging valleys in a glaciated region. 
This condition, however, is wholly due to water erosion. The 
tributaries have not been able to keep pace with the downward 
cutting action of the main stream. Both above and below this 
place the canyon loses its typical box-type and widens out into 
one of receding sides. 
At a point about half way through the gorge and nearly a 
thousand feet above the stream channel, one of the tributaries 
from what we may call a hanging valley, has produced a 
beautifully proportioned bridge (plate xvi. A). The span is 
100 feet long, and the arch is slightly less. In order to see this 
structure from the stream-bed below, one is limited in his selection 
of position to a very few square rods, and even then he must 
look upward at an angle closely approaching ninety degrees. 
The bridge is hidden away in the midst of a multitude of abrupt 
crags, themselves covered with a dense growth of pines. In 
such an environment it is small wonder that such a bridge was 
not seen until five years ago, even though it is situated within 
ten miles of a flourishing settlement. 
In general form. Cedar Breaks might be likened to the cirque 
