298 
COLORADO RIVER BASIN 
scarcely a typical canyon, perhaps better an amphitheater. Pro¬ 
bably nowhere else on earth has nature developed as wide a va¬ 
riety of grotesque erosional forms as here. The amphitheater is 
approximately three miles across and five hundred feet deep, and 
the entire area is filled with sculpturing, large and small, among 
which the mind can imagine almost any form known to human 
experience. The coloring adds infinitely to its beauty. Reds and 
whites predominate, but one may stand on the rim of the canyon 
and successfully challenge anyone to name a shade or tint of the 
spectrum which is not present. 
The visitor to Bryce Canyon instantly feels a welcoming friend¬ 
ship. He complacently sits on the precipitous rim and experi¬ 
ences no fear. He climbs ladders and follows narrow paths 
into the inner recesses and feels wholly at ease. He watches the 
canyon in its various moods, with the changing of the day, and 
admires it more with each shifting scene. His soul exults with his 
first vision of the canyon; he tarries longer than he had planned; 
and he leaves under protest, but with solemn promise soon to 
return. 
In its larger aspect, the Colorado River should be viewed in 
the light of steadily attacking the problem which was thrust upon 
it more than a million years ago. It has already moved, from a 
large part of the Basin, fully ten thousand feet of rock covering, 
and, in addition, has sunk a channel more than a mile deep into the 
still older strata. The river is now carrying annually one hun¬ 
dred millions of tons of disintegrated rock materials to the sea. 
In the course of its work it has developed some of the choicest 
scenic wonders known to man. These, of course, are all incidental 
to the great objective. Moreover, they are not everlasting, but 
in the coming ages of earth-history will gradually disappear. Even 
the Canyon with its ponderous walls and mighty chasms will not 
endure forever, yet from the human point of view these majestic 
spectacles may well be regarded as eternal. 
