The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 2004
University of the Pacific, Stockton, C. Volume 14, Number 4 Fall 2004' OHM nUlKS C^ONNECTIOri WITH THE CREATIOM OF PREFACE by W.R. Swagerty, Director, John Muir Center ne of the earth's unique geological wonders, the ) Grand Canyon of the Colorado River was home to ancient Native Americans...
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| Summary: | University of the Pacific, Stockton, C. Volume 14, Number 4 Fall 2004' OHM nUlKS C^ONNECTIOri WITH THE CREATIOM OF PREFACE by W.R. Swagerty, Director, John Muir Center ne of the earth's unique geological wonders, the ) Grand Canyon of the Colorado River was home to ancient Native Americans long prior to its first description by a Spanish exploratory party in 1540. Intimidating in its depth, width, and length, the canyon seemed impenetrable to newcomers peering down from the rim until Major John Wesley Powell successfully navigated his way through "the Great Unknown" in 1869.' Even then, few took careful notice of the canyonlands, which were deemed a grand obstacle between the Rocky Mountains and the West Coast.2 Negative perceptions of the Southwest's red rock country remained dominant in the American mindset well into the twentieth century. A few writers, such as Charles Dudley Warner, a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine, is thought to have been the first to extol the grandeur and beauty of the region in his 1891 essay, "The Heart of the Desert."3 Another journalist, Hariett Monroe, echoed Warner's enchantment with the region, but also shared her personal sense of humility at feeling so small and so inadequate in such a vast chasm.4 Small numbers of tourists ventured to the south rim of the canyon from Flagstaff, the closest access point along the Santa Fe Railroad, which promoted such tours. After 1900, the Santa Fe extended a line to the Bright Angel Hotel, competing with automobiles which crept along the sixty-five miles of primitive roads from Flagstaff bringing the most adventuresome of canyon spectators. John Muir first visited Grand Canyon by rail in January, 1902, recognizing that "with this wonderful extension of steel ways through our wildness there is loss as well as gain." His initial skepticism about the potential "belts of desolation" he would see where the tracks cut through the forest eventually gave way to acceptance of locomotives and trains, "mere beetles and caterpillars," "as little disturbing as the hooting of an owl in the lonely woods." Muir's resulting essay, reprinted here from Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, is one of his best. In it, he presents his large reading audience two perspectives on the canyon. First he compares the canyon with the north and south poles, and with the ocean, which he calls "big places beyond man's power to spoil." Having captured the attention of would-be critics of his preservationist agenda, Muir devotes his own descriptive powers to the canyon's geological wonders, flora, and fauna, providing travelers' tips on how best to see the canyon. He includes an expose on the canyon's ancient cliff dwellers and the Havasupai Indians still living along the river, ending with the observation that the walls are a "mine of fossils. . a collection of stone books covering thousands of miles of shelving tier on tier conveniently arranged for the student." (Continued on page 4) page 1 A II OTES California State Quarter Muir Event on University of the Pacific Campus California's new quarter, featuring naturalist John Muir, Yosemite's Half Dome and a soaring condor will be minted beginning in January as part of a 10-year, 50-state quarters program conducted by the U.S. Mint. On February 9, 2005, University of the Pacific's John Muir Center, in conjunction with the Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections will be hosting a Muir Coin unveiling with coin designer Garrett Burke and his family on Campus. The festivities will begin at 3 with the unveiling followed by a reception and entertainment provided by a 10-member Dixieland-style band directed by John Muir's grandson, Ross Hanna. Along with designer, Garrett Burke, it is likely there will also be representatives from the U.S. Mint and Governor's office on hand. More information in the next issue. Save the date!! Paradise Regained? New Study Shows Hetch Hetchy Can Be Restored (taken from the Environmental Defense website) Imagine yourself in Hetch Hetchy on a sunny day in June, standing waist-deep in grass and flowers, while the great pines sway dreamily. Those are the words of the great 19"1 century naturalist John Muir, who praised Hetch Hetchy Valley as a twin of nearby Yosemite, with comparable soaring cliffs and cascading waterfalls. Today, we have to take Muir's word for it. Hetch Hetchy lies beneath 300 feet of water, the result of San Francisco's damming the valley in the 1920s to create a giant water storage tank for the Bay Area. But now the city is making plans to mend and upgrade its water-supply infrastructure, which is in serious disrepair. San Francisco's S3.2 billion water system overhaul provides a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity to reassess the need for the dam. Environmental Defense will soon unveil (editor's note: the report has been unveiled) a major new report detailing how, with the removal of the dam, Hetch Hetchy Valley could be restored to its former glory. Our analysis, the most in-depth study conducted to date, finds there are cost-effective engineering solutions that would continue to supply the Bay Area with the same high-quality drinking water from the Tuolumne River while returning Hetch Hetchy to Yosemite National Park. . A drought in the 1970s left the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir nearly empty and provided a rare glimpse of lands that had been inundated for decades. In a 1988 National Park Service study, biologists and resource managers used their knowledge of local ecology to forecast what would happen if the dam were removed. Among their conclusions: The Tuolumne River would reoccupy its original channel and return to pristine condition. Willows would recolonize the riverbanks. Meadows would reappear with grasses, sedges and other plants, thanks to the proximity of seed sources. Animals would return from nearby habitats. Some human assistance would be needed to limit the potential of invasive species and to restore natural contours and soil types, allowing plant communities to reestablish themselves. The "bathtub ring" on the cliffs surrounding the reservoir would disappear naturally over time. After 50 years, forests would be well established, though still developing, with the oldest trees reaching up to 90 feet. Indeed, it is not fantasy to believe that Hetch Hetchy as it might have been seen by our forebears could be seen again in all its splendor by our children and grandchildren, if Nature were allowed to reclaim Muir's treasured landscape. . To read the whole story, see news clips and press releases, as well as take a virtual tour of Hetch Hetchy, please visit the Environmental Defense Fund's website at: http ://www. environmentaldefense. org/hetchhetchy/ ♦♦♦ ♦♦♦ ♦*♦ ♦*♦ ♦*♦ In other news of Hetch Hetchy, a press release issued on November 11, 2004 by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk states that "California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Secretary of Resources has taken the historic step of directing state agencies to undertake a comprehensive study of the costs and benefits of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. . . The last serious proposal to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley came in 1987 under then President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Interior Patrick Hodell. Two new studies released this year and an extensive series of news reports and editorials by the Sacramento Bee have renewed interest in the idea " Volume 14, Number 4 Published Quarterly by The John Muir Center for Environmental Studies University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211 ♦ STAFF ♦ Director W.R. Swagerty Editor W.R. Swagerty Production assistant Marilyn Norton Unless otherwise noted, all photographic reproductions are courtesy of the John Muir • Papers, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections University of the Pacific Libraries. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust This Newsletter is printed on recycled paper « .*un> jamm page 2 Dear John Letters Reveal Expectations By Michael Wurtz Archivist, Holt-Atherton Special Collections University of the Pacific Being fairly new to Pacific and the John Muir Papers, I have to admit I am a bit daunted at the prospect of writing for the John Muir Newsletter and hoping to find jewels where no one has found them before. Muir was a truly eloquent and thoughtful writer. It is no surprise that much of his material has been published and analyzed. What could /possibly add? On suggestion, I started off with the "youngest" collection of Muiriana at Pacific. The James Eastman Shone Collection of Muiriana was acquired in 2003 and was only recently processed and made available for research. While thumbing through the Shone Finding Aid I found a small series of letters that Muir had received. Today, with the speed and casual nature of e-mail communication it is more difficult to understand why someone would set pen to paper to express a desire. So, what kind of people wrote to John Muir and why? Perhaps it was desire to establish a personal relationship with the naturalist, but it could have simply been a desire to fulfill individual needs and agendas. Walter Page wrote in 1897 that Muir must publish more. Page, from the editorial offices of the Atlantic Monthly in Boston, relayed a message from noted essayist John Burroughs who declared, "in the most emphatic fashion that it will be a misfortune too great to estimate if you do not write up all those bags of notes which you have gathered." Page is also asked to, "keep firing at him, keep firing at him." In conclusion, he is a bit embarrassed but still implored, "If I bore you by so many letters, you have only yourself to blame and your kindliness in permitting the assault." Universities certainly had plenty of reasons to write to this well-known naturalist. Harriet D. Audreus of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts asked Muir to lecture at the school and noted she is "anxious to have a lecture by you on some phase of your Alaska work." J.C. Branner, a noted geologist from Stanford University, returned a request from Muir for photographs of South American glaciers. No, he did not have photographs himself, but recommended some good books that did have such images. "They are all books that will make you want to start by the next steamer." Eliza S. Hendricks seemed to have a sporadic correspondence with Muir, but indicated a desire to not be forgotten. She had great admiration for Muir and proved it quite eloquently. "Nature has been a sweet mother to you, and right loyal have you ever been to her. I saw her image reflected from your soul as I took those pleasant Sierra rambles [through books] with you long ago." She tried to keep her letter brief when she admitted, "a man who has time to write letters of friendship only one page long presumably has no time for reading long winded letters." Anna Head was the founder of the Miss Head School in Berkeley. She wrote to Muir because she wanted to, "form a society in Berkeley for the protection of birds, with the hope of affecting legislation next spring." She felt that Muir would certainly help since he was interested in "securing life." Head sent an invitation; but hoped if Muir could not make it he could "send us a few words of encouragement and advice." Perhaps the most spirited letters to Muir in the Shone collection come from Catherine H. Hittell. She, like Head, was looking for help and introduced her request with, "I heard you make a most eloquent defense of nearly all Nature's lower creations even including the noxious rattle snake. That speech of yours gives me the courage to write to you asking your help to save the meadow larks. The markets are full of the poor plucked bodies of these beautiful songsters." (To see more about Muir's role in the protection of these birds see "Victorians and Meadowlarks: Two Muir Letters Rediscovered" in the John Muir Newsletter, volume 1, Number 4, Fall 1991, or find it reproduced on the Sierra Club website at www.sierraclub.org). The Shone collection represents a fraction of the letters that were written to Muir. In the John Muir Papers there are thousands of letters written by hundreds of individuals. Many of these letters would probably indicate the authors' desire to fulfill personal agendas and needs such as personal pleas for him to write more, requests for lectures, friendly notes, and hopes of getting him interested in a cause. But the letters also reflect Muir's appeal to a broad range of people who sought a connection beyond his popular writings. All of the Muir material is available for research in the Holt-Atherton Special Collections Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm. Wto" t^M Hh.al m-'b, m SE^' -*EM > N3R m ^*s£:'TS.a ;: -a: Known mostly for his writings, Muir also received thousands of letters. People wrote asking for help with their cause. However, many wrote simply to establish a connection with an inspiring naturalist. (Photograph from the James Eastman Shone Collection of Muiriana) page 3 (Continuedfrom page 1) Not long after Muir's visit and undoubtedly influenced by it, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the canyon in 1903. Roosevelt admonished the concessionaires to avoid spoiling a view that "every American, if he can travel at all, should see." His parting words: "Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it; not a bit. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."5 Three years later, Congress passed the Antiquities Act of 1906, designed to protect sites of cultural significance. Grand Canyon entered the system in 1908. The following year, Muir visited the south rim for a second time, joined by fellow naturalist, John Burroughs of New England, who summarized their collective experience for readers of Century Magazine in 1911, comparing the canyon's spires, towers, pinnacles, and mesas to oriental temples.6 Muir returned for a final five day trip in May, 1910, accompanied by his good friends, John and Katharine Hooker, whose largesse allowed Muir to produce some of his best writing in the garret of their home in Los Angeles. Following Muir's death in 1914, Enos A. Mills made sure Muir's connection with Grand Canyon was not forgotten. His book, Your National Parks (1917) was designed as an update to Muir's Our National Parks (1901). In the chapter on "The Grand Canon," Mills wrote: "John Muir strongly urged that a National Park be made of the Grand Canon of the Colorado."7 In 1919, Congress agreed, creating one of the nation's most spectacular and most popular of our parks. ENDNOTES 1. An excellent introduction to canyonland studies is T. H. Watkins, et al., The Grand Colorado: The Story of a River and Its Canyons (Palo Alto: American West Publishing Co., 1969). On Powell see Donald Worster, A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). 2. See The Grand Canyon: Early Impressions, ed. Paul Schullery (Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Co., 1989). 3. Charles Dudley Warner, served as contributing editor to Harper's Magazine from 1886 to 1898. His essay, "The Heart of the Desert," was included in Our Italy (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1891), 177-200. 4. Harriet Monroe was a Chicago-based journalist. Her essay, "The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River" appeared in Atlantic Monthly, December, 1899, pp. 816-21. 5. Theodore Roosevelt, "Speech given at the Grand Canyon, May 6, 1903," New York Sun, May 7, 1903, reprinted in Schullery, ed., The Grand Canyon: Early Impressions, 101-02. 6. John Burroughs, "The Grand Canyon of the Colorado," Cenluiy Illustrated Monthly Magazine, January, 1911, 425-38 7 Enos A. Mills, Your National Parks (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1917), 190. Previously, in Wild Life on the Rockies (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1909), Mills dedicated the entire book "to John Muir." ♦:♦ ♦> ♦> ♦> ♦> ♦> ♦> The Grand Canonofthe Colorado by JoL.ii Muir (From Tke Century Magazine, November 1902,107-16) nappy nowadays is tke tourist, witk eartk's wonders, new and old, spread invitingly open before kim, and a liost of able workers as kis slaves making every tking easy, padding plusk about kim, grading roads for kim, boring tunnels, moving kills out of kis way, eager, like tke devil, to skow kim all tke kingdoms of tke world and tkeir glory and fooliskness, spiritualizing travel for kim witk ligktning and steam, abolisking space and time and almost every tking else, kittle ckildren and tender, pulpy people, as well as storm-seasoned explorers, may now go almost every wkere in smootk comfort, cross oceans and deserts scarce accessible to fiskes and birds, and, dragged by steel korses, go up kigk mountains, riding gloriously beneatk starry skowers of sparks, ascending like Elijak in a wkirlwind and ckariot of fire. First of tke wonders of tke great West to be brougkt witkin reack of tke toiirist were tke Yosemite and tke Dig Trees, on tke completion of tke first transcontinental railway; next came tke Yellowstone and icy Alaska, by tke Nortkern roads; and last tke Grand Canon of tke Colorado, wkick, naturally tke kardest to reack, kas now become, by a branck of tke Santa Fe, tke most accessible of all. Of course witk tkis wonderful extension of steel ways tkrougk our wildness tkere is loss as well as gain. Nearly all railroads are bordered by belts of desolation. Tke finest Wilderness periskes as if stricken witk pestilence. Bird and beast people, if not tke dryads, are frigktened from tke groves. Too often tke groves also vanisk, leaving notking but askes. Fortunately, nature kas a few big places beyond man s power to spoil — tke ocean, tke two icy ends of tke globe, and tke Grand Canon. Wken I first keard of tke Santa Fe trains running to tke edge of tke Grand Canon of Arizona, I was troubled witk tkougkts of tke disenckantment likely to follow. But last winter, wken I saw tkose trains crawling along tkrougk tke pines of tke Cocanini Forest and close up to tke brink of tke ckasni at page 4 Brigkt Angel, I was glad to discover tkat in tke presence of suck stupendous scenery tkey are notking. Tke locomotives and trains are mere beetles and caterpillars, and tke noise tkey make is as little disturbing as tke kooting of an owl in tke lonely woods. In a dry, kot, monotonous forested plateau, seemingly boundless, you come suddenly and witkout warning upon tke abrupt edge of a gigantic sunken landscape of tke wildest, most multitudinous features, and tkose features, skarp and angular, are made out of flat beds of limestone and sandstone forming a spiry, jagged, gloriously colored mountain-range countersunk in a level gray plain. It is a kard job to sketck it even in scrawniest outline; and try as I may, not in tke least sparing myself, I cannot tell tke kundredtk part of tke wonders of its features — tke side-canons, gorges, alcoves, cloisters, and ampkitkeaters of vast sweep and deptk, carved in its magnificent walls; tke tkrong of great arckitectural rocks it contains resembling castles, catkedrals, temples, and palaces, towered and spired and painted, some of tkem nearly a mile kigk, yet beneatk one s feet. All tkis, kowever, is less difficult tkan to give any idea of tke impression of wild, primeval beauty and power one receives in merely gazing from its brink. Tke view down tke gulf of color and over tke rim of its wonderful wall, more tkan any otker view I know, leads us to tkink of our eartk as a star witk stars swimming in ligkt, every radiant spire pointing tke watj to tke keavens. But it is impossible to conceive wkat tke canon is, or wkat impression it makes, from descriptions or pictures, kowever good. Naturally it is untellable even to tkose wko kave seen sometking perkaps a little like it on a small scale in tkis same plateau region. One s most extravagant expectations are indefinitely surpassed, tkougk one expect muck from wkat is said of it as tke biggest ckasm on eartk — so big is it tkat all otker big tkings, — Yosemite, tke Yellowstone, tke Pyramids, Ckicago — all would be lost if tumbled into it. Naturally enougk, illustrations as to size are sougkt for among otker canons like or unlike it, witk tke common result of worse confounding confusion. Tke prudent keep silence. It was once said tkat tke Grand Canon could put a dozen Yosemites in its vest pocket. Tke justly famous Grand Canon of tke Yellowstone is, like tke Colorado, gorgeously colored and abruptly countersunk in a plateau, and botk are mainly tke work of water. But tke Colorado s canon is more tkan a tkousand times larger, and as a score or two new buildings of ordinary size would not appreciably ckange tke general view of a great city, so kundreds of Yellowstones migkt be eroded in tke sides of tke Colorado Canon witkout noticeably augmenting its size or tke rickness of its sculpture. But it is not true tkat tke great Yosemite rocks would be tkus lost or kidden. Notking of tkeir kind in tke world, so far as I know, rivals El Capitan and Tissiack, muck less dwarfs or in any way belittles tkem. None of tke sandstone or limestone precipices of tke canon tkat I kave seen or keard of approackes in smootk, flawless strengtk and grandeur tke granite face of El Capitan or tke Tenaya side of Cloud s Rest. Tkese colossal cliffs, types of permanence, are about tkree tkousand and six tkousand feet kigk; tkose of tke canon tkat are skeer are about kalf as kigk, and are types of fleeting ckange; wkile glorious-domed Tissiack, noblest of mountain buildings, far from being overskadowed or lost in tkis rosy, spiry canon company, would draw every eye, and, in serene majesty, aboon tkem a ske would take ker place — castle, temple, palace, or tower. Nevertkeless a noted writer, comparing tke Grand Canon in a general watj witk tke glacial Yosemite, says: And tke Yosemite: — ak, tke lovely Yosemite! Dumped down into tke wilderness of gorges and mountains, it would take a guide wko knew of its existence a long time to find it. Tkis is striking, and skows up well above tke levels of commonplace description; but it is confusing, and kas tke fatal fault of not being true. As well try to describe an eagle by putting a lark in it. And tke lark — ak, tke lovely lark! Dumped down tke red; royal gorge of tke eagle, it would be kard to find. Eack in its own place is better singing at keaven s gate, and sailing tke sky witk tke clouds. Every feature of nature s big face is beautiful, — keigkt and kollow, wrinkle, furrow, and line, — and tkis is tke main master furrow of its kind on our continent, incomparably greater and more impressive tkan any otker tjet discovered, or likely to be discovered, now tkat all tke great rivers kave been traced to tkeir keads. Tke Colorado River rises in tke keart of tke continent on tke dividing ranges and ridges between tke two oceans, drains tkousands of snowy mountains tkrougk narrow or spacious valleys, and tkence tkrougk canons of every color, skeer-walled page 5 and deep, all of wkick seem to be represented in tkis one grand caiion of canons. It is very kard to give any tking like an adequate conception of its size, muck more of its color, its vast wall-sculpture, tke wealtk of ornate arckitectural buildings tkat fill it or, most of all, tke tremendous impression it makes. According to Major Powell, it is about two kundred and seventeen miles long, from five to fifteen miles wide from rim to rim, and from about five tkousand to six tkousand feet deep. So tremendous a ckasm would be one of tke world s greatest wonders even if, like ordinary canons cut in sedimentary rocks, it were empty and its walls were simple. But instead of being plain, tke walls are so deeply and elaborately carved into all sorts of recesses — alcoves, cirques, ampkitkeaters, and side-canons — tkat were you to trace tke rim closely around on botk sides your journey would be nearly a tkousand miles long. Into all tkese recesses tke level, continuous beds of rock in ledges and benckes, witk tkeir various colors, run like broad ribbons, marvelously beautiful and effective even at a distance of ten or twelve miles, And tke vast space tkese glorious walls inclose, instead of being empty, is crowded witk gigantic arckitectural rock forms gorgeously colored and adorned witk towers and spires like works of art. kooking down from tkis level plateau, we are more impressed witk a feeling of being on tke top of every tking tkan wken looking from tke summit of a mountain. From side to side of tke vast gulf, temples, palaces, towers, and spires come soaring up in tkick arratj kalf a mile or nearly a mile above tkeir sunken, kiddeii bases, some to a level witk our standpoint, but none kigker. And in tke inspiring morning ligkt all are so fresk and rosy-looking tkat tkey seem new-born; as if, like tke quick-growing crimson snow-plants of tke California woods, tkey kad just sprung up, katcked by tke wann, brooding, motkerly weatker. In trying to describe tke great pines and sequoias of tke Sierra, I kave often tkougkt tkat if one of tkose trees could be set by itself in some city park, its grandeur migkt tkere be impressively realized; wkile in its kome forests, wkere all magnitudes are great, tke weary, satiated traveler sees none of tkem truly. It is so witk tkese majestic rock structures. Tkougk mere residual masses of tke plateau, tkey are dowered witk tke grandeur and repose of mountains, togetker witk tke finely ckiseled carving and modeling of man's temples and palaces, and often, to a considerable extent, witk tkeir symmetry. Some, closely observed, look like ruins; but even tkese stand plumb and true, and skow arckitectural forms loaded witk lines strictly regular and decorative, and all are arrayed in colors tkat storms and time seem only to brigkten. Tkey are not placed in regular rows in line witk tke river, but a tkrougk itker, as tke Scotck say, in lavisk, exuberant crowds, as if nature in wildest extravagance keld ker bravest structures as common as gravel-piles. Yonder stands a spiry catkedral nearly five tkousand feet in keigkt, nobly symmetrical witk skeer buttressed walls and arcked doors and windows, as rickly finisked. and decorated witk sculptures as tke great rock temples of India or Egypt. Beside it rises a kuge castle witk arcked gatewaij, turrets, watck-towers, ramparts, etc., and to rigkt and left palaces, obelisks, and pyramids fairly fill tke gulf, all colossal and all laviskly painted and carved. Here and tkere a flat-topped structure may be seen, or one imperfectly domed; but tke prevailing style is ornate Gotkic, witk many kints of Egyptian and Indian. Tkrougkout tkis vast extent of wild arckitecture — nature s own capital cittj — tkere seem to be no ordinary dwellings. All look like grand and important public structures, except perkaps some of tke lower pyramids, broad-based and skarp-pointed, covered witk down-flowing talus like loosely set tents witk kollow, sagging sides. Tke roofs often kave disintegrated rocks keaped and draggled over tkem, but in tke main tke masonry is firm and laid in regular courses, as if done by square and rule. Nevertkeless tkey are ever ckanging: tkeir tops are now a dome, now a flat table or a spire, as karder or softer strata are reacked in tkeir slow degradation, wkile tke sides, witk all tkeir fine moldings, are being steadily undermined and eaten away. But no essential ckange in style or color is tkus effected. From century to century tkey stand tke same. Wkat seems confusion among tke rougk eartkquake-skaken crags nearest one comes to order as soon as tke main plan of tke various structures appears. Every building, kowever complicated and laden witk ornamental lines, is at one witk itself and every one of its neigkbors, for tke same ckaracteristic controlling belts of color and solid strata extend witk wonderful constancy for very great distances, and page 6 pass-tkrougk and give style to tkousands of separate structures, kowever tkeir smaller ckaracters may vary. Of all tke various kinds of ornamental work displayed, — carving, tracery on cliff-faces, moldings, arckes, pinnacles, — none is more admirably effective or ckarms more tkan tke webs of rain-ckanneled taluses. Marvelously extensive, witkout tke sligktest appearance of waste or excess, tkey cover roofs and dome-tops and tke base of every cliff, belt eack spire and pyramid and massy, towering temple, and in beautiful continuous lines go sweeping along tke great walls in and out around all tke intricate system of side-canons, ampkitkeaters, cirques, and scallops into wkick tkey are sculptured. From one point kundreds of miles of tkis fairy embroidery may be traced. It is all so fine and orderly tkat it would seem tkat not only kad tke clouds and streams been kept karmoniously busy in tke making of it, but tkat every raindrop sent like a bullet to a mark kad been tke subject of a separate tkougkt, so sure is tke outcome of beauty tkrougk tke stormy centuries. Surely nowkere else are tkere illustrations so striking of tke natural beauty of desolation and deatk, so many of nature s own mountain buildings wasting in glory of kigk desert air — going to dust. See kow steadfast in beauty tkey all are in tkeir going, kook again and again kow tke rougk, dusty boulders and sand of disintegration from tke upper ledges wreatke in beauty tke next and next below witk tkese wonderful taluses, and kow tke colors are finer tke faster tke waste. We oftentimes see nature giving beauty for askes, — as in tke flowers of a prairie after fire,— but kere tke very dust and askes are beautiful. Gazing across tke migkty ckasm, we at last discover tkat it is not its great deptk nor lengtk, nor yet tkese wonderful buildings, tkat most impresses us. It is its immense widtk, skarply defined by precipitous walls plunging suddenly down from a flat plain, declaring in terms instantly apprekended tkat tke vast gulf is a gask in tke once unbroken plateau, made by slow, orderly erosion and removal of kuge beds of rocks. Otker valleys of erosion are as great, — in all tkeir dimensions some are greater, — but none of tkese produces an effect on tke imagination at once so quick and profound, coming witkout study, given at a glance. Tkerefore by far tke greatest and most influential feature of tkis view from Brigkt Angel or any otker of tke canon views is tke opposite •wall. Of tke one beneatk our feet we see only fragmentary sections in cirques and ampkitkeaters and on tke sides of tke outjutting promontories between tkem, wkile tke otker, tkougk far distant, is bekeld in all its glory of color and noble proportions — tke one supreme beauty and wonder to wkick tke eye is ever turning. For wkile ckarming witk its beauty it tells tke story of tke stupendous erosion of tke canon — tke foundation of tke unspeakable impression made on everybody. It seems a gigantic statement for even nature to make, all in one migkty stone word, apprekended at once like a burst of ligkt, celestial color its natural vesture, coming in glory to mind and keart as to a kome prepared for it from tke very beginning. Wilduess so godful, cosmic, primeval, bestows a new sense of eartk s beauty and size. Not even from kigk mountains does tke world seem so wide, so like a star in glory of ligkt on its way tkrougk tke keavens. I kave observed scenery -kunters of all sorts getting first views of y osemites, glaciers, Wkite Mountain ranges, etc. Mixed witk tke entkusiasm wkick suck scenery naturally excites, tkere is often weak gusking, and many splutter aloud like little waterfalls. Here, for a few moments at least, tkere is silence, and all are in dead earnest, as if awed and kuskedby an eartkquake — perkaps until tke cook cries Breakfast! or tke stable-boy Horses are ready! Tken tke poor unfortunates, slaves of regular kabits, turn quickly away, gasping and muttering as if wondering wkere tkey kad been and wkat kad enckanted tkem. Roads kave been made from Brigkt Angel Hotel tkrougk tke Cocanini Forest to tke ends of outstanding promontories, commanding extensive views up and down tke canon. Tke nearest of tkem, tkree or four miles east and west, are McNeil s Point and Rowe s Point; tke latter, besides commanding tke eternally interesting canon, gives wide-sweeping views soutkeast and west over tke dark forest roof to tke San Francisco and Mount Trumbull volcanoes — tke bluest of mountains over tke blackest of level woods. Instead of tkus riding in dust witk tke crowd, more will be gained by going quietly afoot along tke rim at different times of day and nigkt, free to observe tke vegetation, tke fossils in tke rocks, tke seams beneatk overkanging ledges once inkabited page 7 by Indians, and to watck tke stupendous scenery in tke ckanging ligkts and skadows, clouds, skowers, and storms. One need not go k https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmn/1076/thumbnail.jpg |
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