MOUNTAINS UPSIDE DOWN

This animal of prehistoric appearance is a buck antelope, and one of a herd that roams the Tonto Plateau three thousand six hundred feet below the south rim of the mile-deep chasm of Grand Canyon of Arizona. At present the herd numbers twentysix animals.

WHAT a kick that old boy, Lt. Don Lopez de Cardenas, must have got when, with clanking armor, he was stopped dead in his tracks on the brink of what is now known as Grand Canyon of the Colorado river. That was four years short of four centuries ago.

When Coronado was conducting the pioneer gold rush of the Southwest, or, to be more historically accurate, while he was looking for the "Seven Cities of Cibola," reputedly rich with gold, he heard of a great river to the north. So in 1540, Coronado dispatched his lieutenant with the ritzy name to see what he could see. That is how Cardenas happened along with twelve men and had the first white man's peek at one of the world's greatest natural wonders.

Balboa knew how an ocean ought to look before he first stood on the shore of the Pacific, and De Soto had fair ideas about streams even greater than the Mississippi when he arrived on the bank of that mighty river. But Cardenas had no preconceived notions of canyons like Grand Canyon, for there is no other with which to compare it. There is some talk of a great canyon in Africa but little is known about it.

A horizontal mile is a long way. If you have to walk it on a hot day, then it is something. But when you turn that mile on end and sink it below the surface of the earth, it takes on real proportions. That is what Cardenas saw. The records do not disclose it, but when Cardenas returned and reported his find, no doubt his chief sniffed the air for fra grance of "corn juice."

But his messenger was correct. We have the evidence before us today, little changed from the days of its discovery by white man. So gradually does the canyon change that on a recent visit by George Bernard Shaw, that great Irish wit remarked on first seeing the abyss: "It reminds me of religion. The truths of religion and the Canyon never change." He was more right than wrong. The Canyon does change, but the transposition is so gradual that in a lifetime the alteration is not noticeable.

Geologists tell us that the region is rising but don't be alarmed about that. The river is cutting down faster than the surface rises, and there's no immediate danger of the river backing up and overflowing the rim of the canyon. According to an estimate, based on radio activity, the Colorado river has been between seven and nine million years cutting the gorge. Hand Junior a pencil and let him figure the rate of rise, but don't question his answer. After all, what's a few million years more or less to a geologist who figures centuries like we figure minutes.

The rate of cutting, of course, is regulated by the volume of water, the velocity at which it flows and the amount of sediment it carries.

The channel through which the river flows is bedded in the oldest formation known to man. An estimate, also based on radio activity, places the age at one thousand five hundred million years. Constant research has disclosed no trace of life in this ancient formation.

Numerous theories have been advanced how the gorge was formed. They range from a meteor that struck the earth,to an earthquake that split the surface. The generally accepted theory, and apparently the most plausible, is that it was formed by erosion and was cut by the Colorado river, with sand and rocks for tools. This is borne out by the great amount of sediment carried by the swirling waters of this third longest, most turbulent and treacherous river in the Nation. The Indians say the gorge was cut by a mighty God to make a passage for a Chief to go to the ocean. After the Chief had passed along, water was turned into the channel so no one could follow him. Perhaps so. Quien sabe!

According to statistics gathered by reliable agencies, each twenty-four hours, a million tons of sediment passes the geological gauging station, maintained by the U. S. Government near Kaibab suspension bridge spanning the river on the Kaibab trans-canyon trail.

What becomes of this tremendous volume of silt carried down the river?

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Geologists say that the delta of the Gulf of California and the great Imperial Valley were formed by sediment when the water neared sea level, lost its speed and dropped its burden.

Visitors to Boulder Dam notice clear water passing the dam through penstocks. This means that all sediment is being stopped above the dam, and, according to an estimate by engineers, that the basin of Lake Mead will be filled with silt deposit within the next hundred and fifty to two hundred years unless a method is developed to reduce the silt before it reaches the lake.

One suggestion for removing silt from the river was to pipe to the dam all the "hot air" supplied by Chambers of Com merce throughout the country and blow it out. This might prove effective, but it isn't practical, and other ways will need to be devised.

Perhaps less than twenty white men visited Grand Canyon from the date of its discovery until 1826 when the first Americans reported the gorge. The first Americans to view the canyon were two trappers who came up the Colorado river hunting beaver. What a contrast that is with the 268,412 visitors who arrived at the canyon by rail, private automobile, stage, and airplane during the season of 1936. This, of course, is understandable, considering transportation facilities in the early history of the Southwest. Cardenas and his band couldn't even "thumb" a ride. They had to hoof it through a great uncharted area practically devoid of water and with neither road maps to show mileages nor a choice of hotels at which to stop. Now, with paved highways right to the brink of the canyon, visitors come scurrying in at a mile-a-minute clip. Modern motorists cover more miles in a day than the pioneers, those hardy old boys with an urge to go places, could cover in a month.

As late as 1869, little was known of the interior of the canyon. It was believed to be impassable. It was thought that the river passed through tunnels and over great falls. Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran, disproved all this when he piloted a history-making expedition down the Colorado river through Grand Canyon by boat in 1869-71. Since then only ten other successful trips have been made down the river by boat. Many attempts were made, but they were either given up or ended disastrously. Such trips are no longer looked on with favor by the Government unless they are for scientific purposes.

From the rim of the canyon, the Colorado appears to be a placid, slow-moving, peaceful stream. As a matter of fact it is the swiftest and most dangerous stream in the United States. Its width in the canyon varies between 200 and 600 feet and ranges in depth from 12 to 40 feet. It has the sinister reputation that once in the clutches of its swirling current, the victim seldom lives to tell of the experience.

Such a barrier is this mighty river and canyon that zoologists believe it has separated into two types, a species of squirrel found on its rim. On the south rim, the squirrel, known as Abert, has a white belly and gray-white tail, while on the north rim, the Kaibab squirrel has a snow white tail, and a jet black belly. The Kaibab squirrel is found no other place in the world than on the north rim of Grand Canyon. Then there is Big Jim Gwetva, a Supai Indian sub-chief, who was born at Indian Gardens, 3600 feet below the south rim. When asked how he crossed the river, Jim replied "No go. Bad water." Jim has lived all his life "Mebbyso eighty, mebbyso ninety years" according to Jim, practically on the south bank of the river, but never crossed to the other side only three hundred feet away. The great chasm is still a formidable barrier to man. Through powerful telescopes, Kaibab Forest, Arizona, the village on the north rim, is plainly visible only 10 miles airline distance from Grand Canyon, Arizona, the village on the south rim, yet a letter mailed from one village to the other travels 1300 miles, passes through four states and requires three days to make the trip. Believe it or not, the letter starts its journey in exactly the opposite direction to its final destination. A commercial telegram or telephone message travels 1800 miles to reach the north rim from the south rim. If you have an urge to motor around, you travel 211 miles and end up just ten miles from where you started. To cross by mule on the Kaibab trail, the distance is 221½ miles. This is by far the most interesting and exc-iting way to cross, but

APRIL, 1937 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

to the uninitiated, riding a mule, it seems much farther! If you're air-minded, you can scoot across in thirty minutes.

Even Captain Hance, the pioneer Bright Angel trail builder, experienced difficulties in crossing the Canyon. According to Captain Hance, he was riding in the forest near the rim of the canyon when a band of Indians discovered him and gave chase. The Captain was riding his famous white horse Darby. He saw he couldn't run around the Indians and escape to the plateau. They had him penned. There was but one way out across the canyon! Putting spurs to Darby he dashed at the rim to jump the canyon. “I got about half way across,” explained the Captain, “when I saw I couldn't make the jump.” “Oh, what did you do?” inquired a starry-eyed dam-sel from Podunk on the east coast. “I turned around and came back!” drawled the Captain.

Continuing his story, Captain Hance related that when he returned to the south rim where he started the jump he saw he hadn't a chance to escape the Indians. He pondered how to save his scalp. Then he had an idea. “I tied rubber boots on Darby's feet and jumped him over the rim into the canyon. We landed on the plateau just below Battle-ship Rock and bounced clean out to the North Rim.” At Yavapai Point on Desert View Drive, the National Park Service maintains a free museum-observatory attended by a ranger-naturalist.

Perhaps the most interesting point in Grand Canyon National Park is at Desert View, where, from an elevation of 7450 feet a vast area of beautiful Painted Des ert spreads out three thousand feet below you. Thirty-two distinct shades of col-ors have been isolated in the polychrome sands of the Painted Desert. To the left you look fifty miles down through the heart of the great chasm, with its towering temples rising thousands of feet from the floor of the awe-inspiring abyss. “Kaibab,” the Indians call the canyon, meaning “Mountain upside down.” At Desert View is the Watchtower, a re-creation of ancient pueblo Indian structure one of the most interesting build-ings throughout the Southwest. From its 70-foot tower, intimate views of in-accessible points may be had through powerful telescopes. Shadow Mountain, seemingly always in a shadow; Cedar Mountain, a geological formation that has disappeared from this district ex-cept for a few lingering remnants; ma-jestic San Francisco Peaks, Arizona's loftiest mountains towering nearly 13,000 feet into an azure sky; Navajo Mountain where once the Navajos gathered for war councils all pass in review from the parapet of the Watchtower.

Navajo Mountain marks the junction of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, the only place in the Nation where four states have coincident corners.

Winding its way along the floor of Painted Desert as seen from the Watch-tower is the Little Colorado river. This river, in its gorge 1500 feet deep, is the western boundary of the Navajo Indian reservation, and is one of the rare examples of a river in the United States that flows north. At the junction of the Little Colorado with the main Colorado, the Little Colorado flows north and the main Colorado flows south. At the junction of these two streams, Grand Canyon begins and continues 217 miles, 105 miles of the most scenic part being compressed within the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park, which is about 52 miles long.

The best way to “see” Grand Canyon is to mount one of the sure-footed trail pilots, a “Missouri Mule” and go down the trails. Bright Angel is the most popular trail trip. Down the Bright Angel, a round trip can be made to the river and still have plenty of time to rest up, have dinner and board your train the same evening.

Not less than two days are required for a trip down the Kaibab trail to Phantom Ranch and return.

Whichever trail you travel, don't try (Continued on Page 22)