Food & Wine

The Canyon Country

Simply, it can be said, canyons were made by Divine Providence. They have been the inspiration of countless poets, the despair of countless painters. Novels have been written about them and they have been put to music. Prehistoric man found in them protection and haven from the weather and foe, and rich soil and water in canyon floors. Man has died in canyons, hidden in them, been hunted in them, dreamed his dreams there, sought wealth and sometimes found it in canyon depths, and within their confines has built towns and cities.

They have been a challenge and a shelter, have these canyons in our western country, since mankind first came this way, confused and terrified at their vastness, a carved landscape he didn't understand. Geologists can explain them away in learned terms just as easily as Webster can who says, glibly, that a canyon is "a deep valley with high steep slopes." But neither the painters nor the poets, neither the novelists nor the composers, neither the geologists nor Mr. Webster can tell you about our canyons. They are the work of God, simple monuments to the ages that have gone and the ages that will come, tributes to the patience and the philosophic moods of the sun, time and the weather.