GRAND FALLS

A river, but the road seemed to go on and on through the red Moencopi sandstone. We skirted several flat, dry lake beds where cattle were standing in hopeful bunches, waiting. Then we came to an area scattered with giant clinkers, and the road bed was again volcanic. The cinders became softer and finer, and suddenly, after a sharp turn to the right, we were there. We were genuinely amazed! There had been no clue to this roaring giant, and yet here we were-on a high bluff overlooking a deep canyon, and on the other side facing us were the huge cataracts comprising the Grand Falls. How wide it was, how incredibly muddy-"Why this thing's terrific," I shouted to Jenny, and she nodded in agreement. It took minutes for the initial shock to wear off-we just stood there transfixed. I had seen Niagara Falls, and the falls in Havasu Canyon, but this falls was in a class by itself. It was at least as high as Niagara, even as high as Mooney Falls in Havasu, but that was as far as comparisons went. Starting back about seventy-five yards from the lower face of the falls, the first little cataracts appeared, gradually increasing in size until with two great falls, the water crashed into the lake below. We estimated that altogether the water dropped at least two hundred feet, and that the falls were probably more than a hundred yards wide. Above the first big drop, the water covered the width of the falls, but it was channeled after that, and fell in three widely separated places. (I have been there since when the water fell with tremendous force from side to side, and the spray generated was so great that it was impossible to stand opposite the falls on the bluff, which is probably more than a hundred yards away.) Being true amateur photographers, we couldn't be satisfied with pictures from the top alone; so we went downstream to a point where the lava permitted a safe, easy descent. Taking pictures looking up proved to be rather difficult because, as the spray hit the camera lens, it evaporated, leaving little spots of mud. We solved the problem, finally, by leaving a filter over the lens until just before shooting. To the right of the falls we saw a small cave, and decided to explore it for Indian artifacts. After much pushing and pulling, we reached it, but aside from a strong guano smell, the cave had little to offerit was empty and less than twenty feet deep. There was a primitive feeling about the place, and we felt that our vantage point afforded us a caveman's view of the falls. So, our trip was a success after all. The volcanic field was beautiful and unusual, we saw the vast and lonely reservation, and even had a few moments of sunshine to light up our "Chocolate Niagara." When we returned to the college, we told everyone we saw to visit the falls, and soon many people were advertising this little-known "GRAND FALLS ON THE LITTLE COLORADO" BY THOMAS S. CASH. Ikoflex camera; Anscochrome; Zeiss Tessar lens; July; overcast, setting sun; ASA rating 32. Here are the Grand Falls, thirty-seven miles northeast of Flagstaff, on the Little Colorado River. This view shows dramatically the size of the falls in their colorful setting. The photographer says: "It was necessary to wait for some time for the sun to break through the clouds hovering over the San Francisco Peaks to take this photograph. This last dying gasp of light was of very short duration."

scenic wonder. We hope this article will induce you to try it also. A few days after our trip I called at the Research Department of the Museum of Northern Arizona to learn the geologic history of the falls. They referred me to Mr. L. F. Brady, Curator of Geology. He seemed pleased at my interest, and told me the story somewhat as follows: "If you were to fly over the falls, you would see immediately why it exists. The canyon, visible downstream, originally extended upstream in a straight line at the same depth, and under the lava flow where you stood. Several miles to the southwest is Rodin's Crater, the source of the flow. The lava spilled over the bank into the river, part of it flowing downstream (traces have been found twenty miles from the falls), a small part upstream, and the remainder filling in the canyon and extending a short way on the other side. This made a very effective dam, and a lake formed; but it soon overflowed around the end of the flow, and spilled over the cliff back into its old channel. Eventually the lake was filled with sediment, and the lava which had flowed upstream was covered." In Volume 2, No. 12: "Museum Notes" (from the Museum of Northern Arizona), June 1930, the following brief history was written by Harold S. Colton: "The early Spanish explorers, both civil and ecclesiastic, who crossed the Little Colorado missed the Grand Falls. They forded the river miles above or miles below this point. No word has come to us that the falls were visited by them. In 1851 the U.S. War Department placed Captain Sitgreaves at the head of an expedition and instructed him to see if the Little Colorado was navigable to the sea. He is the first white man to describe the falls. Beaver trappers, however, must have visited it in the years preceding. They left us no record, however. It was at Sitgreaves' camp a mile above the falls that he finally decided that the river was not navigable and set out for California overland."

The roads to Grand Falls are very good. A friend remarked, "The roughest stretch of road on the trip was U.S. 89 between 66 and 66A." According to Harold S Colton, "the road is never blocked by mud." It would be wise to avoid the softer lava dust at the end of the road; by exercising good judgment, an ordinary car can make the trip without difficulty. The Grand Falls have been described as a "Chocolate Niagara, not so wide across, but higher than its prototype." This is true, but only when it exists. It would be possible to drive through a driving rain and find the falls non-existent. Before making the trip, which should be in July or August, call the weather bureau, and ask if there has been any rain in the White Mountains at the head of the Little Colorado. Two or three good days of rain should insure a good flow of water over the falls.

Papago Silgrimage

Once a year a living drama takes place in Magdelena, Sonora, Mexico, sixty miles south of Nogales, Arizona, early in October. St. Francis Xavier is the patron saint of the Papago Indians. He is the friend the Indians talk and pray to when they need help. These Indians think of St. Francis as theirs and theirs alone, the saint most likely to understand an Indian. Some Indians have seen visions of St. Francis carrying a bow and arrow-that definitely makes him for the Indians. Father Eusebio Kino, the Jesuit priest who first explored this country, built many missions in the Altar Valley, the great valley which runs through Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona. More than 200 years ago Father Kino introduced and gave this saint to the Indians. Father Kino was so much like St. Francis in spirit that the Indians think of both as one, and again as two individuals. Father Kino died in Magdelena in 1711, while dedicating a chapel to St. Francis Xavier, and was buried there. The recent church is a successor to that ancient chapel. The Indians like to think and say that St. Francis is buried there. They have also confused his birthday with that of St. Francis of Assisi; therefore, on October 4th, hundreds and hundreds flock to Magdelena to pay homage to St. Francis Xavier. It is a dramatic pilgrimage-it's been going on for years. They come from all directions, families -larger groups-they come a-foot, a-horse, a-wagon, a-car, a-bus, a-train, any way they can. But they comeand they stay to feast and worship and rejoice with St. Francis on his birthday. There is happiness and sorrow, there is laughter and tears in this pulse-beating drama, there are sacrifices and hardships given in honor of their saint. As more and more people pour into the town, an impact of holiness is felt-and more and more there is an expectation of mystical happenings. There is holiness in the atmosphere, strongly felt through the sound of music, the stir of crowds of people drinking-eating-dancingpraying. It is a time to give personal thanks to their patron saint. They come to make good a "manda"-a manda is a promise to their patron saint. It must be made good because it is a thing of faith-there is nothing stronger