Identifier: threewonderlands00murp (find matches)
Title: Three wonderlands of the American West; being the notes of a traveler, concerning the Yellowstone park, the Yosemite national park, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, with a chapter on other wonders of the great American West
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Murphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler), 1866-1928
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, L. C. Page & company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
his charges and see that none of themunduly exposes himself. He has a fund of infor-mation and a number of stories and incidentsconcerning the Canyon which serve to enliventhe long mule-back ride. We find the Bright Angel descent far morestrenuous than the Glacier Point trip in theYosemite—more difficult by odds than we antici-pated. A series of steep zigzags, often windingalong the verge of yawning precipices, makesone shudder as he thinks of the results of a singlemisstep—but the mules do not make misstepsand the chapter of accidents to tourists in theCanyon is short indeed. The descent begins atBright Angel Inn, a half mile from El Tovar.Like all trails to the Colorado, it is more or lessa natural pathway, having been used for ages bythe Indians, though in places it has been renderedeasier and safer by well-directed work. This isespecially noticeable for the first half mile, wherethe skill of the engineer is plainly evident. Thecanyon walls are almost devoid of vegetation, 120
Text Appearing After Image:
BRIGHT ANGEL TRAIL, GRAND CANYONFrom the Original Painting by Thomas Moran, N. A. THE GRAND CANYON though a few gnarled and stunted pines havefound foothold and coarse grasses and cacti withleaves like stilettos appear at intervals. As wedescend and are able to view the strangelyeroded forms from a lower level, the resemblanceto architectural structures becomes more pro-nounced. Yonder rises Shiva Temple, thedominating pile of Bright Angel Trail, wonder-fully symmetrical in form—an oriental palace ofgigantic dimensions built of intricately carvedstone and surmounted by a pinnacled dome oflight yellow. Truly, it seems as if one mightenter its awful portals and come into the hall ofsome potentate of giant stature amidst surround-ings of barbaric splendor, a fit ruler for theenchanted land in which we sojourn today. Thetrail descends rather sharply until it passes thered sandstone strata; when it enters BoulderBed it becomes comparatively easy and sighs ofrelief from the party are not

Note About Images