Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico); Grand Canyon (Ariz.); United States -- Discovery and exploration
and wind into other canyons. The heavens seem to be alive, not moving
as move the heavens over a plain, in one direction with the wind, but
following the multiplied courses of these gorges. In this manner the
little clouds seem to be individualized, to have wills and souls of
their own, and to be going on diverse errands--a vast assemblage of
self-willed clouds, faring here and there, intent upon purposes hidden
in their own breasts. In the imagination the clouds belong to the sky,
and when they are in the canyon the skies come down into the gorges and
cling to the cliffs and lift them up to immeasurable heights, for the
sky must still be far away. Thus they lend infinity to the walls.
The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in
symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic
art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features.
Language and illustration combined must fail. The elements that unite
to make the Grand Canyon the most sublime spectacle in nature are
multifarious and exceedingly diverse. The Cyclopean forms which result
from the sculpture of tempests through ages too long for man to compute,
are wrought into endless details, to describe which would be a task
equal in magnitude to that of describing the stars of the heavens or
the multitudinous beauties of the forest with its traceries of foliage
presented by oak and pine and poplar, by beech and linden and hawthorn,
by tulip and lily and rose, by fern and moss and lichen. Besides the
elements of form, there are elements of color, for here the colors of
the heavens are rivaled by the colors of the rocks. The rainbow is not
more replete with hues. But form and color do not exhaust all the
divine qualities of the Grand Canyon. It is the land of music. The river
thunders in perpetual roar, swelling in floods of music when the storm
gods play upon the rocks and fading away in soft and low murmurs when
the infinite blue of heaven is unveiled. With the melody of the great
tide rising and falling, swelling and vanishing forever, other melodies
are heard in the gorges of the lateral canyons, while the waters plunge
in the rapids among the rocks or leap in great cataracts. Thus the Grand
Canyon, is a land of song. Mountains of music swell in the rivers, hills
of music billow in the creeks, and meadows of music murmur in the rills
that ripple over the rocks. Altogether it is a symphony of multitudinous
melodies. All this is the music of waters. The adamant
395 powell-canyons-252.jpg
PINNACLES OF THE KAIBAB. powell-canyons-253.jpg
VISHNU'S TEMPLE. powell-canyons-254.jpg
KEY TO THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.--LOOKING EAST.
E. C. Eastern Cloister. F. San Fraucisco Mount. K. Mount Kendricks.
1. Cherty limestone. 2. Upper Aubrey limestone. 3. Cross-bedded
sandstone. 4. Lower Anbrey sandstone.
5. Upper Red Wall.
6. Red Wall limestones.
7. Lower Carboniferous sandstones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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