Some years ago a company was formed in New York to build a scenic railroad through Marble and Grand Canyons. Engineers were sent out not only to make a careful survey of the canyons but also to make a series of photographs which should form a continuous panoramic view of the proposed route. A large sum of money was spent in making the surveys; then the project was abandoned. Possibly at some future time the scheme may be revived and a road be built, using as its motive power electricity generated by the river itself. The Grand Canyon is now easily reached by the Santa Fe Railway system. From the main line at Williams a branch road extends to El Tovar, Grand Canyon station, which is located near the edge of the canyon. The descent to the bottom of the canyon can be made by several trails. Those noted for easy descent and the best views are Grand View and Red Canyon Trails from Grand View, Bright Angel Trail from El Tovar, and Bass Trail from Bass Camp. Each has its own special charms, and for one limited as to time it is difficult to make a choice. The course of the Colorado and its tributary, Green River, presents some interesting problems. The latter has cut its channel directly across the Uinta Mountains, and the Colorado has sawed its channel to the base level of a series of plateaus, sometimes called the Sierra Abajo. And the interesting problem is--how was the sawing process accomplished? It needs only a moment's thought to understand that the river could not flow against the base of a mountain range and bore a passage through it, much less clear out an open passage miles in width. [Illustration: Grand View Trail Looking toward Apache Point from Mystic Spring Plateau. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado] Major Powell has shown how this mighty work of mountain cutting was accomplished; the sawing process was begun, not at the base of the range, but at its top. It is merely a question of age. The Colorado and its chief tributaries are older than the mountain uplifts which they have severed. Moreover, the level of their channels is much the same now as it was before the mountains were born. The mountain levels, however, have been changing ever since their uplift began. And when the rock layers of which they are composed began to be pushed upward the uplift was so slow that the rivers cut downward just as rapidly. In time the ranges were pushed upward to their present height; but when the uplift was completed, in each case it was sawed to the bottom by the river. It is in very much the same manner that a huge log is cut in twain as it is pushed against the saw. The mountain range, as it is pushed upward, represents the log; the river, which is stationary, represents the saw.