Show The Beauty of s an Oft Neglected Spot 8 i is in hi Wayne Wonderland Photographed I To Depict a Geologic ic Yesterday Seen fringe of Today L CI n K rr rT JA t n. n r. r A c 1 r T I 1 r R het r 1 l A. A A scene in the Mancos shale formation taken near Cainville in Wayne Wonderland in an October sun The Mancos shale is the lying low-lying mound with sharp upper edge of steel gray color standing out in the distance distance distance dist dist- ance this side of the larger f. f mo mountain mass and the same c J. J S What a pretty scene I I And just as pleasing to the mind mindIn mindIn In study as it is captivating visual visual- ly Through the parting of the trees and above the sere and yellow yel- yel yell l c low of the passing year one looks through TODAY upon a YESTERDAY YESTER- YESTER DAY DAY Today with its little fringe of r 1 leaves stiff and turning in color dying with the year about to close yesterday esterday a flood plain through which a stream grinds at the soil r as it has done yesterdays afore and will do tomorrow a living thing outlasting phase of leaf from green to withered and brown- brown formation f but slightly darker in intone intone intone tone is the entire similarly cut mass under the ledge of cap rock This Mancos shale is soft and wears easily Hence it is deeply deeply deeply deep deep- ly gullied with pronounced cuts of many furrows and But the cap rock is of lessly a link from yesterday to to to- to day One knows that the gnawing stream has cut from caprock to its present bed busy for a hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred million years and knowing its task is not yet done done done- never done Then abruptly rising from the flood plain pausing in the flow of time only as long as to form the narrow ledge of rocks seen begins the Mancos shale etched furrowed gullied with the years years- the years of more distant time Then as the years recede the mountain rises mass above mass hard Cretaceous sandstone and resists erosion hence it appears as a bold ledge of rock on top a protective cap Its color is buff The Fremont River flows in inthe inthe inthe the channel seen in the middle middle middle mid mid- dle foreground the cut of the opposite bank is seen a few feet high The whole is nature backward into the abys of unfolding unfolding unfolding unfold unfold- ing years ears It rises In keeping to the piling up of thousand times a thousand years Comes change as the ledge of caprock is fashioned into enduring sandstone See how the years ears pile up even as the mountain top rears upward in a straight heap At the top the mind pauses for hundred of feet in soil material once lay above the caprock The Fremont River has gnawed at the mountain slowly at the caprock faster on the shale until today its aggregate bite accumulated accumulated accumulated ac ac- ac- ac cumulated is feet feet worn down by water before ones one's eyes Today the time of now yesterdays yesterdays yesterdays yester yester- days back for a hundred million years years- a hundred million years before one from leaf to caprock Today no different from any of those yesterdays Continuous work A never-ending never work Yet accumulative accumulative accumulative bits show hugely in the ag ag- ag- ag One days day's task un A beautiful scene A picture of merit And just as beautiful ul to the eye as appealing to the mind Time unfolded And what a record At a time roughly approximating ing that of the bottom of the mountain before you the ruling dinosaur from th the little two-toed two pigmy which ran down a prey to the big toothed engine of destruction who battled a foe even larger than itself itself itself- both both have passed Their Their day was run The is the time of the great dying Many entire lines died out The camera sees only caprock above shale not being able to add addone addone addone one iota to what is before it But the minds mind's eye sees the record record- a record of time passing bringing changes in its wake when lumbering lumbering lumbering lumb lumb- ering bigness gave way to nimble- nimble quick quick- when sway of reptile passed passed passed pas pas- sed to rule of mammal Beauty is is' caught by the camera A greater beauty is in the unfolding unfolding unfolding unfold unfold- ing scroll re read d by the mind The tourist from the west Passing Passing Pas Pas- sing through Wayne Wonderland has encountered the spectacular He has seen immense mountains J bold cliffs formidable ledges all requiring eons of time A gorge of rare scenic value value- value value- practically a crack in gigantic walls of rock He has seen lavish use of color Further he has but had to 10 glance up and rimming mountains of 11 feet of majesty in nature hem hemin hemin hemin in his vista His mind has been fIlled filled filled fil fIl- fil- fil led with the large the superlative Hence too often he will speed by this exquisite little gem near Cainville Cainville Cain Cain- ville as a mere minor mountain of only feet in height height- a mere mole outside a setting of great great- ness Therein does he rob himself He should stop Relax Let the worth of it infiltrate Enrich this moment of vacation Let him note in all its beauty TODAY the now in a setting of millions m of years of YESTERDAYS In Emery County just north of this is a much similar shale tho there it is colored red to which the name has been given the Morrison shale In it I 1 have found many excellent dinosaur bones of which one is a thigh bone 4 4 feet long which for lor many years was on exhibit in the Chronicle office and andis is now part of a rock garden in my yard But Dut I have not been fortunate fortunate fortunate for for- enough to as yet find dinosaur bones in Wayne County That is a lure for the future Sharp contours abrupt angles lack of rounding off such angularity angular angular- ity as is seen in this photo d denote note in erosion a relative term in the v vast st span of geology to which time seemingly is natures nature's natures nature's na na- na- na tures ture's plaything This erosion of the s shale h a I 1 e now so plain and so soi I pleasing to the eye its chiseling I II II I done only yesterday so to speak at her loveliest best bedecked to meet the gaze of passers No two hours of the day find the same colors given back to the eye hard steel gray at noon then tinted into mauves to delicate pink as the sun grows redder In an intense blue sky faint tinges of a veil- veil like green appear in the shale to be bc further etched tomorrow and I yet more worn away on the day after The hand of the M Mighty I 1 g h t Y Sculptor is still busy at the work But on the other hand the mighty walls of rock the motorist has passed passed passed pas pas- sed through a few miles back appear appear appear ap ap- ap- ap pear to him so firm so solid so everlasting are they as to denote denote denote de de- de- de note finished done completed ed and the Workman having withdrawn But here so lately was the work done residue loosened clutters the floor The whole Mancos Mancos Mancos Man- Man cos shale is that worn off chiseled loose residue Back a few miles heavy tation Color here here here- Yes delicate pastels sparingly laid on Beautiful ful in wisp-like wisp The caprock caprock caprock cap- cap rock is dark buff b u f f to duller the high lights tinged with yellow Dissolved Dissolved Dissolved Dis Dis- solved by rains that yellow washes wash wash- es down its hue flows into the material below changing steel gray into creamy yellow and that in turn to change by yet another factor For in an intensely blue bluesky bluesky bluesky sky with brilliant azure reflected from all sides the yellow cream is tinged to the most veil- veil like pale green as light as gossa gossa- mer And in the late afternoon when the sun begins to mellow gradually you see ever so little a tinge of red added to the pigments ever increasing in the lowering of the sun turning yellows to a deeper deep deep- er buff and buff a ruddier and warmer hue more aglow It is a of ever- ever changing hues on the pattern following the mood of sun from noon when the great orb irritable his temper fiery his mood fierce to his softer aspect as mellowed with a day well spent he cast the former mood aside and glows with the warmth of pleasure The Fremont River this October day looked so mild so unruffled that one could feel like linking permanent habitation near its placid placid pla pla- cid cours course But that belies its fits I of temper A generation ago it flew into a torrent of rage hurled itself at the enclosing banks swept out many feet of flood plain soil tore down fences and uprooted orchards A house was left as a taunt on the very brink needing but a touch to topple in That in derision and mockery of man And man fled fled until only half the population w was s left At which the stream put on its most demure appearance appearance ap appearance ap- ap of innocence sans frown sans temper temper- tempera a pose it holds even today Yet In that brief flood it only showed a remembrance of more vigorous days days days- days of cutting down a channel as fast as earth surface uplifted ted by warping challenged challenged challenged chal chal- its life Never did Chinese coolie work on the Burma road I more a assiduously carrying baske- baske bask I ul after basketful of soil and rocks from a here to a there than has this his river laboriously transported illions of tons of material a sand train grain at a time in each tiny wave- wave et carrying the suspended particle orward onward multiplied in effort eUort by an uncounted mass of fellow wave wave- wavelets ets lets each busy at the same task Or to liken the process of stream erosion to the routine of Willow Run or other g great r rea e a t industrial plants each workman tiny rivulet rivulet rivulet let is merely a unit bearing a number in the vast drove of employees employees employees em em- each lays his piecework on the assembly belt the Colorado River which Is a trunk line comparable comparable comparable com com- parable to our network of railroads railroads railroads rail rail- roads and that in turn transports the product to the distant mart martin mart mart- in this case to the Gulf Gull of Call Calif Cal ornia How much nicer to pause and reflect at this beauty spot so richin rich richin richin in the lore of past records than to spurt past unheeding Form line pattern the ever-changing ever tints of hues the thc word record record- all how pleasing One is bettered by absorbing what one can can can- and he absorbs the most who takes the most to it Nature bestows gifts in prodigal lavishness and here isher Isher is isher her hand filled with an offering Take whoso is prompted |