Show 5 JT t V THE an account of its dangers and its unique grandeury grandeurs Gran deurs v somo Interest lne facts iff iowen the only man watt ever explored atthe ill rated expedition the account of the attempt by frank mi brown to survey the colorado river to as certain the feasibility of a railroad its high banks and the end of the enterprise in the death of brown and two members of his party in the canyon induced says a new york tribune correspondent to make some inquiries of major J W powell director of the geological survey the only man whose parties have ever suc in traversing the deadly gorge asked why brown failed major powell answered for t no same reason I 1 think the parties have always failed he underestimated the perils to bo encountered tha colorado canyon to speak of many canyons as one is unique there is nothing elsa like it in the world none but itself can be ts parallel and so it is difficult for the imagination magi nation to foresee and appreciate its urious whirlpools dangerous rapids and tremendous remen dous abysses I 1 think that brown ailed to comprehend the significant fact hat nothing can get through the colorado banyon that can not float boats aro repeatedly peat edly upset and inferior boats are nashed like eggshells egg shells did you know mr brown y yes somewhat last winter I 1 received letters from various persons interested in locating a railroad route down the colorado it was believed that a water crade for a railroad could be found and that thus the vast coal fields of utah and colorado could be connected with tide water in the gulf of california a most desirable thing to accomplish the president of the dener company mr brown finally visited washington and called upon me and made inquiries about the best method of making the surrey he seemed courageous and judicious but in my judgment the plan wis quite impi and I 1 told him so and fully stated to him my reasons for such a conclusion what were the reasons they can not be repeated in limits more brief than a magazine article furnishes but I 1 can outline them in a word no railroad can run along the rocks at the top of the canyon because the whole region is a labyrinth of stupendous lateral gorges from halt a mile to a milo deep and running back from the colorado for many miles on both sides and no engineering known to man can bridge them in the main canyon the river often rises forty to sixty feet so that the road bod would have to hang upon the aldes of tho cliff which much of the way is perpendicular the floods here surpass in size and suddenness any others on the globe was browns party overwhelmed in the most difficult pirt of tho descent oh no by no means brown had justabe gun to encounter the real difficulties when he met with disaster in marble canyon it is a bad place but he had not yet reached the most dangerous portion of the river he lad descended less than six hundred feet chile the fall of the colorado below was more than two thousand feet was the boat a suitable one 1 would not have gone in it by ny means I 1 was anxious about it even before he started it did not seem to mo adapted co canyon waters it seemed too flat bot tomed and must have been at the mercy of the swirling currents div i iv major powell was asked about tha stories that various parties had succeeded in de the grand canyon at different times and answered A s kobory has ever successfully traversed the colorado canyon but my parties tho story that a raft once lived to get through 9 preposterous and wa long since es invariably all attempts have been suspended or have met with disaster the boat to go down the colorado canyon must bo sturdily built on a pattern which experience has proved the strongest and should havo three airtight compartments tha men should wear life preservers at all places os danger and all tools clothing and rations should be carried m airtight air tight ocean mail sacks so that they will float it these conditions are fulfilled if the boats are tough enough and the men at once plucky and prudent enough and at the maximum of their health and strength tha myon may yet be run again 1 could not forbear saying you do not eem to have been quite up to this mark r you first attacked the canyon long antei u had lost an arm at shiloh v r i smiled whimsically and said wis irocky an expense judge walton of the maine supreme court was on W at work m his office drawing up an opinion in a knotty and important case when a brother lawyer walked in the visitor was a man for whom the judge entertained a pretty do aided dislike well brother light weight he said curtly what can I 1 do foi you this morning oh nothing an the caller 1 I merely dropped in foi a few minutes A disagreeable silence ensued then tho judge looked up ana asked brother lightweight why donl you get married because I 1 cant af ford it how much co you suppose it me to live now the audgo declared tha he could not guess well it costs me al of six thousand dollars a year just for mj own living dearl dearl said tho fujie in a tono of astonishment why light weight I 1 pay it it worth ida when eirls should be silent would a well bred girl possessed of an feeling whatever possessed of the slightest slight esl sensibility or sense divulge the fact tha she bad been proposed to by a man anc that sho had refused him I 1 have asked this question of several girls and also ol 01 several married women and while then answers were varying am confident iron what I 1 know of their characters that the well bred girl of honor and sensibility would never upon the weightiest weight iest pretext disclose what had passed between herteli and a man upon so delicate a subject th unsuccessful suitor is a man who receiver very little sympathy and usually there none mew deserving of it than he |