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Show e" Beside Which the S fr 'i ! elebrated Garden of -iPwli " 4? da Gods Polos Into P RfS M fediocriiy As SeenlW " ' " 'T Bj 0 J GEIilES. -L tie world has been told of a Tosderful natural bridge in tie mountains of Virginia. In m gone by it has been her i ne of tie seven wonders of A Perhaps it mav ba so eon 1 h fte world at largo today nH ko been told of the wonder 3ct tmosg the mountains of M ni the great northwest. Yet ian rtah at oar verr back nine wonderful natural arches s laadiwork of time, in eom Wh which the celebrated tf the Gods pales into medi -31 tis long been known for its i bridge. As children we iraated by the description of nieiool readers, and the lllus-1 lllus-1 of its massive proportions tte geographies. It was de-u de-u bang ninety feet long and i thasm 200 feet deep tld can boast of five natural ICJ one of which is larger than a' wonder They are the Non . northwest of Navajo moun " Carolyn and the Augus-J3"e Augus-J3"e Jon, the Edwin canyon and the San Monument park Virginias Wonder "fmaezoahie tho greatest "'antes, eonld be placed two 3"ua bridge with room to w 63111 lta miShtT mo- the " of the Salt Lake temple with ease With greater "7 stand under Sanso-"e Sanso-"e span is shorter by 200 npporting colnmns of the Wi largei of th8 White .Jwnld stand, one at the v Templeton building and i, JV of temple block ajehwould rise 222 feet into the air and look down upon the Deseret New building and vet Nonnez-Oih e oula rest on the diagonal diago-nal orners of the square and its arch would completely clear the top of the Augusta. In all nine natural bridges have so far been disco ered in southern titah The Nonnezoshie the largest nat ural arch in the world so far reported s 308 feet high with a span of 4 5 feet the Sansosie 350 feet h gh but spans only seventy five feet the Au gusta is St feet high with a span ot Ml feet, the Carolyn s 0 feet high with a span of 186 feet the Ed win is 104 feet high with a span of 198 feet the Fikyabo is sixt two feet high with a span of 12' feet the Sitsosie is 143 feet high with a span of 147 feet and one of the three yet unnamed is 250 feet high with a span of sixty feet. The other two arches are small when compared with the mass e dimensions of their neighbors but in most parts of the world would be won ders in themselves The two "mailer arches have not been measured accu rately They were discovere only last summer and at that time t was m practicable to give them the attention they deserved. Dean Cummmgs Discoverer The discovery of the Edwin the Carolyn and the Augusta is credited to the late Cass Hite one of the p one"rs of southern Utah The remainder of the great arches were dis eovered bv University of Utah archae ological exped tions headed by Professor Profes-sor Byron Cummings formerly dean of the school of arts and sciences of the Utah inst tution Four of them were discovered by Dean Cumm ngs on the 1914 expedition W th a view to preserving the names and traditions of tbe earlv inbab tants as mnch as possible Indian names have been pven the br dges Nonnezo sh e is a Pahute word mean ng b g arch P"kyabo is the Ute word for water tank or b g c stern Sansosie s a Navajo word, meaning tall and slim S tsos e was the name of the avao guide of the party that discovered the arch The Ed win the Carolyn and the Au gusta also have been recbnstened . i L T 1 I I V 1 J WlbU JI1U LttlUCO LfUl LUC U1U JiaUiCD have been associated with the struc tures so long that the later names are seldom used outside of government doc ments Known to Cliff Dwellers These great natural wonders were well known to the anc ent cl ff and ueblo dwellers as s evidenced by the rums of their houses and altars found near by an 1 the n odern tribes of Ltcs Pahutes and ,avaios have been fam liar w th them for generat ons The Wh te can on 1 ridges the Ed w n the Augusta and the Caro lvn were f rst v s tc 1 bv wh te men n September 1883 when (ass H te, accon panied b Jnd an Joe Elwarl Randolph and Scotty Foss n ade a tnp into the reg on Mr p te ga e the br dges the names of tire Presi dent the Senator and the f on gressraan Tbe fealt Lake Commerc al club ex ed t on sent out unler the d rect on of the late II I A ulme v s te 1 tho stru tures n Apr 1 JQOo and obta ned photographs and si etches of them from wh eh the famous pa nt ngs of tho bridges by Mr Gulmer were made r&TTOSJ-J? " t J) 11 In the summer of 1907 an exped t on was sent out from the Uni en ty of Iitah under the d rect on of the Archaeolog cal Inst tute of Amer ca to explore as much as poss bio of that part of San Juan county ly ng north of the San luau r vcr Tl e party v s ted the Wh te canyon bridges generally accepted to nclude tho Edw n the Augi sta and the Carolyn and made a study of them and tho sur round ngs 6 rve of the br dges an i tbe land n tbe n med ate e n ty was ade and topog aph al and geo graph cal naps nere p cpared and sent to vashngto They were ncl ded n a report to the land board from wh ch Pres dent Roosevelt ssued a proclama t on n 1908 creat ng tho natural br dges nat onal nonument There are thrpe of the br dgos in the monu nent generally known as the Augusta tho C rolvn an 1 tho dwn wh le I gh up among tho cliffs between the Vugi sta and the Carolyn are two s nail arches Tho names of Augusta and Carolyn wcro g en n honor of the wife and the n other of two members of the party Mr Loner and Mr Scorup and the Edwin was chr etened by the Salt Lake Commerc al lub exped t on n hono of Co onel Edw n 1 Holmes In September 1909 Pres dent Taft ssued a second proclamat on on the Natural Br dges Nat onal n onument bv wb ch the former boundar es were hanged son ew hat an(l the names changed to the Owachomo tho Ka Ti na and the S papu The earl er nan es however ha e been so long aosoc ated w th the structures by the res dents of the ref, on and through ar ous maga z ne a t clos that t has been diff cult to obta n a genera recogn t on of the Uop names api 1 ed by tho govern n ent Wonder in Geology-Ages Geology-Ages ago the great sandstone beds o erly ng the ent re region must have been pushed pward by the nternal fo es of the earth until at the places ot the r greatest elevation the ar o a strata separated mountains were formed and large cracks opened up that o tended n z gzag I nes away through the slopes of the ast table land Th s" process of elevation was undoubtedly a gradual one and as the waters of the n ounta ns sought a lower level they took the r courses through the lr regular crov ces The r rush ng cur rents and surging eddies wore off the sharp corners sought out the soft places in the y eld ng sandstone dug o t deep caverns and recesses in the cl ffs and left beh nd them a ser es of graceful curves and fantast c forn s that amaze and del ght the vis tor at every turn The elevat on and open ng of the for mat on often left a narrow 6ect on of cl ff extend ng out nto the gorge for rods aro nd wh ch the stream made ts way The constant surging of the waters aga nst the barr er reveale 1 a Boft place n the sandstone where they gradua ly ate o t a half dome shaped cave In a few instances as the water swirled around the other s de of the barr er t reached a corresponding soft place and ground out another cave When in the course of time the backs of the two sem c rcular caves came to gether the waters found a shorter course through that opening enlarged the archway and smoothed off and rounded nto graceful curves tho sides of its mighty buttresses Thus a br dge was formed and became a mighty span of endur ng rock whose f ounda tions and graceful superstructures were laid by ages All of the Wh te can yon bridges and the great arch of ' Nonnezosh e evidently have been formed n th s manner Ancient Homes Near By The Edw n is a graceful struc ture. The long arch of sandstone is only ten feet thick m the center and the proport ons give an impress on of lightness that s very pleas ng to the eye Near it are domes ana turrets fash oned by the same hands that produced pro-duced the br dge and nestling in a ca e worn in the sunny s de ot the cbff near one end are the deserted homes of a cl ff dwellers village Three m les below near the unct on of Armstrong canyon with Wh te can 3 on the way s almost blocked by a cliff hich rises in amazing propor t ons On the r ght and on the left s milar cl ffs sec to endeavor to el bow the s tor out of the ay Seventy live teet above at the r ght the bar r er has been worn away and pla nly is ble is the course of a m ghtj stream that once puri ed ts w nd ng , way among the cl ffs A little farther to the left is the end of Am strong canyon and there one stands in the shadow of a great archway wh ch the waters of Wh te canyon have c t through the ba r er that seems to block the course of the Armstrong Th s s the Carolyn (Kach na) bharp corners and broken 1 nes show the unf n shed work of the art san Nature has not yet g en the f nal touches but w nd and. storm and dr v ng Band v 11 continue to ch sel and pol sh uutil the lines are all graceful curves add n g eater bea t to the n ost mass e of bridges Beneath its b oad arch a spr ng of cold water n tes the traveler to b de a nee and dinna fret and b its s de nsp red by its life g v ng el xir surrounded by the r ch gTeens of cotton voods and oaks and the warm reds and buffs of the cliffs wh le the strange homes and m s ter ous writings of a long forgotten peo pie peer down from the ledges the vis tor imagines that the world is young again and that he is part and parcel of ts simpl city "Augusta" Greatest of Three Pass ng to the right up the main fork of White canyon winding between lofty cliffs that send out towers and battlements battle-ments and in the hollows of whose seamed and scarred s des are the homes, the fortif cat ons and the granar es or an anc ent populat on after a walk of about two miles one stands under the arch of another of nature s wonders the Augusta (S papu) br dge The Augusta is the crowning glory of the three bridges It combines mas s venesi with gracefulness of propor tions The greatest specimen of natore s bridge build ng is the Is onnezoshie situated northwest of Navajo mountain in the extreme southern part of Utah near the Colorado river This arch was d scovered by the Utah Archaelogical exped t on in August, 1909 In 1910 Pres dent Taft set aside this arch with the land about it as the Rainbow Bridge National Monument In appearance ap-pearance it is not so much a real bridge as the structures in White canyon, because be-cause the top of the span is not level Here however the sandstone has been more yielding and the forces at work, perhaps more constant so that erosion, has progressed much farther and left only a curving arm of the harder rock stfetched gracefully across the canyon. The setting of wild scenery and inter esting phys ographic features make t one of the most attractive spots on the globe. Cm the northern slope of Navajo mountain are two smaller arches each of which would be attractive in itself were it not overshadowed by the great arch of Nonnezoshie Another Discovery. In November 1909 the expedition dis covered another great natural arch south of Moab m the extreme southern part of Grand county Caves have beeuliol lowed out of the cliffs at various points in the vicinity and numerous natural reservoirs are found scattered on the surface of the bare rocks where soft places have been found in the stone or whirling eddies of former ages have, ground out cisterns Some of these are shallow tanks while others reach down twenty feet and more through sobd sandstone. Some are irregular and wind ng in their course while others look as though they had been sunk by some titanic drill when the gods were playing with the earth s crust A few drain cons derable areas of the cliffs In a few instances reservoirs have been formed d rectly behind a cave that was being hollowed out of the s de of the cliff As the walls of the cave extended backward farther and far ther nto tho cliff the reservoir was sunk deeper and enlarged 1 ttle by lit tie until its bottom broke through into the back of the cave Then the waters formerly gathered into the reservoir surged through the cave and loBt them selves in the valley below Every downpour of rain and every driving wind carried the work a 1 ttle farther until the former roof of the cave be came an arch When the reservoir held the waters until its depth about equalled that of the cave, then the gracefully curving arch became a real bridge as in the case of the b g arch in Grand county wh ch has been chr stened P kj abo Examination Prevented In Dark canyon between the west ern spurs of Elk mountains is a fine arch that seems to have been construct ed in the same manner as P kyabo but severe sno vstorms prevented a caro ful exam nat on by the members of the exped tion The same m ghty hand carved bridges that were d scovered later and while each arch has its individual peculari t es the descr ptions of the bridges al ready ment oned cover m a general way the remaining four that have been re ported. But wh le the great natural bridges are wonderful there s much else m Utah s Dixie of interest to those who adm re the vild and rugged beauty of nature s hand work There she has molded the earth s crust nto forms so strange and fantastic and dyed them in a coloring so r chly warm and var ed and has spread over all such br ght sun sh ne and such clear wholeso no atmos phere that it forms a nature lover s parad se Time and the elen ents have w orn m ghty n onuments castles domes and sp res that lift the r heads majes t call aga nst the mother cliffs or stand n aiest cally outl ned aga nst the tur quo so skj To breathe the pure air that sweeps down through the. rugged cauvons to li e and grow n the s in sh ne that s forever g ving the battle mented cliffs a warmth and glow and an over changing color that rests and in spires to be able to see how nature s mold ng and shaping the earth s crust, is no mean inheritance |
