Show GOOD COUNTRY V glowing tribute paid to didies pioneers who subdued the desert and built homes As tho the traveler pa bacs acs over the southern edge of the great bisin basin and begins the descent into dixie ho be encounters some of the rockiest roc kiest roads ever continuously traveled by man in other places the rocks ban e been worn into sands and there tho the roads seem even worse tho the rocks cliffs ridges and much of tho the soil itself are highly colored black red yellow grav for tins this is part of iho famous painted desert of america volcanic cones appear among the lulls hills and numberless gulches of rocky blocks of lava and other flows of Nole volcanic anic materials aro are encountered these partially cover tho the highly colored sandstone beds and mountains over chich the molten materials flowed in thick sheets during ages and they give a weird and picturesque aspect to the landscape we are dimly conscious too of a climatic change with tho the descent on the southern side of the rim of the basin tho the air grows rapidly warmer in winter balmy breezes cheer the tra traveler Neler and waft aft to him suggestions gest ions of the warmth and aroma of an italian spring in summer these winds that blow from the south become highly heated in crossing the endless lava beds and sandy plains and hills and seem like the hot blast from plutos furnaces the sun burns bums and blisters 5 3 ct ot the fierce heat is not it all enervating in the shade the tile heat is so tempered that one feels no discomfort under the tree tops and even a wagon cover relieves the situation and once there in any of the settlements tle ments one eats cats well sleeps soundly and sings with inith mockingbird moc Kold gold flinch and linnet just where the rocky ledger ledges of the santa clira clara join the wider valley of the cliff hemmed ilio rio virgin nestles the town of st george almost hidden bidden by ranges and table linds lands and half buried in the foliage of trees it is an oasis in tho the desert a spot of green that relieves the barren grandeur and imp impressive desolation of the many colored and rugged sabara that engulfs the little city as in ono one vast nast billowy sea of rock and sand band over the endless volcanic fields broken into innumerable basaltic blocks and cinders of many d dirk irk colors the ra ras s of the sun pour in in resistless fury till tho tile shimmering air seems to ribo in waves waves as if great fires were raging 0 over or the lava beds into this area of desolation which staggers the very nery imagination to picture in 1861 when western railroads were unknown and no sounds SAVO save the howl of a lono lone coyote or tho the chirp of A straggling bird of the tile desert broko broke the solitude a number of mormon pioneers penetrated hundreds of miles from an thing like a town thero in one of the openings of the hot box canyon formation of the virgin river riser they broke the dry hot earth with their rude plows and begin began to sow grain and plant trees the whole undertaking had their been ben any outside observer there to witness it must have resembled a tragedy of slow death in the wilderness or it best the forlorn hope born of tho the despair of men long inured to the hardship hardships of pioneer life but to thebo colonists the undertaking seemed feasible enough for they iacre people who in themselves in their coun tn and in the god of their fathers jhc gjere ere there to open up this region region to establish a station or baso base of supplies upon which tho the surrounding settlements of the future might loan and around which the development and reclamation of this vast nast and till then worthless area might center they were there to stay because having been sent by proper authority as they esteemed it they had bad no thought of desert deserting ing their post or of resigning their mission until bidden so to do by the same authority and there they have stayed with a devotion and fortitude that challenged the admiration and elicited the uniform and unhesitating praise of all the neighboring western settlements from which other people watched the progress of this strange duel behean puny man on the one hand and the gigantic forces of lies hostile nature on tho tile other with infinite toil the men led tiny streams of water from the deep galleys and decayed decoyed them upon the burning sands with sublime pat ienco and resignation the women faced the stern conditions that confronted them in this wilderness so far from the habitation of their kindred and lacking all their accustomed refinements of civilization and if buas true anywhere that the desert bloomed and the hills broke forth into song I 1 it was hero here for the wheat sprouted the grasses grew the vegetables thrived and after repeated trials the fruit trees began to take root soon a vegetation almost tropical in its luxuriance smiled in the face of the fiercely shining sun and seemed like an emerald gem set among the tha weird cliffs and wilds near the heart of this 94 painted desert of the and regions deseret news |