Show the great beauty of little zion canyon I 1 J H PAUL professor of matuie at alie of rutih mccond onh to the cinon of the colondo sublimity ind grandeur little aion alle of southern laih i the queen of all places in america most picture scenes in nature compiled Comp ired with alie fumed nto little zion is far more highly colored more rugged thild and matestic maa estic the valley is longer and better placed being hell within the painted desert not man people probably pio bably have heard of vile of enchantment tins titanic mystery of the south et yet it surpasses all other known areis in alie number and beauta of its eich chairing chan Ring panoramas in the adeil loveline a of its mysterious ind in the ro of things that hive been and ire et to be institute nor kera the state librarian Ms downey and myself bet forth october 20 1914 from utah to i each hurricane the B inie night the weather tt as tt arm and dry in this part of the punted desert the date we due in st george on the and no team could safely make it in that time superintendent rut ru t therefore placed an automobile at our disposal the dav haq oer fact alie landscape eird stretches of gray plain cohered with deceit shrubs and cacti bare eind hills ith only a few trees deep liol loft s and wide ravines occasionally through alie bed of the rio virgin over black in v a hills and cedar covered knolls on Q ent a long succession of but almost lifeless pictures acry mile of the country was filled with interest the mounts n breit tinted blocks are caned into steamboat or citadel forma ind usually abound in several colors the sand mostly red is sometimes kray or white the sil er hue of the desart vegetation ege tation the colored sky the continuous sunshine chese were a relief to what some call the monotony of the desert at fredonia arizona a well kept oasis of pleasant homes we had the bood forture to encounter flecka of heavy billed anches called evening grosbeaks gros beaks contentedly eating the fruits of box elders their elegant costumes of greenish yellow white and black clearly seen aenid the autumn were most attractive as we studied them through our strong field blasse Rl asse over the deaerts we are whirling arim at length the virgin river Q dine under cot sand fco clean that it was a luxury to out and ret re t upon it in the di tance were immense lutting pinnacles and ere it temple mountains which ive learned alie gummins of two fantastic chains that protrude above the wonderful ion canyon the driver took a ave mile run nearer that we pet a glimpse of the wonders of this ece nerv ahe sun was just sinking toward the western mountains the whole countr waa illuminated bv a peculiar ow o w the and ed cliffs like gold or hesli liko tints at alio veo top frowned like battlements hie ganti ig of alic bun light on the cliffy seemed to lift bliem to i gre iter altitude hie mountain mount nin colors blended deh citel with the exquisite silver grav rib bit brush ind with the deep shining green of live aik oik toiling to alie top of a little gnoun tun after alie could go no further a hint of alic grandeur of below us and of the cliffs iet roq our lipids lv burst upon our astonished view it s nl alio prelude to 0 o saw at close but even go alie kikm licence of the aina bailles de it atas at a t so detill 0 o like a vision of endless time or duration or limitless bouer tint our exclamations of wonder died spoken va could not oice elpi sessions equal to the task of auch raal towered the great temple a solid block unique and sunlit in inana hued splendor one vast im moville battlement bitt lement adamant etabel as a stupendous work of art and dolid as the everlasting hills beneath our feet in steep descent were deep winding gulches over which cliffs and chirp edeeb ledges ominously projected at the bottom a slender silver bind the rio virgin streaked silent amid the cottonwood groves alie sand and the jumbled rock masses fallen from alie cliffs in ages immensity on all sides the ek above the depths below the vast di on every hand southward and we looked to hills softened in color westward to those lost in the haze of the sun while to alie eastward the gigantic masea ma sea and towers peem to be thrust out of the sky against our very faces impossible that anyone could scale towering glistening heights new store of nelson mercantile co nor could we see how one might descend the darkening cliffs tint rose sheer precipices from the river valley below all colors are here above our heads an ocean of rare beauty lathe pale blue sky of the desert rocks thit th it rise in cliffa which we know were harsh to the seemed as blabs and ahone like 01 velvet in the eegene and unclouded light of this atmosphere reluctantly we left these sive pictures and traveled swiftly over good roide to alie edge of aliat geologists call the greit gre it hurricane fault A new vision of beauty now expanded before us in he beeer down for hundreds of feet stood perpendicular cliffs at the bottom amid winding streams that shimmered in the light were the well tilled fields cozy homes green and liblit colored roofs of a little city a veritable disia in tho desert with roy lights streaming from alie windows the fields were divided into of light or dirk color in the sunlight they are green of several shades now the hamlet baill as a picture at tho foot of the bluff like a gem set in the lock we looked again and again from the brink of the precipice of the steep rock dugway at the twilight of this dreamlike picture next diye meef the ol 01 J oui enterprising friend chaa B petty we drove to st george where alie assembled teachers mailed our arrival 1 ho apell of titanic mountains ind vast chasms as still upon us and in our public addies ea nc unconsciously made reference to alie e scenes it was no trouble to convince lr pett eliat we must go into the canyon of little zion for he knows evers foot of that region ain operates the sawmill saw mill here hen we returned to hurri elthe in people had assembled to hear our ii ss bouney spoke on their channg a public lib arary and I 1 gave i bird talk shott ing prepared prep ired specimen i of species common in southern otili next morning with a teim and pole bueg we started foi alie onecca of our hopes the leach of the vc cafter ne entered the canyon c rot no furt lier klimple of the sun until nearly noon for the is so narrow in moat places that the sunlight cannot strike the bottom except at noonday trend of the cam un being north and auth besides alie utmost variety of color every quarter of a mile re veala new marvels the rock masses arc so so sublime and stand out with such clearness of detail in tran spi rent atmosphere that they beem like photographs been gli 1 three noble pinnacles tottered us on the left symmetrical and ideal in their loveliness we them the three bricea their j arc ornamented avith carved and aliis aled caringi can ingi due to alie new store of E B snow furniture co hide snapped lust before we ford alie river at virgin leaving tho buggy there we hired a little wagon and drove on about d sunday afternoon we arrived at rockville a hillige not far from the mouth of the cannon found the people assembled to beai our story later that evening at the town ol 01 we spoke in another crowded meeting hauae mg surprise overtook ua liere 1 wen ty five of tho from washington county had made up a party to accompany w into the canyon jhc thc ft ere delightful compi niona strong men and fine women educated uv inious ready in converti tion and song most of them were ac customer cus tomed to outdoor life and a dozen or more hoys and girls rode horse hack all the 1 hey ceru great climbers and venturesome adera la well na good listeners the visitors ventured their views next morning dawn long before sunrise every camp was astir the horses were saddled the teams harnessed the people ready and warmly clothed etli song and shout that re echoed from the tall mountains in the narrowing cm on Q et forth a of liala a hundred the road is fair rough in acme places steep in others and the foaming river liard to be ford ed sevell times our strong team found no in breasting the waters about three feet deep or in avoiding the large boulders in the bed of alie stream fhe virgin river h muddy with sediment it is red or yellow or brown by turns grumbling and roaring in pines it glides smoothly in others winding from one side to the other of alie narrow annon the ncr casamo t un tendency to cut out alie soil to form a new channel and to destroy the roid caned along the side just above it here and there the narrow valley widens to half a mile and more placebo where formerly stood are still evident but the ever shifting stream his discouraged even theo mormon settlers and they hive abandoned farms which years ago with infinite toil they once made eo productive here I 1 h ive sud that the especial charm of the valley consists in the high cliffs and pinnacles which tower on each bide they rise 2000 to feet into the air but many of them with a sloping bink of talus and other deans at their bis is cliffs unlike most others df similar height are not of one but of five or six colors pale gray predominates in places but pale red brown and dark gray preval in others mixed cllon liidia liidi 3 of rek and dec p brown all ne tinted with kold at sunbelt we drove along by fore sunrise and the clear sky at blawn made those cliffs stand out in vond roua relief alie sun rose clear white without a aioo of rod but j r t a t stat play of the elements through ages pait light airy forms lacelike lace like in delicacy and when viewed through the gla their fantastic is greatly we 1 ad a good glass a nine power lemair which added much to the enjoyment of the beauty at alie tops of the ravine beven ponderous elevations immediately follo HinR the three graces we inked the beven Brot liers some to say three brother and seven graces calling alie larger more bulky and leba artistic forms ohp brothers anyway it does not matter whit they are named here they conic an endless trim leour after hour as our strong beiro goes swiftly forward above is n baat cyclopean orean beyond that the gigantic temple rock between them arc domes and minarets mina castles tot teia battlements bittle ments din s project ing ledges caves hanging rocks witches retreats ret reits dens fairi towers 0 istle steeps a perpetual uil succession of natural wonders in which we imagine alie homec of wild cats panthers bean belond them all fance pictures of the wild deer tho GO ote the bidger and other children of the hills by the time we arrived at alie wire I 1 had held m head thrown back so long that I 1 could endure alio attitude no longer but unable to keep my eyes from anew alic e mysterious towers I 1 found myself bins upon the ground with face still gating through the field elsel it ana merry pirty th it asselin bled group b group in the large amphitheater below the wire the wire i a cable which depends from a windlass on the cliff some feet above A bundle of clothing was presently sent up alie package deemed to go at an angle of about 34 degrees toward the cliff and then to creep perpendicular up alie of the long precipice until it was lat to sight numerous trees shrub rf and wild flowers abound in the soil that covers alie slopes and all along the river here our party wandered gathering bouquets of flowers and ferns and peeking out the rock for malion many of the are lichen covered and the story of the lichens the plants that make soil was discussed at several stopping places to the north of the alphi theatre a spring of water in a broad sheet was falling perhaps forty feel in crystal saraya from a projecting ledge wo stood under tins broad shelf and watched alie water fall in rain bowed effects on the outside of alie cave here are cool deep and through tho the ivies nd from tho crigg tho ilip pv hangs in sleep the and solitude iro broken only by tho rippling of the bright thin water hll em plants and mosses anre set continued on faeo i the great beauty of little zion canyon concluded from age 1 like gems in them idt of lock colors while alie v itei diopa down in diamonda the mist from the spray batche alio glimpse of min light it is broken into the luiea of alio rainbow A few of ua drove further up the soon into a a sort of gate and the frowning rocks from alie top come near together what mas beyond I 1 did not see hut have been informed tic gorge extend miles further at length opening out on a aroid plateau in tins deep chasm during one hour only wo BAW the sun blazing white in alie cleir sky the drive bick at evening was an entire chainge in the coloring deep dark laues occasionally lightened to reds and allowa where the sunlight through side gorge imparted to alie carved pinnacles other aspects of and dinv inv there was no gloom the effect w is without iny suggestions of the presently the moon lighting the vast expanse of the poteau beyond and alie aliffi of the magic canyon aboa e our heads flooded with dale silver the entire valley but left gray and dark the columns and valley that were in the shadows the breith of the desert is most agreeable at sunset it is the odor of sage and cactus or alie cooling chill imparted to it by alie bare suri faces of the lava rock or is it the absence of dust and moke that make is all so wonderful I 1 cannot tell but it provides the most pleasant feeling of exhilaration cool but not too cool it makes one and we like to breathe so deeply that we seem to food upon the bilms air names of the teachers who went with us into little ion are from st george W 0 bentley joseph W lena nelson lillie wysor lavard watson ethella foster samuel bleik william woodbury and annie atkin from beds edith and libby leany from hurricane joseph vitter Vitt cr edwin pace foremaster Fore mister and josephine in robert P Woodbur vand maggie virgin clintona Clinto nR burt from grafton althea Gi egerson from rockville edna cragun ind berthi robinson and from dale joseph T billinson Wil Linson and florence the bishop of rockville divid hirschi and of thornton rendered us valuable assistance little zion cinon is fifteen miles in length and two miles wide at its i mouth but narrows as one follows up alie river for ten miles the canyon is from a quarter to half a mile wide and for several miles it is but a few rods from one cliff to hie other on the opposite side in these places the covais the entire bottom of the canyon there are a number of places where it is imps sible to see the sav because the river his sawed its dav down from 2000 to feet and the overhanging cliffs shut out the da light the cliffs vai greatly in height and are mostly capped with pine trees and smaller timber A number of these totters alone and ahne leen scaled by man although most of the country on both of the cannon furnishes good ranche for cattle 1 liere is but one sawmill on the auth sidn the greatest elevi tonn rutih and perhaps in the world is located in this canon the ascension through the air being feet tins cable is devoted to transporting lumber from tho satt mill to the valley below but is used to some extent for lifting products from the valley to the mountain 6 some of the more daeng people ride the cable instead of climbing the five mile foot trail yellow pine furnishes the pan timber during the anon melting period of the spring and after the summer showers come thare are a number of very excellent waterfalls tribune |