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Show A Grand Canyon Marvel Si LsL g. I. Where the Grand Can- ftC yon Is Grandest if f P IPl N'orW Premier if (v MS ffiSi I M Scenic Region I ' JLJ feiCpVJ -p Suddenly Pro- K -ZSr NiSfMH duces a New De- V J-feA telopmenl of the V. V . i fyySVr Greatest Eco- " A wS f nomic Interest to fl 7ESSjf 1 ,7T . Enire M- 11 ' ttOl. U. 8. Senator - n&gU!3sZ' Cameron W- JIV By JUOSON C. WELLIVER I I ' "J By JUOSON C. WELLIVER f1HE Grand Canyon of the Colo-I Colo-I ' I rado River, widely regarded L i i as the world's most Imposing U-liSfl natural wonder, has suddenly taken on a new and startling Interest A few years ago. when It was as Inaccessible as the North Pole. John Wester Powell won fame by making the Brit trip through It A little later another adventurer conceived opening a trail from the canyon's rim down to the river, a mile below It seemed grotesque, but the Impossible was accomplished, ac-complished, and its accomplishment has made the canyon's Innermost won dera accessible to thousands of tourists tour-ists each year. They come from all quarters of the world every season In greater numbers to traverse the Bright Angel Trail That trail Is truly a monument to the daring and devotion of Its builder He wprked at It for ten years, almost without help of financial backing, at one period spending almost half a year alone In the vaat gorge. .But today Ralph Cameron, builder of the Bright Angel Trail, occupying a seat In the United States Benate voted to him by the people of Arizona, has his reward. Greatest Artificial Lake Just Room for the Derrick a flat-bottomed boa and floated down from Moab It wak a daring perform aoce, tor the stream twists constantly, unseen rocks and shifting bar add to Its difficulties, and the canyon's per pendlcular walla threaten Instant wreck. But It was done. Materials were brought a derrick reared, machinery placed, a camp built and drilling begun. be-gun. Now, with oil flowing from, a depth of 2.036 feet the Crane Creek well ts spddenly the wonder of the whole Intermountaln country. A Maze of Difficulties Just about a year from the begin nlng of drilling the well began to flow, with every Indication that when the drill goes somewhat deeper into the producing sand . It will be an Important Im-portant producer. For the present drilling has been suspended, awaiting provision for taking the oil away. It Is doubtful If In all the history of the (00.000 wells that have been drilled In this country, largely In regions dlffl cult of access, any one has ever presented pre-sented such a category of obstacles as this canyon well In Utah. How the oil will be transported to a refinery Is still sheer guess work, but a way will be found, tor the Ingenuity and resources re-sources of the oil engineers have never failed. The "bringing In" of this well lllus But the conquest of the canyon had hardly been realized when the engineers engi-neers discovered a new use for It At Boulder Canyon, Arizona, the greatest dam In the world, a third of a mile high, should Impound a lake which, spreading over a great area in Arizona and Utah, would be, next to Lake Michigan, the largest fresh water body entirely within the United States Harnessed to mighty turbines, the water, wa-ter, falling hundreds of feet would produce a power greater than Niagara, and Irrigate an area several times that of the Nile Basin, which served for uncounted centuries as granary of the ancient world. The Boulder Canyon dam has not yet been built but the people of the Southwest are aa confident of lta con tructlon as that the Colorado will continue to flow between Its giant walls. Now comes a new chapter In the romance of the Colorado The Intrepid In-trepid "wildcatters" of the oil Indus try, scouting for new sources of petroleum, petro-leum, have brought In an oil well right In the canyonl Drilling from a narrow nar-row shelf at the gorge's bottom, they have overcome unbelievable obstacles. Perpendicular walls of rock grimly forbade for-bade construction of road or trail to transport machinery and supplies. From the river a succession of rock walls rise In gargantuan terrace to a height of S.000 feet trates the difficulty of petroleum development de-velopment Convinced that the geological geo-logical structure was particularly favorable, the projectors determined to gamble 175.000 on drilling. Before they got oil they had spent more than twice that For years wells have been drilling hi various parts of the state fully 200 tn all at a cost of probably 15,000,000, and this canyon well Is the first real producer! It Is only by dint of such persistence In coping with natural obstacles and financial hazards that the country's supply of oil ts maintained The first oil well In Western Pennsylvania became a producer pro-ducer at the depth of 69H feet Nowa days wells a mile deep are not nncom mon, and they have gone down as far as a mile and a halt. Every Well Is a Gamble A large proportion of wells produce nothing whatever and represent total lose It was recently estimated that In the last twelve and a half years $1,200,000,000 was sunk In wells which were failures Despite every effort of science, engineering and long experience, experi-ence, and notwithstanding the stupendous stupen-dous depths now reached, 25 per cent of wells last year were dry. The "Great American Desert" The little Mormon town of Moab, eighteen miles up-stream. Is the nearest near-est supply base. . But Moab Is not a railroad town; a drive of forty miles Is still required to reach the Denver & Rio Grande railroad Salt Lake City la 250 miles away, to the northwest. Standing at the foot ot the derrick which marks the site of the new oil well, one's ba'ck is fairly against an 800 toot cliff, which ts matched by an-other an-other Immediately across the river. Looking up. one Imagines that If he could climb one of these walla he would be "outside." But trying this, be finds himself on a plateau or terrace, ter-race, with another cliff a little way ahead To climb this. In turn, would only bring him face to face with still another cliff, and so on till he bad mounted full S.000 feet from the river. Not only must this succession of cliffs be mounted, but to traverae the rock terraces, gashed and torn, is only less difficult. And finally, the ascent to the outer rim accomplished, one confronts a waste of ridged, seamed and boulder-strewn desert endless save for distant mountain peaka. Manifestly the oil "wildcatters" could nut make roads, so they built The "wildcatter" Is the Columbus of oil. He ts to petroleum, to gasoline, to the fuel supply of the country's 20,000,000 automobiles, what the old time gold prospector was to building the empire of the far west He Is essentially es-sentially a gambler; good loser or good winner. The lure ot enormous winnings keeps him tirelessly searching, search-ing, and sometimes be finds his reward. re-ward. But In the aggregate, offsetting all winnings against the total cost of this engrossing gamble, It la not Improbable Im-probable that all tbe oil that has been taken from the soil of this country from the beginning cost more than Its producers got for It A World in the Big Game But their huge gamble I the basts on which the whole Industry rests. Tbe Ice-bound Arctic and the fever festering. tropic jungles alike attract tbe hardy "wildcatter." To them the world owes lta newest and best In transport by land, sea and air. They help fight Its homes and streets, provide pro-vide an astonishing share of Its power, furnish an endless list of necessaries which are by-products of petroleum. The "wildcatter la well nigh the Atlas of this iBodera macbaaised world. |