The Grand Canyon of Arizona and the Marble Canyon constitute one great
gorge carved by a mighty river through a high plateau. On the northeast
and north a line of cliffs face this plateau by a bold escarpment of
rock. Climb these cliffs and you must ascend from 800 to 1,000 feet, but
on their summit you will stand upon a plateau stretching away to the
north. Now turn to face the south and you will overlook the cliff and
what appears to be a valley below. From the foot of the cliff the
country rises to the south to a great plateau through which the Marble
and the Grand canyons are carved. This plateau terminates abruptly on
the west by the Grand Wash Cliffs, which is a high escarpment caused by
a “fault” (as the geologist calls it), that is, the strata of sandstone
and limestone are broken off, and to the west of the fracture they are
dropped down several thousand feet, so that standing upon the edge of
the plateau above the Grand Wash Cliffs you may look off to the west
over a vast region of desert from which low volcanic mountains rise that
seem like purple mounds in sand-clad lands.
On the east the great plateau breaks down in a very irregular way into
the valley of the Little Colorado, and where the railroad ascends the
plateau from the east it passes over picturesque canyons that run down
into the Little Colorado. On the south the plateau is merged into the
great system of mountains that stand in Southern Arizona. Where the
plateau ends and the mountains begin is not a well-defined line. The
plateau through which the Grand Canyon is cut is a region of great
scenic interest. Its surface is from six to more than eight thousand
feet above the level of the sea. The Grand Plateau is composed of many
subsidiary plateaus, each one having its own peculiar and interesting
feature.
The Kaibab Plateau, to the northeast of the Grand Canyon, is covered
with a pine forest which is intercepted by a few meadows with here and
there a pond or lakelet. It is the home of deer and bear.
To the west is the Shinumo Plateau in which the Shinumo Canyon is
carved; and on the cliffs of this canyon and in the narrow valley along
its course the Shinumo ruins are found—the relics of a prehistoric race.
To the west of the Shinumo Plateau is the Kanab Plateau, with ruins
scattered over it, and on its northern border the beautiful Mormon town
of Kanab is found, and the canyon of Kanab Creek separates the Shinumo
Plateau from the Kanab Plateau. It begins as a shallow gorge and
gradually increases in depth until it reaches the Colorado River itself,
at a depth of more than 4,000 feet below the surface. Vast amphitheaters
are found in its walls and titanic pinnacles rise from its depths. One
Christmas day I waded up this creek. It was one of the most delightful
walks of my life, from a land of flowers to a land of snow.
To the west of the Kanab Plateau are the Uinkaret Mountains—an immense
group of volcanic cones upon a plateau. Some of these cones stand very
near the brink of the Grand Canyon and from one of them a flood of
basalt was poured into the canyon itself. Not long ago geologically, but
rather long when reckoned in years of human history, this flood of lava
rolled down the canyon for more than _fifty miles_, filling it to the
depth of _two_ or _three hundred feet_ and diverting the course of the
river against one or the other of its banks. Many of the cones are of
red cinder, while sometimes the lava is piled up into huge mountains
which are covered with forest. To the west of the Uinkaret Mountains
spreads the great Shiwits Plateau, crowned by Mount Dellenbough.
Past the south end of these plateaus runs the Colorado River; southward
through Marble Canyon and in the Grand Canyon, then northwestward past
the Kaibab and Shinumo Canyon, then southwestward past the Kanab
Plateau, Uinkaret Mountains to the southernmost point of the Shiwits
Plateau, and then northwestward to the Grand Wash Cliffs. Its distance
in this course is little more than 300 miles—but the 300 miles of river
are set on every side with cliffs, buttes, towers, pinnacles,
amphitheaters, caves, and terraces, exquisitely storm-carved and painted
in an endless variety of colors.
The plateau to the south of the Grand Canyon, which we need not describe
in parts, is largely covered with a gigantic forest. There are many
volcanic mountains and many treeless valleys. In the high forest there
are beautiful glades with little stretches of meadow which are spread in
summer with a parterre of flowers of many colors. This upper region is
the garden of the world. When I was first there bear, deer, antelope,
and wild turkeys abounded, but now they are becoming scarce. Widely
scattered throughout the plateau are small canyons, each one a few miles
in length and a few hundred feet in depth. Throughout their course
cliff-dweller ruins are found. In the highland glades and along the
valley, pueblo ruins are widely scattered, but the strangest sights of
all the things due to prehistoric man are the cave dwellings that are
dug in the tops of cinder cones and the villages that were built in the
caves of volcanic cliffs. If now I have succeeded in creating a picture
of the plateau I will attempt a brief description of the canyon.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1899, by H. G. Peabody.
Bissell Point and Colorado River.]