"Then geology isn't all over!" exclaimed Roger in surprise. "I always thought of it just as a sort of history of things that happened a great while ago."
"Geology is happening right along," said Masseth, "and that's why it is so necessary to do this work and find out both what has been and what is going to be, even though it is both difficult and arduous."
Photograph by U.S.G.S.
An Awkward Country to Work in.
The Terraces cut in the Western territory. Note buggy on trail at base of cliff.
"But of all the work in the Survey," suggested Roger, thinking of the apparent inaccessibility of the Canyon as he had seen it, "I should think this Grand Canyon work the most difficult and dangerous of all."
The older man shook his head.
"It is not dangerous," he said, "unless carelessness is shown, because the most lofty buttes, simply being cut down from the level plateau, have their crests just that height, so that they can be fairly well mapped by a determination of their bases. But, though you can't see it from the top here, those bases are fearfully irregular and a cliff forty feet high may take miles to go round. You have noticed that there are plenty of terraces, so that in many places you can walk up or down the Canyon as on a made road, but that would help you not a whit in getting across."