HANCE’S TRAIL, GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO.—Between the beetling crags and along the serpentine windings of the river, we obtain in this photograph a fine view of some of the wonders of the Grand Cañon. The beauties of the scene would be largely enhanced if the varied hues of the red and orange and amber tinted cliffs could be painted by the camera with the same accuracy that it gives to all the other surroundings and characteristics of the picture. This much to be desired result is largely accomplished, however, in the splendid colored photograph of a similar scene in this connection, and which in fact gives a better idea of the splendors of the Grand Cañon than any photograph in a single color could convey.
ROTARY SNOW-PLOW.
In many places, Major Powell found overarching cliffs, formed by the river in making a sharp bend eating away the shale and gypsum of the base. Occasional inlets were observed, cut by creeks that have been dried up for ages; and following up one of these deep aroytas a little way, he came to a natural stair-way of small and regular terraces that led up fully 500 feet, to an oasis of vegetation, out of which burst a spring that lost its waters before they had run a hundred feet down the parched cliff. Just below this point a beautiful glen was found, where the walls of the cañon appeared to almost meet above the deep and quiet river, which, though narrowed, had an unobstructed channel. The cliffs were of a marvelous beauty, appalling in height, but as variegated as a bed of poppies, with their strata of white, pink, saffron, gray and red.
Passing out of Glen Cañon, the party came directly into the jaws of another chasm, where the river had excavated an amphitheater of mammoth proportions, and then plunged into a gorge where both the walls and bed of the stream were of marble so pure that they shone with an iridescent splendor, and the now lazy river reflected its walls until looking down was gazing into the heavenly depths. Just below was Cataract Cañon, the entrance to which was indicated by a lofty cliff that, from a distance, shone like a crystal mountain, but which, on closer inspection, was discovered to be the source of many springs whose waters glinted in the sun like jewels.
