PULPIT ROCK, ECHO CAÑON, UTAH.—This singular overhanging rock, with the reading stand in front, has been known as Pulpit Rock since the early days of Mormonism in Utah, owing to the fact that it was used by Brigham Young as a pulpit in the delivery of his first sermon within the present limits of that territory. But it is not for this reason that we include it in Glimpses of America, for we have no sympathy whatever with Mormonism or its doctrines. The rock is one of the prominent curiosities of Utah, and as such it is here represented. The surrounding scenery is very beautiful, with glimpses of the winding river and the rolling hills as a background. It is a favorite resort for tourists, both on account of the scenic beauties and the healthfulness of the pure western air.
MAIDEN OF THE BAD LANDS.
A glance at this tremendous waterfall more than compensated for all the annoyances and discomforts that we had endured. It was a scene of positively bewildering majesty; a vision of the incomparably grand; an object lesson teaching the mightiness and mysterious ways of God. In the deep diapason of its voice we recognized nature’s hallelujah, and the thunderous boom of its plungings was like a chorus of invocation welling from a million throats. Its lovely grandeur, bursting out of the heart of desolation, is the personification of powerful, awe-inspiring sublimity, an exaltation of deity, an inspiration to the soul, a very glorification and apotheosis of nature.
WITCH ROCK, BAD LANDS OF WYOMING.
Pausing on the bank to contemplate and measure the colossal wonder of the falls, we saw the emerald stream gliding along as placidly as though its mission was one of peace; nor was there any appearance of danger to the ferryman, who operated his boat by an over-head wire cable stretched from bank to bank, only 200 yards above. The quiet flow, however, was better understood when we learned that the river here is 200 feet deep; a very ocean filling a mighty chasm; an inundated cañon whose volume of water equals that of a dozen Niagaras, for this tremendous gorge extends a distance of eighteen miles, and its bottom lies under the river 1,400 feet below the brink.