and southern California
gradually subside to the Rio Grande.

During this period and the Quaternary which followed it, volcanoes
appeared in many places; their dead cones diversify our modern
landscape. It was during the Quaternary Period, in whose latter end
lives man, that erosion dug the mighty canyons of our great southwest.
The Colorado was sweeping out the Grand Canyon at the same time that,
far in the north, the glaciers of the Great Ice Age were carving from
Algonkian shales and limestones the gorgeous cirques and valleys of
Glacier National Park.

XVI

A PAGEANT OF CREATION

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, ARIZONA. AREA, 958 SQUARE MILES

There is only one Grand Canyon. It lies in northern Arizona, and the
Colorado River, one of the greatest of American rivers, flows through
its inner gorge. It must not be confused with the Grand Canyon of the
Yellowstone, or with any of the _grande canyons_ which the Spaniards so
named because they were big canyons.

The Grand Canyon is 217 miles long, 8 to 12 miles wide at the rim, and
more than a mile deep. It is the Colossus of canyons, by far the hugest
example of stream erosion in the world. It is gorgeously colored. It is
by common consent the most stupendous spectacle in the world. It may be
conceived as a mountain range reversed. Could its moulded image,
similarly colored, stand upon the desert floor, it would be a spectacle
second only to the vast mould itself.

More than a hundred thousand persons visit the Grand Canyon each year.
In other lands it is our most celebrated scenic possession. It was made
a national park in 1919.

I

The Grand Canyon is not of America but of the world. Like the Desert of
Sahara and the monster group of the Himalayas, it is so entirely the
greatest example of its kind that it refuses limits. This is true of it
also as a spectacle; far truer, in fact, for, if it is possible to
compare things so dissimilar, in this respect certainly it will lead all
others. None see it without being deeply moved--all to silence, some
even to tears. It is charged to the rim with emotion; but the emotion of
the first view varies. Some stand astounded at its vastness. Others are
stupefied and search their souls in vain for definition. Some tremble.
Some are uplifted with a sense of appalling beauty. For a time the souls
of all are naked in the presence.

This reaction is apparent in the writings of those who have visited it;
no other spect