th of thirteen thousand
feet--more than twice the present total depth of the canyon. The erosion
of many thousands of centuries wore them away before the rocks that now
compose the floor, the temples and the precipiced walls of the great
canyon were even deposited in the sea as sand and limestone ooze, a fact
that strikingly emphasizes the enormous age of this exhibit. Geologists
speak of these splashes of Algonkian rocks as the Unkar group, another
local Indian designation. There is also a similar Chuar group, which
need not concern any except those who make a close study of the canyon.

This is the picture. The imagination may realize a fleet, vivid
impression from the photograph. The visitor upon the rim, outline in
hand, may trace its twisting elements in a few moments of attentive
observation, and thereafter enjoy his canyon as one only enjoys a new
city when he has mastered its scheme and spirit, and can mentally
classify its details as they pass before him.

To one thus prepared, the Grand Canyon ceases to be the brew-pot of
chaotic emotion and becomes the orderly revelation of Nature, the master
craftsman and the divine artist.

III

Entrance is from the south. The motor-road to Grand View is available
for most of the year. The railroad to the El Tovar Hotel serves the year
around, for the Grand Canyon is an all-year resort. There is a short
winter of heavy snows on the rim, but not in the canyon, which may be
descended at all seasons. Both routes terminate on the rim. Always
dramatic, the Grand Canyon welcomes the pilgrim in the full panoply of
its appalling glory. There is no waiting in the anteroom, no sounding of
trumpets, no ceremony of presentation. He stands at once in the
presence.

Most visitors have bought tickets at home which permit only one day's
stay. The irrecoverable sensation of the first view is broken by the
necessity for an immediate decision upon how to spend that day, for if
one is to descend horseback to the river he must engage his place and
don his riding-clothes at once. Under this stress the majority elect to
remain on the rim for reasons wholly apart from any question of
respective merit.

[Illustration: _From a photograph copyright by Fred Harvey_

SUNSET FROM GRAND VIEW, GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

All the strata from the rim to the river may be seen in this picture]

After all, if only one day is possible, it is the wise decision. With
the rim road, over which various