indeed remarkable.

The Colorado River is working on quietly and steadily. We may think,
and truly, that it has already done a great at work in excavating the
mighty canons along its course, but, in reality, the work already
accomplished is small in comparison with that which remains to be
done.

In time, if the land is not disturbed by the forces which build
mountains, the plateaus through which the river now flows in such
deep canons will be carried away in the form of sand and mud. Broad
valleys will replace the canons, and the Gulf of California will
become a fertile plain. As the highlands wear away the process
will go on more and more slowly, for there will be less rainfall.
The river will become smaller and its basin more arid. All these
changes will be brought about through the crumbling of the rocks,
and the removal of the waste matter by the running water.

A TRIP INTO THE GRAND CANON OF THE COLORADO

We may read of the Colorado plateau, and of the Grand Canon with
its precipitous walls of variously colored rock, but unless we
actually visit this wonderland, it is hard to realize the height
and extent of the plateau and the depth of the gashes made in its
surface by running water, gashes so deep that they seem to expose
the very heart of the earth.

Nature has chosen a remote and half-desert region for the location
of this, the most picturesque canon in the world, as if she wished
to keep it as long as possible from the eyes of men. Once a traveller
could not view the canon without making a long and weary journey
across hundreds of miles of desert; now it is quite different, for
one can almost look into its depths from the windows of a palace
car. But to appreciate and understand fully the stupendous work
that nature has done throughout this region we must leave the cars
at a somewhat distant point, and before reaching the canon become
acquainted with the country in which it lies through the old-fashioned
ways of travelling on horseback or wagon.

Flagstaff was formerly the starting-point for travellers to the
canon, and we will choose it now, for the old stage road offers an
interesting ride. The road first winds around that lofty snow-clad
peak, the San Francisco Mountain, which can be seen from all northern
Arizona. Leaving the mountain behind, we strike out directly across
the high plateau. The country is nearly level, and the open park-like
forest extends in every direction as far as one can