e canyons but also to make a series
of photographs which should form a continuous panoramic view of the
proposed route. A large sum of money was spent in making the surveys;
then the project was abandoned. Possibly at some future time the scheme
may be revived and a road be built, using as its motive power
electricity generated by the river itself.

The Grand Canyon is now easily reached by the Santa Fe Railway system.
From the main line at Williams a branch road extends to El Tovar, Grand
Canyon station, which is located near the edge of the canyon. The
descent to the bottom of the canyon can be made by several trails. Those
noted for easy descent and the best views are Grand View and Red Canyon
Trails from Grand View, Bright Angel Trail from El Tovar, and Bass Trail
from Bass Camp. Each has its own special charms, and for one limited as
to time it is difficult to make a choice.

The course of the Colorado and its tributary, Green River, presents some
interesting problems. The latter has cut its channel directly across the
Uinta Mountains, and the Colorado has sawed its channel to the base
level of a series of plateaus, sometimes called the Sierra Abajo. And
the interesting problem is--how was the sawing process accomplished? It
needs only a moment's thought to understand that the river could not
flow against the base of a mountain range and bore a passage through it,
much less clear out an open passage miles in width.

[Illustration: Grand View Trail Looking toward Apache Point from Mystic
Spring Plateau. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado]

Major Powell has shown how this mighty work of mountain cutting was
accomplished; the sawing process was begun, not at the base of the
range, but at its top. It is merely a question of age. The Colorado and
its chief tributaries are older than the mountain uplifts which they
have severed. Moreover, the level of their channels is much the same now
as it was before the mountains were born.

The mountain levels, however, have been changing ever since their uplift
began. And when the rock layers of which they are composed began to be
pushed upward the uplift was so slow that the rivers cut downward just
as rapidly. In time the ranges were pushed upward to their present
height; but when the uplift was completed, in each case it was sawed to
the bottom by the river. It is in very much the same manner that a huge
log is cut in twain as it is pushed against the saw. The mountain range,