ls twelve hundred to fifteen
hundred feet high. We can sit upon the brink under a ledge of rock
which protects us from the hot sun, and watch the river as we eat
our luncheon. Far below, almost directly under us, it rushes along.
The roar of the current rises but faintly to our ears. The water
is very muddy and not at all like the clear mountain streams, far
away upon the continental divide, which unite to form the river.
It seems as if the water, ashamed of its soiled appearance, wanted
to hide from the sight of men. If so, it has succeeded well, for
it can be seen only at rare intervals from the top of the canon
walls, and even at the bottom of the main canon the river itself
is not visible unless one stands upon the very brink of the granite
gorge.

The work of the river is not yet done. It will go on until the
great cliffs have crumbled and have been replaced by gentle slopes.
It will not stop until, at some far distant time, a broad valley
has been worn out of the rocky strata.

The canon appears much wider when viewed from the bottom than from
the top, and the great cliffs far back along the trail seem less
precipitous, but only because they are so far away. A weary climb
of several miles awaits us. We must rest and take breath frequently
or we shall not reach the top.

As night approaches and the shadows begin to fall, every turret
and pinnacle stands out in bold relief. The bands of yellow and
red shade into purple, and everything, save the long winding trail,
begins to have a weird and mystical look.

HOW THE COLUMBIA PLATEAU WAS MADE

Years ago people disputed as to the way in which the earth was made.
Those who lived where all the rocks had, like lava, the appearance
of having once been melted, believed that fire had done all the
work. Those who lived where the rocks appeared to be formed of
hardened mud, sand, and lime, substances such as we find accumulating
under water, said that water alone had been the means. But in later
years the earth's surface has been more widely explored, and now
it is known that both opinions were partly right. Water and fire
have both been concerned in the making of the earth.

In the great valleys fire-formed rocks are rare, but they are more
or less abundant in all mountainous regions, for where mountains
are, there the crust of the earth is weakest. There are many reasons
for believing that the interior of the earth is very hot. We know
that the surface is settl