To The Left Is Powell Plateau, Seven Thousand Six
Hundred And Fifty Feet Elevation.
The great point, nearest to us, was named
Dutton Point, after the poet-geologist, whose monograph on the Canyon will
ever be a memorial to his love of the place, his scientific accuracy of
observation, and his poetic eloquence of description.
It is between Kaibab
and Powell Plateaus that Bass's Trail to Point Sublime climbs its
circuitous and winding way, - this portion being called "The Saddle." The
dark growths which crown the plateaus are in reality pine trees, which, on
the north rim of the Canyon, attain immense size. They, and lesser tree
growths, descend to the bottom of the second mass of talus.
The Rocks of the North Wall. The rock bands on the opposite walls, a large
part of the way down, are like those found on the same north wall seen from
El Tovar. First there is the band of cherty limestone, from which a sloped
talus leads to the creamy sugary sandstone. Immediately below this begins
the "red," which descends in strata of varying width and color down to a
rather narrow-appearing slope of red talus, which leads the eye to the
widest member of all the Grand Canyon strata. This is the so-called
red-wall limestone. All these strata, from the rim down, are said to be in
the Upper and Lower Carboniferous Systems.
Below this majestic wall appear the variegated strata of the Cambrian, in
grays, buffs, olives, greens and yellows.
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