It is hard for any but the well-trained observer to realize that
practically the same conditions that exist on the north wall, exist on the
south wall, directly under his feet, except that the Algonkian is absent.
The talus shuts off the view, and it seems impossible that there can be
such great precipice walls as the opposite mural face reveals. It is not as
high, however, on this side as it is on the other, by fully one thousand
six hundred and fifty feet. The difference is caused by the great upthrust
in the earth's crust, which detached Powell's Plateau from the Kaibab
Plateau.
One may approximately estimate the various strata of the wall of the Kaibab
as follows:
Colorado River, say. . . 2400 feet above sea level
Archaean . . . . . . . . 1000 " thick
Algonkian . . . . . . . 1100 " "
Cambrian . . . . . . . . 1000 " "
Carboniferous . . . . . 2750 " "
- - - - -
Total level above sea. . 8250
Bass Tomb or Holy Grail Temple. The great north wall is not featureless.
There are a number of architectural forms, of wonderfully varied shape,
resting upon bases of massive solidity. The most striking of these is a
squarebased monumental mass, - Holy Grail Temple, formerly Bass Tomb, - on
which rests a well-shaped pyramid, crowned with a red and white circular
shaft. The whole butte is well proportioned, having a base of sixteen
square miles, and rising to a height of six thousand seven hundred and ten
feet.
