By George Wharton James
Author of "In and Out of the Old Missions," "The Wonders of the Colorado
Desert," "Through Ramona's Country," etc.
Revised Edition
Boston: Little, Brown, and Company
Kansas City: Fred Harvey
1912
PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION
Because of the completion of a new driveway along the Rim of the Grand
Canyon, and of a new trail to the Colorado River, a second edition of this
book is deemed necessary.
These improvements, which have recently been made by the Santa Fe Railway,
are known as Hermit Rim Road and Hermit Trail. The first, said to be the
most unique road in the world, is nine miles long on the brink of the
Canyon, and the other, a wide and safe pathway down the south wall.
The contents of the volume has been revised, and descriptions of Hermit Rim
Road and Hermit Trail have been added. There are also new portions
describing the drives and trips that may be taken through the forest on the
Rim and in the Canyon itself, each carefully planned so that the traveler
may devote to sightseeing whatever amount of time he desires.
With these additions and alterations, the original plan to provide a
convenient handbook for all travelers to the Grand Canyon is more complete.
FOREWORD
Upwards of ten years ago I sat on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and
wrote "In and Around the Grand Canyon." In that book I included much that
more than a decade of wandering up and down the trails of this great abyss
had taught me. At that time the only accommodations for sightseers were
stage lines or private conveyance from Flagstaff and Ash Fork, and, on
arrival at the Canyon, the crude hotel-camps at Hance's, Grand View, Bright
Angel, and Bass's. The railway north from Williams was being built.
Everything was crude and primitive.
Now the railway is completed and has become an integral part of the great
Santa Fe System, with at least two trains a day each way carrying Pullman
sleepers, chair cars and coaches. At Bright Angel, where the railway
deposits its passengers at the rim of the Canyon, stands El Tovar Hotel,
erected by the railway company at a cost of over a quarter of a million
dollars, which is equipped and conducted by Fred Harvey. Yet El Tovar is
more like a country club than a hotel, in many respects, and, to that
extent, is better.
Hence while nothing in the canyon itself has changed, and while my book,
"In and Around the Grand Canyon," is still as helpful to the traveler and
general reader as ever, there has been a growing demand for a new book
which should give the information needed by the traveler who comes under
the new conditions, telling him how he may best avail himself of them. This
book is written to meet this demand. It therefore partakes more of the
character of a guide book than the former volume, so it has been decided to
make it lighter in weight and handier in form, so that it can be slipped
into the pocket or handbag, and thus used on the spot by those who wish a
ready reference handbook.
