Hotouta was an enlightened Indian, friendly to the
better class of whites, clear-headed and honorable in his dealings with
them.
The Cisterns. Thence to Bass Camp the drive is entirely through pinions and
junipers. About a mile before the destination is reached, the road passes
"The Cisterns," where the horses are watered.
Bass Camp. Bass Camp consists of one small central building, containing a
dining-room, sitting-room, kitchen and several bedrooms. Around are
tent-houses and tents for the further accommodation of guests, with stable
and saddle-house, etc. Almost immediately in front of the main building the
trail begins.
Powell Plateau and Dutton Point. Taking a seat at the head of the trail,
let us now give our undivided attention to the scene spread out before us.
The predominating feature is the great uplift of the opposite wall, and the
aggressiveness of its salient promontory. Here is a break in the continuity
of the wall of the Kaibab Plateau. This break affords an immediate view of
the highest portions of the Canyon's walls. To the right of the break is
the Kaibab Plateau, its highest portion being eight thousand three hundred
feet above sea level. 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.
The Tilts. Now we see a large exposure of the nonconformable strata, which,
on account of their very markedly tilted condition, have been named "The
Tilts." Below this is found the Archaean rock.
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.
King Arthur Castle. Slightly to the east of it is another majestic butte,
inferior only in size. The crowning shaft is missing here, but a
castellated structure of red rock suitably dominates it. It bears the name
King Arthur Castle, and is seven thousand three hundred and fifteen feet
elevation.
Guinevere Castle. Still further to the east a winding ridge of rock,
standing over one of the many oblique gorges within the main gorge, leads
up to a third dominating figure of rock sculpture. This is Guinevere
Castle, seven thousand two hundred and fifty-five feet.
Huethawali. Now let the eye rest upon the objects immediately before it,
and more in the center of the Canyon. The chief object is an almost
detached mountain, crowned with irregular cross-bedded layers of white
sandstone. The Indians call this mountain Hue-tha-wa-li, (the final "i"
being pronounced as "e,") which signifies White Rock Mountain. This is now
the name they give to Bass Camp, and the Havasupais at El Tovar, who are
starting for their Canyon home, will often remark: "We go Huethawali
tonight." Its elevation is six thousand two hundred and eighty feet.
Darwin Plateau. The main plateau before us is named Darwin Plateau, after
the learned evolutionist. Take this plateau as a rude and misshapen hand,
imagine the thumb and little finger gone, and it will be seen that the
other three fingers radiate from Darwin Plateau in the shape of three
irregularly contoured, but fairly level plateaus, Huethawali resting like a
great wart upon the base of the middle one of the three.
