To those who wish to camp out, sleeping in the open for two or more nights,
the trip may be extended to the Canyon of the Little Colorado. In this
excursion, one gets a fine breath of the desert, a sight of the narrow and
boxed-in Little Colorado Canyon, and extended desert views, passing by
Cedar Mountain, one of the few spots where fragments of the almost vanished
strata of the Permian age are still visible.
Tuba City and Moenkopi. Tuba City, sixty miles east of Grand View Hotel (a
four days' saddle and camping-out trip), is situated in the Painted Desert,
and is the headquarters of the Navaho Indians of this locality. Here also
is located the United States Government Indian School, where the children
of several tribes are being civilized. Two miles away is Moenkopi, a Hopi
village, or pueblo, of some thirty homes, where this pastoral and
home-loving people may be found engaged in their quiet agricultural
pursuits, the women also busy at basket-making and the fashioning of
pottery. At Tuba City there are many Navahos living in their hogans, where
the rude silversmiths are at work creating their "arts and crafts" ware,
and the looms of the blanket-weavers are incessantly busy.
Crater Mountain. Crater Mountain, thirty-nine miles south of Grand View
Hotel, is an extinct volcano with one side eroded, leaving a sheer wall
five hundred feet high in circular form, with a variety of pillars standing
high above the bottom of the amphitheatre. Its red, yellow and black colors
combine in a peculiar harmony, and novel effects are witnessed at sunset,
or by moonlight. To enjoy this trip aright, one should drive there, and
arrange to sleep in the amphitheatre, returning on the following day.
Extinct Volcanoes. Or, if a more extended trip is desired, one can drive on
to the many cinder cones and extinct volcanoes that lie to the north and
east of the San Francisco Mountains, including Sunset Crater and O'Leary
Peak, and then into Flagstaff.
CHAPTER X. A New "Rim" Road And Trail Into The Scenic Heart Of The Canyon
Large corporate bodies do not always move with the same rapidity as do
personal enterprises where one man controls. Many minds and many interests
often have to be consulted. When, however, the way is clear, a corporate
body, with its vast power, can accomplish in a short time what individuals
could never compass in several successive lifetimes.
These remarks are exemplified in the action of the Santa Fe Railway Company
at the Grand Canyon. It has taken several years for things to properly
shape themselves for adequate development, so that all classes of travelers
visiting the Grand Canyon could be suitably provided for.
