Identifier: threewonderlands00murp (find matches)
Title: Three wonderlands of the American West; being the notes of a traveler, concerning the Yellowstone park, the Yosemite national park, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, with a chapter on other wonders of the great American West
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Murphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler), 1866-1928
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, L. C. Page & company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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thickly standing pine trees takes one to thisfamous viewpoint. A substantial platform sur-rounded by a rustic balustrade extends over theedge of the canyon and affords the vision a fullsweep up and down the vast chasm. A long silence ensues as we contemplatethe panorama before us. Words are indeedidle; photographs are misleading; the master-piece of the artist is inadequate. These maygive some idea of the contour of the canyon andsome hint of its coloring, but the awful distances,the overpowering vastness, dawn upon one onlywhen his own eyes look upon the scene. It isthis that quite overwhelms the beholder, who asa rule has little to say the first few minutes whenthe canyon in its full splendor bursts on hisvision. There it lies before him, resplendent inevery color of the spectrum, a vast rent in themountains one-third of a mile deep, and at itsbottom, too far away to be heard, dashes thevexed river a hundred feet wide, they tell us, butseemingly a mere writhing thread of emerald. 30
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THE YELLOWSTONE The falls in the distance seem dazzling columnsof snowy whiteness, edged with rainbows andhalf hidden at times in white mist. The prevail-ing hue of the canyon walls is pale yellow, butthere are many dashes of warmer coloring, fromsoft browns and pinks to blood red. The sidesare fretted into a thousand fanciful architecturalshapes — spires and turrets and battlementedwalls and in places the eroded rocks have anodd semblance to a ruined church or castle.The canyon is quite devoid of vegetation,though here and there stately pine trees havefastened themselves in inaccessible places on itswalls. Anxious to see every phase of its beautypossible in our limited time, we drive to ArtistsPoint on the opposite side of the river. This isthe spot from which Moran painted his greatpicture now hanging in the National Capitol.One has here a much nearer view of the falls,both Upper and Lower, and may gain someidea of the tremendous plunge of the latter,though if one is hardy enough

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