. Some strange corners of our country; the wonderland of the Southwest . rge. We are upon the South Arch of the bridge, dizzilyabove the clear, noisy stream, looking down the savage canonin whose wilds its silver thread is straightway lost to floor of the bridge here, as we shall also find it at theNorth Aich, has broken back and back toward its center, sothat a birds-eye view shows at each side of the bridge a hori-zontal arch. A ground plan of the valley would look some-thing like the sketch on the opposite page. Circling south along the southeast pier, we start down arugged, diffic
. Some strange corners of our country; the wonderland of the Southwest . rge. We are upon the South Arch of the bridge, dizzilyabove the clear, noisy stream, looking down the savage canonin whose wilds its silver thread is straightway lost to floor of the bridge here, as we shall also find it at theNorth Aich, has broken back and back toward its center, sothat a birds-eye view shows at each side of the bridge a hori-zontal arch. A ground plan of the valley would look some-thing like the sketch on the opposite page. Circling south along the southeast pier, we start down arugged, difficult, and at times dangerous trail. A projectingcrag of the pier—destined to be a great obstacle, later, in THE GREATEST NATURAL BRIDGE ON EARTH. 149 our photographic attempts — shuts the bridge from view tillwe near the bottom of the gorge, and then it bursts upon usin sudden wonder. The hand of man never reared such anarch, nor ever shall rear, as the patient springs have gnawedhere from eternal rock. Dark and stern, and fairly crushmg Jl^i •4- rliffs I500 foai. ROUGH GROUND-PLAN OF GOWANs VALLEY. THE WHOLE IRREGULAR CIRCLE IS THENEARLY LEVEL LIMESTONE BENCH WHICH IS OCCUPIED BY THE FARM. in its immensity, towers that terrific arch of rounded lime-stone. The gorge is wild beyond telling, choked with giantboulders and somber evergreens and bristling cacti until itcomes to the very jaws of that grim gateway, and there evenvegetation seems to shrink back in awe. Now one begins to 150 SOME STRANGE CORNERS OF OUR COUNTRY. appreciate the magnitude of the bridge, a part of whose topholds a five-acre orchard. In its eternal shadow is room foran army. The South Arch, to which we have thus come, is the largerand in some respects the more imposing. From its top tothe surface of the water is two hundred feet, and the poolsare very deep. The span of the archway is over two hundredfeet as we see it now from without; but we shall soon findit to be really very much greater. The groined
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectsouthwestnewdescript
