Our national parks . close, almost impenetrable growth of flowerybushes, beginning on the sides of the fertilecoast valleys and the dry interior plains. Theirhigher ridges, however, and mountains are open,and fairly well forested with sugar pine, yellowpine, Douglas spruce, libocedrus, and white fir^As timber fountains they amount to little, but asbird and bee pastures, cover for the preciousstreams that irrigate the lowlands, and quicklyavailable retreats from dust and heat and care,their value is incalculable. Good roads havebeen graded into them, by which in a few hourslowlanders can get we
Our national parks . close, almost impenetrable growth of flowerybushes, beginning on the sides of the fertilecoast valleys and the dry interior plains. Theirhigher ridges, however, and mountains are open,and fairly well forested with sugar pine, yellowpine, Douglas spruce, libocedrus, and white fir^As timber fountains they amount to little, but asbird and bee pastures, cover for the preciousstreams that irrigate the lowlands, and quicklyavailable retreats from dust and heat and care,their value is incalculable. Good roads havebeen graded into them, by which in a few hourslowlanders can get well up into the sky and findrefuge in hospitable camps and club-houses,where, while breathing reviving ozone, they mayabsorb the beauty about them, and look comfort-ably down on the busy towns and the mostbeautiful orange groves ever planted since gar-dening began. The Grand Canon Reserve of Arizona, ofnearly two million acres, or the most interestingpart of it, as well as the Rainier region, should 1 See note, p. THE GRAND CANON OF THE COLORADO WILD PARKS OF THE WEST 35 be made into a national park, on account of theirsupreme grandeur and beauty. Setting outfrom Flagstaff, a station on the Atchison, To-peka, and Santa Fe Railroad, on the way to thecaiion you pass through beautiful forests ofyellow pine, — like those of the Black Hills, butmore extensive, — and curious dwarf forests ofnut pine and juniper, the spaces between theminiature trees planted with many interestingspecies of eriogonum, yucca, and cactus. Afterriding or walking seventy-five miles throughthese pleasure-grounds, the San Francisco andother mountains, abounding in flowery parklikeopenings and smooth shallow valleys with longvistas which in fineness of finish and arrange-ment suggest the work of a consummate land-scape artist, watching you all the way, you cometo the most tremendous canon in the world. Itis abruptly countersunk in the forest plateau, sothat you see nothing of it until you are suddenly
Size: 1500px × 1666px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidournationalparks1909muir
