The Grand Canyon of Arizona; how to see it   By: George Wharton James (1858-1923)

By

George Wharton James

Author of "In and Out of the Old Missions," "The Wonders of the Colorado Desert," "Through Ramona's Country," etc.

Revised Edition

Boston: Little, Brown, and Company

Kansas City: Fred Harvey

1912

PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION

Because of the completion of a new driveway along the Rim of the Grand Canyon, and of a new trail to the Colorado River, a second edition of this book is deemed necessary.

These improvements, which have recently been made by the Santa Fe Railway, are known as Hermit Rim Road and Hermit Trail. The first, said to be the most unique road in the world, is nine miles long on the brink of the Canyon, and the other, a wide and safe pathway down the south wall.

The contents of the volume has been revised, and descriptions of Hermit Rim Road and Hermit Trail have been added. There are also new portions describing the drives and trips that may be taken through the forest on the Rim and in the Canyon itself, each carefully planned so that the traveler may devote to sightseeing whatever amount of time he desires.

With these additions and alterations, the original plan to provide a convenient handbook for all travelers to the Grand Canyon is more complete.

FOREWORD

Upwards of ten years ago I sat on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and wrote "In and Around the Grand Canyon." In that book I included much that more than a decade of wandering up and down the trails of this great abyss had taught me. At that time the only accommodations for sightseers were stage lines or private conveyance from Flagstaff and Ash Fork, and, on arrival at the Canyon, the crude hotel camps at Hance's, Grand View, Bright Angel, and Bass's. The railway north from Williams was being built. Everything was crude and primitive.

Now the railway is completed and has become an integral part of the great Santa Fe System, with at least two trains a day each way carrying Pullman sleepers, chair cars and coaches. At Bright Angel, where the railway deposits its passengers at the rim of the Canyon, stands El Tovar Hotel, erected by the railway company at a cost of over a quarter of a million dollars, which is equipped and conducted by Fred Harvey. Yet El Tovar is more like a country club than a hotel, in many respects, and, to that extent, is better.

Hence while nothing in the canyon itself has changed, and while my book, "In and Around the Grand Canyon," is still as helpful to the traveler and general reader as ever, there has been a growing demand for a new book which should give the information needed by the traveler who comes under the new conditions, telling him how he may best avail himself of them. This book is written to meet this demand. It therefore partakes more of the character of a guide book than the former volume, so it has been decided to make it lighter in weight and handier in form, so that it can be slipped into the pocket or handbag, and thus used on the spot by those who wish a ready reference handbook.

Used in connection with the earlier volume or alone for it is complete in itself in all its details it cannot fail to give a clearer and fuller comprehension of this "Waterway of the Gods," the most incomparable piece of rugged scenery in the known world.

George Wharton James El Tovar, Grand Canyon, September, 1909.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

I. THE GRAND CANYON OF ARIZONA

II. ON THE GRAND CANYON RAILWAY TO EL TOVAR

III. EL TOVAR AND ITS EQUIPMENTS

IV. THE GRAND CANYON AT EL TOVAR

V. THREE WAYS OF SPENDING ONE DAY AT THE CANYON

VI. HOW TO SPEND TWO TO FIVE DAYS AT EL TOVAR

VII. HOW FULLY TO SEE AND KNOW THE GRAND CANYON REGION

VIII. FROM EL TOVAR DOWN THE BRIGHT ANGEL TRAIL

IX. TO GRAND VIEW AND DOWN THE GRAND VIEW TRAIL

X. A NEW "RIM" ROAD AND TRAIL INTO THE SCENIC HEART OF THE CANYON

XI. FROM EL TOVAR TO BASS CAMP AND DOWN THE BASS TRAIL