The Natural Bridge of Arizona

THE NATURAL BRIDGE OF ARIZONA* BY EZRA C. ROBINSON. Arizona is a land of natural wonders, of rugged mountains,- "of deserts idle, rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven." The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, in the northern part of the territory, is the most marvelous of the kind in the world; so the natural bridge in the central part, is one of the grandest of the kind at least in America, if not in the world. It is situated in the midst of a group of pine-crested and rock-ribl)ed mountains, and is inaccessible, except on horseback. Deer are found in large numbers on the adjacent hills, and mountain lions are sometimes found in the surrounding wilds. The road from Mesa City to the Natural Bridge is rough and mountainous for about one hundred miles, being almost impass- able in some places, especially over a mountain called Reno, where it required three hours' time to ascend with a light buggy from the foot of the mountain to the top, a distance of three miles. Some of the country intervening might well be termed the glory of desolation. For miles and miles are dreary sand wastes, covered with wild vegetation of the prickly pear order, while the eye is occasionally greeted with piles of huge rocks. Some of these rest one on another, as if placed there by a mighty giant's hand for the wonderment of succeeding ages, and they relieve the monotony of the continuously parched deserts lying between the rugged mountain peaks. The Bridge spans a canyon four hundred and eighty feet wide through which a creek runs from east to west. The summit of the bridge is covered with trees, rows of grape vines, corn and vege-

THE NATURAL BRIDGE OF ARIZONA. 221 tables of different kinds, which are watered from a beautiful spring of cool, clear water. At the west end, we gazed over a dizzy height of two hundred and thirty feet from the top of the bridge to the bed of the creek below. At the east end, the roof of the bridge is one hundred and eighty feet high from the bottom of the canyon. The average distance or height of the roof from the ground below, all the distance from east to west, is fully two hundred feet. The roof is oval-shaped, something like that of the Tabernacle, in Salt Lake City, and is composed of a surface of one hundred and eighty thousand square feet of petrified rock, overhanging without a single support except the perpendicular walls on each side. In gazing from the top of the bridge at the west end, I was affected as when I stood looking from the top of the east tower of the Temple in Salt Lake City. On the north side, beneath the bridge, the ascent is made by means of a series of ladders from crag to crag, for a distance of about one hundred feet, to a large cave which might well be termed a balcony of petrified honeycomb, white as snow. One shaft reaching from the roof of the cave to the floor was about the size of a stove pipe, and about ten feet long, it had the appear- ance of marble. The floor of the cave is on an incline of about forty five degrees, and to gain access to the inner chambers of the cave, it is necessary for a person to lie flat and drag himself through by catching hold of the cones hanging from the roof. In the canyon east of the bridge, a small stream drips over the edge of a precipice, and in a few months petrifies whatever it drips upon. I saw old hats that had become petrified, and were as solid as rocks. I also saw a part of a rattle snak6 that had become petrified. We entered one cave that seemed like a sanctuary, having a kind of balcony over-head like a pulpit, in which we entered and therein sang and recited. After we ascended the steep side of the canyon, to the top of the bridge, we felt that it was truly a grand sight which we had beheld; and, mounting our horses, we ascended the rocky sides of a rough canyon, over into the beautiful little settlement of Pine, nestled in the rim of the Mogolone mountain. We felt well re- paid for our visit to the Natural Bridge of Arizona.