The Bright Angel

THE BRIGHT ANGEL. BY D. D. RUST. When President Roosevelt visited the Grand Canyon of Arizona, in 1903, he was escorted along the rim by Capt. Hance, the "Old Timer," the noted story teller. Near the close of the •lay, after they had seen most of the points of interest, the President turned to the captain and said, "Who named all these places?" Cap. replied, '*! named one thing in the canyon, and have been ashamed of it ever since." Names, as a rule, do not add to the magnificence of natural wonders. In the matter of geography, I suppose they are necessary evils; but to the artist — and that is everyone who is impressed by the beautiful, the awful, whether he puts it on canvas or keeps it only in his soul — they are likely to be in the way. There are names, however, that brighten the object, that blend with it, and seem a part of it. Among the thousands of canyons which together make the canyon of canyons, known as the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, the one least known and most talked about is "The Bright Angel." This canyon and stream were discovered and named by Major Powell in 1869. They were named in honor of the Messiah, and jn contrast to "The Dirty Devil," a small muddy river that rolls into the Colorado fifty miles below the junction of the Green and Grand . The latter was named for the Angel of Darkness; the former for the Angel of Light. This clear stream, which cuts its way from the north rim to the river, is not a creek; it is not a river, — it is either. The canyon which belongs with it, and which has been fashioned by it.