"LOST WORLD"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 69, 18 September 1937, Page 9

"LOST WORLD"

ARIZONA PLATEAU

CONQUEST BY SCIENTISTS

SIGNAL FROM TOP

United. Press Association—By Ele-.-tric TeU-

Kra pb—Copyright.

GRAND CANYON (Arizona),

September 16.

A signal-iire at the top of Shiva's Temple, a plateau untrodden by man for thousands of years, announced that nine scientists and five porters had conquered a "lost world." The members of the expedition, roped together, perilously groped their way for many hours up a perpendicular sandstone cliff 350 feet high. Only essential supplies were taken, including traps in which it was hoped to snare animals unknown to modern science. The expedition also carried instm» ments for the study of surviving formt of Ice Age vegetation. Food will be dropped by parachut* from, planes. Plans for the conquest of the "lost world" of Shiva's Temple were* announced several months ago. The area, situated in the Grand Canyon, consists of a densely-wooded small plateau, .i mile long by three-quarters of a mile wide. It is 7000 ft above sea-level, at. the top of a solid rock formation with sides so precipitous that previously no means had been found to scale them. What this isolated spot, left almost untouched by a changing world for a period estimated at 100,000 years, might prove to hold in animal and plant life was the mystery which resulted in the expedition. American scientists have been hoping to find, small animals whose forms and habits, as the result of long separation from other creatures, show a different line of evolution from those in the surrounding country.

The slow process of erosion is responsible for what is today kncwn a« Shiva's Temple. The chief problem has been the method of ascent to the plateau. The denseness of the vegetation prevents the landing of an aeroplane. As a preliminary step, aerial photographs of the spot were taken, and from these the route of ascent from the Canyon floor was to be determined. The expedition is under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History. Dr; Roy Chapman Andrews, director of the museum, stated that he hoped to find pack rats, squirrels, rabbits, and perhaps porcupines on the plateau, and also many types of insects which cannot fly. The most remarkable thing about the affair is that the spot is in full view of one of the most popular tourist centres in the United States.