TRACKS OF THE DINOSAUR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 54, 6 March 1939, Page 12

TRACKS OF THE DINOSAUR

Rock-face Carvings

QPEAKING of the Lost World of the Grand Canyon, Colorado, Mr. Oliver K. Whiting said: “In the morning it s customary to rise at five a.m. and watch the sun come up over the far edge of the Canyon's rim. As it got gradually lighter I could see the full desolation of the Canyon, with its thousands of barren rugged peaks, sticking up like islands from the valley which was lost in mist, and there in the distance, level with ourselves was the forgotten world of Shiva’s Temple. Altar breakfast, I arranged to ride the Angel Trail into the Canyon itself, the journey is made on mules. Our party of six had two rangers to act as guides. Pack lunches were tied to every saddle, each with its precious flask of water. “We moved off in single file, the tracks far too narrow for two to pass—the guide goes first, and the rest of us follow. The trail is a series of tortuou« hair-pin bends, without edge of any kind, winding down the very face of the rock with a sheer drop of hundreds of feet below. At every turn the mule’s head would project alarmingly over the great abyss, and the least stumble on these loose stones would have been fatal. Every step we took it got hotter and hotter! Now I know why rangers wear leather trousers —it keeps the heat out—not in. By midday we had nearly reached the river, and the rangers let us have a proper dismounted halt on an open rnrlr for lunch. There was

absobUc’y no sr.ed.e whatsoever, and the thermometer showed one hundred and twelve degrees even when kept from the rays of the sun.’ We were thankful to get mounted again, as the movement of the mules seemed to afford some slight change of air. “I can well imagine what it must have been like climbing to the lost world plateau in heat like that. The trail to the river is seven miles down; there is little or no vegetation, a few castus and tropical plants, and one can easily understand why so many lives have been lost in this waterless canyon. Once you leave the river, you are faced with this terrific climb; to miss the trail would be fatal; so for that matter, would be a leaking flask. Very little is known even yet of this desolate sun-baked land. When the Doheny expedition set out as recently as 1924, there were hundreds of square miles between the Canyon and the Painted Desert, where no white man had ever been before. There is, however, evidence that primitive man had discovered these parts. “Not far from Shiva’s Temple, they found a huge carving on the rock face, of a Dinosaur standing on its tail, and the tracks of the monster itself were clearly identified by the expedition in several parts. Even to-day, it is comparatively unexplored; less than a dozen people have navigated the river from end to end of the Canyon; many have tried; many have lost their lives in the attempt.”