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Introduction xxiii The Ensemble of ­Grand Canyon This book describes the ­people, places, and stories that collectively comprise the essence and experience of ­Grand Canyon. This experience is often far ranging and includes the language, culture, lit­er­a­ture, art, history, and science of iconic sites such as Desert View Watchtower, Bright Angel Trail, and Phantom Ranch, and influential ­people such as John Wesley Powell, Clarence Dutton, and Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter. You’ll learn the stories ­behind ­these ­people and places, and much more, in this book. ­These stories and landmarks are impor­tant ­because, among other ­things, they identify and honor the rich cultural history of ­Grand Canyon.­ Grand Canyon can seem not only unknown but unknowable its beauty and immensity impress every­one who stands at ­ either rim and sees the canyon for the first time. Seeing ­ Grand Canyon often leaves a lifelong impression, but ­ these impres- sions vary ­people see dif­fer­ent ­ things and have dif­fer­ent impressions of ­ Grand Canyon. For example: Literary naturalist John Burroughs (1837–1921) was overwhelmed by ­Grand Canyon’s immensity: “One’s sense of the depths of the cañon is so ­ great that it almost makes one dizzy to see the ­little birds fly over it, or plunge down into it. One seemed to fear that they, too, would get dizzy and fall to the bot- tom” (Burroughs, 1911). Burroughs ended an article about ­Grand Canyon by claiming “the remainder of our lives ­will be richer for having seen ­Grand Cañon” (Burroughs, 1911). Conservationist John Muir (1838–1914), who first came to ­Grand Canyon in 1896, summarized ­Grand Canyon as “a gigantic statement for even nature to make” and that “it is a hard job to sketch it even in scrawniest outline . . . ​I cannot tell the hundredth part of the won­ders of its features” (Muir, 1902). Famed geologist Clarence Dutton (1841–1912) was “vexed at the inadequacy of our faculties to comprehend more . . . ​[I am] deeply moved by the splendor and grace of Nature’s architecture” (Dutton, 1882). Southwest advocate Charles Lummis (1859–1928) was impressed by the unex- pected feeling that accompanies a visit to ­ Grand Canyon: “I have seen ­ people rave over it better ­ people struck dumb with it even strong men who cried over it but I have never yet seen the man or ­woman who expected it” (Lum- mis, 1902). For clergyman and poet Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933), ­ Grand Canyon’s “fath- omless abyss” was a symbol of his own meaninglessness as he became “a con- scious grain of sand, lost in a desert of unconsciousness, thirsting for God and mocked by his own thirst” (Van Dyke, 1914). Another clergyman saw “Horror! Tragedy! Silence! Death! Chaos! ­There is the awful canyon in five words . . . ​It seemed to me as if it ­ were the burying ground of the universe . . . ​ ­ There is a sense of terror that cannot be put into words.” Newspaper editor William Allen White (1868–1944) felt “an awful spell that falls upon the soul like the lonesomeness of the grave” (Lago, 2015).