Introduction xxiv English writer and broadcaster John B. “J. B.” Priestley (1894–1984) considered Grand Canyon “sort of a landscape Day of Judgment. It is not a show place, a beauty spot, but a revelation . . . The Colorado River made it, but you feel when you are there that God gave the Colorado River its instructions. It is all Beethoven’s nine symphonies in stone and magic light.” Priestley later noted, “If I were an American, I should make my remembrance of [Grand Canyon] the final test of men, art and politics. I should ask myself: Is this good enough to exist in the same country as the Canyon?” (Priestley, 1937). Railroad executive George Reeve expressed the feelings of many visitors when he asked, “The Grand Canyon. What is it? I do not know. You do not know. Only God knows” (Santa Fe Railway, 1902). Regardless of how writers, painters, and poets have tried, there is always more to Grand Canyon as John Muir noted, “[O]f the many descriptions of [Grand Can- yon], none seems adequate” (Muir, 1902). People see Grand Canyon in their own individual ways, but most are left with an impression elegantly stated by English novelist John Galsworthy (1867–1933): “This Grand Canyon of Arizona is the great- est sight in the world” (Morris, 1967). Dutton had similar feelings, proclaiming Grand Canyon to be “the most sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle in the world . . . [It is] a great innovation in modern ideas of scenery, and in our conceptions of the grandeur, beauty, and power of nature” (Dutton, 1882). The impressions made by Grand Canyon on Galsworthy, Dutton, and today’s visitors are seldom forgotten and—combined with Grand Canyon’s stunning vistas, geology, and history— produce an experience like no other. Famed Grand Canyon concessionaire Fred Harvey summarized the feelings of many visitors in 1905 when he simply noted, “No one can describe it to you” (Harvey, 1905). Experiencing Grand Canyon begins with seeing Grand Canyon, and the essays in this book describe many of the famous places, rim-side overlooks, and unique ways that people see Grand Canyon. It is from these places—for example, the over- looks that showcase the canyon’s compelling panoramas, the trails along which people have hiked for centuries, and the Colorado River that carved Grand Can- yon and continues to sustain life in the canyon—that the Grand Canyon experi- ence begins. Although these essays and stories cannot replace being at Grand Canyon, they will give you a sense of what’s there, why it is important, and why it is so appealing and inspirational to visitors. It is these places and the experiences that accompany them that have changed so many people who have visited Grand Canyon. Despite countless technological advances, Grand Canyon remains difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to describe. At the canyon’s rim, as Dutton noted, “dimensions mean nothing . . . all that we are conscious of . . . is a troubled sense of immensity . . . Everything is superlative, transcending the power of the intelligence to comprehend it” (Dutton, 1882). As a result, different people see different things—including themselves—at Grand Canyon as poet Carl Sand- burg noted in Many Hats (1928), “For each man sees himself in the Grand Canyon— each one makes his own Canyon before he comes, each one brings and carries away
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