File:The book of the national parks (1920) (14578971070).jpg

Identifier: bookofnationalpa1920yard (find matches)
Title: The book of the national parks
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Yard, Robert Sterling, 1861-1945
Subjects: National parks and reserves
Publisher: New York : Charles Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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ut break, wouldform a more or less level surface; that is, all had beena plain before floods cut the separating canyons. The region has a wonderful scenic charm. It ismarkedly different in quality from other national parks,but in its own way is quite as startling and beautiful.Comparison is impossible because of the lack of ele-ments in common, but it may be said that the MesaVerde represents our great southwest in one of itsmost fascinating phases, combining the fundamentalsof the desert with the flavor of the near-by moun-tains. The canyons, which are seven or eight hundredfeet deep and two or three times as wide where thecliff-dwellings gather, are prevailingly tawny yellow.Masses of sloping talus reach more than half-way up;above them the cliffs are perpendicular; it is in cavi-ties in these perpendiculars that the cliff-dwellingshide. Above the cliffs are low growths of yellowish-green cedar with pinyons and other conifers of darkerfoliage. Beneath the trees and covering the many
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ROCK RECORDS OF A VANISHED RACE 291 opens grows the familiar sage of the desert, a graywhich hints at green and yellow both but realizesneither. But the sage-brush shelters desert grasses,and, around the occasional springs and their slenderoutlets, grass grows rank and plenteous; a little watercounts for a great deal in the desert. Summer, then, is delightful on the Mesa Verde.The plateau is high and the air invigorating, warm byday in midsummer, always cool at night. The atmos-phere is marvellously clear, and)the sunsets are famous.The winter snows, which reach three or four feet indepth, disappear in April. From May to Thanksgivingthe region is in its prime. It is important to realizethat this land has much for the visitor besides its ruins.It has vigor, distinction, personality, and remarkablecharm. It is the highest example of one of Americasmost distinctive and important scenic phases, and thiswithout reference to its prehistoric dwellings. NoAmerican traveller knows his America,

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