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"New National Fourth Reader"


"When within about forty feet of the surface, it became stationary, and
we returned to look upon it. All at once it rose with incredible
rapidity, the hot water bursting from the opening with terrific force,
rising in a column the full size of this immense aperture to the height
of sixty feet.
"Through, and out of the top of this mass, five or six lesser jets or
round columns of water, varying in size from six to fifteen inches in
diameter, were projected to the marvelous height of two hundred and
fifty feet."
[Illustration: View in the Grand Canon]

THE CANONS OF THE COLORADO RIVER.

The length of the Colorado River, from the sources of the Green River,
is about two thousand miles.
For five hundred miles of this distance, the river has worn deep cuts or
gorges through the soft rock, called canons.
The rocky sides of these canons form lofty vertical walls, which, in
some places, rise to a height of more than a mile above the surface of
the water.
The largest and most noted of these vast gorges is the Grand Canon,
which extends a distance of more than two hundred miles. The height of
the walls of this canon varies from four thousand to seven thousand
feet.


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