Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1893 — One of Arizona’s Wonders. [ARTICLE]

One of Arizona’s Wonders.

San Francisco Call. For many years Heidelburg Universit j has had the honor of owning the largest barrel, or “tun,” us they call it, in the world. They have had the honor, although it does not really belong to them, for Arizona has a barrel that makes theirs fade into insignificance. The one at Heidelburg will not hold liquid, neither will the one in Arizona. In this they are the same, but they are different in many other ways. Arizona’s barrel is the work of nature and it is on the high peak of a mountain, about five miles from Aguas Calientas, which is in the California mountains about sixteen miles from a railroad. The barrel is one of those peculiar rock formations and is about 200 feet high, and the top of it is at least 2,000 feet above the valley. It can be seen for miles before the traveler gets to it, and its appearance is most deceiving. It requires no effort of the imagination to see the large utensil of Bacchus perched on its peak with a glass under a faucet, as if ready to be filled. A large fissure in a certain spot forms a bung-hole. It does not look like a barrel, unless seen from the plain; pn all other sides it is simply a rugged rock. It is a soft granite formation of volcanic orgin, and it is crumbling to pieces all the time. is so soft that half a dozen men with picks could knock it to pieces in a few days.