This vintage postcard shows the Royal Gorge Canyon in Colorado. The Royal Gorge (often called the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas) is a canyon on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado. It has a width of 50 feet at the base of the gorge and a few hundred feet at the top, with a depth of 1,250 feet in places. Within the 10-mile-long canyon is a narrow, steep gorge through the solid granite of surrounding mountains. It is one of the deepest canyons in Colorado.
The Arkansas River is the longest tributary of the Mississippi River. The total length of the river from Colorado, through Kansas and Oklahoma, and finally into Arkansas is about 1450 miles. It races through Royal Gorge Canyon and carves away at the surrounding granite of the Royal Gorge Canyon at the rate of about one inch every 210 years.
This vintage postcard of the Royal Gorge has managed to capture the white water rapids of the Arkansas River, the beautiful dusty rose colors of the granite mountains, and the thrilling adventure of the old-fashioned locomotive clinging to the rails wedged between river and cliff. The Royal Gorge Canyon is one of the most spectacular places to visit in Colorado.