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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Canyons of the Colorado, by J. W. Powell
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost
+no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use
+it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Canyons of the Colorado
+
+Author: J. W. Powell
+
+Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8082]
+Last Updated: May 1, 2023
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding:UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANYONS OF THE COLORADO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Eldred, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO
+
+
+BY J. W. POWELL, PH.D., LL.D.,
+
+Formerly Director of the United States Geological Survey. Member of the
+National Academy of Sciences, etc., etc.
+
+WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+First published 1895
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+On my return from the first exploration of the canyons of the Colorado,
+I found that our journey had been the theme of much newspaper writing. A
+story of disaster had been circulated, with many particulars of hardship
+and tragedy, so that it was currently believed throughout the United
+States that all the members of the party were lost save one. A good
+friend of mine had gathered a great number of obituary notices, and it
+was interesting and rather flattering to me to discover the high esteem
+in which I had been held by the people of the United States. In my
+supposed death I had attained to a glory which I fear my continued life
+has not fully vindicated.
+
+The exploration was not made for adventure, but purely for scientific
+purposes, geographic and geologic, and I had no intention of writing an
+account of it, but only of recording the scientific results. Immediately
+on my return I was interviewed a number of times, and these interviews
+were published in the daily press; and here I supposed all interest in
+the exploration ended. But in 1874 the editors of Scribner's Monthly
+requested me to publish a popular account of the Colorado exploration in
+that journal. To this I acceded and prepared four short articles, which
+were elaborately illustrated from photographs in my possession.
+
+In the same year--1874--at the instance of Professor Henry of the
+Smithsonian Institution, I was called before an appropriations committee
+of the House of Representatives to explain certain estimates made by
+the Professor for funds to continue scientific work which had been in
+progress from the date of the original exploration. Mr. Garfield was
+chairman of the committee, and after listening to my
+
+IV PREFACE.
+
+account of the progress of the geographic and geologic work, he asked
+me why no history of the original exploration of the canyons had been
+published. I informed him that I had no interest in that work as an
+adventure, but was interested only in the scientific results, and that
+these results had in part been published and in part were in course of
+publication. Thereupon Mr. Garfield, in a pleasant manner, insisted that
+the history of the exploration should be published by the government,
+and that I must understand that my scientific work would be continued by
+additional appropriations only upon my promise that I would publish
+an account of the exploration. I made the promise, and the task was
+immediately undertaken.
+
+My daily journal had been kept on long and narrow strips of brown paper,
+which were gathered into little volumes that were bound in sole leather
+in camp as they were completed. After some deliberation I decided to
+publish this journal, with only such emendations and corrections as
+its hasty writing in camp necessitated. It chanced that the journal
+was written in the present tense, so that the first account of my trip
+appeared in that tense. The journal thus published was not a lengthy
+paper, constituting but a part of a report entitled "Exploration of the
+Colorado River of the West and its Tributaries. Explored in 1869, 1870,
+1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian
+Institution." The other papers published with it relate to the
+geography, geology, and natural history of the country. And here again I
+supposed all account of the exploration ended. But from that time until
+the present I have received many letters urging that a popular account
+of the exploration and a description of that wonderful land should be
+published by me. This call has been voiced occasionally in the daily
+press and sometimes in the magazines, until at last I have concluded to
+publish a fuller account in popular form. In doing this I have revised
+and enlarged the original journal of exploration, and have added several
+new chapters descriptive of the region and of the people who inhabit it.
+Realizing the difficulty of painting in word colors a land so strange,
+so wonderful, and so vast in its features, in the weakness of my
+descriptive powers I have sought refuge in graphic illustration, and for
+this purpose have gathered from the magazines and from various scien-
+
+PREFACE. V
+
+tific reports an abundance of material. All of this illustrative
+material originated in my work, but it has already been used elsewhere.
+
+Many years have passed since the exploration, and those who were boys
+with me in the enterprise are--ah, most of them are dead, and the living
+are gray with age. Their bronzed, hardy, brave faces come before me as
+they appeared in the vigor of life; their lithe but powerful forms seem
+to move around me; and the memory of the men and their heroic deeds, the
+men and their generous acts, overwhelms me with a joy that seems almost
+a grief, for it starts a fountain of tears. I was a maimed man; my right
+arm was gone; and these brave men, these good men, never forgot it. In
+every danger my safety was their first care, and in every waking hour
+some kind service was rendered me, and they transfigured my misfortune
+into a boon.
+
+To you--J. C. Sumner, William H. Dunn, W. H. Powell, G. Y. Bradley, O.
+G. Howland, Seneca Howland, Frank Goodman, W. E. Hawkins, and Andrew
+Hall--my noble and generous companions, dead and alive, I dedicate this
+book.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER PAGE
+
+I. The Valley of the Colorado ..17
+
+II. Mesas and, Buttes . . . . 39
+
+III. Mountains and Plateaus ...67
+
+IV. Cliffs and Terraces ....89
+
+V. From Green River City to Flaming Gorge . 117
+
+VI. From Flaming Gorge to the Gate of Lodore . . 133
+
+VII. The Canyon of Lodore ...151
+
+VIII. From Echo Park to the Mouth of the Uinta River .167
+
+IX. From the Mouth of the Uinta River to the Junction of the
+
+Grand and Green . ...189
+
+X. From the Junction of the Grand and Green to the Mouth
+
+of the Little Colorado ......211
+
+XI. From the Little Colorado to the Foot of the Grand Canyon247
+
+XII. The Rio Virgen and the Uinkaret Mountains . .289
+
+XIII. Over the River ....327
+
+XIV. To Zuñi ......351
+
+XV. The Grand Canyon ....379
+
+Index .......399
+
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+Portrait of the Author ....... Frontispiece [missing]
+
+PAGE
+
+The Colorado River ......16
+
+Parunuweap Canyon .....18
+
+Bird's-eye View of the Cliffs ....19
+
+San Francisco Peak .....21
+
+Cliff near Fort Wingate .....22
+
+Scenery on the High Plateaus ...23
+
+The Mogollon Escarpment ....25
+
+Snow-clad Mountains on the River ..26
+
+Our Messenger ......28
+
+Apache Basket ......29
+
+Our Messenger's Wife .....30
+
+Ruins of Toyalone .....31
+
+A Zuñí Court .......33
+
+Adobe Church, Zuñi .....34
+
+The Site of Moenkopi . . . . . . . . 36
+
+Mountain of the Holy Cross ...38
+
+Wingate Cliff .......40
+
+Pyramid Butte near Fort Wingate ..41
+
+Zuñi Cliffs .......42
+
+Great Neck Nine Miles South of Salazar .43
+
+Cinder Cone and Neck, Northeast of Grant Station 44
+
+Two Large Necks, the More Distant One being the Cabazon45
+
+Neck Six Miles Northeast of Juantafoya ..46
+
+A Group of Necks near Mount Taylor .47
+
+Panorama from the Edge of Mount Taylor Mesa 48
+
+Panorama in the Valley of the Puerco .50
+
+Ruins at the Head of McElmo Canyon . . . 52
+
+A Navajo Hogan ......53
+
+An Ancient Coiled Vase from Tusayan ..54
+
+A Typical Cliff Dwelling ....56
+
+A Room in a Pueblo .....57
+
+A Navajo Ready for a Journey ...58
+
+A Navajo Boy .......59
+
+Gardens of Zuñi ......60
+
+A Tusayan Ladder ......61
+
+A Zuñi Stool ......61
+
+X CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+PAGE
+
+A Tusayan Field Shelter .....62
+
+Another Tusayan Field Shelter ...63
+
+View of Hano, One of the Seven Pueblos of Tusayan . 64
+
+Mesa Verde . . . . ... . . between 64 and 65
+
+Mount Moran, Teton Range, Wyoming ..66
+
+Marble Basins, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park 69
+
+Terraced Basins, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park 70
+
+Tabernacle Crater and Lava Beds of the Basin Province 73
+
+View on Great Salt Lake Desert, showing Mountains half buried by Lake
+Sediments .....74
+
+An Indian Hunter ......76
+
+Reservoir Butte, showing Terraces of the Ancient Lake Bonneville
+Shorelines . . . . . . . 77
+
+Pavant Butte, over a Submarine Volcano of the Great Basin 78
+
+An Indian Camp ......79
+
+Indians Gambling ......80
+
+Ruin near Moenkopi .....81
+
+Ruins of Payupki, Six Miles Northwest of Mashongnavi, Tusayan .. 82
+
+Shupaulovi .......85
+
+General View of Zuñi, looking West ..86
+
+The Gray Cliffs ......88
+
+Section and Bird's-eye View of the Plateaus North of the Grand Canyon
+......90
+
+A Group of Stone Corrals ....91
+
+Ruins ........92
+
+Lagoon on the Kaibab .....95
+
+Pink Cliffs, Paunsagunt Plateau ...96
+
+A Permian Butte ......99
+
+Vermilion Cliffs at Kanab .....100
+
+A Midsummerday's Dream on the Colob .103
+
+An Indian Village ......104
+
+Antinaints, Putusiv, and Wichuts in Festal Dress . 105
+
+Perspective View of Typical Solitary House .106
+
+Perspective View of Round-House Structure of Lava . 107
+
+An Ancient Cliff House .....108
+
+A Zuñi Eagle Cage .....109
+
+A View of Zuñi ......110
+
+Walpi Dance Rock .....112
+
+A Passageway in Walpi .....114
+
+A Passageway in Mashongnavi ...115
+
+The Hurricane Fault ..... between 114 and 115
+
+Temples and Towers of the Rio Virgen . between 114 and 115
+
+Towers of the Vermilion Cliffs .... between 114 and 115
+
+Panorama ....... between 114 and 115
+
+Terraced Houses in Zuñi .....116
+
+The Start from Green River Station ..118
+
+View in Sichumovi ......121
+
+Trail up Walpi Mesa .....122
+
+Ridges on Bitter Creek .....123
+
+Mesas ........124
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XI
+
+PAGE
+
+A Valley West of Green River ...125
+
+Alcove Lands ......126
+
+Bad Lands . . . . . . . . . . 127
+
+Our Indian Guide .....128
+
+Our Guide's Boy ......129
+
+Green River Plains .....130
+
+The Chief Kiva of Shupaulovi . . . . . . 131
+
+Walpi .........132
+
+Camp at Flaming Gorge . . . . . . . 134
+
+Mashongnavi, with Shupaulovi in the Distance . . 135
+
+Horseshoe Canyon ......136
+
+Scene in Hano ......139
+
+Pescado Pueblo, Outside Steps ....140
+
+Oven near Pescado Pueblo ....141
+
+Primitive Andiron in Shumopavi ...142
+
+Tusayan Mealing-Stones ....143
+
+Kiva and Stone Corrals of Mashongnavi ..144
+
+"Hogbacks" with Intervening Valleys .146
+
+An Ancient Pueblo Metate ....148
+
+The Home of the Chief ....150
+
+Gate of Lodore .......153
+
+Wreck at Disaster Falls . . . . . . 155
+
+Metalliferous Veins exposed to View ..156
+
+Winnie's Grotto, a Side Canyon ...159
+
+Eroded Towers capped with Large Blocks of Sandstone . 161
+
+Fire in Camp ......162
+
+An Isolated House at Zuñi ....164
+
+An Oraibi Court ......166
+
+The Rescue . . . . . . . . . ...169
+
+Echo Park .......170
+
+Fragment of Wall, Zuñi .....171
+
+Kivas of Shumopavi .....172
+
+General View of Awatubi . . . . . . . 173
+
+Swallow Cave . . . . . . . . 175
+
+View of Shumopavi . . . . . . . . 177
+
+Ruins .......178, 179
+
+Indian Lodge in the Uinta Valley ...181
+
+Warrior and Bride .....183
+
+Our Interpreter and His Family ...185
+
+House Building at Oraibi ....186
+
+General View of Ojo Caliente ....188
+
+Sumner's Amphitheater ....190
+
+Chimneys and Roofs, Zuñi ....193
+
+A Tusayan Interior .....194
+
+Lighthouse Rock, Canyon of Desolation ..197
+
+Gunnison Butte, Gray Canyon ...199
+
+Ruins of Ketchipauau .....201
+
+Bird's-eye View of the Land of the Standing Rocks . 202
+
+The Butte of the Cross .....204
+
+Land of the Standing Rocks . . . . 205
+
+XII
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+PAGE
+
+Moenkopi .......207
+
+Oraibi Houses .......208
+
+The Heart of Marble Canyon ...210
+
+A Lateral Canyon. ......213
+
+A Tusayan Mealing Trough. ...215
+
+The Heart of Cataract Canyon . . . . . 217
+
+Water Basin in Gypsum Canyon ...219
+
+The Water Pocket Canyon ....221
+
+Plan of the Ruin of Kiu-Tiel, near Tusayau . . 222
+
+Pescado Houses .......225
+
+Repairing Boats at the Mouth of Dirty Devil River . 226
+
+Ruins on the Brink of Glen Canyon ..228
+
+Island Monument iu Glen Canyon ...231
+
+Glen Canyon .......232
+
+An Enclosing Wall of Upright Stones at Ojo Caliente 235
+
+Marble Canyon .......236
+
+Noonday Rest in Marble Canyon ..239
+
+View of Marble Canyon from Vermilion Cliffs . . 240
+
+Adobe Walls, Zuñi .....243
+
+At the Mouth of the Little Colorado ..246
+
+Walls of Gneiss ......249
+
+Running a Rapid ......250
+
+Head of the Grand Canyon ....252
+
+The Inner Gorge ......254
+
+Signal of Discovery or Alarm . . . . . 257
+
+Signal, "Who are you?" Answer, "Pani" . . . ...258
+
+Signal of Successful War Party ...261
+
+A Signal of Peace ......262
+
+Moki Method of Dressing the Hair ..265
+
+Moki Method of Spinning ....266
+
+An Alcove in the Red Wall ...269
+
+Kanab Canyon, near the Junction ...270
+
+Kanab Canyon in the Red Wall Limestone . . 273
+
+The Brink of the Inner Gorge ....275
+
+The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, showing Amphitheater and Sculptured
+Buttes .....276
+
+Climbing the Grand Canyon Wall ..279
+
+Triangulation Station .....281
+
+Cavate Houses ......283
+
+Standing Rocks .......285
+
+Mount Trumbull, from Mount Logan ..288
+
+Mary's Veil, the Upper Fall on Pine Creek . . . 290
+
+Filling's Cascade, the Lower Palls on Pine Creek . 291
+
+Aboriginal Ladder . ... . . . . . 292
+
+Another Style of Ladder ....293
+
+Entrance to Parunuweap .....295
+
+Towers on the Rio Virgen ....296
+
+Mukuntuweap Canyon . . . . . . . 298
+
+The Witches' Water Pocket ....301
+
+Wunavai Gathering Seeds .....302
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Xlll
+
+PAGE
+
+Terrace Fireplace and Chimney of Shumopavi . . 305
+
+A Sweat House .......306
+
+An Interior Lodge ......309
+
+Halved and Pinned Trapdoor Frame of Zuñí Kiva . . 310
+
+Wooden Pivot Hinges of a Zuñi Door .310
+
+A Poultry House of Sichumovi resembling an Oven . 312
+
+The Human Pickle .....314
+
+Recent Lava Flow on the Uinkaret . . . . . 317
+
+A Zuñi Window glazed with Selenite ..318
+
+A Zuñi Chair .......319
+
+An Ancient Circular Doorway or "Stone Close" in Kin-Tiel 320
+
+A Gaming Ring ......320
+
+Interior View of a Tusayan Kiva ..322
+
+Cave Lake in Kanab Canyon ....324
+
+Ancient Pottery from Tusayan ...326
+
+Tusayan Fetiches and Implements ...329
+
+Dance Paraphernalia from Tusayan ..332
+
+The Thousand Wells .....334
+
+Terraced Houses in Oraibi showing Entrance to Kiva in Foreground
+........335
+
+The House of Talti, Chief of the Council in the Town of Oraibi 337
+
+Praying for Rain ......339
+
+Mashongnavi .......340
+
+Tusayan Trays .......341
+
+Tusayan Maskettes .....343
+
+Sichumovi and Hano .....344
+
+Walpi, a Village of Tusayan ...346
+
+Tusayan Basketry ....330, 348, 349
+
+Zuñi from Housetops, looking East ..350
+
+Navajo Indian with Silver Ornaments ..352
+
+Bringing down the Batten . . . . 353
+
+Navajo Church, near Fort Wingate ...354
+
+Round Tower on a Rock ....355
+
+Toyalone, from the Top of a House in Zuñi .356
+
+Typical Terraced Communal Pueblo ..357
+
+Dancer holding up the Great Plumed Arrow .358
+
+Dancer "swallowing" the Great Plumed Arrow . 359
+
+Navajo Woman weaving a Belt ...360
+
+Navajo Woman spinning ....361
+
+A Room in a Zuñi House ....362
+
+Ashtishkee, a Navajo Chief ....365
+
+Navajo Medicine Lodge, viewed from the South . . 366
+
+Navajo Medicine Lodge, viewed from the East . . 367
+
+Navajo Fire Dance ......368
+
+Workshop of Navajo Silversmith ...369
+
+Zuñi Woman weaving a Belt ....370
+
+Weaving of Diamond-shaped Diagonals .371
+
+Zuñi Fetiches .......372
+
+Effigy Pottery from Zuñi ....373
+
+Zuñi Pottery .......374
+
+XIV CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+PAGE
+
+Zuñi Grails .......375
+
+Culinary Pottery from Zuñí . . . . . . 376
+
+Navajo Fabrics ......377
+
+The Grand Canyon ......378
+
+A Gable with Pinnacles ....381
+
+Niches or Panels in the Red Wall Limestone .382
+
+Bounded Inward Curves and Projecting Cusps of the Walls ...384
+
+The Eastern Temple ......387
+
+The Western Temple .....388
+
+Granite Falls, Kaibab Division, Grand Canyon . . 391
+
+Dikes in the Canyon Wall ....392
+
+Pinnacles of the Kaibab .....395
+
+Vishnu's Temple ......396
+
+Key to the Panorama from Point Sublime, looking East, between 396 and
+...397
+
+Key to the Panorama from Point Sublime, looking West, between ...396 and
+...397
+
+Key to the Panorama from Point Sublime, looking South, between ...396
+and ...397
+
+Grand Canyon at the Foot of the Toroweap, looking East, between ...396
+and ...397
+
+The Great Unconformity at the Head of the Grand Canyon, between ...396
+and ...397
+
+16 powell-canyons-1.jpg
+
+THE COLORADO RIVER.
+
+17
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE VALLEY OF THE COLORADO.
+
+THE Colorado River is formed by the junction of the Grand and Green.
+
+The Grand River has its source in the Rocky Mountains, five or six miles
+west of Long's Peak. A group of little alpine lakes, that receive
+their waters directly from perpetual snowbanks, discharge into a common
+reservoir known as Grand Lake, a beautiful sheet of water. Its quiet
+surface reflects towering cliffs and crags of granite on its eastern
+shore, and stately pines and firs stand on its western margin.
+
+The Green River heads near Fremont's Peak, in the Wind River Mountains.
+This river, like the Grand, has its sources in alpine lakes fed by
+everlasting snows. Thousands of these little lakes, with deep, cold,
+emerald waters, are embosomed among the crags of the Rocky Mountains.
+These streams, born in the cold, gloomy solitudes of the upper mountain
+region, have a strange, eventful history as they pass down through
+gorges, tumbling in cascades and cataracts, until they reach the hot,
+arid plains of the Lower Colorado, where the waters that were so clear
+above empty as turbid floods into the Gulf of California.
+
+The mouth of the Colorado is in latitude 31 degrees 53 minutes and
+longitude 115 degrees. The source of the Grand River is in latitude 40
+degrees 17' and longitude 105 degrees 43' approximately. The source of
+the Green River is in latitude 43 degrees 15' and longitude 109 degrees
+54' approximately.
+
+The Green River is larger than the Grand and is the upper continuation
+of the Colorado. Including this river, the whole length of
+
+18
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-2.jpg
+
+PA-RÚ-NU-WEAP CANYON.
+
+the stream is about 2,000 miles. The region of country drained by the
+Colorado and its tributaries is about 800 miles in length and varies
+from 300 to 500 miles in width, containing about 300,000 square miles,
+an area larger than all the New England and Middle States with Maryland,
+Virginia and West Virginia added, or nearly as large as Minnesota,
+Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri combined.
+
+There are two distinct portions of the basin of the Colorado, a desert
+portion below and a plateau portion above. The lower third, or desert
+portion of the basin, is but little above the level of the sea, though
+here and there ranges of moun-
+
+THE VALLEY OF THE COLORADO.
+
+19
+
+tains rise to an altitude of from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. This part of the
+valley is bounded on the northeast by a line of cliffs, which present
+a bold, often vertical step, hundreds or thousands of feet to the
+table-lands above. On the California side a vast desert stretches
+westward, past the head of the Gulf of California, nearly to the shore
+of the Pacific. Between the desert and the sea a narrow belt of valley,
+hill, and mountain of wonderful beauty is found. Over this coastal zone
+there falls a balm distilled from the great ocean, as gentle showers and
+refreshing dews bathe the land. When rains come the emerald hills laugh
+with delight as bourgeoning bloom is spread in the sunlight. When the
+rains have ceased all the verdure turns to gold. Then slowly the hills
+are brinded powell-canyons-3.jpg
+
+BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE CLIFFS.
+
+until the rains come again, when verdure and bloom again peer through
+the tawny wreck of the last year's greenery. North of the Gulf of
+California the desert is known as "Coahuila Valley," the most desolate
+region on the continent. At one time in the geologic history of this
+country the Gulf of California extended a long distance farther to the
+northwest, above the point where the Colorado River now enters it; but
+this stream brought its mud from the mountains and the hills above and
+poured it into the gulf and gradually erected a vast dam across it,
+until the waters above were separated from the waters below; then the
+Colorado cut a channel into the lower gulf. The upper waters, being cut
+off from the sea, gradually evaporated, and what is known as Coahuila
+Valley was the bottom of this ancient upper gulf,
+
+20 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+and thus the land is now below the level of the sea. Between Coahuila
+Valley and the river there are many low, ashen-gray mountains standing
+in short ranges. The rainfall is so little that no perennial streams are
+formed. When a great rain comes it washes the mountain sides and gathers
+on its way a deluge of sand, which it spreads over the plain below, for
+the streams do not carry the sediment to the sea. So the mountains are
+washed down and the valleys are filled. On the Arizona side of the river
+desert plains are interrupted by desert mountains. Far to the eastward
+the country rises until the Sierra Madre are reached in New Mexico,
+where these mountains divide the waters of the Colorado from the Rio
+Grande del Norte. Here in New Mexico the Gila River has its source. Some
+of its tributaries rise in the mountains to the south, in the territory
+belonging to the republic of Mexico, but the Gila gathers the greater
+part of its waters from a great plateau on the northeast. Its sources
+are everywhere in pine-clad mountains and plateaus, but all of the
+affluents quickly descend into the desert valley below, through which
+the Gila winds its way westward to the Colorado. In times of continued
+drought the bed of the Gila is dry, but the region is subject to great
+and violent storms, and floods roll down from the heights with marvelous
+precipitation, carrying devastation on their way. Where the Colorado
+River forms the boundary between California and Arizona it cuts through
+a number of volcanic rocks by black, yawning canyons. Between these
+canyons the river has a low but rather narrow flood plain, with
+cottonwood groves scattered here and there, and a chaparral of mesquite
+bearing beans and thorns. Four hundred miles above its mouth and
+more than two hundred miles above the Gila, the Colorado has a second
+tributary--"Bill Williams' River" it is called by excessive courtesy. It
+is but a muddy creek. Two hundred miles above this the Rio Virgen joins
+the Colorado. This river heads in the Markagunt Plateau and the Pine
+Valley Mountains of Utah. Its sources are 7,000 or 8,000 feet above the
+sea, but from the beautiful course of the upper region it soon drops
+into a great sandy valley below and becomes a river of flowing sand.
+At ordinary stages it is very wide but very shallow, rippling over
+the quicksands in tawny waves. On its way it cuts through the Beaver
+Mountains by a weird canyon. On either side grease-wood plains stretch
+far away, interrupted here and there by bad-land hills.
+
+21 powell-canyons-4.jpg
+
+SAN FRANCISCO PEAK.
+
+22
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+The region of country lying on either side of the Colorado for six
+hundred miles of its course above the gulf, stretching to Coahuila
+Valley below on the west and to the highlands where the Gila heads on
+the east, is one of singular characteristics. The plains and valleys are
+low, arid, hot, and naked, and the volcanic mountains scattered here and
+there are lone and desolate. During the long months the sun pours its
+heat upon the rocks and sands, untempered by clouds above or forest
+shades beneath. The springs are so few in number that their names
+are household words in every Indian rancheria and every 23
+powell-canyons-5.jpg
+
+CLIFF NEAR FORT WINGATE.
+
+settler's home; and there are no brooks, no creeks, and no rivers but
+the trunk of the Colorado and the trunk of the Gila. The few plants are
+strangers to the dwellers in the temperate zone. On the mountains a few
+junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low,
+fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns. The landscape of vegetal life is
+weird--no forests, no meadows, no green hills, no foliage, but clublike
+stems of plants armed with stilettos. Many of the plants bear
+gorgeous flowers. The birds are few, but often of rich plumage. Hooded
+rattlesnakes, horned toads, and lizards crawl in the dust and among the
+rocks. One of these lizards, the "Gila monster," is
+
+23 powell-canyons-6.jpg
+
+SCENERY ON THE HIGH PLATEAUS.
+
+24 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+poisonous. Rarely antelopes are seen, but wolves, rabbits, and sundry
+ground squirrels abound.
+
+The desert valley of the Colorado, which has been described as distinct
+from the plateau region above, is the home of many Indian tribes. Away
+up at the sources of the Gila, where the pines and cedars stand and
+where creeks and valleys are found, is a part of the Apache land. These
+tribes extend far south into the republic of Mexico. The Apaches are
+intruders in this country, having at some time, perhaps many centuries
+ago, migrated from British America. They speak an Athapascan language.
+The Apaches and Navajos are the American Bedouins. On their way from
+the far North they left several colonies in Washington, Oregon, and
+California. They came to the country on foot, but since the Spanish
+invasion they have become skilled horsemen. They are wily warriors
+and implacable enemies, feared by all other tribes. They are hunters,
+warriors, and priests, these professions not yet being differentiated.
+The cliffs of the region have many caves, in which these people perform
+their religious rites. The Sierra Madre formerly supported abundant
+game, and the little Sonora deer was common. Bears and mountain lions
+were once found in great numbers, and they put the courage and prowess
+of the Apaches to a severe test. Huge rattlesnakes are common, and the
+rattlesnake god is one of the deities of the tribes.
+
+In the valley of the Gila and on its tributaries from the northeast
+are the Pimas, Maricopas, and Papagos. They are skilled agriculturists,
+cultivating lands by irrigation. In the same region many ruined villages
+are found. The dwellings of these towns in the valley were built chiefly
+of grout, and the fragments of the ancient pueblos still remaining have
+stood through centuries of storm. Other pueblos near the cliffs on the
+northeast were built of stone. The people who occupied them cultivated
+the soil by irrigation, and their hydraulic works were on an extensive
+scale. They built canals scores of miles in length and built reservoirs
+to store water. They were skilled workers in pottery. From the fibers
+of some of the desert plants they made fabrics with which to clothe
+themselves, and they cultivated cotton. They were deft artists in
+picture-writings, which they etched on the rocks. Many interesting
+vestiges of their ancient art remain, testifying to their skill as
+savage
+
+25 powell-canyons-7.jpg
+
+THE MOGOLLON ESCARPMENT.
+
+26 powell-canyons-8.jpg
+
+SNOW-CLAD MOUNTAINS ON THE RIVER.
+
+THE VALLEY OF THE COLORADO. 27
+
+artisans. It seems probable that the Pimas, Maricopas, and Papagos are
+the same people who built the pueblos and constructed the irrigation
+works; so their traditions state. It is also handed down that the
+pueblos were destroyed in wars with the Apaches. In these groves of the
+flood plain of the Colorado the Mojave and Yuma Indians once had their
+homes. They caught fish from the river and snared a few rabbits in the
+desert, but lived mainly on mesquite beans, the hearts of yucca plants,
+and the fruits of the cactus. They also gathered a harvest from the
+river reeds. To some slight extent they cultivated the soil by rude
+irrigation and raised corn and squashes. They lived almost naked, for
+the climate is warm and dry. Sometimes a year passes without a drop of
+rain. Still farther to the north the Chemehuevas lived, partly along the
+river and partly in the mountains to the west, where a few springs are
+found. They belong to the great Shoshonian family. On the Rio Virgen and
+in the mountains round about, a confederacy of tribes speaking the Ute
+language and belonging to the Shoshonian family have their homes.
+These people built their sheltering homes of boughs and the bast of
+the juniper. In such shelters, they lived in winter, but in summer they
+erected extensive booths of poles and willows, sometimes large enough
+for the accommodation of a tribe of 100 or 200 persons. A wide gap
+in culture separates the Pimas, Maricopas, and Papagos from the
+Chemehuevas. The first were among the most advanced tribes found in
+the United States; the last were among the very lowest; they are the
+original "Digger" Indians, called so by all the other tribes, but the
+name has gradually spread beyond its original denotation to many tribes
+of Utah, Nevada, and California.
+
+The low desert, with its desolate mountains, which has thus been
+described is plainly separated from the upper region of plateau by the
+Mogollon Escarpment, which, beginning in the Sierra Madre of New Mexico,
+extends northwestward across the Colorado far into Utah, where it ends
+on the margin of the Great Basin. The rise by this escarpment varies
+from 3,000 to more than 4,000 feet. The step from the lowlands to the
+highlands which is here called the Mogollon Escarpment is not a simple
+line of cliffs, but is a complicated and irregular facade presented
+to the southwest. Its different portions have been named by the people
+living below as distinct mountains, as Shiwits Mountains, Mogollon
+
+28
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+Mountains, Piñal Mountains, Sierra Calitro, etc., but they all rise to
+the summit of the same great plateau region.
+
+The upper region, extending to the headwaters of the Grand and Green
+Rivers, constitutes the great Plateau Province. These plateaus are
+drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries; the eastern and
+powell-canyons-9.jpg
+
+OUR MESSENGER.
+
+southern margin by the Rio Grande and its tributaries, and the western
+by streams that flow into the Great Basin and are lost in the Great Salt
+Lake and other bodies of water that have no drainage to the sea. The
+general surface of this upper region is from 5,000 to 8,000 feet above
+sea level, though the channels of the streams are cut much lower.
+
+THE VALLEY OF THE COLORADO. 29
+
+This high region, on the east, north, and west, is set with ranges of
+snow-clad mountains attaining an altitude above the sea varying from
+8,000 to 14,000 feet. All winter long snow falls on its mountain-crested
+rim, filling the gorges, half burying the forests, and covering the
+crags and peaks with a mantle woven by the winds from the waves of the
+sea. When the summer sun comes this snow melts and tumbles down the
+mountain sides in millions of cascades. A million cascade brooks unite
+to form a thousand torrent creeks; a thousand torrent creeks unite to
+form half a hundred rivers beset with cataracts; half a hundred roaring
+rivers unite to form the Colorado, which rolls, a mad, turbid stream,
+into the Gulf of California.
+
+Consider the action of one of these streams. Its source is in the
+mountains, where the snows fall; its course, through the arid plains.
+Now, if at the river's flood storms were falling on the plains, its
+channel would be cut but little faster than the adjacent country would
+be washed, and the general level would thus be preserved; but under the
+conditions here mentioned, the river. continually deepens its beds;
+so all the streams cut deeper and still deeper, until their banks are
+towering cliffs of solid rock. These deep, narrow gorges are called
+canyons.
+
+For more than a thousand miles along its course the Colorado has cut for
+itself such a canyon; but at some few points where lateral streams join
+it the canyon is broken, and these narrow, transverse valleys divide it
+into a series of canyons.
+
+The Virgen, Kanab, Paria, Escalante, Fremont, San Rafael, Price, and
+Uinta on the west, the Grand, White, Yampa, San Juan, and Colorado
+Chiquito on the east, have also cut for themselves such narrow winding
+gorges, or deep canyons. Every river entering these has cut another
+canyon; every lateral creek has cut a canyon; every brook runs in a
+canyon; every rill born of a shower and born again of a shower and
+living only during these showers has cut for itself a canyon; so that
+powell-canyons-10.jpg
+
+APACHE BASKET
+
+30
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the whole upper portion of the basin of the Colorado is traversed by a
+labyrinth of these deep gorges.
+
+Owing to a great variety of geological conditions, these canyons differ
+much in general aspect. The Rio Virgen, between Long Valley and the
+Mormon town of Rockville, runs through Parunuweap Can-
+
+31 powell-canyons-11.jpg
+
+OUR MESSENGER'S WIFE.
+
+yon, which is often not more than 20 or 30 feet in width and is from 600
+to 1,500 feet deep. Away to the north the Yampa empties into the Green
+by a canyon that I essayed to cross in the fall of 1868, but was baffled
+from day to day, and the fourth day had nearly passed before I could
+find my way down to the river. But thirty miles above its mouth this
+canyon ends, and a narrow valley with a flood plain
+
+31 powell-canyons-12.jpg
+
+RUINS OF TOYALONE.
+
+32 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+is found. Still farther up the stream the river comes down through
+another canyon, and beyond that a narrow valley is found, and its upper
+course is now through a canyon and now through a valley. All these
+canyons are alike changeable in their topographic characteristics.
+
+The longest canyon through which the Colorado runs is that between the
+mouth of the Colorado Chiquito and the Grand Wash, a distance of 217 1/2
+miles. But this is separated from another above, 65 1/2 miles in length,
+only by the narrow canyon valley of the Colorado Chiquito.
+
+All the scenic features of this canyon land are on a giant scale,
+strange and weird. The streams run at depths almost inaccessible,
+lashing the rocks which beset their channels, rolling in rapids and
+plunging in falls, and making a wild music which but adds to the gloom
+of the solitude. The little valleys nestling along the streams are
+diversified by bordering willows, clumps of box elder, and small groves
+of cottonwood.
+
+Low mesas, dry, treeless, stretch back from the brink of the canyon,
+often showing smooth surfaces of naked, solid rock. In some places the
+country rock is composed of marls, and here the surface is a bed of
+loose, disintegrated material through which one walks as in a bed of
+ashes. Often these marls are richly colored and variegated. In other
+places the country rock is a loose sandstone, the disintegration of
+which has left broad stretches of drifting sand, white, golden, and
+vermilion. Where this sandstone is a conglomerate, a paving of pebbles
+has been left,--a mosaic of many colors, polished by the drifting sands
+and glistening in the sunlight.
+
+After the canyons, the most remarkable features of the country are the
+long lines of cliffs. These are bold escarpments scores or hundreds of
+miles in length,--great geographic steps, often hundreds or thousands of
+feet in altitude, presenting steep faces of rock, often vertical. Having
+climbed one of these steps, you may descend by a gentle, sometimes
+imperceptible, slope to the foot of another. They thus present a series
+of terraces, the steps of which are well-defined escarpments of
+rock. The lateral extension of such a line of cliffs is usually very
+irregular; sharp salients are projected on the plains below, and deep
+recesses are cut into the terraces above. Intermittent streams coming
+
+33 powell-canyons-13.jpg
+
+A ZUÑI COURT.
+
+34 powell-canyons-14.jpg
+
+ADOBE CHURCH--ZUÑI.
+
+THE VALLEY OF THE COLORADO. 35
+
+down the cliffs have cut many canyons or canyon valleys, by which the
+traveler may pass from the plain below to the terrace above. By these
+gigantic stairways he may ascend to high plateaus, covered with forests
+of pine and fir.
+
+The region is further diversified by short ranges of eruptive mountains.
+A vast system of fissures--huge cracks in the rocks to the depths
+below--extends across the country. From these crevices floods of lava
+have poured, covering mesas and table-lands with sheets of black basalt.
+The expiring energies of these volcanic agencies have piled up huge
+cinder cones that stand along the fissures, red, brown, and black, naked
+of vegetation, and conspicuous landmarks, set as they are in contrast to
+the bright, variegated rocks of sedimentary origin.
+
+36 These canyon gorges, obstructing cliffs, and desert wastes have
+prevented the traveler from penetrating the country, so that until the
+Colorado River Exploring Expedition was organized it was almost unknown.
+In the early history of the country Spanish adventurers penetrated the
+region and told marvelous stories of its wonders. It was also traversed
+by priests who sought to convert the Indian tribes to Christianity. In
+later days, since the region has been under the control of the United
+States, various government expeditions have penetrated the land. Yet
+enough had been seen in the earlier days to foment rumor, and many
+wonderful stories were told in the hunter's cabin and the prospector's
+camp--stories of parties entering the gorge in boats and being carried
+down with fearful velocity into whirlpools where all were overwhelmed in
+the abyss of waters, and stories of underground passages for the
+great river into which boats had passed never to be seen again. It was
+currently believed that the river was lost under the rocks for several
+hundred miles. There were other accounts of great falls whose roaring
+music could be heard on the distant mountain summits; and there were
+stories current of parties wandering on the brink of the canyon and
+vainly endeavoring to reach the waters below, and perishing with thirst
+at last in sight of the river which was roaring its mockery into their
+dying ears.
+
+The Indians, too, have woven the mysteries of the canyons into the myths
+of their religion. Long ago there was a great and wise chief who mourned
+the death of his wife and would not be comforted,
+
+36 powell-canyons-15.jpg
+
+THE SITE OF MOENKOPI.
+
+THE VALLEY OF THE COLORADO.
+
+37
+
+until Tavwoats, one of the Indian gods, came to him and told him his
+wife was in a happier land, and offered to take him there that he might
+see for himself, if, upon his return, he would cease to mourn. The great
+chief promised. Then Tavwoats made a trail through the mountains that
+intervene between that beautiful land, the balmy region of the great
+west, and this, the desert home of the poor Numa. This trail was the
+canyon gorge of the Colorado. Through it he led him; and when they had
+returned the deity exacted from the chief a promise that he would tell
+no one of the trail. Then he rolled a river into the gorge, a mad,
+raging stream, that should engulf any that might attempt to enter
+thereby.
+
+38 powell-canyons-16.jpg
+
+MOUNTAIN OF THE HOLY CROSS.
+
+39
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+FROM the Grand Canyon of the Colorado a great plateau extends
+southeastward through Arizona nearly to the line of New Mexico, where
+this elevated land merges into the Sierra Madre. The general surface of
+this plateau is from 6,000 to 8,000 feet above the level of the sea.
+It is sharply defined from the lowlands of Arizona by the Mogollon
+Escarpment. On the northeast it gradually falls off into the valley
+of the Little Colorado, and on the north it terminates abruptly in the
+Grand Canyon.
+
+Various tributaries of the Gila have their sources in this escarpment,
+and before entering the desolate valley below they run in beautiful
+canyons which they have carved for themselves in the margin of the
+plateau. Sometimes these canyons are in the sandstones and limestones
+which constitute the platform of the great elevated region called the
+San Francisco Plateau. The escarpment is caused by a fault, the great
+block of the upper side being lifted several thousand feet above the
+valley region. Through the fissure lavas poured out, and in many places
+the escarpment is concealed by sheets of lava. The canyons in these lava
+beds are often of great interest.
+
+On the plateau a number of volcanic mountains are found, and black
+cinder cones are scattered in profusion. Through the forest lands are
+many beautiful prairies and glades that in midsummer are decked with
+gorgeous wild flowers. The rains of the region give source to few
+perennial streams, but intermittent streams have carved deep gorges in
+the plateau, so that it is divided into many blocks. The upper surface,
+although forest-clad and covered with beautiful grasses, is almost
+destitute of water. A few springs are found, but they are far apart, and
+some of the volcanic craters hold lakelets. The limestone and basaltic
+rocks sometimes hold pools of water; and where the basins
+
+40 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+are deep the waters are perennial. Such pools are known as "water
+pockets."
+
+This is the great timber region of Arizona. Not many years ago it was a
+vast park for elk, deer, and antelope, and bears and mountain lions
+were abundant. This is the last home of the wild turkey in the
+powell-canyons-17.jpg
+
+WINGATE CLIFF.
+
+United States, for they are still found here in great numbers. San
+Francisco Peak is the highest of these volcanic mountains, and about
+it are grouped in an irregular way many volcanic cones, one of which
+presents some remarkable characteristics. A portion of the cone is of
+bright reddish cinders, while the adjacent rocks are of black basalt.
+The contrast in the colors is so great that on viewing the mountain from
+a distance the red cinders seem to be on fire. From this circumstance
+the cone has been named Sunset Peak. When distant from it ten or twenty
+miles it is hard to believe that the effect is produced by contrasting
+colors, for the peak seems to glow with a light of its own.
+
+In centuries past the San Francisco Plateau was the home of
+pueblo-building tribes, and the ruins of their habitations are widely
+scattered over this elevated region. Thousands of little dwellings
+are found, usually built of blocks of basalt. In some cases they were
+clustered in little towns, and three of these deserve further mention.
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+41
+
+A few miles south of San Francisco Peak there is an intermittent stream
+known as Walnut Creek. This stream runs in a deep gorge 600 to 800
+feet below the general surface. The stream has cut its way through the
+limestone and through series of sandstones, and bold walls of rock are
+presented on either side. In some places the softer sandstones lying
+between the harder limestones and sandstones have yielded to weathering
+agencies, so that there are caves running along the face of the wall,
+sometimes for hundreds or thousands of feet, but not very deep. These
+natural shelves in the rock were utilized by an ancient tribe of Indians
+for their homes. They built stairways to the waters below and to the
+hunting grounds above, and lived in the caves. They walled the fronts of
+the caves with rock, which they covered with plaster, and divided them
+into compartments or rooms; and now many hundreds of these dwellings are
+found. Such is the cliff village of powell-canyons-18.jpg
+
+PYRAMID BUTTE NEAR FORT WINGATE.
+
+Walnut Canyon. In the ruins of these cliff houses mortars and pestles
+are found in great profusion, and when first discovered many articles of
+pottery were found, and still many potsherds are seen. The people were
+
+42
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+very skillful in the manufacture of stone implements, especially spears,
+knives, and arrows.
+
+East of San Francisco Peak there is another low volcanic cone, composed
+of ashes which have been slightly cemented by the processes of time,
+but which can be worked with great ease. On this cone another tribe of
+Indians made its village, and for the purpose they sunk shafts into the
+easily worked but partially consolidated ashes, and after penetrating
+from the surface three or four feet they enlarged the chambers so as to
+make them ten or twelve feet in diameter. In such a chamber they made
+a little fireplace, its chimney running up on one side of the
+powell-canyons-19.jpg
+
+ZUÑI CLIFFS.
+
+wellhole by which the chamber was entered. Often they excavated smaller
+chambers connected with the larger, so that sometimes two, three, four,
+or even five smaller connecting chambers are grouped about a large
+central room. The arts of these people resembled those of the people who
+dwelt in Walnut Canyon. One thing more is worthy of special notice. On
+the very top of the cone they cleared off a space for a courtyard, or
+assembly square, and about it they erected booths, and
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+43
+
+within the square a space of ground was prepared with a smooth floor, on
+which they performed the ceremonies of their religion and danced to the
+gods in prayer and praise.
+
+Some twelve or fifteen miles farther east, in another volcanic cone,
+a rough crater is found, surrounded by piles of cinders and angular
+powell-canyons-20.jpg
+
+GREAT NECK NINE MILES SOUTH OF SALAZAR.
+
+fragments of lava. In the walls of this crater many caves are found,
+and here again a village was established, the caves in the scoria being
+utilized as habitations of men. These little caves were fashioned into
+rooms of more symmetry and convenience than originally found, and the
+openings to the caves were walled. Nor did these people neglect the
+gods, for in this crater town, as in the cinder-cone town, a place of
+worship was prepared.
+
+Many other caves opening into the canyon and craters of this plateau
+were utilized in like manner as homes for tribal people, and in one cave
+far to the south a fine collection of several hundred pieces of pottery
+has been made.
+
+44
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+On the northeast of the San Francisco Plateau is the valley of the
+Little Colorado, a tributary of the Colorado River. This river is formed
+by streams that head chiefly on the San Francisco Plateau, but in
+part on the Zuñi Plateau. The Little Colorado is a marvelous river.
+In seasons of great rains it is a broad but shallow torrent of mud; in
+seasons of drought it dwindles and sometimes entirely disappears along
+portions of its course. The upper tributaries usually run in beautiful
+box canyons. Then the river flows through a low, desolate, bad-land
+valley, and the river of mud is broad but shallow, except in seasons of
+great floods. But fifty miles or more above the junction of this
+stream with the Colorado River proper, it plunges into a canyon
+powell-canyons-21.jpg
+
+CINDER CONE AND NECK NORTHEAST OF GRANT STATION.
+
+with limestone walls, and steadily this canyon increases in depth, until
+at the mouth of the stream it has walls more than 4,000 feet in height.
+The contrast between this canyon portion and the upper
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+45
+
+valley portion is very great. Above, the river ripples in a broad sheet
+of mud; below, it plunges with violence over great cataracts and
+rapids. Above, the bad lands stretch on either hand. This is
+powell-canyons-22.jpg
+
+TWO LARGE NECKS, THE MORE DISTANT ONE BEING THE CABAZON. MESAS IN THE
+FOREGROUND.
+
+the region of the Painted Desert, for the marls and soft rocks of which
+the hills are composed are of many colors--chocolate, red, vermilion,
+pink, buff, and gray; and the naked hills are carved in fantastic
+forms. Passing to the region below, suddenly the channel is narrowed and
+tumbles down into a deep, solemn gorge with towering limestone cliffs.
+
+All round the margin of the valley of the Little Colorado, on the side
+next to the Zuñi Plateau and on the side next to the San Francisco
+Plateau, every creek and every brook runs in a beautiful canyon. Then
+down in the valley there are stretches of desert covered with sage and
+grease wood. Still farther down we come to the bad lands of the Painted
+Desert; and scattered through the entire region low mesas or smaller
+plateaus are everywhere found.
+
+On the northeast side of the Little Colorado a great mesa country
+stretches far to the northward. These mesas are but minor plateaus that
+are separated by canyons and canyon valleys, and sometimes by
+
+46
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+low sage plains. They rise from a few hundred to 2,000 or 3,000 feet
+above the lowlands on which they are founded. The distinction between
+plateaus and mesas is vague; in fact, in local usage the term mesa is
+usually applied to all of these tables which do not carry volcanic moun-
+powell-canyons-23.jpg
+
+NECK SIX MILES NORTHEAST OF JUANTAFOYA.
+
+tains. The mesas are carved out of platforms of horizontal or nearly
+horizontal rocks by perennial or intermittent streams, and as the
+climate is exceedingly arid most of the streams flow only during seasons
+of rain, and for the greater part of the year they are dry arroyos. Many
+of the longer channels are dry for long periods. Some of them are opened
+only by floods that come ten or twenty years apart.
+
+The region is also characterized by many buttes. These are plateaus or
+mesas of still smaller dimensions in horizontal distance, though their
+altitude may be hundreds or thousands of feet. Like the mesas and
+plateaus, they sometimes form very conspicuous features of a landscape
+and are of marvelous beauty by reason of their sculptured escarpments.
+Below they are often buttressed on a magnificent scale. Softer beds give
+rise to a vertical structure of buttresses and columns, while the harder
+strata appear in great horizontal lines, suggesting
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+47
+
+architectural entablature. Then the strata of which these buttes are
+composed are of many vivid colors; so color and form unite in producing
+architectural effects, and the buttes often appear like Cyclopean
+temples.
+
+There is yet one other peculiarity of this landscape deserving mention
+here. Before the present valleys and canyons were carved and the mesas
+lifted in relief, the region was one of great volcanic activity. In
+various places vents were formed and floods of lava poured in sheets
+over the land. Then for a time volcanic action ceased, and rains and
+rivers carved out the valleys and left the mesas and mountains standing.
+These same agencies carried away the lava beds that spread over the
+lands. But wherever there was a lava vent it was filled with molten
+matter, which on cooling was harder than the sandstones and marls
+through which it penetrated. The chimney to the region of fire below was
+thus filled with a black rock which yielded more
+
+48 powell-canyons-24.jpg
+
+A GROUP OF NECKS NEAR MOUNT TAYLOR.
+
+slowly to the disintegrating agencies of weather, and so black rocks
+rise up from mesas on every hand. These are known as volcanic necks,
+and, being of a somber color, in great contrast with the vividly colored
+rocks from which they rise and by which they are surrounded, they
+
+48 powell-canyons-25.jpg
+
+PANORAMA FROM THE EDGE OF MOUNT TAYLOR MESA.
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES. 49
+
+lend a strange aspect to the landscape. Besides these necks, there are
+a few volcanic mountains that tower over all the landscape and gather
+about themselves the clouds of heaven. Mount Taylor, which stands over
+the divide on the drainage of the Rio Grande del Norte, is one of
+the most imposing of the dead volcanoes of this region. Still later
+eruptions of lava are found here and there, and in the present valleys
+and canyons sheets of black basalt are often found. These are known as
+coulees, and sometimes from these coulees cinder cones arise.
+
+This valley of the Little Colorado is also the site of many ruins, and
+the villages or towns found in such profusion were of mueh larger size
+than those on the San Francisco Plateau. Some of the pueblo-building
+peoples yet remain. The Zuñi Indians still occupy their homes, and they
+prove to be a most interesting people. They have cultivated the soil
+from time immemorial. They build their houses of stone and line them
+with plaster; and they have many interesting arts, being skilled potters
+and deft weavers. The seasons are about equally divided between labor,
+worship, and play.
+
+50
+
+A hundred miles to the northwest of the Zuñí pueblo are the seven
+pueblos of Tusayan: Oraibi, Shumopavi, Shupaulovi, Mashongnavi,
+Sichumovi, Walpi, and llano. These towns are built on high cliffs. The
+people speak a language radically different from that of the Zuñi, but,
+with the exception of that of the inhabitants of Hano, closely allied to
+that of the Utes. The people of Hano are Tewans, whose ancestors moved
+from the Rio Grande to Tusayan during the great Pueblo revolt against
+Spanish authority in 1680-96.
+
+Between the Little Colorado and the Rio San Juan there is a vast system
+of plateaus, mesas, and buttes, volcanic mountains, volcanic cones, and
+volcanic cinder cones. Some of the plateaus are forest-clad and have
+perennial waters and are gemmed with lakelets. The mesas are sometimes
+treeless, but are often covered with low, straggling, gnarled cedars and
+pifions, trees that are intermediate in size between the bushes of
+sage in the desert and the forest trees of the elevated regions. On the
+western margin of this district the great Navajo Mountain stands, on the
+brink of Glen Canyon, and from its summit many of the stupendous gorges
+of the Colorado River can be seen. Central in the region stand the
+Carrizo Mountains, the Lukachukai
+
+50 powell-canyons-26.jpg
+
+PANORAMA IN THE VALLEY OF THE PUERCO.
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES. 51
+
+Mountains, the Tunitcha Mountains, and the Chusca Mountains, which in
+fact constitute one system, extending from north to south in the order
+named. These are really plateaus crowned with volcanic peaks.
+
+But the district we are now describing, which stretches from the Little
+Colorado to the San Juan, is best characterized by its canyons. The
+whole region is a labyrinth of gorges. On the west the Navajo Creek and
+its tributaries run in profound chasms. Farther south the Moencopie with
+its tributaries is a labyrinth of gorges; and all the streams that run
+west into the Colorado, south into the Little Colorado, or north into
+the San Juan have carved deep, wild, and romantic gorges. Immediately
+west of the Chusca Plateau the Canyon del Muerta and the Canyon de
+Chelly are especially noticeable. Many of these canyons are carved in
+a homogeneous red sandstone, and their walls are often vertical for
+hundreds of feet. Sometimes the canyons widen into narrow valleys, which
+are thus walled by impassable cliffs, except where lateral canyons cut
+their way through the battlements.
+
+In these mountains, plateaus, mesas, and canyons the Navajo Indians have
+their home. The Navajos are intruders in this country. They belong
+to the Athapascan stock of British America and speak an Athapascan
+language, like the Apaches of the Sierra Madre country. They are a
+stately, athletic, and bold people. While yet this country was a part
+of Mexico they acquired great herds of horses and flocks of sheep,
+and lived in opulence compared with many of the other tribes of North
+America. After the acquisition of this territory by the United States
+they became disaffected by reason of encroaching civilization, and the
+petty wars between United States troops and the Navajos were in the
+main disastrous to our forces, due in part to the courage, skill, and
+superior numbers of the Navajos and in part to the character of the
+country, which is easily defended, as the routes of travel along the
+canyons present excellent opportunities for defense and ambuscade. But
+under the leadership and by the advice of Kit Carson these Indians were
+ultimately conquered. This wily but brave frontiersman recommended a
+new method of warfare, which was to destroy the herds and flocks of the
+Navajos; and this course was pursued. Regular troops with volunteers
+from California and New Mexico went into the Navajo country and shot
+down their herds of half-wild horses,
+
+52
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+killed hundreds of thousands of sheep, cut down their peach orchards
+which were scattered about the springs and little streams, destroyed
+their irrigating works, and devastated their little patches of corn,
+squashes, and melons; and entirely neglected the Navajos themselves, who
+were concealed among the rocks of the canyons. Seeing the destruction
+wrought upon their means of livelihood, the Navajos at once yielded.
+More than 8,000 of them surrendered at one time, coming in in straggling
+bands. They were then removed far to the east, near to the Texas line,
+and established on a reservation at the Bosque Redondo. Here they
+engaged in civilized farming. A great system powell-canyons-27.jpg
+
+RUINS AT THE HEAD OF MCELMO CANYON.
+
+of irrigation was developed; but the appropriations necessary for the
+maintenance of so large a body of people in the course of their passage
+from savagery to civilization seemed too great to those responsible
+for making grants from the national treasury, and just before 1870 the
+Navajos were permitted to break up their homes at the Bosque Redondo and
+return to the canyons and cliffs of their ancient land. Millions were
+spent in conquering them where thousands were used to civilize them, so
+that they were conquered but not civilized. Still, they are making good
+progress, and have once more acquired large flocks and herds. It is
+estimated that they now have more than a million sheep. Their experience
+in irrigation at the Bosque Redondo has
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+53
+
+not been wholly wasted, for they now cultivate the soil by methods
+of irrigation greatly improved over those used in the earlier time.
+Originally they dwelt in hogans, or houses made of poles arranged with
+much skill in conical form, the poles being covered with reeds and the
+reeds with earth; now they are copying the dwelling places of civilized
+men. They have also acquired great skill in the manufacture of silver
+ornaments, with which they decorate themselves and the trappings of
+their steeds.
+
+Perhaps the most interesting ruins of America are found in this
+region. The ancient pueblos found here are of superior structure, but
+powell-canyons-28.jpg
+
+A NAVAJO HOGAN.
+
+they were all built by a people whom the Navajos displaced when they
+migrated from the far North. Wherever there is water, near by an ancient
+ruin may be found; and these ruins are gathered about centers, the
+centers being larger pueblos and the scattered ruins representing single
+houses. The ancient people lived in villages, or pueblos, but during
+the growing season they scattered about by the springs and streams to
+cultivate the soil by irrigation, and wherever there was a little farm
+or garden patch, there was built a summer house of stone. When times
+of war came, especially when they were invaded by the Navajos, these
+ancient people left their homes in the pueblos and by the streams and
+constructed temporary homes in the cliffs and canyon
+
+54
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+walls. Such cliff ruins are abundant throughout the region, intimately
+the ancient pueblo peoples succumbed to the prowess of the Navajos and
+were driven out. A part joined related tribes in the valley of the Bio
+Grande; others joined the Zuñi and the people of Tusayan; and stall
+others pushed on beyond the Little Colorado to the San Francisco Plateau
+and far down into the valley of the Gila. powell-canyons-29.jpg
+
+AN ANCIENT COILED VASE FROM TUSAYAN.
+
+Farther to the east, on the border of the region which we have
+described, beyond the drainage of the Little Colorado and San Juan and
+within the drainage of the Rio Grande, there lies an interesting plateau
+region, which forms a part of the Plateau Province and which is worthy
+of description. This is the great Tewan Plateau, which carries several
+groups of mountains. The western edge of this plateau is known as the
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES. 55
+
+Nacimiento Mountain, a long north-and-south range of granite, which
+presents a bold facade to the valley of the Puerco on the west.
+Ascending to the summit of this granite range, there is presented to the
+eastward a plateau of vast proportions, which stretches far toward Santa
+Fe and is terminated by the canyon of the Rio Grande del Norte. The
+eastern flank of this range as it slowly rose was a gentle slope, but as
+it came up fissures were formed and volcanoes burst forth and poured out
+their floods of lava, and now many extinct volcanoes can be seen. The
+plateau was built by these volcanoes--sheets of lava piled on sheets
+of lava hundreds and even thousands of feet in thickness. But with the
+floods of lava came great explosions, like that of Krakatoa, by which
+the heavens were filled with volcanic dust. These explosions came at
+different times and at different places, but they were of enormous
+magnitude, and when the dust fell again from the clouds it piled up in
+beds scores and hundreds of feet in thickness. So the Tewan Plateau has
+a foundation of red sandstone; upon this are piled sheets of lava and
+sheets of dust in many alternating layers. It is estimated that there
+still remain more than two hundred cubic miles of this dust, now
+compacted into somewhat coherent rocks and interpolated between sheets
+of lava. Everywhere this dust-formed rock is exceedingly light. Much of
+it has a specific gravity so low that it will float on water. Above the
+sheets of lava and above the beds of volcanic dust great volcanic cones
+rise, and the whole upper region is covered with forests interspersed
+with beautiful prairies. The plateau itself is intersected with many
+deep, narrow canyons, having walls of lava, volcanic dust, or tufa, and
+red sandstone. It is a beautiful region. The low mesas on every side are
+almost treeless and are everywhere deserts, but the great Tewan Plateau
+is booned with abundant rains, and it is thus a region of forests and
+meadows, divided into blocks by deep, precipitous canyons and crowned
+with cones that rise to an altitude of from 10,000 to 12,000 feet.
+
+For many centuries the Tewan Plateau, with its canyons below and its
+meadows and forests above, has been the home of tribes of Tewan Indians,
+who built pueblos, sometimes of the red sandstones in the canyons, but
+oftener of blocks of tufa, or volcanic dust. This light material can be
+worked with great ease, and with crude tools of the
+
+56
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+harder lavas they cut out blocks of the tufa and with them built pueblos
+two or three stories high. The blocks are usually about twenty inches in
+length, eight inches in width, and six inches in thickness, though they
+vary somewhat in size. On the volcanic cones which dominate the country
+these people built shrines and worshiped their gods with offerings of
+meal and water and with prayer symbols made of the plumage of the birds
+of the air. When the Navajo invasion came, by which kindred tribes were
+displaced from the district farther west, these Tewan Indians left their
+pueblos on the plateau and their dwellings by the rivers below in the
+depths of the canyon and constructed cavate homes for themselves;
+that is, they excavated chambers in the cliffs where these cliffs were
+composed of soft, friable tufa. On the face of the cliff, hundreds of
+feet high and thousands of feet or even miles in length, they dug out
+chambers with stone tools, these chambers being little rooms eight or
+ten feet in diameter. Sometimes two or more such chambers connected.
+Then they constructed stairways in the soft rock, by which their cavate
+houses were reached; and in these rock shelters they lived during times
+powell-canyons-30.jpg
+
+A TYPICAL CLIFF DWELLING.
+
+57 powell-canyons-31.jpg
+
+A ROOM IN A PUEBLO.
+
+58
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+of war. When the Navajo invasion was long past, civilized men as Spanish
+adventurers entered this country from Mexico, and again the Tewan
+peoples left their homes on the mesas and by the canyons to find safety
+in the cavate dwellings of the cliffs; and now the archaeologist in the
+study of this country discovers these two periods of construction and
+occupation of the cavate dwellings of the Tewan Indians.
+
+North of the Rio San Juan another vast plateau region is found,
+stretching to the Grand River. The mountains of this region are the La
+Plata Mountains, Bear River Mountains, and San Miguel Mountains on the
+east, and the Sierra El Late, the Sierra Abajo, and the Sierra La Sal on
+the west, the latter standing near the brink of Cataract Canyon, through
+which the Colorado flows immediately below the junction of the Grand and
+Green. Throughout the region mountains, volcanic cones, volcanic necks,
+and coulees are found, while the mountains themselves rise to great
+altitudes and are forest-clad. Some of the plateaus attain huge
+proportions, and between the plateaus labyrinthian mesas are found.
+Buttes, as stupendous cameos, are scattered everywhere, and the whole
+region is carved with canyons.
+
+Grand River heads on the back of Long's Peak, in the Front Range of the
+Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. At the foot of the mountain lies
+Grand Lake, a sheet of emerald water that duplicates the forest
+standing on its brink. Out of the lake flows Grand River, gathering on
+powell-canyons-32.jpg
+
+A NAVAJO READY FOR A JOURNEY.
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+59
+
+its way the many mountain streams whose waters fill the solitude with
+perennial music--a symphony of cascades. In Middle Park boiling springs
+issue from depths below and gather in pools covered with con-fervae.
+Leaving Middle Park the river goes through a great range known as the
+Gore's Pass Mountains; and still it flows on toward the Colorado, now
+through canyon and now through valley, until the last forty miles of its
+course it finds its way through a beautiful gorge known as Grand River
+Canyon. In its principal course this canyon is a bright red homogeneous
+sandstone, and the walls are often vertical and of great symmetry.
+Farther down, its walls are rugged and angular, being composed of
+limestones.
+
+The principal tributaries from the south are the Blue, which heads in
+Mt. Lincoln, and the Gunnison, which heads in the Wasatch Mountains.
+These streams are also characterized by deep canyons and plateaus, and
+mesas abound on every hand. Between the Grand River and the White River,
+farther to the east, the Tavaputs Plateau is found. It begins at the
+foot of Gore's Pass Range and extends down between the rivers last
+mentioned to the very brink of Green River, which is in fact the upper
+Colorado. Between the Grand River and the powell-canyons-33.jpg
+
+A NAVAJO BOY.
+
+60
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+foot of this plateau there is a low, narrow valley with mesas and
+buttes. Then the country suddenly rises by a stupendous line of cliffs
+2,000 or 3,000 feet high. These cliffs are composed of sand stones,
+limestones, and shales, of many colors. The stratification in many
+places is minute, so that they have been called the Book Cliffs.
+powell-canyons-34.jpg
+
+GARDENS OF ZUÑI.
+
+From the cliffs many salients are projected into the valleys, and within
+deep re-entering angles vast amphitheaters appear. About the projected
+salients many towering buttes, with pinnacles and minarets, are found.
+The long, narrow plateau is covered with a forest along its summit, and,
+though it rises abruptly on the south side from Grand River Valley, it
+descends more gently toward the White River, and on
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+61 powell-canyons-35.jpg
+
+A TUSAYAN LADDER.
+
+this slope many canyons of rare beauty are seen. Plateaus and mesas
+and canyons and buttes characterize the region north of White River and
+stretch out to the Yampa. The Yampa itself has an important tributary
+from the northwest, known as Snake River. Just below the affluence of
+the Snake with the Yampa a strange phenomenon is observed. Right athwart
+the course of the river rises a great dome-shaped mountain, with valley
+stretches on every side, and through this mountain the river runs,
+dividing it by a beautiful canyon, through which it flows to its
+junction with the Green. This canyon is in soft, white sandstone,
+usually with vertical walls varying from 500 to 2,000 feet in height,
+and the river flows in a gentle winding way through all this stretch.
+To the east of this plateau region, with its mesas and buttes and
+its volcanic mountains, stand the southern Rocky Mountains, or Park
+Mountains, a system of north-and-south ranges. These ranges are huge
+billows in the crust of the earth out of which mountains have been
+carved. The parks of Colorado are great valley basins enclosed by these
+ranges, and over their surfaces moss agates are scattered. The mountains
+are covered with dense forests and are rugged and wild. The higher peaks
+rise above the timber line and are naked gorges of rocks. In them the
+Platte and Arkansas rivers head and flow eastward to join the Missouri
+River. Here also heads the Rio Grande del Norte, which flows southward
+into the Gulf of Mexico, and still to the west head many streams which
+pour into the Colorado waters destined for the Gulf of California.
+Throughout all of this region drained by the Grand, White, and
+Yampa rivers, there are many beautiful parks. The great moun-
+powell-canyons-36.jpg
+
+A ZUÑÍ STOOL.
+
+62
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+tain slopes are still covered with primeval forests. Springs, brooks,
+rivers, and lakes abound, and the waters are filled with trout. Not many
+years ago the hills were covered with game--elk on the mountains, deer
+on the plateaus, antelope in the valleys, and beavers building their
+cities on the streams. The plateaus are covered with low, dwarf oaks
+and many shrubs bearing berries, and in the chaparral of this region
+cinnamon bears are still abundant.
+
+From time immemorial the region drained by the Grand, White, and
+Yampa rivers has been the home of Ute tribes of the Shoshonean
+powell-canyons-37.jpg
+
+A TUSAYAN FIELD SHELTER.
+
+family of Indians. These people built their shelters of boughs and bark,
+and to some extent lived in tents made of the skins of animals. They
+never cultivated the soil, but gathered wild seeds and roots and were
+famous hunters and fishermen. As the region abounds in game, these
+tribes have always been well clad in skins and furs. The men wore
+blouse, loincloth leggins, and moccasins, and the women dressed in
+short kilts. It is curious to notice the effect which the contact of
+civilization has had upon these women's dress. Even twenty years ago
+they had lengthened their skirts; and dresses, made of buckskin, fringed
+with furs, and beaded with elk teeth, were worn so long that they
+trailed
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES.
+
+63
+
+on the ground. Neither men nor women wore any headdress except on
+festival occasions for decoration; then the women wore little basket
+bonnets decorated with feathers, and the men wore headdresses made of
+the skins of ducks, geese, eagles, and other large birds. Sometimes they
+would prepare the skin of the head of the elk or deer, or of a bear or
+mountain lion or wolf, for a headdress. For very cold weather both men
+and women were provided with togas for their protection. Sometimes
+the men would have a bearskin or elkskin for a toga; more
+powell-canyons-38.jpg
+
+ANOTHER TUSAYAN FIELD SHELTER.
+
+often they made their togas by piecing together the skins of wolves,
+mountain lions, wolverines, wild cats, beavers, and otters. The women
+sometimes made theirs of fawnskins, but rabbitskin r,obes were far more
+common. These rabbitskins were tanned with the fur on, and cut into
+strips; then cords were made of the fiber of wild flax or yucca plants,
+and round these cords the strips of rabbitskin were rolled, so that
+they made long ropes of rabbitskin coils with a central cord of vegetal
+fiber; then these coils were woven in parallel strings with cross
+
+64 powell-canyons-39.jpg
+
+VIEW OF HANO, ONE OF THE SEVEN PUEBLOS OF TUSAYAN. powell-canyons-40.jpg
+
+MESA VERDE.
+
+MESAS AND BUTTES. 65
+
+strands of fiber. The robe when finished was usually about five or six
+feet square, and it made a good toga for a cold day and a warm blanket
+for the night.
+
+The Ute Indians, like all the Indians of North America, have a wealth of
+mythic stories. The heroes of these stories are the beasts, birds, and
+reptiles of the region, and the themes of the stories are the doings
+of these mythic beasts--the ancients from whom the present animals have
+descended and degenerated. The primeval animals were wonderful
+beings, as related in the lore of the Utes. They were the creators and
+controllers of all the phenomena of nature known to these simple-minded
+people. The Utes are zootheists. Each little tribe has its Shaman, or
+medicine man, who is historian, priest, and doctor. The lore of this
+Shaman is composed of mythic tales of ancient animals. The Indians
+are very skillful actors, and they represent the parts of beasts or
+reptiles, wearing masks and imitating the ancient zoic gods. In temples
+walled with gloom of night and illumed by torch fires the people gather
+about their Shaman, who tells and acts the stories of creation recorded
+in their traditional bible. When fever prostrates one of the tribe
+the Shaman gathers the actors about the stricken man, and with weird
+dancing, wild ululation, and ecstatic exhortation the evil spirit is
+driven from the body. Then they have their ceremonies to pray for
+the forest fruits, for abundant game, for successful hunting, and for
+prosperity in war.
+
+66 powell-canyons-41.jpg
+
+MOUNT MORAN, TETON RANGE, WYOMING.
+
+67
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS.
+
+GREEN RIVER has its source in Fremont's Peak, high up in the Wind River
+Mountains among glacial lakes and mountain cascades. This is the real
+source of the Colorado River, and it stands in strange contrast with
+the mouth of that stream where it pours into the Gulf of California.
+The general course of the river is from north to south and from great
+altitudes to the level of the sea. Thus it runs "from land of snow
+to land of sun." The Wind River Mountains constitute one of the most
+imposing ranges of the United States. Fremont's Peak, the culminating
+point, is 13,790 feet above the level of the sea. It stands in a
+wilderness of crags. Here at Fremont's Peak three great rivers have
+their sources: Wind River flows eastward into the Mississippi; Green
+River flows southward into the Colorado; and Gros Ventre River flows
+northwestward into the Columbia. From this dominating height many ranges
+can be seen on every hand. About the sources of the Platte and the Big
+Horn, that flow ultimately into the Gulf of Mexico, great ranges stand
+with their culminating peaks among the clouds; and the mountains that
+extend into Yellowstone Park, the land of geyser wonders, are seen.
+The Yellowstone Park is at the southern extremity of a great system
+of mountain ranges, the northern Rocky Mountains, sometimes called the
+Geyser Ranges. This geological province extends into British America,
+but its most wonderful scenery is in the upper Yellowstone basin, where
+geysers bombard the heavens with vapor distilled in subterranean depths.
+The springs which pour out their boiling waters are loaded with quartz,
+and the waters of the springs, flowing away over the rocks, slowly
+discharge their fluid magma, which crystallizes in beautiful forms and
+builds jeweled basins that hold pellucid waters.
+
+68 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+To the north and west of Fremont's Peak are mountain ranges that give
+birth to rivers flowing into the great Columbia. Conspicuous among these
+from this point of view is the great Teton Range, with its towering
+facade of storm-carved rocks; then the Gros Ventre Mountains, the Snake
+River Range, the Wyoming Range, and, still beyond the latter, the
+Bear River Range, are seen. Far in the distant south, scarcely to be
+distinguished from the blue clouds on the horizon, stand the Uinta
+Mountains. On every hand are deep mountain gorges where snows accumulate
+to form glaciers. Below the glaciers throughout the entire Wind River
+Range great numbers of morainal lakes are found. These lakes are
+gems--deep sapphire waters fringed with emerald zones. From these lakes
+creeks and rivers flow, by cataracts and rapids, to form the Green. The
+mountain slopes below are covered with dense forests of pines and firs.
+The lakes are often fringed with beautiful aspens, and when the autumn
+winds come their golden leaves are carried over the landscape in clouds
+of resplendent sheen. The creeks descend from the mountains in wild
+rocky gorges, until they flow out into the valley. On the west side of
+the valley stand the Gros Ventre and the Wyoming mountains, low ranges
+of peaks, but picturesque in form and forest stretch. Leaving the
+mountain, the river meanders through the Green River Plains, a cold
+elevated district much like that of northern Norway, except that the
+humidity of Norway is replaced by the aridity of Wyoming. South of the
+plains the Big Sandy joins the Green from the east. South of the Big
+Sandy a long zone of sand-dunes stretches eastward. The western winds
+blowing up the valley drift these sands from hill to hill, so that the
+hills themselves are slowly journeying eastward on the wings of arid
+gales, and sand tempests may be encountered more terrible than storms
+of snow or hail. Here the northern boundary of the Plateau Province is
+found, for mesas and high table-lands are found on either side of the
+river.
+
+69
+
+On the east side of the Green, mesas and plateaus have irregular
+escarpments with points extending into the valleys, and between these
+points canyons come down that head in the highlands. Everywhere the
+escarpments are fringed with outlying buttes. Many portions of the
+region are characterized by bad lands. These are hills carved out of
+sandstone, shales, and easily disintegrated rocks, which present many
+
+69 powell-canyons-42.jpg
+
+MARBLE BASINS, MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, YELLOWSTONE PARK.
+
+70 powell-canyons-43.jpg
+
+TERRACED BASINS, MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, YELLOWSTONE PABK.
+
+MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS. 71
+
+fantastic forms and are highly colored in a great variety of tint and
+tone, and everywhere they are naked of vegetation. Now and then low
+mountains crown the plateaus. Altogether it is a region of desolation.
+Through the midst of the country, from east to west, flows an
+intermittent stream known as Bitter Creek. In seasons of rain it carries
+floods; in seasons of drought it disappears in the sands, and its waters
+are alkaline and often poisonous. Stretches of bad-land desert are
+interrupted by other stretches of sage plain, and on the high lands
+gnarled and picturesque forests of juniper and piñón are found. On the
+west side of the river the mesas rise by grassy slopes to the westward
+into high plateaus that are forest-clad, first with juniper and piñon,
+and still higher with pines and firs. Some of the streams run in canyons
+and others have elevated valleys along their courses. On the south
+border of this mesa and plateau country are the Bridger Bad Lands, lying
+at the foot of the Uinta Mountains. These bad lands are of gray, green,
+and brown shales that are carved in picturesque forms--domes, towers,
+pinnacles, and minarets, and bold cliffs with deep alcoves; and all are
+naked rock, the sediments of an ancient lake. These lake beds are filled
+with fossils,--the preserved bones of fishes, reptiles, and mammals, of
+strange and often gigantic forms, no longer found living on the globe.
+It is a desert to the agriculturist, a mine to the paleontologist, and a
+paradise to the artist.
+
+The region thus described, from Fremont's Peak to the Uinta Mountains,
+has been the home of tribes of Indians of the Shoshonean family from
+time immemorial. It is a great hunting and fishing region, and the
+vigorous Shoshones still obtain a part of their livelihood from mesa and
+plain and river and lake. The flesh of the animals killed in fall and
+winter was dried in the arid winds for summer use; the trout abounding
+in the streams and lakes were caught at all seasons of the year; and the
+seeds and fruits of harvest time were gathered and preserved for winter
+use. When the seeds were gathered they were winnowed by tossing them
+in trays so that the winds might carry away the chaff. Then they were
+roasted in the same trays. Burning coals and seeds were mixed in the
+basket trays and kept in motion by a tossing process which fanned the
+coals until the seeds were done; then they were separated from the coals
+by dexterous manipulation. Afterwards the seeds were ground on
+
+72 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+mealing-stones and molded into cakes, often huge loaves, that were
+stored away for use in time of need. Raspberries, chokecherries, and
+buffalo berries are abundant, and these fruits were gathered and mixed
+with the bread. Such fruit cakes were great dainties among these people.
+
+In this Shoshone land the long winter night is dedicated to worship and
+festival. About their camp fires scattered in forest glades by
+brooks and lakes, they assemble to dance and sing in honor of their
+gods--wonderful mythic animals, for they hold as divine the ancient
+of bears, the eagle of the lost centuries, the rattlesnake of primeval
+times, and a host of other zoic deities.
+
+The Uinta Range stands across the course of Green River, which finds
+its way through it by series of stupendous canyons. The range has an
+east-and-west trend. The Wasatch Mountains, a long north-and-south
+range, here divide the Plateau Province from what is known among
+geologists as the Basin Range Province, on the west. The latter is the
+great interior basin whose waters run into salt lakes and sinks, there
+being no drainage to the sea. The Great Salt Lake is the most important
+of these interior bodies of water.
+
+The Great Basin, which lies to the west of the Plateau Province, forms
+a part of the Basin Range Province. In past geological times it was the
+site of a vast system of lakes, but the climate has since changed and
+the water of most of these lakes has evaporated and the sediments of the
+old lake beds are now desert sands. The ancient lake shores are often
+represented by conspicuous terraces, each one marking a stage in the
+height of a dead lake. While these lakes existed the region was one of
+great volcanic activity and many eruptive mountains were formed. Some
+burst out beneath the waters; others were piled up on the dry land.
+
+From the desert valleys below, the Wasatch Mountains rise abruptly and
+are crowned with craggy peaks. But on the east side of the mountains the
+descent to the plateau is comparatively slight. The Uinta Mountains
+are carved out of the great plateau which extends more than two hundred
+miles to the eastward of the summit of the Wasatch Range. Its mountain
+peaks are cameos, its upper valleys are meadows, its higher slopes
+are forest groves, and its streams run in deep, solemn, and majestic
+canyons. The snows never melt from its crowning heights, and an undying
+anthem is sung by its falling waters.
+
+73 powell-canyons-44.jpg
+
+TABERNACLE CRATER AND LAVA BEDS OF THE BASIN PROVINCE.
+
+74 powell-canyons-45.jpg
+
+VIEW ON GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT, SHOWING MOUNTAINS HALF BURIED BY LAKE
+SEDIMENTS.
+
+MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS. 75
+
+The Owiyukuts Plateau is situated at the northeastern end of the Uinta
+Mountains. It is a great integral block of the Uinta system. A beautiful
+creek heads in this plateau, near its center, and descends northward
+into the bad lands of Vermilion Creek, to which stream it is tributary.
+"Once upon a time" this creek, after descending from the plateau, turned
+east and then southward and found its way by a beautiful canyon into
+Brown's Park, where it joined the Green; but a great bend of the
+Vermilion, near the foot of the plateau, was gradually enlarged--the
+stream cutting away its banks--until it encroached upon the little
+valley of the creek born on the Owiyukuts Plateau. This encroachment
+continued until at last Vermilion Creek stole the Owiyukuts Creek and
+carried its waters away by its own channel. Then the canyon channel
+through which Owiyukuts Creek had previously run, no longer having a
+stream to flow through its deep gorge, gathered the waters of brooks
+flowing along its course into little lakelets, which are connected by a
+running stream only through seasons of great rainfall. These lakelets in
+the gorge of the dead creek are now favorite resorts of Ute Indians.
+
+South of the Uinta Mountains is the Uinta River, a stream with many
+mountain tributaries, some heading in the Uinta Mountains, others in the
+Wasatch Mountains on the west, and still others in the western Tavaputs
+Plateau.
+
+The Uinta Valley is the ancient and present home of the Uinta Indians,
+a tribe speaking the Uinta language of the Shoshonean family. Their
+habits, customs, institutions, and mythology are essentially the same as
+those of the Ute Indians of the Grand River country, already
+described. In this valley there are also found many ruins of ancient
+pueblo-building peoples--of what stock is not known.
+
+The Tavaputs Plateau is one of the stupendous features of this country.
+On the west it merges into the Wasatch Mountains; on the north
+it descends by wooded slopes into the Uinta Valley. Its summit is
+forest-clad and among the forests are many beautiful parks. On the south
+it ends in a great escarpment which descends into Castle Valley. This
+southern escarpment presents one of the most wonderful facades of the
+world. It is from 2,000 to 4,000 feet high. The descent is not made by
+one bold step, for it is cut by canyons and cliffs. It is a zone several
+
+76
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+miles in width which is a vast labyrinth of canyons, cliffs, buttes,
+pinnacles, minarets, and detached rocks of Cyclopean magnitude, the
+whole destitute of soil and vegetation, colored in many brilliant
+tones and tints, and carved in many weird forms,--a land of desolation,
+dedicated forever to the geologist and the artist, where civilization
+can find no resting-place.
+
+Then comes Castle Valley, to describe which is to beggar language and
+pall imagination. On the north is the Tavaputs; on the west is the
+Wasatch Plateau, which lies to the south of the Wasatch Mountains and
+is here the west boundary of the Plateau Province; on the south are
+indescribable mesas and mountains; on the east is Grand River, a placid
+stream meandering through a valley of meadows. Within these boundaries
+there is a landscape of gigantic rock forms, interrupted here and there
+by bad-land hills, dominated with the towering cliffs of Tavaputs, the
+bold escarpment of the Wasatch Plateau, and the volcanic peaks of the
+Henry Mountains on the south. It is a vast forest of rock forms, and
+in its midst is San Rafael Swell, an elevation crowned with still more
+gigantic rock forms. Among the rocks pools and lakelets are found, and
+little streams run in canyons that seem like chasms cleft to nadir
+
+77 powell-canyons-46.jpg
+
+AN INDIAN HUNTER. ... ....
+
+78 powell-canyons-47.jpg
+
+RESERVOIR BUTTE, SHOWING TERRACES OF THE ANCIENT LAKE BONNEVILLE
+SHORELINES.
+
+79 powell-canyons-48.jpg
+
+PAVANT BUTTE, OVER A SUBMARINE VOLCANO OF THE GREAT
+
+BASIN.
+
+MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS.
+
+80
+
+hell. San Rafael River and Fremont River drain this Castle land, heading
+in the Wasatch Plateau and flowing into the Grand River. Along these
+streams a few narrow canyon valleys are found, and in them Ute Indians
+make their winter homes. The bad lands are filled with agates, jaspers,
+and carnelians, which are gathered by the Indians and fashioned
+powell-canyons-49.jpg
+
+AN INDIAN CAMP.
+
+into arrowheads and knives; along the foot of the canyon cliffs
+workshops can be discovered that have been occupied by generations
+from a time in the long past, and the chips of these workshops pave the
+valleys. South of the Wasatch Plateau we have the Fish Lake Plateau,
+the Awapa Plateau, and the Aquarius Plateau, which separate the waters
+flowing into the Great Basin from the waters of the Colorado, which
+
+81
+
+80
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+here constitute the boundary of the Plateau Province. Awapa is a Ute
+name signifying "Many waters."
+
+All three of these plateaus are remarkable for the many lakelets found
+on them. To the east are the Henry Mountains, a group of volcanic
+domes that rise above the region. The rocks of the country
+powell-canyons-50.jpg
+
+INDIANS GAMBLING.
+
+are limestones, sandstones, and shales, originally lying in horizontal
+altitudes; but volcanic forces were generated under them and lavas
+boiled up. These lavas did not, however, come to the surface, but as
+they rose they lifted the sandstones, shales, and limestones, to a
+thickness of 2,000 or 3,000 feet or more, into great domes. Then the
+molten lavas cooled in great lenses of mountain magnitude, with the
+
+82 powell-canyons-51.jpg
+
+RUIN NEAR MOENKOPI. powell-canyons-52.jpg
+
+RUINS OF PAYUPKI, SIX MILES NORTHWEST OF MASHONGNAVI, TUSAYAN.
+
+MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS. 83
+
+sedimentary rocks domed above them. Then the clouds gathered over these
+domes and wept, and their tears were gathered in brooks, and the brooks
+carved canyons down the sides of the domes; and now in these deep clefts
+the structure of the mountains is revealed. The lenses of volcanic rocks
+by which the domes were upheaved are known as "laccolites," i. e., rock
+lakes.
+
+Looking southwestward from the Henry Mountains the Circle Cliffs are
+seen. A great escarpment, several thousand feet in height and 70 or 80
+miles in length, faces the mountain. It is the step to the long, narrow
+plateau. The streams that come down across these cliffs head in great
+symmetric amphitheaters, and when first seen from above they present
+a vast alignment of walled circles. The front of the cliffs, seen from
+below, is everywhere imposing. On the southwest the Escalante River
+holds its course. It heads in the Aquarius Plateau and flows into the
+Colorado. Its course, as well as that of all its many tributaries, is in
+deep box-canyons of homogeneous red sandstone, often with vertical walls
+that are broken by many beautiful alcoves and glens. Much of the region
+is of naked, smooth, red rock, but the alcoves and glens that break the
+canyon walls are the sites of perennial springs, about which patches of
+luxuriant verdure gather.
+
+The Kaiparowits Plateau is an elevated table-land on the southwestern
+side of the Escalante River. It is long and narrow, extending from the
+northwest to the southeast approximately parallel with the Escalante.
+It rises above the red sandstone of the Escalante region from 2,000
+to 4,000 feet by a front of storm-carved cliffs. From the southeastern
+extremity of this plateau, at an altitude of 7,500 feet, an instructive
+view is obtained. One of the great canyons of the Colorado River can be
+seen meandering its way through the red-rock landscape. In the distance,
+and to the north, the Henry Mountains are in view, and below, the
+canyons of the Escalante and the red-rock land are in sight. Across the
+Colorado are the canyons of the San Juan, and below the mouth of the San
+Juan is the great Navajo Mountain. Still to the south the Grand Canyon
+of the Colorado is in view, and in the west a vast mesa landscape is
+presented with its buttes and pinnacles. Still to the southward Paria
+River is seen heading in a plateau on the margin of the province and
+having a course a little east of south into the Colorado.
+
+84 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+The region of country which has been thus described, from the Tava-puts
+Plateau to the Paria River, was the home of a few scattered Ute Indians,
+who lived in very small groups, and who hunted on the plateau, fished in
+the waters, and dwelt in the canyons. There was nominally but one
+tribe, but as the members of this tribe were in very small parties and
+separated by wide distances the tribal bonds were very weak and often
+unrecognized. The chief integrating agency was religion, for they
+worshiped the same gods and periodically joined in the same religious
+ceremonies and festivals. A country so destitute of animal and vegetal
+life would not support large numbers, and the few who dwelt here gained
+but a precarious and scant subsistence. To a large extent they lived on
+seeds and roots. The low, warm canyons furnished admirable shelter for
+the people, and their habitual costumes were loincloths, paints, and
+necklaces of tiny arrowheads made of the bright-colored agates and
+carnelians strung on snakeskins.
+
+When the Mormon people encroached on this country from the west, and
+when the Navajos on the east surrendered to the United States, a few
+recalcitrant Navajos and the Utes of this region combined. They had long
+been more or less intimately associated, and a jargon speech had grown
+up by which they could communicate. Finally, the greater number of these
+Utes and renegade Navajos took up their homes permanently on the eastern
+bank of the Colorado River between the Grand and the San Juan rivers.
+The Navajos are the dominant race, yet they live on terms of practical
+equality and affiliate without feuds. These are the great Freebooters of
+the Plateau Province--the enemies of other tribes and of the white men.
+In their canyon fortresses they have been able to hold their ground in
+spite of their enemies on every hand.
+
+Throughout the region and the plateaus by which it is surrounded and the
+mountains by which it is interrupted, everywhere ruins of pueblos and
+many cliff dwellings are found. None of these ancient pueblos are on
+a large scale. The houses were usually one or two stories high and the
+hamlets rarely provided shelter for more than two dozen people. Some of
+the houses are of rather superior architecture, having well-constructed
+walls with good geometric proportions. Their houses were plastered on
+the inside, and sometimes on the outside,
+
+85 powell-canyons-53.jpg
+
+SHUPAULOVI.
+
+86 powell-canyons-54.jpg
+
+GENERAL VIEW OF ZUÑI, LOOKING WEST.
+
+MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS. 87
+
+and covered with flat roofs of sun-dried mud. The real home of the
+people in their waking hours was on their housetops.
+
+The rocks of the mountain are etched with many picture-writings
+attesting the artistic skill of this people. The predominant form is the
+rattlesnake, which is found in the crevices of the rocks on every hand.
+It is inferred that the people worshiped the rattlesnake as one of their
+chief deities, a god who carried the spirit of death in his mouth.
+
+88 powell-canyons-55.jpg
+
+THE GRAY CLIFFS.
+
+89
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+CLIFFS AND TERRACES.
+
+THERE is a great group of table-lands constituting a geographic unit
+which have been named the Terrace Plateaus. They ex-tend from the Paria
+and Colorado on the east to the Grand Wash and Pine Mountains on the
+west, and they are bounded on the south by the Grand Canyon of the
+Colorado, and on the north they divide the waters of the Colorado from
+the waters of the Sevier, which flows northward and then westward until
+it is lost in the sands of the Great Desert. It is an irregular system
+of great plateaus with subordinate mesas and buttes separated by lines
+of cliffs and dissected by canyons.
+
+In this region all of the features which have been described as found
+in other portions of the province are grouped except only the cliffs of
+volcanic ashes, the volcanic cones, and the volcanic domes. The
+volcanic mountains, cinder cones, and coulees, the majestic plateaus and
+elaborate mesas, the sculptured buttes and canyon gorges, are all found
+here, but on a more stupendous scale. The volcanic mountains are higher,
+the cinder cones are larger, the coulees are more extensive and are
+often sheets of naked, black rock, the plateaus are more lofty, the
+cliffs are on a grander scale, the canyons are of profounder depth; and
+the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the most stupendous gorge known on the
+globe, with a great river surging through it, bounds it on the south.
+
+The east-and-west cliffs are escarpments of degradation, the
+north-and-south cliffs are, in the main, though not always, escarpments
+of displacement. Let us understand what this means. Over the entire
+region limestones, shales, and sandstones were deposited through long
+periods of geologic time to the thickness of many thousands of feet;
+then the country was upheaved and tilted toward the north; but the
+Colorado
+
+90
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-56.jpg
+
+River was flowing when the tilting commenced, and the upheaval was very
+slow, so that the river cleared away the obstruction to its channel as
+fast as it was presented, and this is the Grand Canyon. The rocks above
+were carried away by rains and rivers, but not evenly all over the
+country; nor by washing out valleys and leaving hills, but by carving
+the country into terraces. The upper and later-formed rocks are found
+far to the north, their edges standing in cliffs; then still earlier
+rocks are found rising to the southward, until they terminate in cliffs;
+and then a third series rises to the southward and ends in cliffs, and
+finally a fourth series, the oldest rocks, terminating in the Grand
+Canyon wall, which is a line of cliffs. There are in a general way four
+great lines of cliffs extending from east to west across the district
+and presenting their faces, or escarpments, southward. If these cliffs
+are climbed it is found that each plateau or terrace dips gently to
+the northward until it meets with another line of cliffs, which must be
+ascended to reach the summit of another plateau. Place a book before you
+on a table with its front edge toward you, rest another book on the back
+of this, place a third on the back of the second, and in like manner a
+fourth on the third. Now the leaves of the books dip from you and the
+cut edges stand in tiny escarpments facing you. So the rock-formed
+leaves of
+
+91
+
+V powell-canyons-57.jpg
+
+A GROUP OF STONE CORRALS.
+
+92 powell-canyons-58.jpg
+
+RUINS.
+
+CLIFFS AND TERRACES. 93
+
+these books of geology have the escarpment edges turned southward, while
+each book itself dips northward, and the crest of each plateau book
+is the summit of a line of cliffs. These cliffs of erosion have been
+described as running from east to west, but they diverge from that
+course in many ways. First, canyons run from north to south through
+them, and where these canyons are found deep angles occur; then sharp
+salients extend from the cliffs on the backs of the lower plateaus. Each
+great escarpment is made up more or less of minor terraces, or steps;
+and at the foot of each grand escarpment there is always a great talus,
+or sloping pile of rocks, and many marvelous buttes stand in front of
+the cliffs.
+
+But these east-and-west cliffs and the plateaus which they form are
+divided by north-and-south lines in another manner. The country has been
+faulted along north-and-south lines or planes. These faults are breaks
+in the strata varying from 1,000 or 2,000 to 4,000 or 5,000 feet in
+verticality. On the very eastern margin the rocks are dropped down
+several thousand feet, or, which means the same thing, the rocks are
+upheaved on the west side; that is, the beds that were originally
+horizontal have been differentially displaced, so that on the west side
+of the fracture the strata are several thousand feet higher than they
+are on the east side of the fracture. The line of displacement is known
+as the Echo Cliff Fault. West of this about twenty-five miles, there is
+another fault with its throw to the east, the upheaved rocks being
+on the west. This fault varies from 1,500 to 2,500 feet in throw, and
+extends far to the northward. It is known as the East Kaibab Fault.
+Still going westward, another fault is found, known as the West Kaibab
+Fault. Here the throw is on the west side,--that is, the rocks are
+dropped down to the westward from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. This fault
+gradually becomes less to the northward and is flexed toward the east
+until it joins with the East Kaibab Fault. The block between the two
+faults is the Kaibab Plateau. Going westward from 60 to 70 miles, still
+another fault is found, known as the Hurricane Ledge Fault. The throw
+is again on the west side of the fracture and the rocks fall down some
+thousands of feet. This fault extends far northward into central Utah.
+To the west 25 or 30 miles is found a fault with the throw still on the
+west. It has a drop of several thousand feet and extends across the Rio
+Colorado far to
+
+94 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the southwest, probably beyond the Arizona-New Mexico line. It also
+extends far to the north, until it is buried and lost under the Pine
+Valley Mountains, which are of volcanic origin.
+
+Now let us see what all this means. In order clearly to understand
+this explanation the reader is referred to the illustration designated
+"Section and Bird's-Eye View of the Plateaus North of the Grand Canyon."
+Starting at the Grand Wash on the west, the Grand Wash Cliffs, formed by
+the Grand Wash Fault, are scaled; and if we are but a few miles north of
+the Grand Canyon we are on the Shiwits Plateau. Its western boundary is
+the Grand Wash Cliffs, its southern boundary is the Grand Canyon, and
+its northern boundary is a line of cliffs of degradation, which will
+be described hereafter. Going eastward across the Shiwits Plateau the
+Hurricane Cliffs are reached, and climbing them we are on the Uinkaret
+Plateau, which is bounded on the south by the Grand Canyon and on the
+north by the Vermilion Cliffs, that rise above its northern foot. Still
+going eastward 30 or 40 miles to the brink of the Kanab Canyon, the West
+Kanab Plateau is crossed, which is bounded by the Toroweap Fault on the
+west, separating it from the Uinkaret Plateau, and by the Kanab Canyon
+on the east, with the Grand Canyon on the south and the Vermilion Cliffs
+on the north. Crossing the Kanab, we are on the East Kanab Plateau,
+which extends about 30 miles to the foot of the West Kaibab Cliffs, or
+the escarpment of the West Kaibab Fault. This canyon also has the Grand
+Canyon on the south and the Vermilion Cliffs on the north. Climbing
+the West Kaibab Fault, we are on the Kaibab Plateau. Now we have been
+climbing from west to east, and each ascent has been made at a line
+of cliffs. Crossing the Kaibab Plateau to the East Kaibab Cliffs;
+the country falls down once more to the top of Marble Canyon Plateau.
+Crossing this plateau to the eastward, we at last reach the Echo Cliff
+Fault, where the rocks fall down on the eastern side once more; but the
+surface of the country itself does not fall down--the later rocks still
+remain, and the general level of the country is preserved except in
+one feature of singular interest and beauty, to describe which a little
+further explanation is necessary.
+
+I have spoken of these north-and-south faults as if they were fractures;
+and usually they are fractures, but in some places they are flex-
+
+95 powell-canyons-59.jpg
+
+LAGOON ON THE KAIBAB.
+
+96 powell-canyons-60.jpg
+
+PINK CLIFFS, PAUNSAGUNT PLATEAU.
+
+CLIFFS AND TEEEACES. 97
+
+ures. The Echo Cliffs displacement is a flexure. Just over the zone
+of flexure a long ridge extends from north to south, known as the Echo
+Cliffs. It is composed of a comparatively hard and homogeneous sandstone
+of a later age than the limestones of the Marble Canyon Plateau west of
+it; but the flexure dips down so as to carry this sandstone which forms
+the face of the cliff (presented westward) far under the surface, so
+that on the east side rocks of still later age are found, the drop being
+several thousand feet. The inclined red sandstone stands in a ridge more
+than 75 miles in length, with an escarped face presented to the west
+and a face of inclined rock to the east. The western side is carved into
+beautiful alcoves and is buttressed with a magnificent talus, and the
+red sandstone stands in fractured columns of giant size and marvelous
+beauty. On the east side the declining beds are carved into pockets,
+which often hold water. This is the region of the Thousand Wells. The
+foot of the cliffs on the east side is several hundred feet above
+the foot of the cliffs on the west side. On the west there is a vast
+limestone stretch, the top of the Marble Canyon Plateau; on the east
+there are drifting sand-dunes.
+
+The terraced land described has three sets of terraces: one set on the
+east, great steps to the Kaibab Plateau; another set on the west, from
+the Great Basin region to the Kaibab Plateau; and a third set from the
+Grand Canyon northward. There are thus three sets of cliffs: cliffs
+facing the east, cliffs facing the west, and cliffs facing the south.
+The north-and-south cliffs are made by faults; the east-and-west cliffs
+are made by differential degradation.
+
+The stupendous cliffs by which the plateaus are bounded are of
+indescribable grandeur and beauty. The cliffs bounding the Kaibab
+Plateau descend on either side, and this is the culminating portion of
+the region. All the other plateaus are terraces, with cliffs ascending
+on the one side and descending on the other. Some of the tables carry
+dead volcanoes on their backs that are towering mountains, and all of
+them are dissected by canyons that are gorges of profound depth. But
+every one of these plateaus has characteristics peculiar to itself and
+is worthy of its own chapter. On the north there is a pair of plateaus,
+twins in age, but very distinct in development, the Paunsagunt
+and Markagunt. They are separated by the Sevier River, which flows
+northward. Their
+
+98 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+southern margins constitute the highest steps of the great system of
+terraces of erosion. This escarpment is known as the Pink Cliffs. Above,
+pine forests are found; below the cliffs are hills and sand-dunes. The
+cliffs themselves are bold and often vertical walls of a delicate pink
+color.
+
+In one of the earlier years of exploration I stood on the summit of the
+Pink Cliffs of the Paunsagunt Plateau, 9,000 feet above the level of the
+sea. Below me, to the southwest, I could look off into the canyons of
+the Virgen River, down into the canyon of the Kanab, and far away into
+the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. From the lowlands of the Great Basin
+and from the depths of the Grand Canyon clouds crept up over the cliffs
+and floated over the landscape below me, concealing the canyons and
+mantling the mountains and mesas and buttes; still on toward me the
+clouds rolled, burying the landscape in their progress, until at last
+the region below was covered by a mantle of storm--a tumultuous sea of
+rolling clouds, black and angry in parts, white as the foam of cataracts
+here and there, and everywhere flecked with resplendent sheen. Below me
+spread a vast ocean of vapor, for I was above the clouds. On descending
+to the plateau, I found that a great storm had swept the land, and the
+dry arroyos of the day before were the channels of a thousand streams
+of tawny water, born of the ocean of vapor which had invaded the land
+before my vision.
+
+Below the Pink Cliffs another irregular zone of plateaus is found,
+stretching out to the margin of the Gray Cliffs. The Gray Cliffs are
+composed of a homogeneous sandstone which in some places weathers gray,
+but in others is as white as virgin snow. On the top of these cliffs
+hills and sand-dunes are found, but everywhere on the Gray Cliff margin
+the rocks are carved in fantastic forms; not in buttes and towers and
+pinnacles, but in great rounded bosses of rock.
+
+98
+
+The Virgen River heads back in the Pink Cliffs of the Markagunt Plateau
+and with its tributaries crosses one of these plateaus above the Gray
+Cliffs, carving a labyrinth of deep gorges. This is known as the Colob
+Plateau. Above, there is a vast landscape of naked, white and gray
+sandstone, billowing in fantastic bosses. On the margins of the canyons
+these are rounded off into great vertical walls, and at the bottom of
+every winding canyon a beautiful stream of water is found
+
+99 powell-canyons-61.jpg
+
+A PERMIAN BUTTE.
+
+100 powell-canyons-62.jpg
+
+VERMILION CLIFFS AT KANAB.
+
+CLIFFS AND TERRACES. 101
+
+running over quicksands. Sometimes the streams in their curving have cut
+under the rocks, and overhanging cliffs of towering altitudes are seen;
+and somber chambers are found between buttresses that uphold the walls.
+Among the Indians this is known as the "Rock Rovers' Land," and is
+peopled by mythic beings of uncanny traits.
+
+Below the Gray Cliffs another zone of plateaus is found, separated by
+the north-and-south faults and divided from the Colob series by the Gray
+Cliffs and demarcated from the plateaus to the south by the Vermilion
+Cliffs. The Vermilion Cliffs that face the south are of surpassing
+beauty. The rocks are of orange and red above and of chocolate,
+lavender, gray, and brown tints below. The canyons that cut through
+the cliffs from north to south are of great diversity and all are of
+profound interest. In these canyon walls many caves are found, and
+often the caves contain lakelets and pools of clear water. Canyons
+and re-entrant angles abound. The faces of the cliffs are terraced and
+salients project onto the floors below. The outlying buttes are many.
+Standing away to the south and facing these cliffs when the sun is going
+down beyond the desert of the Great Basin, shadows are seen to creep
+into the deep recesses, while the projecting forms are illumined, so
+that the lights and shadows are in great and sharp contrast; then a
+million lights seem to glow from a background of black gloom, and a
+great bank of Tartarean fire stretches across the landscape.
+
+At the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs there is everywhere a zone of
+vigorous junipers and piñons, for the belt of country is favored with
+comparatively abundant rain. When the clouds drift over the plateaus
+below from the south and west and strike the Vermilion Cliffs, they are
+abruptly lifted 2,000 feet, and to make the climb they must unload their
+burdens; so that here copious rains are discharged, and by such storms
+the cliffs are carved and ever from age to age carried back farther
+to the north. In the Pink Cliffs above and the Gray Cliffs and the
+Vermilion Cliffs, there are many notches that mark channels running
+northward which had their sources on these plateaus when they extended
+farther to the south. The Rio Virgen is the only stream heading in the
+Pink Cliffs and running into the Colorado which is perennial. The other
+rivers and creeks carry streams of water in rainy seasons only. When a
+succession of dry years occurs the canyons coming through the
+
+102 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+cliffs are choked below, as vast bodies of sand are deposited. But now
+and then, ten or twenty years apart, great storms or successions of
+storms come, and the channels are flooded and cut their way again
+through the drifting sands to solid rock below. Thus the streams below
+are alternately choked and cleared from period to period.
+
+To the south of the Vermilion Cliffs the last series or zone of plateaus
+north of the Grand Canyon is found. The summits of these plateaus are
+of cherty limestone. In the far west we have the Shiwits Plateau covered
+with sheets of lava and volcanic cones; then climbing the Hurricane
+Ledge we have the Kanab Plateau, on the southwest portion of which the
+Uinkaret Mountains stand--a group of dead volcanoes with many black
+cinder cones scattered about. It is interesting to know how these
+mountains are formed. The first eruptions of lava were long ago, and
+they were poured out upon a surface 2,000 feet or more higher than the
+general surface now found. After the first eruptions of coulees the
+lands round about were degraded by rains and rivers. Then new eruptions
+occurred and additional sheets of lava were poured out; but these came
+not through the first channels, but through later ones formed about the
+flanks of the elder beds of lava, so that the new sheets are imbricated
+or shingled over the old sheets. But the overlap is from below upward.
+Then the land was further degraded, and a third set of coulees was
+spread still lower down on the flanks, and on these last coulees the
+black cinder cones stand. So the foundations of the Uinkaret Mountains
+are of limestones, and these foundations are covered with sheets of
+lava overlapping from below upward, and the last coulees are decked with
+cones.
+
+Still farther east is the Kaibab Plateau, the culminating table-land
+of the region. It is covered with a beautiful forest, and in the forest
+charming parks are found. Its southern extremity is a portion of the
+wall of the Grand Canyon; its western margin is the wall of the West
+Kaibab Fault; its eastern edge is the wall of the East Kaibab Fault;
+and its northern point is found where the two faults join. Here antelope
+feed and many a deer goes bounding over the fallen timber. In winter
+deep snows lie here, but the plateau has four months of the sweetest
+summer man has ever known.
+
+On the terraced plateaus three tribes of Indians are found: the Shiwits
+("people of the springs"), the Uinkarets ("people of the pine
+
+103 powell-canyons-63.jpg
+
+A MIDSUMMERDAY'S DREAM ON THE COLOB.
+
+104
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+mountains"), and the Unkakaniguts ("people of the red lands," who
+dwell along the Vermilion Cliffs). They are all Utes and belong to a
+confederacy with other tribes living farther to the north, in Utah.
+These people live in shelters made of boughs piled up in circles and
+covered with juniper bark supported by poles. These little houses are
+only large enough for half a dozen persons huddling together in sleep.
+Their aboriginal clothing was very scant, the most important being
+powell-canyons-64.jpg
+
+AN INDIAN VILLAGE.
+
+wildcatskin and wolfskin robes for the men, and rabbitskin robes for the
+women, though for occasions of festival they had clothing of tanned deer
+and antelope skins, often decorated with fantastic ornaments of snake
+skins, feathers, and the tails of squirrels and chipmunks. A great
+variety of seeds and roots furnish their food, and on the higher
+plateaus there is much game, especially deer and antelope. But the whole
+country abounds with rabbits, which are often killed with arrows and
+
+CLIFFS AND TERRACES.
+
+105
+
+caught in snares. Every year they have great hunts, when scores of
+rabbits are killed in a single day. It is managed in this way: They make
+nets of the fiber of the wild flax and of some other plant, the meshes
+of which are about an inch across. These nets are about three and a
+half feet in width and hundreds of yards in length. They arrange
+powell-canyons-65.jpg
+
+ANTINAINTS, PUTUSIV, AND WICHUTS, IN FESTAL DRESS.
+
+such a net in a circle, not quite closed, supporting it by stakes and
+pinning the bottom firmly to the ground. From the opening of the circle
+they extend net wings, expanding in a broad angle several hundred yards
+from either side. Then the entire tribe will beat up a great district of
+country and drive the rabbits toward the nets, and finally into
+
+106
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the circular snare, which is quickly closed, when the rabbits are killed
+with arrows.
+
+A great variety of desert plants furnish them food, as seeds, roots, and
+powell-canyons-66.jpg
+
+PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF TYPICAL SOLITARY HOUSE.
+
+stalks. More than fifty varieties of such seed-bearing plants have been
+collected. The seeds themselves are roasted, ground, and preserved
+in cakes. The most abundant food of this nature is derived from the
+sunflower and the nuts of the piñón. They still make stone arrowheads,
+stone knives, and stone hammers, and kindle fire with the drill. Their
+medicine men are famous sorcerers. Coughs are caused by invisible winged
+insects, rheumatism by flesh-eating bugs too small to be seen, and the
+toothache by invisible worms. Their healing art consists in searing and
+scarifying. Their medicine men take the medicine themselves to produce
+a state of ecstasy, in which the disease pests are discovered. They also
+practice dancing about their patients to drive away the evil beings or
+to avert the effects of sorcery. When a child is bitten by a rattlesnake
+the snake is caught and brought near to the suffering urchin, and
+ceremonies are performed, all for the purpose of prevailing upon the
+snake to take back the evil spirit. They have quite a variety of mythic
+personages. The chief of these are the
+
+CLIFFS AND TEBEACES.
+
+107
+
+Enupits, who are pigmies dwelling about the springs, and the Rock
+Rovers, who live in the cliffs. Their gods are zoic, and the chief among
+them are the wolf, the rabbit, the eagle, the jay, the rattlesnake, and
+the spider. They have no knowledge of the ambient air, but the winds
+are the breath of beasts living in the four quarters of the earth.
+Whirlwinds that often blow among the sand-dunes are caused by the
+dancing of Enupits. The sky is ice, and the rain is caused by the
+Rainbow God; he abraids the ice of the sky with his scales and the snow
+falls, and if the weather be warm the ice melts and it is rain. The sun
+is a poor slave compelled to make the same journey every day since he
+was conquered by the rabbit. These tribes have a great body of romance,
+in which the actors are animals, and the knowledge of these stories is
+the lore of their sages.
+
+Scattered over the plateaus are the ruins of many ancient stone pueblos,
+not unlike those previously described.
+
+The Kanab River heading in the Pink Cliffs runs directly southward
+powell-canyons-67.jpg
+
+PERSPECTIVE VIEW OP ROUND-HOUSE STRUCTURE OF LAVA.
+
+and joins the Colorado in the heart of the Grand Canyon. Its way is
+through a series of canyons. From one of these it emerges at the foot
+of the Vermilion Cliffs, and here stood an extensive ruin not many years
+ago. Some portions of the pueblo were three stories
+
+108
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+high. The structure was one of the best found in this land of ruins. The
+Mormon people settling here have used the stones of the old pueblo
+in building their homes, and now no vestiges of the ancient structure
+remain. A few miles below the town other ruins were found. They were
+scattered to Pipe's Springs, a point twenty miles to the westward.
+Ruins were also discovered up the stream as far as the Pink Cliffs, and
+eastward along the Vermilion Cliffs nearly to the Colorado River, and
+out on the margin of the Kanab Plateau. These were all ruins of outlying
+habitations be-longing to the Kanab pueblo. From the study of the
+existing pueblos found elsewhere and from extensive study of the ruins,
+it seems that everywhere tribal pueblos were built of considerable
+dimensions, usually to give shelter to several hundred people. Then the
+people cultivated the soil by irrigation, and had powell-canyons-68.jpg
+
+AN ANCIENT CLIFF HOUSE.
+
+109 powell-canyons-69.jpg
+
+A ZUÑI EAGLE CAGE.
+
+110 powell-canyons-70.jpg
+
+A VIEW OF ZUÑI.
+
+111
+
+CLIFFS AND TERRACES.
+
+their gardens and little fields scattered at wide distances about the
+central pueblo, by little springs and streams and wherever they could
+control the water with little labor to bring it on the land. At such
+points stone houses were erected sufficient to accommodate from one
+to two thousand people, and these were occupied during the season of
+cultivation and are known as rancherías. So one great tribe had its
+central pueblo and its outlying rancherías. Sometimes the rancherías
+were occupied from year to year, especially in time of peace, but
+usually they were occupied only during seasons of cultivation. Such
+groups of ruins and pueblos with accessory rancherías are still
+inhabited, and have been described as found throughout the Plateau
+Province except far to the north beyond the Uinta Mountains. A great
+pueblo once existed in the Uinta Valley on the south side of the
+mountains. This is the most northern pueblo which has yet been
+discovered. But the pueblo-building tribes extended beyond the area
+drained by the Colorado. On the west there was a pueblo in the Great
+Basin at the site now occupied by Salt Lake City, and several more to
+the southward, all on waters flowing into the desert. On the east such
+pueblos were found among mountains at the headwaters of the Arkansas,
+Platte, and Canadian rivers. The entire area drained by the Rio
+Grande del Norte was occupied by pueblo tribes, and a number are still
+inhabited. To the south they extended far beyond the territory of the
+United States, and the so-called Aztec cities were rather superior
+pueblos of this character. The known pueblo tribes of the United States
+belong to several different linguistic stocks. They are far from being
+one homogeneous people, for they have not only different languages but
+different religions and worship different gods. These pueblo peoples
+are in a higher grade of culture than most Indian tribes of the United
+States. This is exhibited in the slight superiority of their arts,
+especially in their architecture. It is also noticeable in their
+mythology and religion. Their gods, the heroes of their myths, are more
+often personifications of the powers and phenomena of nature, and their
+religious ceremonies are more elaborate, and their cult societies
+are highly organized. As they had begun to domesticate animals and
+to cultivate the soil, so as to obtain a part of their subsistence by
+agriculture, they had almost accomplished the ascent from savagery
+
+112 powell-canyons-71.jpg
+
+WALPI DANCE ROCK.
+
+CLIFFS AND TERRACES. 113
+
+to barbarism when first discovered by the invading European. All the
+Indians of North America were in this state of transition, but the
+pueblo tribes had more nearly reached the higher goal.
+
+The great number of ruins found throughout the land has often been
+interpreted as evidence of a much larger pueblo population than has been
+found in post-Columbian time. But a careful study of the facts does not
+warrant this conclusion. It would seem that for various reasons tribes
+abandoned old pueblos and built new, thus changing their permanent
+residence from time to time; but more frequent changes were made in
+their rancherias. These were but ephemeral, being moved from place to
+place by the varying conditions of water supply. Most of the streams of
+the arid land are not perennial, but very many of the smaller streams
+of the pueblo region discharge their waters into the larger streams
+in times of great flood. Such floods occur now here, now there, and at
+varying periods, sometimes fifty years apart. When dry years follow one
+another for a long series, the channels of these intermittent streams
+are choked with sand until the streams are buried and lost. Under such
+circumstances the rancherias were moved from dead stream to living
+stream. In rare instances pueblos themselves were removed for this
+cause. Other pueblos, and the rancherias generally, were abandoned in
+time of war; this seems to have been a potent cause for moving. When
+pestilence attacked a pueblo the people would sometimes leave in a body
+and never return. The cliff pueblos and dwellings, the cavate dwellings,
+and the cinder-cone towns were all built and occupied for defensive
+purposes when powerful enemies threatened. The history of some of the
+old ruins has been obtained and we know the existing tribes who once
+occupied them; others still remain enshrouded in obscurity.
+
+114 powell-canyons-72.jpg
+
+A PASSAGEWAY IN WALPI.
+
+115
+
+THE HURRICANE FAULT. powell-canyons-73.jpg
+
+TOWERS OF THE VERMILION CLIFFS.
+
+116 powell-canyons-74.jpg
+
+TEMPLES AND TOWERS OF THE RIO VIRGEN.
+
+117 powell-canyons-75.jpg
+
+PANORAMA. UPPER VIEW LOOKING EAST, WITH THE GRAND CANYON IN THE
+DISTANCE. LOWER VIEW LOOKING DOWN THE TOROWEAP.
+
+118 powell-canyons-76.jpg
+
+A PASSAGEWAY IN MASHONGNAVI
+
+119 powell-canyons-77.jpg
+
+TERRACED HOUSES IN ZUÑI.
+
+120
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+IN the summer of 1867, with a small party of naturalists, students,
+and amateurs like myself, I visited the mountain region of Colorado
+Territory. While in Middle Park I explored a little canyon through which
+the Grand River runs, immediately below the now well-known watering
+place, Middle Park Hot Springs. Later in the fall I passed through Cedar
+Canyon, the gorge by which the Grand leaves the park. A result of the
+summer's study was to kindle a desire to explore the canyons of the
+Grand, Green, and Colorado rivers, and the next summer I organized an
+expedition with the intention of penetrating still farther into that
+canyon country.
+
+As soon as the snows were melted, so that the main range could be
+crossed, I went over into Middle Park, and proceeded thence down the
+Grand to the head of Cedar Canyon, then across the Park Range by Gore's
+Pass, and in October found myself and party encamped on the White
+River, about 120 miles above its mouth. At that point I built cabins and
+established winter quarters, intending to occupy the cold season, as far
+as possible, in exploring the adjacent country. The winter of 1868-69
+proved favorable to my purposes, and several excursions were made,
+southward to the Grand, down the White to the Green, northward to the
+Yampa, and around the Uinta Mountains. During these several excursions I
+seized every opportunity to study the canyons through which these upper
+streams run, and while thus engaged formed plans for the exploration
+of the canyons of the Colorado. Since that time I have been engaged in
+executing these plans, sometimes employed in the field, sometimes in
+the office. Begun originally as an exploration, the work was finally
+developed into a survey, embracing the geography, geology, ethnography,
+and natural
+
+121 powell-canyons-78.jpg
+
+THE START FROM GREEN RIVER STATION.
+
+FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+history of the country, and a number of gentlemen have, from time to
+time, assisted me in the work.
+
+Early in the spring of 1869 a party was organized for the exploration of
+the canyons. Boats were built in Chicago and transported by rail to the
+point where the Union Pacific Railroad crosses the Green River. With
+these we were to descend the Green to the Colorado, and the Colorado
+down to the foot of the Grand Canyon.
+
+May 24, 1869.--The good people of Green River City turn out to see us
+start. We raise our little flag, push the boats from shore, and the
+swift current carries us down.
+
+Our boats are four in number. Three are built of oak; stanch and
+firm; double-ribbed, with double stem and stern posts, and further
+strengthened by bulkheads, dividing each into three compartments. Two of
+these, the fore and aft, are decked, forming water-tight cabins. It is
+expected these will buoy the boats should the waves roll over them in
+rough water. The fourth boat is made of pine, very light, but 16 feet in
+length, with a sharp cutwater, and every way built for fast rowing, and
+divided into compartments as the others. The little vessels are 21 feet
+long, and, taking out the cargoes, can be carried by four men.
+
+We take with us rations deemed sufficient to last ten months, for we
+expect, when winter comes on and the river is filled with ice, to lie
+over at some point until spring arrives; and so we take with us abundant
+supplies of clothing, likewise. We have also a large quantity of
+ammunition and two or three dozen traps. For the purpose of building
+cabins, repairing boats, and meeting other exigencies, we are supplied
+with axes, hammers, saws, augers, and other tools, and a quantity
+of nails and screws. For scientific work, we have two sextants, four
+chronometers, a number of barometers, thermometers, compasses, and other
+instruments.
+
+The flour is divided into three equal parts; the meat, and all other
+articles of our rations, in the same way. Each of the larger boats has
+an axe, hammer, saw, auger, and other tools, so that all are loaded
+alike. We distribute the cargoes in this way that we may not be entirely
+destitute of some important article should any one of the boats be lost.
+In the small boat we pack a part of the scientific
+
+122
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+instruments, three guns, and three small bundles of clothing, only; and
+in this I proceed in advance to explore the channel.
+
+J. C. Sumner and William H. Dunn are my boatmen in the "Emma Dean";
+then follows "Kitty Clyde's Sister," manned by W. H. Powell and G. Y.
+Bradley; next, the "No Name," with O. G. Howland, Seneca Howland, and
+Frank Goodman; and last comes the "Maid of the Canyon," with W. E.
+Hawkins and Andrew Hall.
+
+Sumner was a soldier during the late war, and before and since that time
+has been a great traveler in the wilds of the Mississippi Valley and
+the Rocky Mountains as an amateur hunter. He is a fair-haired,
+delicate-looking man, but a veteran in experience, and has performed the
+feat of crossing the Rocky Mountains in midwinter on snowshoes. He
+spent the winter of 1886-87 in Middle Park, Colorado, for the purpose of
+making some natural history collections for me, and succeeded in killing
+three grizzlies, two mountain lions, and a large number of elk, deer,
+sheep, wolves, beavers, and many other animals. When Bayard Taylor
+traveled through the parks of Colorado, Sumner was his guide, and he
+speaks in glowing terms of Mr. Taylor's genial qualities in camp, but
+he was mortally offended when the great traveler requested him to act as
+doorkeeper at Breckenridge to receive the admission fee from those who
+attended his lectures.
+
+Dunn was a hunter, trapper, and mule-packer in Colorado for many years.
+He dresses in buckskin with a dark oleaginous luster, doubtless due to
+the fact that he has lived on fat venison and killed many beavers since
+he first donned his uniform years ago. His raven hair falls down to his
+back, for he has a sublime contempt of shears and razors.
+
+Captain Powell was an officer of artillery during the late war and
+was captured on the 22d day of July, 1864, at Atlanta and served a ten
+months' term in prison at Charleston, where he was placed with other
+officers under fire. He is silent, moody, and sarcastic, though
+sometimes he enlivens the camp at night with a song. He is never
+surprised at anything, his coolness never deserts him, and he would
+choke the belching throat of a volcano if he thought the spitfire meant
+anything but fun. We call him "Old Shady."
+
+Bradley, a lieutenant during the late war, and since orderly sergeant
+
+FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+in the regular army, was, a few weeks previous to our start, discharged,
+by order of the Secretary of War, that he might go on this trip. He
+is scrupulously careful, and a little mishap works him into a passion,
+powell-canyons-79.jpg
+
+VIEW IN SICHUMOVI.
+
+but when labor is needed he has a ready hand and powerful arm, and in
+danger, rapid judgment and unerring skill. A great difficulty or
+peril changes the petulant spirit into a brave, generous soul.
+powell-canyons-80.jpg
+
+TRAIL UP WALPI MESA.
+
+FROM GREEN EIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+123
+
+O. G. Howland is a printer by trade, an editor by profession, and a
+hunter by choice. When busily employed he usually puts his hat in his
+pocket, and his thin hair and long beard stream in the wind, giving
+him a wild look, much like that of King Lear in an illustrated copy of
+Shakespeare which tumbles around the camp.
+
+Seneca Howland is a quiet, pensive young man, and a great favorite with
+all.
+
+Goodman is a stranger to us--a stout, willing Englishman, with
+florid face and more florid anticipations of a glorious trip.
+powell-canyons-81.jpg
+
+RIDGES ON BITTER CREEK.
+
+Billy Hawkins, the cook, was a soldier in the Union Army during the
+war, and when discharged at its close went West, and since then has been
+engaged as teamster on the plains or hunter in the mountains. He is
+an athlete and a jovial good fellow, who hardly seems to know his own
+strength.
+
+Hall is a Scotch boy, nineteen years old, with what seems to us a
+"secondhand head," which doubtless came down to him from some knight who
+wore it during the Border Wars. It looks a very old head indeed,
+with deep-set blue eyes and beaked nose. Young as he is, Hall has had
+experience in hunting, trapping, and fighting Indians, and he makes the
+most of it, for he can tell a good story, and is never encumbered by
+unnecessary scruples in giving to his narratives those embellishments
+which help to make a story complete. He is always ready for work or play
+and is a good hand at either.
+
+Our boats are heavily loaded, and only with the utmost care is it pos-
+
+124
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+sible to float in the rough river without shipping water. A mile or two
+below town we run on a sandbar. The men jump into the stream and
+thus lighten the vessels, so that they drift over, and on we go.
+powell-canyons-82.jpg
+
+MESAS.
+
+In trying to avoid a rock an oar is broken on one of the boats, and,
+thus crippled, she strikes. The current is swift and she is sent reeling
+and rocking into the eddy. In the confusion two other oars are lost
+overboard, and the men seem quite discomfited, much to the amusement of
+the other members of the party. Catching the oars and starting again,
+the boats are once more borne down the stream, until we land at a small
+cottonwood grove on the bank and camp for noon.
+
+During the afternoon we run down to a point where the river sweeps the
+foot of an overhanging cliff, and here we camp for the night. The sun
+is yet two hours high, so I climb the cliffs and walk back among
+the strangely carved rocks of the Green River bad lands. These are
+sandstones and shales, gray and buff, red and brown, blue and black
+strata in many alternations, lying nearly horizontal, and almost without
+soil and vegetation. They are very friable, and the rain and streams
+have carved them into quaint shapes. Barren desolation is stretched
+before me; and yet there is a beauty in the scene. The fantastic
+carvings, imitating architectural forms and suggesting rude but weird
+
+FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+125
+
+statuary, with the bright and varied colors of the rocks, conspire to
+make a scene such as the dweller in verdure-clad hills can scarcely
+appreciate.
+
+Standing on a high point, I can look off in every direction over a vast
+landscape, with salient rocks and cliffs glittering in the evening sun.
+Dark shadows are settling in the valleys and gulches, and the heights
+are made higher and the depths deeper by the glamour and witchery of
+light and shade. Away to the south the Uinta Mountains stretch in a long
+line,--high peaks thrust into the sky, and snow fields glittering like
+lakes of molten silver, and pine forests in somber green, and rosy
+clouds playing around the borders of huge, black masses; and heights
+and clouds and mountains and snow fields and forests and rock-lands
+are blended into one grand view. Now the sun goes down, and I return to
+camp.
+
+May 25.--We start early this morning and run along at a good
+powell-canyons-83.jpg
+
+A VALLEY WEST OF GREEN RIVER.
+
+rate until about nine o'clock, when we are brought up on a gravelly bar.
+All jump out and help the boats over by main strength. Then a rain comes
+on, and river and clouds conspire to give us a thorough drenching. Wet,
+chilled, and tired to exhaustion, we stop at a cotton-
+
+126
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLCHADO.
+
+wood grove on the bank, build a huge fire, make a cup of coffee, and
+are soon refreshed and quite merry. When the clouds "get out of our
+sunshine" we start again. A few miles farther down a flock of mountain
+sheep are seen on a cliff to the right. The boats are quietly tied
+up and three or four men go after them. In the course of two
+powell-canyons-84.jpg
+
+ALCOVE LANDS.
+
+or three hours they return. The cook has been successful in bringing
+down a fat lamb. The unsuccessful hunters taunt him with finding it
+dead; but it is soon dressed, cooked, and eaten, and makes a fine four
+o'clock dinner.
+
+"All aboard," and down the river for another dozen miles. On the way
+we pass the mouth of Black's Fork, a dirty little stream that seems
+somewhat swollen. Just below its mouth we land and camp.
+
+May 26.--To-day we pass several curiously shaped buttes, standing
+between the west bank of the river and the high bluffs beyond. These
+buttes are outliers of the same beds of rocks as are exposed on the
+faces of the bluffs,--thinly laminated shales and sandstones of many
+colors, standing above in vertical cliffs and buttressed below with a
+water-carved talus; some of them attain an altitude of nearly a thousand
+feet above the level of the river.
+
+FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+127
+
+We glide quietly down the placid stream past the carved cliffs of the
+mauvaises terres, now and then obtaining glimpses of distant mountains.
+Occasionally, deer are started from the glades among the willows; and
+several wild geese, after a chase through the water, are shot. After
+dinner we pass through a short and narrow canyon into a broad valley;
+from this, long, lateral valleys stretch back on either side as far as
+the eye can reach.
+
+Two or three miles below, Henry's Fork enters from the right. We land
+a short distance above the junction, where a cache of instruments and
+rations was made several months ago in a cave at the foot of the cliff,
+a distance back from the river. Here they were safe from the elements
+and wild beasts, but not from man. Some anxiety is powell-canyons-85.jpg
+
+BAD LANDS.
+
+felt, as we have learned that a party of Indians have been camped near
+the place for several weeks. Our fears are soon allayed, for we find the
+cache undisturbed. Our chronometer wheels have not been taken for hair
+ornaments, our barometer tubes for beads, or the sextant thrown into the
+river as "bad medicine," as had been predicted. Taking up our cache, we
+pass down to the foot of the Uinta Mountains and in a cold storm go into
+camp.
+
+128
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+The river is running to the south; the mountains have an easterly and
+westerly trend directly athwart its course, yet it glides on in a quiet
+way as if it thought a mountain range no formidable obstruction. It
+enters the range by a flaring, brilliant red gorge, that may be
+seen from the north a score of miles away. The great mass of the
+powell-canyons-86.jpg
+
+OUR INDIAN GUIDE.
+
+mountain ridge through which the gorge is cut is composed of bright
+vermilion rocks; but they are surmounted by broad bands of mottled buff
+and gray, and these bands come down with a gentle curve to the water's
+edge on the nearer slope of the mountain.
+
+This is the head of the first of the canyons we are about to explore--an
+introductory one to a series made by the river through this
+
+FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+129
+
+range. We name it Flaming Gorge. The cliffs, or walls, we find on
+measurement to be about 1,200 feet high.
+
+May 27.--To-day it rains, and we employ the time in repairing one of our
+barometers, which was broken on the way from New York. A new tube has
+to be put in; that is, a long glass tube has to be filled with
+mercury, four or five inches at a time, and each installment boiled
+powell-canyons-87.jpg
+
+OUR GUIDE'S BOY.
+
+over a spirit lamp. It is a delicate task to do this without breaking
+the glass; but we have success, and are ready to measure mountains once
+more.
+
+May 28.--To-day we go to the summit of the cliff on the left and take
+observations for altitude, and are variously employed in topographic and
+geologic work.
+
+130
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+May 29.--This morning Bradley and I cross the river and climb more than
+a thousand feet to a point where we can see the stream sweeping in a
+long, beautiful curve through the gorge below. Turning and looking to
+the west, we can see the valley of Henry's Fork, through which, for many
+miles, the little river flows in a tortuous channel. Cottonwood groves
+are planted here and there along its course, and between them are
+stretches of grass land. The narrow mountain valley is inclosed on
+either side by sloping walls of naked rock of many powell-canyons-88.jpg
+
+GREEN RIVER PLAINS.
+
+bright colors. To the south of the valley are the Uintas, and the peaks
+of the Wasatch Mountains can be faintly seen in the far west. To the
+north, desert plains, dotted here and there with curiously carved hills
+and buttes, extend to the limit of vision.
+
+For many years this valley has been the home of a number of
+mountaineers, who were originally hunters and trappers, living with the
+Indians. Most of them have one or more Indian wives. They no longer
+roam with the nomadic tribes in pursuit of buckskin or beaver, but have
+accumulated herds of cattle and horses, and consider themselves quite
+well to do. Some of them have built cabins; others
+
+FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
+
+131
+
+still live in lodges. John Baker is one of the most famous of these men,
+and from our point of view we can see his lodge, three or four miles up
+the river.
+
+The distance from Green River City to Flaming Gorge is 62 miles. The
+river runs between bluffs, in some places standing so close to each
+other that no flood plain is seen. At such a point the river might
+properly be said to run through a canyon. The bad lands on either side
+are interrupted here and there by patches of Artemisia, or sage brush.
+Where there is a flood plain along either side of the river, a few
+cottonwoods may be seen. powell-canyons-89.jpg
+
+THE CHIEF KIVA OF SHUPAULOVI.
+
+132 powell-canyons-90.jpg
+
+WALPI.
+
+133
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FROM FLAMING GORGE TO THE GATE OF LODORE.
+
+ONE must not think of a mountain range as a line of peaks standing on a
+plain, but as a broad platform many miles wide from which mountains have
+been carved by the waters. One must conceive, too, that this plateau is
+cut by gulches and canyons in many directions and that beautiful valleys
+are scattered about at different altitudes. The first series of canyons
+we are about to explore constitutes a river channel through such a range
+of mountains. The canyon is cut nearly halfway through the range, then
+turns to the east and is cut along the central line, or axis, gradually
+crossing it to the south. Keeping this direction for more than 50
+miles, it then turns abruptly to a southwest course, and goes diagonally
+through the southern slope of the range.
+
+This much we know before entering, as we made a partial exploration of
+the region last fall, climbing many of its peaks, and in a few places
+reaching the brink of the canyon walls and looking over precipices many
+hundreds of feet high to the water below.
+
+Here and there the walls are broken by lateral canyons, the channels
+of little streams entering the river. Through two or three of these we
+found our way down to the Green in early winter and walked along the low
+water-beach at the foot of the cliffs for several miles. Where the river
+has this general easterly direction the western part only has cut for
+itself a canyon, while the eastern has formed a broad valley, called, in
+honor of an old-time trapper, Brown's Park, and long known as a favorite
+winter resort for mountain men and Indians.
+
+May 30.--This morning we are ready to enter the mysterious canyon, and
+start with some anxiety. The old mountaineers tell us that it cannot be
+run; the Indians say, "Water heap catch 'em"; but all are eager for the
+trial, and off we go.
+
+134
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+Entering Flaming Gorge, we quickly run through it on a swift current and
+emerge into a little park. Half a mile below, the river wheels sharply
+to the left and enters another canyon cut into the mountain. We enter
+the narrow passage. On either side the walls rapidly increase in
+altitude. On the left are overhanging ledges and cliffs,--500, 1,000,
+1,500 feet high.
+
+On the right the rocks are broken and ragged, and the water fills the
+channel from cliff to cliff. Now the river turns abruptly around a point
+to the right, and the waters plunge swiftly down among great rocks; and
+here we have our first experience with canyon rapids. I stand up on the
+deck of my boat to seek a way among the wave-beaten rocks. All untried
+as we are with such waters, the moments are filled with intense anxiety.
+Soon our boats reach the swift current; a stroke or two, now on this.
+side, now on that, and we thread the narrow passage with exhilarating
+Velocity, mounting the high waves, whose foaming crests dash over us,
+and plunging into the troughs, until we reach the quiet water below.
+Then comes a feeling of great relief. Our first rapid is run. Another
+mile, and we come into the valley again. powell-canyons-91.jpg
+
+CAMP AT FLAMING GORGE
+
+135 powell-canyons-92.jpg
+
+MASHONGNAVI, WITH SHUPAULOVI IN THE DISTANCE.
+
+136 powell-canyons-93.jpg
+
+HORSESHOE CANYON.
+
+FROM FLAMING GORGE TO THE GATE OF LODORE. 137
+
+Let me explain this canyon. Where the river turns to the left above,
+it takes a course directly into the mountain, penetrating to its very
+heart, then wheels back upon itself, and runs out into the valley from
+which it started only half a mile below the point at which it entered;
+so the canyon is in the form of an elongated letter U, with the apex in
+the center of the mountain. We name it Horseshoe Canyon.
+
+Soon we leave the valley and enter another short canyon, very narrow at
+first, but widening below as the canyon walls increase in height. Here
+we discover the mouth of a beautiful little creek coming down through
+its narrow water-worn cleft. Just at its entrance there is a park of two
+or three hundred acres, walled on every side by almost vertical cliffs
+hundreds of feet in altitude, with three gateways through the walls--one
+up the river, another down, and a third through which the creek comes
+in. The river is broad, deep, and quiet, and its waters mirror towering
+rocks.
+
+Kingfishers are playing about the streams, and so we adopt as names
+Kingfisher Creek, Kingfisher Park, and Kingfisher Canyon. At night we
+camp at the foot of this canyon.
+
+Our general course this day has been south, but here the river turns to
+the east around a point which is rounded to the shape of a dome. On its
+sides little cells have been carved by the action of the water, and in
+these pits, which cover the face of the dome, hundreds of swallows have
+built their nests. As they flit about the cliffs, they look like swarms
+of bees, giving to the whole the appearance of a colossal beehive of the
+old-time form, and so we name it Beehive Point.
+
+The opposite wall is a vast amphitheater, rising in a succession of
+terraces to a height of 1,200 or 1,500 feet. Each step is built of
+red sandstone, with a face of naked red rock and a glacis clothed with
+verdure. So the amphitheater seems banded red and green, and the evening
+sun is playing with roseate flashes on the rocks, with shimmering green
+on the cedars' spray, and with iridescent gleams on the dancing waves.
+The landscape revels in the sunshine.
+
+May 31.--We start down another canyon and reach rapids made dangerous by
+high rocks lying in the channel; so we run ashore and let our boats down
+with lines. In the afternoon we come to more dangerous rapids and stop
+to examine them. I find we must do the same work
+
+138 8 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+again, but, being on the wrong side of the river to obtain a foothold,
+must first cross over--no very easy matter in such a current, with
+rapids and rocks below. We take the pioneer boat, "Emma Dean," over, and
+unload her on the bank; then she returns and takes another load. Running
+back and forth, she soon has half our cargo over. Then one of the larger
+boats is manned and taken across, but is carried down almost to the
+rocks in spite of hard rowing. The other boats follow and make the
+landing, and we go into camp for the night.
+
+At the foot of the cliff on this side there is a long slope covered with
+pines; under these we make our beds, and soon after sunset are seeking
+rest and sleep. The cliffs on either side are of red sandstone and
+stretch toward the heavens 2,500 feet. On this side the long, pine-clad
+slope is surmounted by perpendicular cliffs, with pines on their
+summits. The wall on the other side is bare rock from the water's edge
+up 2,000 feet, then slopes back, giving footing to pines and cedars.
+
+As the twilight deepens, the rocks grow dark and somber; the threatening
+roar of the water is loud and constant, and I lie awake with thoughts
+of the morrow and the canyons to come, interrupted now and then by
+characteristics of the scenery that attract my attention. And here I
+make a discovery. On looking at the mountain directly in front, the
+steepness of the slope is greatly exaggerated, while the distance to
+its summit and its true altitude are correspondingly diminished. I have
+heretofore found that to judge properly of the slope of a mountain side,
+one must see it in profile. In coming down the river this afternoon, I
+observed the slope of a particular part of the wall and made an estimate
+of its altitude. While at supper, I noticed the same cliff from a
+position facing it, and it seemed steeper, but not half so high. Now
+lying on my side and looking at it, the true proportions appear. This
+seems a wonder, and I rise to take a view of it standing. It is the same
+cliff as at supper time. Lying down again, it is the cliff as seen in
+profile, with a long slope and distant summit. Musing on this, I forget
+"the morrow and the canyons to come"; I have found a way to estimate the
+altitude and slope of an inclination, in like manner as I can judge of
+distance along the horizon. The reason is simple. A reference to the
+stereoscope will
+
+FROM FLAMING GOEGE TO THE GATE OF LODOEE.
+
+139
+
+suggest it. The distance between the eyes forms a base line for optical
+triangulation.
+
+June 1.--To-day we have an exciting ride. The river rolls down the
+canyon at a wonderful rate, and, with no rocks in the way, we make
+
+140 powell-canyons-94.jpg
+
+SCENE IN HAND.
+
+almost railroad speed. Here and there the water rushes into a narrow
+gorge; the rocks on the side roll it into the center in great waves,
+and the boats go leaping and bounding over these like things of life,
+reminding me of scenes witnessed in Middle Park--herds of startled deer
+bounding through forests beset with fallen timber. I
+
+140 powell-canyons-95.jpg
+
+PESCADO PUEBLO----OUTSIDE STEPS.
+
+FROM FLAMING GORGE TO THE GATE OF LODORE.
+
+141
+
+mention the resemblance to some of the hunters, and so striking is it
+that the expression, "See the blacktails jumping the logs," comes to be
+a common one. At times the waves break and roll over the boats, which
+necessitates much bailing and obliges us to stop occasionally for that
+purpose. At one time we run twelve miles in an hour, stoppages included.
+
+Last spring I had a conversation with an old Indian named Páriate,
+who told me about one of his tribe attempting to run this canyon. "The
+rocks," he said, holding his hands above his head, his arms vertical,
+and looking between them to the heavens, "the rocks h-e-a-p,
+powell-canyons-96.jpg
+
+OVEN NEAR PESCADO PUEBLO.
+
+h-e-a-p high; the water go h-oo-woogh, h-oo-woogh; water-pony li-e-a-p
+buck; water catch 'em; no see 'em Injun any more! no see 'em squaw any
+more! no see 'em papoose any more!"
+
+Those who have seen these wild Indian ponies rearing alternately before
+and behind, or "bucking," as it is called in the vernacular, will
+appreciate his description.
+
+At last we come to calm water, and a threatening roar is heard in the
+distance. Slowly approaching the point whence the sound issues, we come
+near to falls, and tie up just above them on the left. Here we shall be
+compelled to make a portage; so we unload the boats,
+
+142
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-97.jpg
+
+PRIMITIVE ANDIRON IN SHUMOPAVI.
+
+and fasten a long line to the bow of the smaller one, and another to the
+stern, and moor her close to the brink of the fall. Then the bowline is
+taken below and made fast; the stern line is held by five or six men,
+and the boat let down as long as they can hold her against the rushing
+waters; then, letting go one end of the line, it runs through the ring;
+the boat leaps over the fall and is caught by the lower rope.
+
+Now we rest for the night.
+
+June 2.--This morning we make a trail among the rocks, transport the
+cargoes to a point below the fall, let the remaining boats over, and are
+ready to start before noon.
+
+On a high rock by which the trail passes we find the inscription:
+"Ashley 18-5." The third figure is obscure--some of the party reading
+it 1835, some 1855. James Baker, an old-time mountaineer, once told me
+about a party of men starting down the river, and Ashley was
+
+FROM FLAMING GORGE TO THE GATE OF LODORE.
+
+143
+
+named as one. The story runs that the boat was swamped, and some of
+the party drowned in one of the canyons below. The word "Ashley" is a
+warning to us, and we resolve on great caution. Ashley Falls is the name
+we give to the cataract.
+
+The river is very narrow, the right wall vertical for 200 or 300 feet,
+the left towering to a great height, with a vast pile of broken rocks
+lying between the foot of the cliff and the water. Some of the rocks
+broken down from the ledge above have tumbled into the channel and
+caused this fall. One great cubical block, thirty or forty feet high,
+stands in the middle of the stream, and the waters, parting to either
+side, plunge down about twelve feet, and are broken again by the smaller
+rocks into a rapid below. Immediately below the falls the water occupies
+the entire channel, there being no talus at the foot of the cliffs.
+powell-canyons-98.jpg
+
+TUSAYAN HEALING-STONES.
+
+144 powell-canyons-99.jpg
+
+K1VA AND STONE CORRALS OF MASHONGNAVI.
+
+FROM FLAMING GORGE TO THE GATE OF LODORE. 145
+
+We embark and run down a short distance, where we find a landing-place
+for dinner.
+
+On the waves again all the afternoon. Near the lower end of this canyon,
+to which we have given the name of Red Canyon, is a little park, where
+streams come down from distant mountain summits and enter the river on
+either side; and here we camp for the night under two stately pines.
+
+June 3.--This morning we spread our rations, clothes, etc., on the
+ground to dry, and several of the party go out for a hunt. I take a walk
+of five or six miles up to a pine-grove park, its grassy carpet bedecked
+with crimson velvet flowers, set in groups on the stems of pear-shaped
+cactus plants; patches of painted cups are seen here and there, with
+yellow blossoms protruding through scarlet bracts; little blue-eyed
+flowers are peeping through the grass; and the air is filled with
+fragrance from the white blossoms of the Spiraea. A mountain brook runs
+through the midst, ponded below by beaver dams. It is a quiet place for
+retirement from the raging waters of the canyon.
+
+It will be remembered that the course of the river from Flaming Gorge
+to Beehive Point is in a southerly direction and at right angles to the
+Uinta Mountains, and cuts into the range until it reaches a point within
+five miles of the crest, where it turns to the east and pursues a course
+not quite parallel to the trend of the range, but crosses the axis
+slowly in a direction a little south of east. Thus there is a triangular
+tract between the river and the axis of the mountain, with its acute
+angle extending eastward. I climb the mountain overlooking this country.
+To the east the peaks are not very high, and already most of the snow
+has melted, but little patches lie here and there under the lee of
+ledges of rock. To the west the peaks grow higher and the snow fields
+larger. Between the brink of the canyon and the foot of these peaks,
+there is a high bench. A number of creeks have their sources in the
+snowbanks to the south and run north into the canyon, tumbling down
+from 3,000 to 5,000 feet in a distance of five or six miles. Along their
+upper courses they run through grassy valleys, but as they approach Red
+Canyon they rapidly disappear under the general surface of the country,
+and emerge into the canyon below in
+
+146
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+deep, dark gorges of their own. Each of these short lateral canyons is
+marked by a succession of cascades and a wild confusion of rocks and
+trees and fallen timber and thick undergrowth.
+
+The little valleys above are beautiful parks; between the parks are
+stately pine forests, half hiding ledges of red sandstone. Mule deer
+and elk abound; grizzly bears, too, are abundant; and here wild cats,
+wolverines, and mountain lions are at home. The forest aisles are filled
+with the music of birds, and the parks are decked powell-canyons-100.jpg
+
+"HOGBACKS," WITH INTERVENING VALLEYS.
+
+with flowers. Noisy brooks meander through them; ledges of moss-covered
+rocks are seen; and gleaming in the distance are the snow fields, and
+the mountain tops are away in the clouds.
+
+June 4---We start early and run through to Brown's Park. Halfway down
+the valley, a spur of a red mountain stretches across the river, which
+cuts a canyon through it. Here the walls are comparatively low, but
+vertical. A vast number of swallows have built their adobe houses on the
+face of the cliffs, on either side of the river. The waters are deep and
+quiet, but the swallows are swift and noisy enough, sweeping by in their
+curved paths through the air or chattering from the rocks, while the
+young ones stretch their little heads on naked necks
+
+FROM FLAMING GORGE TO THE GATE OF LODORE. 147
+
+through the doorways of their mud houses and clamor for food. They are a
+noisy people. We call this Swallow Canyon.
+
+Still down the river we glide until an early hour in the afternoon, when
+we go into camp under a giant cottonwood standing on the right bank a
+little way back from the stream. The party has succeeded in killing
+a fine lot of wild ducks, and during the afternoon a mess of fish is
+taken.
+
+June 5.--With one of the men I climb a mountain, off on the right. A
+long spur, with broken ledges of rock, puts down to the river, and along
+its course, or up the "hogback," as it is called, I make the ascent.
+Dunn, who is climbing to the same point, is coming up the gulch. Two
+hours' hard work has brought us to the summit. These mountains are
+all verdure-clad; pine and cedar forests are set on green terraces;
+snow-clad mountains are seen in the distance, to the west; the plains of
+the upper Green stretch out before us to the north until they are lost
+in the blue heavens; but half of the river-cleft range intervenes, and
+the river itself is at our feet.
+
+This half range, beyond the river, is composed of long ridges nearly
+parallel with the valley. On the farther ridge, to the north, four
+creeks have their sources. These cut through the intervening ridges, one
+of which is much higher than that on which they head, by canyon gorges;
+then they run with gentle curves across the valley, their banks set with
+willows, box-elders, and cottonwood groves. To the east we look up the
+valley of the Vermilion, through which Fremont found his path on his way
+to the great parks of Colorado.
+
+The reading of the barometer taken, we start down in company, and reach
+camp tired and hungry, which does not abate one bit our enthusiasm as we
+tell of the day's work with its glory of landscape.
+
+June 6.--At daybreak I am awakened by a chorus of birds. It seems as
+if all the feathered songsters of the region have come to the old tree.
+Several species of warblers, woodpeckers, and flickers above, meadow
+larks in the grass, and wild geese in the river. I recline on my elbow
+and watch a lark near by, and then awaken my bedfellow, to listen to my
+Jenny Lind. A real morning concert for me; none of your "matinées"!
+
+Our cook has been an ox-driver, or "bull-whacker," on the plains, in
+
+148
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-101.jpg
+
+AN ANCIENT PUEBLO METATE.
+
+one of those long trains now no longer seen, and he hasn't forgotten his
+old ways. In the midst of the concert, his voice breaks in: "Roll out!
+roll out! bulls in the corral! chain up the gaps! Roll out! roll out!
+roll out!" And this is our breakfast bell.
+
+To-day we pass through, the park, and camp at the head of another
+canyon.
+
+June 7.--To-day two or three of us climb to the summit of the cliff on
+the left, and find its altitude above camp to be 2,086 feet. The rocks
+are split with fissures, deep and narrow, sometimes a hundred feet or
+more to the bottom, and these fissures are filled with loose earth and
+decayed vegetation in which lofty pines find root. On a rock we find a
+pool of clear, cold water, caught from yesterday evening's shower. After
+a good drink we walk out to the brink of the canyon and look down to
+the water below. I can do this now, but it has taken several years of
+mountain climbing to cool my nerves so that I can sit with my feet over
+the edge and calmly look down a precipice 2,000 feet. And yet I cannot
+look on and see another do the same. I must either bid him come away
+or turn my head. The canyon walls are buttressed on a grand scale, with
+deep alcoves intervening; columned crags crown the cliffs, and the river
+is rolling below.
+
+When we return to camp at noon the sun shines in splendor on vermilion
+walls, shaded into green and gray where the rocks are lichened over; the
+river fills the channel from wall to wall, and the canyon opens, like
+a beautiful portal, to a region of glory. This evening, as I write,
+the sun is going down and the shadows are settling in the canyon. The
+vermilion gleams and roseate hues, blending with the green and gray
+tints, are slowly changing to somber brown above, and black shadows are
+creeping over them below; and now it is a dark portal to a region
+of gloom--the gateway through which we are to enter on our voyage of
+exploration tomorrow. What shall we find? powell-canyons-102.jpg
+
+A ZUÑÍ STOOL.
+
+FROM FLAMING GORGE TO THE GATE OF LODORE.
+
+149
+
+The distance from Flaming Gorge to Beehive Point is 9 2/3 miles.
+Besides passing through the gorge, the river runs through Horseshoe and
+Kingfisher canyons, separated by short valleys. The highest point on the
+walls at Flaming Gorge is 1,300 feet above the river. The east wall at
+the apex of Horseshoe Canyon is about 1,600 feet above the water's edge,
+and from this point the walls slope both to the head and foot of the
+canyon.
+
+Kingfisher Canyon, starting at the water's edge above, steadily
+increases in altitude to 1,200 feet at the foot.
+
+Red Canyon is 25 2/3 miles long, and the highest walls are about 2,500
+feet.
+
+Brown's Park is a valley, bounded on either side by a mountain range,
+really an expansion of the canyon. The river, through the park, is 35
+1/2 miles long, but passes through two short canyons on its way, where
+spurs from the mountains on the south are thrust across its course.
+powell-canyons-103.jpg
+
+150 powell-canyons-104.jpg
+
+THE HOME OF THE CHIEF.
+
+151
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE CANYON OF LODORE.
+
+JUNE 8.--We enter the canyon, and until noon find a succession of
+rapids, over which, our boats have to be taken. Here I must explain our
+method of proceeding at such places. The "Emma Dean "'goes in advance;
+the other boats follow, in obedience to signals. When we approach a
+rapid, or what on other rivers would often be called a fall, I stand
+on deck to examine it, while the oarsmen back water, and we drift on as
+slowly as possible. If I can see a clear chute between the rocks, away
+we go; but if the channel is beset entirely across, we signal the other
+boats, pull to land, and I walk along the shore for closer examination.
+If this reveals no clear channel, hard work begins. We drop the boats to
+the very head of the dangerous place and let them over by lines or make
+a portage, frequently carrying both boats and cargoes over the rocks.
+
+The waves caused by such falls in a river differ much from the waves
+of the sea. The water of an ocean wave merely rises and falls; the form
+only passes on, and form chases form unceasingly. A body floating on
+such waves merely rises and sinks--does not progress unless impelled by
+wind or some other power. But here the water of the wave passes on while
+the form remains. The waters plunge down ten or twenty feet to the foot
+of a fall, spring up again in a great wave, then down and up in a series
+of billows that gradually disappear in the more quiet waters below; but
+these waves are always there, and one can stand above and count them.
+
+A boat riding such billows leaps and plunges along with great velocity.
+Now, the difficulty in riding over these falls, when no rocks are in the
+way, is with the first wave at the foot. This will sometimes gather for
+a moment, heap up higher and higher, and then break back.
+
+152 2 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+If the boat strikes it the instant after it breaks, she cuts through,
+and the mad breaker dashes its spray over the boat and washes overboard
+all who do not cling tightly. If the boat, in going over the falls,
+chances to get caught in some side current and is turned from its
+course, so as to strike the wave "broadside on," and the wave breaks at
+the same instant, the boat is capsized; then we must cling to her, for
+the water-tight compartments act as buoys and she cannot sink; and so we
+go, dragged through the waves, until still waters are reached, when
+we right the boat and climb aboard. We have several such experiences
+to-day.
+
+At night we camp on the right bank, on a little shelving rock between
+the river and the foot of the cliff; and with night comes gloom into
+these great depths. After supper we sit by our camp fire, made of
+driftwood caught by the rocks, and tell stories of wild life; for
+the men have seen such in the mountains or on the plains, and on the
+battlefields of the South. It is late before we spread our blankets on
+the beach.
+
+Lying down, we look up through the canyon and see that only a little of
+the blue heaven appears overhead--a crescent of blue sky, with two or
+three constellations peering down upon us. I do not sleep for some time,
+as the excitement of the day has not worn off. Soon I see a bright star
+that appears to rest on the very verge of the cliff overhead to the
+east. Slowly it seems to float from its resting place on the rock over
+the canyon. At first it appears like a jewel set on the brink of the
+cliff, but as it moves out from the rock I almost wonder that it does
+not fall. In fact, it does seem to descend in a gentle curve, as though
+the bright sky in which the stars are set were spread across the canyon,
+resting on either wall, and swayed down by its own weight. The stars
+appear to be in the canyon. I soon discover that it is the bright star
+Vega; so it occurs to me to designate this part of the wall as the
+"Cliff of the Harp."
+
+June 9.--One of the party suggests that we call this the Canyon of
+Lodore, and the name is adopted. Very slowly we make our way, often
+climbing on the rocks at the edge of the water for a few hundred yards
+to examine the channel before running it. During the afternoon we come
+to a place where it is necessary to make a portage. The little boat is
+landed and the others are signaled to come up.
+
+THE CANYON OF LODOKE.
+
+153
+
+When these rapids or broken falls occur usually the channel is
+suddenly narrowed by rocks which have been tumbled from the cliffs or
+powell-canyons-105.jpg
+
+GATE OF LODORE.
+
+have been washed in by lateral streams. Immediately above the narrow,
+rocky channel, on one or both sides, there is often a bay of quiet
+water, in which a landing can be made with ease. Sometimes
+
+154 4 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the water descends with a smooth, unruffled surface from the
+broad, quiet spread above into the narrow, angry channel below by a
+semicircular sag. Great care must be taken not to pass over the brink
+into this deceptive pit, but above it we can row with safety. I walk
+along the bank to examine the ground, leaving one of my men with a flag
+to guide the other boats to the landing-place. I soon see one of the
+boats make shore all right, and feel no more concern; but a minute
+after, I hear a shout, and, looking around, see one of the boats
+shooting down the center of the sag. It is the "No Name," with Captain
+Howland, his brother, and Goodman. I feel that its going over is
+inevitable, and run to save the third boat. A minute more, and she turns
+the point and heads for the shore. Then I turn down stream again and
+scramble along to look for the boat that has gone over. The first fall
+is not great, only 10 or 12 feet, and we often run such; but below, the
+river tumbles down again for 40 or 50 feet, in a channel filled with
+dangerous rocks that break the waves into whirlpools and beat them into
+foam. I pass around a great crag just in time to see the boat strike
+a rock and, rebounding from the shock, careen and fill its open
+compartment with water. Two of the men lose their oars; she swings
+around and is carried down at a rapid rate, broadside on, for a few
+yards, when, striking amidships on another rock with great force, she
+is broken quite in two and the men are thrown into the river. But the
+larger part of the boat floats buoyantly, and they soon seize it, and
+down the river they drift, past the rocks for a few hundred yards, to a
+second rapid filled with huge boulders, where the boat strikes again and
+is dashed to pieces, and the men and fragments are soon carried beyond
+my sight. Running along, I turn a bend and see a man's head above the
+water, washed about in a whirlpool below a great rock. It is Frank
+Goodman, clinging to the rock with a grip upon which life depends.
+Coming opposite, I see Howland trying to go to his aid from an island on
+which he has been washed. Soon he comes near enough to reach Frank with
+a pole, which he extends toward him. The latter lets go the rock, grasps
+the pole, and is pulled ashore. Seneca Howland is washed farther down
+the island and is caught by some rocks, and, though somewhat bruised,
+manages to get ashore in safety. This seems a long time as I tell it,
+but it is quickly done.
+
+THE CANYON OF LODORE. 155
+
+And now the three men are on an island, with a swift, dangerous river on
+either side and a fall below. The "Emma Dean" is soon brought down, and
+Sumner, starting above as far as possible, pushes powell-canyons-106.jpg
+
+WRECK AT DISASTER FALLS.
+
+out. Right skillfully he plies the oars, and a few strokes set him on
+the island at the proper point. Then they all pull the boat up stream as
+far as they are able, until they stand in water up to their necks. One
+
+156 6 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+sits on a rock and holds the boat until the others are ready to pull,
+then gives the boat a push, clings to it with his hands, and climbs in
+as they pull for mainland, which they reach in safety. We are as glad
+to shake hands with them as though they had been on a voyage around the
+world and wrecked on a distant coast.
+
+Down the river half a mile we find that the after cabin of the
+powell-canyons-107.jpg
+
+METALLIFEROUS VEINS EXPOSED TO VIEW.
+
+wrecked boat, with a part of the bottom, ragged and splintered, has
+floated against a rock and stranded. There are valuable articles in the
+cabin; but, on examination, we determine that life should not
+
+THE CANYON OF LODORE. 157
+
+be risked to save them. Of course, the cargo of rations, instruments,
+and clothing is gone.
+
+We return to the boats and make camp for the night. No sleep comes to
+me in all those dark hours. The rations, instruments, and clothing have
+been divided among the boats, anticipating such an accident as this; and
+we started with duplicates of everything that was deemed necessary
+to success. But, in the distribution, there was one exception to this
+precaution--the barometers were all placed in one boat, and they are
+lost! There is a possibility that they are in the cabin lodged against
+the rock, for that is where they were kept. But, then, how to reach
+them? The river is rising. Will they be there to-morrow? Can I go out to
+Salt Lake City and obtain barometers from New York?
+
+June 10.--I have determined to get the barometers from the wreck, if
+they are there. After breakfast, while the men make the portage, I go
+down again for another examination, There the cabin lies, only carried
+50 or 60 feet farther on. Carefully looking over the ground, I am
+satisfied that it can be reached with safety, and return to tell the
+men my conclusion. Sumner and Dunn volunteer to take the little boat and
+make the attempt. They start, reach it, and out come the barometers!
+The boys set up a shout, and I join them, pleased that they should be as
+glad as myself to save the instruments. When the boat lands on our side,
+I find that the only things saved from the wreck were the barometers, a
+package of thermometers, and a three-gallon keg of whiskey. The last is
+what the men were shouting about. They had taken it aboard unknown to
+me, and now I am glad they did take it, for it will do them good, as
+they are drenched every day by the melting snow which runs down from the
+summits of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+We come back to our work at the portage and find that it is necessary to
+carry our rations over the rocks for nearly a mile and to let our
+boats down with lines, except at a few points, where they also must be
+carried. Between the river and the eastern wall of the canyon there
+is an immense talus of broken rocks. These have tumbled down from the
+cliffs above and constitute a vast pile of huge angular fragments. On
+these we build a path for a quarter of a mile to a small sand-beach
+covered with driftwood, through which we clear a way for several
+
+158 8 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+hundred yards, then continue the trail over another pile of rocks nearly
+half a mile farther down, to a little bay. The greater part of the day
+is spent in this work. Then we carry our cargoes down to the beach and
+camp for the night.
+
+While the men are building the camp fire, we discover an iron bake-oven,
+several tin plates, a part of a boat, and many other fragments, which
+denote that this is the place where Ashley's party was wrecked.
+
+June 11.--This day is spent in carrying our rations down to the bay--no
+small task, climbing over the rocks with sacks of flour and bacon. We
+carry them by stages of about 500 yards each, and when night comes and
+the last sack is on the beach, we are tired, bruised, and glad to sleep.
+
+June 12.--To-day we take the boats down to the bay. While at this work
+we discover three sacks of flour from the wrecked boat that have lodged
+in the rocks. We carry them above high-water mark and leave them, as
+our cargoes are already too heavy for the three remaining boats. We also
+find two or three oars, which we place with them.
+
+As Ashley and his party were wrecked here and as we have lost one of our
+boats at the same place, we adopt the name Disaster Falls for the scene
+of so much peril and loss.
+
+Though some of his companions were drowned, Ashley and one other
+survived the wreck, climbed the canyon wall, and found their way across
+the Wasatch Mountains to Salt Lake City, living chiefly on berries,
+as they wandered through an unknown and difficult country. When they
+arrived at Salt Lake they were almost destitute of clothing and nearly
+starved. The Mormon people gave them food and clothing and employed them
+to work on the foundation of the Temple until they had earned sufficient
+to enable them to leave the country. Of their subsequent history, I have
+no knowledge. It is possible they returned to the scene of the disaster,
+as a little creek entering the river below is known as Ashley's Creek,
+and it is reported that he built a cabin and trapped on this river for
+one or two winters; but this may have been before the disaster.
+
+June 13.--Rocks, rapids, and portages still. We camp to-night at
+
+THE CANYON OF LODOEE.
+
+159
+
+the foot of the left fall, on a little patch of flood plain covered
+with a dense growth of box-elders, stopping early in order to spread the
+clothing and rations to dry. Everything is wet and spoiling.
+
+June 14.--Howland and I climb the wall on the west side of the canyon
+to an altitude of 2,000 feet. Standing above and looking to the west, we
+discover a large park, five or six miles wide and twenty or thirty long.
+The cliff we have climbed forms a wall between the canyon and the park,
+for it is 800 feet down the western side to the valley. A creek comes
+winding down 1,200 feet above the river, and, entering the intervening
+wall by a canyon, plunges down more than 1,000 feet, by a broken
+cascade, into the river below.
+
+June 15.--To-day, while we make another portage, a peak, standing on the
+east wall, is climbed by two of the men and found to be 2,700 feet above
+the river. On the east side of the canyon a vast amphitheater has
+been cut, with massive buttresses and deep, dark alcoves in which
+powell-canyons-108.jpg
+
+WINNIE'S GROTTO, A SIDE CANYON.
+
+160 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+grow beautiful mosses and delicate ferns, while springs burst out from
+the farther recesses and wind in silver threads over floors of sand
+rock. Here we have three falls in close succession. At the first the
+water is compressed into a very narrow channel against the right-hand
+cliff, and falls 15 feet in 10 yards. At the second we have a broad
+sheet of water tumbling down 20 feet over a group of rocks that thrust
+their dark heads through the foam. The third is a broken fall, or short,
+abrupt rapid, where the water makes a descent of more than 20 feet among
+huge, fallen fragments of the cliff. We name the group Triplet Falls.
+We make a portage around the first; past the second and the third we let
+down with lines.
+
+During the afternoon, Dunn and Howland having returned from their climb,
+we run down three quarters of a mile on quiet waters and land at the
+head of another fall. On examination, we find that there is an abrupt
+plunge of a few feet and then the river tumbles for half a mile with a
+descent of a hundred feet, in a channel beset with great numbers of
+huge boulders. This stretch of the river is named Hell's Half-Mile. The
+remaining portion of the day is occupied in making a trail among the
+rocks at the foot of the rapid.
+
+June 16.--Our first work this morning is to carry our cargoes to the
+foot of the falls. Then we commence letting down the boats. We take two
+of them down in safety, but not without great difficulty; for, where
+such a vast body of water, rolling down an inclined plane, is broken
+into eddies and cross-currents by rocks projecting from the cliffs and
+piles of boulders in the channel, it requires excessive labor and
+much care to prevent the boats from being dashed against the rocks or
+breaking away. Sometimes we are compelled to hold the boat against a
+rock above a chute until a second line, attached to the stem, is carried
+to some point below, and when all is ready the first line is detached
+and the boat given to the current, when she shoots down and the men
+below swing her into some eddy.
+
+At such a place we are letting down the last boat, and as she is set
+free a wave turns her broadside down the stream, with the stem, to which
+the line is attached, from shore and a little up. They haul on the line
+to bring the boat in, but the power of the current, striking obliquely
+against her, shoots her out into the middle of the river. The
+
+THE CANYON OF LODORE.
+
+161
+
+men have their hands burned with the friction of the passing line; the
+boat breaks away and speeds with great velocity down the stream.
+The "Maid of the Canyon" is lost! So it seems; but she drifts
+powell-canyons-109.jpg
+
+ERODED TOWERS CAPPED WITH LARGE BLOCKS OF SANDSTONE.
+
+some distance and swings into an eddy, in which she spins about until we
+arrive with the small boat and rescue her.
+
+Soon we are on our way again, and stop at the mouth of a little brook on
+the right for a late dinner. This brook comes down from the distant
+
+162
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+mountains in a deep side canyon. We set out to explore it, but are soon
+cut off from farther progress up the gorge by a high rock, over which
+the brook glides in a smooth sheet. The rock is not quite vertical, and
+the water does not plunge over it in a fall.
+
+Then we climb up to the left for an hour, and are 1,000 feet above the
+river and 600 above the brook. Just before us the canyon divides, a
+little stream coming down on the right and another on the left, and we
+can look away up either of these canyons, through an ascending vista, to
+cliffs and crags and towers a mile back and 2,000 feet overhead. To the
+right a dozen gleaming cascades are seen. Pines and firs stand on the
+rocks and aspens overhang the brooks. The rocks below are red and brown,
+set in deep shadows, but above they are buff and vermilion and stand in
+the sunshine. The light above, made more brilliant by the bright-tinted
+rocks, and the shadows below, more gloomy powell-canyons-110.jpg
+
+FIRE IN CAMP.
+
+by reason of the somber hues of the brown walls, increase the apparent
+depths of the canyons, and it seems a long way up to the world of
+sunshine and open sky, and a long way down to the bottom of the
+
+THE CANYON OF LODORE. 163
+
+canyon glooms. Never before have I received such an impression of the
+vast heights of these canyon walls, not even at the Cliff of the Harp,
+where the very heavens seemed to rest on their summits. We sit on some
+overhanging rocks and enjoy the scene for a time, listening to the music
+of the falling waters away up the canyon. We name this Rippling Brook.
+
+Late in the afternoon we make a short run to the mouth of another little
+creek, coming down from the left into an alcove filled with luxuriant
+vegetation. Here camp is made, with a group of cedars on one side and a
+dense mass of box-elders and dead willows on the other.
+
+I go up to explore the alcove. While away a whirlwind comes and scatters
+the fire among the dead willows and cedar-spray, and soon there is
+a conflagration. The men rush for the boats, leaving all they cannot
+readily seize at the moment, and even then they have their clothing
+burned and hair singed, and Bradley has his ears scorched. The cook
+fills his arms with the mess-kit, and jumping into a boat, stumbles and
+falls, and away go our cooking utensils into the river. Our plates are
+gone; our spoons are gone; our knives and forks are gone. "Water catch
+'em; h-e-a-p catch 'em."
+
+When on the boats, the men are compelled to cut loose, as the flames,
+running out on the overhanging willows, are scorching them. Loose on the
+stream, they must go down, for the water is too swift to make headway
+against it. Just below is a rapid, filled with rocks. On the shoot,
+no channel explored, no signal to guide them! Just at this juncture
+I chance to see them, but have not yet discovered the fire, and the
+strange movements of the men fill me with astonishment. Down the rocks
+I clamber, and run to the bank. When I arrive they have landed. Then
+we all go back to the late camp to see if anything left behind can be
+saved. Some of the clothing and bedding taken out of the boats is found,
+also a few tin cups, basins, and a camp kettle; and this is all the
+mess-kit we now have. Yet we do just as well as ever.
+
+June 17.--We run down to the mouth of Yampa River. This has been a
+chapter of disasters and toils, notwithstanding which the Canyon of
+Lodore was not devoid of scenic interest, even beyond the power
+
+164 powell-canyons-111.jpg
+
+AN ISOLATED HOUSE AT ZUÑI.
+
+THE CANYON OF LODOKE.
+
+165
+
+of pen to tell. The roar of its waters was heard unceasingly from the
+hour we entered it until we landed here. No quiet in all that time.
+But its walls and cliffs, its peaks and crags, its amphitheaters and
+alcoves, tell a story of beauty and grandeur that I hear yet--and shall
+hear.
+
+The Canyon of Lodore is 20 3/4 miles in length. It starts abruptly at
+what we have called the Gate of Lodore, with walls nearly 2,000 feet
+high, and they are never lower than this until we reach Alcove Brook,
+about three miles above the foot. They are very irregular, standing
+in vertical or overhanging cliffs in places, terraced in others, or
+receding in steep slopes, and are broken by many side gulches and
+canyons. The highest point on the wall is at Dunn's Cliff, near Triplet
+Falls, where the rocks reach an altitude of 2,700 feet, but the peaks a
+little way back rise nearly 1,000 feet higher. Yellow pines, nut pines,
+firs, and cedars stand in extensive forests on the Uinta Mountains, and,
+clinging to the rocks and growing in the crevices, come down the walls
+to the water's edge from Flaming Gorge to Echo Park. The red sandstones
+are lichened. over; delicate mosses grow in the moist places, and ferns
+festoon the walls. powell-canyons-112.jpg
+
+166 powell-canyons-113.jpg
+
+AN ORAIBE COURT.
+
+167
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF THE UINTA RIVER.
+
+THE Yampa enters the Green from the east. At a point opposite its mouth
+the Green runs to the south, at the foot of a rock about 700 feet high
+and a mile long, and then turns sharply around the rock to the right
+and runs back in a northerly course parallel to its former direction for
+nearly another mile, thus having the opposite sides of a long, narrow
+rock for its bank. The tongue of rock so formed is a peninsular
+precipice with a mural escarpment along its whole course on the east,
+but broken down at places on the west.
+
+On the east side of the river, opposite the rock and below the Yampa,
+there is a little park, just large enough for a farm, already fenced
+with high walls of gray homogeneous sandstone. There are three river
+entrances to this park: one down the Yampa; one below, by coming up the
+Green; and another down the Green. There is also a land entrance down
+a lateral canyon. Elsewhere the park is inaccessible. Through this land
+entrance by the side canyon there is a trail made by Indian hunters, who
+come down here in certain seasons to kill mountain sheep. Great hollow
+domes are seen in the eastern side of the rock, against which the Green
+sweeps; willows border the river; clumps of box-elder are seen; and a
+few cottonwoods stand at the lower end. Standing opposite the rock, our
+words are repeated with startling clearness, but in a soft, mellow tone,
+that transforms them into magical music. Scarcely can one believe it is
+the echo of his own voice. In some places two or three echoes come back;
+in other places they repeat themselves, passing back and forth across
+the river between this rock and the eastern wall. To hear these repeated
+echoes well, we must shout. Some of the party aver that ten or twelve
+repetitions can be heard. To
+
+168 8 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+me, they seem rapidly to diminish and merge by multiplicity, like
+telegraph poles on an outstretched plain. I have observed the same
+phenomenon once before in the cliffs near Long's Peak, and am pleased to
+meet with it again.
+
+During the afternoon Bradley and I climb some cliffs to the north.
+Mountain sheep are seen above us, and they stand out on the rocks and
+eye us intently, not seeming to move. Their color is much like that of
+the gray sandstone beneath them, and, immovable as they are, they appear
+like carved forms. Now a fine ram beats the rock with his fore foot,
+and, wheeling around, they all bound away together, leaping over rocks
+and chasms and climbing walls where no man can follow, and this with an
+ease and grace most wonderful. At night we return to our camp under the
+box-elders by the river side. Here we are to spend two or three days,
+making a series of astronomic observations for latitude and longitude.
+
+June 18.--We have named the long peninsular rock on the other side Echo
+Rock. Desiring to climb it, Bradley and I take the little boat and
+pull up stream as far as possible, for it cannot be climbed directly
+opposite. We land on a talus of rocks at the upper end in order to reach
+a place where it seems practicable to make the ascent; but we find we
+must go still farther up the river. So we scramble along, until we reach
+a place where the river sweeps against the wall. Here we find a shelf
+along which we can pass, and now are ready for the climb.
+
+We start up a gulch; then pass to the left on a bench along the wall;
+then up again over broken rocks; then we reach more benches, along
+which we walk, until we find more broken rocks and crevices, by which we
+climb; still up, until we have ascended 600 or 800 feet, when we are
+met by a sheer precipice. Looking about, we find a place where it seems
+possible to climb. I go ahead; Bradley hands the barometer to me, and
+follows. So we proceed, stage by stage, until we are nearly to the
+summit. Here, by making a spring, I gain a foothold in a little crevice,
+and grasp an angle of the rock overhead. I find I can get up no farther
+and cannot step back, for I dare not let go with my hand and cannot
+reach foothold below without. I call to Bradley for help. He finds a way
+by which he can get to the top of the
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER.
+
+169
+
+rock over my head, but cannot reach me. Then he looks around for some
+stick or limb of a tree, but finds none. Then he suggests that he would
+better help me with the barometer case, but I fear I cannot hold on to
+it. The moment is critical. Standing on my toes, my muscles begin to
+tremble. It is sixty or eighty feet to the foot of the precipice. If I
+lose my hold I shall fall to the bottom and then perhaps roll over the
+bench and tumble still farther down the cliff. At this instant it occurs
+to Bradley to take off his drawers, which he does, and swings them down
+to me. I hug close to the rock, let go with my hand, seize the dangling
+legs, and with his assistance am enabled to gain the top.
+
+Then we walk out on the peninsular rock, make the necessary observations
+for determining its altitude above camp, and return, finding an easy way
+down.
+
+June 19.--To-day, Howland, Bradley, and I take the "Emma Dean" and start
+up the Yampa River. The stream is much swollen, the current swift, and
+we are able to make but slow progress against it. The canyon in this
+part of the course of the Yampa is cut through light gray sandstone.
+The river is very winding, and the swifter water is usually
+powell-canyons-114.jpg
+
+THE RESCUE.
+
+170
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+found on the outside of the curve, sweeping against vertical cliffs
+often a thousand feet high. In the center of these curves, in many
+places, the rock above overhangs the river. On the opposite side the
+walls are broken, craggy, and sloping, and occasionally side canyons
+enter. When we have rowed until we are quite tired we stop and take
+advantage of one of these broken places to climb out of the canyon. When
+above, we can look up the Yampa for a distance of several miles. From
+the summit of the immediate walls of the canyon the rocks rise gently
+back for a distance of a mile or two, having the appearance of a
+valley with an irregular and rounded sandstone floor and in the
+powell-canyons-115.jpg
+
+ECHO PARK.
+
+center a deep gorge, which is the canyon. The rim of this valley on the
+north is from 2,500 to 3,000 feet above the river; on the south it is
+not so high. A number of peaks stand on this northern rim, the highest
+of which has received the name Mount Dawes.
+
+Late in the afternoon we descend to our boat and return to camp in Echo
+Park, gliding down in twenty minutes on the rapid river, a distance of
+four or five miles, which was made up stream only by several hours' hard
+rowing in the morning.
+
+June 20.--This morning two of the men take me up the Yampa for a short
+distance, and I go out to climb. Having reached the top of
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER.
+
+171
+
+the canyon, I walk over long stretches of naked sandstone, crossing
+gulches now and then, and by noon reach the summit of Mount Dawes. From
+this point I can look away to the north and see in the dim distance the
+Sweetwater and Wind River mountains, more than 100 miles away. To the
+northwest the Wasatch Mountains are in view, and peaks of the Uinta.
+To the east I can see the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains,
+powell-canyons-116.jpg
+
+FRAGMENT OF WALL, ZUÑI.
+
+more than 150 miles distant. The air is singularly clear to-day;
+mountains and buttes stand in sharp outline, valleys stretch out in
+perspective, and I can look down into the deep canyon gorges and see
+gleaming waters.
+
+Descending, I cross to a ridge near the brink of the Canyon of Lodore,
+the highest point of which is nearly as high as the last mentioned
+mountain. Late in the afternoon I stand on this elevated
+
+172
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+point and discover a monument that has evidently been built by human
+hands. A few plants are growing in the joints between the rocks, and
+all are lichened over to a greater or less extent, giving evidence
+powell-canyons-117.jpg
+
+172
+
+KIVAS OF SHUMOPAVI.
+
+that the pile was built a long time ago. This line of peaks, the eastern
+extension of the Uinta Mountains, has received the name of Sierra
+Escalante, in honor of a Spanish priest who traveled in this region of
+country nearly a century ago. Perchance the reverend father built this
+monument.
+
+Now I return to the river and discharge my gun, as a signal for the boat
+to come and take me down to camp. While we have been in the park the
+men have succeeded in catching a number of fish, and we have an abundant
+supply. This is a delightful addition to our menu.
+
+June 21.-- We float around the long rock and enter another canyon. The
+walls are high and vertical, the canyon is narrow, and the river
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER.
+
+173
+
+fills the whole space below, so that there is no landing-place at the
+foot of the cliff. The Green is greatly increased by the Yampa, and we
+now have a much larger river. All this volume of water, confined, as it
+is, in a narrow channel and rushing with great velocity, is set eddying
+and spinning in whirlpools by projecting rocks and short curves, and the
+waters waltz their way through the canyon, making their own rippling,
+rushing, roaring music. The canyon is much narrower than any we have
+seen. We manage our boats with difficulty. They spin about from side to
+side and we know not where we are going, and find it impossible to keep
+them headed down the stream. At first this causes us great alarm, but we
+soon find there is little danger, and that there is a general movement
+or progression down the river, to which this whirling is but an
+adjunct--that it is the merry mood powell-canyons-118.jpg
+
+GENERAL VTEW OF AWATUBI.
+
+of the river to dance through this deep, dark gorge, and right gaily do
+we join in the sport.
+
+But soon our revel is interrupted by a cataract; its roaring command is
+heeded by all our power at the oars, and we pull against the whirling
+current. The "Emma Dean" is brought up against a cliff
+
+174 4 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+about 50 feet above the brink of the fall. By vigorously plying the oars
+on the side opposite the wall, as if to pull up stream, we can hold her
+against the rock. The boats behind are signaled to land where they can.
+The "Maid of the Canyon" is pulled to the left wall, and, by constant
+rowing, they can hold her also. The "Sister" is run into an alcove on
+the right, where an eddy is in a dance, and in this she joins. Now my
+little boat is held against the wall only by the utmost exertion, and
+it is impossible to make headway against the current. On examination, I
+find a horizontal crevice in the rock, about 10 feet above the water and
+a boat's length below us; so we let her down to that point. One of the
+men clambers into the crevice, into which he can just crawl; we toss him
+the line, which he makes fast in the rocks, and now our boat is tied up.
+Then I follow into the crevice and we crawl along up stream a distance
+of 50 feet or more, and find a broken place where we can climb about 50
+feet higher. Here we stand on a shelf that passes along down stream to
+a point above the falls, where it is broken down, and a pile of rocks,
+over which we can descend to the river, is lying against the foot of the
+cliff.
+
+It has been mentioned that one of the boats is on the other side. I
+signal for the men to pull her up alongside of the wall, but it cannot
+be done; then to cross. This they do, gaining the wall on our side just
+above where the "Emma Dean" is tied.
+
+The third boat is out of sight, whirling in the eddy of a recess.
+Looking about, I find another horizontal crevice, along which I crawl to
+a point just over the water where this boat is lying, and, calling loud
+and long, I finally succeed in making the crew understand that I want
+them to bring the boat down, hugging the wall. This they accomplish by
+taking advantage of every crevice and knob on the face of the cliff, so
+that we have the three boats together at a point a few yards above the
+falls. Now, by passing a line up on the shelf, the boats can be let down
+to the broken rocks below. This we do, and, making a short portage, our
+troubles here are over.
+
+Below the falls the canyon is wider, and there is more or less space
+between the river and the walls; but the stream, though wide, is rapid,
+and rolls at a fearful rate among the rocks. We proceed with great
+caution, and run the large boats wholly by signal.
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA EIVER.
+
+175
+
+At night we camp at the mouth of a small creek, which affords us a
+good supper of trout. In camp to-night we discuss the propriety
+powell-canyons-119.jpg
+
+SWALLOW CAVE.
+
+of several different names for this canyon. At the falls encountered at
+noon its characteristics change suddenly. Above, it is very narrow, and
+the walls are almost vertical; below, the canyon is much wider
+
+176 6 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+and more flaring, and high up on the sides crags, pinnacles, and towers
+are seen. A number of wild and narrow side canyons enter, and the walls
+are much broken. After many suggestions our choice rests between two
+names, Whirlpool Canyon and Craggy Canyon, neither of which is strictly
+appropriate for both parts of it; so we leave the discussion at this
+point, with the understanding that it is best, before finally deciding
+on a name, to wait until we see what the character of the canyon is
+below.
+
+June 22.--Still making short portages and letting down with lines. While
+we are waiting for dinner to-day, I climb a point that gives me a good
+view of the river for two or three miles below, and I think we can make
+a long run. After dinner we start; the large boats are to follow in
+fifteen minutes and look out for the signal to land. Into the middle
+of the stream we row, and down the rapid river we glide, only making
+strokes enough with the oars to guide the boat. What a headlong ride it
+is! shooting past rocks and islands. I am soon filled with exhilaration
+only experienced before in riding a fleet horse over the outstretched
+prairie. One, two, three, four miles we go, rearing and plunging with
+the waves, until we wheel to the right into a beautiful park and land on
+an island, where we go into camp.
+
+An hour or two before sunset I cross to the mainland and climb a point
+of rocks where I can overlook the park and its surroundings. On the
+east it is bounded by a high mountain ridge. A semicircle of naked hills
+bounds it on the north, west, and south.
+
+The broad, deep river meanders through the park, interrupted by many
+wooded islands; so I name it Island Park, and decide to call the canyon
+above, Whirlpool Canyon.
+
+June 23.--We remain in camp to-day to repair our boats, which have had
+hard knocks and are leaking. Two of the men go out with the barometer to
+climb the cliff at the foot of Whirlpool Canyon and measure the walls;
+another goes on the mountain to hunt; and Bradley and I spend the day
+among the rocks, studying an interesting geologic fold and collecting
+fossils. Late in the afternoon the hunter returns and brings with him a
+fine, fat deer; so we give his name to the mountain--Mount Hawkins. Just
+before night we move camp to the lower end of the park, floating down
+the river about four miles.
+
+PROM ECHO PAEK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA KIVEK.
+
+177
+
+June 24.--Bradley and I start early to climb the mountain ridge to the
+east, and find its summit to be nearly 3,000 feet above camp. It has
+required some labor to scale it; but on its top, what a view! There is a
+long spur running out from the Uinta Mountains toward the south, and
+the river runs lengthwise through it. Coming down Lodore
+powell-canyons-120.jpg
+
+VIEW OF SIIUMOPAVI.
+
+and Whirlpool canyons, we cut through the southern slope of the Uinta
+Mountains; and the lower end of this latter canyon runs into the spur,
+but, instead of splitting it the whole length, the river wheels to the
+right at the foot of Whirlpool Canyon in a great curve to the northwest
+through Island Park. At the lower end of the park, the river
+
+178
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-121.jpg
+
+RUINS.
+
+turns again to the southeast and cuts into the mountain to its center
+and then makes a detour to the southwest, splitting the mountain ridge
+for a distance of six miles nearly to its foot, and then turns out of it
+to the left. All this we can see where we stand on the summit of Mount
+Hawkins, and so we name the gorge below, Split Mountain Canyon.
+
+We are standing 3,000 feet above the waters, which are troubled with
+billows and are white with foam. The walls are set with crags and peaks
+and buttressed towers and overhanging domes. Turning to the right, the
+park is below us, its island groves reflected by the deep, quiet waters.
+Rich meadows stretch out on either hand to the verge of a sloping plain
+that comes down from the distant mountains. These plains are of almost
+naked rock, in strange contrast to the meadows,--blue and lilac colored
+rocks, buff and pink, vermilion and brown,
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER.
+
+179
+
+and all these colors clear and bright. A dozen little creeks, dry the
+greater part of the year, run down through the half circle of exposed
+formations, radiating from the island center to the rim of the basin.
+Each creek has its system of side streams and each side stream has
+its system of laterals, and again these are divided; so that
+this outstretched slope of rock is elaborately embossed. Beds of
+different-colored formations run in parallel bands on either side.
+The perspective, modified by the undulations, gives the bands a waved
+appearance, and the high colors gleam in the midday sun with the luster
+of satin. We are tempted to call this Rainbow Park. Away beyond these
+beds are the Uinta and Wasatch mountains with their pine forests and
+snow fields and naked peaks. Now we turn to the right and look up
+Whirlpool Canyon, a deep gorge with a river at the bottom--a gloomy
+chasm, where mad waves roar; but at this distance and altitude the river
+is but a rippling brook, and the chasm a narrow cleft. The top of
+the mountain on which we stand is a broad, grassy table, and a herd
+powell-canyons-122.jpg
+
+RUINS.
+
+180 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+of deer are feeding in the distance. Walking over to the southeast,
+we look down into the valley of White River, and beyond that see the
+far-distant Rocky Mountains, in mellow, perspective haze, through which
+snow fields shine.
+
+June 25.--This morning we enter Split Mountain Canyon, sailing in
+
+through a broad, flaring, brilliant gateway. We run two or three rapids,
+after they have been carefully examined. Then we have a series of six
+or eight, over which we are compelled to pass by letting the boats down
+with lines. This occupies the entire day, and we camp at night at the
+mouth of a great cave. The cave is at the foot of one of these rapids,
+and the waves dash in nearly to its end. We can pass along a little
+shelf at the side until we reach the back part. Swallows have built
+their nests in the ceiling, and they wheel in, chattering and scolding
+at our intrusion; but their clamor is almost drowned by the noise of the
+waters. Looking out of the cave, we can see, far up the river, a line
+of crags standing sentinel on either side, and Mount Hawkins in the
+distance.
+
+June 26.--The forenoon is spent in getting our large boats over the
+rapids. This afternoon we find three falls in close succession. We
+carry our rations over the rocks and let our boats shoot over the falls,
+checking and bringing them to land with lines in the eddies below. At
+three o'clock we are all aboard again. Down the river we are carried
+by the swift waters at great speed, sheering around a rock now and then
+with a timely stroke or two of the oars. At one point the river turns
+from left to right, in a direction at right angles to the canyon, in
+a long chute and strikes the right, where its waters are heaped up in
+great billows that tumble back in breakers. We glide into the chute
+before we see the danger, and it is too late to stop. Two or three hard
+strokes are given on the right and we pause for an instant, expecting
+to be dashed against the rock. But the bow of the boat leaps high on a
+great wave, the rebounding waters hurl us back, and the peril is past.
+The next moment the other boats are hurriedly signaled to land on the
+left. Accomplishing this, the men walk along the shore, holding the
+boats near the bank, and let them drift around. Starting again, we soon
+debouch into a beautiful valley, glide down its length for 10 miles, and
+camp under a grand
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER.
+
+181
+
+old cottonwood. This is evidently a frequent resort for Indians. Tent
+poles are lying about, and the dead embers of late camp fires are seen.
+On the plains to the left, antelope are feeding. Now and then a wolf is
+seen, and after dark they make the air resound with their howling.
+June 27.--Now our way is along a gently flowing river, beset with
+powell-canyons-123.jpg
+
+INDIAN LODGE IN THE UINTA VALLEY.
+
+many islands; groves are seen on either side, and natural meadows,
+where herds of antelope are feeding. Here and there we have views of
+the distant mountains on the right. During the afternoon we make a long
+detour to the west and return again to a point not more than half a mile
+from where we started at noon, and here we camp for the night under a
+high bluff. June 28.--To-day the scenery on either side of the river is
+much
+
+182 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the same as that of yesterday, except that two or three lakes are
+discovered, lying in the valley to the west. After dinner we run but a
+few minutes when we discover the mouth of the Uinta, a river coming
+in from the west. Up the valley of this stream about 40 miles the
+reservation of the Uinta Indians is situated. We propose to go there
+and see if we can replenish our mess-kit, and perhaps send letters to
+friends. We also desire to establish an astronomic station here; and
+hence this will be our stopping place for several days.
+
+Some years ago Captain Berthoud surveyed a stage route from Salt Lake
+City to Denver, and this is the place where he crossed the Green River.
+His party was encamped here for some time, constructing a ferry boat and
+opening a road.
+
+A little above the mouth of the Uinta, on the west side of the Green,
+there is a lake of several thousand acres. We carry our boat across the
+divide between this and the river, have a row on its quiet waters, and
+succeed in shooting several ducks.
+
+June 29.--A mile and three quarters from here is the junction of the
+White River with the Green. The White has its source far to the east in
+the Rocky Mountains. This morning I cross the Green and go over into the
+valley of the White and extend my walk several miles along its winding
+way, until at last I come in sight of some strangely carved rocks, named
+by General Hughes, in his journal, "Goblin City." Our last winter's camp
+was situated a hundred miles above the point reached to-day. The course
+of the river, for much of the distance, is through canyons; but at some
+places valleys are found. Excepting these little valleys, the region
+is one of great desolation: arid, almost treeless, with bluffs, hills,
+ledges of rock, and drifting sands. Along the course of the Green,
+however, from the foot of Split Mountain Canyon to a point some distance
+below the mouth of the Uinta, there are many groves of cottonwood,
+natural meadows, and rich lands. This arable belt extends some distance
+up the White River on the east and the Uinta on the west, and the time
+must soon come when settlers will penetrate this country and make homes.
+
+June 30.--We have a row up the Uinta to-day, but are not able to make
+much headway against the swift current, and hence conclude we must walk
+all the way to the agency.
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER.
+
+183
+
+July 1.--Two days have been employed in obtaining the local time, taking
+observations for latitude and longitude, and making excursions into the
+adjacent country. This morning, with two of the men, I start for the
+agency. It is a toilsome walk, 20 miles of the distance being across a
+sand desert. Occasionally we have to wade the river, crossing it
+back and forth. Toward evening we cross several beautiful streams,
+powell-canyons-124.jpg
+
+WARRIOR AND BRIDE.
+
+tributaries of the Uinta, and pass through pine groves and meadows,
+arriving at the reservation just at dusk. Captain Dodds, the agent, is
+away, having gone to Salt Lake City, but his assistants receive us
+very kindly. It is rather pleasant to see a house once more, and some
+evidences of civilization, even if it is on an Indian reservation
+several days' ride from the nearest home of the white man. July 2.--I go
+this morning to visit Tsauwiat. This old chief is
+
+184 4 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+but the wreck of a man, and no longer has influence. Looking at him one
+can scarcely realize that he is a man. His skin is shrunken, wrinkled,
+and dry, and seems to cover no more than a form of bones. He is said
+to be more than 100 years old. I talk a little with him, but his
+conversation is incoherent, though he seems to take pride in showing me
+some medals that must have been given him many years ago. He has a pipe
+which he says he has used a long time. I offer to exchange with him,
+and he seems to be glad to accept; so I add another to my collection of
+pipes. His wife, "The Bishop," as she is called, is a very garrulous
+old woman; she exerts a great influence, and is much revered. She is the
+only Indian woman I have known to occupy a place in the council ring.
+She seems very much younger than her husband, and, though wrinkled
+and ugly, is still vigorous. She has much to say to me concerning the
+condition of the people, and seems very anxious that they should learn
+to cultivate the soil, own farms, and live like white men. After talking
+a couple of hours with these old people, I go to see the farms. They are
+situated in a very beautiful district, where many fine streams of
+water meander across alluvial plains and meadows. These creeks have a
+considerable fall, and it is easy to take their waters out above and
+overflow the lands with them.
+
+It will be remembered that irrigation is necessary in this dry climate
+to successful farming. Quite a number of Indians have each a patch of
+ground of two or three acres, on which they are raising wheat, potatoes,
+turnips, pumpkins, melons, and other vegetables. Most of the crops are
+looking well, and it is rather surprising with what pride they show us
+that they are able to cultivate crops like white men. They are still
+occupying lodges, and refuse to build houses, assigning as a reason
+that when any one dies in a lodge it is always abandoned, and very often
+burned with all the effects of the deceased; and when houses have been
+built for them the houses have been treated in the same way. With their
+unclean habits, a fixed residence would doubtless be no pleasant place.
+
+This beautiful valley has been the home of a people of a higher grade
+of civilization than the present Utes. Evidences of this are quite
+abundant; on our way here yesterday we discovered fragments
+
+FROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER. 185
+
+of pottery in many places along the trail; and, wandering about the
+little farms to-day, I find the foundations of ancient houses, and
+mealing-stones that were not used by nomadic people, as they are
+too heavy to be transported by such tribes, and are deeply worn. The
+powell-canyons-125.jpg
+
+OUR INTERPRETER AND HIS FAMILY.
+
+Indians, seeing that I am interested in these matters, take pains to
+show me several other places where these evidences remain, and tell me
+that they know nothing about the people who formerly dwelt here.
+They further tell me that up in the canyon the rocks are covered with
+pictures.
+
+July 5.--The last two days have been spent in studying the language
+
+186 powell-canyons-126.jpg
+
+HOUSE BUILDING AT ORAIBI.
+
+PROM ECHO PARK TO THE MOUTH OF UINTA RIVER. 187
+
+of the Indians and in making collections of articles illustrating the
+state of arts among them.
+
+Frank Goodman informs me this morning that he has concluded not to go
+on with the party, saying that he has seen danger enough. It will be
+remembered that he was one of the crew on the "No Name" when she was
+wrecked. As our boats are rather heavily loaded, I am content that he
+should leave, although he has been a faithful man.
+
+We start early on our return to the boats, taking horses with us from
+the reservation, and two Indians, who are to bring the animals back.
+
+Whirlpool Canyon is 14 1/4 miles in length, the walls varying from 1,800
+to 2,400 feet in height. The course of the river through Island Park is
+9 miles. Split Mountain Canyon is 8 miles long. The highest crags on its
+walls reach an altitude above the river of from 2,500 to 2,700 feet. In
+these canyons cedars only are found on the walls.
+
+The distance by river from the foot of Split Mountain Canyon to the
+mouth of the Uinta is 67 miles. The valley through which it runs is
+the home of many antelope, and we have adopted for it the Indian name
+Won'sits Yuav--Antelope Valley. powell-canyons-127.jpg
+
+188 powell-canyons-128.jpg
+
+GENERAL VIEW OF OJO CALIENTE.
+
+189
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+FROM THE MOUTH OF THE UINTA RIVER TO THE JUNCTION OF THE
+
+GRAND AND GREEN.
+
+JULY 6.--An early start this morning. A short distance below the mouth
+of the Uinta we come to the head of a long island. Last winter a man
+named Johnson, a hunter and Indian trader, visited us at our camp in
+White River Valley. This man has an Indian wife, and, having no fixed
+home, usually travels with one of the Ute bands. He informed me that it
+was his intention to plant some corn, potatoes, and other vegetables on
+this island in the spring, and, knowing that we would pass it, invited
+us to stop and help ourselves, even if he should not be there; so we
+land and go out on the island. Looking about, we soon discover his
+garden, but it is in a sad condition, having received no care since
+it was planted. It is yet too early in the season for corn, but Hall
+suggests that potato tops are good greens, and, anxious for some change
+from our salt-meat fare, we gather a quantity and take them aboard. At
+noon we stop and cook our greens for dinner; but soon one after another
+of the party is taken sick; nausea first, and then severe vomiting, and
+we tumble around under the trees, groaning with pain. I feel a little
+alarmed, lest our poisoning be severe. Emetics are administered to those
+who are willing to take them, and about the middle of the afternoon we
+are all rid of the pain. Jack Sumner records in his diary that "potato
+tops are not good greens on the 6th day of July."
+
+This evening we enter another canyon, almost imperceptibly, as the walls
+rise very gently.
+
+July 7.--We find quiet water to-day, the river sweeping in great and
+beautiful curves, the canyon walls steadily increasing in altitude.
+The escarpments formed by the cut edges of the rock are often vertical,
+sometimes terraced, and in some places the treads of the terraces
+
+190
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+are sloping. In these quiet curves vast amphitheaters are formed, now in
+vertical rocks, now in steps.
+
+The salient point of rock within the curve is usually broken down in a
+steep slope, and we stop occasionally to climb up at such a place, where
+on looking down we can see the river sweeping the foot of the opposite
+cliff in a great, easy curve, with a perpendicular or terraced wall
+rising from the water's edge many hundreds of feet. One of these we
+find very symmetrical and name it Sumner's Amphitheater. The cliffs are
+rarely broken by the entrance of side canyons, and we sweep around curve
+after curve with almost continuous walls for several miles.
+
+Late in the afternoon we find the river very much rougher and come upon
+rapids, not dangerous, but still demanding close attention. We camp at
+night on the right bank, having made 26 miles. July 8.--This morning
+Bradley and I go out to climb, and gain an altitude of more than 2,000
+feet above the river, but still do not reach the summit of the wall.
+powell-canyons-129.jpg
+
+SUMNER'S AMPHITHEATER.
+
+FROM THE UINTA TO THE GRAND. 191
+
+After dinner we pass through a region of the wildest desolation. The
+canyon is very tortuous, the river very rapid, and many lateral canyons
+enter on either side. These usually have their branches, so that the
+region is cut into a wilderness of gray and brown cliffs. In several
+places these lateral canyons are separated from one another only by
+narrow walls, often hundreds of feet high,--so narrow in places that
+where softer rocks are found below they have crumbled away and left
+holes in the wall, forming passages from one canyon into another. These
+we often call natural bridges; but they were never intended to span
+streams. They would better, perhaps, be called side doors between
+canyon chambers. Piles of broken rock lie against these walls; crags and
+tower-shaped peaks are seen everywhere, and away above them, long lines
+of broken cliffs; and above and beyond the cliffs are pine forests, of
+which we obtain occasional glimpses as we look up through a vista of
+rocks. The walls are almost without vegetation; a few dwarf bushes are
+seen here and there clinging to the rocks, and cedars grow from the
+crevices--not like the cedars of a land refreshed with rains, great
+cones bedecked with spray, but ugly clumps, like war clubs beset with
+spines. We are minded to call this the Canyon of Desolation.
+
+The wind annoys us much to-day. The water, rough by reason of the
+rapids, is made more so by head gales. Wherever a great face of rocks
+has a southern exposure, the rarefied air rises and the wind rushes in
+below, either up or down the canyon, or both, causing local currents.
+Just at sunset we run a bad rapid and camp at its foot.
+
+July 9.--Our run to-day is through a canyon with ragged, broken walls,
+many lateral gulches or canyons entering on either side. The river is
+rough, and occasionally it becomes necessary to use lines in passing
+rocky places. During the afternoon we come to a rather open canyon
+valley, stretching up toward the west, its farther end lost in the
+mountains. From a point to which we climb we obtain a good view of its
+course, until its angular walls are lost in the vista.
+
+July 10.--Sumner, who is a fine mechanic, is learning to take
+observations for time with the sextant. To-day he remains in camp to
+practice. Howland and I determine to climb out, and start up a lateral
+canyon, taking a barometer with us for the purpose of measuring the
+thickness
+
+192 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+of the strata over which we pass. The readings of the barometer below
+are recorded every half hour and our observations must be simultaneous.
+Where the beds which we desire to measure are very thick, we must climb
+with the utmost speed to reach their summits in time; where the beds are
+thinner, we must wait for the moment to arrive; and so, by hard and
+easy stages, we make our way to the top of the canyon wall and reach the
+plateau above about two o' clock.
+
+Howland, who has his gun with him, sees deer feeding a mile or two back
+and goes off for a hunt. I go to a peak which seems to be the highest
+one in this region, about half a mile distant, and climb, for-the
+purpose of tracing the topography of the adjacent country. From this
+point a fine view is obtained. A long plateau stretches across the
+river in an easterly and westerly direction, the summit covered by pine
+forests, with intervening elevated valleys and gulches. The plateau
+itself is cut in two by the canyon. Other side canyons head away back
+from the river and run down into the Green. Besides these, deep and
+abrupt canyons are seen to head back on the plateau and run north toward
+the Uinta and White rivers. Still other canyons head in the valleys and
+run toward the south. The elevation of the plateau being about 8,000
+feet above the level of the sea, it is in a region of moisture, as is
+well attested by the forests and grassy valleys. The plateau seems to
+rise gradually to the west, until it merges into the Wasatch Mountains.
+On these high table-lands elk and deer abound; and they are favorite
+hunting grounds for the Ute Indians.
+
+193
+
+A little before sunset Howland and I meet again at the head of the side
+canyon, and down we start. It is late, and we must make great haste or
+be caught by the darkness; so we go, running where we can, leaping over
+the ledges, letting each other down on the loose rocks, as long as we
+can see. When darkness comes we are still some distance from camp, and a
+long, slow, anxious descent is made toward the gleaming camp fire.
+
+After supper, observations for latitude are taken, and only two or three
+hours for sleep remain before daylight.
+
+July 11.--A short distance below camp we run a rapid, and in doing so
+break an oar and then lose another, both belonging to the "Emma Dean."
+Now the pioneer boat has but two oars. We see nothing from
+
+194 powell-canyons-130.jpg
+
+CHIMNEYS AND ROOFS, ZUNI. powell-canyons-131.jpg
+
+A TUSAYAN INTERIOR.
+
+FROM THE UINTA TO THE GRAND. 195
+
+which oars can be made, so we conclude to run on to some point where it
+seems possible to climb out to the forests on the plateau, and there we
+will procure suitable timber from which to make new ones.
+
+We soon approach another rapid. Standing on deck, I think it can be run,
+and on we go. Coming nearer, I see that at the foot it has a short turn
+to the left, where the waters pile up against the cliff. Here we try to
+land, but quickly discover that, being in swift water above the fall, we
+cannot reach shore, crippled as we are by the loss of two oars; so the
+bow of the boat is turned down stream. We shoot by a big rock; a reflex
+wave rolls over our little boat and fills her. I see that the place is
+dangerous and quickly signal to the other boats to land where they can.
+This is scarcely completed when another wave rolls our boat over and
+I am thrown some distance into the water. I soon find that swimming
+is very easy and I cannot sink. It is only necessary to ply strokes
+sufficient to keep my head out of the water, though now and then, when
+a breaker rolls over me, I close my mouth and am carried through it.
+The boat is drifting ahead of me 20 or 30 feet, and when the great waves
+have passed I overtake her and find Sumner and Dunn clinging to her. As
+soon as we reach quiet water we all swim to one side and turn her over.
+In doing this, Dunn loses his hold and goes under; when he comes up
+he is caught by Sumner and pulled to the boat. In the meantime we have
+drifted down stream some distance and see another rapid below. How bad
+it may be we cannot tell; so we swim toward shore, pulling our boat with
+us, with all the vigor possible, but are carried down much faster than
+distance toward shore is diminished. At last we reach a huge pile of
+driftwood. Our rolls of blankets, two guns, and a barometer were in the
+open compartment of the boat and, when it went over, these were thrown
+out. The guns and barometer are lost, but I succeeded in catching one
+of the rolls of blankets as it drifted down, when we were swimming to
+shore; the other two are lost, and sometimes hereafter we may sleep
+cold.
+
+A huge fire is built on the bank and our clothing spread to dry, and
+then from the drift logs we select one from which we think oars can be
+made, and the remainder of the day is spent in sawing them out.
+
+July 12.--This morning the new oars are finished and we start once more.
+We pass several bad rapids, making a short portage at one, and
+
+196 6 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+before noon we come to a long, bad fall, where the channel is filled
+with rocks on the left which turn the waters to the right, where they
+pass under an overhanging rock. On examination we determine to run it,
+keeping as close to the left-hand rocks as safety will permit, in order
+to avoid the overhanging cliff. The little boat runs over all right;
+another follows, but the men are not able to keep her near enough to the
+left bank and she is carried by a swift chute into great waves to the
+right, where she is tossed about and Bradley is knocked over the side;
+his foot catching under the seat, he is dragged along in the water with
+his head down; making great exertion, he seizes the gunwale with his
+left hand and can lift his head above water now and then. To us who
+are below, it seems impossible to keep the boat from going under the
+overhanging cliff; but Powell, for the moment heedless of Bradley's
+mishap, pulls with all his power for half a dozen strokes, when the
+danger is past; then he seizes Bradley and pulls him in. The men in the
+boat above, seeing this, land, and she is let down by lines.
+
+Just here we emerge from the Canyon of Desolation, as we have named it,
+into a more open country, which extends for a distance of nearly a mile,
+when we enter another canyon cut through gray sandstone.
+
+About three o'clock in the afternoon we meet with a new difficulty. The
+river fills the entire channel; the walls are vertical on either side
+from the water's edge, and a bad rapid is beset with rocks. We come to
+the head of it and land on a rock in the stream. The little boat is let
+down to another rock below, the men of the larger boat holding to the
+line; the second boat is let down in the same way, and the line of the
+third boat is brought with them. Now the third boat pushes out from the
+upper rock, and, as we have her line below, we pull in and catch her as
+she is sweeping by at the foot of the rock on which we stand. Again the
+first boat is let down stream the full length of her line and the second
+boat is passed down, by the first to the extent of her line, which is
+held by the men in the first boat; so she is two lines' length from
+where she started. Then the third boat is let down past the second, and
+still down, nearly to the length of her line, so that she is fast to the
+second boat and swinging down three lines' lengths, with the other two
+boats intervening. Held in this way, the men
+
+FROM THE UINTA TO THE GRAND.
+
+197
+
+are able to pull her into a cove in the left wall, where she is made
+fast. But this leaves a man on the rock above, holding to the line of
+the little boat. When all is ready, he springs from the rock, clinging
+to the line with one hand and swimming with the other, and we pull him
+in as he goes by. As the two boats, thus loosened, drift down, the men
+powell-canyons-132.jpg
+
+LIGHTHOUSE ROCK, CANYON OF DESOLATION.
+
+in the cove pull us all in as we come opposite; then we pass around to
+a point of rock below the cove, close to the wall, land, make a short
+portage over the worst places in the rapid, and start again.
+
+At night we camp on a sand beach. The wind blows a hurricane; the
+drifting sand almost blinds us; and nowhere can we find shelter. The
+wind continues to blow all night, the sand sifting through our blankets
+
+198 8 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+and piling over us until we are covered as in a snowdrift. We are glad
+when morning comes.
+
+July 13.--This morning we have an exhilarating ride. The river is swift,
+and there are many smooth rapids. I stand on deck, keeping careful watch
+ahead, and we glide along, mile after mile, plying strokes, now on the
+right and then on the left, just sufficient to guide our boats past the
+rocks into smooth water. At noon we emerge from Gray Canyon, as we have
+named it, and camp for dinner under a cotton-wood tree standing on the
+left bank.
+
+Extensive sand plains extend back from the immediate river valley as
+far as we can see on either side. These naked, drifting sands gleam
+brilliantly in the midday sun of July. The reflected heat from the
+glaring surface produces a curious motion of the atmosphere; little
+currents are generated and the whole seems to be trembling and moving
+about in many directions, or, failing to see that the movement is in
+the atmosphere, it gives the impression of an unstable land. Plains and
+hills and cliffs and distant mountains seem to be floating vaguely about
+in a trembling, wave-rocked sea, and patches of landscape seem to float
+away and be lost, and then to reappear.
+
+Just opposite, there are buttes, outliers of cliffs to the left. Below,
+they are composed of shales and marls of light blue and slate colors;
+above, the rocks are buff and gray, and then brown. The buttes are
+buttressed below, where the azure rocks are seen, and terraced
+above through the gray and brown beds. A long line of cliffs or rock
+escarpments separates the table-lands through which Gray Canyon is cut,
+from the lower plain. The eye can trace these azure beds and cliffs on
+either side of the river, in a long line extending across its course,
+until they fade away in the perspective. These cliffs are many miles
+in length and hundreds of feet high; and all these buttes--great
+mountain-masses of rock--are dancing and fading away and reappearing,
+softly moving about,--or so they seem to the eye as seen through the
+shifting atmosphere.
+
+This afternoon our way is through a valley with cottonwood groves on
+either side. The river is deep, broad, and quiet. About two hours after
+noon camp we discover an Indian crossing, where a number of rafts,
+rudely constructed of logs and bound together by withes, are
+
+FROM THE UINTA TO THE GRAND.
+
+199
+
+floating against the bank. On landing, we see evidences that a party of
+Indians have crossed within a very few days. This is the place where the
+lamented Gunnison crossed, in the year 1853, when making an exploration
+for a railroad route to the Pacific coast.
+
+An hour later we run a long rapid and stop at its foot to examine some
+interesting rocks, deposited by mineral springs that at one time must
+have existed here, but which are no longer flowing.
+
+July 14.-- This morning we pass some curious black bluffs on the right,
+then two or three short canyons, and then we discover the mouth of the
+San Rafael, a stream which comes down from the distant mountains in
+the west. Here we stop for an hour or two and take a short walk up the
+valley, and find it is a frequent resort for Indians. Arrowheads are
+scattered about, many of them very beautiful; flint chips are strewn
+over the ground in great profusion, and the trails are well worn.
+
+Starting after dinner, we pass some beautiful buttes on the left, many
+powell-canyons-133.jpg
+
+GUNNISON BUTTE. GRAY CANYON (2,700 FEET HIGH).
+
+200 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+of which are very symmetrical. They are chiefly composed of gypsum, of
+many hues, from light gray to slate color; then pink, purple, and brown
+beds. Now we enter another canyon. Gradually the walls rise higher and
+higher as we proceed, and the summit of the canyon is formed of the same
+beds of orange-colored sandstone. Back from the brink the hollows of the
+plateau are filled with sands disintegrated from these orange beds. They
+are of a rich cream color, shading into maroon, everywhere destitute of
+vegetation, and drifted into long, wave-like ridges.
+
+The course of the river is tortuous, and it nearly doubles upon itself
+many times. The water is quiet, and constant rowing is necessary to make
+much headway. Sometimes there is a narrow flood plain between the river
+and the wall, on one side or the other. Where these long, gentle curves
+are found, the river washes the very foot of the outer wall. A long
+peninsula of willow-bordered meadow projects within the curve, and the
+talus at the foot of the cliff is usually covered with dwarf oaks. The
+orange-colored sandstone is homogeneous in structure, and the walls are
+usually vertical, though not very high. Where the river sweeps around a
+curve under a cliff, a vast hollow dome may be seen, with many caves and
+deep alcoves, which are greatly admired by the members of the party as
+we go by.
+
+We camp at night on the left bank.
+
+July 15.---Our camp is in a great bend of the canyon. The curve is to
+the west and we are on the east side of the river. Just opposite, a
+little stream comes down through a narrow side canyon. We cross and go
+up to explore it. At its mouth another lateral canyon enters, in the
+angle between the former and the main canyon above. Still another
+enters in the angle between the canyon below and the side canyon first
+mentioned; so that three side canyons enter at the same point. These
+canyons are very tortuous, almost closed in from view, and, seen from
+the opposite side of the river, they appear like three alcoves. We name
+this Trin-Alcove Bend.
+
+Going up the little stream in the central cove, we pass between high
+walls of sandstone, and wind about in glens. Springs gush from the rocks
+at the foot of the walls; narrow passages in the rocks are threaded,
+caves are entered, and many side canyons are observed.
+
+201 powell-canyons-134.jpg
+
+RUINS OF KETCHIPAUAN.
+
+202 powell-canyons-135.jpg
+
+BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE LAND OF THE STANDING ROCKS.
+
+FROM THE UINTA TO THE GRAND. 203
+
+The right cove is a narrow, winding gorge, with overhanging walls,
+almost shutting out the light. The left is an amphitheater, turning
+spirally up, with overhanging shelves. A series of basins filled with
+water are seen at different altitudes as we pass up; huge rocks are
+piled below on the right, and overhead there is an arched ceiling. After
+exploring these alcoves, we recross the river and climb the rounded
+rocks on the point of the bend. In every direction, as far as we are
+able to see, naked rocks appear. Buttes are scattered on the landscape,
+here rounded into cones, there buttressed, columned, and carved in
+quaint shapes, with deep alcoves and sunken recesses. All about us are
+basins, excavated in the soft sandstone; and these have been filled by
+the late rains.
+
+Over the rounded rocks and water pockets we look off on a fine Stretch
+of river, and beyond are naked rocks and beautiful buttes leading the
+eye to the Azure Cliffs, and beyond these and above them the Brown
+Cliffs, and still beyond, mountain peaks; and clouds piled over all.
+
+On we go, after dinner, with quiet water, still compelled to row in
+order to make fair progress. The canyon is yet very tortuous. About six
+miles below noon camp we go around a great bend to the right, five miles
+in length, and come back to a point within a quarter of a mile of where
+we started. Then we sweep around another great bend to the left, making
+a circuit of nine miles, and come back to a point within 600 yards of
+the beginning of the bend. In the two circuits we describe almost the
+figure 8. The men call it a "bowknot" of river; so we name it Bowknot
+Bend. The line of the figure is 14 miles in length.
+
+There is an exquisite charm in our ride to-day down this beautiful
+canyon. It gradually grows deeper with every mile of travel; the walls
+are symmetrically curved and grandly arched, of a beautiful color, and
+reflected in the quiet waters in many places so as almost to deceive
+the eye and suggest to the beholder the thought that he is looking into
+profound depths. We are all in fine spirits and feel very gay, and the
+badinage of the men is echoed from wall to wall. Now and then we whistle
+or shout or discharge a pistol, to listen to the reverberations among
+the cliffs.
+
+At night we camp on the south side of the great Bowknot, and as
+
+204
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+we eat supper, which is spread on the beach, we name this Labyrinth
+Canyon.
+
+July 16.--Still we go down on our winding way. Tower cliffs are passed;
+then the river widens out for several miles, and meadows are seen on
+either side between the river and the walls. We name this expansion of
+the river Tower Park. At two o'clock we emerge from Labyrinth Canyon and
+go into camp.
+
+July 17.--The line which separates Labyrinth Canyon from the one below
+is but a line, and at once, this morning, we enter another canyon. The
+water fills the entire channel, so that nowhere is there room to land.
+The walls are low, but vertical, and as we proceed they gradually
+increase in altitude. Running a couple of miles, the river changes its
+course many degrees toward the east. Just here a little stream comes in
+on the right and the wall is broken down; so we land and go out to take
+powell-canyons-136.jpg
+
+THE BUTTE OF THE CEOSS.
+
+a view of the surrounding country. We are now down among the buttes, and
+in a region the surface of which is naked, solid rock--a beautiful red
+sandstone, forming a smooth, undulating pavement. The Indians call this
+the Toom'pin Tuweap', or "Rock Land," and sometimes the Toom'pin wunear1
+Tuweap', or "Land of Standing Rock."
+
+Off to the south we see a butte in the form of a fallen cross. It is
+several miles away, but it presents no inconspicuous figure on the
+
+205 powell-canyons-137.jpg
+
+LAND OF THE STANDING ROCKS.
+
+206 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+landscape and must be many hundreds of feet high, probably more than
+2,000. We note its position on our map and name it "The Butte of the
+Cross."
+
+We continue our journey. In many places the walls, which rise from the
+water's edge, are overhanging on either side. The stream is still quiet,
+and we glide along through a strange, weird, grand region. The landscape
+everywhere, away from the river, is of rock--cliffs of rock, tables of
+rock, plateaus of rock, terraces of rock, crags of rock--ten thousand
+strangely carved forms; rocks everywhere, and no vegetation, no soil, no
+sand. In long, gentle curves the river winds about these rocks.
+
+When thinking of these rocks one must not conceive of piles of boulders
+or heaps of fragments, but of a whole land of naked rock, with giant
+forms carved on it: cathedral-shaped buttes, towering hundreds or
+thousands of feet, cliffs that cannot be scaled, and canyon walls that
+shrink the river into insignificance, with vast, hollow domes and
+tall pinnacles and shafts set on the verge overhead; and all highly
+colored--buff, gray, red, brown, and chocolate--never lichened, never
+moss-covered, but bare, and often polished.
+
+We pass a place where two bends of the river come together, an
+intervening rock having been worn away and a new channel formed across.
+The old channel ran in a great circle around to the right, by what was
+once a circular peninsula, then an island; then the water left the old
+channel entirely and passed through the cut, and the old bed of
+the river is dry. So the great circular rock stands by itself, with
+precipitous walls all about it, and we find but one place where it can
+be scaled. Looking from its summit, a long stretch of river is seen,
+sweeping close to the overhanging cliffs on the right, but having a
+little meadow between it and the wall on the left. The curve is very
+gentle and regular. We name this Bonita Bend.
+
+And just here we climb out once more, to take another bearing on The
+Butte of the Cross. Reaching an eminence from which we can overlook the
+landscape, we are surprised to find that our butte, with its wonderful
+form, is indeed two buttes, one so standing in front of the other that
+from our last point of view it gave the appearance of a cross.
+
+A few miles below Bonita Bend we go out again a mile or two
+
+207 powell-canyons-138.jpg
+
+MOENKOPI.
+
+208 powell-canyons-139.jpg
+
+ORAIBI HOUSES.
+
+FROM THE UINTA TO THE GRAND. 209
+
+among the rocks, toward the Orange Cliffs, passing over terraces paved
+with jasper. The cliffs are not far away and we soon reach them, and
+wander in some deep, painted alcoves which attracted our attention from
+the river; then we return to our boats.
+
+Late in the afternoon the water becomes swift and our boats make great
+speed.. An hour of this rapid running brings us to the junction of the
+Grand and Green, the foot of Stillwater Canyon, as we have named it.
+These streams-unite in solemn depths, more than 1,200 feet below the
+general surface of the country. The walls of the lower end of Stillwater
+Canyon are very beautifully curved, as the river sweeps in its
+meandering course. The lower end of the canyon through which the Grand
+comes down is also regular, but much more direct, and we look up this
+stream and out into the country beyond and obtain glimpses of snow-clad
+peaks, the summits of a group of mountains known as the Sierra La Sal.
+Down the Colorado the canyon walls are much broken.
+
+We row around into the Grand and camp on its northwest bank; and here
+we propose to stay several days, for the purpose of determining the
+latitude and longitude and the altitude of the walls. Much of the night
+is spent in making observations with the sextant.
+
+The distance from the mouth of the Uinta to the head of the Canyon of
+Desolation is 20 3/4 miles. The Canyon of Desolation is 97 miles long;
+Gray Canyon, 36 miles. The course of the river through Gunnison Valley
+is 27 1/4 miles; Labyrinth Canyon, 62 1/2 miles.
+
+In the Canyon of Desolation the highest rocks immediately over the river
+are about 2,400 feet. This is at Log Cabin Cliff. The highest part
+of the terrace is near the brink of the Brown Cliffs. Climbing the
+immediate walls of the canyon and passing back to the canyon terrace and
+climbing that, we find the altitude above the river to be 3,300 feet.
+The lower end of Gray Canyon is about 2,000 feet; the lower end of
+Labyrinth Canyon, 1,300 feet.
+
+Stillwater Canyon is 42 3/4 miles long; the highest walls, 1,300 feet.
+
+210 powell-canyons-140.jpg
+
+THE HEART OF MARBLE CANYON.
+
+211
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FROM THE JUNCTION OF THE GRAND AND GREEN TO THE MOUTH OF THE LITTLE
+COLORADO.
+
+JULY 18.--The day is spent in obtaining the time and spreading our
+rations, which we find are badly injured. The flour has been wet and
+dried so many times that it is all musty and full of hard lumps. We make
+a sieve of mosquito netting and run our flour through, it, losing more
+than 200 pounds by the process. Our losses, by the wrecking of the "No
+Name," and by various mishaps since, together with the amount thrown
+away to-day, leave us little more than two months' supplies, and to make
+them last thus long we must be fortunate enough to lose no more.
+
+We drag our boats on shore and turn them over to recalk and pitch them,
+and Sumner is engaged in repairing barometers. While we are here for a
+day or two, resting, we propose to put everything in the best shape for
+a vigorous campaign.
+
+July 19.--Bradley and I start this morning to climb the left wall below
+the junction. The way we have selected is up a gulch. Climbing for an
+hour over and among the rocks, we find ourselves in a vast amphitheater
+and our way cut off. We clamber around to the left for half an hour,
+until we find that we cannot go up in that direction. Then we try the
+rocks around to the right and discover a narrow shelf nearly half a mile
+long. In some places this is so wide that we pass along with ease; in
+others it is so narrow and sloping that we are compelled to lie down and
+crawl. We can look over the edge of the shelf, down 800 feet, and see
+the river rolling and plunging among the rocks. Looking up 500 feet
+to the brink of the cliff, it seems to blend with the sky. We continue
+along until we come to a point where the wall is again broken down. Up
+we climb. On the right there is a narrow, mural point
+
+212 2 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+of rocks, extending toward the river, 200 or 300 feet high and 600 or
+800 feet long. We come back to where this sets in and find it cut off
+from the main wall by a great crevice. Into this we pass; and now a
+long, narrow rock is between us and the river. The rock itself is split
+longitudinally and transversely; and the rains on the surface above have
+run down through the crevices and gathered into channels below and then
+run off into the river. The crevices are usually narrow above and, by
+erosion of the streams, wider below, forming a network of "caves", each
+cave having a narrow, winding skylight up through the rocks. We wander
+among these corridors for an hour or two, but find no place where the
+rocks are broken down so that we can climb up. At last we determine to
+attempt a passage by a crevice, and select one which we think is wide
+enough to admit of the passage of our bodies and yet narrow enough to
+climb out by pressing our hands and feet against the walls. So we
+climb as men would out of a well. Bradley climbs first; I hand him the
+barometer, then climb over his head and he hands me the barometer. So we
+pass each other alternately until we emerge from the fissure, out on the
+summit of the rock. And what a world of grandeur is spread before us!
+Below is the canyon through which the Colorado runs. We can trace its
+course for miles, and at points catch glimpses of the river. From the
+northwest comes the Green in a narrow winding gorge. From the northeast
+comes the Grand, through a canyon that seems bottomless from where we
+stand. Away to the west are lines of cliffs and ledges of rock--not
+such ledges as the reader may have seen where the quarryman splits his
+blocks, but ledges from which the gods might quarry mountains that,
+rolled out on the plain below, would stand a lofty range; and not such
+cliffs as the reader may have seen where the swallow builds its nest,
+but cliffs where the soaring eagle is lost to view ere he reaches the
+summit. Between us and the distant cliffs are the strangely carved and
+pinnacled rocks of the Toom'pin wunear' Tuweap'. On the summit of the
+opposite wall of the canyon are rock forms that we do not understand.
+Away to the east a group of eruptive mountains are seen--the Sierra La
+Sal, which we first saw two days ago through the canyon of the Grand.
+Their slopes are covered with pines, and deep gulches are flanked with
+great crags, and snow fields are seen near the summits. So the moun-
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO.
+
+213
+
+tains are in uniform,--green, gray, and silver. Wherever we look there
+is but a wilderness of rocks,--deep gorges where the rivers are lost
+below cliffs and towers and pinnacles, and ten thousand strangely carved
+forms in every direction, and beyond them mountains blending with the
+clouds.
+
+Now we return to camp. While eating supper we very naturally speak of
+better fare, as musty bread and spoiled bacon are not palatable. Soon
+I see Hawkins down by the boat, taking up the sextant--rather a strange
+proceeding for him--and I question him concerning it. He replies that he
+is trying to find the latitude and longitude of the nearest pie.
+
+July 20.--This morning Captain Powell and I go out to climb the west
+wall of the canyon, for the purpose of examining the strange rocks seen
+yesterday from the other side. Two hours bring us to the top, at a point
+between the Green and Colorado overlooking the junction of the rivers.
+
+A long neck of rock extends toward the mouth of the Grand. Out on this
+we walk, crossing a great number of deep crevices. Usually the
+smooth rock slopes down to the fissure on either side. Sometimes
+powell-canyons-141.jpg
+
+A LATERAL CANYON.
+
+214 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+it is an interesting question to us whether the slope is not so steep
+that we cannot stand on it. Sometimes, starting down, we are compelled
+to go on, and when we measure the crevice with our eye from above we are
+not always sure that it is not too wide for a jump. Probably the slopes
+would not be difficult if there was not a fissure at the lower end; nor
+would the fissures cause fear if they were but a few feet deep. It is
+curious how a little obstacle becomes a great obstruction when a misstep
+would land a man in the bottom of a deep chasm. Climbing the face of a
+cliff, a man will without hesitancy walk along a step or shelf but a few
+inches wide if the landing is but ten feet below, but if the foot of the
+cliff is a thousand feet down he will prefer to crawl along the shelf.
+At last our way is cut off by a fissure so deep and wide that we cannot
+pass it. Then we turn and walk back into the country, over the smooth,
+naked sandstone, without vegetation, except that here and there dwarf
+cedars and piñón pines have found a footing in the huge cracks. There
+are great basins in the rock, holding water,--some but a few gallons,
+others hundreds of barrels.
+
+The day is spent in walking about through these strange scenes. A narrow
+gulch is cut into the wall of the main canyon. Follow this up and the
+climb is rapid, as if going up a mountain side, for the gulch heads but
+a few hundred or a few thousand yards from the wall. But this gulch has
+its side gulches, and as the summit is approached a group of radiating
+canyons is found. The spaces drained by these little canyons are
+terraced, and are, to a greater or less extent, of the form of
+amphitheaters, though some are oblong and some rather irregular. Usually
+the spaces drained by any two of these little side canyons are separated
+by a narrow wall, 100, 200, or 300 feet high, and often but a few feet
+in thickness. Sometimes the wall is broken into a line of pyramids above
+and still remains a wall below. There are a number of these gulches
+which break the wall of the main canyon of the Green, each one having
+its system of side canyons and amphitheaters, inclosed by walls or lines
+of pinnacles. The course of the Green at this point is approximately
+at right angles to that of the Colorado, and on the brink of the latter
+canyon we find the same system of terraced and walled glens. The walls
+and pinnacles and towers are of sandstone, homogeneous in structure but
+not in color, as they show broad bands of red,
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 215
+
+buff, and gray. This painting of the rocks, dividing them into sections,
+increases their apparent height. In some places these terraced and
+walled glens along the Colorado have coalesced with those along the
+Green; that is, the intervening walls are broken down. It is very rarely
+that a loose rock is seen. The sand is washed off, so that the walls,
+terraces, and slopes of the glens are all of smooth sandstone.
+
+In the walls themselves curious caves and channels have been carved.
+In some places there are little stairways up the walls; in others, the
+walls present what are known as royal arches; and so we wander through
+glens and among pinnacles and climb the walls from early morn until late
+in the afternoon.
+
+July 21.--We start this morning on the Colorado. The river is rough,
+and bad rapids in close succession are found. Two very hard portages are
+made during the forenoon. After dinner, in running a rapid, the "Emma
+Dean" is swamped and we are thrown into the river; we cling to the boat,
+and in the first quiet water below she is righted and bailed out; but
+three oars are lost in this mishap. The larger boats land above
+the dangerous place, and we make a portage, which occupies
+powell-canyons-142.jpg
+
+A TUSAYAN MEALING TROUGH.
+
+all the afternoon. We camp at night on the rocks on the left bank, and
+can scarcely find room to lie down.
+
+July 22.--This morning we continue our journey, though short of
+oars. There is no timber growing on the walls within our reach and no
+driftwood along the banks, so we are compelled to go on until something
+suitable can be found. A mile and three quarters below, we find
+
+216 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+a huge pile of driftwood, among which are some cottonwood logs. From
+these we select one which we think the best, and the men are set at work
+sawing oars. Our boats are leaking again, from the strains received in
+the bad rapids yesterday, so after dinner they are turned over and some
+of the men calk them.
+
+Captain Powell and I go out to climb the wall to the east, for we can
+see dwarf pines above, and it is our purpose to collect the resin which
+oozes from them, to use in pitching our boats. We take a barometer with
+us and find that the walls are becoming higher, for now they register an
+altitude above the river of nearly 1,500 feet.
+
+July 23.--On starting, we come at once to difficult rapids and falls,
+that in many places are more abrupt than in any of the canyons through
+which we have passed, and we decide to name this Cataract Canyon. From
+morning until noon the course of the river is to the west; the scenery
+is grand, with rapids, and falls below, and walls above, beset with
+crags and pinnacles. Just at noon we wheel again to the south and go
+into camp for dinner.
+
+While the cook is preparing it, Bradley, Captain Powell, and I go up
+into a side canyon that comes in at this point. We enter through a very
+narrow passage, having to wade along the course of a little stream until
+a cascade interrupts our progress. Then we climb to the right for a
+hundred feet until we reach a little shelf, along which we pass, walking
+with great care, for it is narrow; thus we pass around the fall. Here
+the gorge widens into a spacious, sky-roofed chamber. In the farther end
+is a beautiful grove of cottonwoods, and between us and the cotton-woods
+the little stream widens out into three clear lakelets with bottoms of
+smooth rock. Beyond the cottonwoods the brook tumbles in a series of
+white, shining cascades from heights that seem immeasurable. Turning
+around, we can look through the cleft through which we came and see the
+river with towering walls beyond. What a chamber for a resting-place
+is this! hewn from the solid rock, the heavens for a ceiling, cascade
+fountains within, a grove in the conservatory, clear lakelets for a
+refreshing bath, and an outlook through the doorway on a raging river,
+with cliffs and mountains beyond.
+
+Our way after dinner is through a gorge, grand beyond description. The
+walls are nearly vertical, the river broad and swift, but free from
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 217
+
+rocks and falls. From the edge of the water to the brink of the cliffs
+it is 1,600 to 1,800 feet. At this great depth the river rolls in solemn
+majesty. The cliffs are reflected from the more quiet river, and we seem
+to be in the depths of the earth, and yet we can look down into waters
+that reflect a bottomless abyss. Early in the afternoon we arrive
+powell-canyons-143.jpg
+
+THE HEART OF CATARACT CANYON.
+
+at the head of more rapids and falls, but, wearied with past work, we
+determine to rest, so go into camp, and the afternoon and evening
+are spent by the men in discussing the probabilities of successfully
+navigating the river below. The barometric records are examined to see
+what descent we have made since we left the mouth of the Grand, and what
+descent since we left the Pacific Railroad, and what fall there yet
+
+218 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+must be to the river ere we reach the end of the great canyons. The
+conclusion at which the men arrive seems to be about this: that there
+are great descents yet to be made, but if they are distributed in rapids
+and short falls, as they have been heretofore, we shall be able to
+overcome them; but may be we shall come to a fall in these canyons which
+we cannot pass, where the walls rise from the water's edge, so that we
+cannot land, and where the water is so swift that we cannot return. Such
+places have been found, except that the falls were not so great but that
+we could run them with safety. How will it be in the future t So they
+speculate over the serious probabilities in jesting mood.
+
+July 24.--We examine the rapids below. Large rocks have fallen from the
+walls--great, angular blocks, which have rolled down the talus and are
+strewn along the channel. We are compelled to make three portages in
+succession, the distance being less than three fourths of a mile, with
+a fall of 75 feet. Among these rocks, in chutes, whirlpools, and great
+waves, with rushing breakers and foam, the water finds its way, still
+tumbling down. We stop for the night only three fourths of a mile below
+the last camp. A very hard day's work has been done, and at evening I
+sit on a rock by the edge of the river and look at the water and listen
+to its roar. Hours ago deep shadows settled into the canyon, as the sun
+passed behind the cliffs. Now, doubtless, the sun has gone down, for we
+can see no glint of light on the crags above. Darkness is coming on; but
+the waves are rolling with crests of foam so white they seem almost to
+give a light of their own. Near by, a chute of water strikes the foot of
+a great block of limestone 50 feet high, and the waters pile up against
+it and roll back. Where there are sunken rocks the water heaps up in
+mounds, or even in cones. At a point where rocks come very near the
+surface, the water forms a chute above, strikes, and is shot up 10 or
+15 feet, and piles back in gentle curves, as in a fountain; and on the
+river tumbles and rolls.
+
+July 25.--Still more rapids and falls to-day. In one, the "Emma Dean"
+is caught in a whirlpool and set spinning about, and it is with great
+difficulty we are able to get out of it with only the loss of an oar. At
+noon another is made; and on we go, running some of the rapids, letting
+down with lines past others, and making two short portages. We camp on
+the right bank, hungry and tired.
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO.
+
+219
+
+July 26.--We run a short distance this morning and go into camp to make
+oars and repair boats and barometers. The walls of the canyon have been
+steadily increasing in altitude to this point, and now they are more
+than 2,000 feet high. In many places they are vertical from the water's
+edge; in others there is a talus between the river and the foot of the
+cliff; and they are often broken down by side canyons. It is probable
+that the river is nearly as low now as it is ever found. High-water
+mark can be observed 40, 50, 60, or 100 feet above its present
+stage. Sometimes logs and driftwood are seen wedged into the crevices
+over-head, where floods have carried them.
+
+About ten o'clock, Powell, Bradley, Howland, Hall, and I start
+powell-canyons-144.jpg
+
+WATER BASIN IN GYPSUM CANYON.
+
+220
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+up a side canyon to the east. We soon come to pools of water; then to
+a brook, which is lost in the sands below; and passing up the brook,
+we see that the canyon narrows, the walls close in and are often
+overhanging, and at last we find ourselves in a vast amphitheater, with
+a pool of deep, clear, cold water on the bottom. At first our way seems
+cut off; but we soon discover a little shelf, along which we climb,
+and, passing beyond the pool, walk a hundred yards or more, turn to the
+right, and find ourselves in another dome-shaped amphitheater. There is
+a winding cleft at the top, reaching out to the country above, nearly
+2,000 feet overhead. The rounded, basin-shaped bottom is filled with
+water to the foot of the walls. There is no shelf by which we can pass
+around the foot. If we swim across we meet with a face of rock hundreds
+of feet high, over which a little rill glides, and it will be impossible
+to climb. So we can go no farther up this canyon. Then we turn back and
+examine the walls on either side carefully, to discover, if possible,
+some way of climbing out. In this search every man takes his own course,
+and we are scattered. I almost abandon the idea of getting out and
+am engaged in searching for fossils, when I discover, on the north,
+a broken place lip which it may be possible to climb. The way for a
+distance is up a slide of rocks; then up an irregular amphitheater,
+on points that form steps and give handhold; and then I reach a little
+shelf, along which I walk, and discover a vertical fissure parallel to
+the face of the wall and reaching to a higher shelf. This fissure
+is narrow and I try to climb up to the bench, which is about 40 feet
+overhead. I have a barometer on my back, which rather impedes my
+climbing. The walls of the fissure are of smooth limestone, offering
+neither foothold nor handhold. So I support myself by pressing my back
+against one wall and my knees against the other, and in this way lift my
+body, in a shuffling manner, a few inches at a time, until I have made
+perhaps 25 feet of the distance, when the crevice widens a little and I
+cannot press my knees against the rock in front with sufficient power to
+give me support in lifting my body; so I try to go back. This I cannot
+do without falling. So I struggle along sidewise farther into the
+crevice, where it narrows. But by this time my muscles are exhausted,
+and I cannot climb longer; so I move still a little farther into the
+crevice, where it is so narrow and wedging that I can lie in it, and
+there
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO.
+
+221
+
+I rest. Five or ten minutes of this relief, and up once more I go, and
+reach the bench above. On this I can walk for a quarter of a mile, till
+I come to a place where the wall is again broken down, so I can climb up
+still farther; and in an hour I reach the summit. I hang up my
+barometer to give it a few minutes' time to settle, and occupy myself
+in collecting resin from the piñón pines, which are found in great
+abundance. One of the principal objects in making this climb was to get
+this resin for the purpose of smearing our boats; but I have with me no
+means of carrying it down. The day is very hot and my coat was left in
+camp, so I have no linings to tear out. Then it occurs to me to cut off
+the sleeve of my shirt and tie it up at one end, and in this little
+sack I collect about a gallon of pitch. After taking observations for
+altitude, I wander back on the rock for an hour or two, when suddenly
+I notice that a storm is coming from the south. I seek a shelter in the
+rocks; but when the storm powell-canyons-145.jpg
+
+THE WATER POCKET CANYON.
+
+222 powell-canyons-146.jpg
+
+PLAN OF THE RUIN OF KIN-TIEL, NEAR TUSAYAN.
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 223
+
+bursts, it comes down as a flood from the heavens,--not with gentle
+drops at first, slowly increasing in quantity, but as if suddenly poured
+out. I am thoroughly drenched and almost washed away. It lasts not more
+than half an hour, when the clouds sweep by to the north and I have
+sunshine again.
+
+In the meantime I have discovered a better way of getting down, and
+start for camp, making the greatest haste possible. On reaching the
+bottom of the side canyon, I find a thousand streams rolling down the
+cliffs on every side, carrying with them red sand; and these all unite
+in the canyon below in one great stream of red mud.
+
+Traveling as fast as I can run, I soon reach the foot of the stream,
+for the rain did not reach the lower end of the canyon and the water is
+running down a dry bed of sand; and although it conies in waves several
+feet high and 15 or 20 feet in width, the sands soak it up and it is
+lost. But wave follows wave and rolls along and is swallowed up; and
+still the floods come on from above. I find that I can travel faster
+than the stream; so I hasten to camp and tell the men there is a river
+coming down the canyon. We carry our camp equipage hastily from the bank
+to where we think it will be above the water. Then we stand by and see
+the river roll on to join the Colorado. Great quantities of gypsum are
+found at the bottom of the gorge; so we name it Gypsum Canyon.
+
+July 27.--We have more rapids and falls until noon; then we come to
+a narrow place in the canyon, with vertical walls for several hundred
+feet, above which are steep steps and sloping rocks back to the summits.
+The river is very narrow, and we make our way with great care and much
+anxiety, hugging the wall on the left and carefully examining the way
+before us.
+
+Late in the afternoon we pass to the left around a sharp point, which
+is somewhat broken down near the foot, and discover a flock of mountain
+sheep on the rocks more than a hundred feet above us. We land quickly
+in a cove out of sight, and away go all the hunters with their guns, for
+the sheep have not discovered us. Soon we hear firing, and those of us
+who have remained in the boats climb up to see what success the hunters
+have had. One sheep has been killed, and two of the men are still
+pursuing them. In a few minutes we hear firing again, and the next
+moment down come the flock clattering over the rocks within 20
+
+224 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+yards of us. One of the hunters seizes his gun and brings a second sheep
+down, and the next minute the remainder of the flock is lost behind the
+rocks. We all give chase; but it is impossible to follow their tracks
+over the naked rock, and we see them no more. Where they went out of
+this rock-walled canyon is a mystery, for we can see no way of escape.
+Doubtless, if we could spare the time for the search, we should find a
+gulch up which they ran.
+
+We lash our prizes to the deck of one of the boats and go on for a short
+distance; but fresh meat is too tempting for us, and we stop early to
+have a feast. And a feast it is! Two fine young sheep! We care not for
+bread or beans or dried apples to-night; coffee and mutton are all we
+ask.
+
+July 28.--We make two portages this morning, one of them very long.
+During the afternoon we run a chute more than half a mile in length,
+narrow and rapid. This chute has a floor of marble; the rocks dip in the
+direction in which we are going, and the fall of the stream conforms to
+the inclination of the beds; so we float on water that is gliding down
+an inclined plane. At the foot of the chute the river turns sharply to
+the right and the water rolls up against a rock which from above seems
+to stand directly athwart its course. As we approach it we pull with all
+our power to the right, but it seems impossible to avoid being carried
+headlong against the cliff; we are carried up high on the waves--but not
+against the rock, for the rebounding water strikes us and we are beaten
+back and pass on with safety, except that we get a good drenching.
+
+225
+
+After this the walls suddenly close in, so that the canyon is narrower
+than we have ever known it. The water fills it from wall to wall, giving
+us no landing-place at the foot of the cliff; the river is very swift
+and the canyon very tortuous, so that we can see but a few hundred yards
+ahead; the walls tower over us, often overhanging so as almost to shut
+out the light. I stand on deck, watching with intense anxiety, lest this
+may lead us into some danger; but we glide along, with no obstruction,
+no falls, no rocks, and in a mile and a half emerge from the narrow
+gorge into a more open and broken portion of the canyon. Now that it is
+past, it seems a very simple thing indeed to run through such a place,
+but the fear of what might be ahead made a deep impression on us.
+
+225 powell-canyons-147.jpg
+
+PESCADO HOUSES.
+
+226
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+At three o'clock we arrive at the foot of Cataract Canyon. Here a long
+canyon valley comes down from the east, and the river turns sharply to
+the west in a continuation of the line of the lateral valley. In the
+bend on the right vast numbers of crags and pinnacles and tower-shaped
+rocks are seen. We call it Mille Crag Bend.
+
+And now we wheel into another canyon, on swift water unobstructed by
+rocks. This new canyon is very narrow and very straight, with walls
+vertical below and terraced above. Where we enter it the brink of
+powell-canyons-148.jpg
+
+REPAIRING BOATS AT THE MOUTH OF DIRTY DEVIL RIVER.
+
+the cliff is 1,300 feet above the water, but the rocks dip to the west,
+and as the course of the canyon is in that direction the walls are seen
+slowly to decrease in altitude. Floating down this narrow channel and
+looking
+
+PROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 227
+
+out through the canyon crevice away in the distance, the river is seen
+to turn again to the left, and beyond this point, away many miles, a
+great mountain is seen. Still floating down, we see other mountains, now
+on the right, now on the left, until a great mountain range is unfolded
+to view. We name this Narrow Canyon, and it terminates at the bend of
+the river below.
+
+As we go down to this point we discover the mouth of a stream which
+enters from the right. Into this our little boat is turned. The water is
+exceedingly muddy and has an unpleasant odor. One of the men in the boat
+following, seeing what we have done, shouts to 'Dunn and asks whether
+it is a trout stream. Dunn replies, much disgusted, that it is "a dirty
+devil," and by this name the river is to be known hereafter.
+
+Some of us go out for half a mile and climb a butte to the north. The
+course of the Dirty Devil River can be traced for many miles. It comes
+down through a very narrow canyon, and beyond it, to the southwest,
+there is a long line of cliffs, with a broad terrace, or bench, between
+it and the brink of the canyon, and beyond these cliffs is situated the
+range of mountains seen as we came down Narrow Canyon. Looking up the
+Colorado, the chasm through which it runs can be seen, but we cannot see
+down to its waters. The whole country is a region of naked rock of many
+colors, with cliffs and buttes about us and towering mountains in the
+distance.
+
+July 29.--We enter a canyon to-day, with low, red walls. A short
+distance below its head we discover the ruins of an old building on the
+left wall. There is a narrow plain between the river and the wall just
+here, and on the brink of a rock 200 feet high stands this old house.
+Its walls are of stone, laid in mortar with much regularity. It was
+probably built three stories high; the lower story is yet almost intact;
+the second is much broken down, and scarcely anything is left of the
+third. Great quantities of flint chips are found on the rocks near
+by, and many arrowheads, some perfect, others broken; and fragments of
+pottery are strewn about in great profusion. On the face of the cliff,
+under the building and along down the river for 200 or 300 yards, there
+are many etchings. Two hours are given to the examination of these
+interesting ruins; then we run down fifteen miles farther, and discover
+another group. The principal building was situated on the summit of the
+hill.
+
+228
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+A part of the walls are standing, to the height of eight or ten feet,
+and the mortar yet remains in some places. The house was in the shape of
+an L, with five rooms on the ground floor,--one in the angle and two in
+each extension. In the space in the angle there is a deep excavation.
+From what we know of the people in the Province of Tusayan, who are,
+doubtless, of the same race as the former inhabitants of these ruins,
+we conclude that this was a kiva, or underground chamber in which their
+religious ceremonies were performed.
+
+We leave these ruins and run down two or three miles and go into camp
+about mid-afternoon. And now I climb the wall and go out into the back
+country for a walk.
+
+The sandstone through which the canyon is cut is red and homogeneous,
+being the same as that through which Labyrinth Canyon runs. The smooth,
+naked rock stretches out on either side of the river for many miles,
+but curiously carved mounds and cones are scattered everywhere and deep
+holes are worn out. Many of these pockets are filled with water. In
+one of these holes or wells, 20 feet deep, I find a tree growing. The
+excavation is so narrow that I can step from its brink to a limb on the
+tree and descend to the bottom of the well down a growing ladder. Many
+of these pockets powell-canyons-149.jpg
+
+RUINS ON THE BRINK OF GLEN CANYON.
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 229
+
+are potholes, being found in the courses of little rills or brooks that
+run during the rains which occasionally fall in this region; and often
+a few harder rocks, which evidently assisted in their excavation, can be
+found in their bottoms. Others, which are shallower, are not so easily
+explained. Perhaps where they are found softer spots existed in the
+sandstone, places that yielded more readily to atmospheric degradation,
+the loose sands being carried away by the winds.
+
+Just before sundown I attempt to climb a rounded eminence, from which I
+hope to obtain a good outlook on the surrounding country. It is formed
+of smooth mounds, piled one above another. Up these I climb, winding
+here and there to find a practicable way, until near the summit they
+become too steep for me to proceed. I search about a few minutes for an
+easier way, when I am surprised at finding a stairway, evidently cut in
+the rock by hands. At one place, where there is a vertical wall of 10
+or 12 feet, I find an old, rickety ladder. It may be that this was a
+watchtower of that ancient people whose homes we have found in ruins.
+On many of the tributaries of the Colorado, I have heretofore examined
+their deserted dwellings. Those that show evidences of being built
+during the latter part of their occupation of the country are usually
+placed on the most inaccessible cliffs. Sometimes the mouths of caves
+have been walled across, and there are many other evidences to show
+their anxiety to secure defensible positions. Probably the nomadic
+tribes were sweeping down upon them and they resorted to these cliffs
+and canyons for safety. It is not unreasonable to suppose that this
+orange mound was used as a watchtower. Here I stand, where these now
+lost people stood centuries ago, and look over this strange country,
+gazing off to great mountains in the northwest which are slowly
+disappearing under cover of the night; and then I return to camp. It is
+no easy task to find my way down the wall in the darkness, and I clamber
+about until it is nearly midnight when camp is reached.
+
+July 30.--We make good progress to-day, as the water, though smooth,
+is swift. Sometimes the canyon walls are vertical to the top; sometimes
+they are vertical below and have a mound-covered slope above; in other
+places the slope, with its mounds, comes down to the water's edge.
+
+Still proceeding on our way, we find that the orange sandstone is cut in
+two by a group of firm, calcareous strata, and the lower bed is under-
+
+230 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+laid by soft, gypsiferous shales. Sometimes the upper homogeneous bed
+is a smooth, vertical wall, but usually it is carved with mounds, with
+gently meandering valley lines. The lower bed, yielding to gravity, as
+the softer shales below work, out into the river, breaks into angular
+surfaces, often having a columnar appearance. One could almost imagine
+that the walls had been carved with a purpose, to represent giant
+architectural forms. In the deep recesses of the walls we find springs,
+with mosses and ferns on the moistened sandstone.
+
+July 31.--We have a cool, pleasant ride to-day through this part of the
+canyon. The walls are steadily increasing in altitude, the curves are
+gentle, and often the river sweeps by an arc of vertical wall, smooth
+and unbroken, and then by a curve that is variegated by royal arches,
+mossy alcoves, deep, beautiful glens, and painted grottoes. Soon
+after dinner we discover the mouth of the San Juan, where we camp. The
+remainder of the afternoon is given to hunting some way by which we can
+climb out of the canyon; but it ends in failure.
+
+August 1.--We drop down two miles this morning and go into camp again.
+There is a low, willow-covered strip of land along the walls on the
+east. Across this we walk, to explore an alcove which we see from the
+river. On entering, we find a little grove of box-elder and cotton-wood
+trees, and turning to the right, we find ourselves in a vast chamber,
+carved out of the rock. At the upper end there is a clear, deep pool of
+water, bordered with verdure. Standing by the side of this, we can see
+the grove at the entrance. The chamber is more than 200 feet high, 500
+feet long, and 200 feet wide. Through the ceiling, and on through the
+rocks for a thousand feet above, there is a narrow, winding skylight;
+and this is all carved out by a little stream which runs only during the
+few showers that fall now and then in this arid country. The waters
+from the bare rocks back of the canyon, gathering rapidly into a small
+channel, have eroded a deep side canyon, through which they run until
+they fall into the farther end of this chamber. The rock at the ceiling
+is hard, the rock below, very soft and friable; and having cut through
+the upper and harder portion down into the lower and softer, the stream
+has washed out these friable sandstones; and thus the chamber has been
+excavated.
+
+Here we bring our camp. When "Old Shady" sings us a song at
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO.
+
+231
+
+night, we are pleased to find that this hollow in the rock is filled
+with sweet sounds. It was doubtless made for an academy of music by its
+storm-born architect; so we name it Music Temple.
+
+August 2.--We still keep our camp in Music Temple to-day. I wish to
+obtain a view of the adjacent country, if possible; so, early in the
+morning the men take me across the river, and I pass along by the foot
+of the cliff half a mile up stream and then climb, first up broken
+ledges, then 200 or 300 yards up a smooth, sloping rock, and then pass
+out on a narrow ridge. Still, I find I have not attained an altitude
+from which I can overlook the region outside of the canyon; and so I
+descend into a little gulch and climb again to a higher ridge, all the
+way along naked sandstone, and at last I reach a point of commanding
+view. I can look several miles up the San Juan, and a long distance up
+the Colorado; and away to the northwest I can see the Henry Mountains;
+to the northeast, the Sierra La Sal; to the southeast, unknown
+mountains; and to the southwest, the meandering of the canyon. Then I
+return to the bank of the river. We sleep again in Music Temple.
+
+August 3.--Start early this morning. The features of this canyon are
+greatly diversified. Still vertical walls at times. These are usually
+found to stand above great curves. The river, sweeping around these
+powell-canyons-150.jpg
+
+ISLAND MONUMENT IN GLEN CANYON.
+
+232
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+bends, undermines the cliffs in places. Sometimes the rocks are
+overhanging; in other curves, curious, narrow glens are found. Through
+these we climb, by a rough stairway, perhaps several hundred feet, to
+where a spring bursts out from under an overhanging cliff, and where
+cottonwoods and willows stand, while along the curves of the brooklet
+oaks grow, and other rich vegetation is seen, in marked contrast to the
+general appearance of naked rock. We call these Oak Glens.
+
+Other wonderful features are the many side canyons or gorges that we
+pass. Sometimes we stop to explore these for a short distance. In some
+places their walls are much nearer each other above than below, so that
+they look somewhat like caves or chambers in the rocks. Usually, in
+going up such a gorge, we find beautiful vegetation; but our way is
+often cut off by deep basins, or "potholes," as they are called.
+
+On the walls, and back many miles into the country, numbers of
+monument-shaped buttes are observed. So we have a curious ensemble of
+wonderful features--carved walls, royal arches, glens, alcove gulches,
+powell-canyons-151.jpg
+
+GLEN CANYON.
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 233
+
+mounds, and monuments. From which of these features shall we select a
+name? We decide to call it Glen Canyon.
+
+Past these towering monuments, past these mounded billows of orange
+sandstone, past these oak-set glens, past these fern-decked alcoves,
+past these mural curves, we glide hour after hour, stopping now and
+then, as our attention is arrested by some new wonder, until we reach a
+point which is historic.
+
+In the year 1776, Father Escalante, a Spanish priest, made an expedition
+from Santa Fe to the northwest, crossing the Grand and Green, and then
+passing down along the Wasatch Mountains and the southern plateaus until
+he reached the Rio Virgen. His intention was to cross to the Mission of
+Monterey; but, from information received from the Indians, he decided
+that the route was impracticable. Not wishing to return to Santa Fe over
+the circuitous route by which he had just traveled, he attempted to go
+by one more direct, which led him across the Colorado at a point known
+as El Vado de los Padres. From the description which we have read, we
+are enabled to determine the place. A little stream comes down through
+a very narrow side canyon from the west. It was down this that he
+came, and our boats are lying at the point where the ford crosses. A
+well-beaten Indian trail is seen here yet. Between the cliff and the
+river there is a little meadow. The ashes of many camp fires are seen,
+and the bones of numbers of cattle are bleaching on the grass. For
+several years the Navajos have raided on the Mormons that dwell in the
+valleys to the west, and they doubtless cross frequently at this ford
+with their stolen cattle.
+
+August 4.--To-day the walls grow higher and the canyon much narrower.
+Monuments are still seen on either side; beautiful glens and alcoves and
+gorges and side canyons are yet found. After dinner we find the river
+making a sudden turn to the northwest and the whole character of the
+canyon changed. The walls are many hundreds of feet higher, and the
+rocks are chiefly variegated shales of beautiful colors--creamy orange
+above, then bright vermilion, and below, purple and chocolate beds, with
+green and yellow sands. We run four miles through this, in a direction
+a little to the west of north, wheel again to the west, and pass into
+a portion of the canyon where the characteristics are more like those
+above the bend. At night we stop at the mouth of
+
+234
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+a creek coming in from the right, and suppose it to be the Paria, which
+was described to me last year by a Mormon missionary. Here the canyon
+terminates abruptly in a line of cliffs, which stretches from either
+side across the river.
+
+August 5.--With some feeling of anxiety we enter a new canyon this
+morning. We have learned to observe closely the texture of the rock. In
+softer strata we have a quiet river, in harder we find rapids and
+falls. Below us are the limestones and hard sandstones which we found in
+Cataract Canyon. This bodes toil and danger. Besides the texture of the
+rocks, there is another condition which affects the character of the
+channel, as we have found by experience. Where the strata are horizontal
+the river is often quiet, and, even though it may be very swift in
+places, no great obstacles are found. Where the rocks incline in the
+direction traveled, the river usually sweeps with great velocity, but
+still has few rapids and falls. But where the rocks dip up stream and
+the river cuts obliquely across the upturned formations, harder strata
+above and softer below, we have rapids and falls. Into hard rocks and
+into rocks dipping up stream we pass this morning and start on a long,
+rocky, mad rapid. On the left there is a vertical rock, and down by this
+cliff and around to the left we glide, tossed just enough by the waves
+to appreciate the rate at which we are traveling.
+
+235
+
+The canyon is narrow, with vertical walls, which gradually grow higher.
+More rapids and falls are found. We come to one with a drop of sixteen
+feet, around which we make a portage, and then stop for dinner. Then a
+run of two miles, and another portage, long and difficult; then we camp
+for the night on a bank of sand.
+
+August 6.--Canyon walls, still higher and higher, as we go down through
+strata. There is a steep talus at the foot of the cliff, and in some
+places the upper parts of the walls are terraced.
+
+About ten o'clock we come to a place where the river occupies the entire
+channel and the walls are vertical from the water's edge. We see a fall
+below and row up against the cliff. There is a little shelf, or rather
+a horizontal crevice, a few feet over our heads. One man stands on the
+deck of the boat, another climbs on his shoulders, and then into the
+crevice. Then we pass him a line, and two or three others, with myself,
+follow; then we pass along the crevice until it becomes a shelf, as
+
+235 powell-canyons-152.jpg
+
+AN ENCLOSING WALL OF UPRIGHT STONES AT OJO CALIENTE.
+
+236
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the upper part, or roof, is broken off. On this we walk for a short
+distance, slowly climbing all the way, until we reach a point where the
+shelf is broken off, and we can pass no farther. So we go back to the
+boat, cross the stream, and get some logs that have lodged in the rocks,
+bring them to our side, pass them along the crevice and shelf, and
+bridge over the broken place. Then we go on to a point over the falls,
+but do not obtain a satisfactory view. So we climb out to the top of the
+wall and walk along to find a point below the fall from which it can be
+seen. From this point it seems possible to let down our boats with lines
+to the head of the rapids, and then make a portage; so we return, row
+down by the side of the cliff as far as we dare, and fasten one of the
+boats to a rock. Then we let down another boat to the end of its line
+beyond the first, and the third boat to the end of its line below the
+second, which brings it to the head of the fall and under an overhanging
+rock. Then the upper boat, in obedience to a signal, lets go; we pull in
+the line and catch the nearest boat as it comes, and then the last. The
+portage follows.
+
+We go into camp early this afternoon at a place where it seems possible
+to climb out, and the evening is spent in "making observations for
+time." powell-canyons-153.jpg
+
+MARBLE CANYON.
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 237
+
+August 7.--The almanac tells us that we are to have an eclipse of
+the sun to-day; so Captain Powell and myself start early, taking our
+instruments with us for the purpose of making observations on the
+eclipse to determine our longitude. Arriving at the summit, after four
+hours' hard climbing to attain 2,300 feet in height, we hurriedly build
+a platform of rocks on which to place our instruments, and quietly wait
+for the eclipse; but clouds come on and rain falls, and sun and moon are
+obscured.
+
+Much disappointed, we start on our return to camp, but it is late and
+the clouds make the night very dark. We feel our way down among the
+rocks with great care for two or three hours, making slow progress
+indeed. At last we lose our way and dare proceed no farther. The rain
+comes down in torrents and we can find no shelter. We can neither climb
+up nor go down, and in the darkness dare not move about; so we sit and
+"weather out" the night.
+
+August 8.--Daylight comes after a long, oh, how long! a night, and we
+soon reach camp. After breakfast we start again, and make two portages
+during the forenoon.
+
+The limestone of this canyon is often polished, and makes a beautiful
+marble. Sometimes the rocks are of many colors--white, gray, pink, and
+purple, with saffron tints. It is with very great labor that we make
+progress, meeting with many obstructions, running rapids, letting down
+our boats with lines from rock to rock, and sometimes carrying boats and
+cargoes around bad places. We camp at night, just after a hard portage,
+under an overhanging wall, glad to find shelter from the rain. We
+have to search for some time to find a few sticks of driftwood, just
+sufficient to boil a cup of coffee.
+
+The water sweeps rapidly in this elbow of river, and has cut its way
+under the rock, excavating a vast half-circular chamber, which, if
+utilized for a theater, would give sitting to 50,000 people. Objection
+might be raised against it, however, for at high water the floor is
+covered with a raging flood.
+
+August 9.--And now the scenery is on a grand scale. The walls of the
+canyon, 2,500 feet high, are of marble, of many beautiful colors, often
+polished below by the waves, and sometimes far up the sides, where
+showers have washed the sands over the cliffs. At one place I
+
+238 8 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+have a walk for more than a mile on a marble pavement, all polished
+and fretted with strange devices and embossed in a thousand fantastic
+patterns. Through a cleft in the wall the sun shines on this pavement
+and it gleams in iridescent beauty.
+
+I pass up into the cleft. It is very narrow, with a succession of pools
+standing at higher levels as I go back. The water in these pools is
+clear and cool, coming down from springs. Then I return to the pavement,
+which is but a terrace or bench, over which the river runs at its flood,
+but left bare at present. Along the pavement in many places are basins
+of clear water, in strange contrast to the red mud of the river. At
+length I come to the end of this marble terrace and take again to the
+boat.
+
+Riding down a short distance, a beautiful view is presented. The river
+turns sharply to the east and seems inclosed by a wall set with a
+million brilliant gems. What can it mean? Every eye is engaged, every
+one wonders. On coming nearer we find fountains bursting from the rock
+high overhead, and the spray in the sunshine forms the gems which bedeck
+the wall. The rocks below the fountain are covered with mosses and ferns
+and many beautiful flowering plants. We name it Vasey's Paradise, in
+honor of the botanist who traveled with us last year.
+
+We pass many side canyons to-day that are dark, gloomy passages back
+into the heart of the rocks that form the plateau through which this
+canyon is cut. It rains again this afternoon. Scarcely do the first
+drops fall when little rills run down the walls. As the storm comes
+on, the little rills increase in size, until great streams are formed.
+Although the walls of the canyon are chiefly limestone, the adjacent
+country is of red sandstone; and now the waters, loaded with these
+sands, come down in rivers of bright red mud, leaping over the walls in
+innumerable cascades. It is plain now how these walls are polished in
+many places.
+
+At last the storm ceases and we go on. We have cut through the
+sandstones and limestones met in the upper part of the canyon, and
+through one great bed of marble a thousand feet in thickness. In this,
+great numbers of caves are hollowed out, and carvings are seen which
+suggest architectural forms, though on a scale so grand that architec-
+
+239 powell-canyons-154.jpg
+
+NOONDAY REST IN MARBLE CANYON.
+
+240 powell-canyons-155.jpg
+
+VIEW OF MARBLE CANYON FROM VERMILION CLIFFS.
+
+FROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 241
+
+tural terms belittle them. As this great bed forms a distinctive feature
+of the canyon, we call it Marble Canyon.
+
+It is a peculiar feature of these walls that many projections are set
+out into the river, as if the wall was buttressed for support. The
+walls themselves are half a mile high, and these buttresses are on
+a corresponding scale, jutting into the river scores of feet. In the
+recesses between these projections there are quiet bays, except at the
+foot of a rapid, when there are dancing eddies or whirlpools. Sometimes
+these alcoves have caves at the back, giving them the appearance of
+great depth. Then other caves are seen above, forming vast dome-shaped
+chambers. The walls and buttresses and chambers are all of marble.
+
+The river is now quiet; the canyon wider. Above, when the river is at
+its flood, the waters gorge up, so that the difference between high and
+low water mark is often 50 or even 70 feet, but here high-water mark is
+not more than 20 feet above the present stage of the river. Sometimes
+there is a narrow flood plain between the water and the wall. Here we
+first discover mesquite shrubs,--small trees with finely divided leaves
+and pods, somewhat like the locust.
+
+August 10.--Walls still higher; water swift again. We pass several
+broad, ragged canyons on our right, and up through these we catch
+glimpses of a forest-clad plateau, miles away to the west.
+
+At two o'clock we reach the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito. This
+stream enters through a canyon on a scale quite as grand as that of
+the Colorado itself. It is a very small river and exceedingly muddy
+and saline. I walk up the stream three or four miles this afternoon,
+crossing and recrossing where I can easily wade it. Then I climb several
+hundred feet at one place, and can see for several miles up the chasm
+through which the river runs. On my way back I kill two rattlesnakes,
+and find on my arrival that another has been killed just at camp.
+
+August 11.--We remain at this point to-day for the purpose of
+determining the latitude and longitude, measuring the height of the
+walls, drying our rations, and repairing our boats.
+
+Captain Powell early in the morning takes a barometer and goes out to
+climb a point between the two rivers. I walk down the gorge to the left
+at the foot of the cliff, climb to a bench, and discover a trail, deeply
+worn in the rock. Where it crosses the side gulches in some
+
+242 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+places steps have been cut. I can see no evidence of its having been
+traveled for a long time. It was doubtless a path used by the people who
+inhabited this country anterior to the present Indian races--the people
+who built the communal houses of which mention has been made.
+
+I return to camp about three o'clock and find that some of the men
+have discovered ruins and many fragments of pottery; also etchings and
+hieroglyphics on the rocks.
+
+We find to-night, on comparing the readings of the barometers, that
+the walls are about 3,000 feet high--more than half a mile--an altitude
+difficult to appreciate from a mere statement of feet. The slope by
+which the ascent is made is not such a slope as is usually found in
+climbing a mountain, but one much more abrupt--often vertical for many
+hundreds of feet,--so that the impression is given that we are at great
+depths, and we look up to see but a little patch of sky.
+
+Between the two streams, above the Colorado Chiquito, in some places
+the rocks are broken and shelving for 600 Or 700 feet; then there is
+a sloping terrace, which can be climbed only by finding some way up a
+gulch; then another terrace, and back, still another cliff. The summit
+of the cliff is 3,000 feet above the river, as our barometers attest.
+
+Our camp is below the Colorado Chiquito and on the eastern side of the
+canyon.
+
+August 12.--The rocks above camp are rust-colored sandstones and
+conglomerates. Some are very hard; others quite soft. They all lie
+nearly horizontal, and the beds of softer material have been washed out,
+leaving the harder forming a series of shelves. Long lines of these are
+seen, of varying thickness, from one or two to twenty or thirty feet,
+and the spaces between have the same variability. This morning I spend
+two or three hours in climbing among these shelves, and then I pass
+above them and go up a long slope to the foot of the cliff and try to
+discover some way by which I can reach the top of the wall; but I find
+my progress cut off by an amphitheater. Then I wander away around to the
+left, up a little gulch and along benches, climbing from time to time,
+until I reach an altitude of nearly 2,000 feet and can get no higher.
+From this point I can look off to the west, up side canyons of the
+Colorado, and see the edge of a great plateau, from which streams run
+down into the Colorado, and deep gulches in the
+
+243 powell-canyons-156.jpg
+
+ADOBE WALLS, ZUÑI
+
+244 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+escarpment which faces us, continued by canyons, ragged and flaring and
+set with cliffs and towering crags, down to the river. I can see far up
+Marble Canyon to long lines of chocolate-colored cliffs, and above these
+the Vermilion Cliffs. I can see, also, up the Colorado Chiquito, through
+a very ragged and broken canyon, with sharp salients set out from the
+walls on either side, their points overlapping, so that a huge tooth of
+marble on one side seems to be set between two teeth on the opposite;
+and I can also get glimpses of walls standing away back from the river,
+while over my head are mural escarpments not possible to be scaled.
+
+Cataract Canyon is 41 miles long. The walls are 1,300 feet high at its
+head, and they gradually increase in altitude to a point about halfway
+down, where they are 2,700 feet, and then decrease to 1,300 feet at the
+foot. Narrow Canyon is 9 1/2 miles long, with walls 1,300 feet in height
+at the head and coming down to the water at the foot.
+
+There is very little vegetation in this canyon or in the adjacent
+country. Just at the junction of the Grand and Green there are a number
+of hackberry trees; and along the entire length of Cataract Canyon the
+high-water line is marked by scattered trees of the same species. A few
+nut pines and cedars are found, and occasionally a redbud or Judas tree;
+but the general aspect of the canyons and of the adjacent country is
+that of naked rock.
+
+244
+
+The distance through Glen Canyon is 149 miles. Its walls vary in height
+from 200 or 300 to 1,600 feet. Marble Canyon is 65 1/2 miles long. At
+its head it is 200 feet deep, and it steadily increases in depth to its
+foot, where its walls are 3,500 feet high.
+
+245 powell-canyons-157.jpg
+
+246 powell-canyons-158.jpg
+
+AT THE MOUTH OF THE LITTLE COLORADO.
+
+247
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FROM THE LITTLE COLORADO TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+AUGUST 13.--We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown.
+Our boats, tied to a common, stake, chafe each other as they are tossed
+by the fretful river. They ride high and buoyant, for their loads are
+lighter than we could desire. We have but a month's rations remaining.
+The flour has been resifted through the mosquito-net sieve; the spoiled
+bacon has been dried and the worst of it boiled; the few pounds of dried
+apples have been spread in the sun and reshrunken to their normal bulk.
+The sugar has all melted and gone on its way down the river. But we have
+a large sack of coffee. The lightening of the boats has this advantage:
+they will ride the waves better and we shall have but little to carry
+when we make a portage.
+
+We are three quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth, and the
+great river shrinks into insignificance as it dashes its angry waves
+against the walls and cliffs that rise to the world above; the waves are
+but puny ripples, and we but pigmies, running up and down the sands or
+lost among the boulders.
+
+We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore.
+What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we
+know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may
+conjecture many things. The men talk as cheerfully as ever; jests are
+bandied about freely this morning; but to me the cheer is somber and the
+jests are ghastly.
+
+With some eagerness and some anxiety and some misgiving we enter the
+canyon below and are carried along by the swift water through walls
+which rise from its very edge. They have the same structure that we
+noticed yesterday--tiers of irregular shelves below, and, above these,
+
+248 8 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+steep slopes to the foot of marble cliffs. We run six miles in a little
+more than half an hour and emerge into a more open portion of the
+canyon, where high hills and ledges of rock intervene between the river
+and the distant walls. Just at the head of this open place the river
+runs across a dike; that is, a fissure in the rocks, open to depths
+below, was filled with eruptive matter, and this on cooling was harder
+than the rocks through which the crevice was made, and when these were
+washed away the harder volcanic matter remained as a wall, and the river
+has cut a gateway through it several hundred feet high and as many wide.
+As it crosses the wall, there is a fall below and a bad rapid, filled
+with boulders of trap; so we stop to make a portage. Then on we go,
+gliding by hills and ledges, with distant walls in view; sweeping past
+sharp angles of rock; stopping at a few points to examine rapids, which
+we find can be run, until we have made another five miles, when we land
+for dinner.
+
+Then we let down with lines over a long rapid and start again. Once more
+the walls close in, and we find ourselves in a narrow gorge, the water
+again filling the channel and being very swift. With great care
+and constant watchfulness we proceed, making about four miles this
+afternoon, and camp in a cave.
+
+August 14---At daybreak we walk down the bank of the river, on a little
+sandy beach, to take a view of a new feature in the canyon. Heretofore
+hard rocks have given us bad river; soft rocks, smooth water; and a
+series of rocks harder than any we have experienced sets in. The river
+enters the gneiss! We can see but a little way into the granite gorge,
+but it looks threatening.
+
+After breakfast we enter on the waves. At the very introduction it
+inspires awe. The canyon is narrower than we have ever before seen it;
+the water is swifter; there are but few broken rocks in the channel; but
+the walls are set, on either side, with pinnacles and crags; and sharp,
+angular buttresses, bristling with wind- and wave-polished spires,
+extend far out into the river.
+
+Ledges of rock jut into the stream, their tops sometimes just below the
+surface, sometimes rising a few or many feet above; and island ledges
+and island pinnacles and island towers break the swift course of the
+stream into chutes and eddies and whirlpools. We soon reach a place
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+249
+
+where a creek comes in from the left, and, just below, the channel is
+choked with boulders, which have washed down this lateral canyon and
+formed a dam, over which there is a fall of 30 or 40 feet; but on the
+boulders foothold can be had, and we make a portage. Three more such
+dams are found. Over one we make a portage; at the other two are chutes
+through which we can run.
+
+As we proceed the granite rises higher, until nearly a thousand feet
+of the lower part of the walls are composed of this rock.
+powell-canyons-159.jpg
+
+WALLS OF GNEISS.
+
+About eleven o'clock we hear a great roar ahead, and approach it very
+cautiously. The sound grows louder and louder as we run, and at last we
+find ourselves above a long, broken fall, with ledges and pinnacles of
+
+250
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+rock obstructing the river. There is a descent of perhaps 75 or 80 feet
+in a third of a mile, and the rushing waters break into great waves
+powell-canyons-160.jpg
+
+RUNNING A RAPID.
+
+on the rocks, and lash themselves into a mad, white foam. We can land
+just above, but there is no foothold on either side by which we can make
+a portage. It is nearly a thousand feet to the top of the granite;
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 251
+
+so it will be impossible to carry our boats around, though we can climb
+to the summit up a side gulch and, passing along a mile or two, descend
+to the river. This we find on examination; but such a portage would be
+impracticable for us, and we must run the rapid or abandon the river.
+There is no hesitation. We step into our boats, push off, and away we
+go, first on smooth but swift water, then we strike a glassy wave and
+ride to its top, down again into the trough, up again on a higher wave,
+and down and up on waves higher and still higher until we strike one
+just as it curls back, and a breaker rolls over our little boat. Still
+on we speed, shooting past projecting rocks, till the little boat is
+caught in a whirlpool and spun round several times. At last we pull out
+again into the stream. And now the other boats have passed us. The open
+compartment of the "Emma Dean" is filled with water and every breaker
+rolls over us. Hurled back from a rock, now on this side, now on that,
+we are carried into an eddy, in which we struggle for a few minutes,
+and are then out again, the breakers still rolling over us. Our boat
+is unmanageable, but she cannot sink, and we drift down another hundred
+yards through breakers--how, we scarcely know. We find the other boats
+have turned into an eddy at the foot of the fall and are waiting to
+catch us as we come, for the men have seen that our boat is swamped.
+They push out as we come near and pull us in against the wall. Our boat
+bailed, on we go again.
+
+The walls now are more than a mile in height--a vertical distance
+difficult to appreciate. Stand on the south steps of the Treasury
+building in Washington and look down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol;
+measure this distance overhead, and imagine cliffs to extend to that
+altitude, and you will understand what is meant; or stand at Canal
+Street in New York and look up Broadway to Grace Church, and you have
+about the distance; or stand at Lake Street bridge in Chicago and look
+down to the Central Depot, and you have it again.
+
+A thousand feet of this is up through granite crags; then steep slopes
+and perpendicular cliffs rise one above another to the summit. The gorge
+is black and narrow below, red and gray and flaring above, with crags
+and angular projections on the walls, which, cut in many places by side
+canyons, seem to be a vast wilderness of rocks. Down in these grand,
+gloomy depths we glide, ever listening, for the mad waters keep
+
+252 powell-canyons-161.jpg
+
+HEAD OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 253
+
+up their roar; ever watching, ever peering ahead, for the narrow canyon
+is winding and the river is closed in so that we can see but a few
+hundred yards, and what there may be below we know not; so we listen for
+falls and watch for rocks, stopping now and then in the bay of a recess
+to admire the gigantic scenery; and ever as we go there is some new
+pinnacle or tower, some crag or peak, some distant view of the upper
+plateau, some strangely shaped rock, or some deep, narrow side canyon.
+
+Then we come to another broken fall, which appears more difficult than
+the one we ran this morning. A small creek comes in on the right, and
+the first fall of the water is over boulders, which have been carried
+down by this lateral stream. We land at its mouth and stop for an hour
+or two to examine the fall. It seems possible to let down with lines, at
+least a part of the way, from point to point, along the right-hand
+wall. So we make a portage over the first rocks and find footing on
+some boulders below. Then we let down one of the boats to the end of her
+line, when she reaches a corner of the projecting rock, to which one of
+the men clings and steadies her while I examine an eddy below. I think
+we can pass the other boats down by us and catch them in the eddy. This
+is soon done, and the men in the boats in the eddy pull us to their
+side. On the shore of this little eddy there is about two feet of gravel
+beach above the water. Standing on this beach, some of the men take the
+line of the little boat and let it drift down against another projecting
+angle. Here is a little shelf, on which a man from my boat climbs, and
+a shorter line is passed to him, and he fastens the boat to the side
+of the cliff; then the second one is let down, bringing the line of
+the third. When the second boat is tied up, the two men standing on the
+beach above spring into the last boat, which is pulled up alongside of
+ours; then we let down the boats for 25 or 30 yards by walking along the
+shelf, landing them again in the mouth of a side canyon. Just below this
+there is another pile of boulders, over which we make another portage.
+From the foot of these rocks we can climb to another shelf, 40 or 50
+feet above the water.
+
+On this bench we camp for the night. It is raining hard, and we have
+no shelter, but find a few sticks which have lodged in the rocks, and
+kindle a fire and have supper. We sit on the rocks all night, wrapped in
+our ponchos, getting what sleep we can.
+
+254 powell-canyons-162.jpg
+
+THE INNER GORGE.
+
+255
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+August 15.--This morning we find we can let down for 300 or 400 yards,
+and it is managed in this way: we pass along the wall by climbing from
+projecting point to point, sometimes near the water's edge, at other
+places 50 or 60 feet above, and hold the boat with a line while two men
+remain aboard and prevent her from being dashed against the rocks and
+keep the line from getting caught on the wall. In two hours we have
+brought them all down, as far as it is possible, in this way. A few
+yards below, the river strikes with great violence against a projecting
+rock and our boats are pulled up in a little bay above. We must now
+manage to pull out of this and clear the point below. The little boat is
+held by the bow obliquely up the stream. We jump in and pull out only
+a few strokes, and sweep clear of the dangerous rock. The other boats
+follow in the same manner and the rapid is passed.
+
+It is not easy to describe the labor of such navigation. We must prevent
+the waves from dashing the boats against the cliffs. Sometimes, where
+the river is swift, we must put a bight of rope about a rock, to prevent
+the boat from being snatched from us by a wave; but where the plunge
+is too great or the chute too swift, we must let her leap and catch her
+below or the undertow will drag her under the falling water and sink
+her. Where we wish to run her out a little way from shore through a
+channel between rocks, we first throw in little sticks of driftwood and
+watch their course, to see where we must steer so that she will pass the
+channel in safety. And so we hold, and let go, and pull, and lift, and
+ward--among rocks, around rocks, and over rocks.
+
+And now we go on through this solemn, mysterious way. The river is very
+deep, the canyon very narrow, and still obstructed, so that there is no
+steady flow of the stream; but the waters reel and roll and boil, and we
+are scarcely able to determine where we can go. Now the boat is carried
+to the right, perhaps close to the wall; again, she is shot into the
+stream, and perhaps is dragged over to the other side, where, caught in
+a whirlpool, she spins about. We can neither land nor run as we please.
+The boats are entirely unmanageable; no order in their running can be
+preserved; now one, now another, is ahead, each crew laboring for its
+own preservation. In such a place we come to another rapid. Two of the
+boats run it perforce. One succeeds in landing, but there is no foothold
+by which to make a portage and she is pushed out again into
+
+256 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the stream. The next minute a great reflex wave fills the open
+compartment; she is water-logged, and drifts unmanageable. Breaker after
+breaker rolls over her and one capsizes her. The men are thrown out; but
+they cling to the boat, and she drifts down some distance alongside of
+us and we are able to catch her. She is soon bailed out and the men are
+aboard once more; but the oars are lost, and so a pair from the "Emma
+Dean" is spared. Then for two miles we find smooth water.
+
+Clouds are playing in the canyon to-day. Sometimes they roll down in
+great masses, filling the gorge with gloom; sometimes they hang aloft
+from wall to wall and cover the canyon with a roof of impending storm,
+and we can peer long distances up and down this canyon corridor, with
+its cloud-roof overhead, its walls of black granite, and its river
+bright with the sheen of broken waters. Then a gust of wind sweeps down
+a side gulch and, making a rift in the clouds, reveals the blue heavens,
+and a stream of sunlight pours in. Then the clouds drift away into the
+distance, and hang around crags and peaks and pinnacles and towers and
+walls, and cover them with a mantle that lifts from time to time and
+sets them all in sharp relief. Then baby clouds creep out of side
+canyons, glide around points, and creep back again into more distant
+gorges. Then clouds arrange in strata across the canyon, with
+intervening vista views to cliffs and rocks beyond. The clouds are
+children of the heavens, and when they play among the rocks they lift
+them to the region above.
+
+256
+
+It rains! Rapidly little rills are formed above, and these soon grow
+into brooks, and the brooks grow into creeks and tumble over the walls
+in innumerable cascades, adding their wild music to the roar of the
+river. When the rain ceases the rills, brooks, and creeks run dry. The
+waters that fall during a rain on these steep rocks are gathered at once
+into the river; they could scarcely be poured in more suddenly if some
+vast spout ran from the clouds to the stream itself. When a storm bursts
+over the canyon a side gulch is dangerous, for a sudden flood may come,
+and the inpouring waters will raise the river so as to hide the rocks.
+
+Early in the afternoon we discover a stream entering from the north--a
+clear, beautiful creek, coming down through a gorgeous red canyon.
+We land and camp on a sand beach above its mouth, under a great,
+overspreading tree with willow-shaped leaves.
+
+257 powell-canyons-163.jpg
+
+SIGNAL OF DISCOVERY OR ALARM.
+
+258 powell-canyons-164.jpg
+
+SIGNAL, "WHO ARE YOU?" ANSWER, "PANI."
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 259
+
+August 16.--We must dry our rations again to-day and make oars.
+
+The Colorado is never a clear stream, but for the past three or four
+days it has been raining much of the time, and the floods poured
+over the walls have brought down great quantities of mud, making it
+exceedingly turbid now. The little affluent which we have discovered
+here is a clear, beautiful creek, or river, as it would be termed in
+this western country, where streams are not abundant. We have named one
+stream, away above, in honor of the great chief of the "Bad Angels," and
+as this is in beautiful contrast to that, we conclude to name it "Bright
+Angel."
+
+Early in the morning the whole party starts up to explore the Bright
+Angel River, with the special purpose of seeking timber from which to
+make oars. A couple of miles above we find a large pine log, which has
+been floated down from the plateau, probably from an altitude of more
+than 6,000 feet, but not many miles back. On its way it must have passed
+over many cataracts and falls, for it bears scars in evidence of the
+rough usage which it has received. The men roll it on skids, and the
+work of sawing oars is commenced.
+
+This stream heads away back under a line of abrupt cliffs that
+terminates the plateau, and tumbles down more than 4,000 feet in the
+first mile or two of its course; then runs through a deep, narrow canyon
+until it reaches the river.
+
+Late in the afternoon I return and go up a little gulch just above this
+creek, about 200 yards from camp, and discover the ruins of two or three
+old houses, which were originally of stone laid in mortar. Only the
+foundations are left, but irregular blocks, of which the houses
+were constructed, lie scattered about. In one room I find an old
+mealing-stone, deeply worn, as if it had been much used. A great deal
+of pottery is strewn around, and old trails, which in some places are
+deeply worn into the rocks, are seen.
+
+It is ever a source of wonder to us why these ancient people sought
+such inaccessible places for their homes. They were, doubtless, an
+agricultural race, but there are no lands here of any considerable
+extent that they could have cultivated. To the west of Oraibi, one
+of the towns in the Province of Tusayan, in northern Arizona, the
+inhabitants have actually built little terraces along the face of the
+cliff where a
+
+260 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+spring gushes out, and thus made their sites for gardens. It is possible
+that the ancient inhabitants of this place made their agricultural
+lands in the same way. But why should they seek such spots'? Surely the
+country was not so crowded with people as to demand the utilization of
+so barren a region. The only solution suggested of the problem is this:
+We know that for a century or two after the settlement of Mexico many
+expeditious were sent into the country now comprising Arizona and New
+Mexico, for the purpose of bringing the town-building people under
+the dominion of the Spanish government. Many of their villages were
+destroyed, and the inhabitants fled to regions at that time unknown; and
+there are traditions among the people who inhabit the pueblos that
+still remain that the canyons were these unknown lauds. It may be these
+buildings were erected at that time; sure it is that they have a much
+more modern appearance than the ruins scattered over Nevada, Utah,
+Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Those old Spanish conquerors had
+a monstrous greed for gold and a wonderful lust for saving souls.
+Treasures they must have, if not on earth, why, then, in heaven; and
+when they failed to find heathen temples bedecked with silver, they
+propitiated Heaven by seizing the heathen themselves. There is yet
+extant a copy of a record made by a heathen artist to express his
+conception of the demands of the conquerors. In one part of the picture
+we have a lake, and near by stands a priest pouring water on the head of
+a native. On the other side, a poor Indian has a cord about his throat.
+Lines run from these two groups to a central figure, a man with beard
+and full Spanish panoply. The interpretation of the picture-writing is
+this: "Be baptized as this saved heathen, or be hanged as that damned
+heathen." Doubtless, some of these people preferred another alternative,
+and rather than be baptized or hanged they chose to imprison themselves
+within these canyon walls.
+
+August 17.--Our rations are still spoiling; the bacon is so badly
+injured that we are compelled to throw it away. By an accident, this
+morning, the saleratus was lost overboard. We have now only musty flour
+sufficient for ten days and a few dried apples, but plenty of coffee.
+We must make all haste possible. If we meet with difficulties such as we
+have encountered in the canyon above, we may be compelled to give up the
+expedition and try to reach the Mormon settlements to the north.
+
+261 powell-canyons-165.jpg
+
+SIGNAL OF SUCCESSFUL WAR PARTY.
+
+262 powell-canyons-166.jpg
+
+A SIGNAL OF PEACE.
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 263
+
+Our hopes are that the worst places are passed, but our barometers are
+all so much injured as to be useless, and so we have lost our reckoning
+in altitude, and know not how much descent the river has yet to make.
+The stream is still wild and rapid and rolls through a narrow channel.
+We make but slow progress, often landing against a wall and climbing
+around some point to see the river below. Although very anxious to
+advance, we are determined to run with great caution, lest by another
+accident we lose our remaining supplies. How precious that little flour
+has become! We divide it among the boats and carefully store it away, so
+that it can be lost only by the loss of the boat itself.
+
+We make ten miles and a half, and camp among the rocks on the right.
+We have had rain from time to time all day, and have been thoroughly
+drenched and chilled; but between showers the sun shines with great
+power and the mercury in our thermometers stands at 115 degrees, so that
+we have rapid changes from great extremes, which are very disagreeable.
+It is especially cold in the rain to-night. The little canvas we have is
+rotten and useless; the rubber ponchos with which we started from Green
+River City have all been lost; more than half the party are without
+hats, not one of us has an entire suit of clothes, and we have not
+a blanket apiece. So we gather driftwood and build a fire; but after
+supper the rain, coming down in torrents, extinguishes it, and we sit up
+all night on the rocks, shivering, and are more exhausted by the night's
+discomfort than by the day's toil.
+
+August 18.--The day is employed in making portages and we advance but
+two miles on our journey. Still it rains.
+
+While the men are at work making portages I climb up the granite to
+its summit and go away back over the rust-colored sandstones and
+greenish-yellow shales to the foot of the marble wall. I climb so
+high that the men and boats are lost in the black depths below and the
+dashing river is a rippling brook, and still there is more canyon above
+than below. All about me are interesting geologic records. The book is
+open and I can read as I run. All about me are grand views, too, for the
+clouds are playing again in the gorges. But somehow I think of the nine
+days' rations and the bad river, and the lesson of the rocks and the
+glory of the scene are but half conceived. I push on to an angle, where
+I hope to get a view of the country
+
+264 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+beyond, to see if possible what the prospect may be of our soon running
+through this plateau, or at least of meeting with some geologic change
+that will let us out of the granite; but, arriving at the point, I can
+see below only a labyrinth of black gorges.
+
+August 19.--Rain again this morning. We are in our granite prison still,
+and the time until noon is occupied in making a long; bad portage.
+
+After dinner, in running a rapid the pioneer boat is upset by a wave. We
+are some distance in advance of the larger boats. The river is rough and
+swift and we are unable to land, but cling to the boat and are carried
+down stream over another rapid. The men in the boats above see our
+trouble, but they are caught in whirlpools and are spinning about in
+eddies, and it seems a long time before they come to our relief. At last
+they do come; our boat is turned right side up and bailed out; the oars,
+which fortunately have floated along in company with us, are gathered
+up, and on we go, without even landing. The clouds break away and we
+have sunshine again.
+
+Soon we find a little beach with just room enough to land. Here we camp,
+but there is no wood. Across the river and a little way above, we see
+some driftwood lodged in the rocks. So we bring two boat loads over,
+build a huge fire, and spread everything to dry. It is the first
+cheerful night we have had for a week--a warm, drying fire in the midst
+of the camp, and a few bright stars in our patch of heavens overhead.
+
+August 20.--The characteristics of the canyon change this morning. The
+river is broader, the walls more sloping, and composed of black slates
+that stand on edge. These nearly vertical slates are washed out in
+places--that is, the softer beds are washed out between the harder,
+which are left standing. In this way curious little alcoves are formed,
+in which are quiet bays of water, but on a much smaller scale than the
+great bays and buttresses of Marble Canyon.
+
+The river is still rapid and we stop to let down with lines several
+times, but make greater progress, as we run ten miles. We camp on the
+right bank. Here, on a terrace of trap, we discover another group of
+ruins. There was evidently quite a village on this rock. Again we find
+mealing-stones and much broken pottery, and up on a little natural shelf
+in the rock back of the ruins we find a globular basket that would hold
+
+265 powell-canyons-167.jpg
+
+MOKI METHOD OF DRESSING THE HAIR.
+
+266 powell-canyons-168.jpg
+
+MOKI METHOD OF SPINNING.
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 267
+
+perhaps a third of a bushel. It is badly broken, and as I attempt to
+take it up it falls to pieces. There are many beautiful flint chips,
+also, as if this had been the home of an old arrow-maker.
+
+August 21.--We start early this morning, cheered by the prospect of a
+fine day and encouraged also by the good run made yesterday. A quarter
+of a mile below camp the river turns abruptly to the left, and between
+camp and that point is very swift, running down in a long, broken chute
+and piling up against the foot of the cliff, where it turns to the
+left. We try to pull across, so as to go down on the other side, but
+the waters are swift and it seems impossible for us to escape the rock
+below; but, in pulling across, the bow of the boat is turned to the
+farther shore, so that we are swept broadside down and are prevented by
+the rebounding waters from striking against the wall. We toss about for
+a few seconds in these billows and are then carried past the danger.
+Below, the river turns again to the right, the canyon is very narrow,
+and we see in advance but a short distance. The water, too, is very
+swift, and there is no landing-place. From around this curve there comes
+a mad roar, and down we are carried with a dizzying velocity to the
+head of another rapid. On either side high over our heads there are
+overhanging granite walls, and the sharp bends cut off our view, so that
+a few minutes will carry us into unknown waters. Away we go on one long,
+winding chute. I stand on deck, supporting myself with a strap fastened
+on either side of the gunwale. The boat glides rapidly where the water
+is smooth, then, striking a wave, she leaps and bounds like a thing of
+life, and we have a wild, exhilarating ride for ten miles, which we
+make in less than an hour. The excitement is so great that we forget the
+danger until we hear the roar of a great fall below; then we back on our
+oars and are carried slowly toward its head and succeed in landing just
+above and find that we have to make another portage. At this we are
+engaged until some time after dinner.
+
+Just here we run out of the granite. Ten miles in less than half a day,
+and limestone walls below. Good cheer returns; we forget the storms and
+the gloom and the cloud-covered canyons and the black granite and the
+raging river, and push our boats from shore in great glee.
+
+Though we are out of the granite, the river is still swift, and we wheel
+about a point again to the right, and turn, so as to head back in the
+
+268 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO,
+
+direction from which we came; this brings the granite in sight again,
+with its narrow gorge and black crags; but we meet with no more great
+falls or rapids. Still, we run cautiously and stop from time to time
+to examine some places which look bad. Yet we make ten miles this
+afternoon; twenty miles in all to-day.
+
+August 22.--We come to rapids again this morning and are occupied
+several hours in passing them, letting the boats down from rock to rock
+with lines for nearly half a mile, and then have to make a long portage.
+While the men are engaged in this I climb the wall on the northeast to
+a height of about 2,500 feet, where I can obtain a good view of a long
+stretch of canyon below. Its course is to the southwest. The walls
+seem to rise very abruptly for 2,500 or 3,000 feet, and then there is
+a gently sloping terrace on each side for two or three miles, when we
+again find cliffs, 1,500 or 2,000 feet high. From the brink of these the
+plateau stretches back to the north and south for a long distance. Away
+down the canyon on the right wall I can see a group of mountains, some
+of which appear to stand on the brink of the canyon. The effect of the
+terrace is to give the appearance of a narrow winding valley with high
+walls on either side and a deep, dark, meandering gorge down its middle.
+It is impossible from this point of view to determine whether or not we
+have granite at the bottom; but from geologic considerations, I conclude
+that we shall have marble walls below.
+
+After my return to the boats we run another mile and camp for the night.
+We have made but little over seven miles to-day, and a part of our flour
+has been soaked in the river again.
+
+August 23.--Our way to-day is again through marble walls. Now and then
+we pass for a short distance through patches of granite, like hills
+thrust up into the limestone. At one of these places we have to make
+another portage, and, taking advantage of the delay, I go up a little
+stream to the north, wading it all the way, sometimes having to plunge
+in to my neck, in other places being compelled to swim across little
+basins that have been excavated at the foot of the falls. Along its
+course are many cascades and springs, gushing out from the rocks on
+either side. Sometimes a cottonwood tree grows over the water. I come
+to one beautiful fall, of more than 150 feet, and climb around it to the
+right on the broken rocks. Still going up, the canyon is found to narrow
+very
+
+269 powell-canyons-169.jpg
+
+AN ALCOVE IN THE RED WALL.
+
+270 powell-canyons-170.jpg
+
+KANAB CANYON, NEAR THE JUNCTION.
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 271
+
+much, being but 15 or 20 feet wide; yet the walls rise on either side
+many hundreds of feet, perhaps thousands; I can hardly tell.
+
+In some places the stream has not excavated its channel down vertically
+through the rocks, but has cut obliquely, so that one wall overhangs the
+other. In other places it is cut vertically above and obliquely below,
+or obliquely above and vertically below, so that it is impossible to
+see out overhead. But I can go no farther; the time which I estimated it
+would take to make the portage has almost expired, and I start back on
+a round trot, wading in the creek where I must and plunging through
+basins. The men are waiting for me, and away we go on the river.
+
+Just after dinner we pass a stream on the right, which leaps into' the
+Colorado by a direct fall of more than 100 feet, forming a beautiful
+cascade. There is a bed of very hard rock above, 30 or 40 feet in
+thickness, and there are much softer beds below. The hard beds above
+project many yards beyond the softer, which are washed out, forming a
+deep cave behind the fall, and the stream pours through a narrow crevice
+above into a deep pool below. Around on the rocks in the cavelike
+chamber are set beautiful ferns, with delicate fronds and enameled
+stalks. The frondlets have their points turned down to form spore cases.
+It has very much the appearance of the maidenhair fern, but is much
+larger. This delicate foliage covers the rocks all about the fountain,
+and gives the chamber great beauty. But we have little time to spend in
+admiration; so on we go.
+
+We make fine progress this afternoon, carried along by a swift river,
+shooting over the rapids and finding no serious obstructions. The
+canyon walls for 2,500 or 3,000 feet are very regular, rising almost
+perpendicularly, but here and there set with narrow steps, and
+occasionally we can see away above the broad terrace to distant cliffs.
+
+We camp to-night in a marble cave, and find on looking at our reckoning
+that we have run 22 miles.
+
+August 24.--The canyon is wider to-day. The walls rise to a vertical
+height of nearly 3,000 feet. In many places the river runs under a cliff
+in great curves, forming amphitheaters half-dome shaped.
+
+Though the river is rapid, we meet with no serious obstructions and
+run 20 miles. How anxious we are to make up our reckoning every time we
+stop, now that our diet is confined to plenty of coffee, a very
+
+272 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+little spoiled flour, and very few dried apples! It has come to be a
+race for a dinner. Still, we make such fine progress that all hands are
+in good cheer, but not a moment of daylight is lost.
+
+August 25.--We make 12 miles this morning, when we come to monuments of
+lava standing in the river,--low rocks mostly, but some of them shafts
+more than a hundred feet high. Going on down three or four miles, we
+find them increasing in number. Great quantities of cooled lava and
+many cinder cones are seen on either side; and then we come to an abrupt
+cataract. Just over the fall on the right wall a cinder cone, or extinct
+volcano, with a well-defined crater, stands on the very brink of the
+canyon. This, doubtless, is the one we saw two or three days ago. From
+this volcano vast floods of lava have been poured down into the river,
+and a stream of molten rock has run up the canyon three or four miles
+and down we know not how far. Just where it poured over the canyon wall
+is the fall. The whole north side as far as we can see is lined with the
+black basalt, and high up on the opposite wall are patches of the same
+material, resting on the benches and filling old alcoves and caves,
+giving the wall a spotted appearance.
+
+The rocks are broken in two along a line which here crosses the river,
+and the beds we have seen while coming down the canyon for the last 30
+miles have dropped 800 feet on the lower side of the line, forming what
+geologists call a "fault." The volcanic cone stands directly over the
+fissure thus formed. On the left side of the river, opposite, mammoth
+springs burst out of this crevice, 100 or 200 feet above the river,
+pouring in a stream quite equal in volume to the Colorado Chiquito.
+
+This stream seems to be loaded with carbonate of lime, and the water,
+evaporating, leaves an incrustation on the rocks; and this process has
+been continued for a long time, for extensive deposits are noticed in
+which are basins with bubbling springs. The water is salty.
+
+We have to make a portage here, which is completed in about three hours;
+then on we go.
+
+We have no difficulty as we float along, and I am able to observe the
+wonderful phenomena connected with this flood of lava. The canyon was
+doubtless filled to a height of 1,200 or 1,500 feet, perhaps by more
+than one flood. This would dam the water back; and in cutting through
+this great lava bed, a new channel has been formed, sometimes on one
+
+273 powell-canyons-171.jpg
+
+KANAB CANYON, IN THE RED WALL LIMESTONE.
+
+274 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+side, sometimes on the other. The cooled lava, being of firmer texture
+than the rocks of which the walls are composed, remains in some places;
+in others a narrow channel has been cut, leaving a line of basalt on
+either side. It is possible that the lava cooled faster on the sides
+against the walls and that the center ran out; but of this we can only
+conjecture. There are other places where almost the whole of the lava is
+gone, only patches of it being seen, where it has caught on the walls.
+As we float down we can see that it ran out into side canyons. In some
+places this basalt has a fine, columnar structure, often in concentric
+prisms, and masses of these concentric columns have coalesced. In some
+places, when the flow occurred the canyon was probably about the same
+depth that it is now, for we can see where the basalt has rolled out on
+the sands, and--what seems curious to me--the sands are not melted or
+metamorphosed to any appreciable extent. In places the bed of the river
+is of sandstone or limestone, in other places of lava, showing that it
+has all been cut out again where the sandstones and limestones appear;
+but there is a little yet left where the bed is of lava.
+
+What a conflict of water and fire there must have been here! Just
+imagine a river of molten rock running down into a river of melted snow.
+What a seething and boiling of the waters; what clouds of steam rolled
+into the heavens!
+
+Thirty-five miles to-day. Hurrah!
+
+August 26.--The canyon walls are steadily becoming higher as we advance.
+They are still bold and nearly vertical up to the terrace. We still see
+evidence of the eruption discovered yesterday, but the thickness of the
+basalt is decreasing as we go down stream; yet it has been reinforced
+at points by streams that have come down from volcanoes standing on the
+terrace above, but which we cannot see from the river below.
+
+Since we left the Colorado Chiquito we have seen no evidences that the
+tribe of Indians inhabiting the plateaus on either side ever come down
+to the river; but about eleven o'clock to-day we discover an Indian
+garden at the foot of the wall on the right, just where a little stream
+with a narrow flood plain comes down through a side canyon. Along the
+valley the Indians have planted corn, using for irrigation the water
+which bursts out in springs at the foot of the cliff. The corn is
+looking quite
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+275
+
+well, but it is not sufficiently advanced to give us roasting ears; but
+there are some nice green squashes. We carry ten or a dozen of these
+on board our boats and hurriedly leave, not willing to be caught in the
+robbery, yet excusing ourselves by pleading our great want. We run down
+a short distance to where we feel certain no Indian can follow, and what
+a kettle of squash sauce we make! True, we have no salt with which to
+season it, but it makes a fine addition to our unleavened bread and
+coffee. Never was fruit so sweet as these stolen squashes.
+
+After dinner we push on again and make fine time, finding many rapids,
+but none so bad that we cannot run them with safety; and when we stop,
+just at dusk, and foot up our reckoning, we find we have run 35 miles
+again. A few days like this, and we are out of prison.
+
+We have a royal supper--unleavened bread, green squash sauce, and strong
+coffee. We have been for a few days on half rations, but now have no
+stint of roast squash. powell-canyons-172.jpg
+
+THE BRINK OF THE INNER GORGE.
+
+276 powell-canyons-173.jpg
+
+THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO, SHOWING AMPHITHEATER AND SCULPTURED
+BUTTES.
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 277
+
+August 27.--This morning the river takes a more southerly direction. The
+dip of the rocks is to the north and we are running rapidly into lower
+formations. Unless our course changes we shall very soon run again into
+the granite. This gives some anxiety. Now and then the river turns to
+the west and excites hopes that are soon destroyed by another turn to
+the south. About nine o'clock we come to the dreaded rock. It is with no
+little misgiving that we see the river enter these black, hard walls.
+At its very entrance we have to make a portage; then let down with lines
+past some ugly rocks. We run a mile or two farther, and then the rapids
+below can be seen.
+
+About eleven o'clock we come to a place in the river which seems much
+worse than any we have yet met in all its course. A little creek comes
+down from the left. We land first on the right and clamber up over the
+granite pinnacles for a mile or two, but can see no way by which to let
+down, and to run it would be sure destruction. After dinner we cross to
+examine on the left. High above the river we can walk along on the top
+of the granite, which is broken off at the edge and set with crags and
+pinnacles, so that it is very difficult to get a view of the river at
+all. In my eagerness to reach a point where I can see the roaring fall
+below, I go too far on the wall, and can neither advance nor retreat. I
+stand with one foot on a little projecting rock and cling with my hand
+fixed in a little crevice. Finding I am caught here, suspended 400 feet
+above the river, into which I must fall if my footing fails, I call for
+help. The men come and pass me a line, but I cannot let go of the rock
+long enough to take hold of it. Then they bring two or three of the
+largest oars. All this takes time which seems very precious to me;
+but at last they arrive. The blade of one of the oars is pushed into a
+little crevice in the rock beyond me in such a manner that they can hold
+me pressed against the wall. Then another is fixed in such a way that I
+can step on it; and thus I am extricated.
+
+Still another hour is spent in examining the river from this side, but
+no good view of it is obtained; so now we return to the side that was
+first examined, and the afternoon is spent in clambering among the crags
+and pinnacles and carefully scanning the river again. We find that the
+lateral streams have washed boulders into the river, so as to form a
+dam, over which the water makes a broken fall of 18 or 20 feet; then
+there is
+
+278 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+a rapid, beset with rocks, for 200 or 300 yards, while on the other
+side, points of the wall project into the river. Below, there is a
+second fall; how great, we cannot tell. Then there is a rapid, filled
+with huge rocks, for 100 or 200 yards. At the bottom of it, from the
+right wall, a great rock projects quite halfway across the river. It has
+a sloping surface extending up stream, and the water, coming down with
+all the momentum gained in the falls and rapids above, rolls up this
+inclined plane many feet, and tumbles over to the left. I decide that
+it is possible to let down over the first fall, then run near the right
+cliff to a point just above the second, where we can pull out into a
+little chute, and, having run over that in safety, if we pull with all
+our power across the stream, we may avoid the great rock below. On my
+return to the boat I announce to the men that we are to run it in the
+morning. Then we cross the river and go into camp for the night on some
+rocks in the mouth of the little side canyon.
+
+After supper Captain Howland asks to have a talk with me. We walk up
+the little creek a short distance, and I soon find that his object is to
+remonstrate against my determination to proceed. He thinks that we had
+better abandon the river here. Talking with him, I learn that he, his
+brother, and William Dunn have determined to go no farther in the boats.
+So we return to camp. Nothing is said to the other men.
+
+For the last two days our course has not been plotted. I sit down and do
+this now, for the purpose of finding where we are by dead reckoning.
+It is a clear night, and I take out the sextant to make observation
+for latitude, and I find that the astronomic determination agrees very
+nearly with that of the plot--quite as closely as might be expected from
+a meridian observation on a planet. In a direct line, we must be about
+45 miles from the mouth of the Rio Virgen. If we can reach that point,
+we know that there are settlements up that river about 20 miles. This 45
+miles in a direct line will probably be 80 or 90 by the meandering line
+of the river. But then we know that there is comparatively open country
+for many miles above the mouth of the Virgen, which is our point of
+destination.
+
+As soon as I determine all this, I spread my plot on the sand and wake
+Howland, who is sleeping down by the river, and show him where I suppose
+we are, and where several Mormon settlements are situated.
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+279
+
+We have another short talk about the morrow, and he lies down again;
+but for me there is no sleep. All night long I pace up and down a little
+path, on a few yards of sand beach, along by the river. Is it wise to
+go on? I go to the boats again to look at our rations. I feel satisfied
+that we can get over the danger immediately before us; what there may be
+below I know not. From our outlook yesterday on the cliffs, the canyon
+seemed to make another great bend to the south, and this, from our
+experience heretofore, means more and higher granite walls. I am not
+sure that we can climb out of the canyon here, and, if at the top of the
+wall, I know enough of the country to be certain that it is a desert of
+rock and sand between this and the nearest Mormon town, which, on the
+most direct line, must be 75 miles away. True, the late rains have been
+favorable to us, should we go out, for the probabilities are that we
+shall find water still standing in holes; and at one time I almost
+conclude to leave the river. But for years I have powell-canyons-174.jpg
+
+CLIMBING THE GRAND CANYON WALL.
+
+280 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+been contemplating this trip. To leave the exploration unfinished, to
+say that there is a part of the canyon which I cannot explore,
+having already nearly accomplished it, is more than I am willing to
+acknowledge, and I determine to go on.
+
+I wake my brother and tell him of Howland's determination, and he
+promises to stay with me; then I call up Hawkins, the cook, and he makes
+a like promise; then Sumner and Bradley and Hall, and they all agree to
+go on.
+
+August 28.--At last daylight comes and we have breakfast without a word
+being said about the future. The meal is as solemn as a funeral. After
+breakfast I ask the three men if they still think it best to leave us.
+The elder Howland thinks it is, and Dunn agrees with him. The younger
+Howland tries to persuade them to go on with the party; failing in
+which, he decides to go with his brother.
+
+Then we cross the river. The small boat is very much disabled and
+unseaworthy. With the loss of hands, consequent on the departure of the
+three men, we shall not be able to run all of the boats; so I decide to
+leave my "Emma Dean."
+
+Two rifles and a shotgun are given to the men who are going out. I ask
+them to help themselves to the rations and take what they think to be
+a fair share. This they refuse to do, saying they have no fear but
+that they can get something to eat; but Billy, the cook, has a pan of
+biscuits prepared for dinner, and these he leaves on a rock.
+
+Before starting, we take from the boat our barometers, fossils, the
+minerals, and some ammunition and leave them on the rocks. We are going
+over this place as light as possible. The three men help us lift our
+boats over a rock 25 or 30 feet high and let them down again over the
+first fall, and now we are all ready to start. The last thing before
+leaving, I write a letter to my wife and give it to Howland. Sumner
+gives him his watch, directing that it be sent to his sister should he
+not be heard from again. The records of the expedition have been kept in
+duplicate. One set of these is given to Howland; and now we are ready.
+For the last time they entreat us not to go on, and tell us that it is
+madness to set out in this place; that we can never get safely through
+it; and, further, that the river turns again to the south into the
+granite, and a few miles of such rapids and falls will exhaust our
+entire stock of rations, and then
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+281
+
+it will be too late to climb out. Some tears are shed; it is rather
+a solemn parting; each party thinks the other is taking the dangerous
+course.
+
+My old boat left, I go on board of the "Maid of the Canyon." The three
+men climb a crag that overhangs the river to watch us off. The "Maid
+of the Canyon" pushes out. We glide rapidly along the foot of the wall,
+just grazing one great rock, then pull out a little into the chute of
+the second fall and plunge over it. The open compartment is filled when
+we strike the first wave below, but we cut through it, and then the men
+pull with all their power toward the left wall and swing clear of the
+dangerous rock below all right. We are scarcely a minute in running it,
+and find that, although it looked bad from above, we have passed many
+places that were worse. The other boat follows without more difficulty.
+We land at the first powell-canyons-175.jpg
+
+TRIANGULATION STATION.
+
+282 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+practicable point below, and fire our guns, as a signal to the men above
+that we have come over in safety. Here we remain a couple of hours,
+hoping that they will take the smaller boat and follow us. We are behind
+a curve in the canyon and cannot see up to where we left them, and so we
+wait until their coming seems hopeless, and then push on.
+
+And now we have a succession of rapids and falls until noon, all of
+which we run in safety. Just after dinner we come to another bad place.
+A little stream comes in from the left, and below there is a fall, and
+still below another fall. Above, the river tumbles down, over and among
+the rocks, in whirlpools and great waves, and the waters are lashed into
+mad, white foam. We run along the left, above this, and soon see that we
+cannot get down on this side, but it seems possible to let down on the
+other. We pull up stream again for 200 or 300 yards and cross. Now there
+is a bed of basalt on this northern side of the canyon, with a bold
+escarpment that seems to be a hundred feet high. We can climb it and
+walk along its summit to a point where we are just at the head of the
+fall. Here the basalt is broken down again, so it seems to us, and I
+direct the men to take a line to the top of the cliff and let the boats
+down along the wall. One man remains in the boat to keep her clear
+of the rocks and prevent her line from being caught on the projecting
+angles. I climb the cliff and pass along to a point just over the fall
+and descend by broken rocks, and find that the break of the fall is
+above the break of the wall, so that we cannot land, and that still
+below the river is very bad, and that there is no possibility of a
+portage. Without waiting further to examine and determine what shall
+be done, I hasten back to the top of the cliff to stop the boats from
+coming down. When I arrive I find the men have let one of them down to
+the head of the fall. She is in swift water and they are not able to
+pull her back; nor are they able to go on with the line, as it is not
+long enough to reach the higher part of the cliff which is just before
+them; so they take a bight around a crag. I send two men back for the
+other line. The boat is in very swift water, and Bradley is standing in
+the open compartment, holding out his oar to prevent her from striking
+against the foot of the cliff. Now she shoots out into the stream and
+up as far as the line will permit, and then, wheeling, drives headlong
+against the rock, and then out and back again, now straining
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+283
+
+on the line, now striking against the rock. As soon as the second line
+is brought, we pass it down to him; but his attention is all taken up
+with his own situation, and he does not see that we are passing him the
+line. I stand on a projecting rock, waving my hat to gain his attention,
+for my voice is drowned by the roaring of the falls. Just at this moment
+I see him take his knife from its sheath and step forward to cut the
+line. He has evidently decided that it is better to go over with the
+boat as it is than to wait for her to be broken to pieces. As he leans
+over, the boat sheers again into the stream, the stem-post breaks away
+and she is loose. With perfect composure Bradley seizes the great scull
+oar, places it in the stern rowlock, and pulls with all his power (and
+he is an athlete) to turn the bow of the boat down stream, for he wishes
+to go bow down, rather than to drift broadside on. One, two strokes he
+makes, and a third just as she goes over, and the boat is fairly turned,
+and she goes down almost beyond our sight, though we are more than a
+hundred feet above the river. Then she comes up again on a great wave,
+and down and up, then around behind some great rocks, and is lost in the
+mad, white foam below. We stand frozen with fear, for we see no boat.
+Bradley is gone! so it seems. But now, away below, we see something
+coming out of the waves. It is evi- powell-canyons-176.jpg
+
+CAVATE HOUSES
+
+284 CANTONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+dently a boat. A moment more, and we see Bradley standing on deck,
+swinging his hat to show that he is all right. But he is in a whirlpool.
+We have the stem-post of his boat attached to the line. How badly she
+may be disabled we know not. I direct Sumner and Powell to pass along
+the cliff and see if they can reach him from below. Hawkins, Hall, and
+myself run to the other boat, jump aboard, push out, and away we go over
+the falls. A wave rolls over us and our boat is unmanageable. Another
+great wave strikes us, and the boat rolls over, and tumbles and tosses,
+I know not how. All I know is that Bradley is picking us up. We soon
+have all right again, and row to the cliff and wait until Sumner and
+Powell can come. After a difficult climb they reach us. We run two or
+three miles farther and turn again to the northwest, continuing until
+night, when we have run out of the granite once more.
+
+August 29.--We start very early this morning. The river still continues
+swift, but we have no serious difficulty, and at twelve o'clock emerge
+from the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. We are in a valley now, and
+low mountains are seen in the distance, coming to the river below. We
+recognize this as the Grand Wash.
+
+A few years ago a party of Mormons set out from St. George, Utah, taking
+with them a boat, and came down to the Grand Wash, where they divided,
+a portion of the party crossing the river to explore the San Francisco
+Mountains. Three men--Hamblin, Miller, and Crosby--taking the boat, went
+on down the river to Callville, landing a few miles below the mouth of
+the Rio Virgen. We have their manuscript journal with us, and so the
+stream is comparatively well known.
+
+To-night we camp on the left bank, in a mesquite thicket.
+
+The relief from danger and the joy of success are great. When he who
+has been chained by wounds to a hospital cot until his canvas tent seems
+like a dungeon cell, until the groans of those who lie about tortured
+with probe and knife are piled up, a weight of horror on his ears that
+he cannot throw off, cannot forget, and until the stench of festering
+wounds and anaesthetic drugs has filled the air with its loathsome
+burthen,--when he at last goes out into the open field, what a world he
+sees! How beautiful the sky, how bright the sunshine, what "floods of
+delirious music" pour from the throats of birds, how sweet the fragrance
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+285
+
+of earth and tree and blossom! The first hour of convalescent freedom
+seems rich recompense for all pain and gloom and terror.
+
+Something like these are the feelings we experience to-night. Ever
+before us has been an unknown danger, heavier than immediate peril.
+Every waking hour passed in the Grand Canyon has been one of toil. We
+have watched with deep solicitude the steady disappearance of our scant
+supply of rations, and from time to time have seen the river snatch a
+portion of the little left, while we were a-hungered. And danger and
+toil were endured in those gloomy depths, where ofttimes clouds hid the
+sky by day and but a narrow zone of stars could be seen at night. Only
+during the few hours of deep sleep, consequent on hard labor, has the
+roar of the waters been hushed. Now the danger is over, now the toil has
+ceased, now the gloom has disappeared, now the firmament is bounded only
+by the horizon, and what a vast expanse of constellations can be seen!
+
+The river rolls by us in silent majesty; the quiet of the camp is sweet;
+our joy is almost ecstasy. We sit till long after midnight talking of
+the Grand Canyon, talking of home, but talking chiefly of the three men
+who left us. Are they wandering in those depths, unable to find a way
+out? Are they searching over the desert lands above for water? Or are
+they nearing the settlements?
+
+August 30.--We run in two or three short, low canyons to-day, and on
+emerging from one we discover a band of Indians in the valley below.
+They see us, and scamper away in eager haste to hide among the rocks.
+Although we land and call for them to return, not an Indian can be seen.
+powell-canyons-177.jpg
+
+STANDING BOCKS.
+
+286 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+Two or three miles farther down, in turning a short bend of the river,
+we come upon another camp. So near are we before they can see us that I
+can shout to them, and, being able to speak a little of their language,
+I tell them we are friends; but they all flee to the rocks, except a
+man, a woman, and two children. We land and talk with them. They are
+without lodges, but have built little shelters of boughs, under which'
+they wallow in the sand. The man is dressed in a hat; the woman, in a
+string of beads only. At first they are evidently much terrified; but
+when I talk to them in their own language and tell them we are friends,
+and inquire after people in the Mormon towns, they are soon reassured
+and beg for tobacco. Of this precious article we have none to spare.
+Sumner looks around in the boat for something to give them, and finds
+a little piece of colored soap, which they receive as a valuable
+present,--rather as a thing of beauty than as a useful commodity,
+however. They are either unwilling or unable to tell us anything about
+the Indians or white people, and so we push off, for we must lose no
+time.
+
+We camp at noon under the right bank. And now as we push out we are in
+great expectancy, for we hope every minute to discover the mouth of the
+Rio Virgen. Soon one of the men exclaims: "Yonder's an Indian in the
+river." Looking for a few minutes, we certainly do see two or three
+persons. The men bend to their oars and pull toward them. Approaching,
+we see that there are three white men and an Indian hauling a seine, and
+then we discover that it is just at the mouth of the long-sought river.
+
+As we come near, the men seem far less surprised to see us than we do to
+see them. They evidently know who we are, and on talking with them they
+tell us that we have been reported lost long ago, and that some weeks
+before a messenger had been sent from Salt Lake City with instructions
+for them to watch for any fragments or relics of our party that might
+drift down the stream.
+
+Our new-found friends, Mr. Asa and his two sons, tell us that they are
+pioneers of a town that is to be built on the bank. Eighteen or twenty
+miles up the valley of the Rio Virgen there are two Mormon towns,
+St. Joseph and St. Thomas. To-night we dispatch an Indian to the
+last-mentioned place to bring any letters that may be there for us.
+
+Our arrival here is very opportune. When we look over our store of
+
+TO THE FOOT OF THE GRAND CANTON.
+
+287
+
+supplies, we find about 10 pounds of flour, 15 pounds of dried apples,
+but 70 or 80 pounds of coffee.
+
+August 31.--This afternoon the Indian returns with a letter informing us
+that Bishop Leithhead of St. Thomas and two or three other Mormons
+are coming down with a wagon, bringing us supplies. They arrive about
+sundown. Mr. Asa treats us with great kindness to the extent of his
+ability; but Bishop Leithhead brings in his wagon two or three dozen
+melons and many other little luxuries, and we are comfortable once more.
+
+September 1.--This morning Sumner, Bradley, Hawkins, and Hall, taking on
+a small supply of rations, start down the Colorado with the boats. It is
+their intention to go to Fort Mojave, and perhaps from there overland to
+Los Angeles.
+
+Captain Powell and myself return with Bishop Leithhead to St. Thomas.
+From St. Thomas we go to Salt Lake City. powell-canyons-178.jpg
+
+288 powell-canyons-179.jpg
+
+MOUNT TRUMBULL, FROM MOUNT LOGAN.
+
+289
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS.
+
+A YEAR has passed, and we have determined to resume the exploration of
+the canyons of the Colorado. Our last trip was so hurried, owing to the
+loss of rations, and the scientific instruments were so badly injured,
+that we are not satisfied with the results obtained; so we shall once
+more attempt to pass through the canyons in boats, devoting two or three
+years to the trip.
+
+It will not be possible to carry in the boats sufficient supplies for
+the party for that length of time; so it is thought best to establish
+depots of supplies, at intervals of 100 or 200 miles along the river.
+
+Between Gunnison's Crossing and the foot of the Grand Canyon, we know of
+only two points where the river can be reached--one at the Crossing of
+the Fathers, and another a few miles below, at the mouth of the
+Paria, on a route which has been explored by Jacob Hamblin, a Mormon
+missionary. These two points are so near each other that only one of
+them can be selected for the purpose above mentioned, and others must
+be found. We have been unable up to this time to obtain, either from
+Indians or white men, any information which will give us a clue to any
+other trail to the river.
+
+At the headwaters of the Sevier, we are on the summit of a great
+watershed. The Sevier itself flows north and then westward into the
+lake of the same name. The Rio Virgen, heading near by, flows to the
+southwest into the Colorado, 60 or 70 miles below the Grand Canyon. The
+Kanab, also heading near by, runs directly south into the very heart
+of the Grand Canyon. The Paria, likewise heading near by, runs a little
+south of east and enters the river at the head of Marble Canyon. To the
+northeast from this point, other streams which run into the Colorado
+have their sources, until, 40 or 50 miles away, we reach the
+
+290
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+southern branches of the Dirty Devil River, the mouth of which stream is
+but a short distance below the junction of the Grand and Green.
+
+The Paunsa'gunt Plateau terminates in a point, which is bounded by a
+line of beautiful pink cliffs. At the foot of this plateau, on the west,
+the Rio Virgen and Sevier River are dovetailed together, as their minute
+upper branches interlock. The upper surface of the plateau inclines to
+
+the northeast, so that its waters roll off into the Sevier; but from the
+foot of the cliffs, quite around the sharp angle of the plateau, for a
+dozen miles, we find numerous springs, whose waters unite to form the
+Kanab. A little farther to the northeast the springs gather into streams
+that feed the Paria. Here, by the upper springs of the Kanab, we make
+a camp, and from this point we are to radiate on a series of trips,
+southwest, south, and east.
+
+Jacob Hamblin, who has been a missionary among the Indians for more
+than twenty years, has collected a number of Kai'vavits, with
+Chuar'-ruumpeak, their chief, and they are all camped with us. They
+assure us that we cannot reach the river, that we cannot make our way
+into the depths of the canyon, but promise to show us the springs and
+water pockets, which are very scarce in all powell-canyons-180.jpg
+
+MARY'S VEIL; THE UPPER FALL ON PINE CREEK, A SMALL TRIBUTARY OF THE
+SEVIER.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS.
+
+291
+
+this region, and to give us all the information in their power. Here we
+fit up a pack train, for our bedding and instruments and supplies are to
+be carried on the backs of mules and ponies.
+
+September 5, 1870.--The several members of the party are engaged in
+general preparation for our trip down to the Grand Canyon.
+
+Taking with me a white man and an Indian, I start on a climb to the
+summit of the Paunsa'gunt Plateau, which rises above us on the east. Our
+way for a mile or more is over a great peat bog, which trembles under
+our feet, and now and then a mule sinks through the broken turf and we
+are compelled to pull it out with ropes. Passing the bog, our way is up
+a gulch at the foot of the Pink Cliffs, which form the escarpment, or
+wall, of the great plateau. Soon we leave the gulch and climb a long
+ridge which winds around to the right toward the summit of the great
+table.
+
+Two hours' riding, climbing, and clambering bring us near the top.
+We look below and see clouds drifting up from the south and rolling
+tumultuously toward the foot of the cliffs beneath us. Soon all the
+country below is covered with a sea of vapor--a billowy, raging,
+noiseless sea--and as the vapory flood still rolls up from the south,
+great waves dash against the powell-canyons-181.jpg
+
+PILLING CASCADE, THE LOWER FALLS ON PINE CEEEK.
+
+292
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-182.jpg
+
+ABORIGINAL LADDER.
+
+foot of the cliffs and roll back; another tide comes in, is hurled back,
+and another and another, lashing the cliffs until the fog rises to the
+summit and covers us all. There is a heavy pine and fir forest above,
+beset with dead and fallen timber, and we make our way through the
+undergrowth to the east.
+
+It rains. The clouds discharge their moisture in torrents, and we make
+for ourselves shelters of boughs, only to be soon abandoned, and we
+stand shivering by a great fire of pine logs and boughs, which the
+pelting storm half extinguishes.
+
+One, two, three, four hours of the storm, and at last it partially
+abates. During this time our animals, which we have turned loose, have
+sought for themselves shelter under the trees, and two of them have
+wandered away beyond our sight. I go out to follow their tracks, and
+come near to the brink of a ledge of rocks, which, in the fog and mist,
+I suppose to be a little ridge, and I look for a way by which I can go
+down. Standing just here, there is a rift made in the fog below by some
+current or blast of wind, which reveals an almost bottomless abyss. I
+look from the brink of a great precipice of more than 2,000 feet;
+but through the mist the forms are half obscured and all reckoning of
+distance is lost, and it seems 10,000 feet, ten miles--any distance the
+imagination desires to make it.
+
+Catching our animals, we return to the camp. We find that the little
+streams which come down from the plateau are greatly swollen, but at
+camp they have had no rain. The clouds which drifted up from the south,
+striking against the plateau, were lifted up into colder regions and
+discharged their moisture on the summit and against the sides of the
+plateau, but there was no rain in the valley below.
+
+September 9.--We make a fair start this morning from the beautiful
+meadow at the head of the Kanab, cross the line of little hills at the
+headwaters of the Rio Virgen, and pass, to the south, a pretty valley.
+At ten o'clock we come to the brink of a great geographic bench--a line
+of
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS.
+
+293
+
+cliffs. Behind us are cool springs, green meadows, and forest-clad
+slopes; below us, stretching to the south until the world is lost in
+blue haze, is a painted desert--not a desert plain, but a desert of
+rocks cut by deep gorges and relieved by towering cliffs and pinnacled
+rocks--naked rocks, brilliant in the sunlight.
+
+By a difficult trail we make our way down the basaltic ledge, through
+which innumerable streams here gather into a little river running in
+a deep canyon. The river runs close to the foot of the cliffs on the
+right-hand side and the trail passes along to the right. At noon we rest
+and our animals feed on luxuriant grass.
+
+Again we start and make slow progress along a stony way. At night we
+camp under an overarching cliff.
+
+September 10.--Here the river turns to the west, and our way, properly,
+is to the south; but we wish to explore the Rio Virgen as far as
+possible. The Indians tell us that the canyon narrows gradually a few
+miles below and that it will be impossible to take our animals much
+farther down the river. Early in the morning I go down to examine the
+head of this narrow part. After breakfast, having concluded to explore
+the canyon for a few miles on foot, we arrange that the main party
+shall climb the cliff and go around to a point 18 or 20 \ miles below,
+where, the Indians say, the animals can be taken down by the river, and
+three of us set out on, foot.
+
+The Indian name of the canyon is Paru'nuweap, or Roaring Water Canyon.
+Between the little river and the foot of the walls is a dense growth of
+willows, vines, and wild rosebushes, and with great difficulty we make
+our way through this tangled mass. It is not a wide stream--only 20 or
+30 feet across in most places; shallow, but very swift. After spending
+some hours in breaking our way through the mass of vegetation and
+climbing rocks here and there, it is determined to wade along the
+stream. In some places this is an easy task, but here and there we come
+to deep holes where we have to wade to our armpits. Soon we come to
+places so narrow powell-canyons-183.jpg
+
+ANOTHER STYLE OF LADDER.
+
+294 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+that the river fills the entire channel and we wade perforce. In many
+places the bottom is a quicksand, into which we sink, and it is with
+great difficulty that we make progress. In some places the holes are
+so deep that we have to swim, and our little bundles of blankets and
+rations are fixed to a raft made of driftwood and pushed before us. Now
+and then there is a little flood-plain, on which we can walk, and we
+cross and recross the stream and wade along the channel where the water
+is so swift as almost to carry us off our feet and we are in danger
+every moment of being swept down, until night comes on. Finding a little
+patch of flood-plain, on which there is a huge pile of driftwood and
+a clump of box-elders, and near by a mammoth stream bursting from the
+rocks, we soon have a huge fire. Our clothes are spread to dry; we make
+a cup of coffee, take out our bread and cheese and dried beef, and enjoy
+a hearty supper. We estimate that we have traveled eight miles to-day.
+
+The canyon here is about 1,200 feet deep. It has been very narrow and
+winding all the way down to this point.
+
+September 11.--Wading again this morning; sinking in the quicksand,
+swimming the deep waters, and making slow and painful progress where the
+waters are swift and the bed of the stream rocky.
+
+The canyon is steadily becoming deeper and in many places very
+narrow--only 20 or 30 feet wide below, and in some places no wider, and
+even narrower, for hundreds of feet overhead. There are places where
+the river in sweeping by curves has cut far under the rocks, but still
+preserves its narrow channel, so that there is an overhanging wall on
+one side and an inclined wall on the other. In places a few hundred
+feet above, it becomes vertical again, and thus the view to the sky is
+entirely closed. Everywhere this deep passage is dark and gloomy and
+resounds with the noise of rapid waters. At noon we are in a canyon
+2,500 feet deep, and we come to a fall where the walls are broken down
+and huge rocks beset the channel, on which we obtain a foothold to reach
+a level 200 feet below. Here the canyon is again wider, and we find a
+flood-plain along which we can walk, now on this, and now on that side
+of the stream. Gradually the canyon widens; steep rapids, cascades,
+and cataracts are found along the river, but we wade only when it is
+necessary to cross. We make progress with very great labor, having to
+climb over piles of broken rocks.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 295
+
+Late in the afternoon we come to a little clearing in the valley and
+see other signs of civilization and by sundown arrive at the Mormon town
+powell-canyons-184.jpg
+
+ENTRANCE TO PARU'NUWEAP.
+
+of Schunesburg; and here we meet the train, and feast on melons and
+grapes.
+
+September 12.--Our course for the last two days, through Paru'nuweap
+Canyon, was directly to the west. Another stream comes down from the
+north and unites just here at Schunesburg with the main branch of the
+Rio Virgen. We determine to spend a day in the exploration of
+this stream. The Indians call the canyon through which it runs,
+Mukun'tu-weap, or Straight, Canyon. Entering this, we have to wade
+upstream; often the water fills the entire channel and, although we
+travel many
+
+296
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+miles, we find no flood-plain, talus, or broken piles of rock at the
+foot of the cliff. The walls have smooth, plain faces and are everywhere
+very regular and vertical for a thousand feet or more, where they seem
+to break back in shelving slopes to higher altitudes; and everywhere, as
+we go along, we find springs bursting out at the foot of the walls, and
+passing these the river above becomes steadily smaller. The great body
+of water which runs below bursts out from beneath this great bed of red
+sandstone; as we go up the canyon, it comes to be but a creek, and
+then a brook. On the western wall of the canyon stand some buttes,
+powell-canyons-185.jpg
+
+TOWERS ON THE RIO VIRGEN.
+
+towers, and high pinnacled rocks. Going up the canyon, we gain glimpses
+of them, here and there. Last summer, after our trip through
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 297
+
+the canyons of the Colorado, on our way from the mouth of the Virgen to
+Salt Lake City, these were seen as conspicuous landmarks from a distance
+away to the southwest of 60 or 70 miles. These tower rocks are known as
+the Temples of the Virgen.
+
+Having explored this canyon nearly to its head, we return to
+Schunesburg, arriving quite late at night.
+
+Sitting in camp this evening, Chuar'ruumpeak, the chief of the
+Kai'vavits, who is one of our party, tells us there is a tradition among
+the tribes of this country that many years ago a great light was
+seen somewhere in this region by the Paru'shapats, who lived to the
+southwest, and that they supposed it to be a signal kindled to warn them
+of the approach of the Navajos, who lived beyond the Colorado River
+to the east. Then other signal fires were kindled on the Pine Valley
+Mountains, Santa Clara Mountains, and Uinkaret Mountains, so that all
+the tribes of northern Arizona, southern Utah, southern Nevada, and
+southern California were warned of the approaching danger; but when the
+Paru'shapats came nearer, they discovered that it was a fire on one of
+the great temples; and then they knew that the fire was not kindled
+by men, for no human being could scale the rocks. The
+Tu'muurrugwait'sigaip, or Rock Rovers, had kindled a fire to deceive the
+people. So, in the Indian language this is called Tu'muurruwait'sigaip
+Tuweap', or Rock Rovers' Land.
+
+September 13.--We start very early this morning, for we have a long
+day's travel before us. Our way is across the Rio Virgen to the south.
+Coming to the bank of the stream here, we find a strange metamorphosis.
+The streams we have seen above, running in narrow channels, leaping and
+plunging over the rocks, raging and roaring in their course, are here
+united and spread in a thin sheet several hundred yards wide and only
+a few inches deep, but running over a bed of quicksand. Crossing the
+stream, our trail leads up a narrow canyon, not very deep, and then
+among the hills of golden, red, and purple shales and marls. Climbing
+out of the valley of the Rio Virgen, we pass through a forest of dwarf
+cedars and come out at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs. All day we
+follow this Indian trail toward the east, and at night camp at a great
+spring, known to the Indians as Yellow Rock Spring, but to the Mormons
+as Pipe Spring; and near by there is a cabin in which some Mormon
+
+298
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+herders find shelter. Pipe Spring is a point just across the Utah line
+in Arizona, and we suppose it to be about 60 miles from the river. Here
+powell-canyons-186.jpg
+
+MUKUN'TUWEAP CANYON.
+
+the Mormons design to build a fort another year, as an outpost for
+protection against the Indians. We now discharge a number of the
+Indians, but take two with us for
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 299
+
+the purpose of showing us the springs, for they are very scarce, very
+small, and not easily found. Half a dozen are not known in a district
+of country large enough to make as many good-sized counties in Illinois.
+There are no running streams, and these springs and water pockets are
+our sole dependence.
+
+Starting, we leave behind a long line of cliffs, many hundred feet
+high, composed of orange and vermilion sandstones. I have named them
+"Vermilion Cliffs." When we are out a few miles, I look back and see
+the morning sun shining in splendor on their painted faces; the salient
+angles are on fire, and the retreating angles are buried in shade, and I
+gaze on them until my vision dreams and the cliffs appear a long bank of
+purple clouds piled from the horizon high into the heavens. At noon we
+pass along a ledge of chocolate cliffs, and, taking out our sandwiches,
+we make a dinner as we ride along.
+
+Yesterday our Indians discussed for hours the route which we should
+take. There is one way, farther by 10 or 12 miles, with sure water;
+another, shorter, where water is found sometimes; their conclusion was
+that water would be found now; and this is the way we go, yet all day
+long we are anxious about it. To be out two days with only the water
+that can be carried in two small kegs is to have our animals suffer
+greatly. At five o'clock we come to the spot, and there is a huge water
+pocket containing several barrels. What a relief! Here we camp for the
+night.
+
+September 15.--Up at daybreak, for it is a long day's march to the next
+water. They say we must "run very hard" to reach it by dark.
+
+Our course is to the south. From Pipe Spring we can see a mountain, and
+I recognize it as the one seen last summer from a cliff overlooking the
+Grand Canyon; and I wish to reach the river just behind the mountain.
+There are Indians living in the group, of which it is the highest, whom
+I wish to visit on the way. These mountains are of volcanic origin, and
+we soon come to ground that is covered with fragments of lava. The way
+becomes very difficult. We have to cross deep ravines, the heads of
+canyons that run into the Grand Canyon. It is curious now to observe the
+knowledge of our Indians. There is not a trail but what they know; every
+gulch and every rock seems familiar. I have prided myself on being able
+to grasp and retain in my mind the topog-
+
+300 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+raphy of a country; but these Indians put me to shame. My knowledge is
+only general, embracing the more important features of a region that
+remains as a map engraved on my mind; but theirs is particular. They
+know every rock and every ledge, every gulch and canyon, and just where
+to wind among these to find a pass; and their knowledge is unerring.
+They cannot describe a country to you, but they can tell you all the
+particulars of a route.
+
+I have but one pony for the two, and they were to ride "turn about"; but
+Chuar'ruumpeak, the chief, rides, and Shuts, the one-eyed, barelegged,
+merry-faced pigmy, walks, and points the way with a slender cane; then
+leaps and bounds by the shortest way, and sits down on a rock and waits
+demurely until we come, always meeting us with a jest, his face a rich
+mine of sunny smiles.
+
+At dusk we reach the water pocket. It is in a deep gorge on the flank
+of this great mountain. During the rainy season the water rolls down the
+mountain side, plunging over precipices, and excavates a deep basin in
+the solid rock below. This basin, hidden from the sun, holds water the
+year round.
+
+September 16.--This morning, while the men are packing the animals, I
+climb a little mountain near camp, to obtain a view of the country. It
+is a huge pile of volcanic scoria, loose and light as cinders from a
+forge, which give way under my feet, and I climb with great labor; but,
+reaching the summit and looking to the southeast, I see once more the
+labyrinth of deep gorges that flank the Grand Canyon; in the multitude,
+I cannot determine whether it is itself in view or not. The memories of
+grand and awful months spent in their deep, gloomy solitudes come up,
+and I live that life over again for a time.
+
+I supposed, before starting, that I could get a good view of the great
+mountain from this point; but it is like climbing a chair to look at a
+castle. I wish to discover some way by which it can be ascended, as it
+is my intention to go to the summit before I return to the settlements.
+There is a cliff near the summit and I do not see any way yet. Now down
+I go, sliding on the cinders, making them rattle and clang.
+
+The Indians say we are to have a short ride to-day and that we shall
+reach an Indian village, situated by a good spring. Our way is across
+the spurs that put out from the great mountain as we pass it to the
+left.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS.
+
+301
+
+Up and down we go across deep ravines, and the fragments of lava clank
+under our horses' feet; now among cedars, now among pines, and now
+across mountain-side glades. At one o'clock we descend into a lovely
+valley, with a carpet of waving grass; sometimes there is a little water
+in the upper end of it, and during some seasons the Indians we wish to
+find are encamped here. Chuar'ruumpeak rides on to find them, and to say
+we are friends, otherwise they would run away or propose to fight us,
+should we come without notice. Soon we see Chuar'ruumpeak riding at full
+speed and hear him shouting at the top of his voice, and away in the
+distance are two Indians scampering up the mountain side. One stops;
+the other still goes on and is soon lost to view. We ride up and find
+Chuar'ruumpeak talking with the one who had stopped. It is one of
+the ladies resident in these mountain glades; she is evidently
+powell-canyons-187.jpg
+
+THE WITCHES' WATER POCKET.
+
+302
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+paying taxes, Godiva-like. She tells us that her people are at the
+spring; that it is only two hours' ride; that her good master has gone
+on to tell them we are coming; and that she is harvesting seeds.
+
+We sit down and eat our luncheon and share our biscuits with the woman
+of the mountains; then on we go over a divide between two rounded peaks.
+I send the party on to the village and climb the peak on the left,
+riding my horse to the upper limit of trees and then tugging up afoot.
+From this point I can see the Grand Canyon, and I know where I am. I
+can see the Indian village, too, in a grassy valley, em -bosomed in the
+mountains, the smoke curling up from their fires; my men are turning out
+their horses and a group of natives stand around. Down the mountain I go
+and reach camp at sunset. After supper we put some cedar boughs on the
+fire; the dusky villagers sit around, and we have a smoke and a talk.
+I explain the object of my visit, and assure them of my friendly
+intentions. Then I ask them about a way down into the canyon. They tell
+me that years ago a way was discovered by which parties could go down,
+but that no one has attempted it for a long time; that it is a very
+difficult and very dangerous undertaking to reach the "Big Water."
+Then I inquire about the Shi'vwits, a tribe that lives about
+powell-canyons-188.jpg
+
+WUNAVAI GATHERING SEEDS.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AKD THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 303
+
+the springs on the mountain sides and canyon cliffs to the southwest.
+They say that their village is now about 30 miles away, and promise to
+send a messenger for them to-morrow morning.
+
+Having finished our business for the evening, I ask if there is a
+tugwi'nagunt in camp; that is, if there is any one present who
+is skilled in relating their mythology. Chuar'ruumpeak says
+Tomor'rountikai, the chief of these Indians, is a very noted man for his
+skill in this matter; but they both object, by saying that the season
+for tugwi'nai has not yet arrived. But I had anticipated this, and soon
+some members of the party come with pipes and tobacco, a large kettle
+of coffee, and a tray of biscuits, and, after sundry ceremonies of pipe
+lighting and smoking, we all feast, and, warmed up by this, to them,
+unusually good living, it is decided that the night shall be spent in
+relating mythology. I ask Tomor'rountikai to tell us about the So'kus
+Wai'unats, or One-Two Boys, and to this he agrees.
+
+The long winter evenings of an Indian camp are usually devoted to the
+relation of mythologic stories, which purport to give a history of an
+ancient race of animal gods. The stories are usually told by some old
+man, assisted by others of the party, who take secondary parts, while
+the members of the tribe gather about and make comments or receive
+impressions from the morals which are enforced by the story-teller, or,
+more properly, story-tellers; for the exercise partakes somewhat of the
+nature of a theatrical performance.
+
+THE SO'KUS WAI'UNATS.
+
+Tumpwinai'rogwinump, He Who Had A Stone Shirt, killed Sikor', the Crane,
+and stole his wife, and seeing that she had a child and thinking it
+would be an incumbrance to them on their travels, he ordered her to kill
+it. But the mother, loving the babe, hid it under her dress and carried
+it away to its grandmother. And Stone Shirt carried his captured bride
+to his own land.
+
+In a few years the child grew to be a fine lad, under the care of his
+grandmother, and was her companion wherever she went.
+
+One day they were digging flag roots on the margin of the river and
+putting them in a heap on the bank. When they had been at work a little
+while, the boy perceived that the roots came up with greater ease than
+was customary and he asked the old woman the cause of this,
+
+304 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+but she did not know; and, as they continued their work, still the reeds
+came up with less effort, at which their wonder increased, until the
+grandmother said,
+
+"Surely, some strange thing is about to transpire."
+
+Then the boy went to the heap where they had been placing the roots, and
+found that some one had taken them away, and he ran back, exclaiming,
+
+"Grandmother, did you take the roots away?"
+
+And she answered,
+
+"No, my child; perhaps some ghost has taken them off; let us dig no
+more; come away."
+
+But the boy was not satisfied, as he greatly desired to know what all
+this meant; so he searched about for a time, and at length found a man
+sitting under a tree, and taunted him with being a thief, and threw mud
+and stones at him until he broke the stranger's leg. The man answered
+not the boy nor resented the injuries he received, but remained silent
+and sorrowful; and when his leg was broken he tied it up in sticks and
+bathed it in the river and sat down again under the tree and beckoned
+the boy to approach. When the lad came near, the stranger told him he
+had something of great importance to reveal.
+
+"My son," said he, "did that old woman ever tell you about your father
+and mother?"
+
+"No," answered the boy; "I have never heard of them."
+
+"My son, do you see these bones scattered on the ground? Whose bones are
+these?"
+
+"How should I know?" answered the boy. "It may be that some elk or deer
+has been killed here."
+
+"No," said the old man.
+
+"Perhaps they are the bones of a bear"; but the old man shook his head.
+
+So the boy mentioned many other animals, but the stranger still shook
+his head, and finally said,
+
+"These are the bones of your father; Stone Shirt killed him and left him
+to rot here on the ground like a wolf."
+
+And the boy was filled with indignation against the slayer of his
+father.
+
+Then the stranger asked,
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS.
+
+305
+
+"Is your mother in yonder lodge?"
+
+"No," the boy replied.
+
+"Does your mother live on the banks of this river?"
+
+"I don't know my mother; I have never seen her; she is dead," answered
+the boy.
+
+"My son," replied the stranger, "Stone Shirt, who killed your father,
+stole your mother and took her away to the shore of a distant lake, and
+there she is his wife to-day."
+
+And the boy wept bitterly and, while the tears filled his eyes so that
+he could not see, the stranger disappeared. Then the boy was filled
+with wonder at what he had seen and heard, and malice grew in his heart
+against his father's enemy. He returned to the old woman and said,
+
+"Grandmother, why have you lied to me about my father and mother?"
+
+But she answered not, for she knew that a ghost had told all to the boy.
+And the boy fell upon the ground weeping and sobbing, until he fell into
+a deep sleep, when strange things were told him.
+
+His slumber continued three days and three nights and when he awoke he
+said to his grandmother:
+
+"I am going away to enlist all nations in my fight."
+
+And straightway he departed.
+
+(Here the boy's travels are related with many circumstances concerning
+the way he was received by the people, all given in a series
+of conversations, very lengthy; so they will be omitted.)
+powell-canyons-189.jpg
+
+TERRACE FIREPLACE AND CHIMNEY OF SHUMOPAVI.
+
+306
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+Finally he returned in advance of the people whom he had enlisted,
+bringing with him Shinau'av, the Wolf, and Togo'av, the Rattlesnake.
+When the three had eaten food, the boy said to the old woman:
+
+"Grandmother, cut me in two!"
+
+But she demurred, saying she did not wish to kill one whom she loved so
+dearly.
+
+"Cut me in two!" demanded the boy; and he gave her a stone ax, which he
+had brought from a distant country, and with a manner of great authority
+he again commanded her to cut him in two. So she powell-canyons-190.jpg
+
+A SWEAT HOUSE.
+
+stood before him and severed him in twain and fled in terror. And lo!
+each part took the form of an entire man, and the one beautiful boy
+appeared as two, and they were so much alike no one could tell them
+apart.
+
+When the people or natives whom the boy had enlisted came pouring into
+the camp, Shinau'av and Togo'av were engaged in telling them of the
+wonderful thing that had happened to the boy, and that now there were
+two; and they all held it to be an augury of a successful expedition to
+the land of Stone Shirt. And they started on their journey.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 307
+
+Now the boy had been told in the dream of his three days' slumber, of a
+magical cup, and he had brought it home with him from his journey among
+the nations, and the So'kus Wai'unats carried it between them, filled
+with water. Shinau'av walked on their right and Togo'av on their left,
+and the nations followed in the order in which they had been enlisted.
+There was a vast number of them, so that when they were stretched out in
+line it was one day's journey from the front to the rear of the column.
+
+When they had journeyed two days and were far out on the desert, all the
+people thirsted, for they found no water, and they fell down upon the
+sand groaning and murmuring that they had been deceived, and they cursed
+the One-Two.
+
+But the So'kus Wai'unats had been told in the wonderful dream of the
+suffering which would be endured, and that the water which they carried
+in the cup was to be used only in dire necessity; and the brothers said
+to each other:
+
+"Now the time has come for us to drink the water."
+
+And when one had quaffed of the magical bowl, he found it still full;
+and he gave it to the other to drink, and still it was full; and the
+One-Two gave it to the people, and one after another did they all drink,
+and still the cup was full to the brim.
+
+But Shinau'av was dead, and all the people mourned, for he was a great
+man. The brothers held the cup over him and sprinkled him with water,
+when he arose and said:
+
+"Why do you disturb me? I did have a vision of mountain brooks and
+meadows, of cane where honey dew was plenty."
+
+They gave him the cup and he drank also; but when he had finished there
+was none left. Refreshed and rejoicing, they proceeded on their journey.
+
+The next day, being without food, they were hungry, and all were about
+to perish; and again they murmured at the brothers and cursed them. But
+the So'kus Wai'unats saw in the distance an antelope, standing on an
+eminence in the plain, in bold relief against the sky; and Shinau'av
+knew it was the wonderful antelope with many eyes which Stone Shirt
+kept for his watchman; and he proposed to go and kill it, but Togo'av
+demurred and said:
+
+308 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+"It were better that I should go, for he will see you and run away."
+
+But the So'kus Wai'unats told Shinau'av to go; and he started in a
+direction away to the left of where the antelope was standing, that he
+might make a long detour about some hills and come upon him from the
+other side.
+
+Togo'av went a little way from camp and called to the brothers:
+
+"Do you see me!"
+
+They answered they did not.
+
+"Hunt for me."
+
+While they were hunting for him, the Rattlesnake said:
+
+"I can see you; you are doing so and so," telling them what they were
+doing; but they could not find him.
+
+Then the Rattlesnake came forth declaring:
+
+"Now you know that when I so desire I can see others and I cannot be
+seen. Shinau'av cannot kill that antelope, for he has many eyes, and is
+the wonderful watchman of Stone Shirt; but I can kill him, for I can go
+where he is and he cannot see me."
+
+So the brothers were convinced and permitted him to go; and Togo'av went
+and killed the antelope. When Shinau'av saw it fall, he was very angry,
+for he was extremely proud of his fame as a hunter and anxious to
+have the honor of killing this famous antelope, and he ran up with the
+intention of killing Togo'av; but when he drew near and saw the antelope
+was fat and would make a rich feast for the people, his anger was
+appeased.
+
+"What matters it," said he, "who kills the game, when we can all eat
+it?"
+
+So all the people were fed in abundance and they proceeded on their
+journey.
+
+The next day the people again suffered for water, and the magical cup
+was empty; but the So'kus Wai'unats, having been told in their dream
+what to do, transformed themselves into doves and flew away to a lake,
+on the margin of which was the home of Stone Shirt.
+
+Coming near to the shore, they saw two maidens bathing in the water; and
+the birds stood and looked, for the maidens were very beautiful. Then
+they flew into some bushes near by, to have a nearer view, and were
+caught in a snare which the girls had placed for intrusive birds.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS.
+
+309
+
+The beautiful maidens came up and, taking the birds out of the snare,
+admired them very much, for they had never seen such birds before. They
+carried them to their father, Stone Shirt, who said:
+
+"My daughters, I very much fear these are spies from my enemies, for
+such birds do not live in our land."
+
+He was about to throw them into the fire, when the maidens besought
+him, with tears, that he would not destroy their beautiful birds; but
+he yielded to their entreaties with much misgiving. Then they took the
+birds to the shore of the lake and set them free.
+
+When the birds were at liberty once more they flew around among the
+bushes until they found the magical cup which they had lost, and taking
+it up they carried it out into the middle of the lake and settled
+down upon the water, and the maidens supposed they were drowned.
+powell-canyons-191.jpg
+
+AN INTERIOR LODGE.
+
+The birds, when they had filled their cup, rose again and went back to
+the people in the desert, where they arrived just at the right time to
+save them with the cup of water, from which each drank; and yet it was
+full until the last was satisfied, and then not a drop remained.
+
+The brothers reported that they had seen Stone Shirt and his daughters.
+
+310
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-192.jpg
+
+HALVED AND PINNED TRAPDOOR FRAME OF ZUÑI KIVA.
+
+The next day they came near to the home of the enemy, and the brothers,
+in proper person, went out to reconnoiter. Seeing a woman gleaning
+seeds, they drew near, and knew it was their mother, whom Stone Shirt
+had stolen from Sikor', the Crane. They told her they were her sons,
+but she denied it and said she had never had but one son; but the boys
+related to her their history, with the origin of the two from one, and
+she was convinced. She tried to dissuade them from making war upon Stone
+Shirt, and told them that no arrow could possibly penetrate his armor,
+and that he was a great warrior and had no other delight than in killing
+his enemies, and that his daughters also were furnished with magical
+bows and arrows, which they could shoot so fast that the arrows would
+fill the air like a cloud, and that it was not necessary for them to
+take aim, for their missiles went where they willed; they thought the
+arrows to the hearts of their enemies; and thus the maidens could kill
+the whole of the people before a common arrow could be shot by a common
+person. But the boys told her what the spirit had said in the long dream
+and that it had promised that Stone Shirt should be killed. They told
+her to go down to the lake at dawn, so as not to be endangered by the
+battle.
+
+During the night the So'kus Wai'unats transformed themselves into mice
+and proceeded to the home of Stone Shirt and found the magical bows and
+arrows that belonged to the maidens, and with their sharp teeth they cut
+the sinew on the backs of the bows and nibbled the bow strings, so that
+they were worthless. Togo'av hid himself under a rock near by.
+
+When dawn came into the sky, Tumpwinai'ro-gwinump, the Stone Shirt man,
+arose and walked out of his tent, exulting powell-canyons-193.jpg
+
+WOODEN PIVOT HINGES OF A ZUÑÍ DOOR.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 311
+
+in his strength and security, and sat down upon the rock under which
+Togo'av was hiding; and he, seeing his opportunity, sank his fangs into
+the flesh of the hero. Stone Shirt sprang high into the air and called
+to his daughters that they were betrayed and that the enemy was near;
+and they seized their magical bows and their quivers filled with magical
+arrows and hurried to his defense. At the same time, all the nations
+who were surrounding the camp rushed down to battle. But the beautiful
+maidens, finding their weapons were destroyed, waved back their enemies,
+as if they would parley; and standing for a few moments over the body
+of their slain father, sang the death song and danced the death dance,
+whirling in giddy circles about the dead hero and wailing with despair,
+until they sank down and expired.
+
+The conquerors buried the maidens by the shores of the lake; but
+Tumpwinai'rogwinump was left to rot and his bones to bleach on the
+sands, as he had left Sikor'.
+
+There is this proverb among the Utes: "Do not murmur when you suffer in
+doing what the spirits have commanded, for a cup of water is provided";
+and another: "What matters it who kills the game, when we can all eat of
+it?"
+
+It is long after midnight when the performance is ended. The story
+itself is interesting, though I had heard it many times before; but
+never, perhaps, under circumstances more effective. Stretched beneath
+tall, somber pines; a great camp fire; by the fire, men, old, wrinkled,
+and ugly; deformed, blear-eyed, wry-faced women; lithe, stately
+young men; pretty but simpering maidens, naked children, all intently
+listening, or laughing and talking by turns, their strange faces
+and dusky forms lit up with the glare of the pine-knot fire. All the
+circumstances conspired to make it a scene strange and weird. One old
+man, the sorcerer or medicine man of the tribe, peculiarly impressed me.
+Now and then he would interrupt the play for the purpose of correcting
+the speakers or impressing the moral of the story with a strange
+dignity and impressiveness that seemed to pass to the very border of the
+ludicrous; yet at no time did it make me smile.
+
+The story is finished, but there is yet time for an hour or two of
+sleep. I take Chuar'ruumpeak to one side for a talk. The three men who
+left us in the canyon last year found their way up the lateral gorge, by
+which
+
+312
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+they went into the Shi'wits Mountains, lying west of us, where they met
+with the Indians and camped with them one or two nights and were finally
+killed. I am anxious to learn the circumstances, and as the people of
+the tribe who committed the deed live but a little way from these people
+and are intimate with them, I ask Chuar'ruumpeak to make inquiry for me.
+Then we go to bed.
+
+September 17.--Early this morning the Indians come up to our camp.
+powell-canyons-194.jpg
+
+A POULTRY HOUSE OF SICHUMOVI RESEMBLING AN OVEN.
+
+They have concluded to send out a young man after the Shi'vwits. The
+runner fixes his moccasins, puts some food in a sack and water in a
+little wickerwork jug, straps them on his back, and starts at a good
+round pace.
+
+We have concluded to go down the canyon, hoping to meet the Shi'vwits
+on our return. Soon we are ready to start, leaving the camp and pack
+animals in charge of the two Indians who came with us. As we move out
+our new guide comes up, a blear-eyed, weazen-faced, quiet old man, with
+his bow and arrows in one hand and a small cane in the other. These
+Indians all carry canes with a crooked handle, they say to kill
+rattlesnakes and to pull rabbits from their holes. The valley is high
+up in the mountain and we descend from it by a rocky, precipitous trail,
+down, down, down for two long, weary hours, leading our ponies and
+stumbling over the rocks. At last we are at the foot of the mountain,
+standing on a little knoll, from which we can look into a canyon below.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 313
+
+Into this we descend, and then we follow it for miles, clambering down
+and still down. Often we cross beds of lava, that have been poured into
+the canyon by lateral channels, and these angular fragments of basalt
+make the way very rough for the animals.
+
+About two o'clock the guide halts us with his wand, and, springing over
+the rocks, he is lost in a gulch. In a few minutes he returns, and tells
+us there is a little water below in a pocket. It is vile and our ponies
+refuse to drink it. We pass on, still descending. A mile or two from the
+water basin we come to a precipice more than 1,000 feet to the bottom.
+There is a canyon running at a greater depth and at right angles to
+this, into which this enters by the precipice; and this second canyon is
+a lateral one to the greater one, in the bottom of which we are to find
+the river. Searching about, we find a way by which we can descend along
+the shelves and steps and piles of broken rocks.
+
+We start, leading our ponies; a wall upon our left; unknown depths on
+our right. At places our way is along shelves so narrow or so sloping
+that I ache with fear lest a pony should make a misstep and knock a man
+over the cliffs with him. Now and then we start the loose rocks under
+our feet, and over the cliffs they go, thundering down, down, the echoes
+rolling through distant canyons. At last we pass along a level shelf for
+some distance, then we turn to the right and zigzag down a steep slope
+to the bottom. Now we pass along this lower canyon for two or three
+miles, to where it terminates in the Grand Canyon, as the other ended
+in this, only the river is 1,800 feet below us, and it seems at this
+distance to be but a creek. Our withered guide, the human pickle, seats
+himself on a rock and seems wonderfully amused at our discomfiture, for
+we can see no way by which to descend to the river. After some minutes
+he quietly rises and, beckoning us to follow, points out a narrow
+sloping shelf on the right, and this is to be our way. It leads along
+the cliff for half a mile to a wider bench beyond, which, he says, is
+broken down on the other side in a great slide, and there we can get to
+the river. So we start out on the shelf; it is so steep we can hardly
+stand on it, and to fall or slip is to go--don't look to see!
+
+It is soon manifest that we cannot get the ponies along the ledge. The
+storms have washed it down since our guide was here last, years ago. One
+of the ponies has gone so far that we cannot turn him back until we
+
+314
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+find a wider place, but at last we get him off. With part of the men, I
+take the horses back to the place where there are a few bushes growing
+and turn them loose; in the meantime the other men are looking for some
+way by which we can get down to the river. When I return, one, Captain
+Bishop, has found a way and gone down. We pack bread, coffee, sugar, and
+two or three blankets among us, and set out. It is now nearly dark, and
+we cannot find the way by which the captain powell-canyons-195.jpg
+
+THE HUMAN PICKLE.
+
+went, and an hour is spent in fruitless search. Two of the men go away
+around an amphitheater, more than a fourth of a mile, and start down
+a broken chasm that faces us who are behind. These walls, that are
+vertical, or nearly so, are often cut by chasms, where the showers run
+down,
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 315
+
+and the top of these chasms will be back a distance from the face of the
+wall, and the bed of the chasm will slope down, with here and there a
+fall. At other places huge rocks have fallen and block the way. Down
+such a one the two men start. There is a curious plant growing out from
+the crevices of the rock. A dozen stems will start from one root and
+grow to the length of eight or ten feet and not throw out a branch or
+twig, but these stems are thickly covered with leaves. Now and then the
+two men come to a bunch of dead stems and make a fire to mark for us
+their way and progress.
+
+In the meantime we find such a gulch and start down, but soon come to
+the "jumping-off place," where we can throw a stone and faintly hear it
+strike, away below. We fear that we shall have to stay here, clinging
+to the rocks until daylight. Our little Indian gathers a few dry stems,
+ties them into a bundle, lights one end, and holds it up. The others do
+the same, and with these torches we find a way out of trouble. Helping
+each other, holding torches for each other, one clinging to another's
+hand until we can get footing, then supporting the other on his
+shoulders, thus we make our passage into the depths of the canyon.
+
+And now Captain Bishop has kindled a huge fire of driftwood on the
+bank of the river. This and the fires in the gulch opposite and our
+own flaming torches light up little patches that make more manifest the
+awful darkness below. Still, on we go for an hour or two, and at last
+we see Captain Bishop coming up the gulch with a huge torchlight on his
+shoulders. He looks like a fiend, waving brands and lighting the fires
+of hell, and the men in the opposite gulch are imps, lighting delusive
+fires in inaccessible crevices, over yawning chasms; our own little
+Indian is surely the king of wizards, so I think, as I stop for a few
+moments on a rock to rest. At last we meet Captain Bishop, with his
+flaming torch, and as he has learned the way he soon pilots us to
+the side of the great Colorado. We are athirst and hungry, almost to
+starvation. Here we lie down on the rocks and drink, just a mouthful or
+so, as we dare; then we make a cup of coffee, and spreading our blankets
+on a sand beach the roaring Colorado lulls us to sleep.
+
+September 18.--We are in the Grand Canyon, by the side of the Colorado,
+more than 6,000 feet below our camp on the mountain side, which is 18
+miles away; but the miles of horizontal distance represent but
+
+316 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+a small part of the day's labor before us. It is the mile of altitude
+we must gain that makes it a Herculean task. We are up early; a little
+bread and coffee, and we look about us. Our conclusion is that we can
+make this a depot of supplies, should it be necessary; that we can pack
+our rations to the point where we left our animals last night, and that
+we can employ Indians to bring them down to the water's edge.
+
+On a broad shelf we find the ruins of an old stone house, the walls of
+which are broken down, and we can see where the ancient people who lived
+here--a race more highly civilized than the present--had made a garden
+and used a great spring that comes out of the rocks for irrigation. On
+some rocks near by we discover some curious etchings. Still searching
+about, we find an obscure trail up the canyon wall, marked here and
+there by steps which have been built in the loose rock, elsewhere hewn
+stairways, and we find a much easier way to go up than that by which we
+came down in the darkness last night. Coming to the top of the wall, we
+catch our horses and start. Up the canyon our jaded ponies toil and
+we reach the second cliff; up this we go, by easy stages, leading the
+animals. Now we reach the offensive water pocket; our ponies have had
+no water for thirty hours, and are eager even for this foul fluid. We
+carefully strain a kettleful for ourselves, then divide what is left
+between them--two or three gallons for each; but it does not satisfy
+them, and they rage around, refusing to eat the scanty grass. We boil
+our kettle of water, and skim it; straining, boiling, and skimming make
+it a little better, for it was full of loathsome, wriggling larvae, with
+huge black heads. But plenty of coffee takes away the bad smell, and so
+modifies the taste that most of us can drink, though our little Indian
+seems to prefer the original mixture. We reach camp about sunset, and
+are glad to rest.
+
+September 19.--We are tired and sore, and must rest a day with our
+Indian neighbors. During the inclement season they live in shelters made
+of boughs or the bark of the cedar, which they strip off in long shreds.
+In this climate, most of the year is dry and warm, and during such
+time they do not care for shelter. Clearing a small, circular space of
+ground, they bank it around with brush and sand, and wallow in it during
+the day and huddle together in a heap at night--men, women,
+
+317 powell-canyons-196.jpg
+
+RECENT LAVA FLOW ON THE UINKARET. powell-canyons-197.jpg
+
+A ZUÑI WINDOW GLAZED WITH SELENITE.
+
+318 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+and children; buckskin, rags, and sand. They wear very little clothing,
+not needing much in this lovely climate.
+
+Altogether, these Indians are more nearly in their primitive condition
+than any others on the continent with whom I am acquainted. They have
+never received anything from the government and are too poor to tempt
+the trader, and their country is so nearly inaccessible that the white
+man never visits them. The sunny mountain side is covered with: wild
+fruits, nuts, and native grains, upon which they subsist. The oose,
+the fruit of the yucca, or Spanish bayonet, is rich, and not unlike the
+pawpaw of the valley of the Ohio. They eat it raw and also roast it in
+the ashes. They gather the fruits of a cactus plant, which are rich and
+luscious, and eat them as grapes or express the juice from them, making
+the dry pulp into cakes and saving them for winter and drinking the wine
+about their camp fires until the midnight is merry with their revelries.
+
+They gather the seeds of many plants, as sunflowers, golden-rod, and
+grasses. For this purpose they have large conical baskets, which hold
+two or more bushels. The women carry them on their backs, suspended from
+their foreheads by broad straps, and with a smaller one in the left
+hand and a willow-woven fan in the right they walk among the grasses and
+sweep the seed into the smaller basket, which is emptied now and then
+into the larger, until it is full of seeds and chaff; then they winnow
+out the chaff and roast the seeds. They roast these curiously; they put
+seeds and a quantity of red-hot coals into a willow tray and, by rapidly
+and dexterously shaking and tossing them, keep the coals aglow and the
+seeds and tray from burning. So skilled are the crones in this work they
+roll the seeds to one side of the tray as they are roasted and the coals
+to the other as if by magic.
+
+Then they grind the seeds into a fine flour and make it into cakes and
+mush. It is a merry sight, sometimes, to see the women grinding at the
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS.
+
+319
+
+mill. For a mill, they use a large flat rock, lying on the ground, and
+another small cylindrical one in their hands. They sit prone on the
+ground, hold the large flat rock between the feet and legs, then fill
+their laps with seeds, making a hopper to the mill with their dusky
+legs, and grind by pushing the seeds across the larger rock, where
+they drop into a tray. I have seen a group of women grinding together,
+keeping time to a chant, or gossiping and chatting, while the younger
+lassies would jest and chatter and make the pine woods merry with their
+laughter.
+
+Mothers carry their babes curiously in baskets. They make a wicker board
+by plaiting willows and sew a buckskin cloth to either edge, and this is
+fulled in the middle so as to form a sack closed at the bottom. At the
+top they make a wicker shade, like "my grandmother's sunbonnet," and
+wrapping the little one in a wild-cat robe, place it in the basket,
+and this they carry on their backs, strapped over the forehead, and the
+little brown midgets are ever peering over their mothers' shoulders. In
+camp, they stand the basket against the trunk of a tree or hang it to a
+limb.
+
+There is little game in the country, yet they get a mountain sheep now
+and then or a deer, with their arrows, for they are not yet supplied
+with guns. They get many rabbits, sometimes with arrows, sometimes with
+nets. They make a net of twine, made of the fibers of a native flax.
+Sometimes this is made a hundred yards in length, and is placed in
+a half-circular position, with wings of sage brush. Then they have a
+circle hunt, and drive great numbers of rabbits into the snare, where
+they are shot with arrows. Most of their bows are made of cedar, but the
+best are made of the horns of mountain sheep. These are soaked in water
+until quite soft, cut into long thin strips, and glued together;
+they are then quite elastic. During the autumn, grasshoppers are very
+abundant, can be gathered by the bushel. At such a time, they dig a hole
+in the sand, heat stones in a fire near by, put some hot stones in the
+bottom of the hole, put on a layer of grasshoppers, then a layer of hot
+stones, and continue this, until they put bushels on to roast. There
+they are. powell-canyons-198.jpg
+
+A ZUÑÍ CHAIR.
+
+When cold weather sets in, these insects are numbed and
+
+320
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-199.jpg
+
+AN ANCIENT CIRCULAR DOORWAY OR "STONE CLOSE" IN KIN-TIEL.
+
+left until cool, when they are taken out, thoroughly dried, and ground
+into meal. Grasshopper gruel or grasshopper cake is a great treat.
+
+Their lore consists of a mass of traditions, or mythology. It is very
+difficult to induce them to tell it to white men; but the old Spanish
+priests, in the days of the conquest of New Mexico, spread among the
+Indians of this country many Bible stories, which the Indians are
+usually willing to tell. It is not always easy to recognize them; the
+Indian mind is a strange receptacle for such stories and they are apt
+to sprout new limbs. Maybe much of their added quaint-ness is due to the
+way in which they were told by the "fathers." But in a confidential way,
+while alone, or when admitted to their camp fire on a winter night, one
+may hear the stories of their mythology. I believe that the greatest
+mark of friendship or confidence that an Indian can give is to tell you
+his religion. After one has so talked with me I should ever trust him;
+and I feel on very good terms with these Indians since our experience of
+the other night.
+
+A knowledge of the watering places and of the trails and passes is
+considered of great importance and is necessary to give standing to a
+chief.
+
+This evening, the Shi'vwits, for whom we have sent, come in, and after
+supper we hold a long council. A blazing fire is built, and around
+this we sit--the Indians living here, the Shi'vwits, Jacob Hamblin, and
+myself.
+
+This man, Hamblin, speaks their language well and has a great influence
+over all the Indians in the region round about. He is a silent, reserved
+man, and when he speaks it is in a slow, quiet way that inspires great
+awe. His talk is so low that they must listen attentively to hear,
+and they sit around him in deathlike silence. When he finishes a
+powell-canyons-200.jpg
+
+A GAMING RING.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 321
+
+measured sentence the chief repeats it and they all give a solemn grunt.
+But, first, I fill my pipe, light it, and take a few whiffs, then pass
+it to Hamblin; he smokes, and gives it to the man next, and so it goes
+around. When it has passed the chief, he takes out his own pipe, fills
+and lights it, and passes it around after mine. I can smoke my own pipe
+in turn, but when the Indian pipe comes around, I am nonplused. It has
+a large stem, which has at some time been broken, and now there is a
+buckskin rag wound around it and tied with sinew, so that the end of the
+stem is a huge mouthful, exceedingly repulsive. To gain time, I refill
+it, then engage in very earnest conversation, and, all unawares, I pass
+it to my neighbor unlighted.
+
+I tell the Indians that I wish to spend some months in their country
+during the coming year and that I would like them to treat me as a
+friend. I do not wish to trade; do not want their lands. Heretofore I
+have found it very difficult to make the natives understand my object,
+but the gravity of the Mormon missionary helps me much. I tell them that
+all the great and good white men are anxious to know very many things,
+that they spend much time in learning, and that the greatest man is
+he who knows the most; that the white men want to know all about the
+mountains and the valleys, the rivers and the canyons, the beasts and
+birds and snakes. Then I tell them of many Indian tribes, and where they
+live; of the European nations; of the Chinese, of Africans, and all
+the strange things about them that come to my mind. I tell them of the
+ocean, of great rivers and high mountains, of strange beasts and birds.
+At last I tell them I wish to learn about their canyons and mountains,
+and about themselves, to tell other men at home; and that I want to take
+pictures of everything and show them to my friends. All this occupies
+much time, and the matter and manner make a deep impression.
+
+Then their chief replies: "Your talk is good, and we believe what you
+say. We believe in Jacob, and look upon you as a father. When you are
+hungry, you may have our game. You may gather our sweet fruits. We will
+give you food when you come to our land. We will show you the springs
+and you may drink; the water is good. We will be friends and when you
+come we will be glad. We will tell the Indians who live on the other
+side of the great river that we have seen Ka'purats, and that he is the
+Indians' friend. We will tell them he is Jacob's
+
+322
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+friend. We are very poor. Look at our women and children; they are
+naked. We have no horses; we climb the rocks and our feet are sore. We
+live among rocks and they yield little food and many thorns. When the
+cold moons come, our children are hungry. We have not much to give; you
+must not think us mean. You are wise; we have heard you tell strange
+things. We are ignorant. Last year we killed three white men. Bad men
+said they were our enemies. They told great lies. We thought them true.
+Wo were mad; it made us big fools. We are very sorry. Do not think
+of them; it is done; let us be friends. We are ignorant--like little
+children in understanding compared with you. When we do wrong, do not
+you get mad and be like children too.
+
+"When white men kill our people, we kill them. Then they kill more of
+us. It is not good. We hear that the white men are a great number.
+When they stop killing us, there will be no Indian left to
+powell-canyons-201.jpg
+
+INTERIOR VIEW OF A TUSAYAN KIVA.
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 323
+
+bury the dead. We love our country; we know not other lands. We hear
+that other lands are better; we do not know. The pines sing and we are
+glad. Our children play in the warm sand; we hear them sing and are
+glad. The seeds ripen and we have to eat and we are glad. We do not want
+their good lands; we want our rocks and the great mountains where our
+fathers lived. We are very poor; we are very ignorant; but we are very
+honest. You have horses and many things. You are very wise; you have a
+good heart. We will be friends. Nothing more have I to say."
+
+Ka'purats is the name by which I am known among the Utes and Shoshones,
+meaning "arm off." There was much more repetition than I have given, and
+much emphasis. After this a few presents were given, we shook hands, and
+the council broke up.
+
+Mr. Hamblin fell into conversation with one of the men and held him
+until the others had left, and then learned more of the particulars of
+the death of the three men. They came upon the Indian village almost
+starved and exhausted with fatigue. They were supplied with food and put
+on their way to the settlements. Shortly after they had left, an Indian
+from the east side of the Colorado arrived at their village and told
+them about a number of miners having killed a squaw in drunken brawl,
+and no doubt these were the men; no person had ever come down the
+canyon; that was impossible; they were trying to hide their guilt. In
+this way he worked them into a great rage. They followed, surrounded the
+men in ambush, and filled them full of arrows.
+
+That night I slept in peace, although these murderers of my men, and
+their friends, the Uinkarets, were sleeping not 500 yards away. While we
+were gone to the canyon, the pack train and supplies, enough to make an
+Indian rich beyond his wildest dreams, were all left in their charge,
+and were all safe; not even a lump of sugar was pilfered by the
+children.
+
+September 20.--For several days we have been discussing the relative
+merits of several names for these mountains. The Indians call them
+Uinkarets, the region of pines, and we adopt the name. The great
+mountain we call Mount Trumbull, in honor of the senator. To-day the
+train starts back to the canyon water pocket, while Captain Bishop and
+
+324
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+I climb Mount Trumbull. On our way we pass the point that was the last
+opening to the volcano.
+
+It seems but a few years since the last flood of fire swept the valley.
+Between two rough, conical hills it poured, and ran down the valley to
+the foot of a mountain standing almost at the lower end, then parted,
+and ran on either side of the mountain. This last overflow is very
+plainly marked; there is soil, with trees and grass, to the very edge
+powell-canyons-202.jpg
+
+CAVE LAKE IN KANAB CANYON.
+
+of it, on a more ancient bed. The flood was, everywhere on its border,
+from 10 to 20 feet in height, terminating abruptly and looking like a
+wall from below. On cooling, it shattered into fragments, but these are
+still in place and the outlines of streams and waves can be seen. So
+
+THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE UINKARET MOUNTAINS. 325
+
+little time has elapsed since it ran down that the elements have not
+weathered a soil, and there is scarcely any vegetation on it, but here
+and there a lichen is found. And yet, so long ago was it poured from
+the depths, that where ashes and cinders have collected in a few places,
+some huge cedars have grown. Near the crater the frozen waves of black
+basalt are rent with deep fissures, transverse to the direction, of the
+flow. Then we ride through a cedar forest up a long ascent, until we
+come to cliffs of columnar basalt. Here we tie our horses and prepare
+for a climb among the columns. Through crevices we work, till at last we
+are on the mountain, a thousand acres of pine laud spread out before us,
+gently rising to the other edge. There are two peaks on the mountain. We
+walk two miles to the foot of the one looking to be the highest, then
+a long, hard climb to its summit. What a view is before us! A vision of
+glory! Peaks of lava all around below us. The Vermilion Cliffs to the
+north, with their splendor of colors; the Pine Valley Mountains to the
+northwest, clothed in mellow, perspective haze; unnamed mountains to
+the southwest, towering over canyons bottomless to my peering gaze,
+like chasms to nadir hell; and away beyond, the San Francisco Mountains,
+lifting their black heads into the heavens. We find our way down the
+mountain, reaching the trail made by the pack train just at dusk, and
+follow it through the dark until we see the camp fire--a welcome sight.
+
+Two days more, and we are at Pipe Spring; one day, and we are at Kanab.
+Eight miles above the town is a canyon, on either side of which is a
+group of lakes. Four of these are in caves where the sun never shines.
+By the side of one of these I sit, at my feet the crystal waters, of
+which I may drink at will.
+
+326 powell-canyons-203.jpg
+
+ANCIENT POTTERY FROM TUSAYAN.
+
+327
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OVER THE RIVER.
+
+IT IS our intention to explore a route from Kanab to the Colorado River
+at the mouth of the Paria, and, if successful in this undertaking, to
+cross the river and proceed to Tusayan, and ultimately to Santa Fe, New
+Mexico. We propose to build a flatboat for the purpose of ferrying over
+the river, and have had the lumber necessary for that purpose hauled
+from St. George to Kanab. From here to the mouth of the Paria it must be
+packed on the backs of mules; Captain Bishop and Mr. Graves are to
+take charge of this work, while with Mr. Hamblin I explore the Kaibab
+Plateau.
+
+September 24--To-day we are ready for the start. The mules are packed
+and away goes our train of lumber, rations, and camping equipage. The
+Indian trail is at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs. Pushing on to the
+east with Mr. Hamblin for a couple of hours in the early morning, we
+reach the mouth of a dry canyon, which comes down through the cliffs.
+Instead of a narrow canyon we find an open valley from one fourth to one
+half a mile in width. On rare occasions a stream flows down this valley,
+but now sand dunes stretch across it. On either side there is a wall of
+vertical rock of orange sandstone, and here and there at the foot of the
+wall are found springs that afford sweet water.
+
+We push our way far up the valley to the foot of the Gray Cliffs, and
+by a long detour find our way to the summit. Here again we find that
+wonderful scenery of naked white rocks carved into great round bosses
+and domes. Looking off to the north we can see vermilion and pink
+cliffs, crowned with forests, while below us to the south stretch the
+dunes and red-lands of the Vermilion Cliff region, and far away we can
+see the opposite wall of the Grand Canyon. In the middle of the
+
+328 8 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+afternoon we descend into the canyon valley and hurriedly ride, down to
+the mouth of the canyon, then follow the trail of the pack train, for we
+are to camp with the party to-night. We find it at the Navajo Well.
+As we approach in the darkness the camp fire is a cheerful sight. The
+Navajo Well is a pool in the sand, the sands themselves lying in a
+basin, with naked, smooth rocks all about on which the rains are caught
+and by which the sand in the basin is filled with water, and by digging
+into the sand this sweet water is found.
+
+September 25.--At sunrise Mr. Hamblin and I part from the train once
+more, taking with us Chuar, a chief of the Kaibabits, for a trip to
+the south, for one more view of the Grand Canyon from the summit of the
+Kaibab Plateau. All day long our way is over red hills, with a bold line
+of cliffs on our left. A little after noon we reach a great spring, and
+here we are to camp for the night, for the region beyond us is unknown
+and we wish to enter it with a good day before us. The Indian goes out
+to hunt a rabbit for supper, and Hamblin and I climb the cliffs. From
+an elevation of 1,800 feet above the spring we watch the sun go down and
+see the sheen on the Vermilion Cliffs and red-lands slowly fade into the
+gloaming; then we descend to supper.
+
+September 26.--Early in the morning we pass up a beautiful valley to
+the south and turn westward onto a great promontory, from the summit
+of which the Grand Canyon is in view. Its deep gorge can be seen to the
+westward for 50 or 60 miles, and to the southeastward we look off into
+the stupendous chasm, with its marvelous forms and colors.
+
+Twenty-one years later I read over the notes of that day's experience
+and the picture of the Grand Canyon from this point is once more before
+me. I did not know when writing the notes that this was the grandest
+view that can be obtained of the region from Fremont's Peak to the Gulf
+of California, but I did realize that the scene before me was awful,
+sublime, and glorious--awful in profound depths, sublime in massive and
+strange forms, and glorious in colors. Years later I visited the same
+spot with my friend Thomas Moran. From this world of wonder he selected
+a section which was the most interesting to him and painted it. That
+painting, known as "The Chasm of the Colorado," is in a hall in the
+Senate wing of the Capitol of the United States. If any
+
+329 powell-canyons-204.jpg
+
+TUSAYAN FETICHES AND IMPLEMENTS.
+
+330 powell-canyons-205.jpg
+
+TUSAYAN BASKETRY.
+
+OVER THE RIVER. 331
+
+one will look upon that picture, and then realize that it was but a
+small part of the landscape before us on this memorable 26th day of
+September, he will understand why I suppress my notes descriptive of
+the scene. The landscape is too vast, too complex, too grand for verbal
+description.
+
+We sleep another night by the spring on the summit of the Kaibab, and
+next day we go around to Point Sublime and then push on to the very
+verge of the Kaibab, where we can overlook the canyon at the mouth of
+the Little Colorado. The day is a repetition of the glorious day before,
+and at night we sleep again at the same spring. In the morning we turn
+to the northeast and descend from Kaibab to the back of Marble Canyon
+and cross it at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs, and find our packers
+camped at Jacob's Pool, where a spring bursts from the cliff at the
+summit of a great hill of talus. In the camp we find a score or more
+of Indians, who have joined us here by previous appointment, as we need
+their services in crossing the river.
+
+On the last day of September we follow the Vermilion Cliffs around to
+the mouth of the Paria. Here the cliffs present a wall of about 2,000
+feet in height,--above, orange and vermilion, but below, chocolate,
+purple, and gray in alternating bands of rainbow brightness. The
+cliffs are cut with deep side canyons, and the rainbow hills below are
+destitute of vegetation. At night we camp on the bank of the Colorado
+River, on the same spot where our boat-party had camped the year before.
+Leaving the party in charge of Mr. Graves and Mr. Bishop, while they are
+building a ferryboat, I take some Indians to explore the canyon of the
+Paria. We find steep walls on either side, but a rather broad,
+flat plain below, through which the muddy river winds its way over
+quicksands. This stream we have to cross from time to time, and we find
+the quicksands treacherous and our horses floundering in the trembling
+masses.
+
+These broad canyons, or canyon valleys, are carved by the streams in
+obedience to an interesting law of corrasion. Where the declivity of the
+stream is great the river corrades, or cuts its bottom deeper and still
+deeper, ever forming narrow clefts, but when the stream has cut its
+channel down until the declivity is greatly reduced, it can no longer
+carry the load of sand with which it is fed, but drops
+
+332 powell-canyons-206.jpg
+
+DANCE PARAPHERNALIA FROM TUSAYAN.
+
+OVER THE RIVER. 333
+
+a part of it on the way. Wherever it drops it in this manner a sand bank
+is formed. Now the effect of this sand bar is to turn the course of the
+river against the wall or bank, and as it unloads in one place it cuts
+in another below and loads itself again; so it unloads itself and forms
+bars, and loads itself with more material to form bars, and the process
+of vertical cutting is transformed into a process of lateral cutting.
+The rate of cutting is greatly increased thereby, but the wear is on the
+sides and not on the bottom. So long as the declivity of the stream
+is great, the greater the load of sand carried the greater the rate of
+vertical cutting; but when the declivity is reduced, so that part of the
+load is thrown down, vertical cutting is changed to lateral and the rate
+of corrosion multiplied thereby. Now this broad valley canyon, or "box
+canyon," as such channels are usually called in the country, has been
+formed by the stream itself, cutting its channel at first vertically and
+afterwards laterally, and so a great flood-plain is formed.
+
+For a day we ride up the Paria, and next day return. The party in camp
+have made good progress. The boat is finished and a part of the
+camp freight has been transported across the river. The next day the
+remainder is ferried over and the animals are led across, swimming
+behind the ferryboat in pairs. Here a bold bluff more than 1,200 feet in
+height has to be climbed, and the day is spent in getting to its summit.
+We make a dry camp, that is, without water, except that which has been
+carried in canteens by the Indians.
+
+October 4---All day long we pass by the foot of the Echo Cliffs, which
+are in fact the continuation of the Vermilion Cliffs. It is still a
+landscape of rocks, with cliffs and pinnacles and towers and buttes on
+the left, and deep chasms running down into the Marble Canyon on the
+right. At night we camp at a water pocket, a pool in a great limestone
+rock. We still go south for another half day to a cedar ridge; here we
+turn westward, climbing the cliffs, which we find to be not the edge
+of an escarpment with a plateau above, but a long narrow ridge which
+descends on the eastern side to a level only 500 or 600 feet above the
+trail left below. On the eastern side of the cliff a great homogeneous
+sandstone stretches, declining rapidly, and on its sides are carved
+innumerable basins, which are now filled with pure water, and we call
+this the Thousand Wells. We have a long afternoon's
+
+334
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+ride over sand dunes, slowly toiling from mile to mile. We can see a
+ledge of rocks in the distance, and the Indian with us assures us that
+we shall find water there. At night we come to the cliff, and under it,
+in a great cave, we find a lakelet. Sweeter, cooler water never blessed
+the desert.
+
+While at Jacob's Pool, several days before, I sent a runner forward
+into this region with instructions to hunt us up some of
+powell-canyons-207.jpg
+
+THE THOUSAND WELLS.
+
+the natives and bring them to this pool. When we arrive we are
+disappointed in not finding them on hand, but a little later half a
+dozen men come in with the Indian messenger. They are surly fellows and
+seem to be displeased at our coming. Before midnight they leave. Under
+the circumstances I do not feel that it is safe to linger long at this
+spot; so I do not lie down to rest, but walk the camp among the guards
+and see that everything is in readiness to move. About two o'clock I
+set a couple of men to prepare a hasty lunch, call up all hands, and we
+saddle, pack, eat our lunch, and start off to the southwest to reach
+
+OVER THE RIVER.
+
+335
+
+the Moenkopi, where there is a little ranchería of Indians, a farming
+settlement belonging to the Oraibis, so we are told. We set out at a
+rapid rate, and when daylight comes we are in sight of the canyon of
+the Moenkopi, into which we soon descend; but the ranchería has been
+abandoned. Up the Moenkopi we pass several miles, in a beautiful canyon
+valley, until we find a pool in a nook of a cliff, where we feel that we
+can defend ourselves with certainty, and here we camp for the night.
+The next day we go on to Oraibi, one of the pueblos of the Province of
+Tusayan.
+
+At Tusayan we stop for two weeks and visit the seven pueblos on the
+cliffs. Oraibi is first reached, then Shumopavi, Shupaulovi, and
+Mashongnavi, and finally Walpi, Sichumovi, and Hano.
+
+In a street of Oraibi our little party is gathered. Soon a council is
+called by the cacique, or zchief, and we are assigned to a suite of six
+or powell-canyons-208.jpg
+
+TERRACED HOUSES IN ORAIBI, SHOWING ENTRANCE TO KIVA IN FOREGROUND.
+
+336 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+eight rooms for our quarters. We purchase corn of some of the people,
+and after feeding our animals they are intrusted to two Indian boys,
+who, under the direction of the cacique, take them to a distant mesa to
+herd. This is my first view of an inhabited pueblo, though I have seen
+many ruins from time to time. At first I am a little disappointed in the
+people. They seem scarcely superior to the Shoshones and Utes, tribes
+with whom I am so well acquainted. Their dress is less picturesque, and
+the men have an ugly fashion of banging their hair in front so that it
+comes down to their eyes and conceals their foreheads. But the women are
+more neatly dressed and arrange their hair in picturesque coils.
+
+Oraibi is a town of several hundred inhabitants. It stands on a mesa
+or little plateau 200 or 300 feet above the surrounding plain. The mesa
+itself has a rather diversified surface. The streets of the town are
+quite irregular, and in a general way run from north to south. The
+houses are constructed to face the east. They are of stone laid in
+mortar, and are usually three or four stories high. The second story
+stands back upon the first, leaving a terrace over one tier of rooms.
+The third is set back of the second, and the fourth back of the third;
+so that their houses are terraced to face the east. These terraces on
+the top are all flat, and the people usually ascend to the first terrace
+by a ladder and then by another into the lower rooms. In like manner,
+ladders or rude stairways are used to reach the upper stories. The
+climate is very warm and the people live on the tops of their houses.
+It seems strange to see little naked children climbing the ladders and
+running over the house tops like herds of monkeys. After we have looked
+about the town and been gazed upon by the wondering eyes of the men,
+women, and children, we are at last called to supper. In a large central
+room we gather and the food is placed before us. A stew of goat's flesh
+is served in earthen bowls, and each one of us is furnished with a
+little earthen ladle. The bread is a great novelty to me. It is made of
+corn meal in sheets as thin and large as foolscap paper. In the corner
+of the house is a little oven, the top of which is a great flat stone,
+and the good housewife bakes her bread in this manner: The corn meal is
+mixed to the consistency of a rather thick gruel, and the woman dips her
+hand into the mixture and plasters the hot
+
+OVER THE RIVER.
+
+337
+
+stone with a thin coating of the meal paste. In a minute or two it forms
+into a thin paperlike cake, and she takes it up by the edge, folds it
+once, and places it on a basket tray; then another and another sheet of
+paper-bread is made in like manner and piled on the tray. I notice that
+the paste stands in a number of different bowls and that she takes from,
+one bowl and then another in order, and I soon see the effect of this.
+The corn before being ground is assorted by colors, white, yellow, red,
+blue, and black, and the sheets of bread, when made, are of the same
+variety of colors, white, yellow, red, blue, and black. This bread,
+held on very beautiful trays, is itself a work of art. They call it
+powell-canyons-209.jpg
+
+THE HOUSE OF TALTI, CHIEF OF THE COUNCIL IN THE TOWN OF OBAIBI.
+
+piki. After we have partaken of goat stew and bread a course of
+dumplings, melons, and peaches is served, and this finishes the feast.
+What seem to be dumplings are composed of a kind of hash of bread and
+meat, tied up in little balls with cornhusks and served boiling hot.
+They are eaten with much gusto by the party and highly praised. Some
+days after we learned how they are made; they are prepared of goat's
+flesh, bread, and turnips, and kneaded by mastication. As we prefer to
+masticate our own food, this dainty dish is never again a favorite.
+
+In the evening the people celebrate our advent by a dance, such it
+seemed to us, but probably it was one of their regular ceremonies.
+
+338 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+After dark a pretty little fire is built in the chimney corner and I
+spend the evening in rehearsing to a group of the leading men the story
+of my travels in the canyon country. Of our journey down the canyon in
+boats they have already heard, and they listen with great interest to
+what I say. My talk with them is in the Mexican patois, which several of
+them understand, and all that I say is interpreted.
+
+The next morning we are up at daybreak. Soon we hear loud shouts coming
+from the top of the house. The cacique is calling his people. Then all
+the people, men, women, and children, come out on the tops of their
+houses. Just before sunrise they sprinkle water and meal from beautiful
+grails; then they all stand with bare heads to watch the rising of the
+sun. When his full orb is seen, once more they sprinkle the sacred water
+and the sacred meal over the tops of the houses. Then the cacique in a
+loud voice directs the labor of the day. So his talk is explained to us.
+Some must gather corn, others must go for wood, water must be brought
+from the distant wells, and the animals of the strangers must be cared
+for. Now the house tops present a lively scene. Bowls of water are
+brought; from them the men fill their mouths and with dexterity blow
+water over their hands in spray and wash their faces and lave their long
+shining heads of hair; and the women dress one another's locks. With
+bowls of water they make suds of the yucca plant, and wash and comb and
+deftly roll their hair, the elder women in great coils at the back of
+the head, the younger women in flat coils on their cheeks. And so the
+days are passed and the weeks go by, and we study the language of the
+people and record many hundreds of their words and observe their habits
+and customs and gain some knowledge of their mythology, but above all do
+we become interested in their religious ceremonies.
+
+One afternoon they take me from Oraibi to Shupaulovi to witness a great
+religious ceremony. It is the invocation to the gods for rain. We arrive
+about sundown, and are taken into a large subterranean chamber, into
+which we descend by a ladder. Soon about a dozen Shamans are gathered
+with us, and the ceremony continues from sunset to sunrise. It is a
+series of formal invocations, incantations, and sacrifices, especially
+of holy meal and holy water. The leader of the Shamans is a great burly
+bald-headed Indian, which is a remarkable
+
+OVER THE RIVER.
+
+339 powell-canyons-210.jpg
+
+PRAYING FOR RAIN.
+
+sight, for I have never seen one before. Whatever he says or does is
+repeated by three others in turn. The paraphernalia of their worship is
+very interesting. At one end of the chamber is a series of tablets of
+wood covered with quaint pictures of animals and of corn, and overhead
+are conventional black clouds from which yellow lightnings are
+projected, while drops of rain fall on the corn below. Wooden birds, set
+on pedestals and decorated with plumes, are arranged in various ways.
+Ears of corn, vases of holy water, and trays of meal make up a part of
+the paraphernalia of worship. I try to record some of the prayers, but
+am not very successful, as it is difficult to hold my interpreter to the
+work. But one of these prayers is something like this:
+
+"Muingwa pash lolomai, Master of the Clouds, we eat no stolen bread; our
+young men ride not the stolen ass; our food is not stolen from
+
+340
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+the gardens of our neighbors. Muingwa pash lolomai, we beseech of thee
+to dip your great sprinkler, made of the feathers of the birds of the
+heavens, into the lakes of the skies and sprinkle us with sweet rains,
+that the ground may be prepared in the winter for the corn that grows in
+the summer."
+
+At one time in the night three women were brought into the kiva. These
+women had a cincture of cotton about their loins, but were otherwise
+nude. One was very old, another of middle age, and the third quite
+young, perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old. As they stood in a corner
+of the kiva their faces and bodies were painted by the bald-headed
+priest. For this purpose he filled his mouth with water and pigment
+and dexterously blew a fine spray over the faces, necks, shoulders, and
+breasts of the women. Then with his finger as a brush he decorated them
+over this groundwork, which was of yellow, with many figures in various
+colors. From that time to daylight the three women remained in the kiva
+and took part in the ceremony as choristers and dancing performers.
+
+At sunrise we are filed out of the kiva, and a curious sight is
+presented to our view. Shupaulovi is built in terraces about a central
+court, or plaza, and in the plaza about fifty men are drawn up in a line
+facing us. These men are naked except that they wear masks, strange
+and grotesque, and great flaring headdresses in many colors.
+powell-canyons-211.jpg
+
+MASHONGNAVI.
+
+341 powell-canyons-212.jpg
+
+TUSAYAN TRAYS.
+
+342 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+Our party from the kiva stand before this line of men, and the
+bald-headed priest harangues them in words I cannot understand. Then
+across the other end of the plaza a line of women is formed, facing
+the line of men, and at a signal from the old Shaman the drums and
+the whistles on the terraces, with a great chorus of singers, set up a
+tumultuous noise, and with slow shuffling steps the line of men and the
+line of women move toward each other in a curious waving dance. When the
+lines approach so as to be not more than 10 or 12 feet apart, our party
+still being between them, they all change so as to dance backward to
+their original positions. This is repeated until the dancers have passed
+over the plaza four times. Then there is a wild confusion of dances,
+the order of which I cannot understand,--if indeed there is any system,
+except that the men and women dance apart. Soon this is over, and the
+women all file down the ladder into the kiva and the men strip off their
+masks and arrange themselves about the plaza, every one according to his
+own wish, but as if in sharp expectancy; then the women return up the
+ladder from the kiva and climb to the tops of the houses and stand on
+the brink of the nearer terrace. Now the music commences once more,
+and the old woman who was painted in the kiva during the night throws
+something, I cannot tell what, into the midst of the plaza. With a shout
+and a scream, every man jumps for it; one seizes it, another takes it
+away from him, and then another secures it; and with shouts and screams
+they wrestle and tussle for the charm which the old woman has thrown to
+them. After a while some one gets permanent possession of the charm
+and the music ceases. Then another is thrown into the midst. So these
+contests continue at intervals until high noon.
+
+In the evening we return to Oraibi. And now for two days we employ our
+time in making a collection of the arts of the people of this town.
+First, we display to them our stock of goods, composed of knives,
+needles, awls, scissors, paints, dyestuffs, leather, and various
+fabrics in gay colors. Then we go around among the people and select the
+articles of pottery, stone implements, instruments and utensils made of
+bone, horn, shell, articles of clothing and ornament, baskets, trays,
+and many other things, and tell the people to bring them the next day to
+our rooms. A little after sunrise they come in, and we have a busy day
+of
+
+343 powell-canyons-213.jpg powell-canyons-214.jpg
+
+TUSAYAN MASKETTES.
+
+344
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+barter. When articles are brought in such as I want, I lay them aside.
+Then if possible I discover the fancy of the one who brings them, and I
+put by the articles the goods which I am willing to give in exchange for
+them. Having thus made an offer, I never deviate from it, but leave it
+to the option of the other party to take either his own articles or mine
+lying beside them. The barter is carried on with a hearty good will; the
+people jest and laugh with us and with one another; all are pleased,
+and there is nothing to mar this day of pleasure. In the afternoon and
+evening I make an inventory of our purchases, and the next day is spent
+in packing them for shipment. Some of the things are heavy, and I engage
+some Indians to help transport the cargo to Fort Wingate, where we can
+get army transportation.
+
+October 24-.--To-day we leave Oraibi. We are ready to start in the early
+morning. The whole town comes to bid us good-by. Before we start they
+perform some strange ceremony which I cannot understand, but, with
+invocations to some deity, they sprinkle us, our animals, and our
+goods with water and with meal. Then there is a time of handshaking and
+hugging. "Good-by; good-by; good-by!" At last we powell-canyons-215.jpg
+
+SICHUMOVI AND HANO.
+
+OVER THE RIVER. 345
+
+start. Our way is to Walpi, by a heavy trail over a sand plain, among
+the dunes. We arrive a little after noon. Walpi, Sichumovi, and Hano are
+three little towns on one butte, with but little space between them; the
+stretch from town to town is hardly large enough for a game of ball.
+The top of the butte is of naked rock, and it rises from 300 to 400 feet
+above the sand plains below by a precipitous cliff on every side. To
+reach it from below, it must be climbed by niches and stairways in the
+rock. It is a good site for defense. At the foot of the cliff and on
+some terraces the people have built corrals of stone for their asses.
+All the water used in these three towns is derived from a well nearly a
+mile away--a deep pit sunk in the sand, over the site of a dune-buried
+brook.
+
+When we arrive the men of Walpi carry our goods, camp equipage, and
+saddles up the stairway and deposit them in a little court. Then they
+assign us eight or ten rooms for our quarters. Our animals are once more
+consigned to the care of Indian herders, and after they are fed they are
+sent away to a distance of some miles. There is no tree or shrub growing
+near the Walpi mesa. It is miles away to where the stunted cedars are
+found, and the people bring curious little loads of wood on the backs of
+their donkeys, it being a day's work to bring such a cargo. The people
+have anticipated our coming, and the wood for our use is piled in the
+chimney corners. After supper the hours till midnight are passed in
+rather formal talk.
+
+Walpi seems to be a town of about 150 inhabitants, Sichumovi of less
+than 100, and Hano of not more than 75. Hano, or "Tewa" as it is
+sometimes called, has been built lately; that is, it cannot be more than
+100 or 200 years old. The other towns are very old; their foundation
+dates back many centuries--so we gather from this talk. The people of
+Hano also speak a radically distinct language, belonging to another
+stock of tribes. They formerly lived on the Rio Grande, but during some
+war they were driven away and were permitted to build their home here.
+
+Two days are spent in trading with the people, and we pride ourselves on
+having made a good ethnologic collection. We are especially interested
+in seeing the men and women spin and weave. In their courtyards they
+have deep chambers excavated in the rocks. These chambers,
+
+346
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+which are called kivas, are entered by descending ladders. They are
+about 18 by 24 feet in size. The kiva is the place of worship, where all
+their ceremonies are performed, where their cult societies meet to pray
+for rain and to prepare medicines and charms against fancied and
+real ailments and to protect themselves by sorcery from the dangers
+powell-canyons-216.jpg
+
+WALPI. A VILLAGE OF TUSAYAN.
+
+of witchcraft. The kivas are also places for general rendezvous, and
+at night the men and women bring their work and chat and laugh, and in
+their rude way make the time merry. Many of the tribes of North America
+have their cult societies, or "medicine orders," as they are sometimes
+called, but this institution has been nowhere developed more thoroughly
+than among the pueblo Indians of this region. I am informed that there
+are a great number in Tusayan, that a part of their ceremonies are
+secret and another part public, and that the times of ceremony are also
+times for feasting and athletic sports.
+
+Here at Walpi the great snake dance is performed. For several days
+
+OVER THE RIVER. 347
+
+before this festival is held the people with great diligence gather
+snakes from the rocks and sands of the region round about and bring
+them to the kiva of one of their clans in great numbers, by scores and
+hundreds. Most of these snakes are quite harmless, but rattlesnakes
+abound, and they are also caught, for they play the most important role
+in the great snake dance. The medicine men, or priest doctors, are very
+deft in the management of rattlesnakes. When they bring them to the kiva
+they herd all the snakes in a great mass of writhing, hissing, rattling
+serpents. For this purpose they have little wands, to the end of each
+one of which a bunch of feathers is affixed. If a snake attempts to
+leave its allotted place in the kiva the medicine man brushes it or
+tickles it with the feather-armed wand, and the snake turns again to
+commingle with its fellows. After many strange and rather wearisome
+ceremonies, with dancing and invocations and ululations, the men of the
+order prepare for the great performance with the snakes. Clothed only
+in loincloth, each one seizes a snake, and a rattlesnake is preferred if
+there are enough of them for all. It is managed in this way: The snake
+is teased with the feather wand and his attention occupied by one man,
+while another, standing near, at a favorable moment seizes the snake
+just, back of the head. Then he puts the snake in his mouth, holding
+it across, so that the head protrudes on one side and the body on the
+other, which coils about his hand and arm. A few inches of the head and
+neck are free, and with this free portion the snake struggles, squirming
+in the air; but the attention of the snake is constantly occupied by
+the attendant who carries the wand. Then the men of the priest order
+carrying the snakes in their mouths arrange themselves in a line in the
+court and move in a procession several times about the court, and then
+engage in a dance. After the ceremony all of the snakes are carried to
+the plain and given their freedom.
+
+This snake dance was not witnessed at the time of the first visit, but
+an account of it was then obtained, such as given above. It has since
+been witnessed by myself and by others, and carefully prepared accounts
+of the ceremonies have been published by different persons.
+
+At last our work at Walpi is done, on October 27, and we arrange to
+leave on the morrow.
+
+348 powell-canyons-217.jpg
+
+TUSAYAN BASKETRY.
+
+349 powell-canyons-218.jpg
+
+TUSAYAN BASKETRY.
+
+350 powell-canyons-219.jpg
+
+ZUÑÍ FROM HOUSETOPS, LOOKING EAST.
+
+351
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+TO ZUÑI.
+
+OCTOBER 28.--To-day we leave the Province of Tusayan for a journey
+through the Navajo country. There is quite an addition to the party now,
+for we have a number of Indians employed as freighters. Their asses are
+loaded with heavy packs of the collections we have made in the various
+towns of Tusayan. After a while we enter a beautiful canyon coming
+down from the east, and by noon reach a spring, where we halt for
+refreshment. The poor little donkeys are thoroughly wearied, but our own
+animals have had a long rest and have been well fed and are all fresh
+and active. On the rocks of this canyon picture-writings are etched, and
+I try to get some account of them from the Indians, but fail.
+
+After lunch we start once more. It is a halcyon day, and with a
+companion I leave the train and push on for a view of the country. Away
+we gallop, my Indian companion and I, over the country toward a great
+plateau which we can see in the distance. The Salahkai is covered with
+a beautiful forest. We have an exhilarating ride. When the way becomes
+stony and rough we must walk our horses. My Indian, who is well mounted
+on a beautiful bay, is a famous rider. About his brow a kerchief is
+tied, and his long hair rests on his back. He has keen black eyes and
+a beaked nose; about his neck he wears several dozen strings of
+beads, made of nacre shining shells, and little tablets of turkis are
+perforated and strung on sinew cord; in his ears he has silver rings,
+and his wrists are covered with silver bracelets. His leggings are
+black velvet, the material for which he has bought from some trader; his
+moccasins are tan-colored and decorated with silver ornaments, and the
+trappings of his horse are decorated in like manner. He carries his
+rifle with as much ease as if it were a cane, and rides with wonderful
+
+352
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+dexterity. We get on with jargon and sign language pretty well. At
+night, after a long ride, I descend to the foot of the mesa, and near a
+little lake I find the camp. The donkey train has not arrived, but soon
+one after another the Indians come in with their packs, and with
+white men, Oraibi Indians, Walpi Indians, and Navajos, a good party is
+assembled.
+
+October 29.--We have a long ride before us to-day, for we must reach old
+Fort Defiance. I stay with the train in order to keep everything moving,
+for we expect to travel late in the night. On the way no water is found,
+but in mid-afternoon the trail leads to the brink of a canyon, and the
+Indians tell me there is water below; so the animals are unpacked and
+taken down the cliff in a winding way among the rocks, where they are
+supplied with water. Again we start; night comes on and we are still in
+the forest; the trail is good, yet we make slow progress, for some of
+the animals are weary and we have to wait from time to time for the
+stragglers. About ten o'clock we descend from the plateau to the canyon
+beneath and are at old Port Defiance, and the officers at the agency
+give us a hearty greeting. powell-canyons-220.jpg
+
+NAVAJO INDIAN WITH SILVER ORNAMENTS.
+
+TO ZUÑI.
+
+353 powell-canyons-221.jpg
+
+BRINGING DOWN THE BATTEN.
+
+We spend the 30th of October at the agency and see thousands of Indians,
+for they are gathered to receive rations and annuities. It is a wild
+spectacle; groups of Indians are gambling, there are several horse
+races, and everywhere there is feasting. At night the revelry is
+increased; great fires are lighted, and groups of Indians are seen
+scattered about the plains.
+
+November 1.--After a short day's ride we camp at Rock Spring. A fountain
+gushes from the foot of the mesa. Then another day's ride
+
+354
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+through a land of beauty. On the left there is a line of cliffs, like
+the Vermilion Cliffs of Utah. In the same red sandstones and on the
+top of the cliff the Kaibab scenery is duplicated. A great tower on the
+cliff is known as "Navajo Church." Early in the afternoon we are at
+Fort Wingate and in civilization once more. The fort is on a beauti-
+powell-canyons-222.jpg
+
+NAVAJO CHURCH, NEAR FORT WINGATE.
+
+TO ZUÑÍ
+
+355
+
+ful site at the foot of the Zuñi Plateau. And now our journey with the
+pack train is ended, and I bid good-by to my Indian friends. My own pack
+train is to go back to Utah, while from Fort Wingate I expect to go to
+Santa Fe in an ambulance. But the region about is of interest for its
+wonderful geologic structure and for the many ruins of ancient pueblos
+found in the neighborhood. On the 2d of November Captain Johnson, an
+artillery officer, takes me for a ride among the ruins. Many of these
+ancient structures are found, but those which are of the most interest
+are the round towers. Nothing remains of these but the bare walls. They
+average from 18 to 20 feet in diameter, and are usually two or three
+stories high. Probably they were built as places of worship.
+
+Above Fort Wingate there is a great plateau; below, there stretches a
+vast desert plain with mesas and buttes. The ruins are at the foot of
+the plateau where the streams come down from the pine-clad heights.
+
+On the 3d of November with a party of officers I visit Zuñí in an
+ambulance. The journey is 40 miles, along the foot of the plateau half
+the way, and then we turn into the desert valley, in the midst of which
+runs the Zuñi River, sometimes in canyons cut in black lava. Zuñí is a
+town much like those already visited, except that it is a little larger.
+Nothing can be more repulsive than the appearance of the streets;
+irregular, crowded, and filthy, in which dogs, asses, and Indians are
+mingled in confusion. In the distance Toyalone is seen, a great butte
+on which an extensive ruin is found, the more ancient home of
+powell-canyons-223.jpg
+
+ROUND TOWER ON A ROCK.
+
+356
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+these people, though Zuñi itself appears to be hundreds of years old.
+The people speak a language radically different from that of Tusayan,
+and no other tribe in the United States has a tongue related to it.
+
+In the midst of the town there is an old Spanish church, partly in
+ruins, but it is still graced with the wooden image of a saint, gayly
+colored; and the old tongueless bell remains, for it was sounded with a
+stone hammer held in the hand of the bellman; the marks of his blows are
+deeply indented in the metal. Alvar Nuñez Caveza de Vaca was the first
+white man to see Zuñi, when he wandered in that long journey from
+Florida around by the headwaters of the Arkansas, through what is now
+New Mexico and Arizona, southward to the City of Mexico. He had with
+him a Barbary negro, who was killed by the Zuñi, and his burial place is
+still pointed out.
+
+Among the Zuñi, as among the tribes of Tusayan, the form of government
+which prevails throughout the North American tribes is well illustrated.
+Kinship is the tie by which the members of the tribe are bound together
+as a common body of people. Each tribe is divided into a series of
+clans, and a clan is a group of people that reckon kinship through
+the family line. The children therefore belong to the clan of the
+powell-canyons-224.jpg
+
+TOYALONE, FROM THE TOP OF A HOUSE IN ZUÑÍ.
+
+357
+
+TO ZUÑI.
+
+357 powell-canyons-225.jpg
+
+TYPICAL TERRACED COMMUNAL PUEBLO.
+
+mother. Marriage is always without the clan; the husband and father
+must belong to a different clan from the mother and children, and the
+children belong to their mother and are governed by her brothers, or by
+her mother's brothers if they be still living. The husband is but the
+guest of the wife and the clan, and has no other authority in the family
+than that acquired by personal character. If he is an able and wise man
+his advice may be taken, but each clan is very jealous of its rights,
+and the members do not submit to dictation from the guest husband. The
+woman is1 not the ruler of the clan; the ruler is the patriarch or elder
+man, or if he is not a man of ability a younger and more able man
+is chosen, who by legal fiction is recognized as the elder. Over the
+officers of the clan are the officers of the tribe,--a chief with
+assistant chiefs. The organization by tribal governors varies from tribe
+to tribe. Sometimes the chieftaincy is hereditary in a particular
+clan, but more often the chieftaincy is elective. There is very little
+personal property among the tribal people, such property being confined
+to clothing, ornaments, and a few inconsiderable articles. The ownership
+of the great bulk of the property inheres in the clan, such as their
+
+358
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+houses, their patches of land, the food raised from the soil, and the
+game caught in the chase. Sometimes the clans are grouped, two or more
+constituting a phratry, and then there are other officers or chiefs
+standing between the clan and tribal authority. Again, tribes are
+sometimes organized into confederacies, and a grand confederate chief
+recognized. In addition to the chieftaincy of confederate tribes,
+phratries, and clans, there are councils; but these are not councils
+of legislation in the ordinary sense. The councils are clans whose
+decisions become a precedent. Tribal law is therefore court-made law,
+and such customary law grows out of the exigencies which daily life
+presents to the people. The problems as they arise are solved as best
+they may be, and the deliberations of the councils look not to the
+future but only to the present, and are invoked to settle controversy,
+that peace may be maintained. Of course there is no written constitution
+or body of laws, but there are traditional regulations which are well
+preserved in the idioms of oral speech, every rule of procedure or of
+justice being sooner or later coined into an aphorism.
+
+It has been seen that a clan is a body of kinship in the female line;
+but the members of the different clans are related to one another by
+intermarriage. Thus the first tie is by affinity; but, as fathers belong
+to other clans than the children, the tie is also by consanguinity. Thus
+the entire tribe is a body of kindred, and the tribal organization is a
+fabric with warp of streams of blood and powell-canyons-226.jpg
+
+DANCER HOLDING UP THE GREAT PLUMED ARROW.
+
+TO ZUÑI.
+
+359
+
+woof of marriage ties. When different tribes unite to form a confederacy
+for offensive or defensive purposes, artificial kinship is established.
+One tribe perhaps is recognized as the grandfather tribe, another is
+the father tribe, a third is the elder-brother tribe, a fourth is the
+younger-brother tribe, etc. In these artificial kinships the members
+of one tribe address the members of another tribe by kinship terms
+established in the treaty. Strangers are sometimes adopted into a clan,
+and this gives them a status in the tribe. The adoption is usually
+accomplished by the woman claiming the individual as her youngest son or
+daughter, and such adopted person has thereupon the status belonging
+to such a natural child; and, though he be an adult, he calls the child
+born into the clan before his advent, though it be but a year old, his
+elder brother or his elder sister. Then often young men are advanced in
+the clan because of superior ability, and this is done by giving them a
+kinship rank higher than that belonging to their real age; so that it
+is not infrequently found that old men address young men as their
+elder brothers and yield to their authority. The ties of the tribe are
+kinship, and authority inheres in superior age; but in order to adjust
+these rules so that the abler men may be given control, artificial
+kinship and artificial age are established. The civil chiefs direct the
+daily life of the people in their labors. powell-canyons-227.jpg
+
+DANCER "SWALLOWING" THE GREAT PLUMED ARROW.
+
+360
+
+CANYONS OF THE COLORADO. powell-canyons-228.jpg
+
+NAVAJO WOMAN WEAVING A BELT.
+
+To the civil organization of the tribe, as thus indicated, there is
+added a military organization, and war chiefs are selected. But usually
+these war chiefs are something more than war chiefs, for they also
+constitute a constabulary to preserve peace and mete out punishment; and
+young men from the various clans are designated as warriors
+
+361
+
+TO ZUÑI. 361
+
+and advanced in military rank according to merit. There is thus a
+brotherhood of warriors, and every man in this brotherhood recognizes
+all others of the group as being elder or younger, and so assumes or
+powell-canyons-229.jpg
+
+NAVAJO WOMAN SPINNING.
+
+362 powell-canyons-230.jpg
+
+A ROOM IN A ZUÑI HOUSE.
+
+TO ZUÑI. 363
+
+yields authority in all matters pertaining to war and the enforcement of
+criminal law.
+
+In addition to the secular government there is always a cult government.
+In every tribe there are Shamans, designated variously by white men as
+"medicine men," "priests," "priest doctors," "theurgists," etc. In
+many tribes, perhaps in all, the people are organized into Shamanistic
+societies; but that these societies are invariably recognized is not
+certain. The Shamans are always found. Among the Zuñi there are thirteen
+of these cult societies. The purpose of Shamanistic institutions is to
+control the conduct of the members of the tribe in relation to mythic
+personages, the mysterious beings in which the savage men believe. In
+the mind of the savage the world is peopled by a host of mythic beings,
+anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. The difference between man and brute
+recognized in civilization, is unrecognized in savagery. All animal
+life is wonderful and magical co sylvan man. Wisdom, cunning, skill,
+and prowess are attributed to the real animals to a degree often
+greater than to man; and there are mythic animals as well as mythic
+men--monsters dwelling in the mountains and caves or hiding in the
+waters, who make themselves invisible as they pass over the land. Not
+only are there great monsters, beasts, and reptiles in their mythology,
+but there are wonderful insects and worms. All life is miraculous and
+is worshiped as divine. The heavenly bodies, the sun and moon and stars,
+are mythic animals, and all of the phenomena of nature are attributed to
+these zoic beings. For example, the Indian knows nothing of the ambient
+air. The wind is the breath of some beast, or it is a fanning which
+rises from under the wings of a mythic bird. All the phenomena of
+nature, the rising and setting of the sun, the waxing and waning of
+the moon, the shining of the stars, the coming of comets, the flash
+of meteors, the change of seasons, the gathering and vanishing of the
+clouds, the blowing of the winds, the falling of the rain, the spreading
+of the snow, and all other phenomena of physical nature, are held to
+be the acts of these wonderful zoic deities. It is deemed of prime
+importance that such deities should be induced to act in the interest
+of men. Thus it is that Shamanistic government is held to be of as great
+importance as tribal government, and the Shamans are the peers of the
+chiefs. With some tribes the cult socie-
+
+364 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+ties have greater powers than the clan; with other tribes clan
+government is the more important; but always there is a conflict of
+authority, and there is a perpetual war between Shamanistic and civil
+government.
+
+These Shamans and cult societies have a great variety of functions to
+perform. All disease and all injuries are attributed to mythic beings or
+to witchcraft, and on these pathologic ideas the medicine practices of
+the people are based. The medicine men are sorcerers, who work wonders
+in discovering witchcraft and averting its effects or in discovering the
+disease-making animals and overcoming their power. So the Shamans
+and the cult societies are the possessors of medicine and ceremonies
+designed to prevent and cure human ailments. They also have charge of
+the ceremonies necessary to avert disaster and to secure success in all
+the affairs of life in peace and war; and they prescribe methods and
+observances and furnish charms and amulets, and in every way possible
+control human conduct in its relation to the unknown. No small part of
+savage life is devoted to cult ceremonies and observances. The hunter
+cannot penetrate the forest without his charm; the woman cannot plant
+corn until a ceremony is performed for securing the blessings of some
+divine being. Religious festivals and ceremonies are carried on for days
+and weeks. A war must be submitted to the gods, and a sneeze demands a
+prayer.
+
+Our arrival at Fort Wingate practically ended the exploration of the
+great valley of the Colorado. This was in 1870. In 1891 we can look back
+upon the completion of the survey of all of that region, for it has now
+been carefully mapped. The geology of the country has been studied, and
+the tribes which inhabit it have been subjects of careful research.
+This work has been carried on by a large corps of men, and interesting
+results have accrued.
+
+365 powell-canyons-231.jpg
+
+ASHTISHKEE, A NAVAJO CHIEF.
+
+366 powell-canyons-232.jpg
+
+NAVAJO MEDICINE LODGE, VIEWED FROM THE SOUTH.
+
+367 powell-canyons-233.jpg
+
+NAVAJO MEDICINE LODGE, VIEWED FROM THE EAST.
+
+368 powell-canyons-234.jpg
+
+NAVAJO FIRE DANCE.
+
+369 powell-canyons-235.jpg
+
+WORKSHOP OF NAVAJO SILVERSMITH.
+
+370 powell-canyons-236.jpg
+
+ZUÑÍ WOMAN WEAVING A BELT.
+
+371 powell-canyons-237.jpg
+
+WEAVING OF DIAMOND-SHAPED DIAGONALS.
+
+372 powell-canyons-238.jpg
+
+ZUÑI FETICHES.
+
+373 powell-canyons-239.jpg
+
+EFFIGY POTTERY FROM ZUÑI.
+
+374 powell-canyons-240.jpg
+
+ZUÑÍ POTTERY.
+
+375 powell-canyons-241.jpg
+
+ZUÑÍ GRAILS.
+
+376 powell-canyons-242.jpg
+
+CULINARY POTTERY FROM ZUÑI.
+
+377 powell-canyons-243.jpg
+
+NAVAJO FABRICS.
+
+378 powell-canyons-244.jpg
+
+THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+379
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+THE Grand Canyon is a gorge 217 miles in length, through which flows a
+great river with many storm-born tributaries. It has a winding way, as
+rivers are wont to have. Its banks are vast structures of adamant, piled
+up in forms rarely seen in the mountains.
+
+Down by the river the walls are composed of black gneiss, slates, and
+schists, all greatly implicated and traversed by dikes of granite. Let
+this formation be called the black gneiss. It is usually about 800 feet
+in thickness.
+
+Then over the black gneiss are found 800 feet of quartzites, usually in
+very thin beds of many colors, but exceedingly hard, and ringing under
+the hammer like phonolite. These beds are dipping and unconformable with
+the rocks above; while they make but 800 feet of the wall or less,
+they have a geological thickness of 12,000 feet. Set up a row of books
+aslant; it is 10 inches from the shelf to the top of the line of books,
+but there may be 3 feet of the books measured directly through the
+leaves. So these quartzites are aslant, and though of great geologic
+thickness, they make but 800 feet of the wall. Your books may have
+many-colored bindings and differ greatly in their contents; so these
+quartzites vary greatly from place to place along the wall, and in
+many places they entirely disappear. Let us call this formation the
+variegated quartzite.
+
+Above the quartzites there are 500 feet of sandstones. They are of a
+greenish hue, but are mottled with spots of brown and black by iron
+stains. They usually stand in a bold cliff, weathered in alcoves. Let
+this formation be called the cliff sandstone.
+
+Above the cliff sandstone there are 700 feet of bedded sandstones and
+limestones, which are massive sometimes and sometimes broken into
+
+380 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+thin strata. These rocks are often weathered in deep alcoves. Let this
+formation be called the alcove sandstone.
+
+Over the alcove sandstone there are 1,600 feet of limestone, in many
+places a beautiful marble, as in Marble Canyon. As it appears along the
+Grand Canyon it is always stained a brilliant red, for immediately
+over it there are thin seams of iron, and the storms have painted these
+limestones with pigments from above. Altogether this is the red-wall
+group. It is chiefly limestone. Let it be called the red wall limestone.
+
+Above the red wall there are 800 feet of gray and bright red sandstone,
+alternating in beds that look like vast ribbons of landscape. Let it be
+called the banded sandstone.
+
+And over all, at the top of the wall, is the Aubrey limestone, 1,000
+feet in thickness. This Aubrey has much gypsum in it, great beds of
+alabaster that are pure white in comparison with the great body of
+limestone below. In the same limestone there are enormous beds of chert,
+agates, and carnelians. This limestone is especially remarkable for its
+pinnacles and towers. Let it be called the tower limestone.
+
+Now recapitulate: The black gneiss below, 800 feet in thickness; the
+variegated quartzite, 800 feet in thickness; the cliff sandstone, 500
+feet in thickness; the alcove sandstone, 700 feet in thickness; the red
+wall limestone, 1,600 feet in thickness; the banded sandstone, 800 feet
+in thickness; the tower limestone, 1,000 feet in thickness.
+
+These are the elements with which the walls are constructed, from black
+buttress below to alabaster tower above. All of these elements weather
+in different forms and are painted in different colors, so that the wall
+presents a highly complex facade. A wall of homogeneous granite, like
+that in the Yosemite, is but a naked wall, whether it be 1,000 or 5,000
+feet high. Hundreds and thousands of feet mean nothing to the eye when
+they stand in a meaningless front. A mountain covered by pure snow
+10,000 feet high has but little more effect on the imagination than a
+mountain of snow 1,000 feet high--it is but more of the same thing;
+but a facade of seven systems of rock has its sublimity multiplied
+sevenfold.
+
+Let the effect of this multiplied facade be more clearly realized. Stand
+by the river side at some point where only the black gneiss
+
+381 powell-canyons-245.jpg
+
+A GABLE WITH PINNACLES.
+
+382 powell-canyons-246.jpg
+
+NICHES OR PANELS THE RED WALL LIMESTONE.
+
+THE GRAND CANYON. 383
+
+is seen. A precipitous wall of mountain rises over the river, with
+crag and pinnacle and cliff in black and brown, and through it runs an
+angular pattern of red and gray dikes of granite. It is but a mountain
+cliff which may be repeated in many parts of the world, except that it
+is singularly naked of vegetation, and the few plants that find footing
+are of strange tropical varieties and are conspicuous because of their
+infrequency.
+
+Now climb 800 feet and a point of view is reached where the variegated
+quartzites are seen. At the summit of the black gneiss a terrace is
+found, and, set back of this terrace, walls of elaborate sculpture
+appear, 800 feet in height. This is due to the fact that though the
+rocks are exceedingly hard they are in very thin layers or strata, and
+these strata are not horizontal, but stand sometimes on edge, sometimes
+highly inclined, and sometimes gently inclined. In these variegated beds
+there are many deep recesses and sharp salients, everywhere set with
+crags, and the wall is buttressed by a steep talus in many places. In
+the sheen of the midday sun, these rocks, which are besprinkled with
+quartz crystals, gleam like walls of diamonds.
+
+A climb of 800 feet over the variegated beds and the foot of the cliff
+sandstone is reached. It is usually olive green, with spots of brown and
+black, and presents 500 feet of vertical wall over the variegated sand-
+stone. The dark green is in fine contrast with the variegated beds below
+and the red wall above.
+
+Climb these 500 feet and you stand on the cliff sandstone. A terrace
+appears, and sometimes a wall of terraces set with alcoves of marvelous
+structure. Climb to the summit of this alcove sandstone--700 feet--and
+you stand at the foot of the red wall limestone. Sometimes this stands
+in two, three, or four Cyclopean steps--a mighty stairway. Oftener the
+red wall stands in a vertical cliff 1,600 feet high. It is the
+most conspicuous feature of the grand facade and imparts its chief
+characteristic. All below is but a foundation for it; all above, but an
+entablature and sky-line of gable, tower, pinnacle, and spire. It is
+not a plain, unbroken wall, but is broken into vast amphitheaters, often
+miles abound, between great angular salients. The amphitheaters also are
+broken into great niches that are sometimes vast chambers and sometimes
+royal arches 500 or 1,000 feet in height.
+
+384 powell-canyons-247.jpg
+
+BOUNDED INWARD CURVES AND PROJECTING CUSPS OF THE WALLS.
+
+THE GRAND CANYON. 385
+
+Over the red wall limestone, with its amphitheaters, chambers, niches,
+and royal arches--a climb of 1,600 feet--is the banded sandstone, the
+entablature over the niched and columned marble, an adamantine molding
+800 feet in thickness, stretching along the walls of the canyon through
+hundreds of miles. This banded sandstone has massive strata separated
+by friable shales. The massive strata are the horizontal elements in
+the entablature, but the intervening shales are carved with a beautiful
+fretwork of vertical forms, the sculpture of the rills. The massive
+sandstones are white, gray, blue, and purple, but the shales are
+a brilliant red; thus variously colored bands of massive rock are
+separated by bands of vertically carved shales of a brilliant hue.
+
+On these highly colored beds the tower limestone is found, 1,000 feet in
+height. Everywhere this is carved into towers, minarets, and domes, gray
+and cold, golden and warm, alabaster and pure, in wonderful variety.
+
+Such are the vertical elements of which the Grand Canyon facade is
+composed. Its horizontal elements must next be considered. The river
+meanders in great curves, which are themselves broken into curves of
+smaller magnitude. The streams that head far back in the plateau on
+either side come down in gorges and break the wall into sections. Each
+lateral canyon has a secondary system of laterals, and the secondary
+canyons are broken by tertiary canyons; so the crags are forever
+branching, like the limbs of an oak. That which has been described as
+a wall is such only in its grand effect. In detail it is a series of
+structures separated by a ramification of canyons, each having its
+own walls. Thus, in passing down the canyon it seems to be inclosed by
+walls, but oftener by salients--towering structures that stand between
+canyons that run back into the plateau. Sometimes gorges of the second
+or third order have met before reaching the brink of the Grand Canyon,
+and then great salients are cut off from the wall and stand out as
+buttes--huge pavilions in the architecture of the canyon. The scenic
+elements thus described are fused and combined in very different ways.
+
+We measured the length of the Grand Canyon by the length of the river
+running through it, but the running extent of wall cannot be measured in
+this manner. In the black gneiss, which is at the bottom, the wall may
+stand above the river for a few hundred yards or a
+
+386 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+mile or two; then, to follow the foot of the wall, you must pass into a
+lateral canyon for a long distance, perhaps miles, and then back again
+on the other side of the lateral canyon; then along by the river until
+another lateral canyon is reached, which must be headed in the black
+gneiss. So, for a dozen miles of river through the gneiss, there may be
+a hundred miles of wall on either side. Climbing to the summit of the
+black gneiss and following the wall in the variegated quartzite, it is
+found to be stretched out to a still greater length, for it is cut with
+more lateral gorges. In like manner, there is yet greater length of the
+mottled, or alcove, sandstone wall; and the red wall is still farther
+stretched out in ever branching gorges. To make the distance for ten
+miles along the river by walking along the top of the red wall, it would
+be necessary to travel several hundred miles. The length of the wall
+reaches its maximum in the banded sandstone, which is terraced more than
+any of the other formations. The tower limestone wall is less tortuous.
+To start at the head of the Grand Canyon on one of the terraces of the
+banded sandstone and follow it to the foot of the Grand Canyon, which by
+river is a distance of 217 miles, it would be necessary to travel many
+thousand miles by the winding Way; that is, the banded wall is many
+thousand miles in length.
+
+Stand at some point on the brink of the Grand Canyon where you can
+overlook the river, and the details of the structure, the vast labyrinth
+of gorges of which it is composed, are scarcely noticed; the elements
+are lost in the grand effect, and a broad, deep, flaring gorge of many
+colors is seen. But stand down among these gorges and the landscape
+seems to be composed of huge vertical elements of wonderful form. Above,
+it is an open, sunny gorge; below, it is deep and gloomy. Above, it is a
+chasm; below, it is a stairway from gloom to heaven.
+
+The traveler in the region of mountains sees vast masses piled up in
+gentle declivities to the clouds. To see mountains in this way is to
+appreciate the masses of which they are composed. But the climber among
+the glaciers sees the elements of which this mass is composed,--that it
+is made of cliffs and towers and pinnacles, with intervening gorges, and
+the smooth billows of granite seen from afar are transformed into cliffs
+and caves and towers and minarets. These two aspects of mountain scenery
+have been seized by painters, and in their art
+
+387 powell-canyons-248.jpg
+
+THE EASTERN TEMPLE.
+
+388 powell-canyons-249.jpg
+
+THE WESTERN TEMPLE.
+
+THE GRAND CANYON. 389
+
+two classes of mountains are represented: mountains with towering forms
+that seem ready to topple in the first storm, and mountains in masses
+that seem to frown defiance at the tempests. Both classes have told the
+truth. The two aspects are sometimes caught by our painters severally;
+sometimes they are combined. Church paints a mountain like a kingdom
+of glory. Bierstadt paints a mountain cliff where an eagle is lost
+from sight ere he reaches the summit. Thomas Moran marries these great
+characteristics, and in his infinite masses cliffs of immeasurable
+height are seen.
+
+Thus the elements of the facade of the Grand Canyon change vertically
+and horizontally. The details of structure can be seen only at close
+view, but grand effects of structure can be witnessed in great panoramic
+scenes. Seen in detail, gorges and precipices appear; seen at a
+distance, in comprehensive views, vast massive structures are presented.
+The traveler on the brink looks from afar and is overwhelmed with the
+sublimity of massive forms; the traveler among the gorges stands in the
+presence of awful mysteries, profound, solemn, and gloomy.
+
+For 8 or 10 miles below the mouth of the Little Colorado, the river
+is in the variegated quartzites, and a wonderful fretwork of forms and
+colors, peculiar to this rock, stretches back for miles to a labyrinth
+of the red wall cliff; then below, the black gneiss is entered and soon
+has reached an altitude of 800 feet and sometimes more than 1,000 feet;
+and upon this black gneiss all the other structures in their wonderful
+colors are lifted. These continue for about 70 miles, when the black
+gneiss below is lost, for the walls are dropped down by the West Kaibab
+Fault, and the river flows in the quartzites.
+
+Then for 80 miles the mottled, or alcove, sandstones are found in the
+river bed. The course of the canyon is a little south of west and is
+comparatively straight. At the top of the red wall limestone there is
+a broad terrace, two or three miles in width, composed of hills of
+wonderful forms carved in the banded beds, and back of this is seen a
+cliff in the tower limestone. Along the lower course of this stretch the
+whole character of the canyon is changed by another set of complicating
+conditions. We have now reached a region of volcanic activity. After the
+canyons were cut nearly to their present depth,
+
+390 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+lavas poured out and volcanoes were built on the walls of the canyon,
+but not in the canyon itself, though at places rivers of molten rock
+rolled down the walls into the Colorado.
+
+The next 80 miles of the canyon is a compound of that found where the
+river is in the black gneiss and that found where the dead volcanoes
+stand on the brink of the wall. In the first stretch, where the gneiss
+is at the foundation, we have a great bend to the south, and in the last
+stretch, where the gneiss is below and the dead volcanoes above, another
+great southern detour is found. These two great beds are separated by 80
+miles of comparatively straight river. Let us call this first great bend
+the Kaibab reach of the canyon, and the straight part the Kanab reach,
+for the Kanab Creek heads far off in the plateau to the north and joins
+the Colorado at the beginning of the middle stretch. The third great
+southern bend is the Shiwits stretch. Thus there are three distinct
+portions of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado: the Kaibab section,
+characterized more by its buttes and salients; the Kanab section,
+characterized by its comparatively straight walls with volcanoes on the
+brink; and the Shiwits section, which is broken into great terraces with
+gneiss at the bottom and volcanoes at the top.
+
+The Grand Canyon of the Colorado is a canyon composed of many canyons.
+It is a composite of thousands, of tens of thousands, of gorges. In
+like manner, each wall of the canyon is a composite structure, a wall
+composed of many walls, but never a repetition. Every one of these
+almost innumerable gorges is a world of beauty in itself. In the Grand
+Canyon there are thousands of gorges like that below Niagara Palls, and
+there are a thousand Yosemites. Yet all these canyons unite to form
+one grand canyon, the most sublime spectacle on the earth. Pluck up Mt.
+Washington by the roots to the level of the sea and drop it headfirst
+into the Grand Canyon, and the dam will not force its waters over the
+walls. Pluck up the Blue Ridge and hurl it into the Grand Canyon, and it
+will not fill it.
+
+The carving of the Grand Canyon is the work of rains and rivers. The
+vast labyrinth of canyon by which the plateau region drained by the
+Colorado is dissected is also the work of waters. Every river has
+excavated its own gorge and every creek has excavated its gorge. When
+
+391 powell-canyons-250.jpg
+
+GRANITE FALLS, KIABAB DIVISION, GRAND CANYON.
+
+392 powell-canyons-251.jpg
+
+DIKES IN THE CANYON WALL.
+
+THE GRAND CANYON. 393
+
+a shower comes in this land, the rills carve canyons--but a little at
+each storm; and though storms are far apart and the heavens above are
+cloudless for most of the days of the year, still, years are plenty in
+the ages, and an intermittent rill called to life by a shower can do
+much work in centuries of centuries.
+
+The erosion represented in the canyons, although vast, is but a small
+part of the great erosion of the region, for between the cliffs blocks
+have been carried away far superior in magnitude to those necessary to
+fill the canyons. Probably there is no portion of the whole region from
+which there have not been more than a thousand feet degraded, and there
+are districts from which more than 30,000 feet of rock have been carried
+away. Altogether, there is a district of country more than 200,000
+square miles in extent from which on the average more than 6,000 feet
+have been eroded. Consider a rock 200,000 square miles in extent and a
+mile in thickness, against which the clouds have hurled their storms and
+beat it into sands and the rills have carried the sands into the creeks
+and the creeks have carried them into the rivers and the Colorado has
+carried them into the sea. We think of the mountains as forming clouds
+about their brows, but the clouds have formed the mountains. Great
+continental blocks are upheaved from beneath the sea by internal
+geologic forces that fashion the earth. Then the wandering clouds, the
+tempest-bearing clouds, the rainbow-decked clouds, with mighty power and
+with wonderful skill, carve out valleys and canyons and fashion hills
+and cliffs and mountains. The clouds are the artists sublime.
+
+In winter some of the characteristics of the Grand Canyon are
+emphasized. The black gneiss below, the variegated quartzite, and the
+green or alcove sandstone form the foundation for the mighty red wall.
+The banded sandstone entablature is crowned by the tower limestone.
+In winter this is covered with snow. Seen from below, these changing
+elements seem to graduate into the heavens, and no plane of demarcation
+between wall and blue firmament can be seen. The heavens constitute
+a portion of the facade and mount into a vast dome from wall to wall,
+spanning the Grand Canyon with empyrean blue. So the earth and the
+heavens are blended in one vast structure.
+
+When the clouds play in the canyon, as they often do in the rainy
+season, another set of effects is produced. Clouds creep out of canyons
+
+394 CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
+
+and wind into other canyons. The heavens seem to be alive, not moving
+as move the heavens over a plain, in one direction with the wind, but
+following the multiplied courses of these gorges. In this manner the
+little clouds seem to be individualized, to have wills and souls of
+their own, and to be going on diverse errands--a vast assemblage of
+self-willed clouds, faring here and there, intent upon purposes hidden
+in their own breasts. In the imagination the clouds belong to the sky,
+and when they are in the canyon the skies come down into the gorges and
+cling to the cliffs and lift them up to immeasurable heights, for the
+sky must still be far away. Thus they lend infinity to the walls.
+
+The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in
+symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic
+art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features.
+Language and illustration combined must fail. The elements that unite
+to make the Grand Canyon the most sublime spectacle in nature are
+multifarious and exceedingly diverse. The Cyclopean forms which result
+from the sculpture of tempests through ages too long for man to compute,
+are wrought into endless details, to describe which would be a task
+equal in magnitude to that of describing the stars of the heavens or
+the multitudinous beauties of the forest with its traceries of foliage
+presented by oak and pine and poplar, by beech and linden and hawthorn,
+by tulip and lily and rose, by fern and moss and lichen. Besides the
+elements of form, there are elements of color, for here the colors of
+the heavens are rivaled by the colors of the rocks. The rainbow is not
+more replete with hues. But form and color do not exhaust all the
+divine qualities of the Grand Canyon. It is the land of music. The river
+thunders in perpetual roar, swelling in floods of music when the storm
+gods play upon the rocks and fading away in soft and low murmurs when
+the infinite blue of heaven is unveiled. With the melody of the great
+tide rising and falling, swelling and vanishing forever, other melodies
+are heard in the gorges of the lateral canyons, while the waters plunge
+in the rapids among the rocks or leap in great cataracts. Thus the Grand
+Canyon, is a land of song. Mountains of music swell in the rivers, hills
+of music billow in the creeks, and meadows of music murmur in the rills
+that ripple over the rocks. Altogether it is a symphony of multitudinous
+melodies. All this is the music of waters. The adamant
+
+395 powell-canyons-252.jpg
+
+PINNACLES OF THE KAIBAB. powell-canyons-253.jpg
+
+VISHNU'S TEMPLE. powell-canyons-254.jpg
+
+KEY TO THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.--LOOKING EAST.
+
+E. C. Eastern Cloister. F. San Fraucisco Mount. K. Mount Kendricks.
+
+1. Cherty limestone. 2. Upper Aubrey limestone. 3. Cross-bedded
+sandstone. 4. Lower Anbrey sandstone.
+
+5. Upper Red Wall.
+
+6. Red Wall limestones.
+
+7. Lower Carboniferous sandstones.
+
+H. Hindoo Amphitheater. S. Shiva's Temple. R. Cape RoyaL
+
+396 powell-canyons-255.jpg
+
+KEY TO THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.--LOOKING WEST.
+
+E. Mount Emma. I. Inner Gorge. P. Powell's Plateau. T. Mount TrumbulL
+
+1. Cherty llmestone.
+
+2. Upper Aubrey limestone
+
+3. Cross-bedded sandstone
+
+7. Lower Carboniferous sandstone
+
+8. Quartzite base of Carboniferous.
+
+9. Archaean. powell-canyons-256.jpg
+
+A. Bill Williams Peak B. Tower of Babel C. Colorado River F. Mount
+Floyd. '
+
+G. Monnt Sitgreaven.
+
+I. Inner Gorge
+
+TT. Twin Temples. W.C. West Cloister.
+
+KEY TO THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.--LOOKING SOUTH.
+
+1. Cherry limestone, 240 feet.
+
+3. Upper Aubrey limestone, 320 feet
+
+3. Cross-bedded sandstone, 380 feet
+
+4. Lower Aubrey sandstones, 950 feet. 5. Upper Red Wall sandstones, 400
+feet. 6. Red Wall limestones, 1.500 fett.
+
+7. Lower Carboniferous sandstones, 550 fret.
+
+8. Quartzite base of Carboniferous, 180 feet.
+
+9. Archaean. powell-canyons-257.jpg
+
+GRAND CANYON AT THE FOOT OF THE TOROWEAP, LOOKING EAST.
+powell-canyons-258.jpg
+
+THE GREAT UNCONFORMITY AT THE HEAD OF THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+THE GRAND CANYON. 397
+
+foundations of the earth have been wrought into a sublime harp, upon
+which the clouds of the heavens play with mighty tempests or with gentle
+showers.
+
+The glories and the beauties of form, color, and sound unite in the
+Grand Canyon--forms unrivaled even by the mountains, colors that vie
+with sunsets, and sounds that span the diapason from tempest to tinkling
+raindrop, from cataract to bubbling fountain. But more: it is a vast
+district of country. Were it a valley plain it would make a state. It
+can be seen only in parts from hour to hour and from day to day and from
+week to week and from month to month. A year scarcely suffices to see
+it all. It has infinite variety, and no part is ever duplicated.
+Its colors, though many and complex at any instant, change with the
+ascending and declining sun; lights and shadows appear and vanish with
+the passing clouds, and the changing seasons mark their passage in
+changing colors. You cannot see the Grand Canyon in one view, as if it
+were a changeless spectacle from which a curtain might be lifted, but to
+see it you have to toil from month to month through its labyrinths. It
+is a region more difficult to traverse than the Alps or the Himalayas,
+but if strength and courage are sufficient for the task, by a year's
+toil a concept of sublimity can be obtained never again to be equaled on
+the hither side of Paradise.
+
+399
+
+INDEX.
+
+PAGE
+
+Apache Indians, home and character of the ....24
+
+Art, ancient, vestiges of, in the Gila and Colorado valleys .24
+
+Bad lands, formation and characteristics of the ....68,71
+
+Bad lands of Green River ........124
+
+Baker, John, a famous mountaineer ......131
+
+Bierstadt, how he paints a mountain ......389
+
+Boats and cargoes, description of ......119
+
+Bosque Redondo, Navajos on a reservation at the ...52
+
+Bradley, G. T., a member of the expedition .. . . . . . . v, 120
+
+Bradley rescues others from the water ......284
+
+Buttes, mesas, plateaus, distinction between ....46
+
+Canyon cutting in the upper Colorado basin ....29
+
+Cávate or cliff dwellings of the Tewan Indians ....56
+
+Caves in a volcanic crater used as habitations by Indians .43
+
+Caves in cliffs used as habitations by Indians ....41
+
+Ceremony at Shupaulovi to bring rain .....338-342
+
+Chambers excavated in volcanic ashes by Indians for habitations . . 42
+
+Chumehueva Indians, low condition and former home of the 27
+
+Church, how he paints a mountain ......389
+
+Cinder-cone town formerly inhabited by Indians ...42
+
+Cliff dwellings of the Tewan Indians ......56
+
+Cliff village of Walnut Cany on .......41
+
+Collecting specimens of the art of Tusayan ....342-344
+
+Colorado Canyon broken by lateral canyons ....29
+
+Colorado Desert, singular characteristics of the ....22
+
+Crater town formerly inhabited by Indians ....43
+
+Cult societies among the Indiana .......363-364
+
+Death, supposed, of the author .......... iii
+
+Digger Indians, the original ........27
+
+Dunn, W. H., a member of the expedition ........ v, 120
+
+Dunn, W. H., abandons the party and is killed by Indians .280,323
+
+Freebooters of the Plateau Province ......84
+
+Fremont's Peak, height of and view from .....67
+
+Garfield, J. A., insists on the publication of the history of the
+expedition . iv
+
+Goodman, Frank, a member of the expedition ....... v, 120
+
+Goodman, Frank, leaves the party .......187
+
+Government, civil, military, and religious, among the tribes of Tusayan
+. 356-364
+
+Grand Canyon, how formed . . ' . . . .89
+
+Grand Canyon, the most sublime spectacle on earth ..390,397
+
+Grand Canyon walls, elements of and height of ...251, 379-389
+
+Hall, Andrew, a member of the expedition ....... v, 120
+
+Hano, a visit to ...........345
+
+Hano, location and language of .......49
+
+Hawkins, W. R., a member of the expedition ........ v, 120
+
+Rowland, O. G., a member of the expedition ....... v, 120
+
+Rowland, Seneca, a member of the expedition ....... v, 120
+
+Howland and Dunn abandon the party and are killed by Indians . . 280,323
+
+Instruments, tools, rations, etc. .......119
+
+Irrigation and hydraulic works built by the Indians ..24
+
+Irrigation developed by the Navajo and other Indians ..52, 111
+
+Killing by the Shivwits of the three men who left the party 323 .
+
+Kinship ties among the tribes of North America ....356-358
+
+Kit Carson, leadership of, against the Navajos ....51
+
+Maricopa Indians, home and character of the ....24
+
+Marriage and kinship ties among the North American Indians . . . 357-359
+
+Mashongnavi, a visit to .........335
+
+40 0 INDEX.
+
+PAGE
+
+Mashongnavi, location and language of .....49
+
+Medicine-man as historian, priest, and doctor . . . . . .65,106,363
+
+Men who composed the exploring party .....120
+
+Mesas, plateaus, buttes, distinction between . . . . . . . . . 46
+
+Mogollon Escarpment, description of the .....27
+
+Mojave Indians, former home and life of the . . . . . . . . 27
+
+Moran, Thomas, how he paints a mountain ....389
+
+Moran, Thomas, painting of "The Chasm of the Colorado" . . . .328
+
+Myth, Indian, of the origin of the Colorado Canyon and River 37
+
+Myth of the Sokus Waiunats, or One-Two Boys ...303-311
+
+Mythic stories of the Ute and other Indians ....65,107
+
+Navajo Indians, home, characteristics, language, art, etc., of the 51
+
+Oraibi, a visit to ..........335
+
+Oraibi, collecting the arts of the people of .....342-344
+
+Oraibi, life at ...........336-338
+
+Oraibi, location and language of .......49
+
+Painted Desert region, description of the .....45
+
+Papago Indians, home and character of the .....24
+
+Pestilence and war causes of abandonment of pueblos and rancherias . 113
+
+Pima Indians, home and character of the .....24
+
+Plateaus, mesas, buttes, distinction between ....46
+
+Powell, W. H., a member of the expedition ........ v, 120
+
+Pueblo Indians, languages and culture of the . . . . . . . ill
+
+Rabbit snaring by the Utes ........105
+
+Rations, clothing, ammunition, tools, and scientific instruments . . .
+119
+
+Rescued from a perilous position .......169
+
+Ruins in the Grand Canyon region ......107
+
+Ruins of ancient pueblo-building tribes in the valley of the Little
+Colorado
+
+and vicinity ..........49,53
+
+Ruins of ancient pueblo-building tribes on San Francisco Plateau 40
+
+Ruins of cavate or cliff dwellings of the Tewan Indians .56
+
+Scenic features of the Canyon land .......32
+
+Shivwits chief talks ..........321-323
+
+Shoshone Indians, home and life of the . . . . . . . . .71
+
+Shumopavi, a visit to .........335
+
+Shumopavi, location and language of ......49
+
+Shupaulovi, a visit to .........338-242
+
+Shupaulovi, location and language of ......49
+
+Sichumovi, a visit to ..........345
+
+Sichumovi, location and language of ......49
+
+Snake dance at Walpi .........346-347
+
+Sokus Waiunats, or One-Two Boys .......303-311
+
+Spanish expeditions and conquerors in the Southwest ..260
+
+Starting from Green River City for the Canyon . . . . . . .119
+
+Stories, mythic, of the Ute and other Indians ....65,107
+
+Storm below the beholder .........98
+
+Sumner, J. C., a member of the expedition ....... v, 120
+
+Thousand Wells ...........334
+
+Timber region of Arizona, description of the .....39
+
+Trumbull. Mount, ascent of ........324-325
+
+Tusayan, the seven pueblos of .......49,335
+
+Tusayan, tribes of, government among the .....356-364
+
+Tusayan, two weeks spent at .......335
+
+Uinta Indians, home of the ........75
+
+Ute Indians, home, life, dress, etc., of the . . . . . . 27,62,84,104
+
+Volcanic dust, enormous amount of, on Tewan Plateau ..55
+
+Walpi, a visit to ...........345
+
+Walpi, location and language of .......49
+
+War and pestilence causes of abandonment of pueblos and rancherias . 113
+
+Yellowstone Park, the land of geyser wonders ....67
+
+Yuma Indians, former home and life of the ....27
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Canyons of the Colorado, by J. W.
+Powell
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 05:30:52 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 05:30:52 -0700
commit	8583480ec7f002f396b57387a64239d44c76e176 (patch)
tree	10e4adacb7e7cb94accbf17baa5584a46456628b /8082-0.txt