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