[From Major J. W. Powell's Report of the Exploration of the Cañons of
the Colorado--1869.]
"For two years previous to the exploration, I had been making some
geological studies among the heads of the cañons leading to the
Colorado, and a desire to explore the Grand Cañon itself grew upon
me. Early in the spring of 1869 a small party was organized for this
purpose. 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 into the Colorado, and the Colorado
down to the foot of the Grand Cañon."
From the record of May 24, 1869, we quote the following:
"The good people of Green River City turn out to see us start--a party
of ten men. 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, staunch and
firm."
"We take with us rations deemed sufficient to last ten months, abundant
supplies of clothing, also a large quantity of ammunition and two or
three dozen traps."
On the 26th they go into camp at the foot of the Uintah Mountains, at
the head of Flaming Gorge Cañon, the first to be explored.
We quote again: "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 to its course. It enters the range by a flaring,
brilliant-red gorge, that may be seen from the north a score of miles
away."
"You 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. You must conceive, too, that this
plateau is cut by gulches and cañons in many directions, and that
beautiful valleys are scattered about at different altitudes. The
first series of cañons we are about to explore constitute a river
channel through such a range of mountains. The cañon is cut nearly
half-way 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 fifty miles, it then turns abruptly to a
southwest course, and goes diagonally through the southern slope of the
range."
* * * * *
"May 30.--This morning we are ready to enter the mysterious cañon, and
start with some anxiety. The old mountaineers tell us it cannot be run;
the Indians say, 'Water heap catch 'em;' but all are eager for the
trial, and off we go."
"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 we turn into another cañon 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
five hundred, a thousand, fifteen hundred 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 cañon 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; and then comes a feeling of great relief. Our first
rapid run. Another mile and we come into the valley again.
"Let me explain this cañon. 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 into the valley from
which it started, only half a mile below the point at which it entered;
so the cañon is in the form of an elongated =U=, with the apex in the
center of the mountain. We name it Horseshoe Cañon.
"Last spring, I had a conversation with an old Indian named Pa-ri-ats,
who told me about one of his tribe attempting to run this cañon. 'The
rocks,' he said, holding his hands above his head, his arms vertical,
looking between them to the heavens--'the rocks h-e-a-p, h-e-a-p high;
the water go h-oo-woogh, h-oo-woogh! water-pony (boat) h-e-a-p buck;
water catch 'em; no see 'em Injun any more! no see 'em squaw any more!
no see 'em pappoose any more!'
"June 7.--On a rock we find a pool of clear, cold water, caught from
yesterday evening's shower. After a good drink we walk to the brink of
the cañon, 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
two thousand feet. And yet I cannot look on and see another do the
same. I must either bid him come away or turn my head.
"This evening, as I write, the sun is going down, and the shadows are
settling in the cañon. 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 to-morrow."
The 9th of June brought disaster to a boat containing three of the men,
who were carried down the rapids, but all were rescued.
They pass the mouths of the Uintah and the White Rivers, with
constantly changing scenes, making a tortuous journey through many
dangerous rapids, much of the time between high, perpendicular walls.
On the 15th they pass around a great bend, five miles in length, and
come back to a point one-quarter of a mile from where they started.
Then they sweep around another great bend to the left, making a circuit
of nine miles, and come back to one-third of a mile from where the bend
started. The figure 8 properly describes the fourteen miles' journey.
July 17 they arrive at the junction of the Grand and Green rivers,
having traversed about eight hundred and four miles.
On the morning of July 19, the Major and a companion start to climb the
left wall below the junction of the Grand and Green Rivers. They reach
the summit of the rocks. The view is thus described: "And what a world
of grandeur is spread before us! Below, us is the cañon, through which
the Colorado runs. We can trace its course for miles, as at points we
catch glimpses of the river. From the northwest comes the Green, in
a narrow, winding gorge. From the northeast comes the Grand, through
a cañon that seems bottomless, from where we stand. Away to the west
are lines of cliff and ledges of rock--not such ledges as you may have
seen, where the quarry-man splits his blocks, but ledges from which the
gods might quarry mountains, that, rolled on the plain below, would
stand a lofty range; and not such cliffs as you may have seen, where
the swallow builds his 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 wu-near
Tu-weap_. On the summit of the opposite wall of the cañon are rock
forms that we do not understand. Away to the east a group of eruptive
mountains are seen--the Sierra La Sal. Their slopes are covered with
pines, and deep gulches are flanked with great crags, and snow fields
are seen near the summits. So the mountains 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."
"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 cañon, and the water
is running down a bed of dry sand; and, although it comes in waves
several feet high and fifteen or twenty 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 cañon."
The exploring party next passes through Narrow Cañon, nine and a half
miles long, Glen Cañon, one hundred and forty-nine miles in length; and
Marble Cañon, sixty-five and one-half miles long. The depth of the
last named is three thousand five hundred feet at the lower end. They
emerge from Marble Cañon August 10, and find themselves separated from
the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, the "Great Unknown," by the narrow
valley of the Little Colorado.
The Grand Cañon is now entered and safely passed, a distance of two
hundred and seventeen and one-half miles, terminating with the Grand
Wash.
We are compelled to terminate this article abruptly for lack of space.
It is proper to say that this journey has scarcely ever been equaled
for daring and hardihood. Each time they descended a rapids, they were
liable to come to a fall too great to shoot over, with walls so steep
they could not be climbed, and rapids so swift as to prevent return.
The Grand Cañon, as one of the wonders of the world, is visited every
summer by hundreds of tourists.