CHAPTER I._The Romance of the Colorado River

[Illustration]

The Romance of the Colorado River

The Story of its Discovery in 1840, with an Account of the Later

Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell

through the Line of the Great Canyons.

by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872

“No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms:

This, as it frothed by, might have been a bath

For the fiend’s glowing hoof——”

Browning

To my friends and comrades

of the Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872

in grateful remembrance.

Looking up the Bright Angel Trail. Looking up the Bright Angel Trail.

This is one of the modern trails into the Grand Canyon, which at this

point is some 6000 feet deep. From water-color sketch by Thomas Moran,

N.A.

DETAILED CONTENTS

PREFACE

NOTE ON THE AUTHOR’S ITINERARY

CHAPTER I. The Secret of the Gulf—Ulloa, 1539, One of the Captains of

Cortes, Almost Solves it, but Turns Back without Discovering—Alarçon,

1540, Conquers

CHAPTER II. The Unknown River—Alarçon Ascends it Eighty-five Leagues

and Names it the Rio de Buena Guia—Melchior Diaz Arrives at its Banks

Later and Calls it the Rio del Tizon—Cardenas Discovers the Grand

Canyon.

CHAPTER III. The Grand Canyon—Character of the Colorado River—The

Water-Gods; Erosion and Corrasion—The Natives and their Highways—The

"Green River Valley" of the Old Trappers—The Strange Vegetation and

Some Singular Animals

CHAPTER IV. Oñate, 1604, Crosses Arizona to the Colorado—A Remarkable

Ancient Ruin Discovered by Padre Kino, 1694—Padre Garces Sees the Grand

Canyon and Visits Oraibi, 1776—The Great Entrada of Padre Escalante

across Green River to Utah Lake, 1776—Death of Garces Ends the Entrada

Period, 1781.

CHAPTER V. Breaking the Wilderness—Wanderings of the Trappers and Fur

Traders—General Ashley in Green River Valley, 1824—Pattie along the

Grand Canyon, 1826—Lieutenant Hardy, R.N., in a Schooner on the Lower

Colorado, 1826—Jedediah Smith, Salt Lake to San Gabriel, 1826—Pattie on

the Lower Colorado in Canoes, 1827-28

CHAPTER VI. Frémont, the Pathfinder—Ownership of the Colorado—The Road

of the Gold Seekers—First United States Military Post, 1849—Steam

Navigation—Captain Johnson Goes to the Head of Black Canyon

CHAPTER VII. Lieutenant Ives Explores to Fortification Rock—By Trail to

Diamond Creek, Havasupai Canyon, and the Moki Towns—Macomb Fails in an

Attempt to Reach the Mouth of Grand River—James White’s Masterful

Fabrication

CHAPTER VIII. The One-armed Knight—A Bold Attack on the Canyons—Powell

and His Men—The Wonderful Voyage—Mighty Walls and Roaring

Rapids—Capsizes and Catastrophes

CHAPTER IX. A Canyon of Cataracts—The Imperial Chasm—Short Rations—A

Split in the Party—Separation—Fate of the Howlands and Dunn—The Monster

Vanquished

CHAPTER X. Powell’s Second Attack on the Colorado—Green River City—Red

Canyon and a Capsize—The Grave of Hook—The Gate of Lodore—Cliff of the

Harp—Triplet Falls and Hell’s Half-Mile—A Rest in Echo Park

CHAPTER XI. An Island Park and a Split Mountain—The White River

Runaways—Powell Goes to Salt Lake—Failure to Get Rations to the Dirty

Devil—On the Rocks in Desolation—Natural Windows—An Ancient House—On

the Back of the Dragon at Last—Cataracts and Cataracts in the Wonderful

Cataract Canyon—A Lost Pack-Train—Naming the Echo Peaks

CHAPTER XII. Into the Jaws of the Dragon—A Useless Experiment—Wheeler

Reaches Diamond Creek Going Up-stream—The Hurricane Ledge—Something

about Names—A Trip from Kanab through Unknown Country to the Mouth of

the Dirty Devil

CHAPTER XIII. A Canyon through Marble-Multitudinous Rapids—Running the

Sockdologer—A Difficult Portage, Rising Water, and a Trap—The Dean

Upside Down—A Close Shave—Whirlpools and Fountains—The Kanab Canyon and

the End of the Voyage

CHAPTER XIV. A Railway Proposed through the Canyons—The Brown Party,

1889, Undertakes the Survey—Frail Boats and Disasters—The Dragon Claims

Three—Collapse of the Expedition—Stanton Tries the Feat Again,

1889-90—A Fall and a Broken Leg—Success of Stanton—The Dragon Still

Untrammelled

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX

PREFACE

Early in 1871, when Major Powell[1] was preparing for his second

descent through the canyons of the Green and Colorado rivers, he was

besieged by men eager to accompany him; some even offered to pay well

for the privilege. It was for me, therefore, a piece of great good

fortune when, after an interview in Chicago with the eminent explorer,

he decided to add me to his small party. I was very young at the time,

but muscular and healthy, and familiar with the handling of small

boats. The Major remarked that in the business before us it was not so

much age and strength that were needed as “nerve,” and he evidently

believed I had enough of this to carry me through. Certainly in the

two-years, continuous work on the river and in the adjacent country I

had some opportunity to develop this desirable quality. I shall never

cease to feel grateful to him for the confidence reposed in me. It gave

me one of the unique experiences of my life,—an experience which, on

exactly the same lines, can never be repeated within our borders. Now,

these thirty years after, I review that experience with satisfaction

and pleasure, recalling, with deep affection, the kind and generous

companions of that wild and memorable journey. No party of men thrown

together, without external contact for months at a time, could have

been more harmonious; and never once did any member of that party show

the white feather. I desire to acknowledge here, also, my indebtedness

to Prof. A. H. Thompson, Major Powell’s associate in his second

expedition, for many kindnesses.

[1] I use the title Major for the reason that he was so widely known

for so long a period by it. He was a volunteer officer during the

Civil War, holding the rank of Colonel at the end. The title Major,

then, has no military significance in this connection.

When his report to Congress was published, Major Powell, perhaps for

the sake of dramatic unity, concluded to omit mention of the personnel

of the second expedition, awarding credit, for all that was

accomplished, to the men of his first wonderful voyage of 1869. And

these men surely deserved all that could be bestowed on them. They had,

under the Major’s clear-sighted guidance and cool judgment, performed

one of the distinguished feats of history. They had faced unknown

dangers. They had determined that the forbidding torrent could be

mastered. But it has always seemed to me that the men of the second

party, who made the same journey, who mapped and explored the river and

much of the country roundabout, doing a large amount of difficult work

in the scientific line, should have been accorded some recognition. The

absence of this has sometimes been embarrassing for the reason that

when statements of members of the second party were referred to the

official report, their names were found missing from the list. This

inclined to produce an unfavourable impression concerning these

individuals. In order to provide in my own case against any unpleasant

circumstance owing to this omission, I wrote to Major Powell on the

subject and received the following highly satisfactory answer:

Washington, D. C., January 18, 1888.

My Dear Dellenbaugh:

Replying to your note of the 14th instant, it gives me great pleasure

to state that you were a member of my second party of exploration down

the Colorado, during the years 1871 and 1872, that you occupied a place

in my own boat and rendered valuable services to the expedition, and

that it was with regret on my part that your connection with the Survey

ceased.

Yours cordially, J. W. Powell.

Recently, when I informed him of my intention to publish this volume,

he very kindly wrote as follows:

Washington, January 6, 1902.

Dear Dellenbaugh:

I am pleased to hear that you are engaged in writing a book on the

Colorado Canyon. I hope that you will put on record the second trip and

the gentlemen who were members of that expedition. No other trip has

been made since that time, though many have tried to follow us. One

party, that headed by Mr. Stanton, went through the Grand Canyon on its

second attempt, but many persons have lost their lives in attempting to

to write a short introduction to your book.

Yours cordially, J. W. Powell.

In complying with this request to put on record the second expedition

and the gentlemen who composed it, I feel all the greater pleasure,

because, at the same time, I seem to be fulfilling a duty towards my

old comrades. The reader is referred to Chapter XIV., and to pages

368-9 for later data on descents. Notwithstanding these the canyons

remain almost terra incognita for each new navigator. There have been

some who appear to be inclined to withhold from Major Powell the full

credit which is his for solving the great problem of the Southwest, and

who, therefore, make much of the flimsy story of White, and even assume

on faint evidence that others fathomed the mystery even before White.

There is, in my opinion, no ground for such assumptions. Several

trappers, like Pattie and Carson, had gained a considerable knowledge

of the general course and character of the river as early as 1830, but

to Major Powell and his two parties undoubtedly belongs the high honour

of being the first to explore and explain the truth about it and its

extraordinary canyon environment. If danger, difficulty, and disaster

mean romance, then assuredly the Colorado of the West is entitled to

first rank, for seldom has any human being touched its borderland even,

without some bitter or fatal experience. Never is the Colorado twice

alike, and each new experience is different from the last. Once

acknowledge this and the dangers, however, and approach it in a humble

and reverent spirit, albeit firmly, and death need seldom be the

penalty of a voyage on its restless waters.

I have endeavoured to present the history of the river, and immediate

environment, so far as I have been able to learn it, but within the

limits of a single volume of this size much must necessarily be

omitted. Reference to the admirable works of Powell, Gilbert, and

Button will give the reader full information concerning the geology and

topography; _Garces_, by Elliott Coues, gives the story of the friars;

and the excellent memoir of Chittenden, _The American Fur Trade of the

Far West_, will give a complete understanding of the travels and

exploits of the real pioneers of the Rocky Mountain country. I differ

with this author, however, as to the wise and commendable nature of the

early trappers’ dealings with the natives, and this will be explained

in the pages on that subject. He also says in his preface that “no

feature of western geography was ever discovered by government

explorers after 1840.” While this is correct in the main, it gives an

erroneous impression so far as the canyons of the Colorado are

concerned. These canyons were “discovered,” as mentioned above, by some

of the trappers, but their interior character was not known, except in

the vaguest way, so that the discovery was much like discovering a

range of mountains on the horizon and not entering beyond the

foothills.

For the titles of works of reference, of the narratives of trappers,

etc., I refer to the works of H. H. Bancroft; to Warren’s _Memoirs_,

vol. i. Pacific Railroad reports; and to the first volume of Lieut.

Geo. M. Wheeler’s report on Explorations West of the 100th Meridian.

The trappers and prospectors who had some experience on the Green and

the Colorado have left either no records or very incomplete ones. It

seems tolerably certain, however, that no experience of importance has

escaped notice. So far as attempts at descent are concerned, they

invariably met with speedy disaster and were given up.

In writing the Spanish and other foreign proper names I have in no case

translated, because such translations result in needless confusion. To

translate “Rio del Tizon” as Firebrand River is making another name of

it. Few would recognise the Colorado River under the title of Red

River, as used, for example, in Pattie’s narrative. While Colorado

means red, it is quite another matter as a _name_. Nor do I approve of

hyphenating native words, as is so frequently done. It is no easier to

understand Mis-sis-sip-pi than Mississippi. My thanks are due to Mr.

Thomas Moran, the distinguished painter, for the admirable sketch from

nature he has so kindly permitted a reproduction of for a frontispiece.

Mr. Moran has been identified as a painter of the Grand Canyon ever

since 1873, when he went there with one of Powell’s parties and made

sketches from the end of the Kaibab Plateau which afterwards resulted

in the splendid picture of the Grand Canyon now owned by the

Government.

I am indebted to Prof. A. H. Thompson for the use of his river diary as

a check upon my own, and also for many photographs now difficult to

obtain; and to Dr. G. K. Gilbert, Mr. E. E. Howell, Dr. T. Mitchell

Prudden, and Mr. Delancy Gill for the use of special photographs. Other

debts in this line I acknowledge in each instance and hence will not

repeat here. I had hoped to have an opportunity of again reading over

the diary which “Jack” Sumner kept on the first Powell expedition, and

which I have not seen since the time of the second expedition, but the

serious illness of Major Powell prevented my requesting the use of it.

F. S. Dellenbaugh.

New York, October, 1902.

NOTE.—Since the last edition of this work was published, the inquiries

of Mr. Robert Brewster Stanton have brought to light among some

forgotten papers of Major Powell’s at the Bureau of Ethnology in

Washington the diary of Jack Sumner and also that of Major Powell

himself. Both begin at the mouth of the Uinta River.

Major Powell, because of his one-armed condition, had the only

life-preserver. The preserver was rubber of the inflating type and is

in the Smithsonian Institution, presented by Mr. Stanton who obtained

it from one of the survivors in 1907.

NOTE ON THE AUTHOR’S ITINERARY IN THE BASIN OF THE COLORADO RIVER AND

ADJACENT TERRITORY

(Except where otherwise stated journeys were on horseback.)

1871—By boat from the Union Pacific Railway crossing of Green River,

down the Green and Colorado to the mouth of the Paria, Lee’s Ferry.

Numerous side trips on foot. Lee’s Ferry to House Rock Valley, and

across north end of the Kaibab Plateau to the village of Kanab.

1872—Kanab to House Rock Valley and Paria Plateau. To Kanab. To

southern part of Kaibab Plateau. To Kanab _via_ Shinumo Canyon and

Kanab Canyon. To Pipe Spring. To the Uinkaret Mountains and the Grand

Canyon at the foot of the Toroweap Valley. To Berry Spring near St.

George, along the edge of the Hurricane Ledge. To the Uinkaret

Mountains _via_ Diamond Butte. To the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the

foot of the Toroweap. To Berry Spring _via_ Diamond Butte and along the

foot of the Hurricane Ledge. To St. George. To the Virgen Mountains and

summit of Mt. Bangs. To Kanab _via_ St. George. To the Aquarius Plateau

_via_ Potato Valley. To and across the Henry Mountains. To the Colorado

at the mouth of Frémont River. By boat to the mouth of the Paria. To

Kanab and return across the Kaibab. By boat down the Colorado to the

mouth of the Kanab. To Kanab _via_ the Kanab Canyon. To the Uinkaret

Mountains. To Kanab _via_ Pipe Spring.

1873—To Salt Lake City, _via_ Long Valley and the Sevier River.

1875—To terminus of Utah Southern Railway, about at Spanish Forks, by

rail. To Kanab _via_ Sevier River and Upper Kanab. To the Kaibab

Plateau, De Motte Park, and the rim of the Grand Canyon. To the bottom

of the Grand Canyon _via_ Shinumo and Kanab Canyons. To Kanab _via_

Kanab Canyon. To the Uinkaret Mountains _via_ Pipe Spring and the Wild

Band Pockets. To the Grand Canyon at the foot of the Toroweap.

1876—To St. George across the Uinkaret Plateau. To Las Vegas, Nevada,

_via_ Beaver Dam, Virgen River, the Muddy, and the desert. To St.

George, by the desert and the old “St. Joe” road across the Beaver Dam

Mountains. To the rim of the Grand Canyon, _via_ Hidden Spring, the

Copper Mine, and Mt. Dellenbaugh. To a red paint cave on the side of

the canyon, about twenty-five hundred feet down. To St. George _via_

same route. To Ivanpah, California, _via_ the old desert road, the

Muddy, Las Vegas, and Good Spring. To St. George _via_ same route. To

Kanab _via_ Short Creek and Pipe Spring. To the Uinkaret Mountains

_via_ Pipe Spring and Antelope Valley. Across to the Shewits Plateau

and to Ambush Waterpocket south of Mt. Dellenbaugh.[2] To the bottom of

the Grand Canyon on the east side of the Shewits Plateau. To St. George

_via_ Mt. Dellenbaugh and Hidden Spring. To Kanab _via_ Berry Spring

and Pipe Spring. To Salt Lake City _via_ Upper Kanab and the Sevier

Valley.

[2] This waterpocket, which is a very large one, has, so far as I am

aware, never had an English name and I do not know the Amerind one. I

have called it “Ambush” because it was the place where three of

Powell’s men were shot by the Shewits in 1869.

1884-5—By rail to Ft. Wingate, New Mexico. By rail to Flagstaff. To

Flagstaff _via_ circuit of, and summit of, San Francisco Mountain and

the Turkey Tanks. By rail to the Needles, California. By rail to

Manuelito, New Mexico. To Ft. Defiance. By buckboard to Keam’s Canyon.

To the East Mesa of the Moki. To Keam’s Canyon. By buckboard _via_

Pueblo, Colorado, to Ft. Defiance. To the San Juan River at the “Four

Corners,” _via_ Lukachukai Pass and the summit of the Carisso

Mountains. To Ft. Defiance _via_ the crest of the Tunicha Plateau. By

buckboard to Keam’s and to the East Mesa of the Moki. To Mishongnuvi

and back. By waggon to Keam’s. To Oraibe _via_ Tewa. To Keam’s _via_

Shimopavi and Tewa. To Holbrook by buckboard.

1899—By rail west across Green River Valley. By rail down Price River,

east across Gunnison Valley, up Grand River, and over the Continental

Divide.

1903—By rail to Salt Lake. By rail to Modena. By horse up the Virgen

River to the narrows of Mukoontuweap. Thence _via_ Rockville and Short

Creek to Pipe Springs and Kanab. Thence to De Motte Park, Bright Angel

Spring, and Greenland Point at the Grand Canyon on the Kaibab Plateau.

Thence to Kanab, Panquitch, and Marysvale. Thence by rail to Salt Lake.

1907—By rail to Grand Canyon, Arizona. By horse to Bass Camp, to the

bottom of the Grand Canyon, opposite Shinumo Creek, to Habasu Canyon,

to Grand Canyon Station, and to Grand View. By rail to the Needles.

THE ROMANCE OF THE COLORADO RIVER

CHAPTER I.

The Secret of the Gulf—Ulloa, 1539, One of the Captains of Cortes,

Almost Solves it, but Turns Back without Discovering—Alarçon, 1540,

Conquers.

In every country the great, rivers have presented attractive pathways

for interior exploration—gateways for settlement. Eventually they have

grown to be highroads where the rich cargoes of development, profiting

by favouring tides, floated to the outer world. Man, during all his

wanderings in the struggle for subsistence, has universally found them

his friends and allies. They have yielded to him as a conquering

stranger; they have at last become for him foster-parents. Their

verdant banks have sheltered and protected him; their skies have smiled

upon his crops. With grateful memories, therefore, is clothed for us

the sound of such river names as Thames, Danube, Hudson, Mississippi.

Through the centuries their kindly waters have borne down ancestral

argosies of profit without number, establishing thus the wealth and

happiness of the people. Well have rivers been termed the “Arteries of

Commerce”; well, also, may they be considered the binding links of

civilisation.

In Glen Canyon. In Glen Canyon.

Walls of homogeneous sandstone 1000 feet high.

Photograph by J. FENNEMORE, U.S. Colorado River Expedition.

Then, by contrast, it is all the more remarkable to meet with one great

river which is none of these helpful things, but which, on the

contrary, is a veritable dragon, loud in its dangerous lair, defiant,

fierce, opposing utility everywhere, refusing absolutely to be bridled

by Commerce, perpetuating a wilderness, prohibiting mankind’s

encroachments, and in its immediate tide presenting a formidable host

of snarling waters whose angry roar, reverberating wildly league after

league between giant rock-walls carved through the bowels of the earth,

heralds the impossibility of human conquest and smothers hope. From the

tiny rivulets of its snowy birth to the ferocious tidal bore where it

dies in the sea, it wages a ceaseless battle as sublime as it is

terrible and unique. Such is the great Colorado River of the West,

rising amidst the fountains of the beautiful Wind River Mountains of

Wyoming, where also are brought forth the gentler Columbia and the

mighty, far-reaching Missouri. Whirling down ten thousand feet in some

two thousand miles, it meets the hot level of the Red Sea, once the Sea

of Cortes, now the Gulf of California, in tumult and turmoil. In this

long run it is cliff bound nine-tenths of the way, and the whole

country drained by it and its tributaries has been wrought by the

waters and winds of ages into multitudinous plateaus and canyons. The

canyons of its tributaries often rival in grandeur those of the main

stream itself, and the tributaries receive other canyons equally

magnificent, so that we see here a stupendous system of gorges and

tributary gorges, which, even now bewildering, were to the early

pioneer practically prohibitory. Water is the master sculptor in this

weird, wonderful land, yet one could there die easily of thirst.

Notwithstanding the gigantic work accomplished, water, except on the

river, is scarce. Often for months the soil of the valleys and plains

never feels rain; even dew is unknown. In this arid region much of the

vegetation is set with thorns, and some of the animals are made to

match the vegetation. A knowledge of this forbidding area, now robbed

of some of its old terrors by the facilities in transportation, has

been finally gained only by a long series of persistent efforts,

attended by dangers, privations, reverses, discouragements, and

disasters innumerable. The Amerind,[1] the red man, roamed its wild

valleys. Some tribes built stone houses whose ruins are now found

overlooking its waters, even in the depths of the Grand Canyon itself,

or in the cliffs along the more accessible tributaries, cultivating in

the bottoms their crops. Lands were also tilled along the extreme lower

reaches, where the great rock-walls fall back and alluvial soils border

the stream. Here and there the Amerind also crossed it, when occasion

required, on the great intertribal highways which are found in all

districts, but it was neither one thing nor another to him.

[1] This name is a substitute for the misnomer “Indian.” Its use

avoids confusion.

Looking into the First Granite Gorge, Grand Canyon foot of Bright Angel

Trail. Looking into the First Granite Gorge, Grand Canyon foot of

Bright Angel Trail.

Canyon 300 miles long. River 1000 feet below point of view. Total depth

between 5000 and 6000 feet.

Photograph by HALL.

So the river rolled on through its solemn canyons in primeval freedom,

unvexed by the tampering and meddling of man. The Spaniards, after the

picturesque conquest of the luckless Aztecs, were eagerly searching for

new fields of profitable battle, and then they dreamed of finding among

the mysteries of the alluring northland, stretching so far away into

the Unknown, a repetition of towns as populous, as wealthy in pure

gold, as those of the valley of Mexico whose despoiled treasures had

fired the cupidity of Europe and had crammed the strong boxes of the

Spanish king. And there might be towns even richer! Who could say? An

Amerind named Tejo, who belonged to Guzman when he was president of New

Spain, that is, about 1530, told of journeys he had made with his

father, when a boy, to trade in the far north where he saw very large

villages like Mexico, especially seven large towns full of

silver-workers, forty days’ journey through the wilderness. This

welcome story was fuel to the fire. Guzman organised a party and

started for these wonderful seven cities, but numerous difficulties

prevented the fulfilment of his plans, and caused a halt after

traversing but a small portion of the distance. Cortes had now also

returned from a visit to Spain, and he and Guzman were at the point of

the sword. Then shortly arrived from the north (1536), after incredible

wanderings between the Mississippi and the Rio Grande, that man of

wonderful endurance, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca,[2] with his surviving

companions, Dorantes, Maldonado, and Estevan. The latter, a negro, was

afterwards very prominent by his connection with the fatal expedition

sent out under the Friar Marcos to investigate the north country. The

negro, if not the other men, gave a highly colored account of the lands

they had traversed, and especially of what they had heard, so that more

fuel was added to the fire, and the desire to explore the mysteries

burned into execution. Cortes, harassed by his numerous enemies in

Mexico and Spain, determined on a new effort to carry out his cherished

plan of reaping further glories in the fascinating regions of the north

so full of possibilities. There consequently sailed from Acapulco, July

8, 1539, a fleet of three vessels under Francisco de Ulloa. Cortes was

prevented by circumstances from going with this expedition. After many

difficulties Ulloa at length found himself at the very head of the Sea

of Cortes in shallow water.

[2] For a full account of the experiences of Alvar Nuñez, see the

translation of Buckingham Smith. Also Bandolier, _Contributions to the

History of the Southwestern Portions of the United States_.

The Inner Gorge of the Grand Canyon at the foot of Toroweap. The Inner

Gorge of the Grand Canyon at the foot of Toroweap.

Depth from point of view about 3000 feet. Total depth about 4500 feet.

Width about 3500 feet from brink to brink.

Negative 20x24 by J.K. HILLERS, U.S. Geol. Survey.

House Ruins on Cliff of Glen Canyon. House Ruins on Cliff of Glen

Canyon.

There were habitations also under the heavy top ledge.

Photograph by J. FENNEMORE, U.S. Geol. Survey.

“And thus sailing [he writes] we always found more shallow water, and

the sea thick, black, and very muddy, and came at length into five

fathom water; and seeing this we determined to pass over to the land

which we had seen on the other side, and here likewise we found as

little depth or less, whereupon we rode all night in five fathom water,

and we perceived the sea to run with so great a rage into the land that

it was a thing much to be marveled at; and with the like fury it

returned back again with the ebb, during which time we found eleven

fathom water, and the flood and ebb continued from five to six hours.

The next day the captain and the pilot went up to the ship’s top and

saw all the land full of sand in a great round compass and joining

itself with the other shore; and it was so low that whereas we were a

league from the same we could not discern it, and it seemed there was

an inlet of the mouths of certain lakes, whereby the sea went in and

out. There were divers opinions amongst us, and some thought that that

current entered into these lakes, and also that some great river there

might be the cause thereof.”[3]

[3] From Hakluyt’s _Voyages_. The spelling has been modernised.

This seems to have been the very first visit of Europeans to the mouth

of the Colorado, but as Ulloa did not see the river, and only surmised

that there might be one there, it cannot be considered in any way a

discovery. It has been supposed by some that Friar Juan de la

Asumpcion, in 1538, might have reached the Colorado in his deep river

which he could not cross, but this river was more likely a branch of

the Yaqui, for the friar was told that ten days beyond, to the north,

there was another larger river settled by many people, whose houses had

three stories, and whose villages were enclosed. This describes the Rio

Grande and its southern settlements perfectly, so that, had he been on

the Colorado, or even the Gila, the Rio Grande could not have been

described as “ten days to the north.” Ulloa took possession formally,

according to Spanish custom, and then sailed southward again. Though he

had not found the great river, he had determined one important

geographical point: that Lower California was not, as had been

supposed, an island, but was a peninsula; nevertheless for a full

century thereafter it was considered an island. Had Ulloa followed up

the rush of the current he would have been the discoverer of the

Colorado River, but in spite of his marvelling at the fury of it he did

not seem to consider an investigation worth while; or he may have been

afraid of wrecking his ships. His inertia left it for a bolder man, who

was soon in his wake. But the intrepid soul of Cortes must have been

sorely disappointed at the meagre results of this, his last expedition,

which had cost him a large sum, and compelled the pawning of his wife’s

jewels. The discovery of the mouth of a great river would have bestowed

on this voyage a more romantic importance, and would consequently have

been somewhat healing to his injured pride, if not to his depleted

purse; but his sun was setting. This voyage of Ulloa was its last

expiring ray. With an artistic adjustment to the situation that seems

remarkable, Ulloa, after turning the end of the peninsula and sailing

up the Lower Californian coast, sent home one solitary vessel, and

vanished then forever. Financially wrecked, and exasperated to the last

degree by the slights and indignities of his enemies and of the Mendoza

government, Cortes left for Spain early in 1540 with the hope of

retrieving his power by appearing in person before the monarch. As in

the case of Columbus, scant satisfaction was his, and the end was that

the gallant captain, whose romantic career in the New World seems like

a fairy tale, never again saw the scene of his conquests.

Wytfliet-Ptolemy Map of 1597. Wytfliet-Ptolemy Map of 1597.

From BANCROFT’S _History of Arizona and New Mexico_.

Mendoza, the new viceroy of New Spain, a man of fine character but

utterly without sympathy for Cortes, and who was instrumental in

bringing about his downfall, now determined on an expedition of great

magnitude: an expedition that should proceed by both land and water to

the wonderful Seven Cities of Cibola, believed to be rich beyond

computation. The negro Estevan had lately been sent back to the

marvelous northland he so glowingly described, guiding Marcos, the

Franciscan monk of Savoyard birth, who was to investigate carefully, as

far as possible, the glories recounted and speedily report. They were

in the north about the same time (summer of 1539) that Ulloa was

sailing up the Sea of Cortes. The negro, who had by arrangement

proceeded there some days in advance of Marcos, was killed at the first

Pueblo village, and Marcos, afraid of his life, and before he had seen

anything of the wonderful cities except a frightened glimpse from a

distant hill, beat a precipitate retreat to New Galicia, the province

just north of New Spain, and of which Francis Vasquez de Coronado had

recently been made governor. Here he astonished Coronado with a

description of the vast wealth and beauty of the Seven Cities of

Cibola, a description that does credit to his powers of imagination.

Coronado lost no time in accompanying Marcos to Mexico, where a

conference with Mendoza resulted in the promotion of the monk, and the

immediate organisation of the great expedition mentioned. Coronado was

made general of the land forces, and Hernando de Alarçon was placed in

charge of the ships. Having a land march to make Coronado, started in

February, 1540, while Alarçon sailed in May. Coronado proceeded to San

Miguel de Culiacan, the last settlement toward the north, near the

coast, whence he took a direction slightly east of north.

The Ancient Ruin on the Cliff. The Ancient Ruin on the Cliff.

Glen Canyon.

Photograph by J. FENNEMORE, U.S. Geol. Survey.

Alarçon, with his ships the _San Pedro_ and the _Santa Catalina_, laid

a course for the haven of Sant Iago. They were caught in a severe storm

which so greatly frightened the men on the _Santa Catalina_, “more

afraid than was need,” remarks Alarçon, that they cast overboard nine

pieces of ordnance, two anchors, one cable, and “many other things as

needful for the enterprise wherein we went as the ship itself.” At Sant

Iago he repaired his losses, took on stores and some members of his

company, and sailed for Aguaiauall, the seaport of San Miguel de

Culiacan, where Coronado was to turn his back on the outposts of

civilisation. The general had already gone when Alarçon arrived, but

they expected to hold communication with each other, if not actually to

meet, farther on; and it seems from this that they must have felt

confidence in finding a river by which Alarçon might sail into the

interior. As early as 1531 there were vague reports of a large river,

the mouth of which was closed by the Amerinds living there by means of

a huge cable stretched across from side to side. There may also have

been other rumours of a large river besides the surmises of the Ulloa

party. At any rate, Alarçon and Coronado fully expected to be in touch

much of the time. This expectation appears absurd to us now when we

understand the geography, but there was nothing out of the way about

the supposition at that time. As it happened, the two divisions never

met, nor were they able to communicate even once. So far as rendering

Coronado any assistance was concerned, Alarçon might as well have been

on the coast of Africa. The farther they proceeded the farther apart

they were, but Alarçon kept a constant and faithful lookout for the

other party the whole time, never losing an opportunity to inquire its

whereabouts.

Western Part United States. Western Part United States.

Relief map by E.E. HOWELL.

Gulf of Calfornia at the Mouth of the Colorado. Gulf of Calfornia at

the Mouth of the Colorado.

Photograph by DELANCY GILL.

Coronado had left a well-provisioned ship, the _San Gabriel_, at

Aguaiauall, for Alarçon to bring along. These supplies were for the use

of the army when the two parties should meet in the north from time to

time. Alarçon added the vessel to his fleet and proceeded along up the

coast, keeping as near the land as the water would permit, and

constantly on the lookout for signals from the other party, or for

Amerinds who might be able to give information concerning the position

of the general. Thus, at last, he came to the very head of the gulf

where Ulloa had wondered at the rush of waters and had turned away

without investigation. “And when we were come,” he says, “to the flats

and shoals from whence the aforesaid fleet returned, it seemed to me,

as to the rest, that we had the firm land before us, and that those

shoals were so perilous and fearful that it was a thing to be

considered whether with our skiffs we could enter in among them: and

the pilots and the rest of the company would have had us do as Captain

Ulloa did, and have returned back again.” But Alarçon was not of a

retreating disposition; the fierce Colorado had now met its first

conqueror. It must be remembered, for Ulloa’s sake, that there was not

the same incentive for him to risk his ships and the lives of his men

in an attempt to examine the shoals and currents of this dangerous

place. Alarçon was looking for and expecting to meet Coronado at any

time. He knew that Coronado was depending on the supplies carried by

the San Gabriel, and it would have been rank cowardice on the part of

Alarçon to have backed out at the first difficulty. But he had no

intention of retiring from the contest, for he says:

“But because your Lordship commanded me that I should bring you the

secret of that gulf, I resolved that although I had known I should have

lost the ships, I would not have ceased for anything to have seen the

head thereof, and therefore I commanded Nicolas Zamorano, Pilot Major,

and Dominico del Castello that each of them should take a boat, and

lead in their hands, and run in among those shoals, to see if they

could find out a channel whereby the ships might enter in; to whom it

seemed that the ships might sail up higher (although with great travail

and danger), and in this sort I and he began to follow our way which

they had taken, and within a short while after we found ourselves fast

on the sands with all our three ships, in such sort that one could not

help another, neither could the boats succour us because the current

was so great that it was impossible for one of us to come to another.

Whereupon we were in such great jeopardy that the deck of the Admiral

was oftentimes under water; and if a great surge of the sea had not

come and driven our ship right up and gave her leave, as it were, to

breathe awhile, we had there been drowned; and likewise the other two

ships found themselves in very great hazard, yet because they were

lesser and drew less water their danger was not so great as ours. Now

it pleased God upon the return of the flood that the ships came on

float, and so we went forward. And although the company would have

returned back, yet for all this I determined to go forward and to

pursue our attempted voyage. And we passed forward with much ado,

turning our stems now this way, now that way, to seek and find the

channel. And it pleased God that after this sort we came to the very

bottom of the bay, where we found a very mighty river, which ran with

so great fury of a stream, that we could hardly sail against it.”

Alarçon’s Ships Struggling With the Great Bore of the Colorado—1540.

Drawing by F.S. DELLENBAUGH.

Here, then, began the acquaintance between the European and the river

now known as the Colorado of the West. The experience of Alarçon was

immediately typical of much that was to follow in the centuries of

endeavour to arrive at an intimate knowledge of this savage torrent.