Settlement of the Uncompahgre Valley, which lies just to the west of the
Black Canyon, began even as the different bands of Utes were being moved
to reservations in Utah in 1881. The main draw for settlers was to
provide farm crops that could be sold to people living in the high
altitude towns supporting the mining industry. The people living in the
towns, though, had only a small amount of water from the Uncompahgre
River that could be used for irrigating the desert lands in which they
lived. By the early 1890s the people of the valley began to seriously
look at the Gunnison River, flowing through the Black Canyon, as a
source for water for irrigation, and the desire of a tunnel to divert
the water evolved.

**John Pelton**\
A local promoter, who had seen the ups and downs of mining by the time
he and his family moved to Montrose, was a person of charm and
persuasion. He was best known throughout much of western Colorado for a
reservoir that he built and opened to the public. Decades before the
common use of air conditioning, people in the valley commonly made
summer excursions to Pelton\'s Lake to cool off before the mid afternoon
heat took hold. Along with the bath houses, big shade trees, and plenty
of fish that were stocked in the lake, there were two wooden boats that
he had available for splashing around.

**Talk Turns to Action**\
The original idea of a tunnel belongs to a miner and farmer by the name
of Frank Lauzon, and he created enough interest that a line for such a
tunnel was surveyed in 1894. The cost, though seemed prohibitive. Not to
mention the fact that, while the canyon was not entirely unknown to the
local folks, no one had ever truly made a trip through the canyon to see
if digging could be done on the river side of a tunnel.

The summers at the end of the 1890s were hot and dry; and as many more
people discovered the pleasures of Pelton\'s Lake, more of them began to
talk of exploring the canyon to take on the idea. By the summer of 1900
many farmers were fed up with the water problems that plagued the people
and a plan began to take shape for a trip through the canyon. Organized
by Pelton, the exploring party included John Curtis and E.B. Anderson
from Delta, and Frank Hovey, a rancher who ran cows on Coffee Pot Hill,
and the superintendent of the Montrose Electric Light and Power Company
William Torrence from Montrose.

Each had something to offer: Curtis was the surveyor to run a line of
elevation down the canyon, Hovey had perhaps the best in-depth knowledge
of the rim, Pelton brought his boats, and Torrence, sometimes credited
with leading the group, would help coordinate the possibility of
generating electricity, if there was a sufficient drop in the river
level to do so. In addition, Torrence was a camera nut, and he brought
along his \"Kodak.\" We would know the group today as a self-directed
workteam.

**A Long and Difficult Journey**\
Juggling conflicting schedules, they finally were underway, riding the
train to Cimarron where the Denver & Rio Grande railroad entered the
upper canyon, put their boats into the river, and made their way
downstream. Although they expected to make the trip quickly, they soon
found out that the heavy wooden boats were unable to navigate the rocky
waters of the river. The second day one of them crashed among the rocks
of a rapid sending splinters downstream and the supplies into the river.
Using ropes and might they grunted the remaining boat around the many
rocks both in and along the river. And as luck would have it, the skies
opened up and it began to rain.

**A Brief Break**\
The year 1900 was an election year, and an important one at that. Pelton
was involved in the local Republican Party, and was to represent the
district at the state convention. So as their journey became protracted,
the group studied the steep slopes, and with Hovey\'s assumptions, they
scrambled out of the gorge on the south side of the canyon. While in
Denver, Pelton lobbied state and federal legislators for funds for a
tunnel; and when he returned they hiked back down to resume the survey.

**A Final Test**\
As they worked downstream the journey became increasingly difficult.
Accounts of the trip vary, and are somewhat distorted, but we know the
rains continued, the gradient of the river increased, and they became
more battered and worn as they went. The rapids became more dangerous
and harrowing, the cliffs rose higher and the walls became narrower.
After heaving the boat around a particularly noisy and terrifying rapid,
the walls closed in. They negotiated a short distance down through a
continuous cascade to a point where the shorelines vanished and the
party had to make it between the narrow passage of cliffs. Hovey and
Anderson swamped the boat in the pool of water in front of this scene.

After what was probably a thoughtful discussion and a restless night,
the group agreed to abandon the trip and scramble out the canyon.
Unfortunately, this time they had to climb a steep draw on the north
side of the canyon into territory that was very unfamiliar to all of
them. They left behind the boat, maybe a few supplies and a name on the
rapid just upstream from where they climbed: \"The Falls of Sorrow.\"

The climb up was no small feat in this very vertical cleft, informally
named Torrence Draw. They had extra side draws to decide upon, rocky
talus that was terribly loose, and warm dry weather that made them
thirsty. Upon reaching the top they had nearly 15 miles to hike before
reaching a farm house where someone might give them a ride in the wagon
to the train station for the trip back to Delta and Montrose.

Though sorrowful, the trip\'s end did not mean failure. In fact their
excursion brought attention from many in power around Colorado and in
Washington D.C. The next time a party would make a trip through the
canyon, it would be with more assurance that the tunnel could be built.