This entire city will be lost to the dam's backwater. As we approach Qutang Gorge, the sun gradually lightens the gray-blue sky. This is the shortest of the three gorges, about five miles, but also the most perilous. At its narrowest it is less than 300 feet wide. The rushing water funnels through nearly perpendicular cliff faces, some rising nearly 4,000 feet.
Passage is quick.
The scenery, as predicted, is awesome. The scale of this marvel of nature dwarfs all things made by man. Riverboats and barges look like toys in a tub. In September of 1929, high-water season, the level of the water here rose to 245 feet. A steamboat captain likened his passage through the gorge then to plunging through a trough, with the water banked up on both sides.