, 1869-07-05
MONDAY, HLY :. ls''a.
TIFF POWELL EXPEDITION,

-,
Our first impression OF the story of The
loss Of s{ajo. Powell and his companions,
though shaken hy the detailed st.l.+.Haept
s-.:as Ills from Springfield on Friday night,
uls rather strengthened than otherwise by
I. CAREFUL examination Of that statement,
ana is now confirmed by the assertion Of
the 7rttHts Of yesterday morning, that Mrs.
Powell L.,s received letter from her hus-
Lend. dated Green River City, May -, sey-
e-.A days subsequent to the alleged catas-
trophe. II there he no mistake on this point
there can be no question Of the falsehool
Q. Eisdou's tale bat, even il there
he 10 positirs evidence OF TINT
s.,1. the paFfatire bears upon
its face certain marks OF 1nnde-.p story
~Aich may. perhaps, he susceptible Of e1-
p!anation. bet wLich, until explained, justi.
fy srayr Doubts Of its truth. 1t is well
Known that Major Powell tooi with him
l,oa.s i,Eilt under his OWL instruction, es-
pec;a1Iy calculated. as be believed. for the
dangerous navigation Of the Culorsdu.
These boats, it is stated, he hal abandoned !;
hut TINT must have been befAfe they were
fairly tasd, for it is well known tho Colo
rado River is, above the Big Black, a
li'nci's, almost sluggish, stream, where
the lec11liar construction OF his boats could
have had no test whnteyer Of their
fitness for the purpose for which they
we're constructed let no reason whatever
Is given fos this important change in Major
poweu.s p1an for, without any boats at all.
or with nothing more than a siugle bark
eanet,, it would seem that his farther ad-
vance on the river itself was impossible.
And this canoe seems to US tather an in
possible vessel 1t was ucade Of bark, mad
yet i: Was l4-ge enough to carry twenty-five
persons, with their baggage. There may be
vessels Of that capacity made Of that mate
rial, but we hare never heard OF one. Nor
have Ee ever heard that the 1ndiaas called
a canoe yaw1. But supposlng satisfac-
tor. explanation nasadc Of the fact that
Major Powell had abandoned his own
bonts before he could possibly have
tried them in such navigation rs he
bull, them especially to encounter, and
thu fact that he had embarked instead his
pbo1s expedition on board one single fra:l
c4noe of butk, we encounter still another
difficulty. At point $50 yards above the
Big Black, the whole pnrty, with the e1cep.
ton Of Iisdon, according to his statement,
went on board 70 cross the Colorado te
make Al exploration Of tho mouth Of the
Big MACK. This point OF crossing WIS onl,
u1ile and quarter above the rapids Of
the Colorado, where the fall Of water is ltn
feet Now, when we consider that this is
ten feet higher than the Fills Of niagara
on the Canada aide, is 1t credible that q
pary Of twenty-five men would
embark in q bark canoe
with only seven paddles, with any expo,ta,
ion of crossing the stream in safety: The
attempt would have been sheer madness,
and the conclusion is inevitable either that
no such attempt WAS mAde. and conse-
quent!y tue storJ Of the logs Of the expedi-
tion /, an invention, or, il the expedition
be really lost, that the catastrophe must
have happened in some other locality and
from some other Gauss. To doubt that the
catastrophe occurred in the place and In the
way as stated 10 circumstantially is noceasa-
rily to donbt th vt it occurred at al.
Still further doubt is thrown upon the whole
story by Risdonts account Of himself since
the alleged loss Of the party. Why didn't
be- whcn left alone in the wilderness, return
t,v tho road he came, and with which
he was, in some degree, familiar, to strike
the pacifc Railroad at the Nearest point