Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-06-25
THE CANON OF THE COLORA.
DO-LETTE Err FROM PROFESS
SOR WBERRY.

Professor Newberry, of the Columbia
College School of Mines, and now Chief
GeolOgist of Ohio, replies through the
Chicago Tribune to the recent 1etter OF
PrOfess0r Powell the.leaSer eas TIE e
orado Expedition. Professor New berry
denies Professor Powell's assertion that
:be canon of the Colorado river was
probably ''never seen by nnah," and
adds:
1.-THE first knowledge gained of the
existence and character of this stupen-
dous gorge through Whichthe Colorado
flows was from tie explorations made
by the Spanish priests, who, with zeal
and mt epidiiy worthy OF the highest
admiration, penetrated, at an early day,
intO every portion of the widespread
Spanish possessions on this continent.
lone of these priests, Padre Escalan-
ii, in l776, went from Santa Fe, through
the Navajo country, to the Moqui
towns; tbence he proceeded northwest
prly, and reached the Great Canon
where it is deepest lover five thousand
feet), crossed it at the tVaI6 del Padre,
and passed through muoh-of U1sisl laasaas--
turning to the river and cI@ssing~ at
polnt Considerably below the Priests
Ford -
.tEscalanti gives a graptsc iescrt
says that, 'at the Vado del Padre,
rock lying in the river, when seen from
the cuff, seems no bigger than ones
head, but that when the descent (ol
more than mile vertieAD has been
made to the water level, it was found to
be as large as the Cathedral of Seville.'
'Escalantl's narrative may be found
in the ibr8ry of the War Department
Bureau of Eugineers1 at Washington,
and bis route is plotted on Colonel Ma
combs map Of tue country bordering
on the Upper Colorado (San Juan Ex-i
ploring Expedttiou), published by The
War Department.
s''The Colorado Expedition sent out
in 1857 by the government, spent a year
in exploring the river, navigating it
five hundred miles to the mouth of the
Great Canon, and xploriug the course
of the canon for more than two hum
dred miles to the mouth of the Little
Colorado. In this part of our route
for was connected with the party-we
descended iuto the gorgefat two differ
carefully measured itssdepth, where il
is respectively four aud i've thousand
feet deep. The Report Of colorado
Exploring Expedition was ppBIished
b4 the government, and MAY paefound
III most public and private 4ibkaries, OF
any considerable size. ~
''A5ter the return of the COlOrado;1Ex-
pedition, in 1859, another expedition
was fitted out by the War Department
for the exploration of the country .A5or-
dering On the Upper Colorado. I4isg
expedition-caILedt the San Juan ExbeL
dition-was commanded by Captain s.
N. Macomb, Corps of Engineers Uni \
ted states Army, with whom I was as
sociated as surgeon and geologist. Due /
ring 1859 we explored the country abou
The iancIion OF Grand and Green rivers,
fixed the important geographical point
of the eondueDce of three streams, and
traversed the valley OF the San Juan,
the principal affiuent of the Colorado
a stream as laTgf as tie Connecticut
whC Sc banks, hhed with ruins, and
once supporting a hundred thousand
people, are now entirely deserted.
sfThe map of the country made known
by the San Juan Expedition has been
gu bIishtd by the government, but the
printing of the report, arrested by the
war, has never been resumed. It is,
however, probable that it will soon be
published.R
Most of your readers are also aware
that some three years ago two miners
attempted TO float through the GreaI
Canon OF the Colorado, aud know that.
while one was drowned, the other came
safely out at Colviile, aud that his story
wss published in the transactions OF
the ST. Louis Academy of Sciences.
with all the facts before me, you
will perhaps not wonder that should
be a little suFpl ised to read, il Pow elI'r
letter. that he thinks it doubtful il
these canons have ever been sten by
man. Yours, very respectfully,
81. S. NEwBERRY.
''New York, May 81, 1862"