New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-30
THE NEW UONDER or THE WORLD.

me NEW UONDEH Or me " OhLD
The Colorado of the West, which flows
through portions of Utah, Colorado, Nevada
Arizona and California, is in length the sixth
river Of our continent, but il travcrses the most
desolate and sterile regions that lie under the
American flag. 1t is phenomenon in physical
geography. Ii can hardly he said to have any
valley; but for the first thourand miles il runs
through an almost unbrOlen succession OF
gorgcs. 1t is wonderful example of Natures
engineering. 1t receives no great lateral streams
TO wear down the face of the adjacent country
but through ages so long that our six thousand
years of recorded history form no apprcciablc
unit of their sum, the great river has been
slowly cutting n channel rs clean as that OF tho
Erie Canal, down through successive strata oil
hard rock and bearing away the particles III
its red, muddy current, 10 form tracts OF land
hundreds of miles square, along the Gun oil
California.
This vast gorge or canon has always been
terra incognitd. Indians and trappcrs reported
that the imprisoned stream, from which the
sunlight was shut out by rock wall mile
high. foamed angrily along It's bed in n series
of rapids, whirlpoOls, and cataractS; and as II
the terrors of Nature were not enough that
the canon was the abode of evil spirits, and
that no man could pass through it aud live
Last year a living skeleton upon raft APP
reared at Callville, Nevada, near the lower end
of the canon, his hair and beard as white as
snow. his limbs so weak that he could not
stand, his clothing nearly all torn OF, ms
whole frame bruised and blistercd, and his rca-
son lettering When restored by rest and
nursing he gave his name as James White
and reported that Indians had attacked his
mining party on the Upper Colorado; that he
and two companions had taken to the raft !;
that one of his comrades had been drowned
he had killed the other in a quarrel, and that
he had foated for fourteen days through the
canon, almost without food, bruised against the
| jutting rocks of scores of waterfalls, and cs-
| Gaping death by series of miracles But his
accounts of the Canon were necessarily inaccu-
rate, and it is even doubtful whether hc passed
through more than a small portion of it.
Last Spring, Col. j. w. Powell. Professor of
Geology in the State Normal University Of
Illinois, organized an expedition for the thor
ough exploration Of the unknown region. Col.
| Powell had already deserved well of the country
through tho war he was brave and modest
soldier, at the head Of an Illinois battery, and
lie left his right arm on the field of Shiloh
To this new enterprise, for which two years 0
geological studies in the mountains had afforded
good preparation, he carried IA soldiers yea
and daring. The War Department furnishc,
rations for his party the Illinois Society o
Natural History, endowed by the State, con
tributed the outfit the railroad companies CAV
free transportation, and Col. Powell himsel
, became responsible for the wages of his min
| men, who were all hardy and experience,
r mountaineers. On the oath of May these tc
= adventnrers, cmbarking in four little boats a
the Green River crossing of the Union Pacili
Railroad disappeared from civilization o.
y their pclilous journey. few weeks late
1 the whole Northwest was startled by pain
G full and circumstantial report from one VIII
professcd to have belonged to the party, tia
2 all except himself had been lost at one of tll
o first cascades. But just after the leader
y obituary had been widely published thel
t came a letter from him announcing that q
: were safe. The object of the vagabond who eli
culated the falschood seems to have been
C procure railway passes from Utah to his hon
it in Illinois. For long time there were no fu
d Their tidings. but finally, on the LAST
n August, seven of the party emerged in safet
a from the lower end of the gorge. Their thr,
% comrades were missing. Believing that IL
!, passage of peculiarly formidable cascade ju
o before them would be certain death, thei
= three had attempted to leave the canon G
o foot, and they were probably killed by Indian
o Col. Powell, who has returned to his home
t Normal, ILL.,, now gives to TIE TRIBUNE I'll
IS outline of his experiences, in sketch whic