The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-01

nearly thirteen hundred feet high But away
back from the river are lateral canons and
canon valleys, the floors of which are at about
the same altitude as the immediate walls OF
the main canon, and the walls of this upper
| set are hundreds of feet high. Lateral to the
second there is often a third series, with
floors at a greater altitude than the floors OF
the second; then the country back is cut into
| q labyrinth of canons. The main walls at the
| junction are not vertical, but have the slope
| of broken rocks tumbled down, while the
| lateral canons have mostly vertical walls with
sloping talus at the base. We re-
NAMED at this point several days and
! then rowed out into Cataract Canon.
| Soon we heard the roar of waters, and came
upon succession of rocky rapids and cata-
racts Oversome ofthese we we're compelledto to
make portages; usually only the cargoes were
carried over the rocks, and the boats were let
down with lines; but now and then boats and
all had to be carried When these rapids and
cataracts were unobstructed by rocks, or where
there was any passage, we were able to run
them. never finding any fall greater than
nineteen feet in this canon. Sometimes the
waves below would roll over a boat and fill
the open part, but they could not sink it, as
each one was decked fore and aft, and so had
n water-tieht compartment at each end. Now
and then boat would roll over, but clinging
to its sides until they could right it, the men
would swim to the shore, towing it with them.
We found much difficulty in the whirlpools
below; it was almost impossible to get out OF
them at times. They would carry us back
under the falls; they would dash us against
the rocks, or they would send us whirling
down the river. For twelve days we toiled
through this canon, stopping once TO mea-
sure the attitudes of it's walls near the highest
points, and finding it nearly 2j00 feet. This
was at the axis of vast fold in the strata, and
from that point the upper rocks slowly came
down with gentle dip to the southwest until
we reached the foot of the canon, 45 miles from
its head. A rocky valley canon was found here
on the left, and the river made bend around
a sharp point on the right which point was
set with ten thousand crags and ragged rocks
We called it Mille-crag Bend, and sweeping
around this in a rapid current our boats shot
into Narrow Canon, down which we glided at
almost railroad speed, the walls rising verti-
cally from the water thirteen feet high at its
head, and coming down, TO high-water mark
at the foot, seven miles below, where the
Dirty Devil, a river of mud, entered from the
right. Now we had come again to the red
and orange sandstone, and the walls were of
beautiful bright rock, low at first but, as we
cut down through the strata, rising higher and
higher. Now and then, on this and that side,
the rocks were vertical from the waters edge;
but usually they were cut into mounds and
above the other as they stretched back in q
gentle slope for miles. These mounds have
been cut out by the showers from the bright
orange rock, and glitter in resplendent beauty
under the midday sun. Hour after hour
we gazed entranced on them, as they faded
i'm the perspective and retreated to the rear
ion he river was gentle though swift, and we
had but to steer our boats, and on we went
through this land Of beauty and glory.
81 I,,1,- y,1g,l
of the San Juan, at the foot of Mound
Canon, and went into camp for day or twos
rest. Then we started again. We had now
run once more into the dark red and choco-
late-colored sandstones, with slate -colored
beds below; these usually formed vertical
woI1, o,oeionally terraced or broken down,
and from the crest of these the orange
mounds sloped back; but yariegated by
monuments, now vertical, now terracelt, """W
worn in steep slopes; others still combining
these forms, and set with towers and pima
cles. These mountains stood alone or in
groups, and spread over the landscape
as far as the eye could reach. The little
valley of Paria river terminates this canon,
making it about 100 miles long We
named it Monument Canon. Here the river
had cut through the sandstones and reached
the imestones below, the same geological
formation as that of Cataract Canon, and as
we advanced the channel was cut into these
new strata. We entered between walls low
but vertical, that gradually increased in alti-
tude to the foot, where they were 29OO feet
high, terraced and broken into crags above.
Half way down the canon we found the lower
strata appearing as marble; they were white,
and grey, and slate-colored, then pink and
purple, and brown, and other strata yariegated
with these colors, until at last we had 400 feet
of marble walls, mostly vertical from
the waters edge. These were fretted by the
waters, embossed with strange devices, and
polished into beauty. Where there were
patches of marble floor left bare by low water,
! basins have been carved out by the Whirl-
pools of the flood season, and were filled with
pools of clear water in beautiful contrast to
! the red mud of the river. Cool springs
gushed from the rocks, sparkling, foaming
cascades plunged into marble fonts, and in
contrast to these, after every shower, cascades
of red mud poured over the walls from the
red sandstone above, with fall of hundreds
of feet. We called this Marble Canon; it
terminated at the mouth of the Little Colorado,
and was about 36 miles long.
Here a short rest, and then we pulled on
the home stretch-not a very short one either
nearly 800 miles by river to the mouth OF
the Virgin. The lower members of this car
boniferous formation are of dark, ruSt-cOlored
sandstones, sometimes almost black. We
soon ran through these, and through siluriau
red sandstone, and about fifteen miles below
the mouth of the Little Colorado struck the
granite. From the mouth of that stream tC
the mouth of the Virgin, our objective point
the general course of the river il
to the west but it makes
three great curves to the south, anC
three corresponding curves to the north. Al