Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-10-15
THE NEW WONDER OF THE
WORLD.
rFrom the \. Z. Tribune.1 ]

From the N. Y. Tribune.l
The Colorado of the West, which
flows through portions of Utah, Col
orado, Nevada. Arizona and California
is in length the sixth river of our con
tinent, but II traverses the most desc
late and sterile regions that lie under
the American flag. 1t is a phenome-
non In physical geography. It can
hardly be said to have any valley; but
for the first thousand miles it runs
through an almost unbroken success
sion of gorges- 1t is a wonderful eX-
ample of Natures engineering. Il re
ceiVes no great lateral streams to wear
down the face of the adjacent country;
hut through ages so long that our six
thousand years Of recorded history
form no appreciable unit Of their sum
the great river has been slowly cutting
channel as clean as that of the Erie
| Canal, down through successive stl alta
of hard rock, aud bearing away the
PARTICLES Ia its red, muddy current, to
form tracts of land hundreds of miles
square, along the Gulf of California.
This vast gorge or canon has always
been terra lnc00nita. Indians and
trappers reported that the imprisoned
stream. from which the sunlight was
shut out by a rock wall mile high,
| foamed angrily along its bed In series
of rapids, whirlpools, and cataracts;
and as if the terrOrs of Nature were
not enough, that the canon was the
abode of evil spirits, and that no man
could pass through it and live. Last
year living skeleton upon a raft ap-
peared at CaItVille, 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 off, his whole
frame bruised and blistered, and his
reason tOtteriDg. When restored by
rest and nursing he gave his name as
James White, and reported that In
dians had attacked his mining party
on the Upper Colorado; that he aud
two companions had taken to the raft;
that one of his comrades had been
drowned, he had fiOated for fourteen
days through the canon, almost with
out food, bruised against the jutting
rocks of scores of waterfalls, and es-
cal ping death by a series of miracles,
But his accounts of the Canon were
| necessarily inaccurate, and it is even
doubtful whether he passed through
more than a small portion Of it.
Last Spring, Col. j. W. Powell,
Professor of Geology in the State
Normal Unive rsity of Illinois, organ
ICED an expedition for the thorough
exploration of the unknown region
Col Powel had already deserved well
of the country; through the war he
was a brave and modest soldier, at the
head of an Illinois battery, and he left
| his right arm on the field of Shiloh.
To this new enterprise, for which two
years of geological studies In the
mountains had afforded good prepara :
/ ton, he carried a soldiers zeal and
daring. The War Department fur
nished rations for his party; the Hin
ois Society of Natural History, en-
dowed by the State, contributed the
outfit; the railroad companies gave
free transportation, and Col. Powell
himself became responsible for the
wages of his nine men, who were hardy
and experienced mouutaineers. Or
| the 24th of May these ten adventurers
embarking in four little boats at the
Green River crossing of the Union
Pacific Railroad disappeared from civ
ilization on their perilous journey. A
few weeks later the whole North West
vas startled by painful and circum
stantial report, from one who profess
cd to have belonged to the party, that
all except himself had been lost at one
of the first cascades. But just after
the leaders obituary had been widely
published, there came p letter from
him announcing that all were safe
The object of the vagabond who circu
lated the falsehOOd seems to have been
to procure railway passes from Utsh tc
his home In Illinois. For long tue
there were no further tidings, but
finally, on the last of August, seven oil
The party emerged 10 safety from tile
lower end of the gorge. Their three
comrades were missing. Believing
that the passage of a peculiarly for.
midable cascade just before them would
be certain death, these three had at,
temped to leave the canon on foot
and they we're probably killed by In,
J dians.
Col. Powell, who hasreturned to hi
home at Normal. /, now gives to tht
Tribune tho outlines Of his experien
ces, in a sketch which is siuguIarl,
clear, concise and graphic. He trav
ersed nearly nine hundred miles o
, canon, aud there are probably thre,
hundred miles more upon the Greer
: River. making the whole canon system
} Of the Colorado twelve hundred mile
long. For almost the entire distane,
: he streams are inclosed by vertica
+ rack walls, from five hundred to thre,
I rhousand feet high. Nor is the seen
: cry in the least mouotonous. Tn
rocks are worn In every CONCEIVABLE
: form. and present many varieties O
colOr-browu chocolate. slate, gray
white, pink. orange and purple. Tht
. Canons Of the COlorado-the last por
} ion of our continent to be explored
by civilized man-fDrm the most stu
pendous natural curiosity on the glob
and, however inaccessible, must err
2 long attract constant and eager thFOnl
5 IF visitors. The descent of the Missis
sippi is six inches TO the mile, and tha
Of the Missouri twelve or fourteen
inches; but the Colorado, for the en-
tire distance traversed, falls more thar
) ak feet to the mile. Col. Powell
= party passed over between three hund
: red and four hundred cascades, som
twenty feet high. Again and again boat
we're upset; two were utterly lost, AM
J the explorers had to swim for thei
; lives. They came out with q part o
j their notes aud nearly all their instru
= ments we're lost, and with no provis
D ons left except twenty pounds of wa
}, ter soaked -four. The one armed herr
I who led them touches very lightly AM
m0destty upon their perils. We cOul,
. wish, too, that he had told US more o
the mysterious MOqui Indians who q
3 lately dgelt upon the Great Canon i
h houses perohed. like swallows nests
c 10 little inches Of the rocks, thous
| and feet above the river But We trus
d that he will repeat his story this Win
!. ter before many lecture associations
q and viii then give it to the public in
e more complete aud permanent form =
+ Ii will be a valuable contribution {
= physical science and TO AmeFio8u hi;
T tory, and will form one Of the fasoina
: ting chapters in the whole record 0
5, explorations, ancient and modern.
q DOES IT PAY TO ADVERTISE e
J. The Boston Journal says that a lead
= ing book firm in that city answers tn
MM