The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-03-06
discoveries i'm western America.

Five years ago lin 1869 great river gath
eriBg its waters for Il thousand miles Among
the deep gorges and snow-ch.d SUBMITS G!
the Rocky Mountains plunged into :hc
"Grand Canon" Of the Colorado, and "as
lost for five hundred miles, till, as WAS sup
posed, it was found within hundred OF
two miles Of the Gnf OF California. For
half century the nation had owned the
mountains in which it had its origin. and for
nearly half that time the head CT the gulf
into which it poured its waters; bnt the
desert wastes through which it ram were rs
much n mystery us the sources OF the Nile.
Mountain tTappers and Indian scouts had
followed down the Green and the Grand
rivers to where they unite and form the
Colorado Of the West; Fremont and Gun
nison had crossed them ut various
points Lieutenant Ives had explored the
Colorado from the Gulf of California up into
u marvellous canon, but all between was
: alike unknown to science. Vast and ST rite
as the central regions Of America coniessed!y
are, the ignorance which prevailed so long III
regard TO this vast river were by no means
creditable TO our Wanted enterprise.
Prompted by determination TO solve this
mystery, Major Powell, Il professor in tic
Illinois Normal University, obtained from
Congress in the winter Of 1867 'GS an appro-
priation in the shape of transportation and
nations for a small party, with whom he pro.
posed to follow the Colorado down to the
Gulf of California.
In the spring Of 1868 he crossed the Bcr-
thoud Pass of the Rocky Mountains, west OF
Georgetown, and followed down tic Grand
river TO Southwestern Colorado, where most
Of his party went into winter quarters.
Major Powell returned to this city, had four
boats built OF peculiar construction and great
strength, and early in the spring of 1869 lie
had them transported by the Union Pacific
railway to Green river. There they were
launched, and Ire commenced his long and
dangerous voyage down the Green, princi-
California. The description of the canon OF
the Green through the Uintah Mountains,
fully detailed at 'he time in our columns Dy
Major Powell himself, added n new and
wonderful chapter 10 our knowledge OF
the topography Of tho country. In due
time the tiny fleet, with its brave crew, az
rived at the head of the Grand Canon
of the Colorado and plunged into It's nlys-
FERROUS recesSes. After months Of toll aud
dangers without number; after the loss OF
some Of the boats while shooting the rapids,
and many hairb.eadth escapes from drown
ing, Major Powell and his party reached the
section Of the river explored by Lieutenant
Ives, and tc their lasting honor the Grand
Canon Of the Colorado is no longer a mys-
terry. Its cascades and its cata.acts, its awful
gorges, some of them more than G,U00 feet "a
mile and quarter) deep; its geology, and
many curious facts In regard 10 the extinct
races who ouce sought refuge from their
savage foes among It's beetling crags, are all
known to the readers ofthe newspapers.
But the most wonderful discoveries. made
within the last five years are the seysers at
the head-waters of the Yellowstone. They
will ever be ranked among the wonders OF
the world. From childhood we have all seen
pictures Of the great geysers in Iceland. They
are still In ali our school Biographies. The
voyage thither. is so long and expensive. tie
journal inland for fifty or one hundred mics
saSsrous and difficult, and, wilhal, Ice
- 49, h' the north pole, that probably
= million who had read the &C.
En- have ever expected to see a
~ 9spouting geyser. The Iceland
Its most angry moods throws the
Ind mud one hundred feet high, but,
fling to careful measurement, the Vel
Zone geysers bech their mud aud boiling
Sater more than two hundred feet in the air.
Notices OF them, derived from tlappess and
mountain guides, began 10 make their way
into the newspapers In 1869 or 1870.
& In tue latter year, II we mistake not,
Lieutenant Doane visited them, and in 1871
DR.. Hayden, United States Geologist, und
;snaii detachment of the army, under com.
mand Of General Barlow, OF General Sherl-
dams stat, visited them. Their description
OF ahe Geysers on Fire Hole, near a branch
oil the Madison, with series of illustrations
ia 6eritner's Monthly, attracted very general
attention to this new world OF wonders.
Phs same parties also visited item last year.
Inc psstusss Of thsm begin TO come back to