The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-02-08
a COLORADO CANON.

A COLORADO CANYON.
Adventures Of Major Powell and Ills Parry
In one OF Them.
Blythe 26th Of July, says AiAj. Powell,
wefound our boats once more in o bad
condition; they had been beaten 30
much against the rocks TINT they were
leaking badly, SO we lay over q day for
repairs. About ton o'clock, Bradley,
Powell, Howland, Hall and myself start
Cd up u side canyon to tho east for the
purpose Of climbing out to pine forest
above where we hoped TO obtain some
pitch for our boats. We soon came TO a
pool OF watar, then TO brook, which
waslost in the sands below; passing up
tho brook tho canyon narrowed, the
walls closed in and wore often oyerhang-
ing, AT Inst we found ourselves in q vast
amphitheater with a pool Of deep, clear,
cold water on the bottom. AT iirst our
way seemed cut off, but wc soon discoy-
cred n little shelf, along which We
climbed, and, passing beyond the pool,
wnlked q hundred ynrds or more, turned
10 the right and found ourselves in an
other amphitheater. There was u wind
ing cleft 1t the top reaching out 10 the
country above, nearly two thousand feet
overhead. The rounded, basin.shaped
bottom was filled with water TO the foot
ofthe walls, aud there was no shelf by
which We could pass around 70 the FOOT
five swan across, we met with face Of
rock hundred feet high, over which o
little rill glided, and which II would be
impossible to climb. We turned back
and examined the wills on either side
carefully, to discover, il possible, some
other way of climbing out. In this
search every man took his own course,
and we were soon acattered. j almost
abandoned the idea Of getting out, and
was engaged in searching for fossils,
when / discovered, on tho north, o
broken place up which IL might be pos
sible for me TO climb. Thewny for o
distance was up n Aide Of rocks, then up
an irregular wall by projecting points
TINT formed steps and gave hand-hold,
and then Ireached . little shell, along
which l walked, and discovered q yerti-
calilssnre parallel To tho face Of thewall,
and reaching 70 % higher shelf. This fis-
sure was narrow, and / tried to climb up
10 the bench, which was about forty feet
overhead, though j had barometer on
my back, which rather impeded my
climbing. Tho walls Of the fissure were
Of smooth limestone, offering neither
foot nor hand-hold; 80 1 supported my
self by pressing my back against one
wall and my knees against the other, and
in this way lifted my body, in ashufhing
manner, q few inchesat o time, until 1
had made perhaps twenty -fye feet Of the
distance, when the crevice widened q
little and / could not press my knees
against the rocks in front with sufficient
force to give me support in lifting my
body. / tried To 20 back, but this i
could not do without falling, 30 Istrug-
gied along, sidewise, farther into the
creyice where II narrowed. BY this time
my muscles were exhausted and u could
climb no longer, so / moved still o little
farther into the oroyice, where Il was 90
narrow and wedging TINT / could lie in
1t. and there i rested. Five or ten min.
utes Of this relief and up once more 1
pushed, till / reached the bench above.
On this could walk for q quarter Of o
milo, till reached o place where the
wall was again broken down 10 that i
could climb up still farther. In an hour
Ircached the summit.
Hanging up my barometer TO give 1t
a few minutes to settle, ] occupied my
self In collecting resin from the pinyon
pines, which were found in great nbun-
dance. One Of the principal objects Of
the climb was TO get this resin for the
purpose OF sinearing our boats, but ! had
no means Of carrying Il down. The day
was very hot and my coat had been icft
in camp, 80 / had no Innings to tear out,
but IL had occurred to me to cut of the
sleeve OF my shirt and tic II up at one
end. and Ia this little suck ! collected
about gallon Of pitch. After taking
observations for altitude, i wandered
back on the rocks for nm hour or two.
when, suddenly, Inoticed that q storm
was coming from the south. ! sought
shelter in tho rocks, but when the storm
burst, II came down as Q flood from the
hcayens with gentle drops OF first.
slowly increasing in quantity, but as II
suddenly poured from m immense
basin. / was thoroughly drenched and
almost washed away. II lastednot more
than lalf an hour. when the cloudsswept
by To tho north, and I was in tho sun
shine again.
In tho meantime, i discovered better
way Of getting down and started for
camp, making the greatest haste posi-
bic On reaching the bottom aido OF the
canyon found thousand atreama roll
ing down the cliffs on uvory Hido, carry
inn with them red mud. Travelling 40
fast a. / could run, 1 soon reached tho
foot Of tho stream. for tho nin did not
reach tho lower end OF the canyon, and
thevair was running down = dry bed