The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-02-11
A COLORADO CANYON,
Adventures of Major Powell md his Party
i'm one of Them.

vi fOweh hnu furtN
in one of Them.
BY the 26th of July, says Maj. Powell,
we found our boats once more in bad
condition; they had been beaten SO
much against the rocks that they were
leaking badly, 50 we lay over day for
repairs. About ten o'clock, Bradley,
Powell, Rowland, Hall and myself start
el up a side canyon to the 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
pool OF watAr, then to brook, which
was lost i'll the sands below; passing up
the brook the canyon narrowed, the
walls closed in and were often overhang-
ing. At last we found ourselves in vast
amphitheater with pool of deep, clear,
cold water on the bottom. At first our
way seemed cut off, but we soon discov-
cred a little shelf, along which we
climbed, and, passing beyond the pool,
walked hundred yards or more, turned
t. the right and found ourselves in an
other amphitheater. There was wind
ing cleft at the top reaching out to the
country above, nearly two thousand feet
overhead. The rounded, basin-shaped
bottom was filed with water to the foot
of the walls, and there was no shelf by
which we could pass around to the foot;
if we swan across, we met with face of
rock hundred feet high, over which
little rill glided, and which it would be
impossible to climb. We turned back
and examined the walls on either side
carefully, to discover, if possible, some
other way of climbing out. In this
search every man took his own course,
and we were soon scattered L almost
abandoned the idea of getting out, and
was engaged in searching for fossils,
when | discovered, on the north, a
broken place up which it might be pos
sible for me to climb. The way for
distance was up n slide of rocks, then up
an irregular wall by projecting points
that formed steps and gave hand-hold,
and then | reached little shelf, along
which | walked, and discovered verti-
cal fissrre parallel to the face of the wall,
and reaching to a higher shelf. This fis-
sure was narrow, and | tried to climb up
to the bench which was about forty feet
overhead, though 1 had a barometer on
my back, which rather impeded my
climbing. The walls of the tissure were
of smooth limestone, offering neither
foot nor hand-hold; so supported my
self by pressing my back against one
wall and my knees against the other, and
in this way lifted my body, in a shuff1ing
manner, a few inches at a time, until l
had made perhaps twenty-five feet of the
distance, when the crevice widened a
little and L could not press my knees
against the rocks in front with sufficient
force to give me support in lifting my
body. L tried to go back, but this L
could not do without falling, so strug-
gled along, sidewise, farther into the
crevice where it narrowed. BY this time
my muscles were exhausted and L could
climb no longer, SO L moved still little
farther into the orevice, where it was so
narrow and wedging that l could lie in
1t, and there L rested. Five or ten min
utes of this relief and up once more
pushed, till l reached the bench above.
On this l could walk for quarter of
mile, till l reached place where the
wall was again broken down so that l
could climb up still farther. In an hour
L reached the summit
Hanging up my barometer to give it
a few minutes to settle, occupied my
self in collecting resin from the pinyon |
pines, which were found in great abun- |
dance. One of the principal objects of |
the climb was to get this resin for the |
purpose of smearing our boats, but had |
no means of carrying it down. The day
was very hot and my coat had been left !
in camp, so 1 had no Innings to tear out,
but it had occurred to me to cut off the
sleeve of my shirt and tie it up at one
end, and in this little sack l collected
about a gallon of pitch After taking
observations for altitude, 1 wandered
back on the rocks for an hour or two,
when, suddenly, noticed that storm
was coming from the south. 1 sought
shelter in the rocks, but when the storm
burst, 1T came down as flood from the
heavens-not with gentle drops at first,
slowly increasing in quantity, but as if
suddenly poured from an immense
basin. 1 was thoroughly drenched and
almost washed away. 1t lasted not more
than half an hour, when the cloudsswept
by to the north, and L was in the sun
shine again.
In the meantime, 1 discovered better
way of getting down and started for
camp, making the greatest haste posi-
BILE. On reaching the bottom side of the
canyon found thousand streams roll
ing down the cliffs ON every side, carry
ing with them red mud. Travelling as
fast as l could run, / soon reached the
foot of the stream, for the rain did not
reach the lower end of the canyon, and
tha SSatey WAS running down a ary had