The weekly Arizona miner., 1880-04-09
TIE DEEPEST CANYONS W THE WORLD
4 Man loses His Life Exploring.
Mines, Indians and Scenery

About :hc Jth of March party of pros
 pectors, thirteen in number, procured the necessary papers from General Wilcox al-
 lowing them to visit the Indian village, on Cataract creek, inhaDited by the Ava Supais,
 tribe of Indians numbering all told 200 souls. The party was known as the Beck
 man and Young prospecting expedition. They went from Williamson valley to the
 Bill Williams range and thence to Pine Spring, a small watering place surrounded by pine forest. Here they found every in-
 dication of an old sea bed, the gravel and
 those in the ocean bed. From Pine Spring the party directed their course for the Ava Supia village, which is reached by deceud- ing from the table or mesa land down one
 of the toughest trails ever travelled by
 man for a distance of fourteen miles, drop
 ping 5000 feet. At places along the trail,
 We are told that it is net over twenty inches
 wlde, and winds around the perpindicular
 walls of sand stone that leom above for hun- dreds ei feet, while on the other side dark,
 deep canyons exist, hundreds upon hundreds
 of feet deep, where by one false step or move
 man or besst would be sent to eternity.
 With great care and good luck ten sf the
 party succeeded in reaching the vIl
 lage, three of their number returning rather
 than run the gauntlet in passing down into
 thIs awful yet marvellous crevice in the
 earth.
 The Ava Supais practice polygamy, each
 male having about three wives. They have
 1000 acres of farming land, which is de-
 scribed as being of yellowish color and
 mostly composed of sand. however, it is
 said to produce good corn, pumpkins, mel
 ons, beans, etc, with the aid oi irrigatlng
 water, Of winch they have an abundance, and
 appropriate by means ot a good ditch sur
 rounding their farm. They have peach orchard of 250 trees which were, on the 1st of April, loaded with small peaches about
 the size of acorns.
 ! The party was well received by these red, | people, who stated that their greatest desire
 was to bcleit alone in the enjoyment of their
 land and other property. Their houses are | built with poles in a rude manner and thatched over with bear grass and tu!e. The only stock they have are few ponies. Cataract creek heads in the Bill Williams and San Francisco mountains, the streams connecting some distance above the Indian village. This stream empties into the Big Colorado lj miles below tue Ava Supal town and a short distance south of the junc- tion of the Little and Big Colorado rivers
 The party attempted to explore Cataract creek to its confluence with the Colorado, but were unable to do 90 from the fact that they encountered precipice after precipice from loo to 900 feet perpendicular, and it was in the fool hardy attempt D. W. Mooney, of William son Valley, to descend one of these perpen- dicular precipices. 100 feet down. that he was dasIicJ 70 srddcn Tnu rUCKv r0InU, where he now rests he fell, his csm- panions being unable to rescue his body from that awful and abyssmal grave. Mir Mooney was persuaded by his con- panions not 10 attempt such an absurd undertaking, their importuning availed not He took asmall rope, hardly ahalf-inch in di- i amcter, tied one end 10 bush, suspended ! it over the brink, then taking hold of the 1 rope was soon dangling between the bright heavens and dark, dismal gorge below. | Evidently cramps came in his arms, or his | mind gave way, and he fell from almost the ] top 70 his rocky and lonely grave below. The party remained nearly two days, de vising means and plans to rescue the corpse. | but with failures, as ns one cared to risk descent upon the weak rope. The Indians informed the party that no man had ever passed through this canyon, that, in fact, passage was only possible for the birds of the air or the spirits of the dead.
 The party retraced their steps and went around Cataract Creek to the Grand Can yon of the Colorado. They took in this pc culIar freak of nature and describe the walls which are about perpendicular, as being ? mi les from the apex to the water. Where they beheld the Grand Canyon the water Is described as being 100 yards across, still, from the elevated view of the explorers, the furious stream appeared to be silver thread of only few inches in width. A canyon two miles deep is grand wonder, which will. when the 3jth parallel road is draw thousands upon thousands of wonder seekers annually, to behold the deepest gorge in the world. In going to the Grand Canyon the party passed through Prospect Valley, near the Colorado, and had the pleasure of beholding Bidenours & copper mine, which is found embedded between solid sandstone walls, a thing unknown elsewhere in the world. The ore from this mine is worth from 60 to 90 per cent, and chunk of almost pure / copper weighing at least one ton is uo un- thing to find. The death of MT. Mooney, which took place on the 1st of April, frustrated the plans of the party, ana .h cir original plan of exploring and pros pecting was not carried out us at first intended q
 4 Lard Without Elopements. {;