Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-16

| Col. Robert Stanton. commander of the Dem
yer expedition now exploring the comparatively
unknown regions, traversed by the Colorado
river, has written to the Denver Republican
graphic account of the perilous journey down
the wild stream from the head of the Granite
gorge OF the Grand canyon to the mouth Of
Diamond creek, to accomplish which required
the time from January "A to March /. The ex-
petition had to battle upon entering the Gran
lite gorge with mighty cataracts and foaming
torrents, sometimes letting their boats down
with ropes and at times portaging all the con-
tents OF the boats around rapids. Two Of the
boats were dashed against rocks and wrecked.
Progress was extremely slow. At one point
| they were delayed five days while one of the
| wrecked boats was being reconstructed. OF
that portion OF the Granite gorge from its head
TO Bright Angel creek Col. Stanton quotes from
his note book, under date of February Z:
| The canyon is growing more and more pic
| turesque and beautiful the further we proceed.
| The Granite has lost its awful and threatening
| look and slopes back in beautiful hillsides Of
| variegated black, gray and green. Above this,
| next to the river, is q stratum Of dark sand
stone cut into sharp horizontal layers, standing
| in an almost perpendicular wall. jutting out in
places to the edge of the granite and studded
| all over with points standing out in the air:
| darker in color than those behind them and the
| top edge cut into smaller points and crevices
| through which the light shines, giving q rough,
| beaded appearance.
VIEWS IN THE GORGE.
"At the side canyons and from the bends Of
the river the upper portions of the whole gorge
are brought into view, showing the great mar
Bile and sandstone cliffs benched back far away
from the river, while small mountains tut in
| close between the side canyons and wash
nearly mile and a quarter in height As we
a m afr he. hot h.
rapids each turn brings some wonderful picture
more beautiful than the last. As we look down
the river or up a low side canyon, with the
placid water between its polished walls of black
and gray and green for a foreground, there
rises above the dark sandstone tier upon tier,
bench upon bench, terrace upon terrace, STEP
ping back further and further and higher and
higher, and in heir immensely of height and
proportions seeming to tower almost over our
heads. First above the darker sandstone comes
the fiattened slopes Of the line and mineralized
matter in horizontal layers of yellow, brown,
white, red and green.
Then rise sheer walls of stained marble 1000
feet or more, the lower portions yellow, brown
and red, and the coloring Of red growing
brighter as it nears the top. Above this
smaller benches of marble at the top of each
little mesa covered with green grass and brushes,
and above these q dozen or more terraces of
scarlet and hame-colored sandstone, stained on
their outer points with black, and the little
green of the greasewood and bunch grass, the
whole covered with, perhaps, a couple Of thou
| sand feet of the lighter gray, yellow and white
sandstone lodges, capped by pinacles and
spires, turrets and domes in every magma
bic shape, size and proportion, with all their
slopes covered and their tops fringed with pine
cedar and pinion trees, whose bright green
stands out i'll bold relief against the flaming
colors of the sandstone and the banks of pure
white snow that covers the top and have run
down into the many gulches along the Sides"
CHANGE IN THE SCENE.
Further on he writes: From the southern
portion of Powell's plateau to the mouth of
the Kanab Wash the canyon assumes an en-
tirely new form. The granite, except in few
patches. has sunk under the river and the
softer strata of sand and lime stones which
formed the great slopes above the granite have
come down next to the river and rise from the
waters edge in great talus slopes of from 800
to 600 feet high at q general angle OF 40 de-
grees from vertical The high cliffs of marble
and red sandstone bench back from the top of
these slopes. Although these outer peaks and
cliffs have drawn In close upon the river the
canyon ltself-that Is the inner gorge--iJ much
wider than above, the width being measured
between the tops of the great talus slopes. The
river Is broader and it sweeps in gentle curves
at the foot of the talus which is covered with
bushes, bunch grass and large mesquite groves
On many of the long stretches where the river
can be seen for several miles tine picture is one
OF grandeur and beauty Grand with its walls
of bright colors towering $500 feet overhead
beautiful in its long swing green slopes, with
the quiet waters sparkling in the sun at their
| foot for the rapids are much less frequent and
stretches Of still water are growing longer and
longer.
From the mouth of the Kanab Wash for
about twenty miles down Is perhaps the mar
rowest and deepest part Of the great inner
gorge. The lovely sandstone and limestone
lodges have sunken under the river, and the
marble and upper sandstones come close into
the water At the bottom the gorge is from
$50 to 200 feet wide and the river runs between
vertical walls-vertical, however, for only about
50 feet up-and fills the whole space from wall
to wall. The wall of this portion OF the can
yon-(and it comes nearer being a true canyon
| than any other part of the river rise above the
water 5000 feet and they are almost vertical,
the benches are narrower and the vertical cliffs
between the benches higher than in any other
| section And yet, strange to relate, from one
end of this section to the other there is a
| bench, about 80 feet above high water running
| almost parallel with the grade of the river, of
solid marble wide enough to build four-track
| railroad upon and not interfere with the per-
pendicular walls above or the river below.
IN FLOOD AND RAPID.
"The night before we reached Kanab the
river rose four feet it continued to rise for two
days and two nights How much the rise was
am not absolutely certain, but believe from
good evidence it was fully ten feet. Just be-
low Kanab Wash there is rapid one and one
half miles long. On Tuesday morning we
started down this rapid. We made this mile
and a half in just four and one-half minutes
We then had for some time few rapids, but
rushing singing current forming eddies,
whirlpools and back currents fearful to con-
tenn plate, much more to ride upon.
about 2:30 pm. we heard a deep loud roar
and saw the breakers ahead in white foam.
With great effort We stopped upon a pile of
broken rocks that had rolled into the river.
Much to surprise when we went to look
the whole terrible rapid that we had expected
to see had disappeared and only a rushing
current in its stead. While we stood wonder
ing there rose right at our feet those same
great waves, II to IA feet in height and 100 to
$50 feet long across the river, rolling down
stream like: great sea waves and breaking in
white foam with terrible noise. We watched
| and wondered and at last concluded this was
the fore front of a great body of water rolling
| down this narrow trough from some great
| cioudburst above. Believing that discretion
| was the better part OF valor, we camped right
there on that pile ofrocks. fearing that although
| our boats would ride these waves in safety, we
might be caught in one Of these rolls just at
the head of a rapid, and unable to stop, be
carried over the rapid with the additional
| force of these rushing breakers.
| 1.-The next morning, to our surprise, we found
| the flood had begun to recede. After an early
| breakfast we started on what afterwards proved
| to be the widest, most daring and exciting
| ride we have had on the river The canon an