Arizona republican., 1899-04-01
THE GRAND CANYON
Natures Greatest ChdSm in
 All the World.
A Visitors Description of inc Mar vicious ard Awe Inspiring Views Which Greet inc Vision - All Located in Arizona.

The Colorado is one of the great rtv-
 CTS of North America. Formed in
 southern Utah by the confluence of the Green and Grand, it intersects the northwestern corner of Arizona, and, | becoming the eastern boundary cf Ne
 vada and California, 1cws southward
 until it reaches tidewater in the Gulf of California. Mexico. It drains ter
 ritory of 3OO,0O0 square miles. and, ! traced back to the rise of it's principal
 source, is 1000 miles long. At two points. The Needles and Yuma, on the California boundary, it is crossed by a
 railroad. Elsewhere it's course lies lar from Caucasian settlements and far from the routes of common travel, in the heart of a vast region fenced on the
 one hand by arid plains and cn the
 other by formidable mountains. The
 early Spanish explorers first reported it l to the civilized world in 1540, two sep arate expeditions becoming acquainted
 with the river for a comparatively l short distance above it's mouth, and
 another, jCurneyirg from the MOqui | Pueblos northWestward across the des- ! ert, obtaining the first view Of the Big canyon. but failing in every effort to | descend the canyon wall, and seeing l the river only from afar. Again, in
 1776, Spanish priest traveling southward through Utah struck l off from the Virgen river to the southeast and found a prac
 ticable crossing at a point that still bears the name "Vado de los l 1 thereafter the big canyon remained un-
 visited, except by the Indian, the Mor
 mon herdsman and the trapper, al-
 though the Sitgreaves expedition of 1851, journeyipg westward, stuck the
 Colorado about one hundred and fifty
 miles above Yuma, and Lieutenant Whipple in 1854 made a survey for practicable railroad along the thirty fifth parallel, where the Atlantic and
 Pacific railroad has since been con-
 structed. The establishment of mill tary posts in New Mexico and Utah having made desirable the use of
 waterway for the cheap transportation of supplies, in 1857 the war department
 dispatched an expedition in charge of
 Lieutenant Ives to explore the Colo
 rado as far from it's mouth as naviga- ton should be found practicable. Ives ascended the river in specially con strHcted steamboat to the head of
 Black canyon, few miles below the confluence of the Virgen river in Ne vada where further navigation became impOssible; then, returning to The
 Needles, he set off across the country
 toward the northeast. He reached the
 big canyon at Diamond creek and at
 Cataract creek in the spring of 1853,
 and from the latter point made 9 wide
 southward detour around the San Francisco peaks thence nOrtheastward
 to the MOQui PueblOS thence eastward to Fort Defiance and So back to civili- zation
 That is the history of the explora- tiCnS of the Colorado up to twenty-five years ago. It's exact course was un- known for many hundred miles, even it's origin in the junction of the Grand and Green rivers being a matter of con- lecture, it being difficult to approach within distance of two or three miles from the channel. while descent to the rivers edge could be hazarded only at wide intervals. in2smuch as it lay in an appalling Assure at the foot of seem | ingly impassable cliff terraces that led down from the bordering plateau; and | az attempt at its navigation would i have been cOurting death. It was known in a general way that the entire channel between Nevada and Utah was Of the same titanic character, reaching | it's continuation nearly midway in it's | course through Arizona. In 1869 Majcr | J. w. Powell, now in charge of the ] United States geological survey, un- dertOok the exploration of the river | with nine men and. four bc1ts, starting | from Green River City, on the Green river in Utah. The enterprise met | with the most urgent remonstrance from those who were best acquainted | with the region, including the Indians. who maintained that boats could not possibly live i'll any one eff a score of rapids and falls known to them. to say nothing of the vast unknown stretches ia which at any moment Q Niagara | might be disclosed. It was also cur rently believed that for hundreds Of miles the river disappeared wholly be- meath the surface of the earth. Powell | launched his fiotilla Cn May 24, and on August 30 landed at the mouth of the | Nlrgen river, more than one thousand | miles by the river channel from the place of starting, minus two boats and fCur men. One of the men had left the | expedition by way of an Indian reSer- vation agency before reaching Arizona, and three. after holding out against unprecedented terrOrs for many weeks, had finally become dauEted, choosing to encounter the periIs of an unknoHn desert rather than to brave any longer the frightful Inenaces of that Stygian | torrent These three. unfortunately | making their appearance on the pla- teau at time when a recent depreda- ton was colorably chargeable upon | them. were killed by Indians, their | story of having come thus far down the | river in boats being wholly discredited | by their captors. Powell's journal of l the tip is fascinating tale, written iii a compact and modest style, which, l in spite Of it's reticence, tells an epic | story of purest heroism. It definitely 1 established the scene of his explora
 tion as the most wonderful geological ] and Snectacnlar nhenOmenOn known to 1