The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-01
EXPLORING THE RIO eRANDE.
Prof. Hill Lectures Before the Tween
fieth Century Club

Prof. Robert r Hill. OF the United
States Geological Survey. gave an Illus
trated lecture on the subject, THE Unex-
plored Canyons of Rio Grande, under
the auspices of the Twentieth Century
Club. at All Souls Church. corner Four
tenth and l. Streets. last night. Prof
FIN, who not long ago retained from a
trip through this country. which before
him only one white man had traVers@d
said in the course of his lecture:
1.-The Rio Grande is one OF the longest
of the American rivers, extending over
l.5O0 miles from the snow-clad Rockies
OF Colorado. where 1t has its birth
through deserts and across mountaln
ranges. to the Gulf of Mexico The Rio
Brovo and it's parts nave unique features
v hich differentiate them from other rivers
of the United States; their gorges and
canyons are vast In proportion to the
little threads OF water which now inhahit
them; their streamways are marvellous
examples of rock sculpture and of great
depths, and in many places are intaglioed
out of sheets of vari-colored strata, which
produce expansive color effects of great
beauty. The wonders of the Colorado of
the West were made known to the world
through the dangerous trip of Major J.
within easy reach OF the tourist by rail-
way communication. Tho canyons cf the
Rio Grande are the longest and lss st
known: they have been and still ARE the
least accessible to man, and until the
present paper no attempt to describe
them has been made. Its vast oval area
of sterile plain. relieved here and there
by mountain ranges, extends he
tween higher bordering crests-those Of
the Rocky Mountains on inc east and the
Pacific SierraS on the Wegt-from ] Titish
Columbia to the end II tue scJthern
plateau of Mexico. Df the streams which
originate within the great desert. OILY
three cross the barrier Sierras and ulti-
rnately reach the sea. These are the
Columbia of the North. the Colorado of
the Southwest, aud the Rio Grande Of
the Southeast Perhaps no ether river
presents Sc many different characters as
source to mouth or passes through 50
many peculiar types OF country. From
its source in Colorado it lows nearly
due south for $40 miles bety,en desert
ranges beyond the Texas border In this
portion Of its course. after Immediately
leaving the mountain gorgcs Of Colorado.
it threads the great deserts past the old
Pueblo villages and finally its dec reaSlnE
waters are lost LhroICh exploration or
sink into the sands which form It's bot
tom.
THE Great American Desert horrties
the passing traveller who first lehoids II.
but he who dwells In II For a lime learns
70 love its life giving air and landscape
long for the crowded I .es. After sea
son of club and society "A desert warming
begins to haunt him which nothing Will
satisfy until he once more ocffs the
habiliments of the metrop, lls ard rushes
back to the pure ozone .Lnd free and easy
life of the desert. Thus the desert DIV ell
er becomes a shuttlecock between the
alternating desires for nature. freedom
and the pleasures Of society. which makes
him a kind Of civilized tramp.
He who has tasted his life once. can
never live content in those more humid
portions of the earth where dense POI ula
lions thrive"
Concluding his lecture Prof. Hi
said: I'VE had successfully nayigat ed
and mapped $50 miles of one ~ Americas
greatest rivers which hitherto had beer
considered impossible; we mad made a
geologic study and section directly
across the Eastern Sierras of the great
American Cordiilcras from the interio,
deserts to the coastal plain, procuring
light upon some of our least known coun
try We had escaped dangers which mac
overwhelmed other who had attempt ed
the canyons before, and our little party
dispersed contented with our "uCcess.