El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-09
Running the CanonS
OF the Rio Grande
A CHAPTER OF RECENT EXPLORATION.
By Robert T. hil, United tates Geological Survey, in
Charge of the Expedition.

The Century magazine for January
contains a fascinating article by Pro-
lessor Robert T. Hill. of the geological
survey. who is we'll known in this
city. The article describes the profess
sor's recent trip through the hitherto
inaccessible canons of the great bend
of the Rio Grande. 1t will be reprint
ed in full. in sections. but to get the
greatest pleasure out of it, the reader
should get the Century for the sake of
the wonderful pictures of the canons
that appear in connection with the ar
ticIe. The article follows:
So far as mans conception of time
is concerned. the American desert is,
always has been. and always will be.
Its vast oval area of sterile plain, re-
Eeved here and there by mountainous
ranges, extends tween higher Dor
dering crests-those of the Rocky
Mountains on the east and the Pacific
SierraS on the weSt-from British Col
umbia to the end of the southern pla-
teau of Mexico. Of the feeble streams
which originate with in the great des-
ert only three cross the barrier sier-
ras and ultimately reach the sea-
These three are the Columbia of the
north. the Colorado of the southwest,
and the Rio Grand of the southeast.
The wonders of the Colorado of the
west were made known to the world
through the dangerous trip of Major
J.. w. Powell. in 1869, and are now
brought within cas- reach of the Pull
man car tourist. The canons of the
Rio Grande are longest and least
known; they nave been and still are
the least accessible to man., and have
not hitherto been described.
Before describing the passage of the
canons of the Rio Grande. let us
glance a moment at the country
through which they pass-the matrix,
so to speak, out of which the canons
are carved. The widest and lowest
part OF the American desert closely fol-
lows the International border. and is
traversed by the Southern Pacific rail-
way. The railway on the north and
the Rio Grande on the south inclose a
vast triangular area known in Texas
as the Big Bend country.
Away from the railway the Big
Bend-sometimes called the Bloody
Bends known as a hard country"
that is, one in which. through lack of
water. civilization finds it difficult to
obtain a foothold- Although album
dantly supplied with water works,
such as scarped canoned streamways,
it possesses a minimum of water.
These great arroyos are hooking trav-
estes. which suggests that nature be-
came tired of making this country be-
fore turning on the water
Every other aspect of the Big Bend
country landscape, configuration
rocks and ve~getation-is weird and
strange n of a type unfamiliar to
the inhabitants of civilized lands.
The surface is a peculiar combin-
alton of desert plain and volcanic hills
and mountains. the proportions of
which are increased by the vast dis
lance rom the vision here reaches
through the crystalline atmosphere.
There is no natural feature that can
be described in familiar words
There are no true forests except up
on the tips of the highest peaks, but
shrubby plants abound. which are as
TRANCE and unfamiliar as the names
they bear. Each of these plants is
armed with thorns. o are wounded,
caught. held. or anchored by this
spiteful vegetation at every step away
from the beaten trails first made. long
centuries ago. by the Mescalero Apach-
.es and the Lipans- One is also roast
ed numerically by day by 100 degrees
of sunshine. and cooled almost to the
freezing point at night. These great
extremes of temperature shatter even
the very rocks into fragments.
Around the southern side of the Big
Benz country flows the Rio Bravo.
separating this hard portion of Texas
from a similar and still harder portion
ON Mexico. Between the two repub-
lies the river serves as a permanent
frontier which is virtually impossible.
Few Americans realize the impregna-
biIity and isolation of this frontier, or
that it represents a portion of our
national boundaries which heretofore
has never been completely traversed
or explored.
When the expedition was first an
nounced many witty remarks were
made concerning it. The idea was rid
iculed that there were either noun
tains or anons in this region, and one
facetious correspondent said that he
had lived upon the Rio Grande for
twenty years. and added that owing !
to the absence of water in it's sandy
bed. the only way the river could be
explored was in a buggy. As 1 drew
nearer the region. more serious OBJ
stacles were suggested. AS we reached
San Antonio the already familiar story
that the trip could not be made for
want of water be gan to be supplement
ted by ether dangers. At the Pecos
we first heard from old frontiersmen
what proved to be the truth. that too
much water was to be dreaded rather
than too little. which. coming in sud-
den floods would be likely to dash to
pieces any craft that entered the
stream. At Alpine and Maria, the on
ly two villages of consequence in the
desert stretch of the three hundred
miles between the Pecos and FL Paso,
grever warnings were received. One
who had spent considerable time
upon the river stated that huge OBJ
---- Id foII4n into tho nannnc \