El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-10

a few miles below PolvO the huge
chocolate colored cliffs and domes or
the Bofecillos mountains began to
overhang the river. and before night
we entered the first of the series OF
canons of the Rio Grande, in which
we were to be entombed for the sue
ceeding weeks This bears the cheer
full name of Murderer'S anon, for here,
a year or two before. the body of a
supposed victim of Alvarado was found
lodged on a sond bar. This and the
Fresno Canon, few miles below, are
vertical cuts about six hundred feet
deep through massive walls of red vol
canic rock. All the other canos are
of massive limestone. The rocks are
serarted into vertical columns of joint
ed structure, and when touched by the
sunlight become a golden yellow. The
skyline is a ragged crest, with many
little side canOnS nicklng the pronle
When evening came we were giad 10
camp between the river and the walls.
Living upon our backs and relieved of
the concentration of our wits upon the
cares of navigation, we were able to
study and appreciate the beauties OF
this wild gorge.
The river itself. here as everywhere,
is a muddy yellow stream. In places,
patches of fine white silt form border
ing sand-bars; about twenty-five feet
above these there is a second bench
covered by a growth of dark-green
MESQUITE The whole is incloSed by
vertically steep. jointed rock walls.
The thread of water and the green rib
bon of the mesquite bench are refresh
ing sights, for Immediately above the
latter on both sides, the desert vege-
tation always sets in
Towards sunset l scaled a break in
the canon to reach the upland and OBJ
tain a lookout. Above the narrow al
luvial bench forming the green rib
bon of river verdure l suddenly came
upon the stony, soilless hills forming
the matrix out of which the valley Is
cut glaring in the brilliant sunshine
and covered with the hooking desert
flora. The sight of this aridity almost
within reach of the torrent OF llfe-glv-
ing waters below the blessing of which
it was never to receive, was shocking
and repulsive. 1t also recalled a dan
ger which ever after haunted u.s.
Should We lose our boats and escape
the canons what chance OF life should
we have in crossing these mercliess,
waterless, wastes of thorn for nun
bred miles or more to food and sue
corr
Below the mouth of Murderers Can
on the rapids were unusually bad and
dangerous. and it required all hands
but one who stood guard with a cock
ed rifle to wade beside the boats and
preserve them from destruction. As
this canon suddenly ends, its vertical
walsl continue north and south, as the
front of the mountain which it has
crossed. We then entered valley
which presents a beautiful panorama
of desert form and color. The hills
are of all sizes and shapes. Those on
the outer border are daZzlingly white.
chalky rocks, surmounted here and
there by black caps of volcanic rock.
The slopes are vermilion foothills of
red clay. Still lower are the river ter
races of the desert yellow clay and
gravel. the whole threaded by the mar
row fringe of fresh green along the
river
In this wild country lived the motor
ious Alvarado. Only a most fortunate
mistake prevented my men from car
rying out their threat to exterminate
this bandit. Alvarado had surname
as well as a Christian name, and when
they were told that the next ranch
down the river was Ordonez's, they did
not understand that this was another
name for Alvarado until after we had
passed him with an infant in his
arms. serenely watching us float down
the stream. I breathed easier on find
ing this out. but the men swore audibly
and long at their misfortune in not
recognizing the supposed monster.
Still lower down the river this region
becomes more weird. Immediately
adjacent to the stream there are great
bluffs of a dirty yellow volcanic tufa,
which weather into many fantastic,
curvilinear forms. One of these. two
hundred feet high, stands out conspic-
uOusly from its surroundings. an al
most perfect reproduction of the
Egyption Sphinx. This, with the
sterility of the surroundings and the
dirty mud coIors. constantly recalled
the character of the Nile.
We were relieved to see before us
the entrance of another vertical "shut-
out" or canon, into which we passed
at about four o'clock in the afternoon,
and found a suitable camping-ground,
hemmed in on each side by vertical
walls and out of rifle range from
above This canon was only a mile
or two long. and was very similar to
Murderer's Canon in its scenic and
geological features.
The next day the river flowed a sin
uous course through a most pictures
que district which we named the
Black Rock Canon. This was wide
~ sloping. terraced canon cut one
thousand feet below the summit of
a level plateau. The edges of this
plateau were lozenged by erosion into
caps and scarp lines above terraced
slopes, the graceful curves of which
wound back and forth from the rivers
edge. The tabled tops and lower
slopes of these buttes were thick stra-
ia of dazzling white chalk, while be-
tween them was an immense bed of
black lava. which always occupied the
same relative position between the
white bands, as if kind nature had
painted a stripe of black about the