Bisbee daily review., 1906-07-25
GEOL|CAL SURVEY 0F GRAND CANYON 0F
 COLORADO
Maps Recall Story of How Maj Powell Came to Lead First
 Expedition There, C

pie as the uldJOf. IS uot hSIS lo NiS ness the completion of the first of series of new atlas sheets that the sur vey has turned out covering the Grand Canyon of the Colorado" says the Washington Star of July 10. The first of the sheets is known as the Bright Angel sheet, and lengthy description of it appeared some time ago. The Star, however, relates the story of how Major Powell came to lead the first expedition down the Colorado to- gether with a brief description of its adventures and the data that was saved as the result of the perilous trip. This relation will be of interest to Arizona readers and perhaps to many others who are interested in the can yon:
 The honor of the first exploration of the Colorado really belongs to the state of Illinois Maj. Powell was at that time curator of the state museum of natural history, and there was S2500 appropriated annually by the state. $500 of which went to make up his salary and S1000 added for the purpose of increasing the collection. The major was a good deal of a latitudinarian and thought the Colorado seeded eX- ploring, he simply took his own salary, added to it the S1,000 for collection, got a little more from the Chicago academy of sciences and 100 here and S100 there, making up in all about s3,0O0, with which he plunged into the first grand canyon expedition.
 The Colorado river, was then an ab- solutely unknown quantity. This was in 1869. Even at that date the course of the Colorado was marked on the maps with a dotted line where it was supposed to run, and all that was known of it below the point where the Green river enters in Utah was the lower 600 miles upward from the gulf of California, which had been explored about two years before. The govern ment furnished rations for-rhe ex- petition, and that was the only con- nection which the government had with it.
 Major Powell had four boats, three of them twenty-footers and another smal boat which was to be used in Investigating the side rivers. The small boat proved more or less of a myth and was lost on the way down, Us WAS dlSO ouS LII IlAe ldlSSI DOclS, so that the expedition really finished up with only two of the big boats left The party entered the Colorado at it's junction with the Green river. It was the intention to make a leisurely trip through the unknown section of the river covering a distance Hs about 1000 miles, but by the time they had reached the head of the Grand canyon proper some of the provisions had been lost and the rest was going rapidly, so it was necessary to make a dash through in order to reach eatables at the other end. It was not a case in which they could abandon the boats wherever they chose, for there were only three crossings of the Colorado in the whole of that 1000 miles and once in the canyon the party had to stay there.
 The members of the party met with all, sorts of hardships, some of them crippled up with rheumatism, and they never knew at what moment they might plunge into falls or rapids from which it would be impossible to ex- tricate themselves. In fact, once started on the down grade with the river there was very little turning bac. There were some places where, at low water, there were perpendicular falls of ten or twelve feet They could usually be gotten around, but there were long stretches of rapids where the canyon walls came down sheer to the waters edge and where there was nothing to do when once started but to keep through and trust to luck for coming out safe at the other end.
 One of the worst stretches of rapids rr-i+H as they went through. It was two. thirds of mile, and as near as the party could make out the drop was eighty-five feet Lieutenant. Stanton; who afterward went through with more accurate instruments, said that the drop was over 125 feet. Prof Thompson, in speaking of this part of the trip. said: Tt really was not as bad as it looked. When water is go ing down like that it is moving some You cannot really run boat.on a rock even if you want to and the only thing was to- hold our breath until we got through"
 The three men who left the party decided that they had enough river ir theirs and quit in the neighborhood oi what is now known as Peach Springs They were given their share of the provisions and undertook to climb out of the canyon, this being one of the three points where it was possible to scale the wall, and they were given also what was then thought to be the duplicate of the scientific records There had been a record kept in dupli cate on the whole trip, but in the con fusion of parting, it was afterward discovered that these men were giver part of both copies of the record. while part of both copies was kept by the boat crew. The three men did man age to climb out of the canyon, but were afterwards killed by the Utes who were then or the warpath in the surrounding countr. All of the papers they had with them were burned. ana so the record of this first expedition was only fragmentary. The party diC keep rough traverse map, but as al the small sheets put together mad, 2 map less than four feet long cover fpc i r,f