Year: 1869

ThE CANION UT The COLORADOs


The news, whether true or false, from
Major Powell and his party, who, for more
than two years have been engaged in pre-
liminary arrangements to explore the great
canyon Of the Colorado, and who hoped dur
ing the pocsent summer to accomplish it, will
add new interest to this important subject.
Many may suppose that the results to be OBJ
tanned will not warrant the labor and expense,
not to speak of the dangers to be incurred in
exploring the hidden mysteries of this won
derful canyon. But geographical problems
of far less interest and importance have cost
the world far greater expenditure of effort
to solve them, and mankind will always both
applaud apd reward those who increase the
sum of human knowledge. To add to that
knowledge is the controlling motive that im>
PEELED Major Powell to risk everything in Or
der to unveil the mysteries that surround one
of the great rivers of the continent in its
course to the sea. Even if it has cost him
his life, this will not deter other daring ex.
plorers from solving the problem with which
the name of Powell is now most honoraby
and, perhaps, sadly associated. The follow
ing is tie sum of about all we know of the
Colorado River and its unexplored canyon :
1t gathers its waters on the western slope
of the Rocky Mountains, on the north, from
point opposite The Yellowstone, down
through at least nine degrees Of latitude to
point opposite the head waters of the Red
River, and drains an equal space along the
eastern rim OF the Great Salt Lake basin.
The mountains which surround the vast val
ley which it drains are the Rocky on the
east, the Wind River on the north, and the
Wasatch and Uintah on the west and as
they all rise far up into the regions of per>
petual snow, they furnish the water for one
of the largest rivers of the continent. All
its principal tributaries, with the exception of
the Gila, the Little Colorado and the San
Juan, are gathered into its terrible current
before it dashes into what the frontiersmen
call the Black Canyon of the Colorado. The
river has a tremendous fall to the Gulf of
California. At Green River station, where
the Union Pacific Railroad crosses the prin>
cipal tributary of the Colorado, bearing at
least as much water as Rock River at Ster-
ling the elevation above the ocean is about
5000 feet. In the three or four hundred
miles between this place and the entrance of
the canyon the fall is probably not more than
1000 feet. The river runs with steady
current, and the only considerable fall we ever
heard of is that in which Major Powell and
bis party may have lost their lives. At the
head of the canyon, the river, according to
all accounts, rushes down an awful cataract,
worse than that below the bridge at Niagara
Falls, and through which old trappers who
have been there roundly assert no vessel
could pass withOu certain destruction. From
this point the canyon is variously estimated
at from three to five hundred miles long, and
if our estimate as to the descent of the river
between the crossing of the railway aud the
head of the gorge be correct, it must fall
some five thousand feet, or about mile, in
its passage through the canyon. Much Of
the way through the canyon it is known to
run with a very sluggish current, and hence
there must be many fearful falls before the
river reaches the foot of it near Callville:


From all the accounts of those who have
seen the canyon at various points, and from
the reports of the only two person who, 1t
is now claimed, ever went through it, it seems
to be huge crack in the earth's crust, about
mile wide, with perpendicular walls from
two to five or six thousand feet above the
river, made BY some terrible convulsion of
nature. The country along the canyon is
volcanic and utterly destitute of vegetation.
Lateral canyons. branching out at right an
giles and requiring several days journey to
90 round them, render it impossible for pars
ties to follow down the banks of the river,
could water be obtained from its terrible cur
rent, rushing between its walls nearly mile
below the explorer. Hence, the plan Of
Major Powell, detailed to us when here in
May last, was to wait at the head of the can,
yon till the spring floods had passed down,
when he hoped to find narrow plateau along
the margin Of the river from which the
waters had receded, and along which he
could let down his boats overany rapids that
might be found in his way. That there are
such plateaus along the Columbia and other
rivers is well known, but the question of
whether they exist along the shore of the
river in the Canyon of the Colorado is still in
doubt.


Till recently it was supposed that only one
man-a MI. White, now living near Callviile
on the Lower Colorado-had over gone
through this canyon. His thrilling narrative
is well known. We find in the last number
of the Western dNonthly what seems to be a
well authenticated account of lad Of fifteen
years Of age, who went down the San Juan
and thence down the canyon of the Colorado,
by at times lashing himself to a raft. He
represents the sand bars atsome of the places
be was ashore as largely composed of parti'
cles of gold-a thing we can really believe,
for gulch>mining is extensively and success
fully carried on among the mountains at the
head waters of the Colorado.


Should the report of the loss Of Major
Powell aud his party prove true, that should
nos stop all efforts to explore the canyon of
the Colorado. 1t is geographical problem
of the highest interest, which future explor-
ers will surely find the means to solve. 1t
cannot be that great nation will allow one
of its largest rivers to remain nneIPlored
through some four or FIVE handred miles OF
the sublimest scenery to be found anywhere
/ nm The faca of the earth Southwestern Col.