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Etext produced by Dianne Bean, Prescott Valley, Arizona.

Title: The Romance of the Colorado River

Author: Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Language: English

Title: The Romance of the Colorado River

Author: Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Language: English

Etext produced by Dianne Bean, Prescott Valley, Arizona.

NOTE:

List of the maps, graphs, photos, and paintings scanned from The
Romance of the Colorado River by Dellenbaugh. Fewer than half of the
pictures in the book were scanned to accompany the etext. These
images accompany the .zip version of this etext.

Page/.jpg file number Description

000front. Frontpiece. Looking Up the Bright Angel Trail. Moran.

000glyph. Tail-piece of Preface. Sketch of a picture-writing.

000xvii. The Steamer "Undine."

00prefmap. Preface. Map showing Relation of the Canyons of the Green
and Colorado to the Surrounding Country.

015. Alarcon's Ships Struggling With the Great Bore of the
Colorado--1540.

026. The Colorado at the Junction of the Gila.

030. Cocopa Tule Raft.

037. Map. The Grand-Marble Canyon Region.

041. The "Hole in the Wall" near Fort Defiance, Arizona.

041. opp. Relief Map of the Grand Canyon Region.

043. Looking Down Upon Glen Canyon.

052. Gray's Peak, Torrey's Peak.

055. Outline Sketch of the Grand Canyon from Point Sublime.

057. Profile of the Colorado Through the Grand Canyon.

079. Across the House Tops of Zuni.

081. Ruin Called Casa Grande, Arizona.

083. In the Grand Canyon. Kolb Expedition 1911.

093. In the Moki Town of Mishongnuvi, Arizona.

095. The Canyon of the Little Colorado.

098. A Zuni Home.

099. The Governors of Zuni.

101. Pai Ute Girls, Southern Utah, Carrying Water.

109. Map. Green River through the Uinta Mountains 1871

113. Ashley Falls, Red Canyon, Green River, inset with Ashley's rock
signature.

129. A Portage in the Canyon of Lodore.

137. Las Vegas, Southern Nevada, on the Old Spanish Trail, 1876.

159. Robinson's Landing, mouth of the Colorado river.

161. The Steamer Explorer in which Lieut. Ives in 1858 Ascended the
Colorado to Foot of Black Canyon.

163. Looking Down on the Grand Canyon from the Mouth of the Kanab.

178. A Glen of Glen Canyon.

180. In Cataract Canyon.

185. John Wesley Powell, about 1876.

195. Red Canyon--Green River. Upper portion. Looking up stream.

197. Canyon of Lodore--Upper part of Disaster Falls.

201. Canyon of Lodore. Looking down at Triplet Falls.

203. Echo Rock on Right, from which Echo Rock Takes its Name.

205. The Canyon of Desolation--Sumner's Amphitheatre.

206. The Canyon of Desolation--Low Water.

214. The Crags at Millecrag Bend, foot of Cataract Canyon.

215. The Music Temple Alcove, Glen Canyon.

217. The Depths of the Grand Canyon at Sunset.

219. The Grand canyon. The "Sockdologer" Rapid.

223. In the Midst of a Grand Canyon Rapid.

225. The Grand canyon--Granite Buttresses.

229. The Basket Maker. Old woman of the Kaibab Pai Utes.

231. Brother Belder's--Virgen City. A typical frontier Mormon home.

242. Ready for the Start, U.S. Colorado River Expedition, Green
River, Wyoming, 1871.

243. Portraits of all by Two Members of the Boat Party of the U.S.
Colorado River Expedition of 1871.

267. A Halt for Observations.

275. The Butte of the Cross, between Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons.

285. Cataract Canyon, Right-hand Wall Near Lower End.

289. Glen Canyon Wall.

290. Glen Canyon.

302. The Crew of the "Trilobite."

308. Major Powell and a Pai Ute. Southern Utah, 1872.

315. Major Powell in the field, 1872.

321. Marble Canyon.

326. F.S. Dellenbaugh, 1872. The exploring costume.

329. Running the Sockdologer, Grand Canyon.

333. What May Happen Anytime. Boat punctured.

335. A Capsize in the Grand Canyon.

345. In Marble Canyon.

352. One of the Julien Inscriptions. D. Julien--1863--3 Mai.

360. The Grand Canyon. In the First Granite Gorge.

365. Looking up the Grand Canyon, at the Foot of Toroweap, Uinkaret
Division, 1875.

366. The Grand Canyon--Lava Falls.

367. On the Bright Angel Trail.

374. John Wesley Powell. 1834-1902. 1901 portrait.

388. Appendix. The canyons, valleys, and mouths of principal
tributaries of the Colorado, in order, page 1.

389. Appendix. The canyons, valleys, and mouths of principal
tributaries of the Colorado, in order, page 2.

392. In the Grand Canyon Opposite Shinumo Creek.





The Romance of the Colorado River: The Story of its Discovery in
1840, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special
Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great
Canyons

By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872

"No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms:
This, as it frothed by, might have been a bath
For the fiend's glowing hoof----"
Browning


To my friends and comrades of the Colorado River Expedition of 1871
and 1872 in grateful remembrance.

PREFACE

Early in 1871, when Major Powell* was preparing for his second
descent through the canyons of the Green and Colorado rivers, he was
besieged by men eager to accompany him; some even offered to pay well
for the privilege. It was for me, therefore, a piece of great good
fortune when, after an interview in Chicago with the eminent
explorer, he decided to add me to his small party. I was very young
at the time, but muscular and healthy, and familiar with the handling
of small boats. The Major remarked that in the business before us it
was not so much age and strength that were needed as "nerve," and he
evidently believed I had enough of this to carry me through.
Certainly in the two-years, continuous work on the river and in the
adjacent country I had some opportunity to develop this desirable
quality. I shall never cease to feel grateful to him for the
confidence reposed in me. It gave me one of the unique experiences of
my life,--an experience which, on exactly the same lines, can never
be repeated within our borders. Now, these thirty years after, I
review that experience with satisfaction and pleasure, recalling,
with deep affection, the kind and generous companions of that wild
and memorable journey. No party of men thrown together, without
external contact for months at a time, could have been more
harmonious; and never once did any member of that party show the
white feather. I desire to acknowledge here, also, my indebtedness to
Prof. A. H. Thompson, Major Powell's associate in his second
expedition, for many kindnesses.

* I use the title Major for the reason that he was so widely known
for so long a period by it. He was a volunteer officer during the
Civil War, holding the rank of Colonel at the end. The title Major,
then, has no military significance in this connection.


When his report to Congress was published, Major Powell, perhaps for
the sake of dramatic unity, concluded to omit mention of the
personnel of the second expedition, awarding credit, for all that was
accomplished, to the men of his first wonderful voyage of 1869. And
these men surely deserved all that could be bestowed on them. They
had, under the Major's clear-sighted guidance and cool judgment,
performed one of the distinguished feats of history. They had faced
unknown dangers. They had determined that the forbidding torrent
could be mastered. But it has always seemed to me that the men of the
second party, who made the same journey, who mapped and explored the
river and much of the country roundabout, doing a large amount of
difficult work in the scientific line, should have been accorded some
recognition. The absence of this has sometimes been embarrassing for
the reason that when statements of members of the second party were
referred to the official report, their names were found missing from
the list. This inclined to produce an unfavourable impression
concerning these individuals. In order to provide in my own case
against any unpleasant circumstance owing to this omission, I wrote
to Major Powell on the subject and received the following highly
satisfactory answer:

Washington, D. C., January 18, 1888.

My Dear Dellenbaugh:
Replying to your note of the 14th instant, it gives me great pleasure
to state that you were a member of my second party of exploration
down the Colorado, during the years 1871 and 1872, that you occupied
a place in my own boat and rendered valuable services to the
expedition, and that it was with regret on my part that your
connection with the Survey ceased.
Yours cordially,
J. W. Powell.

Recently, when I informed him of my intention to publish this volume,
he very kindly wrote as follows:

Washington, January 6, 1902.

Dear Dellenbaugh:
I am pleased to hear that you are engaged in writing a book on the
Colorado Canyon. I hope that you will put on record the second trip
and the gentlemen who were members of that expedition. No other trip
has been made since that time, though many have tried to follow us.
One party, that headed by Mr. Stanton, went through the Grand Canyon
on its second attempt, but many persons have lost their lives in
attempting to follow us through the whole length of the canyons. I
shall be very glad to write a short introduction to your book.
Yours cordially,
J. W. Powell.

In complying with this request to put on record the second expedition
and the gentlemen who composed it, I feel all the greater pleasure,
because, at the same time, I seem to be fulfilling a duty towards my
old comrades. The reader is referred to Chapter XIV., and to pages
368-9 for later data on descents. Notwithstanding these the canyons
remain almost terra incognita for each new navigator. There have been
some who appear to be inclined to withhold from Major Powell the full
credit which is his for solving the great problem of the Southwest,
and who, therefore, make much of the flimsy story of White, and even
assume on faint evidence that others fathomed the mystery even before
White. There is, in my opinion, no ground for such assumptions.
Several trappers, like Pattie and Carson, had gained a considerable
knowledge of the general course and character of the river as early
as 1830, but to Major Powell and his two parties undoubtedly belongs
the high honour of being the first to explore and explain the truth
about it and its extraordinary canyon environment. If danger,
difficulty, and disaster mean romance, then assuredly the Colorado of
the West is entitled to first rank, for seldom has any human being
touched its borderland even, without some bitter or fatal experience.
Never is the Colorado twice alike, and each new experience is
different from the last. Once acknowledge this and the dangers,
however, and approach it in a humble and reverent spirit, albeit
firmly, and death need seldom be the penalty of a voyage on its
restless waters.

I have endeavoured to present the history of the river, and immediate
environment, so far as I have been able to learn it, but within the
limits of a single volume of this size much must necessarily be
omitted. Reference to the admirable works of Powell, Gilbert, and
Button will give the reader full information concerning the geology
and topography; Garces, by Elliott Coues, gives the story of the
friars; and the excellent memoir of Chittenden, The American Fur
Trade of the Far West, will give a complete understanding of the
travels and exploits of the real pioneers of the Rocky Mountain
country. I differ with this author, however, as to the wise and
commendable nature of the early trappers' dealings with the natives,
and this will be explained in the pages on that subject. He also says
in his preface that "no feature of western geography was ever
discovered by government explorers after 1840." While this is correct
in the main, it gives an erroneous impression so far as the canyons
of the Colorado are concerned. These canyons were "discovered," as
mentioned above, by some of the trappers, but their interior
character was not known, except in the vaguest way, so that the
discovery was much like discovering a range of mountains on the
horizon and not entering beyond the foothills.

For the titles of works of reference, of the narratives of trappers,
etc., I refer to the works of H. H. Bancroft; to Warren's Memoirs,
vol. i. Pacific Railroad reports; and to the first volume of Lieut.
Geo. M. Wheeler's report on Explorations West of the 100th Meridian.
The trappers and prospectors who had some experience on the Green and
the Colorado have left either no records or very incomplete ones. It
seems tolerably certain, however, that no experience of importance
has escaped notice. So far as attempts at descent are concerned, they
invariably met with speedy disaster and were given up.

In writing the Spanish and other foreign proper names I have in no
case translated, because such translations result in needless
confusion. To translate "Rio del Tizon" as Firebrand River is making
another name of it. Few would recognise the Colorado River under the
title of Red River, as used, for example, in Pattie's narrative.
While Colorado means red, it is quite another matter as a NAME. Nor
do I approve of hyphenating native words, as is so frequently done.
It is no easier to understand Mis-sis-sip-pi than Mississippi. My
thanks are due to Mr. Thomas Moran, the distinguished painter, for
the admirable sketch from nature he has so kindly permitted a
reproduction of for a frontispiece. Mr. Moran has been identified as
a painter of the Grand Canyon ever since 1873, when he went there
with one of Powell's parties and made sketches from the end of the
Kaibab Plateau which afterwards resulted in the splendid picture of
the Grand Canyon now owned by the Government.

I am indebted to Prof. A. H. Thompson for the use of his river diary
as a check upon my own, and also for many photographs now difficult
to obtain; and to Dr. G. K. Gilbert, Mr. E. E. Howell, Dr. T.
Mitchell Prudden, and Mr. Delancy Gill for the use of special
photographs. Other debts in this line I acknowledge in each instance
and hence will not repeat here. I had hoped to have an opportunity of
again reading over the diary which "Jack" Sumner kept on the first
Powell expedition, and which I have not seen since the time of the
second expedition, but the serious illness of Major Powell prevented
my requesting the use of it.
F. S. Dellenbaugh. New York, October, 1902.


NOTE.--Since the last edition of this work was published, the
inquiries of Mr. Robert Brewster Stanton have brought to light among
some forgotten papers of Major Powell's at the Bureau of Ethnology in
Washington the diary of Jack Sumner and also that of Major Powell
himself. Both begin at the mouth of the Uinta River.

Major Powell, because of his one-armed condition, had the only
life-preserver. The preserver was rubber of the inflating type and is
in the Smithsonian Institution, presented by Mr. Stanton who obtained
it from one of the survivors in 1907.



NOTE ON THE AUTHOR'S ITINERARY IN THE BASIN OF THE COLORADO RIVER AND
ADJACENT TERRITORY (Except where otherwise stated journeys were on
horseback.)

1871--By boat from the Union Pacific Railway crossing of Green River,
down the Green and Colorado to the mouth of the Paria, Lee's Ferry.
Numerous side trips on foot. Lee's Ferry to House Rock Valley, and
across north end of the Kaibab Plateau to the village of Kanab.

1872--Kanab to House Rock Valley and Paria Plateau. To Kanab. To
southern part of Kaibab Plateau. To Kanab via Shinumo Canyon and
Kanab Canyon. To Pipe Spring. To the Uinkaret Mountains and the Grand
Canyon at the foot of the Toroweap Valley. To Berry Spring near St.
George, along the edge of the Hurricane Ledge. To the Uinkaret
Mountains via Diamond Butte. To the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the
foot of the Toroweap. To Berry Spring via Diamond Butte and along the
foot of the Hurricane Ledge. To St. George. To the Virgen Mountains
and summit of Mt. Bangs. To Kanab via St. George. To the Aquarius
Plateau via Potato Valley. To and across the Henry Mountains. To the
Colorado at the mouth of Fremont River. By boat to the mouth of the
Paria. To Kanab and return across the Kaibab. By boat down the
Colorado to the mouth of the Kanab. To Kanab via the Kanab Canyon. To
the Uinkaret Mountains. To Kanab via Pipe Spring.

1873--To Salt Lake City, via Long Valley and the Sevier River.

1875--To terminus of Utah Southern Railway, about at Spanish Forks,
by rail. To Kanab via Sevier River and Upper Kanab. To the Kaibab
Plateau, De Motte Park, and the rim of the Grand Canyon. To the
bottom of the Grand Canyon via Shinumo and Kanab Canyons. To Kanab
via Kanab Canyon. To the Uinkaret Mountains via Pipe Spring and the
Wild Band Pockets. To the Grand Canyon at the foot of the Toroweap.

1876--To St. George across the Uinkaret Plateau. To Las Vegas,
Nevada, via Beaver Dam, Virgen River, the Muddy, and the desert. To
St. George, by the desert and the old "St. Joe" road across the
Beaver Dam Mountains. To the rim of the Grand Canyon, via Hidden
Spring, the Copper Mine, and Mt. Dellenbaugh. To a red paint cave on
the side of the canyon, about twenty-five hundred feet down. To St.
George via same route. To Ivanpah, California, via the old desert
road, the Muddy, Las Vegas, and Good Spring. To St. George via same
route. To Kanab via Short Creek and Pipe Spring. To the Uinkaret
Mountains via Pipe Spring and Antelope Valley. Across to the Shewits
Plateau and to Ambush Waterpocket south of Mt. Dellenbaugh.* To the
bottom of the Grand Canyon on the east side of the Shewits Plateau.
To St. George via Mt. Dellenbaugh and Hidden Spring. To Kanab via
Berry Spring and Pipe Spring. To Salt Lake City via Upper Kanab and
the Sevier Valley.

This waterpocket, which is a very large one, has, so far as I am
aware, never had an English name and I do not know the Amerind one. I
have called it "Ambush" because it was the place where three of
Powell's men were shot by the Shewits in 1869. See also pp. 229-30.

1884-5--By rail to Ft. Wingate, New Mexico. By rail to Flagstaff. To
Flagstaff via circuit of, and summit of, San Francisco Mountain and
the Turkey Tanks. By rail to the Needles, California. By rail to
Manuelito, New Mexico. To Ft. Defiance. By buckboard to Keam's
Canyon. To the East Mesa of the Moki. To Keam's Canyon. By buckboard
via Pueblo, Colorado, to Ft. Defiance. To the San Juan River at the
"Four Corners," via Lukachukai Pass and the summit of the Carisso
Mountains. To Ft. Defiance via the crest of the Tunicha Plateau. By
buckboard to Keam's and to the East Mesa of the Moki. To Mishongnuvi
and back. By waggon to Keam's. To Oraibe via Tewa. To Keam's via
Shimopavi and Tewa. To Holbrook by buckboard.

1899--By rail west across Green River Valley. By rail down Price
River, east across Gunnison Valley, up Grand River, and over the
Continental Divide.

1903--By rail to Salt Lake. By rail to Modena. By horse up the Virgen
River to the narrows of Mukoontuweap. Thence via Rockville and Short
Creek to Pipe Springs and Kanab. Thence to De Motte Park, Bright
Angel Spring, and Greenland Point at the Grand Canyon on the Kaibab
Plateau. Thence to Kanab, Panquitch, and Marysvale. Thence by rail to
Salt Lake.

1907--By rail to Grand Canyon, Arizona. By horse to Bass Camp, to the
bottom of the Grand Canyon, opposite Shinumo Creek, to Habasu Canyon,
to Grand Canyon Station, and to Grand View. By rail to the Needles.


CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. The Secret of the Gulf--Ulloa, 1539, One of the Captains
of Cortes, Almost Solves it, but Turns Back without
Discovering--Alarcon, 1540, Conquers

CHAPTER II. The Unknown River--Alarcon Ascends it Eighty-five Leagues
and Names it the Rio de Buena Guia--Melchior Diaz Arrives at its
Banks Later and Calls it the Rio del Tizon--Cardenas Discovers the
Grand Canyon.

CHAPTER III. The Grand Canyon--Character of the Colorado River--The
Water-Gods; Erosion and Corrasion--The Natives and their
Highways--The "Green River Valley" of the Old Trappers--The Strange
Vegetation and Some Singular Animals

CHAPTER IV. Onate, 1604, Crosses Arizona to the Colorado--A
Remarkable Ancient Ruin Discovered by Padre Kino, 1694--Padre Garces
Sees the Grand Canyon and Visits Oraibi, 1776--The Great Entrada of
Padre Escalante across Green River to Utah Lake, 1776--Death of
Garces Ends the Entrada Period, 1781.

CHAPTER V. Breaking the Wilderness--Wanderings of the Trappers and
Fur Traders--General Ashley in Green River Valley, 1824--Pattie along
the Grand Canyon, 1826--Lieutenant Hardy, R.N., in a Schooner on the
Lower Colorado, l826--Jedediah Smith, Salt Lake to San Gabriel,
1826--Pattie on the Lower Colorado in Canoes, 1827-28

CHAPTER VI. Fremont, the Pathfinder--Ownership of the Colorado--The
Road of the Gold Seekers--First United States Military Post,
1849--Steam Navigation--Captain Johnson Goes to the Head of Black
Canyon

CHAPTER VII. Lieutenant Ives Explores to Fortification Rock--By Trail
to Diamond Creek, Havasupai Canyon, and the Moki Towns--Macomb Fails
in an Attempt to Reach the Mouth of Grand River--James White's
Masterful Fabrication

CHAPTER VIII. The One-armed Knight--A Bold Attack on the
Canyons--Powell and His Men--The Wonderful Voyage--Mighty Walls and
Roaring Rapids--Capsizes and Catastrophes

CHAPTER IX. A Canyon of Cataracts--The Imperial Chasm--Short
Rations--A Split in the Party--Separation--Fate of the Howlands and
Dunn--The Monster Vanquished

CHAPTER X. Powell's Second Attack on the Colorado--Green River
City--Red Canyon and a Capsize--The Grave of Hook--The Gate of
Lodore--Cliff of the Harp--Triplet Falls and Hell's Half-Mile--A Rest
in Echo Park

CHAPTER XI. An Island Park and a Split Mountain--The White River
Runaways--Powell Goes to Salt Lake--Failure to Get Rations to the
Dirty Devil--On the Rocks in Desolation--Natural Windows--An Ancient
House--On the Back of the Dragon at Last--Cataracts and Cataracts in
the Wonderful Cataract Canyon--A Lost Pack-Train--Naming the Echo
Peaks

CHAPTER XII. Into the Jaws of the Dragon--A Useless
Experiment--Wheeler Reaches Diamond Creek Going Up-stream--The
Hurricane Ledge--Something about Names--A Trip from Kanab through
Unknown Country to the Mouth of the Dirty Devil

CHAPTER XIII. A Canyon through Marble-Multitudinous Rapids--Running
the Sockdologer--A Difficult Portage, Rising Water, and a Trap--The
Dean Upside Down--A Close Shave--Whirlpools and Fountains--The Kanab
Canyon and the End of the Voyage

CHAPTER XIV. A Railway Proposed through the Canyons--The Brown Party,
1889, Undertakes the Survey--Frail Boats and Disasters--The Dragon
Claims Three--Collapse of the Expedition--Stanton Tries the Feat
Again, 1889-90--A Fall and a Broken Leg--Success of Stanton--The
Dragon Still Untrammelled

Epilogue

Appendix

{photo p. xvii} The Steamer "Undine." Wrecked while trying to ascend
a rapid on Grand River above Moab. Photograph by R. G. Leonard. His
experience on this river ran through a period of some 20 years from
about 1892. He died in the autumn of 1913. Every year he built one or
more boats trying to improve on each. The Stone model (see cut, page
129) was the final outcome. The usual high-water mark at Bright Angel
Trail is 45 feet higher than the usual low-water mark. Stanton
measured the greatest declivity in Cataract Canyon and found it to be
55 feet in two miles. The total fall in Cataract Canyon he made 355
feet. With a fall per mile of 27 1/2 feet. Cataract holds the record
for declivity, though this is only for two miles, while in the
Granite Falls section of the Grand Canyon there is a fall of 21 feet
per mile for ten miles.




THE ROMANCE OF THE COLORADO RIVER

CHAPTER I.

The Secret of the Gulf--Ulloa, 1539, One of the Captains of Cortes,
Almost Solves it, but Turns Back without Discovering--Alarcon, 1540,
Conquers.

In every country the great, rivers have presented attractive pathways
for interior exploration--gateways for settlement. Eventually they
have grown to be highroads where the rich cargoes of development,
profiting by favouring tides, floated to the outer world. Man, during
all his wanderings in the struggle for subsistence, has universally
found them his friends and allies. They have yielded to him as a
conquering stranger; they have at last become for him foster-parents.
Their verdant banks have sheltered and protected him; their skies
have smiled upon his crops. With grateful memories, therefore, is
clothed for us the sound of such river names as Thames, Danube,
Hudson, Mississippi. Through the centuries their kindly waters have
borne down ancestral argosies of profit without number, establishing
thus the wealth and happiness of the people. Well have rivers been
termed the "Arteries of Commerce"; well, also, may they be considered
the binding links of civilisation.

Then, by contrast, it is all the more remarkable to meet with one
great river which is none of these helpful things, but which, on the
contrary, is a veritable dragon, loud in its dangerous lair, defiant,
fierce, opposing utility everywhere, refusing absolutely to be
bridled by Commerce, perpetuating a wilderness, prohibiting mankind's
encroachments, and in its immediate tide presenting a formidable host
of snarling waters whose angry roar, reverberating wildly league
after league between giant rock-walls carved through the bowels of
the earth, heralds the impossibility of human conquest and smothers
hope. From the tiny rivulets of its snowy birth to the ferocious
tidal bore where it dies in the sea, it wages a ceaseless battle as
sublime as it is terrible and unique. Such is the great Colorado
River of the West, rising amidst the fountains of the beautiful Wind
River Mountains of Wyoming, where also are brought forth the gentler
Columbia and the mighty, far-reaching Missouri. Whirling down ten
thousand feet in some two thousand miles, it meets the hot level of
the Red Sea, once the Sea of Cortes, now the Gulf of California, in
tumult and turmoil. In this long run it is cliff bound nine-tenths of
the way, and the whole country drained by it and its tributaries has
been wrought by the waters and winds of ages into multitudinous
plateaus and canyons. The canyons of its tributaries often rival in
grandeur those of the main stream itself, and the tributaries receive
other canyons equally magnificent, so that we see here a stupendous
system of gorges and tributary gorges, which, even now bewildering,
were to the early pioneer practically prohibitory. Water is the
master sculptor in this weird, wonderful land, yet one could there
die easily of thirst. Notwithstanding the gigantic work accomplished,
water, except on the river, is scarce. Often for months the soil of
the valleys and plains never feels rain; even dew is unknown. In this
arid region much of the vegetation is set with thorns, and some of
the animals are made to match the vegetation. A knowledge of this
forbidding area, now robbed of some of its old terrors by the
facilities in transportation, has been finally gained only by a long
series of persistent efforts, attended by dangers, privations,
reverses, discouragements, and disasters innumerable. The Amerind,*
the red man, roamed its wild valleys. Some tribes built stone houses
whose ruins are now found overlooking its waters, even in the depths
of the Grand Canyon itself, or in the cliffs along the more
accessible tributaries, cultivating in the bottoms their crops. Lands
were also tilled along the extreme lower reaches, where the great
rock-walls fall back and alluvial soils border the stream. Here and
there the Amerind also crossed it, when occasion required, on the
great intertribal highways which are found in all districts, but it
was neither one thing nor another to him.

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