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Canyon Voyage

The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition down the Green-
Colorado River from Wyoming, and the Explorations on
Land, in the Years 187 1 and 1872

By i
Frederick S^'^ellenbaugh

Artist and Assistant Topographer of the Expedition

^Come on, sir; here's the place. Stand still. How

fearful
And dizzy 't is to cast one's eyes so low !"

King Lear,

With Fifty Illustrations

1 (I

G. P- Putnam's Sons

New York and London

Ube f{nic[?erbocF?er press

1908

FREDERICK S. DELLENBAUGH

TCbc *n(cftcrbocftcr preee, ficw jpotft

H. O. D.

MY COMPANION

ON THE

VOYAGE OF LIFE

» 0 • 0

■
# • • •

PREFACE

THIS volume presents the narrative, from my point of view,
of an important government expedition of nearly forty
years ago ; an expedition which, strangely enough, never before
has been fully treated. In fact in all these years it never has
been written about by any one besides myself, barring a few
letters in 187 1 from Clement Powell, through his brother, to the
Chicago Tribune, and an extremely brief mention by Major
Powell, its organiser and leader, in a pamphlet entitled Report
of Explorations in i8jj of the Colorado of the West and its
Tributaries (Government Printing Office, 1874). In my history,
The Romance of the Colorado River, of which this is practically
volume two, I gave a synopsis, and in several other places I
have written in condensed form concerning it ; but the present
work for the first time gives the full story.

In 1869, Major Powell made his famous first descent of the
Green-Colorado River from the Union Pacific Railway in
Wyoming to the mouth of the Virgin River in Nevada, a feat
of exploration unsurpassed, perhaps unequalled, on this conti-
nent. Several of the upper canyons had been before penetrated,
but a vague mystery hung over even these, and there was no
recorded, or even oral, knowledge on the subject when Powell
turned his attention to it. There was a tale that a man named
James White had previously descended through the great
canyons, but Mr. Robert Brewster Stanton has thoroughly
investigated this and definitely proven it to be incorrect.
Powell's first expedition was designed as an exploration to
cover ten months, part of which was to be in winter quarters ;
circumstances reduced the time to three. It was also more or
less of a private venture with which the Government of the

Preface

United States had nothing to do. It became necessary to
supplement it then by a second expedition, herein described,
which Congress supported, with, of course. Major Powell in
charge, and nominally under the direction of the Smithsonian
Institution, of which Professor Henry was then Secretary and
Professor Baird his able coadjutor, the latter taking the deeper
interest in this venture. Powell reported through the Smith-
sonian ; that was about all there was in the way of control.

The material collected by this expedition was utilised in
preparing the well-known report by Major Powell, Exploration
of the Colorado River of the West, 1869- 1872, the second party
having continued the work inaugurated by the first and en-
larged upon it, but receiving no credit in that or any other
government publication.

As pointed out in the text of this work, a vast portion of
the basin of the Colorado was a complete blank on the maps
until our party accomplished its end ; even some of the most
general features were before that not understood. No canyon
above the Virgin had been recorded topographically, and the
physiography was unknown. The record of the first expedition
is one of heroic daring, and it demonstrated that the river could
be descended throughout in boats, but unforeseen obstacles pre-
vented the acquisition of scientific data which ours was specially
planned to secure in the light of the former developments.
The map, the hypsometric and hydrographic data, the geologic
sections and geologic data, the photographs, ethnography, and
indeed about all the first information concerning the drainage
area in question were theresults of the labours of the second
expedition. Owing, perhaps, to Major Powell's considering
our work merely in the line of routine survey, no special record,
as mentioned above, was ever made of the second expedition.
We inherited from the first a plat of the river itself down to the
mouth of the Paria, which, according to Professor Thompson,
was fairly good, but we did not rely on it ; from the mouth of
the Paria to Catastrophe Rapid, the point below Diamond
Creek where the Rowlands and Dunn separated from the boat
party, a plat that was broken in places. This was approxi-
mately correct as far as Kanab Canyon, though not so good as

Preface

Vll

above the Paria. From the Kanab Canyon, where we ended
our work with the boats, to the mouth of the Virgin we received
fragments of the course owing to the mistake made in dividing
the notes at the time of the separation ; a division decided on
because each group thought the other doomed to destruction.
Thus Rowland took out with him parts of both copies which
were destroyed by the Shewits when they killed the men.
After Rowland's departure, the Major ran in the course to the
mouth of the Virgin. Professor Thompson was confident that
our plat of the course, which is the basis of all maps to-day, is
accurate from the Union Pacific Railway in Wyoming to Catas-
trophe Rapid, for though we left the river at the Kanab Canyon,
we were able by our previous and subsequent work on land to
verify the data of the first party and to fill in the blanks, but he
felt ready to accept corrections below Catastrophe Rapid to the
Virgin.

For a list of the canyons, height of walls, etc., I must refer
to the appendix in my previous volume. While two names
cover the canyon from the Paria to the Grand Wash, the gorge
is practically one with a total length of 283 miles. I have not
tried to give geological data for these are easily obtainable in the
reports of Powell, Button, Gilbert, Walcott, and others, and I
lacked space to introduce them properly. In fact I have endeav-
ored to avoid a mere perfunctory record, full of data well stated
elsewhere. While trying to give our daily experiences and
actual camp life in a readable way, I have adhered to accuracy
of statement. I believe that any one who wishes to do so can
use this book as a guide for navigating the river as far as Kanab
Canyon. I have not relied on memory but have kept for con-
tinual reference at my elbow not only my own careful diary of
the journey, but also the manuscript diary of Professor Thomp-
son, and a typewritten copy of the diary of John F. Steward as
far as the day of his departure from our camp. I have also
consulted letters that I wrote home at the time and to the
Buffalo Express, and a detailed draft of events up to the
autumn of 1871 which I prepared in 1877 when all was still
vividly fresh in mind. In addition, I possess a great many
letters which Professor Thompson wrote me up to within a few

Vlll

Preface

weeks of his death (July, 1906), often in reply to questions I
raised on various points that were not clear to me. Each
member of the party I have called by the name familiarly used
on the expedition, for naturally there was no " Mistering " on a
trip of this kind. Powell was known throughout the length
and breadth of the Rocky Mountain Region as "the Major,"
while Thompson was quite as widely known as " Prof." Some
of the geographic terms, like Dirty Devil River, Unknown
Mountains, etc., were those employed before permanent names
were adopted. In my other books I have used the term
Amerind for American Indian, and I intend to continue its use,
but in the pages of this volume, being a narrative, and the word
not having been used or known to us at that time, it did not
seem exactly appropriate.

Some readers may wish to provide themselves with full
maps of the course of the river, and I will state that the U. S.
Geological Survey has published map-sheets each 20 by 165^
inches, of the whole course of the Green-Colorado. These
sheets are sent to any person desiring them who remits the
price, five cents the sheet, by post-oflfice money order addressed :
" Director U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C," with
the names of the sheets wanted. The names of the seventeen
sheets covering the canyoned part are : Green River(?), Ashley,
Yampa,(?) Price River, East Tavaputs, San Rafael, La Sal,
Henry Mountains, Escalante, Echo Cliffs, San Francisco
Mountains, Kaibab, Mount Trumbull, Chino, Diamond Creek,
St. Thomas, and Camp Mohave.

Several parties have tried the descent through the canyons
since our voyage. Some have been successful, some sadly
disastrous. The river is always a new problem in its details,
though the general conditions remain the same.

Major Powell was a man of prompt decision, with a cool,
comprehensive, far-reaching mind. He was genial, kind, never
despondent, always resolute, resourceful, masterful, determined
to overcome every obstacle. To him alone belongs the credit
for solving the problem of the great canyons, and to Professor
Thompson that for conducting most successfully the geographic
side of the work under difficulties that can hardly be appreciated

Preface

in these days when survey work is an accepted item of govern-
ment expenditure and Congress treats it with an open hand.

I am indebted to Mr. Robert Brewster Stanton, who com-
pleted the Brown Expedition triumphantly, for valuable infor-
mation and photographs and for many interesting conversations
comparing his experiences with ours ; to the Geological Survey
for maps and for the privilege of using photographs from
negatives in the possession of the Survey ; and to Mr. John K.
Hillers for making most of the prints used in illustrating this
book. My thanks are due to Brigadier-General Mackenzie,
U. S. Engineers, for copies of rare early maps of the region
embraced in our operations, now nearly impossible to obtain.

In 1902 when I informed Major Powell that I was preparing
my history of the Colorado River, he said he hoped that I
would put on record the second trip and the men who were
members of that expedition, which I accordingly did. He
never ceased to take a lively interest in my affairs, and the year
before he wrote me: " I always delight in your successes and
your prosperity, and I ever cherish the memory of those days
when we were on the great river together." Professor Thomp-
son only a month before he died sent me a letter in which he
said: "You are heir to all the Colorado material and I am get-
ting what I have together." These sentiments cause me to
feel like an authorised and rightful historian of the expedition
with which I was so intimately connected, and I sincerely hope
that I have performed my task in a way that would meet the
approval of my old leader and his colleague, as well as of my
other comrades. One learns microscopically the inner nature
of his companions on a trip of this kind, and I am happy to
avow that a finer set of men could not have been selected for
the trying work which they accomplished with unremitting
good-nature and devotion, without pecuniary reward. Professor
Thompson possessed invaluable qualities for this expedition :
rare balance of mind, great cheerfulness, and a sunny way of
looking on difficulties and obstacles as if they were mere
problems in chess. His foresight and resourcefulness were
phenomenal, and no threatening situation found him without
some good remedy.

X Preface

Some of the illustrations in Powell's Report are misleading,
and I feel it my duty to specially note three of them. The one
opposite page 8 shows boats of the type we used on the second
voyage with a middle cabin. The boats of the first expedition
had cabins only at the bow and stern. The picture of the
wreck at Disaster Falls, opposite page 27, is nothing like the
place, and the one opposite page 82 gives boats in impossible
positions, steered by rudders. A rudder is useless on such a
river. Long steering sweeps were used.

Time's changes have come to pass. You may now go by a
luxurious Santa F6 train direct to the south rim of the greatest
chasm of the series, the Grand Canyon, and stop there in a
beautiful hotel surrounded by every comfort, yet when we were
making the first map no railway short of Denver existed and
there was but one line across the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps
before many more years are gone we will see Mr. Stanton's
Denver, Colorado Canyon, and Pacific Railway accomplished
through the canyons, and if I then have not *' crossed to
Killiloo " I will surely claim a free pass over the entire length
in defiance of all commerce-regulating laws.

Frederick S. Dellenbaugh.
Cragsmoor,

August, 1908

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER IV

PAGE

A River Entrapped — Acquaintance not Desired — Ives Explores the Lower
Reaches — Powell the Conqueror — Reason for a Second Descent —
Congressional Appropriation — Preparation — The Three Boats — The
Mighty Wilderness — Ready for the Start I

CHAPTER II

Into the Wilderness — The Order of Sailing — Tobacco for the Indians Comes
Handy — A Lone Fisherman and Some Trappers — Jack Catches Strange
Fish — The Snow-clad Uintas in View — A Larder Full of Venison —
Entrance into Flaming Gorge 9

CHAPTER III

The First Rapid — Horseshoe and Kingfisher Canyons — A Rough Entrance
into Red Canyon — Capsize of the Nell — The Grave of a Bold Navigator
— Discovery of a White Man's Camp — Good-bye to Frank — At the Gate
of Lodore

Locked in the Chasm of Lodore — Rapids with Railway Speed — A Treach-
erous Approach to Falls of Disaster — Numerous Loadings and Unload-
ings — Over the Rocks with Cargoes — Library Increased by Putnam's
Magazine — Triplet Falls and Hell's Half Mile — Fire in Camp — Exit
from Turmoil to Peace 34.

CHAPTER V

A Remarkable Echo — Up the Canyon of the Yampa — Steward and Clem
Try a Moonlight Swim — Whirlpool Canyon and Mountain Sheep — A
Grand Fourth-of-July Dinner — A Rainbow -Coloured Valley — The
Major Proceeds in Advance — A Split Mountain with Rapids a Plenty —
Enter a Rig Valley at Last 49

xii Contents

CHAPTER VI

A Lookout for Redskins— The River a Sluggard—A Gunshot!— Someone
Comes!— The Tale of a Mysterious Light—How, How! from Douglas
Boy— At the Mouth of the Uinta— A Tramp to Goblin City and a
Trip down White River on a Raft— A Waggon-load of Supplies from
Salt Lake by Way of Uinta Agency— The Major Goes Out to Find a
Way In , . . . 6i

CHAPTER VII

On to Battle — A Concert Repertory — Good-bye to Douglas Boy — The Busy,
Busy Beaver — In the Embrace of the Rocks Once More — A Relic of the
Cliff-Dwellers— Low Water and Hard Work — A Canyon of Desolation
— Log-cabin Cliff — Rapids and Rapids and Rapids — A Horse, whose
Horse? — Through Gray Canyon to the Rendezvous .... 72

CHAPTER VIII

Return of the Major — Some Mormon Friends — No Rations at the Elusive
Dirty Devil — Captain Gunnison's Crossing — An All-night Vigil for Cap.
and Clem — The Land of a Thousand Cascades — A Bend Like a Bow-
knot and a Canyon Labyrinthian — Cleaving an Unknown World — Signs
of the Oldest Inhabitant — Through the Canyon of Stillwater to the Jaws
of the Colorado 94

CHAPTER IX

A Wonderland of Crags and Pinnacles — Poverty Rations — Fast and Furious
Plunging Waters — Boulders Boom along the Bottom — Chilly Days and
Shivering — A Wild Tumultuous Chasm — A Bad Passage by Twilight
and a Tornado With a Picture Moonrise — Out of One Canyon into
Another— At the Mouth of the Dirty Devil at Last . . . . "5

CHAPTER X

The Canonita Left Behind — Shinumo Ruins — Troublesome Ledges in the
River — Alcoves and Amphitheatres — The Mouth of the San Juan —
Starvation Days and a Lookout for Rations — El Vado de Los Padres —
White Men Again — Given up for Lost — Navajo Visitors — Peaks with a
Great Echo— At the Mouth of the Paria I35

CHAPTER XI

More Navajos Arrive with Old Jacob — The Lost Pack-train and a Famished
Guide — From Boat to Broncho — On to Kanab— Winter Arrives — Wolf
Neighbours too Intimate — Preparing for Geodetic Work — Over the
Kaibab to Eight-mile Spring — A Frontier Town — Camp below Kanab
— A Mormon Christmas Dance 152

Contents xiii

CHAPTER XII

Reconnoitring and Triangulating — A Pai Ute New Year's Dance — The
Major Goes to Salt Lake — Snowy Days on the Kaibab — At Pipe Spring
— Gold Hunters to the Colorado — Visits to the Uinkaret County —
Craters and Lava — Finding the Hurricane Ledge — An Interview with
a Cougar — Back to Kanab 174

CHAPTER XIII

Off for the Unknown Country — A Lonely Grave — Climbing a Hog-back to
a Green Grassy Valley — Surprising a Ute Camp— Towich-a-tick-a-boo
— Following a Blind Trail — The Unknown Mountains Become Known
— Down a Deep Canyon — To the Paria with the Canonita — John D.
Lee and Lonely Dell 195

CHAPTER XIV

A Company of Seven — The Nellie /^cte/^// Abandoned — Into Marble Canyon
— Vasey's Paradise — A Furious Descent to the Little Colorado — A
Mighty Fall in the Dismal Granite Gorge — Caught in a Trap — Upside
Down — A Deep Plunge and a Predicament — At the Mouth of the
Kanab 215

CHAPTER XV

A New Departure — Farewell to the Boats — Out to the World Through
Kanab Canyon — A Midnight Ride — At the Innupin Picavu — Prof.
Reconnoitres the Shewits Country — Winter Quarters in Kanab — Mak-
ing the Preliminary Map — Another New Year — Across a High Divide
in a Snow-storm — Down the Sevier in Winter — The Last Summons . 242

Index 269

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Grand Canyon Frontispiece

Looking south from the Kaibab Plateau, North Rim, near the head of
Bright Angel Creek, the canyon of which is seen in the foreground.
The San Francisco Mountains are in the distance. On the South
Rim to the right, out of the picture, is the location of the Hotel
Tovar. The width of the canyon at top in this region is about
twelve miles, with a depth of near 6000 feet on the north side, and
over 5000 on the south. Total length, including Marble Canyon
division, 283 miles.
Sketch made in colour on the spot by F. S. Dellenbaugh, June 4, 1903.

The Toll

Unidentified skeleton found April, 1906, by C. C. Spaulding in the
Grand Canyon 300 feet above the river, some miles below Bright
Angel trail. There were daily papers in the pocket of the clothes
of the early spring of 1900.

Photograph by Kolb Bros. 1906, Grand Canyon, Arizona.

Red Canyon .6

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Before the Start at Green River City, Wyoming . 9

The dark box open. Andy, Clem, Beaman, Prof. Steward, Cap.,
Frank, Jones, Jack, the Major, Fred, Canonita^ Emma Dean^
Nellie Powell.

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Flaming Gorge 17

The beginning of the Colorado River Canyons, N. E. Utah,
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 1.

Horseshoe Canyon 21

Photograph by E. O, Beaman, 1871.

xvi Illustrations

FACING
PAGE

Red Canyon » ... 25

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1S71.

Red Canyon . . . . . . . .28

Ashley Falls from below.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

In Red Canyon Park 29

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

The Head of the Canyon of Lodore • ... 34
Just inside the gate.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Canyon of Lodore • . 37

Low water.

Photograph by J. K. Killers, 1874.

The Heart of Lodore 40

F. S. Dellenbaugh.

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Canyon of Lodore — Dunn's Cliff 43

2800 feet above river.

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Canyon of Lodore 44

Jones, Killers, Dellenbaugh.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Echo Park

Mouth of Yampa River in foreground. Green River on right.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 1.

Whirlpool Canyon o 54

Mouth of Bishop Creek — Fourth of July camp.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 18 71.

Split Mountain Canyon .

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Canyon of Desolation 81

Steward.

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Illustrations xvii

FACING
PAGE

Colorado River White Salmon 98

Photograph by the Denver, Colorado Canyon and Pacific Railway
Survey under Robert Brewster Stanton, 1S89.

Dellenbaugh Butte 102

Near mouth of San Rafael.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Labyrinth Canyon — Bowknot Bend .... 108

The great loop is behind the spectator.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Stillwater Canyon .110

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Cataract Canyon 119

Clement Powell.

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Cataract Canyon 128

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Narrow Canyon 1^3

Photograph by Best Expedition, 1891.

Mouth of the Fremont River (Dirty Devil) . . . 135

Photograph by the Brown Expedition, 1889.

Glen Canyon 140

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 1.

Looking down upon Glen Canyon ..... 142

Cut through homogeneous sandstone.

Photograph by J. K. Killers, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.

Tom 147

A typical Navajo. Tom became educated and no longer looked like

an Indian.
Photograph by Wittick.

Glen Canyon x^o

Sentinel Rock — about 300 feet high.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

The Grand Canyon 162

From Havasupai Point, South Rim, showing Inner Gorge.
From a sketch in colour by F. S. Dellenbaugh, 1907.

xviii Illustrations

FACING
PAGE

The Grand Canyon i^^

From South Rim near Bright Angel Creek.

The Grand Canyon • i74

From part way down south side above Bright Angel Creek.

WiNSOR Castle, the Defensive House at Pipe Springs . i86
Photograph by H. Arthur Pomroy, 1903.

Little Zion Valley, or the Mookoontoweap, Upper

Virgin River 186

Photograph by H. Arthur Pomroy, 1903.

In the Unknown Country i95

Photograph by J. K. Killers, 1872.

Navajo Mountain from near Kaiparowits Peak . . 201
Photograph by J. K. Killers, 1872.

Tantalus Creek . . . . . . . . 206

Tributary of Fremont River.
Photograph by J. K. Killers.

Example of Lakes on the Aquarius Plateau . .211
Photograph by J. K. Killers.

The Grand Canyon 215

Near mouth of Shinumo Creek. The river is in flood and the water is

' ' Colorado. "
Sketch made in colour on the spot by F. S. Dellenbaugh, July 26, 1907.

Marble Canyon 219

Thompson.

Photograph by J. K. Killers, 1872.

Canyon of the Little Colorado 222

Photograph by C. Barthelmess.

The Grand Canyon 224

From just below the Little Colorado,
Photograph by J. K. Killers, 1872.

The Grand Canyon 227

Running the Sockdologer.

From a sketch afterwards by F. S. Dellenbaugh.

The Grand Canyon 232

From top of Granite, south side near Bright Angel Creek.
The Grand Canyon , 238

Character of river in rapids.
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh, 1907.

Illustrations xix

FACING
PAGE

The Grand Canyon ........ 242

At a rapid — low water.

The Grand Canyon . 248

At the bottom near foot of Bass Trail.

The Grand Canyon 254

From north side near foot of Toroweap Valley, Uinkaret District.
Photograph by J. K. Hillers.

The Grand Canyon 258

Storm effect from South Rim.

MAPS

A. Map by the U. S. War Department, 1S68. Supplied by the cour-

tesy of General Mackenzie, U. S. A,, showing the knowledge of
the Colorado River basin just before Major Powell began opera-
tions. The topography above the junction of the Green and Grand
is largely pictorial and approximate. The white space from the
San Rafael to the mouth of the Virgin is the unknown country
referred to in this volume which was investigated in 1871—72-73.
Preliminary maps B, C, and D at pages 244-46, and 207 respec-
tively, partly give the results of the work which filled in this area. 95

B. Preliminary map of a portion of the southern part of the unknown

country indicated by blank space on Map A, at page 95, showing
the Hurricane Ledge, Uinkaret and Shewits Mountains and the
course of the Grand Canyon from the mouth of Kanab Canyon to
the Grand Wash. The Rowlands and Dunn left the first expedi-
tion at Catastrophe Rapid at the sharp bend a few miles below the
intersection of the river and longitude 113° 30', climbed out to
the north and were killed near Mt. Dellenbaugh. . . . 244

C. Preliminary map of a portion of the central part of the unknown

country indicated by the blank space on Map A, at page 95, show-
ing the Kaibab Plateau, mouth of the Paria, Echo Peaks, House
Rock Valley and the course of part of Glen Canyon and of Marble
Canyon and the Grand Canyon to the mouth of the Kanab Canyon.
El Vado is at the western intersection of the 37th parallel and the
Colorado River, and Kanab is in the upper left-hand corner of the
map — just above the 37th parallel which is the boundary between
Utah and Arizona. The words " Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe
to Los Angeles " near El Vado were added in Washington and are
incorrect. The old Spanish trail crossed at Gunnison Crossing far
north of this point which was barely known before 1858. . . 246

Illustrations

FACI>'G
PAG 8

Preliminary map of a portion of the northern part of the unknown
country indicated by the blank space on Map A, at page 95, show-
ing the course of part of Glen Canyon, the mouth of the Fremont
(Dirty Devil) River, the Henry (Unknown) Mountains, and the
trail of the first known party of white men to cross this area. The
Escalante River which was mistaken for the Dirty Devil enters the
Colorado just above the first letter "o" of Colorado at the bottom
of the map. The Dirty Devil enters from the north at the upper
right-hand side. .......... 207

E. Showing results of recent re-survey of part of the Grand Canyon
near Bright Angel Creek by the Geological Survey with ample
time for detail. Compare with Map C at page 246 — the south end
of Kaibab Plateau 250

A CANYON VOYAGE

CHAPTER I

A River Entrapped — Acquaintance not Desired — Ives Explores the Lower Reaches
— Powell the Conqueror — Reason for a Second Descent— Congressional
Appropriation — Preparation — The Three Boats — The Mighty Wilderness —
Ready for the Start.

THE upper continuation of the Colorado River of the West
is Green River which heads in the Wind River Mountains
at Fremont Peak. From this range southward to the Uinta
Mountains, on the southern boundary of Wyoming, the
river flows through an open country celebrated in the early
days of Western exploration and fur trading as ** Green River
Valley," and at that period the meeting ground and " rendez-
vous" of the various companies and organisations, and of free
trappers. By the year 1840 the vast region west of the Missouri
had been completely investigated by the trappers and fur-hunt-
ers in the pursuit of trade, with the exception of the Green-and-
Colorado River from the foot of Green River Valley to the
termination of the now famous Grand Canyon of Arizona.
The reason for this exception was that at the southern ex-
tremity of Green River Valley the solid obstacle of the Uinta
Range was thrown in an easterly and westerly trend directly
across the course of the river, which, finding no alternative,
had carved its way, in the course of a long geological epoch,
through the foundations of the mountains in a series of gorges
with extremely precipitous sides; continuous parallel cliffs be-
tween whose forbidding precipices dashed the torrent towards

2 A Canyon Voyage

the sea. Having thus entrapped itself, the turbulent stream,
by the configuration of the succeeding region, was forced to
continue its assault on the rocks, to reach the Gulf, and ground
its fierce progress through canyon after canyon, with scarcely
an intermission of open country, for a full thousand miles from
the beginning of its entombment, the entrance of Flaming
Gorge, at the foot of the historical Green River Valley. Some
few attempts had been made to fathom the mystery of this long
series of chasms, but with such small success that the explora-
tion of the river was given up as too difficult and too dan-
gerous. Ashley had gone through Red Canyon in 1825 and in
one of the succeeding winters of that period a party had passed
through Lodore on the ice. These trips proved that the can-
yons were not the haunt of beaver, that the navigation of them
was vastly difficult, and that no man could tell what might
befall in those gorges further down, that were deeper, longer,
and still more remote from any touch with the outer world.
Indeed it was even reported that there were places where the
whole river disappeared underground. The Indians, as a rule,
kept away from the canyons, for there was little to attract
them. One bold Ute who attempted to shorten his trail
by means of the river, shortened it to the Happy Hunting
Grounds immediately, and there was nothing in his fate to
inspire emulation.

The years then wore on and the Colorado remained un-
known through its canyon division. Ives had come up to
near the mouth of the Virgin from the Gulf of California in
1858, and the portion above Flaming Gorge, from the foot of
Green River Valley, was fairly well known, with the Union
Pacific Railway finally bridging it in Wyoming. One James
White was picked up (1867) at a point below the mouth of
the Virgin in an exhausted state, and it was assumed that
he had made a large part of the terrible voyage on a raft, but
this was not the case, and the Colorado River Canyons still
waited for a conqueror. He came in 1869 in the person of
John Wesley Powell, a late Major' in the Civil War, whose

' Powell had received an appointment as Colonel before he left the Volunteer
Service, but he was always called Major.

The Toll.

Unidentified skeleton found April 1906 by C. C. Spaulding in the Grand Canyon 300 feet

above the river, some miles below Bright Angel trail. There were daily papers

of the early spring of 1900 in the pocket of the clothes.

Photograph 1906 by Kolb Bros.

Powell the Conqueror 3

scientific studies had led him to the then territory of Colorado
where his mind became fired with the intention of exploring
the canyons. The idea was carried out, and the river was
descended from the Union Pacific Railway crossing to the
mouth of the Virgin, and two of the men went on to the sea.
Thus the great feat was accompHshed — one of the greatest
feats of exploration ever executed on this continent.*

Circumstances had rendered the data collected both insuffi-
cient and incomplete. A second expedition was projected
to supply deficiencies and to extend the work ; an expedition
so well equipped and planned that time could be taken for
the purely scientific side of the venture. This expedition was
the first one under the government, the former expedition
having been a more or less private enterprise. Congress made
appropriations and the party were to start in 1870. This was
found to be inexpedient for several reasons, among which was
the necessity of exploring a route by which rations could be
brought in to them at the mouth of what we called Dirty Devil
River — a euphonious title applied by the men of the first ex-
pedition. This stream entered the Colorado at the foot of what
is now known as Narrow Canyon, a little below the 38th parallel,
—the Fremont River of the present geographies. Arrange-
ments for supplies to be brought in to the second expedition
at this place were made by the Major during a special visit
to southern Utah for the purpose.

By great good fortune I became a member of the second
expedition. Scores of men were turned away, disappointed.
The party was a small one, and it was full. We were to begin
our voyage through the chain of great canyons, at the same
point where the first expedition started, the point where the
recently completed Union Pacific Railway crossed Green
River in Wyoming, and we arrived there from the East early
on the morning of April 29, 1871. We were all ravenous after
the long night on the train and breakfast was the first consid-
eration, but when this had re-established our energy we went
to look for the flat car with our boats which had been sent
» For the history of the Colorado River the reader is referred to The Romance
of the Colorado River, by F. S. Dellenbaugh.

4 A Canyon Voyage

ahead from Chicago. The car was soon found on a siding and
with the help of some railroad employes we pushed it along to
the eastern end of the bridge over Green River and there, on
the down side, put the boats into the waters against whose
onslaughts they were to be our salvation. It was lucky per-
haps that we did not pause to ponder on the importance of
these little craft ; on how much depended on their staunchness
and stability ; and on our possible success in preventing their
destruction. The river was high from melting snows and the
current was swift though ordinarily it is not a large river at
this point. This season had been selected for the start because
of the high water, which would tide us over the rocks till
tributary streams should swell the normal volume; for our
boats were to be well loaded, there being no chance to get
supplies after leaving. We had some trouble in making a
landing where we wanted to, in a little cove on the east side
about half a mile down, which had been selected as a good
place for our preparatory operations. Here the three boats
were hauled out to receive the final touches. They were
named Emma Dean^ Nellie Powell, and Canonita. A space
was cleared in the thick willows for our general camp over
which Andy was to be master of ceremonies, at least so far as
the banqueting division was concerned, and here he became
initiated into the chemistry necessary to transform raw mate-
rials into comparatively edible food. But it was not so hard
a task, for our supplies were flour, beans, bacon, dried apples,
and dried peaches, tea and coffee, with, of course, plenty of
sugar. Canned goods at that time were not common, and
besides, would have been too heavy. Bread must be baked
three times a day in the Dutch oven, a sort of skillet of cast
iron, about three inches deep, ten or twelve inches in diameter,
with short legs, and a cast-iron cover with a turned-up rim that
would hold hot coals. We had no other bread than was made
in this oven, or in a frying-pan, with saleratus and cream of
tartar to raise it. It was Andy's first experience as a cook,
though he had been a soldier in the Civil War, as had almost
every member of the party except the youngest three, Clem,
Frank, and myself, I being the youngest of all.

At Green River 5

For sleeping quarters we were disposed in two vacant
wooden shanties about two hundred yards apart and a some-
what greater distance from the cook-camp. These shanties
were mansions left over, like a group of roofless adobe ruins
near by, from the opulent days of a year or two back when this
place had been the terminus of the line during building opera-
tions. Little remained of its whilom grandeur ; a section house,
a railway station, a number of canvas-roofed domiciles. Field's
" Outfitting Store," and the aforesaid shanties in which we
secured refuge, being about all there was of the place. The
region round about suggested the strangeness of the wild
country below, through the midst of which led our trail. Arid
and gravelly hills met the eye on all sides, accentuated by huge
buttes and cliffs of brilliant colours, which in their turn were in-
tensified by a clear sky of deep azure. In the midst of our op-
erations, we found time to note the passing of the single express
train each way daily. These trains seemed very friendly and
the passengers gazed wonderingly from the windows at us and
waved handkerchiefs. They perceived what we were about by
the sign which I painted on cloth and fastened across the front
of our house, which was near the track: "Powell's Colorado
River Exploring Expedition." Above this was flying our
general flag, the Stars and Stripes.

The white boats were thoroughly gone over with caulking-
iron and paint. Upon the decks of the cabins, canvas, painted
green, was stretched in such a way that it could be unbuttoned
at the edges on three sides and thrown back when we wanted
to take off the hatches. When in place this canvas kept the
water, perfectly, out of the hatch joints. Each boat had three
compartments, the middle one being about four feet long,
about one-fifth the length of the boat, which was twenty-two
feet over the top. Two places were left for the rowers, be-
fore and abaft the middle compartment, while the steersman
with his long oar thrust behind was to sit on the deck of the
after-cabin, all the decks being flush with the gunwale, except
that of the forward cabin the deck of which was carried back
in a straighter line than the sheer of the boat and thus formed
a nose to help throw off the waves. It was believed that when

6 A Canyon Voyage

the hatches were firmly in place and the canvases drawn taut
over the decks, even if a boat turned over, as was expected
sometimes might be the case, the contents of these cabins would
remain intact and dry. As so much depended on keeping
our goods dry, and as we knew from Powell's previous expe-
rience that the voyage would be a wet one, everything was
carefully put in rubber sacks, each having a soft mouth inside
a double lip with a row of eyelets in each lip through which
ran a strong cord. When the soft mouth was rolled up
and the bag squeezed, the air was forced out, and the lips
could be drawn to a bunch by means of the cord. When in
this condition the bag could be soaked a long time in water
without wetting the contents. Each rubber bag was encased
in a heavy cotton one to protect it ; in short, we spared no
effort to render our provisions proof against the destroying ele-
ments. At first we put the bacon into rubber, but it spoiled
the rubber and then we saw that bacon can take care of itself,
nothing can hurt it anyhow, and a gunny-sack was all that was
necessary. Though the boats were five feet in the beam and
about twenty-four inches in depth, their capacity was limited
and the supplies we could take must correspond. Each man
was restricted to one hundred pounds of baggage, including his
blankets. He had one rubber bag for the latter and another for
his clothing and personal effects. In the provision line we had
twenty-two sacks of flour of fifty pounds each. There was no
whiskey, so far as I ever knew, except a small flask containing
about one gill which I had been given with a ditty-bag for
the journey. This flask was never drawn upon and was intact
till needed as medicine in October. Smoking was aban-
doned, though a case of smoking tobacco was taken for any
Indians we might meet. Our photographic outfit was ex-
tremely bulky and heavy, for the dry plate had not been
invented. We had to carry a large amount of glass and
chemicals, as well as apparatus.

The numerous scientific instruments also were bulky, as they
had to be fitted into wooden cases that were covered with
canvas and then with rubber. Rations in quantity were not
obtainable short of Salt Lake or Fort Bridger, and we had

Red Canyon.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Bulky Cargoes 7

Congressional authority to draw on the military posts for
supplies. The Major and his colleague, Professor Thompson,
went to Fort Bridger and to Salt Lake to secure what was
necessary, and to make further arrangements for the supplies
which were to be brought in to us at the three established
points : the mouth of the Uinta, by way of the Uinta Indian
Agency ; the mouth of the Dirty Devil ; and the place where
Escalante had succeeded in crossing the Colorado in 1776,
known as the Crossing of the Fathers, about on the line
between Utah and Arizona.

Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Powell, who had come out on the
same train with us, had gone on to Salt Lake, where they were
to wait for news from the expedition, when we should get in
touch with the Uinta Agency at the mouth of the Uinta
River, something over two hundred miles further down.
At length all was provided for and the Major and Prof, re-
turned to our camp from Salt Lake bringing a new member
of the party. Jack Killers, to take the place of Jack Sumner of
the former party who was unable to get to us on account of
the deep snows in the mountains which surrounded the retreat
where he had spent the winter trapping. Prof, brought
back also an American flag for each boat with the name of the
boat embroidered in the field of blue on one side while the
stars were on the other. We all admired these flags greatly,
especially as they had been made by Mrs. Thompson's own
hands.

We had with us a diary which Jack Sumner had kept on
the former voyage, and the casual way in which he repeatedly
referred to running through a ** hell of foam" gave us an inkling,
if nothing more, of what was coming. Our careful preparations
gave us a feeling of security against disaster, or, at least,
induced us to expect some degree of liberality from Fortune.
We had done our best to insure success and could go forward
in some confidence. A delay was caused by the non-arrival of
some extra heavy oars ordered from Chicago, but at length
they came, and it was well we waited, for the lighter ones were
quickly found to be too frail. Our preparations had taken
three weeks. Considering that we were obliged to provide

8 A Canyon Voyage

against every contingency that might occur in descending this
torrent so completely locked in from assistance and supplies,
the time was not too long. Below Green River City, Wyo-
ming, where we were to start, there was not a single settler,
nor a settlement of any kind, on or near the river for a distance
of more than a thousand miles. From the river out, a hun-
dred miles in an air line westward, across a practically trackless
region, would be required to measure the distance to the near-
est Mormon settlements on the Sevier, while eastward it was
more than twice as far to the few pioneers who had crossed
the Backbone of the Continent. The Uinta Indian Agency
was the nearest establishment to Green River. It was forty
miles west of the mouth of the Uinta. In southern Utah the
newly formed Mormon settlement of Kanab offered the next
haven, but no one understood exactly its relationship to the
topography of the Colorado, except from the vicinity of the
Crossing of the Fathers. Thus the country through which we
were to pass was then a real wilderness, while the river itself was
walled in for almost the entire way by more or less unscalable
cliffs of great height.

Finally all of our preparations were completed to the last
detail. The cabins of the boats were packed as one packs
a trunk. A wooden arm-chair was obtained from Field and
fastened to the middle deck of our boat by straps, as a seat for
the Major, and to the left side of it— he had no right arm — his
rubber life-preserver was attached. Each man had a similar
life-preserver in a convenient place, and he was to keep this
always ready to put on when we reached particularly danger-
ous rapids. On the evening of the 21st of May nothing more
remained to be done. The Second Powell Expedition was
ready to start.

^ ?

2«

c O
t: a

W 60

CHAPTER II

THE 22d of May, 1871, gave us a brilliant sun and a sky of
sapphire with a sparkling atmosphere characteristic of
the Rocky Mountain Region. The great buttes near the station,
which Moran has since made famous, shone with a splendour
that was inspiring. To enable us to pick up the last ends more
easily and to make our departure in general more convenient,
we had breakfast that morning at Field's outfitting place, and
an excellent breakfast it was. It was further distinguished by
being the last meal that we should eat at a table for many a
month. We were followed to the cove, where our loaded
boats were moored, by a number of people; about the
whole population in fact, and that did not make a crowd.
None of the Chinamen came down, and there were no Indians
in town that day. The only unpleasant circumstance was the
persistent repetition by a deaf-mute of a pantomimic representa-
tion of the disaster that he believed was to overwhelm us.
'' Dummy," as we called him, showed us that we would be up-
set, and, unable to scale the cHffs, would surely all be drowned.
This picture, as vividly presented as possible, seemed to give
him and his brother great satisfaction. We laughed at his
prophecy, but his efforts to talk were distressing. It may be
said in excuse for him, that in some paddling up the river from
that point, he had arrived at perhaps an honest conviction of
what would happen to any one going below; and -also, that
other wise men of the town predicted that we would never see
'' Brown's Hole," at the end of Red Canyon.

lo A Canyon Voyage

At ten o*clock we pushed out into the current. There were
** Good-bye and God-speed " from the shore with a cheer, and
we responded with three and then we passed out of sight. The
settlement, the railway, the people, were gone ; the magnifi-
cent wilderness was ours. We swept down with a four-mile
current between rather low banks, using the oars mainly for
guidance, and meeting no difficulty worse than a shoal, on
which the boats all grounded for a few moments, and the
breaking of his oar by Jones who steered our boat. About
noon having run three miles, a landing was made on a broad
gravelly island, to enable Andy to concoct a dinner. A heavy
gale was tearing fiercely across the bleak spot. The sand flew
in stinging clouds, but we got a fire started and then it burned
like a furnace. Andy made another sample of his biscuits,
this time liberally incorporated with sand, and he fried some
bacon. The sand mainly settled to the bottom of the frying
pan, for this bacon was no fancy breakfast table variety but
was clear fat three or four inches thick. But how good it was !
And the grease poured on bread ! And yet while at the rail-
way I had scorned it ; in fact I had even declared that I would
never touch it, whereat the others only smiled a grim and con-
fident smile. And now, at the first noon camp, I was ready to
pronounce it one of the greatest delicacies I had ever tasted !
They jeered at me, but their jeers were kind, friendly jeers,
and I recall them with pleasure. In warm-hearted companion-
ship no set of men that I have ever since been associated with has
been superior to these fellow voyageurs, and the Major's big
way of treating things has been a lesson all my life. We had all
become fast true friends at once. With the exception of the
Major, whom I had first met about two months before, and
Frank whom I had known for a year or two, I had been ac-
quainted with them only since we had met on the train on the
way out.

In the scant shelter of some greasewood bushes we devoured
the repast which the morning's exercise and the crisp air had
made so welcome, and each drank several cups of tea dipped
from the camp-kettle wherein Andy had boiled it. We
had no formal table. When all was ready, the magic words,

Order of Going n

»' Well go fur it, boys," which Andy uttered stepping back from
the fire were ceremony enough. Each man took a tin plate
and a cup and served himself. Clem and Frank were sent back
overland to the town for a box of thermometers forgotten and
for an extra steering oar left behind, and the Canonita waited
for their return.

During the afternoon, as we glided on, the hills began to
close in upon us, and occasionally the river would cut into one
making a high precipitous wall, a forerunner of the character
of the river banks below. The order of going was, our boat,
the Emma Dean, first, with Major Powell on the deck of the
middle cabin, or compartment, sitting in his arm-chair, which
was securely fastened there, but was easily removable. S. V.
Jones was at the steering oar. Jack Hillers pulled his pair of oars
in the after standing-room, while I was at the bow oars. The
second in line was the Nellie Powell^ Professor A. H. Thomp-
son steering, J. F. Steward rowing aft. Captain F. M. Bishop
forward, and Frank Richardson sitting rather uncomfortably
on the middle deck. The third and last boat was the Canonita^
which E. O. Beaman, the photographer steered, while Andrew
Hattan, rowed aft, and Clement Powell, assistant photographer,
forward. This order was preserved, with a few exceptions,
throughout the first season's work. It was the duty of Prof,
and Jones to make a traverse (or meander) of the river as we de-
scended. They were to sight ahead at each bend with pris-
matic compasses and make estimates of the length of each
sight, height of walls, width of stream, etc., and Cap was to
put the results on paper. The Major on his first boat, kept
a general lookout and gave commands according to circum-
stances. He remembered the general character of the river
from his former descent, but he had to be on the qui-vive
as to details. Besides every stage of water makes a change
in the nature of the river at every point. In addition to
this outlook, the Major kept an eye on the geology, as he
was chief geologist ; and Steward, being assistant geologist did
the same. Richardson was assistant to Steward. Jack was
general assistant and afterwards photographer. I was artist,
and later, assistant topographer also. It was my duty to make

12 A Canyon Voyage

any sketch that the geologists might want, and of course, as in
the case of everybody, to help in the navigation or anything
else that came along. Each man had a rifle and some had also
revolvers. Most of the rifles were Winchesters.' We had
plenty of ammunition, and the rifles were generally kept where
we could get at them quickly.

In this order, and with these duties, we ran on down the
Green, and so far at least as I was concerned, feeling as if we
had suddenly stepped off into another world. Late in the
afternoon we were astonished to discover a solitary old man
sitting on the right bank fishing. Who he was we did not
know but we gave him a cheer as we dashed by and were
carried beyond his surprised vision. As the sun began to reach
the horizon a lookout was kept for a good place for camp. I,
for one, was deeply interested, as I had never yet slept in the
open. At length we reached a spot where the hills were some
distance back on the right leaving quite a bottom where there
were a number of Cottonwood trees. A deserted log cabin
silently invited us to land and, as this was cordial for the
wilderness, we responded in the afifirmative. The sky had a
look of storm about it and I was glad of even this excuse for
a roof, though the cabin was too small to shelter our whole
party, except standing up, and the beds were all put down on
the ground outside. The night was very cold and the fire
which we made for Andy's operations was most comforting.
We had for supper another instalment of bacon, saleratus-
bread, and tea, which tasted just as good as had that prepared
at noon. Sitting on rocks and stumps we ate this meal, and
presently the raw air reminded some of the smokers that,
while they had thrown their tobacco away there was, in the boats,
the quite large supply designed for our Red friends, should we
meet any. Of course we had more than was absolutely necessary
for them, and in a few minutes the pipes which had been cast
away at Green River appeared well filled and burning. Per-
haps we had pipes for the Indians too ! I had not thrown my
pipe away for it was a beautifully carved meerschaum — a

' Two were of the original Henry pattern.

Passing Friends 13

present. I knew just where it was and lighted it up, though I
was not a great smoker. The Indians did not get as much of
that tobacco as they might have wished.

To make our blankets go farther we bunked together two
and two, and Jones and I were bed-fellows. It was some time
before I could go to sleep. I kept studying the sky ; watch-
ing the stars through the ragged breaks in the flying clouds.
The night was silent after the gale. The river flowed on with
little noise. The fire flickered and flickered, and the cotton-
woods appeared dark and strange as I finally went to sleep. I
had not been long in that happy state before I saw some men
trying to steal our boats on which our lives depended and I
immediately attacked them, pinning one to the ground. It
was only Jones I was holding down, and his shouts and
struggles to reach his pistol woke me, and startled the camp.
He believed a real enemy was on him. There was a laugh at
my expense, and then sleep ruled again till about daylight
when I was roused by rain faUing on my face. All were soon
up. The rain changed to snow which fell so heavily that we
were driven to the cabin where a glorious fire was made on the
hearth, and by it Andy got the] bread and bacon and coffee
ready for breakfast, and also for dinner, for the snow was so
thick we could not venture on the river till it stopped, and
that was not till afternoon.

The country through which we now passed was more broken.
Cliffs, buttes, mesas, were everywhere. Sometimes we were
between high rocky banks, then we saw a valley several miles
wide, always without a sign of occupation by white men, even
though as yet we were not far from the railway in a direct
course. Very late in the afternoon we saw something moving
in the distance on the right. Our glasses made it out to be
two or three men on horseback. A signal was made which
they saw, and consequently stopped to await developments,
and a bag of fossils, the Major had collected, was sent out to
them with a request to take it to Green River Station, in
which direction they were headed. They proved to be a
party of prospectors who agreed to deliver the fossils, and we
went on our way.

14 A Canyon Voyage

The mornings and evenings were very cold and frosty, but
during the day the temperature was perfectly comfortable, and
this was gratifying, for the river in places spread into several
channels, so that no one of them was everywhere deep enough
for the boats which drew, so heavily laden, sixteen or eighteen
inches. The keels grated frequently on the bottom and we
had to jump overboard to lighten the boats and pull them off
into deep water. We found as we went on that we must be
ready every moment, in all kinds of water, to get over into
the river, and it was necessary to do so with our clothes on,
including our shoes, for the reason that the rocky bottom
would bruise and cut our feet without the shoes, rocks would
do the same to our legs, and for the further reason that there
was no time to remove garments. In the rapids further on we
always shipped water and consequently we were wet from
this cause most of the time anyhow. We had two suits of
clothes, one for wear on the river in the day time, and the
other for evening in camp, the latter being kept in a rubber
bag, so that we always managed to be dry and warm at night.
On making camp the day suit was spread out on rocks or on
a branch of a tree if one were near, or on a bush to dry, and it
was generally, though not always, comfortably so, in the
morning when it was again put on for the river work. Some-
times, being still damp, the sensation for a few moments was
not agreeable.

We snapped several of the lighter oars in the cross currents,
as the boats were heavy and did not mind quickly, and to back-
water suddenly on one of the slender oars broke it like a
reed. Some of the longer, heavier oars were then cut down
to eight feet and were found to be entirely serviceable. The
steering oars were cut down from eighteen to sixteen feet. Ex-
tra oars were carried slung on each side of the boats just under
the gunwales, for the Major on the former journey had been
much hampered by being obliged to halt to search for timber
suitable for oars and then to make them. There was one thing
about the boats which we soon discovered was a mistake. This
was the lack of iron on the keels. The iron had been left off
for the purpose of reducing the weight when it should be nee-

Fisherman Jack 15

essary to carry the boats around bad places, but the rocks and
gravel cut the keels down alarmingly, till there was danger of
wearing out the bottoms in the long voyage to come.'

Jack was a great fisherman, and it was not long before he
tried his luck in the waters of the Green. No one knew what

kind of fish might be taken — at least no one in our party

and he began his fishing with some curiosity. It was rewarded
by a species of fish none of us had ever before seen, a fish
about ten to sixteen inches long, slim, with fine scales and large
fins. Their heads came down with a sudden curve to the mouth,
and their bodies tapered off to a very small circumference just
before the tail spread out. They were good to eat, and formed
a welcome addition to our larder. We were all eager for some-
thing fresh, and when we saw a couple of deer run across the
bluffs just before we reached our fourth camp, our hopes of
venison were roused to a high degree. Camp number four was
opposite the mouth of Black's Fork at an altitude above sea
level of 5940 feet, a descent of 135 feet from the railway
bridge. After this the channel was steadier and the water
deeper. Black's Fork being one of the largest tributaries of the
upper river. We now came in view of the snowy line of the
Uinta Range stretching east and west across our route and
adding a beautiful alpine note to the wide barren array of cliffs
and buttes. It was twenty or thirty miles off, but so clear was
the air that we seemed to be almost upon it.

As we were drifting along with a swift current in the after-
noon, the day after passing Black's Fork, one of the party saw
a deer on an island. A rifle shot from our boat missed, and
the animal dashing into the river swam across and disappeared
in the wide valley. But another was seen. A landing was
made immediately, and while some of the men held the boats
ready to pick up a prize, the others beat the island. I was as-
signed to man our boat, and as we waited up against the bank
under the bushes, we could hear the rifles crack. Then all was
still. Suddenly I heard a crashing of bushes and a hundred
yards above us a superb black-tail sprang into the water

' For further description of these boats the reader is referred to The Ro-
mance of the Colorado River, page 236, by F. S. Dellenbaugh.

i6 A Canyon Voyage

and swam for the east bank. My sensation was divided be-
tween a desire to see the deer escape, and a desire to supplant
the bacon with venison for a time. My cartridges were under
the hatches as it chanced, so I was unable to take action my-
self. With deep interest I watched the animal swim and with
regret that our fresh meat was so fortunate, for it was two-
thirds of the way across, before a rifle cracked. The deer*s
efforts ceased instantly and she began to drift down with the
current. We ran our boat out and hauled the carcass on
board. At the same time as we were being carried down by
the swift current we got a view of the other side of the island
where Cap. up to his arms in the stream was trying to pull
another deer ashore by the horns. It looked as if both deer
and Cap. would sail away and forever, till another boat went to
his rescue. Presently the third boat came down bearing still
another deer. The successful shots were from Prof., Andy, and
Steward. Our prospects for a feast were bright, and we had it.
The deer were speedily dressed, Frank displaying exceptional
skill in this line. Had we been able to stay in this region we
would never have been in want of fresh meat, but when we en-
tered the canyons the conditions were so different and the task
of pursuing game so baffling and exhausting that we never had
such success again. The whole of the next day we remained in a
favourable spot at the foot of a strangely tilted ledge, where
we jerked the venison by the aid of sun and fire to preserve
It. Near this point as observations showed later we passed
from Wyoming into Utah.

About dusk we were surprised to discover a small craft with
a single individual aboard coming down the river. Then we
saw it was a raft. We watched its approach with deep interest
wondering who the stranger could be, but he turned out to
be Steward who had gone geologising and had taken this
easier means of coming back. He tried it again farther down
and met with an experience which taught him to trust to the
land thereafter.

The next day our boat was held back for some special work
while the others proceeded toward a high spur of the Uintas,
directly in front of us. We followed with a fierce and blinding

Flaming Gorge.

The Beginning of the Colorado River Canyons, N. E. Utah.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 i.

Flaming Gorge 17

gale sweeping the river and filling our eyes with sharp sand.
Nevertheless we could see high up before us some bright red
rocks marking the first canyon of the wonderful series that
separates this river from the common world. From these bright
rocks glowing in the sunlight like a flame above the grey-green
of the ridge, the Major had bestowed on this place the name of
Flaming Gorge. As we passed down towards the mountain it
seemed that the river surely must end there, but suddenly just
below the mouth of Henry's Fork it doubled to the left and
we found ourselves between two low cliffs, then in a moment
we dashed to the right into the beautiful canyon, with the cliffs
whose summit we had seen, rising about 1300 feet on the right,
and a steep slope on the left at the base of which was a small
bottom covered with tall cottonwood trees, whose green shone
resplendent against the red rocks. The other boats were
swinging at their lines and the smoke of Andy's fire whirling on
the wind was a cheerful sight to the ever-hungry inner-man.
Constant exercise in the open air produces a constant appetite.
As long as we could protect our cargoes, and make our connec-
tions with our supplies as planned, we would surely not have to
go hungry, but we had to consider that there was room for some
variation or degree of success. There was at least one com-
forting feature about the river work and that was we never
suffered for drinking water. It was only on side trips, away
from the river that we met this difficulty, so common in the
Rocky Mountain Region and all the South-west.

When the barometrical observations were worked out we
found we had now descended 262 feet from our starting-point.
That was four and a quarter feet for each mile of the sixty-two
we had put behind. We always counted the miles put behind,
for we knew they could not be retraced, but it was ever the miles
and the rapids ahead that we kept most in our minds. We
were now at the beginning of the real battle with the "Sunken
River." Henceforth, high and forbidding cliffs with few breaks,
would imprison the stream on both sides.

A loss of our provisions would mean a journey on foot, after
climbing out of the canyon, to Green River (Wyoming) to Salt
Lake City or to the Uinta Indian Agency. There was a trail from

A Canyon Voyage

Brown's Hole (now Brown's Park) back to the railway, but the
difficulty would be to reach it if we should be wrecked in Red
Canyon. We did not give these matters great concern at the
time, bnt I emphasise them now to indicate some of the difficul-
ties of the situation and the importance of preventing the wreck
of even one boat.

CHAPTER III

The First Rapid— Horseshoe and Kingfisher Canyons— A Rough Entrance into
Red Canyon — Capsize of the AV//— The Grave of a Bold Navigator— Dis-
covery of a White Man's Camp— Good-bye to Frank— At the Gate of Lodore.

PROF, now took observations for time and latitude in
order to fix with accuracy the geographical location of
the camp in Flaming Gorge, and to check the estimates of the
topographers as they sighted the various stretches of the river.
It has been found that estimates of this kind are quite accurate
and that the variation from exactness is generally the same in *
the same individual. Hence one man may underestimate and
another may overestimate, but each will always make the same
error, and this error can be readily corrected by frequent ob-
servations to determine latitude and longitude. A series of
barometrical observations was kept going whether we were on
the move or not. That is, a mercurial barometer was read
three times a day, regularly, at seven, at one, and at nine. We
had aneroid barometers for work away from the river and these
were constantly compared with and adjusted to the mercurials.
The tubes of mercury sometimes got broken, and then a new
one had to be boiled to replace it. I believe the boiling of
tubes has since that time been abandoned, as there is not
enough air in the tube to interfere with the action of the mer-
cury, but at that time it was deemed necessary for accuracy,
and it gave Prof, endless trouble. The wind was always
blowing, and no tent we could contrive from blankets, and
waggon sheets (we had no regular tents), sufficed to .keep the

' Three points on Green River below the Union Pacific crossing had been
determined by previous explorers, the mouth of Henry's Fork, tl;ie mouth of the
Uinta, and Gunnison Crossing.

20 A Canyon Voyage

flame of the alcohol lamp from flickering. Nevertheless, Prof,
whose patience and dexterity were unlimited, always succeeded.
The mercurial barometers were of the kind with a buckskin
pocket at the bottom of the cistern with a screw for adjusting
the column of mercury to a fixed point.

Most of the men climbed out in various directions and for
various objects. Prof, reached a high altitude whence he ob-
tained a broad view of the country, a grand sight with the quiet
river below and snow-capped mountains around, with rolling
smoke and leaping flame, for there were great mountain fires
not far off. The Major and Steward went geologising. Steward
was rewarded by discovering a number of fossils, among them
the bones of an immense animal of the world's early day, with
a femur ten inches in diameter, and ribs two inches thick and
six inches wide. These bones were much exposed and could
have been dug out, but we had no means of transporting them.

Flaming Gorge is an easy place to get in and out of, even
with a horse, and doubtless in the old beaver-hunting days it
was a favourite resort of trappers. I am inclined to think that
the double turn of the swirling river where it enters Flaming
Gorge is the place known at that time as the Green River Suck.
Our camp under the cottonwoods was delightful. We took
advantage of the halt to write up notes, clean guns, mend
clothes, do our washing, and all the other little things incident
to a breathing spell on a voyage of this kind. It was Sunday
too, and when possible we stopped on that account, though, of
course, progress could not be deferred for that reason alone.

Monday morning we left the pleasant camp in the grove
and went on with the tide. The river was rough from a heavy
gale, but otherwise offered no obstacle. At a sudden bend we
cut to the left deeper into the mountain till on both sides we
were enclosed by almost perpendicular precipices of carbonif-
erous formation, limestone, about 1600 feet high. The canyon
was surprisingly beautiful and romantic. The river seemed to
change its mood here, and began to flow with an impetus it
had exhibited nowhere above. It swept on with a directness
and a concentration of purpose that had about it something
ominous. And just here, at the foot of the right hand wall

Horseshoe Canyon.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Horseshoe Canyon 21

which was perpendicular for 800 feet, with the left more sloping,
and clothed with cedar shrubs, we beheld our first real rapid,
gleaming like a jewel from its setting in the sunlight which
fell into the gorge, and it had as majestic a setting as could
be desired. For myself I can say that the place appeared the
acme of the romantic and picturesque. The rapid was small and
swift, a mere chute, and perhaps hardly worthy of mention had
it not been the point where the character of the river current
changes making it distinguished because of being the first of
hundreds to come below. The river above had held a continual
descent accelerating here and retarding there with an average
current of two and a half miles an hour, but here began the quick
drops for which the canyons are now famous. There was one
place where Prof, noted a small rapid but it was not like this
one, and I did not count it at all.

The gorge we ran into so suddenly was short and by dinner-
time we had emerged into a wider, more broken place, though
we were still bound in by tremendous heights. We saw that
we had described a complete horseshoe and this fact determined
the canyon's name — number two of the series. When we landed
for dinner, an examination was made of the locality from that
base before we dropped down a little distance to the mouth of
a fine clear creek coming in from the right. This was a fas-
cinating place. The great slopes were clothed with verdure
and trees, and the creek ran through luxuriant vegetation. A
halt of a day was made for observation purposes. The air was
full of kingfishers darting about and we immediately called the
creek by their name.

I was sent with Steward on a geological expedition out over
the right or western cliffs. We consumed two hours in getting
out, having to climb up about looo feet over a difficult way.
After a good deal of going up and down across rough ridges, we
finally worked our way around to the head of Flaming Gorge.
Here we reckoned up and found that eight steep ridges inter-
vened between us and camp by the way we had come, and we
concluded that we could get back easier through Flaming Gorge
and thence by climbing over the tongue or base of the horseshoe
which was lower than the end. Steward grew decidedly weary

22 A Canyon Voyage

and I felt my legs getting heavy too. Rain had fallen at in-
tervals all day and we were wet as well as tired and famished.
We struck an old trail and followed it as long as it went our
way. Then it became too dark to see which way it went and
we climbed on as best we could. It was about half-past eight
when we reached our camp to find a splendid fire burning and
a good supper waiting for us.

The new canyon which closed in the next day had walls
about 1 500 feet in height, that being the general height of the
spur of the Uintas through which we were travelling. The
changes from one canyon to another were only changes in the
character of the bounding mountain walls, for there was no
break into open country. The name of Kingfisher we gave
to the new gorge for the same reason we had called the creek
at our camp by that name, and so numerous were these birds
at one rounded promontory that there was no escape from
calling it Beehive Point, the resemblance to a gigantic hive
being perfect. Kingfisher Canyon like its two predecessors
was short, all three making a distance by the river of only
about ten miles. Flaming Gorge is the gateway, Horseshoe
the vestibule, and Kingfisher the ante-chamber to the whole
grand series. At the foot of Kingfisher the rocks fell back
a Httle and steep slopes took their place. Where the rocks
closed in again, we halted on the threshold of the next gorge,
in a fine grove of cottonwoods. A significant roar came to us
out of the gate to Red Canyon, rolling up on the air with a
steady, unvarying monotony that had a sinister meaning.
It was plain that we were nearing something that was no
paltry gem like the rapid we had so much admired in Horse-
shoe Canyon.

The remainder of that day and all the next, which was June
1st, we stayed at this camp completing records, investigating
the surroundings, and preparing for rough work ahead. On Fri-
day morning the cabins were packed carefully, the life preservers
were inflated, and we pulled out into the current. The cliffs
shot up around us and rough water began at once. The de-
scent was almost continuous for a considerable distance, but
we divided it into three rapids in our notes, before we reached

upside Down

a sharp turn to the right, and then one just as sharp to the
left, with vertical walls on both sides and a roaring torrent,
broken by rocks, whirling between. Our boat shot down with
fierce rapidity and would have gone through without a mishap
had not the current dashed us so close to the right-hand wall
that Jack's starboard row-lock was ripped off by a projection
of the cliff as we were hurled along its rugged base. At the
same moment we saw the Nell upsetting against some rocks
on the left. Then we swept out of view and I was obliged to
pull with all my strength, Jack's one oar being useless. We
succeeded in gaining a little cove on the left, and jumped out
as soon as shallow enough, the Major immediately climbing
the cliffs to a high point where he could look down on the un-
fortunate second boat. Prof., it seems, had misunderstood
the Major's signal and had done just what he did not think he
ought to do. He thought it meant to land on the left and he
had tried to reach a small strip of beach, but finding this was
not possible he turned the boat again into the current to re-
trieve his former position, but this was not successful and the
Nell was thrown on some rocks projecting from the left wall,
in the midst of wild waters, striking hard enough to crush
some upper planks of the port side. She immediately rolled
over, and Frank slid under. Prof, clutched him and pulled
him back while the men all sprang for the rocks and saved
themselves and the boat from being washed away in this de-
moralised condition. With marvellous celerity Cap. took a
turn with a rope around a small tree which he managed to
reach, while Steward jumped to a position where he could
prevent the boat from pounding. In a minute she was
righted and they got her to the little beach where they had tried
to land. Here they pulled her out and, partially unloading,
repaired her temporarily as well as they could. This done
they towed up to a point of vantage and made a fresh start
and cleared the rapid with no further incident. Mean-
while the Canonita had come in to where we were lying,
and both boats were held ready to rescue the men of
the other. After about three-quarters of an hour the unfor-
tunate came down, her crew being rather elated over

24 A Canyon Voyage

the experience and the distinction of having the first cap-
size.

Setting out on the current again we passed two beautiful
creeks entering from the right, and they were immediately
named respectively, Compass and Kettle creeks, to commem-
orate the loss of these articles in the capsize. At the mouth
of Kettle Creek, about a mile and a half below the capsize
rapid, we stopped for dinner. Then running several small
drops, we arrived at a long descent that compelled careful
action. We always landed, where possible, to make an exam-
ination and learn the trend of the main current. Our not
being able to do this above was the cause of the Nell's trouble.
We now saw that we had here landed on the wrong side and
would have to make a somewhat hazardous crossing to the
opposite, or right bank. Our boat tried it first. In spite of
vigorous pulling we were carried faster down towards the rapid
than to the objective landing. When we reached water about
waist deep we all sprang overboard, and I got to shore with the
line as quickly as I could. We were able to turn and catch the
NelldiS she came in, but the Cahonita following ran too far down.
We all dashed into the stream almost at the head of the rapid,
and there caught her in time. The load was taken out of our
boat and she was let down by lines over the worst part. Load-
ing again we lowered to another bad place where we went into
camp on the same spot where the Major had camped two
years before. We unloaded the other boats and got them
down before dark, but we ate supper by firelight. The river
averaged about 250 feet wide, with a current of not less than
six miles an hour and waves in the rapids over five feet in
vertical height. These waves broke up stream as waves do
in a swift current, and as the boats cut into them at a high
velocity we shipped quantities of water and were constantly
drenched, especially the bow-oarsmen. The cliffs on each side,
wonderfully picturesque, soon ran up to 1200 or 1500 feet, and
steadily increased their altitude. Owing to the dip of the
strata across the east and west trend of the canyon the walls
on the north were steeper than those on the south, but they
seldom rose vertically from the river. Masses of talus, and

S O

A Desolate Grave 25

often alluvial stretches with rocks and trees, were strung along
their base, usually offering numerous excellent landings and
camping places. We were able to stop about as we wished
and had no trouble as to camps, though they were frequently
not just what we would have preferred. There was always
smooth sand to sleep on, and often plenty of willows to cut
and lay in rows for a mattress. It must not be imagined
that these great canyons are dark and gloomy in the day-
time. They are no more so than an ordinary city street
flanked with very high buildings. Some lateral canyons are
narrow and so deep that the sun enters them but briefly, but
even these are only shady, not dark.

We remained on the Major's old camp ground a day so that
Jones and Cap. could climb to the top of the cliff to get the
topography. The next morning though it was Sunday was
not to be one of rest. We began by lowering the boats about
forty rods farther and there pulled out into the stream and
were dashed along by a fierce current with rapid following rapid
closely. The descent was nearly continuous with greater de-
clivities thrown in here and there. As usual we took in a good
deal of water and were saturated. We were growing ac-
customed to this, and the boats being built to float even
when the open parts were full, we did not mind sitting with
our legs in cold water till opportunity came to bail out with
the camp kettle left in each open space for the purpose. One
rapid where Theodore Hook, of Cheyenne, was drowned in
1869, while attempting to follow the first party, gave us no
trouble. We sailed through it easily. Hook had declared
that if Powell could descend the river he could too, and he
headed a party to follow. * The motive I believe was prospect-
ing. I do not know how far they expected to go but this was
as far as they got. Their abandoned boats, flat -bottomed and
inadequate, still lay half buried in sand on the left-hand bank,
and not far off on a sandy knoll was the grave of the unfor-
tunate leader marked by a pine board set up, with his name
painted on it. Old sacks, ropes, oars, etc., emphasised the
completeness of the disaster.

' I do not know the number of men composing this party.

26 A Canyon Voyage

Not far below this we made what we called a " line portage,"
that is, the boats were worked along the edge of the rapid,
one at a time, in and out among the boulders with three or
four men clinging to them to fend them off the rocks and
several more holding on to the hundred-foot hawser, so that
there was no possibility of one getting loose and smashing up, or
leaving us altogether. It was then noon and a camp was made for
the remainder of the day on the left bank in a very comfort-
able spot. We had accomplished three and a half miles, with
four distinct rapids run and one " let-down." I went up from
the camp along a sandy stretch and was surprised to discover
what I took to be the fresh print of the bare foot of a man.
Mentioning this when I returned, my companions laughed and
warned me to be cautious and give this strange man a wide
berth unless I had my rifle and plenty of ammunition. It was the
track of a grizzly bear. I saw many tracks on this expedition and
on others afterwards but I have never seen a bear yet, except
in captivity. The grizzly seemed to shun me ; but I believe
they will not often attack a man unprovoked, and will lie
perfectly still while one may pass within a few feet of their
hiding-place.

Three or four deer were seen but with no opportunity to
get a shot. All through these upper canyons there was then
a great abundance of game of every description, and had our
object been to kill for sport, we undoubtedly could have made
a pile of carcasses. One or two deer would have been welcome
but we had no time to pursue them. Steward came in towards
night from his geologising with a splendid bouquet of wild
flowers which was greatly admired. Prof, and the Major
climbed west of camp to a height of 1200 feet where they
obtained a wide outlook and secured valuable notes on the
topography. The view was superb as it is anywhere from a high
point in this region. When they came back, the Major enter-
tained us by reading aloud The Lay of the Last Minstrel, thus
delightfully closing a beautiful Sunday which every man had
enjoyed.

In the morning soon after leaving this camp a dull roar
ahead told of our approach to Ashley Falls, for which we

Ashley Falls 27

were on the lookout. The left bank was immediately hugged
as closely as possible and we dropped cautiously down to the
head of the descent. An immense rock stuck up in the middle
of the river and the water divided on this and shot down on
each side in a sharp fall of about eight feet. Each was a clear
chute and not dangerous to look at, but the effect of so sudden
a plunge on one of our loaded boats was too much of a prob-
lem for trial. A portage was decided on. The left bank
where we were was a mass of enormous broken rocks where it
seemed next to impossible to haul a boat. A foot trail was
first built which led up some fifty feet above the river, and
over, under and around huge boulders to a place down below
where it was proposed to carry the boats on skids. The
cargoes were first taken over on our backs and when this was
done we were about tired out. Our united strength was re-
quired to work the Dean down to the selected haven without
injury. This was such extremely hard work that the Major and
Prof, concluded to shoot the Canonita through, light, with no
men in her, but controlled by one of our hundred-foot hawsers
attached to each end. She was started down and went through
well enough, but filling with water and knocking on hidden rocks.
Prudence condemned this method and we resorted to sliding
and carrying the Nell over the rocks as we had done with the
Dean, certain that sleep and food would wipe out our weariness,
but not injury to the boats which must be avoided by all means in
our power. By the time we had placed the Nell beside the other
boats at the bottom it was sunset and too late to do anything
but make a camp. Just above the head of the fall was a rather
level place in a clump of pines at the very edge of the river
forming as picturesque a camp-ground as I have ever seen. A
brilliant moon hung over the canyon, lighting up the foam of
the water in strong contrast to the red fire crackling its accom-
paniment to the roar of the rapid. A lunar rainbow danced
fairy-like in the mists rising from the turmoil of the river.
The night air was calm and mild. Prof, read aloud from
Hiawatha and it seemed to fit the time and place admirably.
We had few books with us ; poems of Longfellow, Whittier,
Emerson, and Scott, are all I remember, except a Bible my

28 A Canyon Voyage

mother had given me. I suppose Cap. had a Bible also, as he
was very religious.

The huge boulders which dammed the river had fallen from
the cliffs on the left within a comparatively recent time, trans-
forming an ordinary rapid into the fall ; actually damming the
water till it is smooth for half a mile above. The largest block
of stone is the one in the middle. It is about twenty five feet
square. The only white men on record to reach this place ex-
cept the Major's other party, was General Ashley, the distin-
guished fur trader with a number of trappers. In his search for
fresh beaver grounds he led his party in rude buffalo-skin boats
through this canyon in 1825. They had a hard time and nearly
starved to death as they depended for food on finding beaver
and other game, in which they were disappointed. On one of
my trips over the rocks with cargo I made a slight detour on the
return to see the boulder where the Major had discovered Ash-
ley's name with a date. The letters were in black, just under a
slight projection and were surprisingly distinct considering the
forty-six years of exposure. The "2" was illegible and looked
like a " 3." None of our party seemed to know that it could
have been only a "2" for by the year 1835 Ashley had sold out
and had given up the fur business in the mountains. Consider-
ing his ability, his prominence, his high character, and his iden-
tification with the early history of the West, there ought to be
greater recognition of him than there has been.

Below Ashley Falls the declivity of the river was very great
with a correspondingly swift current, in one rapid reaching a
velocity of at least fifteen miles an hour, and with waves that
tossed our heavy boats like feathers. These were the most
violent rapids we had yet met, not excepting the ones we had
portaged. The cliffs, about 2500 feet high, of red sandstone,
were often almost perpendicular on both sides, or at least they
impressed us so at the time. There was much vegetation,
pine, spruce, willow-leaved cottonwood, aspens, alder, etc.,
which added to the beauty and picturesqueness of the wild
scenery. Beaman stopped each day where possible and de-
sirable to take photographs, and at these times the others in-
vestigated the surroundings and climbed up side canyons when

Red Canyon.

Ashley Falls from Below.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 i

Red Canyon Park 29

they existed. Late in the afternoon we came out suddenly in-
to a small valley or park formerly called Little Brown's Hole
a noted rendezvous for trappers, and which we rechristened
Red Canyon Park. This was a beautiful place bounded by
round mountains, into which our great cliffs had temporarily
resolved themselves, particularly on the right, the left side re-
maining pretty steep. Our camp was pitched under two large
pine trees and every one was prepared, in the intervals of other
duties, to take advantage of this respite to patch up clothing,
shoes, etc., as well as to do what laundering was necessary.
The river ran so quietly that we felt oppressed after the con-
stant roaring since we had entered Red Canyon. I remember
climbing up at evening with one of my companions, to a high
altitude where the silence was deathlike and overpowering.
Prof, and some of the others climbed to greater heights for
topographical purposes, easily reaching an altitude of about
4000 feet above the river in an air-line distance of about five
miles. Here they obtained a magnificent panorama in all
directions, limited on the west by the snowy chain of the
Wasatch, and on the north by the Wind River Range like white
clouds on the horizon 200 miles away, and they could trace
the deep gorges of the river as they cleave the mountains from
distance to distance.

Here we saw signs of abundant game, elk, deer, bear, etc.,
but we had no time to go hunting as a business and the game
refused to come to us. Each man had his work to accomplish
so that we could get on. It was impracticable to go wandering
over the mountains for game, much as we would have enjoyed
a change from our bacon and beans. One day, only, was spent
here for all purposes, geologising, topographic climbing, and
working out the notes from up the river, making repairs and
all the other needful things that crowded upon us. Here it
was that I did my first tailoring and performed a feat of which
I have ever since been proud ; namely, transferring some coat-
tails, from where they were of no use, to the knees and seat of
my trousers where they were invaluable.

On June 8th, we left this " Camp Number 13 " regretfully
and plunged in between the cHffs again for about eight miles.

30 A Canyon Voyage

running five rapids, when we emerged into a large valley known
as Brown's Hole, where our cliffs fell back for two or three miles
on each side and became mountain ranges. Pulling along for
a couple of miles on a quiet river we were surprised to discover
on the left a white man's camp. Quickly landing we learned
that it was some cattlemen's temporary headquarters (Harrell
Brothers), and some of the men had been to Green River
Station since our departure from that place, the distance by
trail not being half that by river. They were expecting us and
had brought some mail which was a glad sight for our eyes.
These men had wintered about 2000 head of Texas cattle in
this valley, noted for the salubrity of its winter climate since
the days of the fur-hunters, and were on their way to the
Pacific coast. We made a camp near by, with a Cottonwood
of a peculiar ** Y " shape, more stump than tree, to give what
shade-comfort it could, and enjoyed the relaxation which came
with the feeling that we had put twenty-five miles of hard
canyon behind, and were again in touch, though so briefly and
at long range, with the outer world. As some of these men
were to go out to the railway the following Sunday and offered
to carry mail for us, we began to write letters to let our friends
know how we were faring on our peculiar voyage. This
" Brown's Hole " was the place selected by a man who pre-
tended to have been with the former party, for the scene of
that party's destruction which he reported to the newspapers.
He thought as it was called a " hole *' it must be one of the
worst places on this raging river, not knowing that in the
old trapper days when a man found a snug valley and dwelt
there for a time it became known as his " hole " in the nomen-
clature of the mountains. The Major did not think this a
satisfactory name and he changed it to " Brown's Park " which
it now bears. I met an " old timer " on a western train several
years afterward, who was greatly irritated because of this liberty
which the Major took with the cherished designation of the
early days. Fort Davy Crockett of the fur-trading period was
located somewhere in this valley.

The next morning after reaching Harrell's camp we were
told that, as Frank did not seem able to stand the voyage he

A Tranquil River

was to leave us here, to go over the mountains back to the
railway, whence he would go home. We were all sorry to hear
this and doubly sorry when on Sunday the nth he mounted a
mule and regretfully rode away with Mr. Harrell. The latter
was to telegraph to Salt Lake to Mrs. Powell, to send our mail
back to Green River Station so that it could be brought out to
us on Mr. Harrell's return. Meanwhile we dropped down the
river, now tranquil as a pond, with low banks covered with
Cottonwood groves. There were two small canyons the first of
which we called '' Little " about one-half mile long, and the
second " Swallow," about two miles long. The cliffs were red
sandstone about three hundred feet high, often vertical on both
sides. Thousands of swallows swarmed there, and we did not re-
sist giving it an obvious name. Below this the water spread out
more and was full of islands. The current was sluggish, two
miles an hour perhaps, and we indulged in the novelty of row-
ing the boats, though we did not try to make speed, for we had
to wait for Mr. Harrell's return anyhow. The boats had been
lightened by trading to Harrell some of our flour, of which we
had an over abundance when it came to portages, for fresh
beef, of which we were very much in need. At a convenient
place we landed where there was a fine cottonwood grove and
remained while Prof, made a climb and to jerk the beef. It
was cut into thin strips and hung on a willow framework in
the sun with a slow fire beneath. As the thermometer now
stood at ninety-nine in the shade the beef was fairly well cured
by the 13th and we went on, seeing one of the cattlemen and
a Mexican boy on the left bank. In this neighbourhood we
passed from Utah into Colorado. The river was six hundred
feet broad and about six feet deep. We had no trouble from
shoals, and finally lashed the three boats side by side and let
them drift along in the slow current. The Major sitting in
his arm-chair on the middle boat read aloud selections from
Tke Lady of the Lake which seemed to fit the scene well.
Steward and Andy amused themselves by swimming along
with the boats and occasionally diving under them.

From our noon camp in a grove of cottonwoods opposite
the mouth of Vermilion River, we could plainly see the great

32 A Canyon Voyage

portal a mile or two away, the Gate of Lodore, where all this
tranquillity would end, for the river cuts straight into the heart
of the mountains forming one of the finest canyons of the
series where the water comes down as Southey described it at
Lodore, and the Major gave it that name. Before night we
were at the very entrance and made our camp there in a grove
of box-elders. Every man was looking forward to this canyon
with some dread and before losing ourselves within its depths
we expected to enjoy the letters from home which Mr. Harrell
was to bring back from the railway for us. Myriads of mosqui-
toes gave us something else to think of, for they were exceedingly
ferocious and persistent, driving us to a high bluff where a
smudge was built to fight them off. We were nearly devoured.
I fared best, a friend having given me a net for my head, and
this, with buckskin gloves on my hands enabled me to exist
with some comfort. The mountains rose abruptly just beyond
our camp, and the river cleaved the solid mass at one stroke,
forming the extraordinary and magnificent portal we named the
" Gate of Lodore," one of the most striking entrances of a river
into mountains to be found in all the world. It is visible for
miles. Prof, climbed the left side of the Gate and also took
observations for time.

I was sent back to the valley to make some sketches and
also to accompany Steward on a geological tramp. We had an
uncomfortable experience because of the excessive heat and
aridity. I learned several things about mountaineering that
I never forgot, one of which was to always thoroughly note
and mark a place where anything is left to be picked up on
a return, for, leaving our haversack under a cedar it eluded all
search till the next day, and meanwhile we were compelled to
go to the river two or three miles away for water. We had a
rubber poncho and a blanket. Using the rubber for a mattress
and the blanket for a covering we passed the night, starting early
for the mountains, where at last we found our food bag. After
eating a biscuit we went back to the river and made tea and
toasted some beef on the end of a ramrod, when we struck for
the main camp, arriving at dinner-time.

The Gate of Lodore seemed naturally the beginning of a new

The Gate of Lodore

stage in our voyage to which we turned with some anxiety, for
it was in the gorge now before us that on the first trip a boat
had been irretrievably smashed. We were now 130 miles by
river from the Union Pacific Railway crossing, and in this dis-
tance we had descended 700 feet in altitude, more than 400 feet
of it in Red Canyon. Lodore was said to have an even greater
declivity.

CHAPTER IV

Locked in the Chasm of Lodore — Rapids with Railway Speed — A Treacherous
Approach to Falls of Disaster — Numerous Loadings and Unloadings — Over
the Rocks with Cargoes — Library Increased by Putnam s Magazine — Triplet
Falls and Hell's Half Mile — Fire in Camp — Exit from Turmoil to Peace.

ON Saturday the 17th of June, the member of the Harrell
party who was to travel overland from Green River
Station with mail for us from Salt Lake arrived with only two
letters. The despatch had been too late to stop the packet
which already had been started for the Uinta Indian Agency,
whence it would reach us at the mouth of the Uinta River. It
would be another month, at least, before we could receive those
longed for words from home. There was nothing now to delay
us further, and after dinner the boats were prepared for canyon
work again. Through Brown's Park we had not been obliged to
pay much attention to " ship-shape '* arrangements, but now the
story was to be different. The cabins were packed with unusual
care, the life-preservers were inflated and put where they could
be quickly seized on the approach to a bad descent, and at four
o'clock we were afloat. The wide horizon vanished. The cliffs,
red and majestic, rose at one bound to a height of about 2000
feet on each side, the most abrupt and magnificent gateway to
a canyon imaginable. We entered slowly, for the current in the
beginning is not swift, and we watched the mighty precipices
while they appeared to fold themselves together behind and shut
us more than ever away from the surrounding wilderness. For
a short time the stream was quite tame. Then the murmur of
distant troubled waters reached us and we prepared for work.
The first rapid was not a bad one ; we ran it without halting
and ran three more in quick succession, one of which was
rather ugly.

.^4

3 W

Winnie's Grotto 35

This success caused some of us prematurely to conclude that
perhaps " the way the water comes down at Lodore," was not
so terrific as had been anticipated. The Major said nothing.
He kept his eyes directed ahead. The river ran about 300 feet
wide, with a current of 10 to 15 miles an hour in the rapids.
At every bend new vistas of beauty were exhibited, and the cliffs
impressed us more and more by their increasing height and
sublimity. Landing places were numerous. Presently there came
to our ears a roar with an undertone which spoke a language now
familiar, and we kept as close to the right bank as possible, so that
a stop could be instantly made at the proper moment. When
this moment arrived a landing was effected for examination,
and it revealed a furious descent, studded with large rocks,
with a possibility of safely running through it if an exact course
could be held, but the hour being now late a camp was made at
the head and further investigation deferred till the next morning.

This morning was Sunday, and the sun shone into the
canyon with dazzling brilliancy, all being tranquil except the
foaming rapid. The locality was so fascinating that we lingered
to explore, finding especial interest in a delightful grotto carved
out of the red sandstone by the waters of a small brook. The
entrance was narrow, barely 20 feet, a mere cleft in the begin-
ning, but as one proceeded up it between walls 1500 feet high,
the cleft widened, till at 15 rods it ended in an amphitheatre
100 feet in diameter, with a domed top. Clear, cold water
trickled and dropped in thousands of diamond-like globules
from everything. Mosses and ferns filled all the crevices adding
a brilliant green to the picture, while far up overhead a Httle
ribbon of blue sky could be seen ; and, beyond the mouth, the
yellow river. It was an exquisite scene. At the request of
Steward, it's discoverer, it was named after his little daughter,
** Winnie's Grotto." So charming was it here that we did not get
off till ten o'clock, Beaman meanwhile taking several views.

It was decided to run the rapid, for there was a comparatively
straight channel about ten feet wide, and it was only a question
of steering right. As our boat was to take it first the other crews
came to a point where they could watch us to advantage and
profit by our experience. Sticks, as usual, had been thrown in

36 A Canyon Voyage

to determine the trend of the main current which must always
be considered in dealing with any rapid. If it dashes against a
cliff below, means must be found to cut across before reaching
that point. On the other hand, if the main current has a com-
paratively clear chute, running through is not a difficult matter
as in the present case. We pulled up-stream a short distance
before putting out into the middle. Then we took the rapid as
squarely as possible. We saw that we would have to go sharply
to the left to avoid one line of rocks, and then to the right to
clear another, both of which actions were successfully accom-
plished. Then we waited below for the others. They had no
trouble either, and the three boats sped on and on into the
greater depths beyond where wilder waters were foaming.

All rapids have " tails " of waves tapering out below, that is
the waves grow smaller as they increase the distance from the in-
itial wave. These waves are the reverse of sea waves, the form
remaining in practically one place while the water flies through.
In many rapids there is an eddy on each side of this tail in which
a current runs up-river with great force. If a boat is caught in
this eddy it may be carried a second time through a part of the
rapid. We soon arrived at another rapid in which this very thing
happened to our boat. We were caught by the eddy and carried
up-stream to be launched directly into the path of the Nell,
which had started down. Prof, skilfully threw his boat to
one side and succeeded in avoiding a collision. Nothing could
be done with our boat but to let her go where she would for the
moment. We then ran two other rapids, rough ones too, but
there was no trouble in them for any of the boats. The velocity
at this stage of water was astonishing, and the opportunities to
land in quiet water between the rapids now were few.

About dinner-time as we emerged at high speed from one
rapid we saw immediately below lying in ominous shadow,
another. It had a forbidding look. In Red Canyon owing to
the east-and-west trend the sun fell to the bottom for many
more hours than in Lodore which has a north-and-south trend.
Hence here even at high noon, one side or the other might be
in deep shadow. In this particular case it was the left wall
which came down very straight to the river, the outside of a

Canyon of Lodore.

Low water.

Photograph by J. K. Millers, 1874.

A Flying Stop 37

bend. Opposite was a rocky, wooded point. Between these
the rapid swept down. There was no slack water separating
the end of the rapid we left from the beginning of this one so
obscurely situated. Landing was no easy task at the speed
with which we were flying, but it would not do to try to run
the rapid without an examination. The only possible place to
stop was on the right where there was a cove with a little
strip of beach, and we headed for it instantly, pulling with
every muscle. Yet we continued going on down at railway
speed. When at last we arrived within a few feet of the bank
the problem was how to stop. The water appeared shallow,
though we could not see bottom on account of its murky
character, and there was only one course, which was to jump
out and make anchors of our legs. As we did so we sank to
our waists and were pulled along for a moment but our feet,
braced against the large rocks on the bottom, served the
purpose and the momentum was overcome. Once the velocity
was gone it was easy to get the boat to the beach, and she
was tied there just in time to allow us to rush to the help of
the Nell} Scarcely had the Nell been tied up than the
Canonita came darting for the same spot like a locomotive.
With the force on hand she was easily controlled, and the
fact that she carried the cook outfit as well as the cook added
to our joy at having her so speedily on the beach. Andy went
to work immediately to build a fire and prepare dinner while
the rest overhauled the boats, took observations, plotted notes,
or did other necessary things, and the Major and Prof, went
down to take a close look at the rapid which had caused us such
sudden and violent exertion. They reported a clear channel
in the middle, and when we continued after dinner, we went
through easily and safely, as of course we could have done in
the first place if the Major had been willing to take an un-
known risk. But in the shadow the fall might have been
almost anything and it would have been foolhardy to run it
without examination, even though we found it so hard to
stop. Below the rapid that had halted us so abruptly there

' Professor Thompson's diary says he landed first after a hard pull, "and then
caught the other boats below, they not succeeding in getting in."

38 A Canyon Voyage

was nothing for about a mile but easy running, when we
stopped in a cove to examine another rapid. Prof, here started
up eleven mountain sheep, but by the time he had come back
to the boats for a gun they were beyond reach. Though this
rapid could be easily run, there was just below it only a short
distance the fall where the No-Name was wrecked on the first
trip, and we would have to be cautious, for the approach to that
fall we knew was treacherous.

The river comes at this point from the east, bends south,
then west, and it is just at the western bend that the steep
rush of the big fall begins and continues for three-quarters of
a mile. On the right the waters beat fiercely against the foot
of the perpendicular wall, while on the left they are confined
by a rocky point, the end of which is composed of enormous
blocks. The space for the stream between this point and the
opposite cliff is narrow, while the river above it spreads rather
wide with a deep bay on the left where there is quiet water.
This bay is protected a quarter of a mile up by a jutting point,
and is merely back water. Just off the point the whole river
suddenly becomes saucer-like, and quite smooth, with all the
currents drawing strongly in from every direction and pouring
toward and over the falls. An object once within the grip of
this " sag," as we called it, is obliged to pass over the falls.
The situation is peculiar and it occurs nowhere else on the
whole river. Not being understood on the first voyage one of
the boats, the No-Name, was trapped, driven over the falls,
and broken to fragments, though the men were rescued below.
The disaster was the cause of some unpleasantness on that
voyage, the men blaming the Major for not signalling prop-
erly and he blaming them for not landing quickly when he
signalled.

We were on the lookout for it and the Major having the
wreck to emphasise the peculiarities of the "• sag " desired to
have every boat turn the point at the correct moment. Ours
ran through the preliminary rapid easily and we dropped
cautiously down upon our great enemy, hugging the left bank
as closely as we could to reach the jutting point around which
the boat must pass to arrive in the safe waters of the bay. We

Disaster Falls 39

turned the point with no difficulty, and proceeded a distance
across the bay where we landed on a beach to watch for the
other boats, the steersmen having been informed as to the pre-
cariousness of the locality. Nevertheless it was so deceptive
that when the Nell came in sight she was not close enough to
the left shore for safety. The Major signalled vigorously
with his hat, and Prof, took the warning instantly and turned
in, but when the Canonita appeared we saw at once that she
was altogether too far out and for some seconds we stood
almost petrified while the Major again signalled with all his
might. It seemed an even chance; then she gained on the
current and finally reached good water whence she came to
our position. Beaman had been a pilot on the Great Lakes
and was expert with a steering-oar, and probably for that
reason he was somewhat careless. There was hardly an excuse
in this instance for a boat not to take the proper course
for the experience of the No-Name told the whole story, yet
the place is so peculiar and unusual that one even forewarned
may fail. Across the bay pulling was safe and we ran to a
beach very close to the head of the falls where we made our
camp, the sun now being low and the huge cliffs casting a pro-
found and sombre shadow into the bottom. It was a wild,
a fierce, an impressive situation. The unending heavy roar of
the tumbling river, the difficulty if not impossibility of turning
back even if such a thing had been desired, the equal difficulty
if not impossibility of scaling the walls that stood more than
2CXX5 feet above us, and the general sublimity of the entire
surroundings, rendered our position to my mind intensely dra-
matic. Two years before, on this identical spot the Major had
camped with the loss of one of his boats bearing heavily on his
mind, though his magnificent will, his cheerful self-reliance,
and his unconquerable determination to dominate any situation
gave him power and allied him to the river itself. The place
practically chose its own name. Disaster Falls, and it was so
recorded by the topographers.

A hard portage was ahead of us and all turned in early to
prepare by a good sleep for the long work of the next day.
No tent as a rule was erected unless there was rain, and then a

40 A Canyon Voyage

large canvas from each boat was put up on oars or other sticks,
the ends being left open. In a driving storm a blanket would
answer to fill in. As there was now no indication of a storm
our beds were placed on the sand as usual with the sides of the
canyon for chamber walls and the multitudinous stars for roof.

A short distance below the great rapid near which we were
camped was a second equally bad, the two together making up
the three-quarter mile descent of Disaster Falls. Between them
the river became level for a brief space and wider, and a deposit
of boulders and gravel appeared there in the middle above the
surface at the present stage of water. It was this island which
had saved the occupants of the No-Name, and from which they
were rescued.

We were up very early in the morning, and began to carry
the cargoes by a trail we made over and around the huge boulders
to a place below the bad water of the first fall. The tempera-
ture was in the 90's and it was hot work climbing with a fifty-
pound sack on one's back, but at last after many trips back and
forth every article was below. Then the empty boats were taken
one at a time, and by pulling, lifting, and sliding on skids of
driftwood, and by floating wherever practicable in the quieter
edges of the water, we got them successfully past the first fall.
Here the loads were replaced, and with our good long and
strong lines an inch thick, the boats were sent down several
hundred yards in the rather level water referred to intervening
between the foot of the upper fall and the head of the lower,
to the beginning of the second descent. This all occupied
much time, for nothing could be done rapidly, and noon came,
in the midst of our work. Anticipating this event Andy had
gone ahead with his cook outfit and had baked the dinner bread
in his Dutch oven. With the usual fried bacon and coffee the
inner man was speedily fortified for another wrestle with the
difficult and laborious situation. The dinner bread was baked
from flour taken out of a hundred-pound sack that was found
lying on top of an immense boulder far above the river. This
was flour that had been rescued by the former party from the
wreckage of the No-Name, but as they could not add it to their
remaining heavily laden boats, the Major had been compelled

F. S. Dellenbaugh
The Heart of Lodore.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 i.

Flour From a Wreck

to leave it lying here. They needed it badly enough towards
the end. It was still sweet and good, but we could not take it
either. We were so much better provisioned than the former
party that it was, besides, not necessary for us, and we also left
it where it was. Our supplies were not likely to fail us at the
mouth of the Uinta, and beyond that there was not yet need to
worry. Although there were only two points below Gunnison
Crossing in a distance of nearly 600 miles where it was known
that the river could be reached, the Crossing of the Fathers and
the mouth of the Paria not far below it, we felt sure that those
who had been charged with the bringing of supplies to the
mouth of the " Dirty Devil " would be able to get there, and as
we were to stop for the season at the Paria, we would have time
to plan for beyond. In any case our boats were carrying now
all they could, and without a regret we turned our backs on the
outcast flour. It was an ordinary sack of bolted wheat flour,
first in a cotton bag then in a gunny bag and had been lying
unbroken for two years. The outside for half an inch was
hard, but inside of that the flour was in excellent condition.
Two oars were also found. They were doubtless from the
No-Name.

After dinner we once more unloaded the boats and carried
everything on our backs up and across a long rocky hill, or point,
down to a spot, about a third of a mile altogether, where the
goods were piled on a smooth little beach at the margin of a
quiet bay. It took many trips, and it was exhausting work, but
in addition to bringing the cargoes down, we also by half past
five got one of the boats there, by working it over the rocks and
along the edge. Here we camped and had supper as soon as
Andy could get it ready. It may be asked by some not familiar
with scientific work, how we always knew the time, but as we
had the necessary instruments for taking time astronomically,
there was nothing difficult about it. We also carried fine
chronometers, and had a number of watches.

In the sand near the camp, which place at highest water
might have formed an eddy behind some huge rocks, a few old
knives, forks, a rusty bake oven, and other articles were found,
the wreckage from some party prior to that of the Major's first.

42 A Canyon Voyage

He said they had not left anything of that sort, and he had
noticed the same things on the former trip.

The total fall of the river here is about fifty feet, and no
boat could get through without smashing.

The morning of June 20th found us early at work bringing
down the two boats we had left, and as soon as this was accom-
plished the cargoes were put on once more, and we lowered the
three one at a time, along the left bank by means of our hundred-
foot hawsers, with everything in them, about a quarter of a mile
to another bad place which we called Lower Disaster Falls.
Here we unloaded and made a short portage while Andy was
getting dinner. When we had disposed of this and reloaded, we
pulled into the river, which averaged about 350 feet wide,
with a current in places of 15 miles or more, and quickly arrived
at three bad rapids in succession, all of which we ran triumph-
antly, though the former party made portages around them
In the third our boat took in so much water that we made
a landing in order to bail out. Continuing immediately we
reached another heavy rapid, but ran it without even stopping
to reconnoitre, as the way seemed perfectly clear. We took the
next rapid with equal success, though our boat got caught in an
eddy and was turned completely round, while the others ran
past us. They landed to wait, and there we all took a little
breathing spell before attempting to run another rapid just
below which we made camp in a grove of cedars, at the begin-
ning of a descent that looked so ugly it was decided to make a
** let-down " on the following day. Everybody was wet to the
skin and glad to get on some dry clothes, as soon as we could
pull out our bags. The cliffs had now reached an altitude of at
least 2500 feet, and they appeared to be nearly perpendicular,
but generally not from the water's edge where there was usually
a bank of some kind or the foot of a steep talus. There were
box-eider and Cottonwood trees here and there, and cedars up
the cliffs wherever they could find a footing. On the heights
tall pine trees could be seen. The cliff just opposite camp was
almost vertical from the rapid at its foot to the brink 2500 feet
above, and flame red.

After supper as we all sat in admiration and peering with

Canyon of Lodore — Dunn's Cliff.

2800 Feet above River.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

A Great Declivity 43

some awe at the narrow belt of sky, narrower than we had before
seen it, the stars slowly came out, and presently on the exact
edge of the magnificent precipice, set there like a diadem,
appeared the Constellation of the Harp. It was an impressive
sight, and immediately the name was bestowed " The Cliff of
the Harp." '

Prof, read Marmion aloud, and Jack gave us a song or two,
before we went to sleep feeling well satisfied with our progress
into the heart of Lodore.

This portion of the river has a very great declivity, the
greatest as we afterwards determined on the entire Green and
Colorado with the exception of a section of Cataract and a part
of the First Granite Gorge of the Grand Canyon, where the de-
clivity is much the same, with Cataract Canyon in the lead.
A quarter-mile above our camp a fine little stream. Cascade
Creek, came in on the right. Beaman made some photographs
in the morning, and we began to work the boats down along the
edge of the rapid beside which we had camped. This took us
till noon, and we had dinner before venturing on. When we set
forth we had good luck, and soon put four rapids behind, run-
ning the first, letting down past two and running the fourth
which was a pretty bad one. Three-quarters of a mile of smooth
water then gave us a respite much appreciated, when we arrived
at a wild descent about as bad as Disaster Falls, though more
safely approached. This was called Triplet Falls by the first
party. We went into camp at the head of it on the left bank.
This day we found a number of fragments of the No-Name here
and there, besides an axe and a vise abandoned by the first
party, and a welcome addition to our library in a copy of
Putnam's Magazine, This was the first magazine ever to pene-
trate to these extreme wilds. The river was from 300 to 400
feet wide, and the walls ran along with little change, about 2500
feet high. Opposite camp was Dunn's Cliff, the end of the
Sierra Escalante, about 2800 feet high, named for one of the
first party who was killed by the Indians down in Arizona. We

* In his report the Major ascribes the naming of this cliff to an evening on the
first voyage. The incident could hardly have occurred twice even had the camps
been in the same place.

44 A Canyon Voyage

remained a day here to let the topographers climb out if they
could. They had little trouble in doing this, and after a pleas-
ant climb reached the top through a gulch at an altitude above
the river of 3200 feet. The view was extensive and their efforts
were rewarded by obtaining much topographical information.
Late in the day the sky grew dark, the thunder rolled, and just
before supper we had a good shower.

On the 23d progress was continued and every one felt well
after the cessation for a day of the knocking about amidst the
foam and boulders. It took us, with hard work, till two o'clock
to get past Triplet Falls by means of a double portage. About
half a mile below this we were confronted by one of the worst
looking places we had yet seen, and at the suggestion of Steward
it received the significant name of " Hell's Half Mile.'* The
entire river for more than half a mile was one sheet of white
foam. There was not a quiet spot in the whole distance, and
the water plunged and pounded in its fierce descent and sent
up a deafening roar. The only way one could be heard was to
yell with full lung power. Landing at the head of it easily we
there unloaded the Dean and let her down by line for some
distance. In the worst place she capsized but was not damaged.
Then the water, near the shore we were on, though turbulent
in the extreme became so shallow on account of the great width
of the rapid here that when we had again loaded the Dean
there were places where we were forced to walk alongside and
lift her over rocks, but several men at the same time always
had a strong hold on the shore end of the line. In this way we
got her down as far as was practicable by that method. At
this point the river changed. The water became more concen-
trated and consequently deeper. It was necessary to unload
the boat again and work her on down with a couple of men in
her and the rest holding the line on shore as we had done above.
When the roughest part was past in this manner, we made her
fast and proceeded to carry her cargo down to this spot which
took some time. It was there put on board again and the
hatches firmly secured. The boat was held firmly behind a
huge sheltering rock and when all was ready her crew took
their places. With the Major clinging to the middle cabin, as

Jones Killers F. S. Dellenbaugh

Canyon of Lodore.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Forest Fire 45

his chair had been left above and would be carried down later
we shoved out into the swift current, here free from rocks, and
literally bounded over the waves that formed the end of the
descent, to clear water where we landed on a snug little beach
and made the boat secure for the night. Picking our way along
shore back to the head of the rapid, camp was made there as
the darkness was falling and nothing more could be done that
night.

It was next to impossible to converse, but every one being
very tired it was not long after supper before we took to the
blankets and not a man was kept awake by the noise. It
seemed only a few moments before it was time to go at it again.
All hands were up early and the other two boats were taken
laboriously down in the same manner as the Dean had been
engineered, but though we toiled steadily it was one o'clock by
the time we succeeded in placing them alongside that boat.
Anticipating this, Andy's utensils were taken down on the Nell,
and while we were working with the Canonita, our good chef
prepared the dinner and we stopped long enough to fortify
ourselves with it. Having to build a trail in some places in order
to carry the goods across ridges and boulders, it was not alone
the work on lowering the boats which delayed us. While we
were absorbed in these operations the camp-fire of the morning
in some way spread unperceived into the thick sage-brush and
cedars which covered the point, and we vacated the place none
too soon, for the flames were leaping high, and by the time we
had finished our dinner at the foot of the rapid, the point we
had so recently left was a horrible furnace. The fire was jump-
ing and playing amidst dense smoke which rolled a mighty
column, a thousand feet it seemed to me above the top of the
canyon ; that is over 3000 feet into the tranquil air.

At two o'clock all three boats were again charging down on
a stiff current with rather bad conditions, though we ran two
sharp rapids without much trouble. In one the Nell got on a
smooth rock and came near capsizing. The current at the
spot happened to be not so swift and she escaped with no
damage. Then we were brought up by another rapid, a very
bad one. Evening was drawing on and every man was feeling

46 A Canyon Voyage

somewhat used up by the severe exertions of the day. Camp
was therefore ordered at the head of this rapid in the midst of
scenery that has probably as great beauty, picturesqueness, and
grandeur as any to be found in the whole West. I hardly know
how to describe it. All day long the surroundings had been
supremely beautiful, majestic, but at this camp everything was
on a superlative scale and words seem colourless and futile.
The precipices on both sides, about 22CX) feet high, conveyed
the impression of being almost vertical. Our camp was
several hundred yards from the rapid and we could talk with
some comfort. After supper I wandered alone down beside
the furiously plunging waters and came upon a brood of young
magpies airing themselves on the sand. The roar of the fall
prevented their hearing and I walked among them, picked one
up and took it to camp to show their comicality, when I let it
go back to the rendezvous. I was censured especially by the
Major, for cruelty to animals.

The next day was Sunday and it came with a radiance that
further enhanced the remarkable grandeur around us. Near by
was a side canyon of the most picturesque type, down which a
clear little brook danced from ledge to ledge and from pool to
pool, twenty to thirty feet at a time. We named it Leaping
Brook. The rocks were mossy, and fir trees, pines, cedars, and
cottonwoods added the charm of foliage to the brilliant colours
of the rocks and the sheen of falling water, here and there lost
in the most profound shadows. Beaman made a number of
views while the rest of the men climbed for various purposes.
Steward, Clem, and I by a circuitous route arrived at a point
high up on Leaping Brook where the scene was beyond de-
scription. To save trouble on the return we descended the
brook as it was easy to slide down places that could not be
climbed. In this manner we succeeded in getting to the last
descent near camp, to discover that it was higher than we
thought and almost vertical with rough rocks at the bottom.
As we could not go back and had no desire to break a leg, we
were in trouble. Then we spied Jack in the camp a short dis-
tance away and called to him to put a tree up for us. Good-
natured Jack, always ready to help, assumed a gruff tone and

End of Lodore 47

pretended he would never help us, but we knew better, and
presently he threw up a long dead pine which we could reach
by a short slide, and thus got to the river level. It was now
noon, and as soon as dinner was over the boats were lowered
by lines past the rapid beside camp and once below this we
shot on our way with a fine current, soon arriving at two
moderate rapids close together, which we ran. This brought
us to a third with an ugly look, but on examination Prof, and
the Major decided to run it. Getting a good entrance all the
boats went through without the slightest mishap. A mile below
this place we landed at the mouth of a pretty little stream
entering through a picturesque and narrow canyon on the left.
We called it Alcove Brook.

Beaman took some negatives here. This was not the easy
matter that the dry-plate afterwards made it, for the dark tent
had to be set up, the glass plate flowed with collodion, then
placed in the silver bath, and exposed wet in the camera, to be
immediately developed and washed and placed in a special box
for carriage.

This would have been an ideal place for a hunter. Numerous
fresh tracks of grizzlies were noticed [all around, but we did
not have the good luck to see any of the animals themselves.
Happy grounds these canyons were at that time for the bears,
and they may still be enjoying the seclusion the depths afford
The spot had an additional interest for us because it was here
that on the first trip the brush caught fire soon after the party
had landed, and they were forced to take to the boats so uncere-
moniously that they lost part of their mess-kit and some
clothing.

On leaving Alcove Brook we ran a rapid and then another
a little farther on, but they were easy and the river was much
calmer though the current was still very swift. At the same
time the walls to our satisfaction began to give indications of
breaking. They became less high, less compact, and we ven-
tured to hope that our battle with the waters of Lodore was
about over. The Major said that, as nearly as he could remember,
the end of the great gorge was not very far below. Though the
sky was beginning to show the evening tints we kept on and ever

A Canyon Voyage

on, swiftly but smoothly, looking up at the sky and at the
splendid walls. The sun went down. The chasm grew hazy
with the soft light of evening and the mystery of the bends
deepened. There was no obstruction and in about three miles
from Alcove Brook we rather abruptly emerged into a beautiful
small opening, where the immediate walls were no more than
six hundred feet high. A river of considerable size flowed in on
the left, through a deep and narrow canyon. This was the
Yampa, sometimes then called Bear River. By seven o'clock
we had moored the boats a few yards up its mouth and we
made a comfortable camp in a box-elder grove. We had
won the fight without disaster and we slept that night in
peace.

Lodore is wholly within the State of Colorado. It is 2of
miles long with a descent of 420 feet,* mostly concentrated be-
tween Disaster Falls and Hell's Half-Mile, a distance of about
12 miles. The total descent from the Union Pacific crossing
was 975 feet in a distance, as the river runs, of about 153 miles.

* In my Romance of the Colorado River these figures were changed to 275
because of barometrical data supplied me which was supposed to be accurate.
I have concluded that it was not.

Echo Park.

Mouth of Yampa River in Foreground, Green River on Right.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

CHAPTER V

A Remarkable Echo— Up the Canyon of the Yampa— Steward and Clem Try a
Moonlight Swim— Whirlpool Canyon and Mountain Sheep— A Grand Fourth-
of-July Dinner— A Rainbow-Coloured Valley— The Major Proceeds in Advance
—A Split Mountain with Rapids a Plenty— Enter a Big Valley at Last.

THE little opening between canyons we named Echo Park,
first because after the close quarters of Lodore it seemed
very park-like, and second because from the smooth bare cliff
directly opposite our landing a distinct echo of ten words was
returned to the speaker. I had never before, and have never
since, heard so clear and perfect an echo with so many words
repeated. We were camped on the right bank of the Yampa
as the left was a bottom land covered with cedars and we pre-
ferred higher ground. This bottom was an alluvial deposit
triangular in shape about a mile long and a quarter of a mile
wide with the Yampa and Green on two sides and a vertical
sandstone wall on the third. Behind our camp the rocks broke
back in a rough, steep slope for perhaps a quarter of a mile, and
this with the bottom-land and the lack of height in the walls
near the river conveyed an impression of wide expanse when
compared with the narrow limits in which we had for eight days
been confined. The Green was here about 400 feet wide and
was held in on the western side of the park by the Echo Cliff
which was a vertical wall some 600 feet high composed of homo-
geneous sandstone, and consequently almost without a crack
from top to bottom where its smooth expanse dropped below
the surface of the water. It extended down river about three-
fourths of a mile, the river doubling around its southern end.

The next day after arriving here most of us dia not feel
like doing any climbing and remained around camp, mending
clothes and other articles, adjusting things that had become
4 49

so A Canyon Voyage

deranged by our rough work in the last canyon, recording
notes, and making entries in diaries. Prof, took observations
for latitude and longitude to establish the position of the
Yampa so that it could be properly placed on the map. The
Major during an exploring trip from the eastward in 1868 had
reached the Yampa Canyon, but he could not cross it. He now
decided to go up with a boat as far as possible in three days to
supplement his former observations as well as to study the
canyon in general. He had estimated its length at thirty miles,
and this has proved to be correct. The Dean was unloaded,
and with three days' rations the Major started with her in the
morning manned by Jack, Beaman, Jones, and Andy. Of course
they were all still tired from the strain of Lodore, and they were
not enthusiastic about seeing the Yampa. In such work as was
common through Lodore, it is as much the tension on the
nerves, even though this is not realised at the time, as it is the
strain on the muscles in transporting the cargoes and the boats,
which makes one tired. I was entirely satisfied not to go with
the Yampa party and I believe all the others left behind felt
much the same.

Steward with Clem, when the Yampa expedition had gone,
started back over the cliffs for Alcove Brook to geologise,
leaving Prof, busy with observation. Cap. plotting the topo-
graphical notes and making his map thereby, and me with no
special duty at the time. Every man who wants to be efficient
in the field must learn to cook. This was my opportunity as
Andy was absent and the others had their special work on
hand, so I turned my attention to the culinary realm. A few
directions and an example from Cap. who was a veteran gave
me the method and I succeeded as my first offering, in placing
before my comrades some biscuits hot from the Dutch oven,
which compared favourably with those of Andy himself. With
the constant practice Andy by this time had become an expert.
The day wore away and at evening I got supper with more
biscuits of which I was proud, but Steward and Clem failed to
come to partake of them as we expected. Darkness fell and
still there was dead silence outside of our camp. Much con-
cerned we then ate supper momentarily expecting to hear their

Swimming a Whirlpool 51

voices, but they did not come. Something had happened, but
we could not follow their trail till morning to find out what it
was. At ten o'clock we gave them up for the night deeply
troubled about them. I had been sitting alone by the fire
keeping the coffee hot and listening, when suddenly I heard a
crackling of the bushes between me and the river and in a sec-
ond or two Clem, laughing as over a joke, came to the fire with
the water running off him in streams. While I was trying to
get an explanation Steward also appeared in the same condition.
At first they would not tell what had occurred but finally they
confessed on condition that I would keep the matter a secret.
They had made a long hard climb and late in the afternoon had
come to a place where Steward found it necessary to descend
to the river in examining the strata. They intended to climb
back, but when the work was done the sun had set and it was
too late to venture up as they could not climb in the dark.
Rather than stay there all night they made a raft of two little
dead cedars and tying their shoes upon it, they waited for the
moon to rise. This was very soon and they slipped into the
current relying on the raft merely to keep their heads above
water. They knew there were no rapids between them and
camp but they did not properly estimate the velocity of the
river and the eddies and whirlpools. They kept near the left
wall so as not to be carried past camp and in this they made a
great mistake for they were caught in a whirlpool caused by a
projection, and the raft was wrenched from them while they
were violently thrown around. Steward being a powerful
swimmer succeeded after nearly going under for good in re-
gaining the raft which Clem meanwhile had been losing and
recovering quickly several times. He was not a good swimmer.
After this whirlpool was passed they reached the locality of our
camp with no further adventure. They were very desirous that
the story be kept from the rest of the party but they had hardly
finished telling me when Prof, came and insisted on knowing
what had occurred. Their punishment for this indiscretion was
the hard climb back again to where they had left a rifle and
other things that must be recovered.

A delightful episode of this camp was a row which several

52 A Canyon Voyage

of us made up the Yampa in the moonlight. As far as we went
the current was not swift and we were able to pull gently along
under the great cliffs in shadows made luminous by the bril-
liancy of the moon. A song the Major was fond of singing.
Softly and Sweetly it Comes from Afar, almost involuntarily,
sprang from us all, though our great songster, Jack, was not
with us. Jack had an extensive repertory, an excellent voice,
and a hearty, exuberant spirit. He would sing Write Me a
Letter from Home, The Colleen Bawn, The Lone Starry Hours,
Beautiful Isle of the Sea, and many others in a way that brought
tranquillity to our souls. We missed him on this evening but
nevertheless our song sounded well, echoing from wall to wall,
and we liked it. Somehow or other that night remains one of
the fairest pictures I have ever seen.

Another day I went with Steward down across the trian-
gular bottom to the lower end of the park where we climbed
out through the canyon of a little brook to a sandy and deso-
late plateau. Currant bushes laden with fruit abounded and
there were tracks of grizzlies to be seen. Possibly some may
have been lying in the dense underbrush, but if so they kept
their lairs as these bears generally do unless directly disturbed.

On the 30th of June Prof., Steward, and Cap. went for a
climb. They proceeded to the lower end of the park by boat
and through the little canyon that came in there, got out to the
plateau where Steward and I had before been, but there they
went farther. After a very hard climb they succeeded in reach-
ing the crest where they had a broad view and could see nearly
all of the next canyon with its rapids which we would have to
pass through; the canyon the Major had called Whirlpool on
his first trip. They could also see the Yampa River for twenty
miles and discovered the Dean coming back down that stream,
their attention being attracted by a gunshot in that direction,
which they knew could be only from our own men. In camp
during the day I again experimented in the culinary depart-
ment, and produced two dried-apple pies, one of which Clem
and I ate with an indescribable zest, and the other we kept to
astonish the absentees with when they should reach camp. I
have since learned that my method of pie-making was original

Whirlpool Canyon 53

I soaked the dried apples till they were soft then made a crust
which had plenty of bacon grease in it for shortening and put
the apples with sugar between, baking the production in the
Dutch oven.

About five o'clock the Yampa explorers came. They were
ragged, tired, and hungry having had nothing to eat all day, and
not enough any day, as the Major had not taken sufficient
supplies in his desire to make the boat light. They were all
rather cross, the only time on the whole expedition that such a
state existed, but when they had eaten and rested their genial
spirits came back, they even liked my pie, and they told us
about their struggle up the canyon.

We were all rather sorry to pull away from this comfortable
camp at the mouth of the Yampa on July 3d, but the rapids
of Whirlpool were challenging and we had to go and meet
them. At the foot of Echo Park the Green doubles directly
back on itself for a mile as it turns Echo Rock, the narrow
peninsula of sandstone 600 feet high. The canyon became
suddenly very close and assumed a formidable appearance.
We listened for the roar of a rapid but for some time nothing
was heard. The splendour of the walls impressed us deeply
rising 20CX) feet, many coloured, carved, and terraced elabor-
ately. Our admiration was interrupted by a suggestive roar
approaching and suddenly a violent rapid appeared. There was
ample room and we got below it by a let-down, that is by
lowering the boats one at a time with their cargoes on board,
along the margin, working in and out of the side currents.
Then we had dinner while waiting for the Canonita which had
remained behind for pictures.

A part of my work was to make a continuous outline sketch
of the left wall for the use of the geologists and this I was able
to do as we went along. I had a pocket on the bulkhead in
front of my seat in which I kept a sole leather portfolio, which
I could use quickly and replace in the waterproof pocket.

The walls of the canyon became more flaring as soon as the
rapid was passed at noon, but they lost none of their majesty.
We now expected very bad river and whirlpools from the
experience of the first party, but the river is never twice alike.

54 A Canyon Voyage

Not only does its bottom shift, but every variation in stage of
water brings new problems or does away with them entirely.
It was an agreeable surprise to be able to run three rapids with
ease by four o'clock, when we saw on some rocks two hundred
feet above the stream a flock of mountain sheep. An immediate
landing was made with fresh mutton in prospect. Unluckily
our guns in anticipation of severe work had all been securely
packed away, and it was some moments before they could be
brought out. By that time the sheep had nimbly gone around
a corner of the wall where a large side canyon was now dis-
covered bringing in a fine creek. It was useless to follow the
sheep though one or two made a brief trial, and camp was made
in a Cottonwood grove at the mouth of the creek. Cottonwoods
fringed the stream as far as it could be seen from our position.
Brush Creek we called it believing it to be the mouth of a stream
in the back country known by that name. The next day, two
or three miles up, a branch was found to come from the south,
and as this was thought to be Brush Creek, the larger one was
named after Cap., and "Bishop's Creek" was put on our map.
Doubtless there are plenty of trout in this creek and in others
we had passed, but we had no proper tackle for trout and be-
sides seldom had time for fishing when at these places. Jack,
when not too tired, fished in the Green and generally had good
success. Our present locality would have been a rare place for
a month or two's sojourn had we been sportsmen with time on
our hands. Sheep, deer, and bear existed in abundance as well
as smaller game, but we had to forget it though none of us cared
about shooting for fun. Our minds were on other things. Often
we went out leaving rifles behind as they were heavy in a climb.
Scarcely had we settled ourselves in this beautiful camp
when we discovered that we ourselves were the hunted, and by
an enemy that we could not vanquish — ants. There was no
place in the neighbourhood that was out of their range. The
best I could do was to make my bed two feet from the nearest
hill and let them have their way. Morning was hailed with
unusual delight for this reason and also because it was the "glo-
rious Fourth," a day that every American remembers wherever
he may be. We fired several rounds as a salute, and the Major

Whirlpool Canyon.

Mouth of Bishop Creek— Fourth of July Camp.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 i.

A Canyon Banquet 55

concluded to keep this camp till the next morning. To enable
Andy to have a day off and a climb out with a party to the
open, I agreed to run the cook outfit, and felt highly compli-
mented that they were willing to trust me after the pie episode.
I immediately resolved to try my skill again in that quarter
and expected to astonish the camp. I succeeded. The bill of
fare which I evolved was ham, dried-apple pie, dried apples
stewed, canned peaches, sugar syrup, bread, coffee, and some
candy from Gunther's in Chicago. The candy had been pre-
sented to me at Green River Station by some passing friends,
and I had hidden it in my bag waiting for this grand occasion.
Ham was quite as much of a luxury as candy, for we had
started with but three or four, and only used them on special
days. As for the canned peaches, they were the only ones we
had. The supper was a memorable one; not a grumble was
heard from anybody, indeed they all praised it, and the only
drawback, from my point of view, was that the scouting party
did not return early enough to taste it in its prime. The Major
threatened to expel the member who had smuggled in the candy
as all the men declared they would go no farther unless they
could have a plate of it for desert at every meal!

The next morning we were on the river early, glad to get
away from the army of ants. The canyon walls ran along at
about the same height as on the previous day, about 2400 feet,
and while the river was swift and full of rapids everything
seemed to favour us. Before halting for dinner we had run five
rapids, three rather ugly, as well as letting down past one with
lines. From where a stop was made for Andy's noonday oper-
ations, a flock of sheep was seen on the opposite side, and
several went after them with no result but disappointment.
When we started again we ran a rapid at once, then let down
past the next, and followed that by running two more, the last
the worst. The boats bumped occasionally on hidden rocks,
but no harm was done them. The whole canyon was exceed-
ingly beautiful, nevertheless we did not mourn when late in
the afternoon, just after running the last rapid, the magnificent
cliffs fell back and we saw more sky than at any time since
leaving Brown's Park. On the right the rocks melted away into

5^ A Canyon Voyage

beautiful rainbow-coloured hills while on the left they remained
steep, though retreating a mile or so from the water. The
stretch of sky seemed enormous. Breathing appeared to be
easier. The eye grows weary with the short range views, and
yearns for space in which to roam.

The valley we were now in was not long ; about four miles
in a straight line, with a width of two. In this space the river
meanders nine miles, one detour being very long. It spreads
also amongst a number of islands, and the numerous channels
became shallow till our keels grated here and there. Then they
concentrated once more and we floated along on waters deep
and black and slow. The marvellous colouring in the sur-
rounding landscape impressed us, and the Major was for a time
uncertain whether to call this "Rainbow" or "Island" Park,
the decision finally being given to the latter. Shortly before
sunset our meanderings terminated at the foot of the valley
where the river once more entered the rocks, in a gateway as
abrupt, though not as imposing as that of Lodore. A fine
grove of box-elders on the right just above this gate, offered an
attractive camping place, and there we stopped.

We were now in Utah again, having crossed the boundary
somewhere in Whirlpool Canyon. The altitude was 4940 feet,
showing a descent in Whirlpool Canyon of 140 feet in a
distance of 14J miles. The next day I went with Beaman
and Clem with a boat back to the foot of Whirlpool Can-
yon, in order that Beaman might get some views. It was
a hard pull, and we discovered that what appears sluggish
going down, is often the reverse to a boat going up. We
could make headway only by keeping very close to the bank.
It was supper-time when we again reached camp. The Major
now announced that he intended to take the Dean and go on
ahead, without stopping anywhere, to the mouth of the Uinta
River, leaving us to follow as we could in doing the work.
Cap. was to be taken in my place because of his pre-
vious experience in the army and in the West. That evening
all was made ready. By break of day the camp was astir,
breakfast was disposed of as quickly as possible, the Dean was
manned, the Major went to his place on the middle cabin, they

A Famous Cake 57

cast off and disappeared in the canyon gate. We then called this
" Craggy Canyon," but later it was changed to Split Mountain.

All of the others crossed the river to climb to the top of the
cliffs for observations and for photographs. I was left alone
to watch camp. I longed to experiment further in the cooking
line, and discovering a bag of ground coffee leaning against the
foot of a tree, I said to myself, " coffee cake." I had heard of
it, I had eaten it, I would again surprise the boys. I had no
eggs, no butter, no milk (condensed milk was unknown at that
time), but I had flour, water, cream of tartar, saleratus, sugar,
salt, and ground coffee. I thought these quite enough, and
went at my task. The mixture I made I put in a small tin and
baked in the Dutch oven. I was so much occupied with this
interesting experiment that I forgot all about time and about
having something substantial ready for the return of the hun-
gry climbers, so when they did come about noon, as famished
as coyotes and dead tired, all I could offer was the cake, ever
after famous on that trip, a brown, sugary solid, some six inches
in diameter, two inches thick, and betraying its flavour every-
where by the coffee-grounds scattered lavishly through it.
Andy gave it one brief sad look, and then went to work to get
dinner. But they were such a rare lot of good fellows that they
actually praised that cake and not only that, they ate it. The
cake led to the discovery that the Major's party had left behind
all their coffee, which was what I had used for flavouring, and
they would have to content themselves with tea. From the
heights our men had reached they could see, with a glass, the
Dean working rapidly down the river. Next day another party
went up to the same place, and I went along. The photo-
graphic outfit had been left there because rain the day before
had spoiled the view, and we were to bring it down when
more views had been taken. After a strong, steep climb
we found ourselves on a peak or pinnacle about 3000 feet
above the river, and therefore 7940 above sea-level.

The view from this point was extraordinary. Far below
gleamed the river cleaving the rocks at our feet, and visible for
several miles in the canyon churning its way down, the rapids
indicated by bars of white. One hardly knew which way to

58 A Canyon Voyage

look. Crags about us projected into the canyon, and I was in-
spired to creep out upon a long finger of sandstone where I
could sit astride as on a horse and comfortably peer down into
the abyss. It was an absolutely safe place, but Beaman and
Clem feared the crag might break off with me, and they com-
pelled me to come back to relieve their minds. Seldom does
one have such a chance to see below as well as I could there.
The long, narrow mountain stretched off to the west, seeming
not more than a half-mile wide, and split open for its whole
length by the river, which has washed its canyon longitudinally
through it. In all directions were mountains, canyons, and
crags in bewildering profusion.

When Beaman had ended his labours we started down the
cliffs with his apparatus. This was the terror of the party.
The camera in its strong box was a heavy load to carry up the
rocks, but it was nothing to the chemical and plate-holder box,
which in turn was a featherweight compared to the imitation
hand-organ which served for a dark room. This dark box was
the special sorrow of the expedition, as it had to be dragged
up the heights from 500 to 3000 feet. With this machinery we
reached camp pretty tired and glad to rest the remainder of
the day, especially as Prof, said we would enter the new can-
yon the next morning. This was Sunday. A few minutes
after starting we passed between perpendicular strata rising out
of the water, and gradually bending above over to the horizon-
tal, then breaking into crags. I never saw anything more like
an artificial wall, so evenly were the rocky beds laid one against
another. As we passed into the more broken portion a
flock of sheep came into view high up on the crags on the
right standing motionless evidently puzzled by the sound of
our oars. We fired from the moving boats, but without result.
Recovering from their surprise the sheep bounded lightly
away. Our attention was required the next moment by a
rapid which we ran — it was a small one — to find it followed by
many thickly set with rocks. At the first we let down by line
for half a mile, when we had dinner. Then we let down by
line another half-mile, and ran half a mile more in easy water
to the head of a very bad place, one of the worst we had seen,

Split Mountain Canyon.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871

Low Water -(^

where we made another let-down. There was never any
difficulty about landing when we desired, which made the work
comparatively easy. The Cahonita got some hard knoclcs and
had to be repaired at one place before we could go on. The
total distance made was only about three miles, but we could
have gone farther had we not stopped for investigations, and
to mend the boat.

Wet and weary we welcomed the order to camp, about five
o'clock, and made ourselves comfortable with dry clothes from
our rubber bags, the wet ones being spread, as was our custom,
on rocks to dry. At high water many of these rapids would be
rendered much easier. A quarter of a mile below camp was a
small cave thirty or forty feet deep, very picturesque, with the
river dashing into it, and in the water in front a rock twenty
feet high, which had dropped down from somewhere above.
Beaman got a very good picture here.

The river was falling fast and as the water lowered rocks
more and more showed themselves in the rapids. Low water
increases the labour but it increases the safety as well, for the
velocity is less and the boats are more easily controlled.

The next day, July loth, we did not start on down the
river till one o'clock. Then we lowered the boats past two
rapids and ran six, of which four were very bad on account of
numerous rocks. Occasionally a boat would strike but none
was injured seriously. The sun was directly in our faces blind-
ing us, and a high wind was blowing which added to the diffi-
culties. The walls were often vertical for a thousand feet or
more, and the river was wide and shallow. There was a scorch-
ing hot sun, the temperature being near lOO in the shade.
The rocks and even the sand became so hot that they were
uncomfortable to the touch, but there was one advantage in
this dry heat — our clothes were soon dry. During this day we
landed on the wrong side to examine one rapid and had to run
it from there. Both boats got through with only slight raps
and we went on a short distance to camp at the head of a bad
descent which was not runable at this stage of water. In the
morning a line-portage was easily accomplished and we ran
down a short distance farther when we stopped for dinner on a

6o A Canyon Voyage

sandy beach. The sand scorched my feet for I had been with-
out shoes for several days. All our shoes were giving out and
mine were the first to go completely. Fortunately Beaman
had an extra pair of army brogans which he lent me till we
should reach Uinta. I had ordered, by advice in Chicago, two
pairs of fine shoes at thirteen dollars a pair, but I now discovered
that I ought to have bought shoes at two dollars instead for
such work as this. We hoped to be able to get some new shoes
from Salt Lake when we reached the Uinta River and again
would be in touch, even though a very long touch, with the
outside world. ' Our soap was all gone too, and supplies of
every kind were getting low.

In the afternoon three more rapids were run and at a fourth
we were compelled to make a line-portage. Then we saw the
strata begin to curve over and down and finally drop into
the river just as they had come out of it at the beginning. The
crevices were filled with ferns and in places clear water was
dripping from these Httle green cliff gardens. As we ran along
the foot of the left wall we saw a peculiar and beautiful spring
which had carved out a dainty basin where a multitude of ferns
and kindred plants were thriving, a silvery rill dropping down
from them. We emerged from the canyon as abruptly as we
had entered it, and saw a broad valley stretching before us.
Running a quarter of a mile on a smooth river camp was made
on the right on a level floor carpeted with grass and surrounded
by thickets of oak. We were in the beginning of what is now
called Wonsits (Antelope) Valley, about eighty-seven miles long,
the only large valley on the river above the end of Black Canyon.
Split-Mountain Canyon eight miles long has one of the greatest
declivities on the river, coming next to Lodore, though it differs
from the latter in that the descent is more continuous and not
broken into short, violent stretches. There would be plain
sailing now to the head of the Canyon of Desolation.

CHAPTER VI

A Lookout for Redskins — The River a Sluggard— A Gunshot ! — Someone Comes !
— The Tale of a Mysterious Light — How, How ! from Douglas Boy — At the
Mouth of the Uinta — A Tramp to Goblin City and a Trip down White River
on a Raft — A Waggon-load of Supplies from Salt Lake by Way of Uinta
Agency — The Major Goes Out to Find a Way In.

OUR thoughts now were mainly directed to pushing on to
the mouth of the Uinta River and picking up our advance
party, which by this time must have gotten in touch with the
Uinta Agency. We felt gratified that another of the long line
of canyons was a thing of the past and that for a brief time we
would have easy water, so far as rapids were concerned. We
were reminded that this was Indian country by discovering on
a smooth face of rock wall not far from camp a lot of drawings
pecked into the stone. They represented figures of natives,
bison, elk, deer, mountain sheep, grizzly tracks, etc., and as they
were the first pictographs I had ever seen I was particularly
interested. The bison pictures indicated the former presence
here in this valley of that fine animal. Numbers indeed once
ranged these hills and valleys, but they had all disappeared
many years before our voyage. We were on the lookout for
Indians. As long as we were encompassed by the mighty
walls of the canyons there was little probability of our meeting
with any of the original people of this soil, but the valley now
opening wide before us was their favourite haunt. Two divi-
sions of Utes roamed the surrounding region. On the west it
was the Uinta Utes who, we knew, were peaceable, and on the
east it was the White River Utes, whose status as to peace and
war was at that period somewhat vague and uncertain. We
expected no trouble with any of them, yet the possibility of

62 A Canyon Voyage

running at any moment on a band gave added interest and
colour to the voyage. This was intensified by the feeling that
. we had suddenly been thrown out of doors, unprotected, as the
huge, dominating precipices broke so suddenly back on both
sides, eaving us hardly a rock with which, in case of necessity,
to emulate the example of Roderick Dhu. Probably if we had
travelled here on horseback in the open there would not have
been this sense of having left our fortification behind.

July I2th the boats proceeded down a river so sluggish that
the term "down" seemed a misnomer, and we actually had to
row; had to work at the oars to make the boats go; these same
boats which so recently had behaved like wild horses. This
was not to our taste at all, the weather being extremely hot.
But there was no help for it. The boats fairly went to sleep and
we tugged away at their dull, heavy weight, putting the miles
behind and recalling the express-train manner of their recent
action. On each side of us there were occasional groves of
cottonwoods and wide bottoms bounded by low hills. After
about ten miles of steady pulling we discovered that we
were only 2^ miles from our starting place in a straight
line. Here there was a superb Cottonwood grove, massive
trees with huge trunks like oaks, on the left. We found the
remains of a camp-fire and decided that our advance party had
come this far from Island Park the first day. They had accom-
plished a phenomenal run, but it showed what might be done
with light boats and a full crew. As Steward desired to make
some geological examinations at this point, Prof, announced
that we would stay till morning. Another cause for stopping
was a gale which blew with great force, making rowing exceed-
ingly hard work, and it was hard enough anyhow with no good
current to help.

Steward wished to go across the river, and I went with him.
We tramped with our Winchesters on our shoulders for several
hours, examining rocks and fossils. On our return we found
that Andy was occupied in boiling a goose which Prof.'s sure
aim had bestowed on the larder, and we had the bird for supper.
If it was not one of the fossils it certainly was one of the
"oldest inhabitants," which are found in every locality, and

The Light 63

though a steady diet of bacon enthused us with an ambition to
masticate this noble morsel, it had to be relegated to the impos-
sibilities. We had a good deal of entertainment out of it, and
while so engaged every ear caught the sound of a faint, distant
gunshot. This was proof that we were no longer alone, and the
question was, ** How many Indians are there?" We simply
waited developments. Night came on and the fierce wind died
away completely as the sun went down. We gave no more
thought to the shot, but all went to bed without even leaving
a watch, so confident was Prof, that there was no enemy, and
no danger of a surprise. He was always "level-headed" and
never went off on a tangent doing wild or unwarranted things.
He was a man of unusually sound judgment.

In the absence of Cap. the duty of reading barometer had
fallen to me, and sometimes, when waiting for the hour to
arrive, I had to sit alone for a time when the others already had
turned in. It was that way on this night, and I waited with
some impatience for nine o'clock to come. For the purpose of
reading the scale we used a small bull's-eye lantern belonging
to a transit instrument, and it threw out a long beam of light.
I entertained myself by flashing this beam of light in various
directions to the distress of one member lying near not asleep,
who was somewhat nervous as to the character of the Indians
responsible for the shot.

" Confound it," he growled, " you '11 have the whole Ute
tribe down on us ! You know they are not far off ! "

Of course I desisted in my "signalling," but Prof., not yet
asleep, spoke up saying he did not beheve any Indians would
bother us. Finishing the observations I put out the lantern,
and settled in my blankets. At that instant there was the flash
of a light through the trees and then it glowed steadily for a
moment and went out. My nervous neighbour saw it too.
** There," he cried, " an answer to your confounded signal ! "
Several saw it. "The evening star setting beyond the hill,"
they declared, derisively, but we two maintained that it was
nothing less than a light near by. Then sleep ruled the camp.
In the middle of the night there was a sudden terrific cracking,
rending, and crashing, starting all to their feet except Clem, who

64 A Canyon Voyage

was not wakened by it. What had happened ? We perceived
in a second. One of the enormous limbs, weakened by the wind,
had broken off and dropped to the ground in the middle of the
camp. Luckily no one was under it and no harm was done,
but for a moment, in connection with the light episode and
the gunshot, it gave us a shock. Every one laughed, and soon
the camp was still again. The sun was well up before we
awoke. Immediately the discussion of the strange light came
up, and it formed a lively and amusing topic, not only then,
but ever after for months. Breakfast became a stirring debating
scene, when plump into the midst of our hilarity, as if to empha-
sise the declarations of the nervous member, there came a sharp
call from beyond a line of bushes. Almost on the instant ap-
peared an Indian mounted on a dark bay horse trotting
towards us exclaiming, ** How, how ! ** and holding out his
hand in token of friendship. His long black hair hung behind
in two tails braided with red and black cotton cloth. The
scalp at the part was painted vermilion, and around each eye
was a ring of the same bright colour. His shirt was of the
kind called hickory, and his leggins were of red woollen stuff.
Altogether he was a good looking specimen of his race, and
about twenty-five years old. How many more might be behind
we could not tell.

He dismounted and Clem grasped him warmly by the
hand, exclaiming with his most cordial smile, " Well, how are
all the folks at home ? " to which the visitor of course made
no answer. Not one of our party understood Ute, and I had
never seen a " wild " Indian at such close quarters before. The
man motioned for something to eat, so Andy gave him a plate
of breakfast, but there was a twinkle in Andy's blue eye, for the
breakfast consisted largely of the rejected goose. When the
red man's vision rested on the goose he gave a grunt of disgust
and made no effort to even taste it, though he relished the
other things and a cup of hot coffee. I have noticed that all
Indians are very fond of coffee. We gleaned that he was alone
with his squaw, and had a wickiup down the river a short dis-
tance. Doubtless he had examined our camp the previous
night. The barometer hanging to a tree-branch caught his eye.

A Coy Passenger 65

and I tried by signs to explain it to him with no success
except to convulse the whole crew. At length with the excla-
mation "Squaw," he rode away and came back with his fair
partner riding behind. By this time we were packed up
and we pushed off, the pair watching us with deep interest.
About a mile and a half below by the river, we came on them
again at their camp, they having easily beaten us by a short
cut. Here was his wickiup made of a few Cottonwood boughs,
and in front of it the ashes of a fire. Our side immediately
claimed this was the light we had seen, and the discussion of
this point continued until another night put an end to it. In
the bough shelter sat the blooming bride of " Douglas Boy,"
as he called himself, Douglas being the chief of the White
River Utes. She was dressed well in a neat suit of navy-blue
flannel and was lavishly adorned with ornaments. Her dress
was bound at the waist by a heavy belt of leather, four inches
wide, profusely decorated with brass discs and fastened by a
brass buckle. She was young and quite pretty, and they were
a handsome couple. He intimated that he would be grateful
to be ferried across the river, here almost half a mile wide, so
his blankets, saddles, and whole paraphernalia were piled on the
boats, while the two horses were driven into the water and pelted
with stones till they made up their minds that the farther shore
offered greater hospitality, and swam for it. Then the squaw
and the brave were taken on separate boats. She hesitated
long before finally trusting herself, and was exceedingly coy
about it. She had probably never seen a boat before. At last,
overcoming her fear she stepped tremblingly on board and in a
few minutes we had them landed on the other side, where we
said farewell and went on.

In the afternoon we discovered a number of natives on the
right bank and landed to see what they were. Nothing more
terrible than several badly frightened squaws and children
occupied the place, the men being away. We thought this
call on the ladies would suffice, and presenting them with a
quantity of tobacco for their absent lords, we pulled away, leav-
ing them still almost paralysed with fright and astonishment
at our sudden and unexpected appearance and disappearance.

66 A Canyon Voyage

The valley was now very wide, and the river spread to a great
width also, giving conditions totally different from any we had
found above. Rowing was real labour here, but Prof, was eager
to arrive at the mouth of the Uinta the next day so it was row,
row, with a strong, steady, monotonous stroke, hour after hour
till we had put twenty miles behind when we stopped for the
night. Next morning the same programme was continued
from seven o'clock on, with a brief halt for dinner. About
four a storm came up, compelling us to wait an hour, when on
we pulled, with a temperature something like ioo°F., in the
shade, till sunset, when about forty miles from our starting
point, we arrived at the mouth of a river on the right, which
we thought must be the Uinta. But finally as there was no sign
of our advance party we concluded there must be a mistake.
There was so little current in the tributary we thought it might
be something besides a river, the mouth of a lake perhaps, and
that the Uinta was farther on. About a mile down in the dim
light there appeared to be a river mouth, but on reaching the
place there was nothing of the kind. Several signal shots were
fired. They fell dead on the dull stillness of the night which was
dropping fast upon us. We took to the oars once more and
pulled down nearly another mile till the dark grew so thick it
was not prudent to proceed, and Prof, ordered a landing on the
left where we made a hasty cup of coffee to refresh the inner
man, and turned in, much puzzled and troubled by the absence
of any kind of a signal from the advance party. Some one
suggested that they had all been killed, but Prof, met this with
scornful ridicule and went to sleep. When daylight came a
river was discovered less than half a mile below our camp
coming in from the east. Prof, knew this to be White River
from the map, the mouths of White and Uinta rivers having
long been quite accurately established. The mouth of the
Uinta must therefore be where we had been the night before,
and Prof, walked back till he came opposite to it. We then
got the boats back by rowing and towing, and landed on the
right or west bank about a quarter of a mile above the mouth
of the Uinta, where the old time crossing had been, and which
we had passed unnoticed in the evening light. Here were the

Fort Robideau 67

ashes of a camp-fire, and after much searching a tin can
was found with a note in it from the Major, saying they
had all gone out to the Agency, and that we were to wait
here.

A large Cottonwood tree stood on the low bank where
travellers before had camped, not in going up and down the
river, but on their way across country. It was a very old tree
and its bark presented many marks, names, and dates, and I
regret now that I did not copy them for reference. This was
one of the known crossings for a long period, in fact, it was
through this valley that Escalante, the first white man to cross
Green River, travelled in 1776, and it is possible that he may
have camped under this very tree/ We settled there to wait,
harassed by multitudes of voracious mosquitoes. All day we
remained, expecting the absentees, but the sun went down and
still there was no word. About seven o'clock while we were
eating supper, some shots and yells from the west took us to
the top of the bank, and we saw two horsemen galloping to-
wards our position. We soon made them out to be Cap. and
Jones. They brought a large mail, a portion of it the same we
had tried to stop at Salt Lake, and have returned to us at the
Gate of Lodore, and they reported that the Major had gone out
to Salt Lake. We built up a good fire, and by its light every-
one was quickly lost in letters from home.

The next morning we got the Dean out of the bushes where
she had been well hidden, and moved across the river with the
whole outfit, to a place in front of a half-finished log cabin
called Fort Robideau, after the trapper of that name, who years
before had roamed this country. A road crossing here from
Golden to Provo, 413 miles long, was laid out in 1861 by
Berthoud and Bridger for the Overland Stage Company, but the
Civil War and the building of the Union Pacific had prevented

^Two days after crossing the San Clemente, as he called White River,
Escalante crossed the Rio San Buenaventura (Green River) somewhere above the
mouth of White River. Here were six large "black poplars," on one of which
they left an inscription. After resting two days they went south-west along the
Buenaventura, ten leagues, and from a hill saw the junction of the San Clemente.
He evidently went very near the mouth of the Uinta, and then struck westward.
The Uinta he called Rio de San Cosme.

68 A Canyon Voyage

its realisation.* The cabin had no windows or doors, but for
summer that was not a defect. The mud roof was intact, and
we used the cabin for headquarters, though we preferred to sleep
out on the ground. Back of the building a wide level plain
spread away and deer and antelope ranged there in large num-
bers. Any short walk would start up antelope, but we had
other matters on our mind, and made no special effort to shoot
any. It would have been easy for a trained hunter to get all
he wanted, or even for one of us to do it had we dropped other
things and given our minds to the work.

The following Monday, July 17th, Prof, and Beaman left for
the Agency, and on Friday of the same week Jack returned
accompanied by a man named Basor, driving a large four-horse
waggon loaded with suppHes for us. We were in need of them.
We had been completely out of soap for two weeks or more,
and a box of that essential article was broken open the first
thing. Jack also brought from the Agency garden some
lettuce, new potatoes, and turnips. Not having tasted any
vegetables for two months, these were a great treat. The same
afternoon Basor went away taking letters from us with him to
be sent to Salt Lake. One of the special things he had brought
was three long, narrow pieces of flat iron made by the Agency
blacksmith from old wagon tires, for the keels of the boats,
which were badly worn by scraping on shoals and rocks in our
portaging and letting-down operations.

On the next Monday, Cap., Steward, and I with five days*
rations on our backs as well as blankets enough for the warm
nights, and our rifles, started on a journey up White River to
a place called Goblin City by one of the earlier explorers who
had crossed the valley. As we were going through some heavy
willows about noon, I discovered standing still before me and
not a hundred feet away the finest stag I have ever seen. He
stood like a Landseer picture, head erect and alert with huge
branching antlers poised in the air. He was listening to my
companions who were a little distance from me. My gun
being tied to my pack for easy travelling I could not quickly

* A regiment of California volunteers marched this way from Salt Lake on the
way to Denver during the Civil War.

Goblin City 69

extricate it and before I could bring it to bear he dashed
through the willows and a sensible shot was impossible. I
admired him so much that I was rather glad I could not shoot.
We came across a great deal of game, antelope, mountain sheep,
and deer but we never seemed to have the opportunity to stalk
it properly. When we finally came in sight of the Goblin City
it was six o'clock of the second day and we had travelled
steadily. At the farther end of a level little valley surrounded
by cliffs were numerous small buttes and square rocks, almost
in rows and about the size of small buildings, so that there was
a striking suggestion of a town. We slept near the river and
spent the next morning in examining the locality. When we
had completed the observations I got dinner while Steward and
Cap. with our gun-straps and some buckskin strings made a
raft from small cottonwood logs we found on the bank. Upon
this weaving affair we all three embarked to descend the river
in order to meander the course as well as to save our legs.
Steward and Cap. stood at either end with long poles while I
sat in the middle and took the compass sights as we passed
along. There were some sharp little rapids full of rocks, and
sometimes it was all we could do to stick on, for the raft being
flexible naturally would straddle a big rock and take the form
of a very steep house roof. The banks were thick with currant
bushes loaded with ripe fruit and we kept a supply of branches
on the raft to pick off the currants as we went along. Every-
where there were many fresh tracks of bears for they are fond
of this fruit, but if they saw us we failed to see them, though
some of the tracks appeared to have been made not more than
a few minutes before. As we drifted between high banks there
was a violent crashing of bushes and a beautiful fawn, evidently
pursued by bear or wolf, plunged through and dropped into
the stream. Cap. took a shot at it from the wobbling raft but
of course failed. The fawn landed at the bottom of a mud
wall ten feet high and for a moment seemed dazed, but by
some herculean effort it gained the plain and sped away to free-
dom and we were not at all sorry to see it go. All the next
day we kept on down White River on the raft and at seven
o'clock were still five miles from camp in a direct course and no

70 A Canyon Voyage

food left. As the stream meandered a great deal we parted
from it and went to headquarters on foot.

We now expected hourly the return of Prof, and the Major,
but another day passed without them or any message. The
next day was Saturday and it faded away also without any
event. Just after supper there was a hail from the west bank
and on going over with a boat we found there Prof., Beaman, and
an Indian. The Major had not come because Captain Dodds,
commanding the party which was charged with the taking of
rations for us to the mouth of the Dirty Devil River, our next
supply station, had sent word that he could not find a way
through the unknown region. The Major concluded that he
would have to go and try it himself. His plan was for us to
go on and he would join us again August 25th at Gunnison
Crossing, at the end of the Canyon of Desolation, the next
canyon of the series. Gunnison Crossing was an established
point with a trail leading there from east and west. We were
to wait for him till September 3d in that neighbourhood, and if
he failed to arrive we were to go on and get through as best we
could on the rations remaining. Our present intercourse with
the world was now terminated by our sending the Indian who
had come with Prof, back to the Agency with our mail. Prof,
had brought in some fresh beef which was a great treat but
there was little of it and after a couple of meals we were on
bacon and beans again. Had an Indian from the Agency been
hired for the purpose of hunting, we might have had plenty of
venison during our stop here. Sunday our old acquaintance
Douglas Boy came to camp and was employed to make moc-
casins to save our shoes. Some new shoes had been sent in to
us, but for climbing and walking the rawhide-soled moccasins
were excellent and would save our shoes for river work. The
Indian had a beaded cap pouch which I secured from him for
some vermilion and he was ready to trade, but the next day
Jack caught him trying to steal our buckskin by hiding it in
his blankets which rudely sundered our business relations.
Jack himself acquired the art of moccasin-making and he made
each of us an excellent pair in his spare time. Steward and I
went back up White River to finish our work but the raft

Ready to Go On 71

timbers were gone and we could find no others, so we had to
do what we could on foot. When we returned I discovered
some ginger among the supplies and thinking it time for variety
in our bill of fare, and it being Cap.*s birthday, I made a large
ginger-cake which was voted prime. We ate half of it at one
sitting with an accompaniment of Hme-juice " lemonade.**

At the Agency Prof, found out that Douglas Boy had
eloped from the White River country with his squaw, who was
betrothed to another, and when we first met him he was en-
gaged in eluding pursuit. According to Ute law if he could
avoid capture for a certain time he would be free to return
without molestation to his village. Beaman photographed him
and a number of the Uintas under the direction of the Major,
who wished to secure all the information possible about the
natives, their language, customs, and costumes. We now spent
several days arranging our new supplies in the rubber sacks,
putting the iron strips on the boat-keels, and doing what final re-
pairing was necessary. The topographers plotted the map work,
and all finished up their necessary notes and data. By the
afternoon of Friday, August 4th, all was in readiness for con-
tinuing the voyage. We had now descended 1450 feet from
our starting point towards sea-level and we knew that the next
canyon would add considerably to these figures.

tUa^

OilHiOiiiOMKiO

CHAPTER VII

On to Battle — A Concert Repertory — Good-bye to Douglas Boy — The Busy,
Busy Beaver — In the Embrace of the Rocks Once More — A Relic of the
Cliff-Dwellers — Low Water and Hard Work — A Canyon of Desolation —
Log-cabin Cliff — Rapids and Rapids and Rapids — A Horse, Whose Horse ?
— Through Gray Canyon to the Rendezvous.

WE were up early on the morning of August 5th prepared
to leave Camp 32. Prof, took a lunar observation, and
at eight we entered the boats and turned our backs on " Fort **
Robideau, the only house on or near the whole river at that
time from the mouth of the Virgin, to our Camp No. i where
we had the snow-storm, a distance of about one thousand miles.
We had vanquished many rapids and now we pushed on ready
for our next battle with the river in the Canyon of Desolation,
just before us. The order of going was slightly changed in the
absence of the Major, for Prof., being now in sole command,
went ahead with his boat, the Nellie Powelly while ours, the
Emma Dearly for the time being took second place. The river
for a brief distance ran smoothly with only enough current,
about two miles an hour, to help us along without hard rowing.
I missed the Major while we were on the water, probably more
than any one else in the party, for as we were facing each other
the whole time and were not separated enough to interfere with
conversation we had frequent talks. He sometimes described
incidents which happened on the first voyage, or told me some-
thing about the men of that famous and unrivalled journey.
Besides this he was very apt to sing, especially where the river
was not turbulent and the outlook was tranquil, some favourite
song, and these songs greatly interested me. While he had no

The Major's Songs 73

fine voice he sang from his heart, and the songs were those he
had learned at home singing with his brothers and sisters. One
of these was an old-fashioned hymn, The Home of the Soul, or
rather the first two verses of it. These verses were among his
special favourites.*

" I will sing you a song of that beautiful land,

The far away home of the soul,
Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strand,

While the years of eternity roll.

While the years of eternity roll ;
Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strand

While the years of eternity roll.

" Oh ! that home of the soul in my visions and dreams
Its bright jasper walls I can see ;
Till I fancy but thinly the veil intervenes
Between the fair city and me
Till I fancy, etc."

Another was a pretty four-part song, The Laugh of a Child, of
which he sang the air. The words ran :

" I love it, I love it, the laugh of a child.
Now rippling, now gentle, now merry and wild.
It rings through the air with an innocent gush,
Like the trill of a bird at the twilight's soft hush,
It floats on the breeze like the tones of a bell,
Or music that dwells in the heart of a shell.
Oh, the laugh of a child is so wild and so free
*Tis the merriest sound in the world to me."

Still another of which he sang the English words often was the
well-known air from Figaro. I give a few bars :

^ Many, many years after the canyon voyage as Major Powell with his sister,
Mrs. Thompson, and Professor Thompson were approaching Fort Wingate in New
Mexico, the sun was setting, and sky and rocks combined to produce a glorious
picture. Suddenly he asked his companions to halt and sitting on their horses
looking into the wonderful sky he sang with them the above two stanzas.

74 A Canyon Voyage

RE. A(B. :

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At times he imitated a certain pathetic yet comical old woman
he had heard singing at some camp-meeting, " The dear blessed
Bible, the Fam-i-ly Bible," etc. He told me one day that this
fondness for singing, especially amid extremely unpromising
or gloomy circumstances, had on more than one occasion led
the men of the first expedition to suspect his sanity. When
he was singing, I could see that frequently he was really not
thinking about his song at all, but of something quite foreign
to it, and the singing was a mere accompaniment. Our party
as a whole commanded an extensive repertory of song for an
exploring expedition and while most of the voices were some-
what below concert requirement, there was no one to object,
and one of us. Jack, did have an excellent voice. A song often
heard was, Shells of Ocean and also that one most appropri-
ate, What Are the Wild Waves Saying? Then there was If
I Had but a Thousand a Year, Gaffer Green, and of course,
Annie Laurie, Never was there an American or an English
expedition to anywhere that did not have that song, as well
as Way Down upon the Suwanee River. In addition to all
these and the ones previously mentioned of which

" Oh, the lone starry hours give me Love
When still is the beautiful night,"

was a special favourite. Jack's individual repertory contained
an exhaustless number, both sad and gay. There were Carry
me Back to Old Tennessee, The Sailor s Grave, Aura Lee, with
her golden hair, who brought sunshine and swallows indis-
criminately to each locality which she graced with the said

A Canyon Slogan 75

golden hair, and Come where my Love Lies Dreaming^ Seeing
Nellie Home, and scores or at least dozens that I fail to recall.

But while we had a great store of songs we were deficient
to the last degree in musical instruments, the one solitary
example being an humble mouth-organ which in a moment of
weakness I had thrown in with my outfit. We just escaped
having a flute. Frank, who left us on the loth of June, pos-
sessed one, and when he was preparing to go Steward negoti-
ated for this instrument. He gave Cap. his revolver to trade
for it, considering the flute more desirable property for the ex-
pedition. Cap., being an old soldier, concluded to fire at a mark
before letting the revolver pass forever from our possession.
Presently there was an explosion which demolished the pistol
and all our prospects of acquiring the musical treasure at one
and the same moment. Possibly Fortune was kinder to us
than we dreamed. The mouth-organ then remained the sole
music machine in all that immense area. I did not feel equal
to the position of organist but Steward boldly took up the
study, and practised so faithfully that he became a real
virtuoso.

As a boy in New York Jack, though not a Hibernian him-
self, had associated closely with descendants of the Shamrock
Isle, and he could speak with a fine emerald brogue. A refrain
of one of his songs in this Hne was: "And if the rocks, they
don't sthop us. We will cross to Killiloo, whacky-whay!" This
sounded our situation exactly, and it became a regular accom-
paniment to the roaring of the rapids. Jack had many times
followed in the wake of the Thirteen Eagles fire company, one
of the bright jewels with a green setting, of the old volunteer
service. The foreman, fitting the rest of the company, was
Irish too, and his stentorian shout through the trumpet " Tirtaan
Aigles, dis wai ! " never failed to rise above the din, and when
the joyful cry smote the ears of the gallant "Tirtaan," the
rocks nor the ruts nor the crowds nor anything could stop
them ; through thick and through thin they went to the front,
for there was rivalry in those days and when the Aigles time
after time got first water on, they won triumphs which we of
this mercenary epoch cannot understand. The Aigles were

76 A Canyon Voyage

in for glory, nothing else. So when we heard the roar of a
rapid and sniffed the mist in the air, " Tirtaan Aigles dis wai,"
was our slogan.

Where the river now ran smoothly, as it did for a consider-
able distance below the Robideau crossing we could drift with
the slow current and enjoy the study of the surroundings, the
boats requiring no attention. Passing the mouths of the Uinta
and the White, both rivers entering very quietly through a
level valley, we pulled gently along watching the banks for
something new. When we had thus gone a couple of miles we
discovered our first acquaintance of this valley, Douglas Boy,
encamped on the right with his runaway bride. They had a
snug and secluded hiding-place protected by the river and some
low cliffs. We landed to pay our parting call. Both had their
faces completely smeared with the bright vermilion obtained
by trade from us, and they presented in our eyes a ludicrous
appearance. They had recently killed a fat deer and seemed
very happy. Prof, exchanged some sugar for enough venison
for our dinner and we said farewell to them, the first as well as
the last human beings we had met with in this valley. Clem, as
usual, gave them various messages for the " folks at home " and
assured them with gracious smiles, that they " would ever be
the subject of his most distinguished consideration." They
smiled after us and we were soon beyond their vision. Presently
low cliffs, ICX) to 150 feet began to show themselves, on one
side or the other, and the wide valley vanished. The great
canyon below was reaching out for us. There were numerous
islands covered with immense accumulations of driftwood or
with growing cottonwoods where high enough. Hundreds of
beaver swam about. Occasionally a shot from the boats would
kill or wound one, but it was next to impossible to secure any
as they seemed to sink immediately to the bottom and we
gave up trying as long as they were in deep water. The
stream being so tranquil reading poetry was more to our taste
than hunting the beaver, and Prof, read aloud from Emerson
as we slowly advanced upon the enemy.

After about nine miles of this sort of thing we stopped for
dinner in a pretty Cottonwood grove at the foot of a cliff on

A New Canyon 77

the right with beaver swimming around as if they did not know
what a human being was. When our venison had been dis-
posed of the boats were shoved out into the river again and we
continued our approach to the canyon. The surrounding re-
gion became a desolate waste ; a broken desert plateau elevated
above us about two hundred feet. Some deer seen on an island
caused us to land and try to get a good shot at one, but we failed
to get near enough for success and they quickly disappeared.
The ground was too difficult for pursuit. After some seven-
teen miles, camp for the night was made in another grove of
rather small cottonwoods at 5.30. We were on a large island
with the surrounding waters thick with beaver busy every
moment though their great work is done at night. Many
trees felled, some of them of a considerable diameter, attested
the skill and energy of these animals as woodchoppers. Cap.
tried to get one so that we could eat it, but though he killed
several he failed to reach them before they sank, and gave it up.
As we looked around we saw that almost imperceptibly we
had entered the new canyon and at this camp (33) we were
fairly within the embrace of its rugged cliffs which, devoid of
all vegetation, rose up four hundred feet, sombre in colour, but
picturesque from a tendency to columnar weathering that im-
parted to them a Gothic character suggestive of cathedrals,
castles, and turrets. The next day was Sunday and as Beaman
felt sick and we were not in a hurry, no advance was made but
instead Prof, accompanied by Steward, Cap., and Jones climbed
out for notes and observations. They easily reached the top
by means of a small gulch. They got back early, reporting an
increasing desolation in the country on both sides as far as
they could see. They also saw two graves of great age, covered
by stones. In the afternoon Prof, entertained us by reading
aloud from Scott and so the day passed and night fell. Then
the beavers became more active and worked and splashed
around camp incessantly. They kept it up all through the
dark hours as is their habit, but only Steward was disturbed
by it. This would have been an excellent opportunity to learn
something about their ways, but for my part I did not then
even think of it.

78 A Canyon Voyage

By 7.30 in the morning of August 7th we were again on our
way towards the depths ahead, between walls of rapidly in-
creasing altitude showing that we were cutting into some great
rock structure. Here and there we came to shoals that com-
pelled us to get overboard and wade alongside lifting the
boats at times. As these shoals had the peculiarity of begin-
ning gradually and ending very abruptly we got some unex-
pected plunge baths during this kind of progression. But the
air was hot, the thermometer being about 90° F., and being
soaked through was not uncomfortable. At one place Prof,
succeeded in shooting a beaver which was near the bank and it
was secured before it could get to its hole, being badly wounded.
Steward caught it around the middle from behind and threw it
into the boat — he had jumped into the water — and there it was
finished with an oar. It measured three feet from tip to tip.
We had heard a good deal about beaver as food and would
now have a chance to try it. About eleven o'clock, we stopped
for examinations and for dinner on the right but, of course,
could not yet cook the beaver. Prof., Steward, and Cap.
climbed to the top of a butte 1050 feet above the river upon
which they found a small monument left there by the Major
on the former trip. Though this butte was so high the average
of the walls was only about five hundred feet. We made
seventeen miles this day.

That night our camp (No. 35) was again on an island.
There Cap. skinned and dressed the beaver and turned over
the edible portions to Andy who cooked some steak for break-
fast the next morning. It tasted something like beef, but we
were not enthusiastic for I fear this beaver belonged to the
same geological epoch as the goose we had cooked at the upper
end of the valley. Fortified by the beaver steak we pushed
off and ran about a mile on a smooth river when a stop was
made for pictures and geologising. This consumed the whole
morning, a fact Andy took advantage of to make some beaver
soup for dinner. This concoction was voted not a success and
we turned to bacon and beans as preferable thereafter. Op-
posite this dinner place was a rough lateral canyon full of
turrets and minarets which had the remarkable property of

An Insect Concert 79

twice distinctly repeating a shout as loud as the original, and
multiplying a rifle shot to peals of thunder. There had been
people here before any white men, for Steward found an arti-
ficial wall across an indentation of the cliff, the first work of the
ancient builders we had encountered. It was mysterious at the
time, the South-western ruins having then not been discovered
with one or two exceptions. We ascribed this wall, however,
to the ancestors of the Moki (Hopi).

In the afternoon as we pulled along we came to a small
rapid and the walls by this time being closer together and
growing constantly higher, we knew that we were now fairly
within the Canyon of Desolation and for about one hundred
miles would have a rough river. Not more than two miles below
our dinner camp we reached a locality where the stream doubled
back on itself forming a vast and beautiful amphitheatre. We
could not pass this by without taking a picture of it and Beaman
was soon at work with his apparatus while I got out my pen-
cils. The photograph did not turn out well, and Prof, deter-
mined to remain till the next day. Our camp was on the left
in a thick grove of cottonwoods, and box-elders or ash-leaved
maples, at the end of the point. As the sun sank away bats
flew about and an insect orchestra began a demoniacal concert
that shrilled through the night and made us feel like slaughter-
ing the myriads if we could. The noises ceased with the day,
or most of them, though some seemed to intensify with the
light. We helped Beaman get his dark box and other para-
phernalia up to the summit of the ridge back of camp, which
was easy so far as climbing was concerned, the rocks rising by
a series of shelves or steps. I made several pencil sketches
there, which I have never seen since the close of the expedi-
tion. The crest of the promontory was about forty yards wide
at its maximum and three yards at the minimum, with a length
of three-fourths of a mile. From the middle ridge one could
look down into the river on both sides, and it seemed as if a
stone could almost be thrown into each from one standpoint.
The opposite amphitheatre was perhaps one thousand feet high,
beautifully carved by the rains and winds. It was named Sum-
ner's Amphitheatre after Jack Sumner of the first expedition.

8o A Canyon Voyage

Several of our men climbed in different directions, but all did not
succeed in getting out. The day turned out very cloudy with
sprinkles of rain and Prof, decided to wait still longer to see if
Beaman could get a good photograph, and we had another
night of insect opera. The next day by noon the photographer
had caught the scene and we continued our descending way.
The river was perfectly smooth, except a small rapid late in the
day, with walls on both sides steadily increasing their altitude.
Desolation in its beginning is exactly the reverse of Lodore and
Split Mountain. In the latter the entrance could hardly be
more sudden, whereas the Canyon of Desolation pushes its
rock walls around one so diplomatically that it is some little
time before the traveller realises that he is caught. The walls
were ragged, barren, and dreary, yet majestic. We missed the
numerous trees which in the upper canyons had been so orna-
mental wherever they could find a footing on the rocks. Here
there were only low shrubs as a rule and these mainly along
the immediate edge of the water, though high up on north
slopes pines began to appear. Altitude, latitude, and aridity
combine to modify vegetation so that in an arid region one
notices extraordinary changes often in a single locality. The
walls still had the tendency to break into turrets and towers,
and opposite our next camp a pinnacle stood detached from
the wall on a shelf high above the water suggesting a beacon
and it was named Lighthouse Rock. Prof, with Steward and
Cap. in the morning, August nth, climbed out to study the
contiguous region which was found to be not a mountain range
but a bleak and desolate plateau through which we were cut-
ting along Green River toward a still higher portion. This
was afterwards named the Tavaputs Plateau, East and West
divisions, the river being the line of separation.

The walls now began to take on a vertical character rising
above the water 1200 to 1800 feet, and at that height they
were about a quarter of a mile apart. From their edges they
broke back irregularly to a separation as nearly as could be
determined of from three to five miles, the extreme summit
being 2500 feet above the river.

While waiting for Prof, to come down from the cliffs, Bea-

c <

.2 s

^ ■<

^ w

° ^

P O

o id

^ d ^
(1) «« a

Rocky Rapids 8i

man made some photographs and then two boats dropped down
a quarter of a mile where he made some more and Andy got
dinner. I remained with the iV<?//and about eleven o'clock the
climbers came. We went down on the boat to the noon camp,
and as soon as we had refreshed the inner man we proceeded
thinking it about time for rapids to appear. We had not gone
far before we distinguished a familiar roar just preceding the
turn of a bend which disclosed three lying within half a mile.
They were not bad but the river was wide and shallow, making
the descent more difficult than it would ordinarily have been.
The river was now approaching its lowest stage, and we saw
an uncomfortable looking lot of rocks. High water makes
easy going but increases the risk of disaster ; low water makes
hard work, batters the boats, and delays progress, but as a rule
it is less risky. All the boats cleared the first rapid without
any difficulty, but in the second the Nell struck a sunken rock,
though lightly, while our boat landed squarely on the top of a
large boulder partially submerged, where we hung fast with
the water boiling furiously around and almost coming over the
sides. I tried to get out over the port bow but the current
drew me under the boat and I had to get back. Jack con-
cluded we were only fast by the extreme end of the keel and
Jones coming forward Jack slid cautiously out over the stern
and felt around with his feet till he touched the rock and put
his weight on it. Thus relieved, the boat lifted slightly and
shot away like an arrow but not before Jack leaped on again.
As soon as we could we made land and watched the Canonita
which fared still worse. She struck so hard that two of the
after ribs and some planks were stove in. They then extri-
cated her and pulling her up on the rocky shore we went to
work to repair with cleats made from a broken oar. This de-
layed us an hour and a half. Then saws and hammers were
stowed away and the third rapid was run without a mishap.
It was only the low stage of water that caused the trouble.
A little farther on a fourth rapid was vanquished and we went
into camp on the left bank in a cottonwood grove at the head
of another. " If the rocks, they don't sthop us," sang Jack,
" We will cross to Killiloo, whacky-whay ! " And there were

82 A Canyon Voyage

plenty of rocks in the midst of foaming waters, but one great
advantage of low water is the decreased velocity, and velocity
on a river like this with so heavy and constant a fall is one of
the chief factors to reckon with in navigation.

The high cliffs, two thousand feet, red and towering in the
bright sun, became sombre and mysterious as the night shadows
crept over them, the summits remaining bright from the last
western rays when the river level was dim and uncertain. There
was plenty of driftwood, and our fires were always cheery and
comfortable. The nights were now quite cold, or at least
chilly, while the days were hot as soon as the sun came over
the edge of the cliffs. Through some of the narrow promon-
tories at this particular camp there were peculiar perforations
suggesting immense windows looking into some fairer land. I
would have been glad to examine some of these closely, but as
it was not necessary they were passed by. It would also have
been difificult to reach them as they were very high up.

The rapid at our camp was a starter the next day on a line
of them following one after the other till we had run with-
out accident nine before halting for dinner ; and nine in 6}
miles was not a bad record. We landed for noon on the
same spot where the first party had stopped and our last
night's camp was also coincident with theirs, according to
their map which we had for consultation. Prof, decided to re-
main here for the rest of the day and also the next one which
was Sunday. Up in a high gulch some pine trees were visible,
and Jack and I climbed up to them and collected several
pounds of gum for repairing the boats. Sunday morning Prof.,
Jones, and Steward struck for the summit up the cliffs to get
observations. An hour and a half of steady hard work put
them 2576 feet above the river, but they were still three hun-
dred feet below the general level of the great plateau which we
were bisecting. Prof, thought he would like to make better
time down the river, which we could easily have done up to
this point, but if we arrived at the end of the canyon too soon
we would have to wait there and it was better to distribute
the wait as we went along. It was now August 14th and we
were not due below till September 3d.

Fretwater Falls 83

On Monday morning we pushed and pulled and lifted the
boats through a shallow rapid half a mile long. It was hard
work. Then came one which we ran, but the following drop
was deemed too risky to trust our boats in, and they were
lowered by lines. Then in a short distance this same process
was repeated with hard work in a very bad place, and when we
had finished that we were tired, hungry, wet, and cold, so under
a Cottonwood tree on the right we stopped for needed refresh-
ment, and while it was preparing most of us hung our clothes
on the branches of a fallen tree to dry. The rapid foaming and
fuming presented so vigorous an appearance and made so
much noise we thought it ought to be named, and it was called
Fretwater Falls. At three o'clock we took up our oars again
and were whirled along at runaway speed through a continuous
descent for half a mile. After another half-mile a small rapid
appeared, which we dashed through without a second thought,
and then came our final effort of the day, a line-portage over
a particularly bad spot. It was a difficult job, requiring great
exertion in lifting and pushing and fending off, so when Prof,
gave the word to camp on the left, we were all glad enough to
do so. We had made only si miles and seven rapids. The
let-downs had been hard ones, with a couple of men on board
to fend off and two or three on the hawser holding back.

The next morning, August 15th, we made another let-down
around a bad piece of river, and ran two or three small rapids
before dinner. At the let-down the water dropped at least ten
feet in two hundred yards, and Prof, estimated thirty in half a
mile. The river was also narrow, not more than sixty or seventy
feet in one place. Many rocks studded the rapids, and great
caution had to be exercised both in let-downs and in runs, lest
the boats should be seriously injured. With two or three more
feet of water we could have run some that were now impossible.
Fortunately there was always plenty of room on both banks,
the cliffs being well back from the water. A series of small
rapids gave us no special trouble, and having put them behind,
we ran in at the head of a rough-looking one, had dinner, and
then made a let-down. Starting on, we soon came to a very
sharp rapid, which we ran, and found it was only an introduc-

84 A Canyon Voyage

tion to one following that demanded careful treatment An-
other let-down was the necessary course, and when it was
accomplished we stopped for the night where we were on the
sand, every man tired, wet, and hungry. We had made only
four miles. A significant note of warning was found here in
the shape of fragments of the unfortunate No-Name mixed up
with the driftwood, fully two hundred miles below the falls
where the wreck occurred.

The precipices surrounding us had now reached truly mag-
nificent proportions, one section near our camp springing almost
vertically to a height of 2800 or 3000 feet. On the dizzy sum-
mit we could discern what had the appearance of an old-
fashioned log-cabin, and from this we called it " Log-cabin
Cliff." The cabin was in reality a butte of shale, as we could
see by means of our glasses, and of course of far greater size
than a real cabin, but from below the illusion was complete.
At this camp. No. 40, we remained the next day. Prof, wishing
to make some investigations. He and Jones crossed to the
other side and went down on foot two or three miles ; then
returning he went up some distance, while the rest of us
mended our clothes, worked up notes, and did a score of little
duties that had been neglected in the river work. Jack and I
climbed up the cliffs and got more pine gum, with which we
caulked up the seams in our boat. Cap. kindly turned barber
and redeemed me from the danger of being classed as orang-
outang. The air was too hazy for photographing or for getting
observations from the summit, and Prof, concluded to stay till
next day at this place and then go to the top of the world ; in
other words, to the summit. Very early in the morning,
August 17th, Steward and Cap. started with Prof, for the
climb. Keeping up the main canyon for a mile they came
to a side gorge where Prof, had been the day before, which
they followed for half a mile and then boldly mounted the
cliffs, reaching an altitude of 31CX) feet above the river. While
they were gone. Jack and I climbed after more pine gum, and
succeeded in getting five or six pounds for future use. As I
was descending along a terrace, Jack being some distance behind
and above, a fine, large mountain sheep, sleek and clean, with

Hard Rocks, Hard Knocks 85

beautiful strong horns, sprang along four or five hundred feet
from me, and stopped in full view listening to Jack's footsteps.
I had no gun, and could only admire him till he bounded
lightly away.

About one o'clock the climbing party came back. Steward
had shot a mountain sheep with a revolver, only to find that a
deep canyon intervened between him and his prize and there
was no way of getting it.

About half past two we shoved out into the river again,
running a small rapid immediately. The water was so shallow
that our keel struck a number of times but no damage was
done. We had hardly cleared this when we arrived at a drop
of about six feet in a few yards with the whole river filled with
bad rocks. At this place, according to the map made by the
first party, their Emma Dean was capsised. We made a let-
down and a quarter of a mile farther on repeated the operation,
Following this were some swift shoals which brought us to an-
other ugly descent where the Nell stove a hole in her side and
came near upsetting. Prof, was knocked half out of the boat
but got in again. The other boats we lowered by lines and
they passed through uninjured. Near this point a fine clear
little stream about a rod wide entered from the west. After
running two more rapids Prof, decided to camp which we did
on the right. Camp 41. Our run footed up 3f miles. Our
camp was in some cottonwoods and we had to cross a wide
rocky bar to get to it but it was preferable to camping on the
sand. In this canyon there was generally a valley about one-
quarter mile wide on one side or the other, and with the abund-
ant supply of driftwood for fires and a whole river for drink
we fared well. The great canyon now appeared deeper than
at any point above, about three thousand feet we estimated,
the walls being extremely precipitous. One cHff not far from
camp appeared to be nearly perpendicular.

Steward got up very early the next morning in order to
mend his shoes, and he succeeded so well as cobbler, we de-
clared he had missed his calling, but we did not start till ten
o'clock, waiting for Beaman to take views. The first thing we
then did was to run a very shallow rapid, followed by another,

86 A Canyon Voyage

long, difficult, narrow, and rocky. Then there was a short,
easy one, with the next below compelling a very hard let-down.
There was nothing but rocks, large rocks, so close together
that it was all we could do to manoeuvre the boats between
them. There was no channel anywhere. For the greater part
of the way we had to pull them empty over the rocks on drift-
wood skids which taxed our muscles considerably and of course
saturated our clothing for half the time we were in the water,
as was always the case at let-downs. This over we had our
noon ration of bread, bacon, and coffee and took a fresh start
by running a nice, clear rapid and then another a half-mile be-
low, and we thought we were getting on well when we saw
ahead a fall of some ten feet in fourteen rods, turbulent and
fierce. The only prudent thing for this rapid was a let-down
and we went at it at once. It was the usual pulling, hauling,
fending, and pushing, but we got through with it after a while
and naming it at the suggestion of some one, Melvin Falls, we
went on to the eighth and last rapid for the day. This was
half a mile long and very rocky, but it was thought we could
run it and all went through safely except the Nell which caught
her keel on a rock and hung for a moment, then cleared and
finished with no damage. We made Camp 42 on a sand-hill.
These hills were a feature of the wide banks, being blown up
by the winds, sometimes to a height of fifteen or twenty feet.
Our run for the day was less than five miles, yet as we had
passed eight rapids one way and another, we were all pretty
tired and of course wet and hungry. A good big camp-fire was
quickly started, our dry garments from the rubber bags donned
in place of the flapping wet ones, and we were entirely com-
fortable, with the bread baking in the Dutch oven, the coffee
or tea steaming away, and the inspiring fragrance of frying
bacon wafted on the evening air. When we stopped long
enough Andy would give us boiled beans or stewed dried apples
as a treat. If we desired to enliven the conversation all that
was necessary was to start the subject of the *' light" back
at the camp where we first met Douglas Boy. Every one
would soon be involved except Prof, who only laughed and
inserted from time to time a well-chosen remark to keep up the

Chandler Falls 87

interest. Jack would always give us a half-dozen songs and
to this Steward would add a solo on the mouth-organ. The
evenings were growing longer, and we sat closer to the fire.
Sometimes Cap. and Clem would play a game of euchre, but
no one else seemed to care anything about cards. Our beds,
when possible, were made by first putting down willows or
cedar twigs in regular order, on which the blankets would be
spread making a luxurious bed on which sleep instantly over-
took us, with the sound of falling water generally the last thing
and the first in our ears.

At 7.30 the next morning, August 19th, we were speeding
on our way and ran the rapid which had sent its lullaby to our
camp. Another came right after it, shallow and bad, and then
one more where the channel was beset with innumerable boul-
ders hidden under the surface. Happily the boats were not
seriously damaged, they needed no repairs, and we kept on to
the next barrier which proved to be not runable with any pro-
spect of getting through whole so we made a portage. Then
there was a rapid we ran easily, but as if to revenge itself for
making one gentle for us, the river obliged us to work a labo-
rious passage at the next two. We had good hard work,
lowering by lines, wading alongside where necessary to ease
the boats, or clinging to their sides where the water was deep,
while the men on shore at the hawser's end lowered away to a
shallow place. We were glad to halt at 11.30 for dinner, and a
short rest.

There was a heavy rapid beside us as we ate, and Steward
named it Chandler Falls. It had a descent of about twelve
feet in twenty rods. On the opposite side of the river a clear
little creek came in, and this was named Chandler Creek,
Chandler being the maiden name of Steward's wife. Beaman
and Clem selected a position with their photographic outfit
and made some photographs of us as we were working the
boats through. A mile below we halted on the right for Beaman
to get more views. None of his photographs of the rapids
came out well as the plates were too slow. Up a gulch on the
right we could see a remarkable topographic feature, nothing
less than a gigantic aperture, or natural arch, in the cliff. It

88 A Canyon Voyage

had a span of at least 300 feet with a height of about half as
much. It was 1500 or 1800 feet above the river. Hundreds of
cedar trees grew around the arch on the ledges of the huge
wall through which it was cut by the action of the elements.

The cliffs everywhere were now becoming more broken, and
there was an entrance somewhere from the back country, or it
may have been up the canyon, for we discovered remains of
tipis and camps with metates or grinding stones, the first evi-
dences of human beings we had seen since the " Moki " wall.
This and the breaking of the cliffs caused us to believe that we
were nearing the end of the canyon. Prof, with Jones and
Steward went down -stream on foot for a distance to see what
was coming next and found a stretch of very bad water. On
the return a rattlesnake struck at Steward but luckily failed
to hit him. Steward killed it. We concluded to stop for the
night where we were with the day's record — four rapids run,
three let-downs, and 4^ miles in distance. This camp was
not satisfactory and we got out of it early the next morn-
ing. While Beaman was making some views across the river
we lowered the other two boats through one rapid and
then ran them through a second in three-quarters of a mile
to a better camping place, from which we went back and
helped the third boat, the CanonitUy do the same. Prof,
wanted to climb out, but the morning being half gone he
planned to start after dinner and meanwhile he read Emerson
aloud to us till Andy shouted his " Go fur it boys ! " Accom-
panied by Steward and Clem, in the afternoon he climbed up
1200 or 1500 feet to a point where he could see down the river
two or three miles. They counted seven rapids, and confirmed
the belief that the walls were breaking. The surrounding
country was made up of huge ridges that ran in toward the
river from five miles back.

Our Camp 44 was in a little valley about a quarter of a mile
wide, the bottom covered with cedars and greasewood. The
scenery was still on a magnificent scale but barren and deso-
late. The next morning, August 21st, we were under way at
7.30 and plunged almost immediately into the rapids which
had been sighted from the cliffs above. In a little over four

A Narrow River 89

miles we let down six times. A seventh rapid we ran and then
stopped for noon on the left, every man, as usual, soaking wet.
A little rain fell but not enough to consider. After dinner
four more rapids were put behind ; we ran all but one at which
we made a let-down. Our record for this day was eleven
rapids in a trifle less than seven miles, and we were camped at
the head of another rapid which was to form our eye-opener
in the morning. The walls receded from the river three-
fourths of a mile and now, though still very high, had more the
appearance of isolated cliffs.

We had not a single unpleasant incident till Beaman on this
day ran one rapid contrary to Prof.'s orders. He was sharply
reprimanded, and for the time being his tendency to insubor-
dination and recklessness was checked. He probably did not
mean to be either, but his confidence in his ability to steer
through anything led him astray. In the evening by the
camp-fire light Prof, read aloud from Miles Standisk, Al-
though a heavy wind blew sand all over us, no one seemed to
complain.

The next morning, August 22d, the first thing we did was
to run the rapid beside our camp, a beautiful chute, swift,
long, and free from rocks. Immediately below this was one
half a mile long in the form of a crescent, the river making
a sharp bend with a bad current, but we ran it. This was, in
fact, a part of the other rapid, or it might be so classed, as was
frequently the case where the descent was nearly continuous
from one rapid to another. The river was very narrow at this
place, not more than seventy-five feet wide. We had not gone
far before we reached a rapid where it was prudent to lower
the boats, and not more than a few hundred yards below this
there was another of a similar character but necessitating
harder work. Then we were brought face to face with one
more that could not be run with safety on the present stage of
water, though we ran a part of it and made a let-down past the
remainder. When this was finally accompHshed with every-
thing in good order, we found ourselves in front of still an-
other that refused to grant us clear passage, and we worked
the boats down with lines as in the previous rapids without

go A Canyon Voyage

removing the cargoes. The method was the usual one for the
let-downs, three or four men on the line and a couple on
board the boat to manoeuvre and protect her. Having by this
time advanced three and one-eighth miles from last night's
camp we stopped for dinner. On taking up the oars again the
first rapid was a fine, clear descent with extremely large waves,
through which all three boats dashed with exhilarating speed,
leaping part of their length out of the water as their velocity
carried them zipping over the crests. Our boat happened to
strike near the finish on a submerged rock to the right of the
main channel and near shore and there she hung for some
moments. The first boat had landed below and some of the
men quickly came up to where I could throw them our line,
and this pulled us off without any damage worth mentioning.
A little below this we ran another successfully and had not
gone far before we were astonished at the sight of a horse
grazing unconcernedly on some low bluffs on the right. Prof,
had discovered this horse with his field glass while we stopped
above to examine one of the rapids. He thought it might in-
dicate the presence of the Major, or of Indians, but he did not
mention the matter to any of us. When we were at a good
point, and just as all hands had discovered the animal, he ordered
a sharp landing on the same side. We ran in quickly. Prof,
went up the bank and gave several shouts while we held our-
selves ready for action. There was no response. He then went
to the horse and found it very lame which, coupled with the
absence of any indication of visitors within recent months,
caused us to conclude that the horse had been abandoned by
Indians who had been encamped here a good while before.
We left the place and running another rapid, a little one, we
came to a fine spot for a camp on the right at the beginning
of a heavy rapid, and there we stayed for the night.

There was now a marked change in the geology, and fossili-
ferous beds, which for a long time had been absent, appeared.
The canyon walls also broke away considerably. The next
morning it was decided that we should remain at this camp
till after dinner for observation work. I went out with Steward
to help him gather fossils, and Beaman took some views, while

Into Gray Canyon 91

the others occupied themselves with various duties. The
afternoon began by letting the boats by line past the rapid
at camp which Beaman called Sharp Mountain Falls, from a
pointed peak overhead. There was a drop of about fifteen
feet in thirty rods. Beaman wanted to photograph us in the
midst of our work, and got ready for it, but a rain-storm came
on and we had to wait till it cleared for him to get the picture
We then went ahead dashing through a pretty rapid with a
swift current, and next had a long stretch of rapid, though not
difficult river, making in all 2 j miles, and camping at five o'clock
on the left. The only trouble we had was that in choosing
one of four channels our boat got where she was inevitably
drawn into the top of a sunken dead tree lodged in the rocks
and my starboard row lock was broken off. On shore Steward
killed another rattlesnake, of which there seemed to be a good
many along the river.

We were now actually out of the Canyon of Desolation and
in the beginning of what the Major at first called Coal Canyon,
then Lignite, and finally Gray, the name it bears to-day, be-
cause of the colour of the walls. The division between the two
canyons was the break down where we had seen the horse.
Casting up we found that the Canyon of Desolation is ninety-
seven miles long. Early the next morning, August 24th, we
pulled away from Camp 47 soon running two small rapids of
no consequence, and in three miles came to a descent of some
ten feet in a very short space, where we made a let-down.
Three fair rapids were next run easily when we halted to
examine a hard-looking place where we let down again. An
encounter with three more, two of them each a quarter of a
mile long, took us till noon, though we ran them and we came
to a stop for dinner. Now the walls had narrowed, the canyon
being about half a mile wide at the top — sometimes not more
than a quarter. The colour was buff, and there were seams of
coal and lignite in places. On one or the other side the cHffs
were nearly vertical for about three hundred feet then breaking
back to jagged heights reaching about two thousand feet.
After dinner having run two more rapids without trouble we
arrived at a very difficult locality where the first cHffs, six hun-

92 A Canyon Voyage

dred feet high, came down vertically on both sides quite close
to the water. We saw how we could navigate it, but at flood
time it would be a most serious proposition, as there would be
no footing on either side, unless, perhaps on the huge masses
of fallen rock. At the present stage we were able to let the
boats down by lines. Then we had two easy rapids, followed
by another not more difficult but less safe. A little farther on
we ran two more which completed the record for the day, and
we were glad to camp with a total run of I2f miles, and many
rapids with three let-downs. A feature of the cliffs this day
was numerous alcoves and grottoes worn into the sandstone
some of them like great caverns with extremely narrow
canyons leading into them.

In the morning Prof, with Jones, Cap., and Steward climbed
out. The country was elevated above the river about two
thousand feet, a wild labyrinth of ragged gulches, gullies, and
sharp peaks devoid of vegetation except a few pifions on some
slopes, the whole presenting a picture of complete desolation.
At a quarter past twelve we were again gliding down on a stiff
current. We ran seven easy rapids and let-down by lines
twice, before arriving about three o'clock at the mouth of a
stream-bed sixty feet wide, which Prof, said was Little White,
or Price River. The mouth was so devoid of water that we
camped on the smooth sand, it being the only ground free
from brush. A sudden rise or cloud-burst would have made it
an active place for us but we decided to take the risk for one
night. Prof, and Jones tried to get out by following up this
river bed but they were not successful. Game was abundant
and they thought there might be an Indian trail but they saw
none. In the evening Steward gave us a mouth-organ recital
and Jack sang a lot of his songs in fine style. The air was
soft and tranquil, and knowing we had now conquered the
Canyon of Desolation without a serious mishap we all felt well
satisfied.

In the morning, August 25 ch, breakfast was disposed of
early, the boats were put in trim and away we went again on a
good current running many rapids and making one let-down in
a distance of eight miles. I counted fourteen rapids, Steward

The Rendezvous 93

ten or eleven, Prof, only eight, showing that it is not always
easy to separate the rapids where they come so close together.
In one the river was no more than thirty feet wide with big
waves that made the boats jump and ship water. We reached
a bend and saw the end of the canyon only a mile or two
away, but we had to make the let-down mentioned before we
got there. Our camp, Number 50, was made about noon, just
inside the mouth of the canyon on the left, opposite a high,
beautiful pinnacle we called Cathedral Butte afterwards chang-
ing the name to Gunnison. Here we would wait till the time
appointed for the Major to join us according to the plan.
Gray Canyon was now also behind us with its thirty-six miles
and numerous rapids. Adding to it the ninety-seven miles of
Desolation made the total canyon from Wonsits Valley 133
miles with a descent of about 550 feet distributed through
a hundred rapids, some small, some heavy. The entire fall
from our starting point was now some two thousand feet.
Prof, and Jones went down the valley two miles with the hope
of seeing signs of the Major but not a human being was to be
found anywhere.

.^t^LJ»^^^»^^«^i^>!....-^^.^•^■^■^^^.^■,||^«^■^ft^^

y^^^^^^^-^^^SBi

CHAPTER VIII

Return of the Major — Some Mormon Friends — No Rations at the Elusive Dirty
Devil — Captain Gunnison's Crossing — An All-night Vigil for Cap. and
Clem — The Land of a Thousand Cascades — A Bend Like a Bow-knot and
a Canyon Labyrinthian — Cleaving an Unknown World — Signs of the Oldest
Inhabitant — Through the Canyon of Stillwater to the Jaws of the Colorado.

THERE was little energy in our camp the day after our
arrival at the end of the long struggle with Desolation
and Gray canyons, and, also, it being Sunday, we lounged
around in a state of relaxation, joyful that we did not have
to roll up our blankets and stow them and everything else
in the rubber bags and pack the cabins to go on. The boats
had been unloaded and hauled on the beach, which was smooth
sand, to dry out preparatory to our caulking and repairing
them with the pine gum collected in Desolation. During the
morning Prof, sent Jack and me down the river a short distance
to put up a signal, a small American flag, on the lower end of
an island, where it could easily be seen by any one looking for
us. All hands kept an ear open for signal shots, which we
hoped to hear soon, and have the Major once more in our
company. After dinner Prof, and Steward took another walk
down the open valley about five miles to reconnoitre, but
though they came upon remains of a great many Indian camps,
all were old, and the valley appeared as silent and deserted as
it was d^olate and barren. Along the river there were a few
groves of Cottonwood, the only vegetation of any consequence
to be seen.

Through this valley passed the famous trail from Santa F^
to Los Angeles, laid out in 1830 by that splendid pioneer,
William Wolfskill. The reason he came so far north was

MAP A.

A. Map by the U. S. War Department— 1868.
Supplied by the courtesy of General Mackenzie, U. S. A., showing the knowledge of the Colorado River basin just
before Major Powell began operations. The topography above the junction of the Green and Grand is largely
pictorial and approximate. The white space from the San Rafael to the mouth of the Virgin is the unknown
country referred to in this volume, which was investigated in 1871-72-73. Preliminary Maps B, C, and D, at pages
244, 246, and 207, respectively, partly give the results of the work which filled in this area.

Forbidding Country 95

because there was no place to cross the canyons below that
was known.' This path was occasionally travelled for years,
and became celebrated as the " Old Spanish Trail." Here it
was that Captain Gunnison of our army in his notable ex-
plorations crossed in 1853 o^ l^is westward journey, which a
few days later proved fatal to him, as he was killed by the
Gosi-Utes. Before leaving he established the latitude and
longitude of this crossing, which ever after bore his name.^
Together with the mouth of the Uinta, the mouth of Henry's
Fork, and the mouth of Diamond Creek, this made four points
astronomically fixed before the Major came between the Union
Pacific crossing and the end of the Grand Canyon. Diamond
Creek mouth was determined accurately by Ives in 1858. The
trappers and fur hunters between 1824 and 1840, men like Jim
Bridger and Kit Carson, had roamed more or less over the
region we had come through, and occasionally they had tried
to see the river in the canyons. The aridity of the country
generally held them back. Ashley, as already noted, had made
the passage of Red Canyon, and the trapper Meek with several
companions had gone through Lodore and Whirlpool one win-
ter on the ice. Fremont, Simpson, Berthoud, Selden, and
some other scientific explorers had passed here and there re-
connoitring, and Macomb in 1859 ^^^ made a reconnaissance
to the south and south-west of Gunnison Crossing, so that a
general idea of the character of the region had been obtained
and a kind of approximate topography had been tentatively
thrown in, yet it was mainly an unknown wilderness so far as
record went, particularly contiguous to the river. But south
from the San Rafael to the Paria and west to the High Plateaus
forming the southward continuation of the Wasatch Range, an
area of at least 10,000 square miles, there was still a completely
unknown country. Indeed, even from the Paria on down to

* In fact there was only one practicable place, El Vado de los Padres, and
that was difficult. The alternative would have been to cross Arizona south of the
Colorado. By this Gunnison Crossing route there were better wood, water, and
grass to compensate for distance.

' It is here that the Denver and Rio Grande railway crossed, bridging the
river in 1883. From here also the Brown Expedition started in May, 1889, and
the Best Expedition in 1891.

96 A Canyon Voyage

the Grand Wash the region on the right was hardly better
understood, though there were several Mormon settlements on
the headwaters of the Virgin, and recently the settlement of
Kanab had been made farther east. On the south of the
Grand Canyon Ives had reconnoitred to some extent, reaching
the river at the mouth of Diamond Creek, but at no other
point above that did he come to the river nor get anywhere
near its canyon above the tributary Habasu (Cataract).

In the entire stretch from Gunnison Crossing to the end of
the Grand Canyon, a distance of 587J miles, but two points
were known where the river could be crossed, the Crossing of
the Fathers (El Vado de los Padres), about latitude 37, and the
mouth of the Paria, only thirty-five miles lower down. This
latter place had been discovered by Jacob Hamblin, or " Old
Jacob," as he was familiarly called, and he was the first white
man to cross there, which he did in October, 1869. He was
a well-known Mormon scout and pioneer of those days. He
forded at El Vado his first time in 1858, possibly the first white
man after Escalante, though the ford was known to at least
Richard Campbell, the trapper, in 1840 or earlier. In 1862
Jacob circumtoured the Grand and Marble canyons, going
from St. George by way of the Grand Wash to the Moki
Towns and returning by way of El Vado. Thus the region
below us to the left or east had been reconnoitred in a general
way by Macomb, while that to the right or west had not had
even bird's-eye exploration. Until the Major's unrivalled first
descent in 1869 the river was equally unknown. Even above
Gunnison Crossing, despite the spasmodic efforts at exploration
referred to, the river had remained a geographical enigma, and
to the Major belongs the sole credit for solving this great
problem throughout its length from the Union Pacific crossing
in Wyoming to the mouth of the Virgin River — the last prob-
lem of this kind within the United States. Hampered as the
first party was by loss of provisions and instruments, they
nevertheless made a plat of the immediate course of the
stream, portions of which were lost with the men who were
killed by the Shewits on leaving the party near the end of the
Grand Canyon. So far we had not been bothered in the least

A Tranquil Day 97

by lack of provisions, instruments, time, health, or strength,
and we had been able to make an accurate meander of the
river, note the topography and geology as we went along, climb
out frequently to examine the surrounding country, and in
every way carry forward the scientific work as planned. It
was now a question whether or not we would get our supplies
at the next appointed station, the mouth of the Dirty Devil
River, or whether we would be obliged to weigh out what we
had, and by limiting ourselves to strict rations put the work
through anyhow. By September 5 th we would probably have
information on this point, that being the limit set for our wait-
ing. Should the Major not arrive by that time, it would mean
that we were to go on as best we could with the supplies
on hand.

Monday was devoted to overhauling the boats, while Prof,
took observations. During a rest he also read aloud to us from
Tennyson,

** A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,
Slow dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go;
And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke,
Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.
They saw the gleaming river seaward flow
From the inner land; far off three mountain-tops.
Three silent pinnacles of aged snow.
Stood sunset-flushed; and, dew'd with showery drops,
Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the copse."

He was an excellent reader and we enjoyed his various selec-
tions. They gave variety and new drift to our thought which
was refreshing and beneficial. When the boats were completed
they were returned to the river, but for the time being the
rations and other things forming their cargoes were permitted
to remain on shore covered by the paulins. The boats swung
gracefully at their lines and Jack was tempted to get out his
fishing tackle in the early evening and seat himself on one of the
cabins to wait patiently for a bite. Softly the river rippled by
with an innocent murmur as if it had never been guilty of any-
thing but the calmest and best-behaved motion such as now
7

gS A Canyon Voyage

reflected the great pinnacle across the way standing 1200 feet
clear cut against the glowing sky. The air was balmy, no wind
blew, and a universal quiet prevailed when suddenly Jack
uttered several exclamations not entirely in harmony with the
moment. He thought his precious hook was caught on a snag.
Pulling gently in order not to break his line the snag lifted with
it and presently he was astounded to see, not the branch of a
tree or a water-logged stick, but the head of an enormous fish
appear above the surface. Had there been some splashing he
would have been prepared for the extraordinary sight but the
monster came with barely a wriggle as if he did not know what
it was to be caught. He was successfully landed in the middle
cabin of the boat, which was empty except for some water, and
lay there unhurt as if it were the natural place for him. Casting
again another of the same kind came forth and then a third.
The longest appeared to be the length of the cabin, as he
floated in the water, and that was four feet. He was at least
thirty or thirty-six inches with a circumference of fifteen inches.
The others were considerably shorter but nevertheless very
large fish. The big one was killed for food and Steward noted
that the heart after removal kept up pulsations of twenty beats
to the minute for half an hour. These fish are now called
Colorado River salmon. The flesh was white and they seemed
to us good eating.

On Tuesday, August 29th, the third day of our waiting, as
we were about to return to various occupations after dinner
three rapid shots broke suddenly on the quiet air from down the
valley. It was our signal. ** The Major " cried all in a breath,
and a reply signal was instantly fired. Clem and I were sent
immediately to the end of the island, carrying our rifles, of
course, for while we had little doubt as to who it was, there
might be a surprise. We hurried down while the others
watched the bank beyond. As soon as we cleared the bushes
and could see the western shore we distinguished the Major
and a stranger by his side, with horses. We shouted to them
directions for reaching our camp and they rode up till they
came opposite to it whence they were ferried over while Jones
took the horses down to their camp about four miles below.

Colorado River White Salmon.

Photograph by the Denver, Colorado Canyon, and Pacific Railway Survey under
Robert Brewster Stanton, 1889.

Azure Cliffs 99

The Major reported an absolute failure in the attempt to find
a way to the mouth of the Dirty Devil River, and he had
not himself been able to do anything about it. The first trial
was eastward from Glencove, a Mormon settlement on the
Sevier. It failed because the Indian guides refused to proceed
beyond fifty miles and it was not practicable to go on without
them. A second party was then sent in a little later under Old
Jacob north-eastward from Kanab. They reached a river flow-
ing to the Colorado at about the right place and for many miles
followed it with extreme difficulty and hazard even at the
low stage of water prevailing, down through a deep, narrow
canyon. Sometimes they were compelled to swim their horses
where the rapid stream filled the chasm from wall to wall, and
continual crossing and re-crossing were necessary from one foot-
ing to another. This perilous effort was also abandoned. The
Major had gone to Salt Lake and from there, being informed
of these results, down to a village called Manti whence he made
his way across country to our present position, with several
pack animals bringing three hundred pounds of flour, a quantity
of jerked beef, and twenty pounds of sugar. This was not ex-
actly adequate to the circumstances but he probably thought
it was all he could get through with to the meeting place ap-
pointed in the time alloted. While he and Fred Hamblin, the
man accompanying him, were eating their dinner, we packed
the boats, and when all was ready took them on board, the
Major in his old place in the armchair on our boat, and
Hamblin on the middle deck of another. In the run down
to the camp Hambhn was very uncomfortable for he was not
accustomed to boats, especially to boats that ran so fast.
There were two little rapids, some swift chutes, and in several
places the river shoaled and we grated slightly on the gravel.

Stretching away westward from Gunnison Butte we saw
an exquisitely modelled line of cliffs, some portions being
a clear azure blue. At first it was proposed to name them
Henry CHffs, but they were finally called from their colour,
Azure. Presently we arrived at the camp where we found
another man, Lyman Hamblin, a son of Jacob and nephew of
Fred. They were both Mormons from Kanab near the Arizona

loo A Canyon Voyage

line in southern Utah. They had a large amount of mail for
us and every one fell to reading letters and papers. August
30th and 31st were spent here getting our work in shape, mak-
ing sketches and observations, as well as writing letters and
helping the Hamblins prepare for their trip back through the
wild country. They had met with no Indians on the way in
and they hoped to be equally fortunate going back having no
desire to see any. In this, as they told me afterwards, they
were not successful. They mounted their horses, Friday, Sep-
tember 1st, about four in the afternoon when the west was
taking on a rich evening glow and turning in that direction
vanished, with a wave of the hand and a good-bye, into the
mystery of colour, bearing our letters, the geographic data,
the geologic notes, and all the other material which we had
collected since leaving the mouth of the Uinta, and which it
was thought advisable to send out both for safety and to relieve
our crowded cabins. They said that the next evening before
they realised it they found themselves so near a large encamp-
ment of Indians that there was no getting away, and they did
the only thing they could sensibly do, rode boldly on straight
into the midst of the strangers with the hope that the band
belonged where they were on the west side of the river, in
which case they were surely peaceful. Both men spoke Ute well
and they had had long experience. The Indians proved to be
entirely friendly, and the Hamblins camped with them for the
night ; not because they wanted to but because they thought it
inexpedient to do otherwise. When they left us we felt that
they were old friends for they were fine men and most agreeable.
Besides, with the exception of Basor who had driven the team
down from Salt Lake to the Uinta with our rations, they were
the only white men which those of us who had not visited the
Uinta Agency had seen since the Harrells in Brown's Park, nearly
three months before. An hour after their departure we pushed
off and ran down about half a mile, passing one little rapid, to
the old crossing where we stopped on the left for the night.
Beaman and I were commissioned to go back to our Camp Gun-
nison to get a saw which had been forgotten there; we could
not afford to lose so valuable an implement. A well-beaten

On with the Tide loi

Indian trail leading up the river gave us easy going and we
made good time. The effects of light and colour all around us
playing over the mountains and valley gave the surroundings
a weird interest. The day was ending. Long shadows stole
across the strange topography while the lights on the variegated
buttes became kaleidoscopic. As for us, we appeared ridicu-
lously inadequate. We ought to have been at least twenty feet
high to fit the hour and the scene. Gradually the lights faded,
the shadows faded, then both began to merge till a soft grey-
blue dropped over all blending into the sky everywhere except
west where the burnish of sunset remained. Before dark the
old camp was reached ; we found the saw by the last dying rays
and then picked our backward path by starlight following
the trail as we had come. Silence and the night were one as
in the countless years that had carved the dim buttes from the
rocks of the world primeval when man was not. Beautiful is
the wilderness at all times, at all times lovely, but under the
spell of the twilight it seems to enfold one in a tender embrace,
pushing back the sordid, the commonplace, and obliterating
those magnified nothings that form the weary burden of civil-
ised man. With keen appreciation we tramped steadily on
till at last we perceived through the night gloom the cheerful
flicker of our camp-fire, a sight always welcome, for the
camp-fire to the explorer is home.

At eight the next morning our business was resumed with
the Major happy in his accustomed place. We made a nice
run of eighteen miles on a smooth, shallow river, with broken,
picturesque low cliffs and isolated buttes everywhere. The
valley was wide and filled with these rocky hills. For a quarter
of a mile on each side of the river there were cottonwood
groves offering fine spots for camping, before and after crossing.
There seemed to be several places where crossing was accom-
plished. At one of these we discovered where some Indians
had been in camp a few kours before. The placidity of the
river permitted the lashing together of the boats once more for
a time and while we drifted this way down with the easy cur-
rent the Major and Prof, took turns at reading aloud from
Whittier. Mogg Megone was one selection that was quite in

I02 A Canyon Voyage

harmony with the surroundings while other poems offered a
delightful contrast. There were songs, too, and I specially
identify with this particular locality that old college favourite.
Dear Evelina^ Sweet Evelina which everybody sang, and which
the Major often sang alone as he peered ahead into the vista
unfolding.

Before night the valley narrowed, the banks looked more
like low canyon walls, and the current stiffened. A clump of
small cottonwoods suggested a camp as the sun ran down and
there we halted. Nor did we go on the next day as the Major
desired to go out to a ridge lying to the west, which he had
seen from his horse on his way to us across country. Jones
went with him and they came back with a fine collection of
Cretaceous fossils. Steward and Cap. also went collecting and
were successful. Our surroundings were now even more pec-
uliar than heretofore. In many places the region was abso-
lutely barren of all vegetation; thousands of acres at a time
had upon them hardly a living plant of any description, being
simply bare and barren rock, as devoid of soil as the deck of a
ship. Prof, took observations for latitude and longitude and
the rest of us were busy at our usual affairs. We had very little
time to spare when the various necessary duties had been
regularly attended to.

As we went on the next morning the desolation of the
surroundings increased, if that were possible, and it was easy
to read in this one cause of the tardiness of its exploration.
The acreage of bare rock grew wider and broader. The buttes
now often turned to walls about 150 feet high, all much
broken, but indicating the approach to another closing in of
the rocks upon us. Many of these buttes were beautiful in
their castellated form as well as because of a picturesque
banded character, and opposite our dinner-camp, which was on
a ledge of rock, was one surprisingly symmetrical, resembling
an artificial structure. I thought it looked like an art gallery,
and the Major said it ought to be named after the artist, so
he called it " Dellenbaugh's Butte " then and there. Another
singular feature of this day was a number of alkaline springs
discovered bubbling up from the bottom of a sort of bayou

C P^

5 m

^ O

.2 o ^

The San Rafael 103

or branch of the river. There were at least seventy-five of
them, one throwing a column six or eight inches above the
surface of the water here about two feet deep. We thought the
place worth a name, and called it Undine Springs. Three
or four miles below the butte named after me we arrived at
the mouth of a river, twenty-five feet wide and eight or ten
inches deep, coming in from the right. This was the San
Rafael. Our camp was made near some cottonwoods between
its left bank and the Green. As soon as we landed we per-
ceived that the ground was strewn with flaked chips of chal-
cedony, jasper, and similar stones. It was plain that here was
a favourite workshop of the native arrowhead maker, an artisan
now vanished forever. Numerous well-finished beautiful arrow-
heads of stone were found, all being placed in the general col-
lection for the Smithsonian Institution. Our Camp 54 was
elevated considerably above the river, and the surroundings
being open, we had views in all directions. Towards the east
we could see the Sierra La Sal, two clusters of rounded peaks,
forty or fifty miles away, forming a majestic picture. The
place was easy of access, and had been a favourite resort for
natives, several acres of camp remains being found. In the
morning Prof, began a series of observations to fix the position
of the mouth of the San Rafael, while the Major and Jones,
with rations, blankets, etc., on their backs for a two days' trip,
started early up the tributary stream to see what kind of a
country it flowed through. Steward feeling somewhat under
the weather did not attempt to do anything, while the photo-
grapher and the others busied themselves in their respective
lines. The following day the Major and Jones returned as
planned, having traced the San Rafael for twenty-five miles.
Before they arrived Cap. and Clem went across the Green to
travel eastward to some high red buttes, one of which they
intended to climb for topographical purposes. These buttes
loomed up in a striking way, and appeared to be no more than
six miles off even to Cap.'s experienced eye. The Major
described the drainage basin of the San Rafael as wofully
barren and desolate, like the rest of our surroundings. They
had seen mountains lying beyond the Dirty Devil River, which

I04 A Canyon Voyage

were the range we then called the Unknown Mountains, there
being no record of any one ever having seen them before the
Major on his first trip.

Steward, recovering his poise, walked back alone on the
east bank of the Green four miles to Dellenbaugh's Butte to
examine it and the intervening geology. He found the butte
to be about four hundred feet high and composed of stratified
gypsum, thinly bedded and of fine quality.

As evening approached we looked for the return of Cap.
and Clem, especially when the supper hour arrived, but twilight
came, then darkness, and still their footfall was not heard. The
Major was greatly disturbed over their failure to come, fearing
they had gotten out of water, missed their way, and might
now be suffering or demoralised in the arid wastes to eastward.
He ordered a large fire to be built on a high spot near camp,
where it would be visible for miles in the direction the missing
men had gone. We divided into watches of two hours each to
keep the fire going, in order that the men should have a guide
if they were trying to reach the river in the night. I was
called for my turn at two in the morning, and read Whittier
while feeding the flames. The sky was mottled with clouds
driving impetuously across the zenith, the bright moon gleam-
ing through the interstices as they rapidly passed along. My
attention was divided between the Quaker poet, the blazing
fire, the mysterious environment into which I peered from
time to time, and the flying scud playing hide-and-seek with
the moon. At three I called Andy, who had breakfast ready
before five, and all hands were up prepared to start on a
search. By the time we had eaten there was light enough for
operations to begin, and the Major, accompanied by Jack,
carrying between them two days* rations and as much water
as possible, were put across the Green to strike out directly
eastward. A couple of hours later Prof, took a boat, with
Steward and me to man it and another supply of food and
water, and ran down the river a mile, where we headed back
into the dry region to intersect at a distance the route the
Major was following. We had not gone far before signal shots
came to our ears, and through a glass turned in that direction

Rain Cascades 105

we rejoiced to see that the Major and Jack had met the lost
ones and all was well.

Prof, directed me to go back on foot to our camp with
instructions for the other boats to come down, while he, in
response to further signals, dropped his boat to a point nearer
to the position of the rescue party and easier for them to reach.
Cap. had underestimated the distance to the butte, which was
twice as far as he thought. They walked eight hours to get
there only to discover that scaling it was out of the question.
A mile and a half beyond they found one they could cHmb,
but by the time they had completed their observations on top
of this evening overtook them and they were at least fifteen
miles from camp. Having consumed their lunch at noon and
drank all their water they were in something of a predicament,
but luckily found some water-pockets in the barren rock, re-
cently filled by the rains, so they did not suffer for thirst, and
going hungry is not dangerous. Over the wide surfaces of bare
rock they travelled toward camp till night forced them to wait
for daylight, when they kept on till they met the Major and
Jack with water and food.

No sooner had I arrived at the camp than the sky which
was leaden and low began to drop its burden upon us.
Packing up could not be done till the rain slackened, and we
sheltered ourselves as well as we could. As we waited a deep
roaring sound from not far off presently fell on our ears and we
were puzzled to explain it till an examination showed a recently
dry gulch filled with a muddy torrent which leaped the low
cliff into the river, a sullen cascade. The San Rafael, too, was
a booming flood. We packed the boats as soon as we could and
ran down about two miles and a half to where the first boat
was. Cliffs bordered the river again, 50 to 100 feet high,
then 200 or 300, and we saw we were in the beginning of
the next canyon called from its winding course. Labyrinth.
Over these straight walls hundreds of beautiful cascades born
of the rain were plunging into the river. They were of ail
sizes, all heights, and almost all colours, chocolate, amber,
and red predominating. The rocky walls, mainly of a low
purplish-red tint, were cut into by the river till the outside

io6 A Canyon Voyage

curves of the bends were perpendicular and sometimes slightly
more than perpendicular, so that some of the cascades fell clear
without a break. The acres of bare rock composing the sur-
face of the land on both sides collected the rain as does the
roof of a house, and the rills and rivulets rapidly uniting soon
formed veritable floods of considerable proportions seeking the
bosom of the river. This seemed the most fantastic region we
had yet encountered. Buttes, pinnacles, turrets, spires, castles,
gulches, alcoves, canyons and canyons, all hewn, ** as the years
of eternity roll " out of the verdureless labyrinth of solid rock,
made us feel more than ever a sense of intruding into a for-
bidden realm, and having permanently parted from the
world we formerly knew.

About noon we caught up to the other boat and all had
dinner together, happy that nothing serious had befallen Cap.
and Clem. During the whole afternoon rain steadily fell upon
the top of this rock-roofed world till the river rose several inches
while its colour turned to a dull yellow, then to a red, showing
how heavy the rainfall had been in the back country. We had
our rubber ponchos on but we were more or less damp and we
began to notice that summer had passed for the air was chilly.
The river was perfectly smooth making navigation easy and we
were able to pull steadily along with no interruption from rapids.
The walls ever increased their height while over the edges the
numberless astonishing rain cascades continued to play, varying
their volume according to the downpour from the sky. Before
long the cliffs were from 800 to 1000 feet high, often perpen-
dicular, giving the waterfalls grand plunges. These graceful
tributaries were now occasionally perfectly clear and they some-
times fell so far without a break that they vanished in feathery
white spray. A projecting ledge at times might gather this
spray again to form a second cascade before the river level was
reached. The scene was quite magical and considering the
general aridity for a large part of the year, it appeared almost
like a phantasm.

" A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,
Slow dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go."

Trin Alcove 107

The river twisted this way and that with the tongues of
the bends filled with alluvial deposit bearing dense clumps of
scrub-oak, and grass. Each new bend presented a fresh picture
withthe changing waterfalls leaping over by the dozen till we
might have thought ourselves in some Norwegian fiord, and
we gave far more attention to admiring the scenery than to
navigating the boats. Late in the day we landed at the left on
the point of a bend and chopped a path through the thick
oak brush to a grassy glade, where we soon had the paulins
stretched across oars supported by other oars forming comfort-
able shelters in front of which huge fires of dead oak and drift-
wood were kept going to dry things out. Andy set his pots to
boiling and supper was soon prepared.

All night the rain fell but our shelters kept us dry and
every one had a good rest When the morning of September
8th dawned clear and bracing we met it with good spirits,
though the spirits of our party seldom varied no matter what
the circumstances, and every man took as much personal inter-
est in the success of the expedition as if he were entirely
responsible for it.

In order that Beaman might take some pictures and the
topographers get notes, no move was made. Prof, climbed out
obtaining a wide view in all directions and securing valuable
data. I also went up on the cliffs and made a pencil sketch,
and in the afternoon we explored a peculiar three-mouthed
side canyon across the river. Three canyons came together at
their mouths and we called the place Trin Alcove. Prof, and
the Major walked up it some distance and then sent for Beaman
to come to photograph. At nightfall rain began once more,
and the shelters were again erected over the oars. Another
morning came fair and we went on leaving Beaman to finish
up views and the Nell crew for other work. As we proceeded
we would occasionally halt to wait but it was noon before they
overtook us. Rain had begun before this and continued at
intervals during the dinner stop. As soon as we started we
ran into a heavy downpour and while pulling along in the
midst of this our boat ran on a sand-bar and got so far and fast
aground that it required all ten men to get her off, the other

io8 A Canyon Voyage

crews walking in the water to where we were, as the shoal
was very wide. While thus engaged a beautiful colour effect
developed softly before us through an opalescent, vaporous
shroud. The sun came forth with brilliant power upon the
retreating mists creating a clear, luminous, prismatic bow ahead
of us arching in perfect symmetry from foot to foot of the
glistening walls, while high above it resting each end on the first
terraces a second one equally distinct bridged the chasm; and,
exactly where these gorgeous rainbows touched the rocks,
roaring rain cascades leaped down to add their charm to the
enchanting picture.

We were now at the beginning of a very long loop of the
river, which we named Bow-knot Bend. Just at the start of
this great turn we camped with a record for the whole day of
15-J- miles. Steward found some fragments of pottery. The
next morning we remained here till ten for views, and then we
left Beaman on the summit of the low dividing ridge, where
one could look into the river on either side and see a point
which we rowed more than five miles to reach.* On the right
bank we stopped for dinner, and when it was about ready
several of us crossed, and, helping Beaman down with his
heavy boxes, ferried him to our side. The opposite bank was no
more than one thousand feet in a straight line from our starting-
place of the morning. Instead of now going on, a halt was
made, because Steward, prowling around after his custom, had
found some fossils that were important and he wanted more.
The Major, with Jack, crossed the river for further geological
investigations, while Prof, and Jones started to climb out,
though the prospect was not encouraging. They ascended
over rock, strangely eroded by water into caverns and holes,
then along a ledge till Jones, being a taller man than Prof., got
up and pulled Prof, after him with his revolver belt. They
obtained a remarkable view. Buttes, ridges, mountains stood
all round, with the river so completely lost in the abruptness

* Many years afterward on a rock face half-way round this bend the inscrip-
tion, D. Julien 1836 3 Mai, was found. The same inscription was also found
in two other places just below the mouth of Grand River and near the end of
Cataract Canyon.

. o .

CI ^
0) a

5 ^

(0 o

V4 -t->

O o

^^
H

The Plateau Province 109

of its chasm that a mile from the brink the whole region was
apparently solid, and the existence of the gorge with a river at
bottom would not even be suspected. They could trace the
line of Grand River by tower-like buttes and long ridges, and
just at the gap formed by the junction with the Green a blue
mountain arose. The Sierra La Sal, too, could be seen lying
on the horizon like blue clouds. " Weird and wild, barren and
ghost-like, it seemed like an unknown world," said Prof. The
country was a vast plateau similar to the one through which
the Canyon of Desolation is carved, that is tilting northward
and increasing in altitude towards the south, so that as the
river runs on its canyon becomes deeper from this cause as
well as its cutting. These great terraces sloping to the north
were not before understood. They terminate on the south in
vertical cHffs through which the river emerges abruptly. From
such features as these the Major named this the Plateau Pro-
vince. The cliffs terminating each plateau form intricate escarp-
ments, meandering for many miles, and they might be likened
to a series of irregular and complicated steps. Occasional high
buttes and mountain masses break the surface, but in general
the whole area forming the major part of the basin of the
Colorado may be described as a plateau country — a land of
mesas, cliffs, and canyons.

The next day, September nth, we were on the river at
7.30, and ran about seven miles on smooth water before we
stopped for a mid-day rest and dinner on the right bank, as
well as to enable Beaman to take some views he desired.
Another three miles and we halted again for geologising and
for photographs, while Prof., taking Andy in his boat, went ahead
to estabUsh a camp somewhere below for the night, in order
that we would not be so late getting supper. The days were
now growing short, and supper by firelight was a common
thing. Rain soon began again and put a stop to the work,
driving us forward between the scores of cascades which soon
began to leap anew from every height to the river. At one
place a waterfall shot out from behind an arch set against the
wall, making a singular but beautiful effect, and revealing to us
one method by which some of the arches are formed. The

no A Canyon Voyage

place Prof, had selected for camp was reached almost the same
time that he got there. It was on the left among the grease-
wood bushes, and there we put up our paulins for shelter on
oars as before. We had made about fifteen miles. The walls
receded from the river, forming what the Major named the
Orange Cliffs, and were much broken, while the back country
could be seen in places from our boats. Scores, hundreds,
multitudes of buttes of bare rock of all shapes and sizes were
in sight, and one was called the Butte of the Cross, because it
suggested a cross lying down from one position, though from
another it was seen to be in reality two distinct masses. Here
ended Labyrinth Canyon according to the Major's decision.
We credited it with a length of 62J miles. Although winding
through an extremely arid country, it had for us been a place
of rain and waterfalls, and even though rapids were absent we
had been nevertheless kept rather wet.

There was not much change in structure between Labyrinth
Canyon and the following one of the series, Stillwater. The
interval was one of lowered, much broken walls, well back from
the river, leaving wide bottom lands on the sides. We went
ahead in the morning on quiet water for seven or eight miles,
and stopped on a high bank for dinner and for examinations.
Prof., Cap., Steward, and the Major climbed out. Steward got
separated from the others by trying to reach a rather distant
butte, and when he tried to rejoin us he had considerable
difficulty in doing so. For half an hour he searched for a place
to get down, and we looked for one also from the bottom, and
finally he was compelled to go down half a mile farther, where
he made the descent only to find himself in a dense jungle of
rose-bushes, willows, and other plants. We had to cut a way
in to relieve him. The luxuriant growth of these plants seemed
to indicate that the barrenness of the plateau was due not so
much to aridity as to the peculiar rock formation, which, dis-
integrating easily under the frosts and rains, prevented the
accumulation of soil. The soil was washed away by every rain
and carried by thousands of cataracts into the river. Only
when the country reaches the " base level of erosion/' as the
Major called it, would vegetation succeed in holding its place ;

Stillwater Canyon.

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 i,

Bonito Bend m

that is when the declivity of the surrounding region became
reduced till the rain torrents should lack the velocity necessary
to transport any great load of detritus, and the disintegrated
material would accumulate, give a footing to plants, and thus
further protect itself and the rocks.

The Major and Prof, now decided to use up all the photo-
graphic material between this point and the Dirty Devil, and
leave one boat at the latter place till the next season, when
a party would come in for it and take it down to the Paria.
We would be obliged to examine the Dirty Devil region then
in any event. Three miles below our dinner camp we arrived
at a remarkably picturesque bend, and on the outer circum-
ference we made our sixtieth camp, but so late that supper was
eaten by firelight. The bend was named by Beaman " Bonito,"
and in the morning he made a number of views. The bottom
lands along the river had evidently been utilised by the
aboriginal inhabitants for farming, as fragments of pottery
occasionally found indicated their presence here in former
days. It was afternoon when we pushed off and left Bonito
Bend behind. After a few miles the Major and Prof, tried to
climb out, but they failed. A buff sandstone, resting on red
shale, was vertical for about 140 feet everywhere and could not
be surmounted. Above this stood another vertical wall of five
hundred feet, an orange coloured sandstone, in which no break
was apparent. These walls closed in on the river, leaving barely
a margin in many places. There were few landings, the current,
rather swift and smooth, swirling along the foot of the rocks,
which rose vertically for 250 feet and were about four hundred
feet apart. As the evening came on we could find no place to
stop that offered room enough for a camp, and we drifted on
and on till almost dark, when we discovered a patch of soil
on the right that would give us sufficient space. The 13th of
September happened to be my birthday, and Andy had prom-
ised to stew a mess of dried apples in celebration. This does
not sound like a tremendous treat, but circumstances give the
test. Our supply of rations being limited and now running
low, Andy for some time had been curbing our appetites.
Stewed dried apples were granted about once a week, and

112 A Canyon Voyage

boiled beans were an equal luxury. It was consequently a dis-
appointment not to get the promised extra allowance of apples
on this occasion. Not only was the hour late, but there was
little wood to be had, though diligent raking around produced
enough driftwood to cook our supper of bacon, coffee, and
bread. Our camp was beneath an overhanging cliff about six
hundred feet high, and the walls near us were so heavily coated
with salt that it could be broken off in chunks anywhere. The
quarters were not roomy, but we got a good sleep. In the
morning before he was fairly awake Steward discovered fossils
in the rocks over his head, and we remained till one o'clock in
order that an investigation could be made. He collected about
a peck of fine specimens. When we started again the canyon
was so interesting, particularly to the geologists, that we stopped
several times in a run of five miles between vertical walls not
over six hundred feet apart. Camp was finally made on the
right in a sort of alcove, with a level fertile bottom of several
acres, where the ancients had grown corn. Evidences of their
former life here were numerous. Steward, climbing on the
cliffs, suddenly gave a loud shout, announcing a discovery.
He had found two small huts built into the rocks. Several of us
went up to look at them. They were of great age and so
small that they could have been only storage places. Withered
and hardened corncobs were found within them.

On returning to camp we learned that the Major had found
some larger house ruins on a terrace some distance up the
river. Around the camp-fire that evening he told us some-
thing about the Shinumos, as he called them, who long ago
had inhabited this region, and in imagination we now beheld
them again climbing the cliffs or toiling at their agriculture in
the small bottom land.

At daylight Steward, Clem, and I went up to the ruins, which
stood on a terrace projecting in such a way that a clear view
could be had up and down the river. There were two houses
built of stone slabs, each about 13x15 feet, and about six feet
of wall were still standing. Thirty feet or more below ran the
river, and there were remains of an old stairway leading down
through a crevice to the river, but too much disintegrated for

A Lost Jar 113

us to descend. These were the first ruins of the kind I had
ever seen, and I was as much interested in them as I afterwards
was in the Colosseum.

Prof., being desirous of arriving as speedily as possible at
the junction of the Grand with the Green, which was now not
far off, for the purpose of getting an observation for time, left
us at seven o'clock and proceeded in advance, while the re-
mainder of the party turned their attention to the locality
where we were. We could see traces of an old trail up the
cliffs, and the Major, Jack, Andy, and Jones started to follow
this out. With the aid of ropes taken along and stones piled
up, as well as a cottonwood pole that had been placed as a
ladder by the ancients, they succeeded in reaching the summit.
Clem and I went back to the large house ruins for a re-exam-
ination, and looked over the quantities of broken arrowheads of
jasper and the potsherds strewing the place in search of speci-
mens of value. On the return trip of the climbers Andy dis-
covered an earthen jar, fifteen inches high and about twelve
inches in diameter, of the " pinched-coil " type, under a shelter-
ing rock, covered by a piece of flat stone, where it had rested
for many a decade if not for a century. It contained a small
coil of split-willow, such as is used in basketry, tied with cord
of aboriginal make. Some one had placed it there for a few
moments.

After dinner we continued down the canyon, taking the
pot with us. The walls were nearly vertical on both sides, or
at any rate appeared so to us from the boats, and they often
came straight into the water, with here and there a few willows.
They were not more than 450 feet apart. No rapids troubled
us, and the current was less than three miles an hour, but we
seemed to be going swiftly even without rowing. After about
seven miles the trend of the chasm became easterly, and
we saw the mouth of the Grand, the Junction, that hidden
mystery which, unless we count D. Julien, only nine white
men, the Major's first party, had ever seen before us. The
Grand entered through a canyon similar to that of- the Green,
all the immediate walls being at least 800 feet and the summit
of the plateau about 1 500 feet above the river. On the right

114 A Canyon Voyage

was a small bench, perhaps one-third of a mile long and several
rods wide, fringed by a sand-bank, on which we found the crew
of the Nell established in Camp 62. Between the two rivers
was another footing of about two acres, bearing several hack-
berry trees, and it was on this bank up the Grand River side
that the first party camped. Across on the east shore we
could see still another strip with some bushes, but there was
no more horizontal land to be found here. The two rivers
blended gracefully on nearly equal terms, and the doubled
volume started down with reckless impetuosity. This was the
end of Stillwater Canyon, with a length of 42} miles. At last
we had finished the canyons of the Green, with every boat
in good condition and not a man injured in any way, and now
we stood before the grim jaws of the Colorado. Our descent
from Gunnison Crossing was 215 feet, with not a rapid that
was worth recording, and from the Union Pacific crossing in
feet, 2215, and in miles, 539. The altitude of the Junction is
3860 feet above sea-level.

CHAPTER IX

A Wonderland of Crags and Pinnacles — Poverty Rations — Fast and Furious
Plunging Waters — Boulders Boom along the Bottom — Chilly Days and
Shivering — A Wild Tumultuous Chasm — A Bad Passage by Twilight and a
Tornado with a Picture Moonrise — Out of one Canyon into Another — At the
Mouth of the Dirty Devil at Last.

WE were on the threshold of what the Major had previously
named Cataract Canyon, because the declivity within
It is so great and the water descends with such tremendous
velocity and continuity that he thought the term rapid failed
to interpret the conditions. The addition of the almost equal
volume of the Grand — indeed it was now a little greater owing
to extra heavy rains along its course — doubled the depth and
velocity of the river till it swirled on into the new canyon
before us with a fierce, threatening intensity, sapping the flat
sand-bank on which our camp was laid and rapidly eating it
away. Large masses with a sudden splash would drop out of
sight and dissolve like sugar in a cup of tea. We were obliged
to be on the watch lest the moorings of the boats should be
loosened, allowing them to sweep pell-mell before us down the
gorge. The long ropes were carried back to their limit and
made fast to stakes driven deep into the hard sand. Jack and
I became dissatisfied with the position of our boat and dropped
it dov/n two or three hundred yards to a place where the con-
ditions were better, and camped by it. There were a few small
cottonwoods against the cliff behind the sand-bank, but they
were too far off to be reached by our lines, and the ground
beneath them was too irregular and rocky for a camp. These
trees, with the hackberry trees across the river arid numerous
stramonium bushes in full blossom, composed the chief vegeta-
tion of this extraordinary locality. No more remote place

ii6 A Canyon Voyage

existed at that time within the United States — no place more
difficult of access. Macomb in his reconnaissance in 1859 ^^^
tried hard to arrive here, but he got no nearer than the edge of
the plateau about thirty miles up Grand River.

It was necessary that we should secure topographic notes
and observations from the summit, and we scanned the sur-
roundings for the most promising place for exit. The Major
was sure we could make a successful ascent to the upper regions
by way of a narrow cleft on the right or west some distance
back up the Green, which he had noted as we came along ; so in
the morning of Saturday, September i6th, he and Jack, Beaman,
Clem, Jones, and I rowed up in the Canonita, the current being
slow along the west bank, and started up the crevice, dragging
the cumbrous photographic outfit along. Prof, remained below
for observations for time. The cleft was filled with fallen
rocks, and we had no trouble mounting, except that the photo-
graphic boxes were like lead and the straps across one's chest
made breathing difficult. The climb was tiring, but there was
no obstacle, and we presently emerged on the surface of the
country 1300 feet above the river and 5160 above the sea.
Here was revealed a wide cyclorama that was astounding.
Nothing was in sight but barren sandstone, red, yellow, brown,
grey, carved into an amazing multitude of towers, buttes, spires,
pinnacles, some of them several hundred feet high, and all
shimmering under a dazzling sun. It was a marvellous mighty
desert of bare rock, chiselled by the ages out of the foundations
of the globe ; fantastic, extraordinary, antediluvian, labyrinthian,
and slashed in all directions by crevices ; crevices wide, crevices
narrow, crevices medium, some shallow, some dropping till a
falling stone clanked resounding into the far hollow depths.
Scarcely could we travel a hundred yards but we were com-
pelled to leap some deep, dark crack. Often they were so wide
a running jump was necessary, and at times the smooth rock
sloped on both sides toward the crevice rather steeply. Once
the Major came sliding down a bare slope till at a point where
he caught sight of the edge of a sombre fissure just where he
must land. He could not see its width ; he could not return,
and there he hung. Luckily I was where by another path I

The Sinav-to-weap 117

could quickly reach the rock below, and I saw that the crevice
was not six inches wide, and I shouted the joyful news. Stew-
ard had not come up with us, but had succeeded in ascending
through a narrow crevice below camp. He soon arrived within
speaking distance, but there he was foiled by a crack too wide
to jump, and he had to remain a stranger to us the rest of the
day. At a little distance back from the brink these crevices
were not so numerous nor so wide, and there we discovered
a series of extremely pretty " parks " lost amidst the million
turreted rocks. I made a pencil sketch looking out into this
Sinav-to-weap, as the Major called it from information obtained
from the Utes.* Beaman secured a number of photographs,
but not all that were desired, and, as we did not have rations for
stopping on the summit, we went back to camp and made the
climb again the next day. Fortunately the recent rains had
filled many hollows in the bare rock, forming pockets of de-
licious, pure water, where we could drink, but on a hot and dry
summer's day traveUing here would be intolerable, if not im-
possible. Fragments of arrow-heads, chips of chalcedony, and
quantities of potsherds scattered around proved that our ancient
Shinumos had known the region well. Doubtless some of their
old trails would lead to large and deep water-pockets. There
are pot-holes in this bare sandstone of enormous size, often
several feet in depth and of similar diameter, which become
filled with rain-water that lasts a long time. The Shinumos
had numerous dwellings all through this country, with trails
leading from place to place, highways and byways.

The following day the Major and Jones climbed out on the
side opposite camp, that is on the east side, where they found
an old trail and evidences of camping during the summer just
closed, probably by the Utes. That night, Jones, in attempting
to enter our boat in the moonlight, stepped on the corner of
the hatch of the middle cabin, which was not on securely; it
tipped, and he was thrown in such a way as to severely injure
his leg below the knee. This was the first mishap thus far
to any one of the party.

' The pencil sketches I made on this trip were taken to Washington, but I do
not know what became of them.

ii8 A Canyon Voyage

The Major entertained some idea of making a boat trip up
the Grand, but he abandoned it, and we prepared for the work
ahead. The rations, which were now fallen to poverty bulk,
were carefully overhauled and evenly distributed among the
boats, so that the wrecking of any one would not deprive us
of more than a portion of each article. The amount for daily
use was also determined ; of the bacon we were to have at a
meal only half the usual quantity. We knew Cataract Canyon
was rough, but by this time we were in excellent training and
thoroughly competent for the kind of navigation required ;
ready for anything that strong boats like ours could live
through. At ten o'clock on Tuesday, September 19th, the
cabins were all packed, the life preservers were inflated, and
casting off from Camp 62 we were borne down with the swift
current. The water was muddy, of a cofTee-and-cream colour,
and the river was falling. Not far below our camp we saw
a beaten trail coming down a singular canyon on the left or
east side, showing again that the natives understood the way
in to the Junction.* We knew it was not far to rapids, as we
had seen two heavy ones from the brink above, and we soon
heard the familiar roar of plunging water, a sound which had
been absent since the end of Gray Canyon. Presently we were
bearing down on the first one, looking for the way to pass it. On
landing at the head it was seen to be a rather rough place, and
it was deemed advisable to avoid running it. The boats were
carefully let down by lines and we went on. In a short dis-
tance we reached a second rapid, where we decided to repeat
the operation that took us past the other, but these two let-
downs consumed much time and gave us hard work. The
water was cold, we were wet and hungry, and when we arrived
at a third that was more forbidding than the ones above we
halted for dinner at its beginning. The muddy water boomed
and plunged over innumerable rocks — a mad, irresistible flood.
So great was the declivity of the river bed that boulders were
rolled along under water with a sound like distant thunder.

' As mentioned in a previous footnote, the name D. Julien — 1836, was
later found near this point and in two other places. All these inscriptions appear
to be on the same side of the river, the east, and at accessible places.

Clement Powell
Cataract Canyon.

Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187

Big Rapids Again 119

We had noticed this also in Lodore, but in Cataract it was
more common. The rumbling was particularly noticeable if
one were standing in the water, as we so continually were.
After dinner the boats were lowered past the rapid, but we
had no respite, for presently we came upon another big one,
then another, and another, and then still another, all following
quickly and giving us plenty of extremely hard work, for we
would not risk the boats in any of them. When these were
behind us we went on a distance and came to one that we ran,
and then, wet through and shivering till our teeth chattered,
as well as being hungry and tired, every one was glad to hear
the decision to go into camp when we arrived at the top of
another very ugly pair of them. The canyon having a north
and south trend and it being autumn, the sun disappeared early
so far as we were concerned ; the shadows were deep, the
mountain air was penetrating. As soon as possible our soaking
river garments were thrown off, the dry clothing from the
rubber bags was put on, the limited bacon was sending its
fragrance into the troubled air, the bread took on a nice deep
brown in the Dutch oven, the coffee's aromatic steam drifted
from the fire, and warm and comfortable we sat down to the
welcome though meagre meal. The rule was three little strips
of bacon, a chunk of bread about the size of one's fist, and
coffee without stint for each man three times a day. Sugar
was a scarce article, and I learned to like coffee without it so
well that I have never taken it with sugar since. The " Tirtaan
Aigles" needed now all the muscle and energy they could
command, and an early hour found every man sound asleep.
The record for the first day in Cataract Canyon was nine miles,
with eight bad rapids or cataracts, as they might properly be
called, and out of the eight we ran but one. ^ The river was
about 250 feet wide.

The Major decided the next morning that he would try to

1 The next party to pass through this canyon was the Brown Expedition,
conducting a survey for the Denver, Colorado Canyon, and Pacific Railway in
1889. At the first rapid they lost a raft, with almost all their provisions, and
they had much trouble. See The Romance of the Colorado River, Chapter xiv.
Another expedition in 1891 — the Best Expedition — was wrecked here.

I20 A Canyon Voyage

get out on the right, and he took me with him. We had no
great trouble in reaching the plateau at an elevation of eighteen
hundred feet above the river, where we could see an immense
area of unknown country. The broken and pinnacled char-
acter was not so marked as it had been at the Junction, but it
was still a strange, barren land. We expected to find water-
pockets on the top, and we had carried with us only one quart
canteen of water. While the Major was taking notes from the
summit of a butte, I made a zealous search for water, but not a
drop could I find ; every hole was dry. The sun burned down
from a clear sky that melted black into eternal space. The
yellow sand threw the hot rays upward, and so also did the
smooth bare rock. No bird, no bee, no thing of life could
be seen. I came to a whitish cliff upon which I thought there
might be water-pockets, and I mounted by a steep slope of
broken stones. Suddenly, almost within touch, I saw before
me a golden yellow rattlesnake gliding upward in the direction
I was going along the cliff wall. I killed it with a stone, and
cut off the rattles and continued my reconnaissance. At length
I gave up the search. By the time I had returned to the foot
of the butte on which the Major was making his observations,
the heat had exhausted me till I was obliged to rest a fev/
moments before ascending the sixty feet to where he was.
I had carried the canteen all the time, and the water in it was
hot from exposure to the sun. The Major bade me rest while
he made a little fire, and by the aid of a can and ground coffee
we had brought he made a strong decoction with the whole
quart. This gave us two cups apiece, and we had some bread
to go with it. The effect was magical. My fatigue vanished.
I felt equal to anything, and we began the return.

The Major having no right arm, he sometimes got in a
difficult situation when climbing, if his right side came against
a smooth surface where there was nothing opposite. We had
learned to go down by the same route followed up, because
otherwise one is never sure of arriving at the bottom, as a ledge
half-way down might compel a return to the summit. We
remembered that at one point there was no way for him to
hold on, the cliff being smooth on the right, while on the left

A Runaway Boat 121

was empty air, with a sheer drop of several hundred feet. The
footing too was narrow. I climbed down first, and, bracing
myself below with my back to the abyss, I was able to plant
my right foot securely in such a manner that my right knee
formed a solid step for him at the critical moment. On this
improvised step he placed his left foot, and in a twinkling had
made the passage in safety.

During our absence the men below had been at work.
Camp was moved down the river some three quarters of a
mile, while the boats had been lowered past the ugly pair of
rapids, and were moored at the camp below the second. In
one the current had " got the bulge," as we called it, on the
men on the line ; that is, the powerful current had hit the bow
in such a way that the boat took the diagonal of forces and
travelled up and out into the river. For the men it was either
let go or be pulled in. They let go, and the boat dashed down
with her cargo on board. Fortune was on our side. She went
through without injury and shot into an eddy below. With
all speed the men rushed down, and Jack, plunging in, swam
to her and got on before she could take a fresh start. It was a
narrow escape, but it taught a lesson that was not forgotten.
Prof, had succeeded in getting some observations, and all was
well. It was bean day, too, according to our calendar, and all
hands had a treat.

By eight o'clock the next morning, Thursday, September
2 1st, we were on the way again, with the boats " close reefed,"
as it were, for trouble, but one, two, three and one half miles
slid easily behind. Then, as if to make up for this bit of
leniency, six rapids came in close succession, though they were
of a kind that we could safely run, and all the boats went flying
through them without a mishap of any kind. The next was a
plunger so mixed up with rocks that we made a let-down and
again proceeded a short distance before we were halted by one
more of the same sort, though we were able to run the lower
portion of it. A little below this we met a friendly drop, and
whizzed through its rush and roar in triumph. But there was
nothing triumphant about the one which followed, so far as our
work was concerned. We manoeuvred past it with much diffi-

122 A Canyon Voyage

culty only to find ourselves upon two more bad ones. Bad as
they were, they were nevertheless runable, and away we dashed
with breakneck speed, certainly not less than twenty miles an
hour, down both of them, to land on the left immediately at the
beginning of a great and forbidding descent. These let-downs
were difficult, often requiring all hands to each boat, except
the Major, whose one-armed condition made it too hard for
him to assist in the midst of rocks and rushing water, where
one had to be very nimble and leap and balance with exact-
ness. Two good arms were barely sufficient. Sometimes, in
order to pass the gigantic boulders that stretched far off from
the shore, the boat had to be shot around and hauled in below,
an operation requiring skill, strength, and celerity.

The walls, very craggy at the top, increased in altitude till
they were now about sixteen hundred feet, separated from
each other by one third of a mile. The flaring character of the
upper miles of the canyon began to change to a narrower
gorge, the cliffs showing a nearer approach to verticality. At
the head of the forbidding plunge we had our slice of bacon,
with bread and coffee, and then we fought our way down
alongside amongst immense boulders and roaring water. It
was an exceedingly hard place to vanquish, and required two
and a half hours of the most violent exertion to accomplish it.
All were necessary to handle each boat. Hardly had we passed
beyond the turmoil of its fierce opposition than we fell upon
another scarcely less antagonistic, but yet apparently so free
from rocks that the Major concluded it could be run. At the
outset our boat struck on a concealed rock, and for a moment
it seemed that we might capsize, but luckily she righted, swung
free, and swept down with no further trouble. The Nell struck
the same rock and so did the Cahonita^ but neither was injured
or even halted. These boats were somewhat lighter than ours,
having one man less in each, and therefore did not hit the
rock so hard. The boats were now heavy from being water-
soaked, for the paint was gone from the bottoms. This would
have made no difference in any ordinary waters, but it did
here, where we were obliged to lift them so constantly.

This was an extremely rough and wet day's work, and the

Chilly Days 123

moment the great cliffs cut off the warmth of the direct sun
we were thrown suddenly from summer to winter, and our
saturated clothing, uncomfortably cool in sunlight, became icy
with the evaporation and the cold shadow-air. We turned
blue, and no matter how firmly I tried to shut my teeth they
rattled like a pair of castanets. Though it was only half-past
three, the Major decided to camp as soon as he saw this effect,
much as we had need to push on. We landed on the right,
and were soon revived by dry clothes and a big fire of drift-
wood. We had made during the day a total distance of a trifle
less than seven miles, one and three quarters since dinner.
There were fourteen rapids and cataracts, nine of which we
ran, on a river about two hundred feet wide. We had sand to
sleep on, but all around us were rocks, rocks, rocks, with the
mighty bounding cliffs lifting up to the sky. Our books for
the time being were not disturbed, but Whittier's lines, read
further up, seemed here exactly appropriate to the Colorado :

" Hurrying down to its grave, the sea,
And slow through the rock its pathway hewing!
Far down, through the mist of the falling river,
Which rises up like an incense ever,
The splintered points of the crags are seen,
With water howling and vexed between,
While the scooping whirl of the pool beneath
Seems an open throat, with its granite teeth ! "

It was not long before the blankets were taken from the
rubber bags and spread on the sand, and the rapids, the rocks,
and all our troubles were forgotten.

The next day was almost a repetition of the preceding one.
We began by running a graceful little rapid, just beyond which
we came to a very bad place. The river was narrow and deep,
with a high velocity, and the channel was filled with enormous
rocks. Two hours of the hardest kind of work in and out of
the water, climbing over gigantic boulders along the bank,
Hfting the boats and sliding them on driftwood skids, tugging,
pulling, shoving every minute with might and main put us at
the bottom. No sooner were we past this one than we engaged

12 4 A Canyon Voyage

in a similar battle with another of the same nature, and below
it we stopped for dinner, amidst some huge boulders under a
hackberry tree, near another roarer. One of these cataracts
had a fall of not less than twenty feet in six hundred, which gave
the water terrific force and violence. The canyon walls closed
in more and more and ran up to two thousand feet, apparently
nearly vertical as one looked up at them, but there was always
plenty of space for landings and camps. Opposite the noon
camp we could see to a height beyond of at least three thousand
feet. We were in the heart of another great plateau. After
noon we attacked the very bad rapid beside whose head we
had eaten, and it was half-past three when we had finished it.
The boats had been considerably pounded and there was a hole
in the Dean, and a plank sprung in the Nell so that her middle
cabin was half full of water. The iron strip on the DearCs keel
was breaking off. Repairs were imperative, and on the right,
near the beginning of one of the worst falls we had yet seen, we
went into camp for the rest of the day. With false ribs made
from oars we strengthened the boats and put them in condition
for another day*s hammering. It seemed as if we must have
gone this day quite a long distance, but on footing up it was
found to be no more than a mile and a quarter. Darkness now
fell early and big driftwood fires made the evenings cheerful.
There was a vast amount of driftwood in tremendous piles,
trees, limbs, boughs, railroad ties ; a great mixture of all kinds,
some of it lying full fifty feet above the present level of the
river. There were large and small tree-trunks battered and
limbless, the ends pounded to a spongy mass of splinters. Our
bright fires enabled us to read, or to write up notes and diaries.
I think each one but the Major and Andy kept a diary and
faithfully wrote it up. Jack occasionally gave us a song or two
from the repertory already described, and Steward did not
forget the mouth-organ, but through the hardest part of Cata-
ract Canyon we were usually tired enough to take to our
blankets early.

In the morning we began the day by running a little rapid
between our camp and the big one that we saw from there, and
then we had to exert some careful engineering to pass below

Through the Breakers 125

by means of the lines. This accomplished we found a repeti-
tion of the same kind of work necessary almost immediately,
at the next rapid. In places we had to lift the boats out and
slide them along on driftwood skids. These rapids were largely
formed by enormous rocks which had fallen from the cliffs, and
over, around, and between these it was necessary to manoeuvre
the boats by lines to avoid the furious waters of the outer river.
After dinner we arrived at a descent which at first glance seemed
as bad as anything we had met in the morning but an exami-
nation showed a prospect of a successful run through it. The
fall was nearly twenty feet in about as many yards. The Major
and Prof, examined it long and carefully. A successful run
would take two minutes, while a let-down would occupy us for
at least two hours and it had some difficult points. They hesi-
tated about running the place, for they would not take a risk
that was not necessary, but finally they concluded it could be
safely accomplished, and we pulled the Dean as quickly as
possible into the middle of the river and swung down into it.
On both sides the water was hammered to foam amidst great
boulders and the roar as usual was deafening. Just through the
centre was a clean, clear chute followed by a long tail of waves
breaking and snapping like some demon's jaws. As we struck
into them they swept over us like combers on the beach in a
great storm. It seemed to me here and at other similar places
that we went through some of the waves like a needle and
jumped to the top of others, to balance half-length out of water
for an instant before diving to another trough. Being in the
very bow the waves, it appeared to me, sometimes completely
submerged me and almost took my breath away with the sudden
impact. At any rate it was lively work, with a current of
fifteen or eighteen miles an hour. Beaman had stationed him-
self where he could get a negative of us ploughing through
these breakers, but his wet-plates were too slow and he had no
success. After this came a place which permitted no such
jaunty treatment. It was in fact three or four rapids following
each other so closely that, though some might be successfully
run, the last was not safe, and no landing could be made at
its head, so a very long let-down was obligatory ; but it was an

126 A Canyon Voyage

easy one, for each crew could take its own boat down without
help from the others. Then, tired, wet, and cold as usual, we
landed on the left in a little cove where there was a sandy
beach for our Camp 6^, We had made less than four miles, in
which distance there were six rapids, only two of which we ran.
At another stage of water the number and character of these
rapids would be changed; some would be easier at higher water,
some harder, and the same would be true of lower water.
Rapids also change their character from time to time as
rocks are shifted along the bottom and more rocks fall from
the cliffs or are brought in by side floods. The walls were
now about two thousand feet, of limestone, with a reddish
stain, and they were so near together that the sun shone
to the bottom only during the middle hours of the day in
September.

It was now September 24th ; a bright and beautiful Sunday
broke, the sky above clear and tranquil, the river below foam-
ing and fuming between the ragged walls in one continuous
rapid with merely variations of descent. In three quarters of
a mile we arrived before the greatest portion of the declivity,
where, though there seemed to be a clear chute, we did not con-
sider it advisable to make the run because of conditions follow-
ing ; neither could we make a regular let-down or a portage.
The least risky method was to carry a line down and when all
was ready start the boat in at the top alone. In this way when
she had gone through, the men on the line below were able to
bring her up and haul her in before reaching the next bad
plunge. There was no quiet river anywhere; nothing but rush-
ing, swirling, plunging water and rocks. We got past the bad
spot successfully and went on making one let-down after another
for about four miles, when we halted at noon for the rest of the
day, well satisfied with our progress though in distance it ap-
peared so slight. The afternoon was spent in repairing boats,
working up notes, and taking observations. The cliffs were now
some 2500 feet in height, ragged and broken on their faces, but
close together, the narrowest deep chasm we had seen. It was
truly a terrible place, with the fierce river, the giant walls, and
the separation from any known path to the outer world. I

A Rocking Stone 127

thought of the Major's first trip, when it was not known what
kind of waters were here. Vertical and impassable falls might
easily have barred his way and cataracts behind prevented re-
turn, so that here in a death trap they would have been compelled
to plunge into the river or wait for starvation. Happly he had
encountered no such conditions.

An interesting feature of this canyon was the manner in
which huge masses of rock lying in the river had been ground
into each other by the force of the current. One block of sand-
stone, weighing not less than six hundred tons, being thirty or
forty feet long by twenty feet square, had been oscillated till
the limestone boulders on which it rested had ground into it at
least two feet, fitting closely. Another enormous piece was
slowly and regularly rocking as the furious current beat upon
it, and one could feel the movement distinctly. A good night's
sleep made all of us fresh again, and we began the Monday
early. Some worked on the boats, while Beaman and Clem
went up " Gypsum " Canyon, as Steward named it, for views,
and the Major and I climbed out for topographic observations.
We reached an altitude above camp of 3135 feet at a point
seven or eight miles back from the brink. The view in all
directions was beyond words to describe. Mountains and
mountains, canyons, cliffs, pinnacles, buttes surrounded us as
far as we could see, and the range was extensive. The Sierra
La Sal, the Sierra Abajo, and other short ranges lay blue in
the distance, while comparatively near in the south-west rose
the five beautiful peaks just beyond the mouth of the Dirty
Devil, composing the unknown range before mentioned. At
noon we made coffee, had lunch, and then went on. It was
four o'clock by the time we concluded to start back, and dark-
ness overtook us before we were fairly down the cHffs, but there
was a bright moon, and by its aid we reached camp.

At half-past eight in the morning of September 26th we
were again working our way down the torrential river. Any-
body who tries to go through here in any haphazard fashion
will surely come to grief. It is a passage that can safely be
made only with the most extreme caution. The walls grew
straighter, and they grew higher till the gorge assumed pro-

128 A Canyon Voyage

portions that seemed to me the acme of the stupendous and
magnificent. The scenery may not have been beautiful in the
sense that an Alpine lake is beautiful, but in the exhibition
of the power and majesty of nature it was sublime. There
was the same general barrenness : only a few hackberry trees,
willows, and a cottonwood or two along the margin of the river
made up the vegetation. Our first task was a difficult let-
down, which we accomplished safely, to find that we could run
two rapids following it and half of another, landing then to
complete it by a let-down. Then came a very sharp drop that
we ran, which put us before another easy one, that was followed
by a difficult bit of navigation through a bad descent, after
which we stopped for dinner on the right at the head of another
rapid. The cliffs now on both sides were about 2800 feet,
one quarter mile wide at top, and in places striking me as
being perpendicular, especially in the outer curve of the bends.
The boats seemed to be scarcely more than chips on the
sweeping current and we not worth mentioning. During the
afternoon we halted a number of times for Beaman to make
photographs, but the proportions were almost too great for
any camera. The foreground parts are always magnified,
while the distances are diminished, till the view is not that
which the eye perceives. Before stopping for the night we
ran three more rapids, and camped on the right on a sand-
bank at the head of another forbidding place. The record for
the whole day was six and three quarter miles, with ten runs
and two let-downs. At one bad place the Nell got too far
over and laboured so heavily in the enormous billows that
Cap., who pulled the bow oars, was completely lost to sight
and the boat was filled with water. Only about thirty degrees
of sky were visible as one looked directly up from our camp.
A pretty canyon came in near camp, and some of us took a
walk up its narrow way.

In the morning Beaman made some pictures, and it was
eleven o'clock before we resumed our navigation. Our first
work was a let-down, which took an hour, and about a mile
below we stopped for dinner on the left. Then we continued,
making eight miles more, in which distance we ran six rapids

Cataract Canyon.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 187 i.

A Late Start 129

and made two line-portages. The last rapid was a bad one,
and there we made one of the portages, camping at its foot on
the left bank. The walls began to diminish in height and the
river was less precipitous, as is apparent from the progress we
were able to make. September 28th we began by running two
rapids immediately below camp, and the Nell remained at the
foot of the second to signal Beaman in the Canonita, as he had
stayed behind to take some views. Another mile brought us
to a rather bad place, the right having a vertical cliff about
2700 feet high, but the left was composed of boulders spread
over a wide stretch, so that an excellent footing was offered.
The Major and Prof, concluded to climb out here, instead
of a point farther down called Millecrag Bend, and, appointing
Steward master of the let-down which was necessary, they
left us. It was dinner-time when we got the boats below to
a safe cove, and we were quite ready for the meal which Andy
meanwhile had been cooking. A beautiful little brook came
down a narrow canyon on the left, and it was up this stream
that the Major went for a mile and a half and then climbed on
the side. They were obliged to give it up and come back
to the bottom. By this time it was too late to make another
attempt, so they turned their backs on " Failure Creek," and,
returning to us, said we would go on as soon as we had eaten
the supper which Andy was preparing. They would climb
out at Millecrag Bend. Andy had cooked a mess of beans,
about the last we had, and what we did not eat we put on
board in the kettle, which had a tight cover. The Major's
manner for a day or two had been rather moody, and when
Prof, intimated to me that we would have a lively time before
we saw another camp, I knew some difficult passage ahead
was on his mind ; some place which had given him trouble on
the first trip.

About five o'clock we were ready; everything was made
snug and tight on the boats, nothing being left out of the
cabins but a camp kettle in each standing-room for bailing, and
we cast off. Each man had his life-preserver whefe he could
get it quickly, and the Major put his on, for with only one arm
he could not do this readily in case of necessity. The current

130 A Canyon Voyage

was swift. We were carried rapidly down to where the gorge
narrowed up with walls vertical on each side for a height of
fifty to one hundred feet. We soon dashed through a small
rough rapid. A splash of water over our bow dampened my
clothes and made the air feel chilly. The canyon was growing
dim with the evening light. High above our heads some
lazy clouds were flecked with the sunset glow. Not far below
the small rapid we saw before us a complicated situation at
the prevailing stage of water, and immediately landed on the
left, where there was footing to reconnoitre. A considerable
fall was divided by a rocky island, a low mass that would be
submerged with two or three feet more water, and the river
plunging down on each side boiled against the cliffs. Between
us and the island the stream was studded by immense boulders
which had dropped from the cliffs and almost like pinnacles
stood above the surface. One view was enough to show that
on this stage of water we could not safely run either side of the
cataract ; indeed destruction would surely have rewarded any
attempt. The right-hand channel from the foot of the island
swept powerfully across to meet the left-hand one and together
they boomed along the base of the left-hand cliffs before swing-
ing sharply to the right with the trend of the chasm in that
direction. There was no choice of a course. The only way
was to manoeuvre between the great boulders and keep in the
dividing line of the current till a landing could be effected on
the head of the island between the two falls. The difficulty
was to avoid being drawn to either side. Our boat went first
and we succeeded, under the Major's quick eye and fine judg-
ment, in easily following the proposed course till the Dean
began to bump on the rocks some twenty yards above the
exposed part of the island. I tested the depth of water here
with an oar as Jack pulled slowly along, the current being quite
slack in the dividing line, and as soon as practicable we jumped
overboard and guided our craft safely to the island. Prof, in
the Nell was equally precise, and as he came in we waded out
to catch his boat ; but the Canonita passed on the wrong side of
one of the pinnacles and, caught in the left current, came near
making a run of it down that side, which would have resulted

A Twilight Run 131

disastrously. Luckily they were able to extricate themselves
and Beaman steered in to us. Had the water been only high
enough to prevent landing on this island we would have been
in a bad trap, but had it been so high as to make navigation
down the centre possible the rapid might perhaps have been
run safely.

We were now on the island, with darkness falling, and the
problem was to get off. While Prof, and the Major went down
to the foot to make a plan we sat in the diminishing light and
waited. It was decided to pull the boats down the right-hand
side of the island as far as the foot of the worst part of the right-
hand rapid, and from there cut out into the tail of waves, pull-
ing through as quickly as we could to avoid contact with the base
of the left wall along which the current dashed. We must pull
fast enough to get across in the very short time it would take
the river to sweep us down to the crucial point. The gorge by
this time was quite sombre ; even the clouds above were losing
their evening colour. We must act quickly. Our boat as usual
made the first trial. As we shot out, Jack and I bent to our
oars with every muscle we possessed, the boat headed slightly
upstream, and in a few seconds we were flying along the base
of the cliffs, and so close that our starboard oars had to be
quickly unshipped to prevent their being broken. In a few
seconds more we were able to get out into the middle, and then
we halted in an eddy to wait for the other boats. They came
on successfully and in the gloaming we continued down the
canyon looking for a place to camp, our hearts much lightened
with our triumph over the difficult rapid. Before long night
was full upon us and our wet clothes made us shiver. About
a mile below a warning roar dead ahead told us to make land
at once, for it would be far from prudent to attack a rapid in the
dark. Fortunately there was here room to camp on some rocks
and sand on the right. Scarcely had we become settled than a
tornado broke over the canyon and we were enveloped in a
blinding whirl of rain and sand. Each man clung to his blan-
kets to prevent their departure and waited for the wind to pass,
which it did in less than ten minutes. The storm-clouds were
shattered and up the gorge, directly east from our position.

132 A Canyon Voyage

from behind a thousand needle-like spires that serrated the
top of the cliffs, the moon like a globe of dazzling silver rolled
up with serene majesty, flooding the canyon with a bright
radiance. No moon-rise could have been more dramatic. The
storm-clouds were edged with light and the wet cliffs sparkled
and glittered as if set with jewels. Even the rapid below was
resplendent and silvery, the leaping waves and the spray scin-
tillating under the lustrous glare.

Morning brought a continuation of the rain, which fell in a
deluge, driving us to the shelter of a projecting ledge, from
which comparatively dry retreat we watched the rain cascades
that soon began their display. Everywhere they came plung-
ing over the walls, all sizes, and varying their volume with
every variation in the downpour. Some dropped a thousand
feet to vanish in spray ; others were broken into many falls.
By half-past eight we were able to proceed, running the rapid
without any trouble, but a wave drenched me so that all my
efforts to keep out of the rain went for nothing. By ten o'clock
we had run four more rapids, and arrived at the place the
Major had named Millecrag Bend, from the multitude of
ragged pinnacles into which the cliffs broke. On the left we
camped to permit the Major and Prof, to make their prospective
climb to the top. A large canyon entered from the left, ter-
minating Cataract Canyon, which we credited with forty-one
miles, and in which I counted sixty-two rapids and cataracts,
enough to give any set of boatmen all the work they could
desire. The Major and Prof, reached the summit at an altitude
of fifteen hundred feet. They had a wide view over the un-
known country, and saw mountains to the west with snow on
their summits. Snow in the canyons would not have surprised
us now, for the nights were cold and we had warmth only in
the middle of the day. Near our camp some caves were dis-
covered, twenty feet deep and nearly six feet in height, which
had once been occupied by natives. Walls had been laid across
the entrances, and inside were corncobs and other evidences
usual in this region, now so well known. Pottery fragments
were also abundant. Another thing we found in the caves and
also in other places was a species of small scorpion. These

Narrow Canyon.

Photograph by Best Expedition, 1891.

Narrow Canyon 133

venomous creatures were always ready to strike, and somehow
one got into Andy's shoe, and when he put on the shoe he was
bitten. No serious result seemed to follow, but his general
health was not so good after this for a long time. He put
tobacco on the wound and let it go. This was the second
accident to a member of the party, which now had been out
four months.

The last day of September found us up before daylight,
and as soon as breakfast was eaten, a small matter these days
both in preparation and consumption, we pulled away, intend-
ing to reach the mouth of the Dirty Devil as soon as possible.
The morning was decidedly autumnal, and when we arrived at
a small rapid, where we had to get overboard to help the
boats, nothing ever came harder than this cold bath, though it
was confined to our legs. Presently we saw a clear little rivulet
coming in on the left, and we ran up to that shore to examine
it, hoping it was drinkable. Like the first party, we were on
the lookout for better water to drink than the muddy Colorado.
The rivulet proved to be sulphurous and also hot, the tem-
perature being about 91 F. We could not drink it, but we
warmed our feet by standing in the water. The walls of this
new canyon at their highest were about thirteen hundred feet,
and so close together and straight that the Major named it
Narrow Canyon. Its length is about nine miles. Through
half of the next rapid we made a let-down, running the re-
mainder, and then, running two more below which were easy,
we could see through to the end of the canyon, and the picture
framed by the precipices was beautiful. The world seemed
suddenly to open out before us, and in the middle of it, clear
and strong against a sky of azure, accented by the daylight
moon, stood the Unknown Mountains, weird and silent in their
untrodden mystery. By this token we knew that the river of
the Satanic name was near, and we had scarcely emerged from
Narrow Canyon, and noted the low bluffs of homogeneous
red sandstone which took the place of the high cliffs, when
we perceived a sluggish stream about 150 feet wide flowing
through the barren sandstone on our right. Landing on its
west bank, we instantly agreed with Jack Sumner when on

134 A Canyon Voyage

the first trip he had proclaimed it a *' Dirty Devil.*' Muddy,
alkaline, undrinkable, it slipped along between the low walls
of smooth sandstone to add its volume to that of the Colorado.
Near us were the remains of the Major's camp-fire of the other
voyage, and there Steward found a jack-knife lost at that time.
At the Major's request he gave it to him as a souvenir.

Our rising had been so early and our progress from Millecrag
Bend so easy that when our camp was established the hour
was only nine o'clock, giving us still a whole day. The Major
and Prof, started off on an old Indian trail to see if there was
a way in to this place for horses, Cap. took observations for
time, and the others occupied themselves in various ways,
Andy counting the rations still left in our larder.

That night around our camp-fire we felt especially con-
tented, for Cataract and Narrow canyons were behind, and
never would we be called upon to battle with their rapids
again. The descent from the mouth of Grand River was 430
feet, most of it in the middle stretch of Cataract Canyon.

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CHAPTER X

The Canonita Left Behind — Shinumo Ruins — Troublesome Ledges in the River —
Alcoves and Amphitheatres — The Mouth of the San Juan — Starvation Days
and a Lookout for Rations — El Vado de Los Padres — White Men Again —
Given up for Lost — Navajo Visitors — Peaks with a Great Echo — At the
Mouth of the Paria.

HAVING now accomplished a distance down this turbulent
river of nearly six hundred miles, with a descent toward
sea-level of 2645 feet, without a serious accident, we were
all in a happy frame of mind, notwithstanding the exceed-
ingly diminutive food supply that remained. We felt that we
could overcome almost anything in the line of rapids the world
might afford, and Steward declared our party was so efficient
he would be willing to " run the Gates of Hell " with them !
Barring an absence of heat Cataract Canyon had been quite a
near approach to that unwelcome entrance, and the locality of
the mouth of the Dirty Devil certainly resembled some of the
more favoured portions of Satan's notorious realm. Circum-
stances would prohibit our lingering here, for our long stretch
on short rations made the small amount we could allow our-
selves at each meal seem almost like nothing at all, and we were
desirous of reaching as soon as possible El Vado, some-
thing over a hundred miles below, where our pack-train was
doubtless now waiting.

The plan of leaving a boat at this place for a party to bring
down, which should penetrate the unknown country the next
year and then complete what we might now be compelled to
slight, was carried out. The Canonita was chosen and the day
after our arrival, Sunday, October ist, we ran her down a short
distance on the right, and there carried her back about two

135

136 A Canyon Voyage

hundred feet to a low cliff and up thirty or forty feet above the
prevailing stage of water, where we hid her under an enormous
mass of rock which had so fallen from the top as to lodge against
the wall, forming a perfect shelter somewhat longer than the
boat. All of her cargo had been left at camp and we filled her
cabins and standing-rooms with sand, also piling sand and
stones all about her to prevent high water from carrying her
off. When we were satisfied that we had done our best we
turned away feeling as one might on leaving a friend, and
hoping that she would be found intact the following year. As
nine o'clock only had arrived, the Major and Jones then climbed
out from this place, while Prof, with the Nell ran down about
a mile and a half to the mouth of a gulch on the right where
he and the Major had traced the old trail. The rest of us re-
turned to camp. Prof, and Cap. climbed out, after following
the trail up the gulch six miles, and they saw that it went to-
ward the Unknown Mountains, which now lay very near us on
the west. Steward got out by an attempt not so far up the
canyon and reached an altitude of 1950 feet, where he had a
clear, full view of the mountains. With his glass he was able
to study their formation and determined that lava from below
had spread out between the sedimentary strata, forming what
he called "blisters.'* He could see where one side of a blister
had been eroded, showing the surrounding stratification.*

When the Major and Jones came back we put the cargo of
the Canonita on the Dean^ and all of us embarked, seven in
number, and ran down to where the Nellv^'as moored. Here
we camped for the night. The crews were then rearranged,
Beaman being assigned to my bow oars, Clem and Andy going
in the Nell, while I was to sit on the middle cabin of the Dean
in front of the Major, where I could carry on my sketching.
We were now a shaggy-looking lot, for our clothes had been
almost worn off our bodies in the rapids. Our shoes, notwith-
standing that the Major had brought us a fresh supply at
Gunnison Crossing, were about gone, and we were tanned till

* These blisters were later called laccolites by G. K. Gilbert after his careful
study of the locality. See his Geology of the Henry Mountains, published by
the government.

Into Glen Canyon 137

we could hardly have been distinguished from the old Shin-
umos themselves ; but we were clean. Steward was a great
lover of Burns and could quote him by the page, though what
he most liked to repeat just now was :

** O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us! "

I think the Address to the Deil would have been appropriate
for this particular environment, but I do not remember that
Steward quoted :

" Hear me, auld Hangie, for a wee,
An* let poor damned bodies be;
I *m sure sma* pleasure it can gie.
E'en to the deil,
To skelp an' scaud poor dogs like me,
An' hear us squeel! **

The cargo of the Canonita was distributed among the cabins
of the Dean and the Nell, and Cap. was somewhat disturbed by
having an addition to the bow compartment in the Nell. Each
man had charge of a cabin and this was Cap.'s special pride.
He daily packed it so methodically that it became a standing
joke with us, and we often asked him whether he always placed
that thermometer back of the fifth rib or in front of the third,
or some such nonsensical question, which of course Cap. took
in good part and only arranged his cabin still more carefully.

The next morning, the 2d of October, at eight o'clock, we
continued our voyage, now entering a new canyon, then called
Mound, but it was afterwards consolidated with the portion
below called Monument, and together they now stand as Glen
Canyon. In about three and one half miles we ran several
sharp little rapids, but they were not of much consequence,
and we stopped to examine a house ruin we saw standing up
boldly on a cliff on the left. It could be seen for a long dis-
tance in both directions, and correspondingly its inmates in the
old days could see every approach. Doubtless the trail we
had seen on the right had its exit on the other side near it.
The walls, neatly built of thin sandstone slabs, still stood about

138 A Canyon Voyage

fifteen feet high and fifteen inches thick. The dimensions on the
ground were 12 x 22 feet outside. It had been of two or three
stories, and exhibited considerable skill on the part of the
builders, the corners being plumb and square. Under the brink
of the cliff was a sort of gallery formed by the erosion of a soft
shale between heavy sandstone beds, forming a floor and roof
about eight or ten feet wide, separated by six or seven feet in
vertical height. A wall had been carried along the outer edge,
and the space thus made was divided by cross walls into a
number of rooms. Potsherds and arrow-heads, mostly broken
ones, were strewn everywhere. There were also numerous
picture-writings, of which I made copies.

As we pulled on and on the Major frequently recited selec-
tions from the poets, and one that he seemed to like very
much, and said sometimes half in reverie, was Longfellow's :

" Often I think of the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea ;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town.

And my youth comes back to me.
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory still :
*A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.* "

He would repeat several times, with much feeling :

" A boy's will is the wind's will.
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts. "

Another thing he enjoyed repeating was Whittier's Skip-
per Iresons Ride :

" Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart.
Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart
By the women of Marblehead ! "

Towards evening we came to another Shinumo ruin, where
we made camp, having run altogether sixteen miles, with

Overhanging Cliffs 139

ten rapids, all small, between walls of red, homogeneous
sandstone, averaging about one thousand feet in height.
The river, some three hundred and fifty feet wide, was low,
causing many shoals, which formed the small rapids. We often
had to wade alongside to lighten the boats, but otherwise these
places were easy. A trifle more water would have done away
with them, or at least would have enabled us to ignore them
completely. The house ruin at our camp was very old and
broken down and had dimensions of about 20 x 30 feet. Prof,
climbed out to a point 12 15 feet above the river, where he saw
plainly the Unknown Mountains, Navajo Mountain, and a wide
sweep of country formed largely of barren sandstone. Steward
felt considerably under the weather and remained as quiet as
possible.

In the morning we were quickly on the water, pushing
along under conditions similar to those of the previous day,
making twenty-seven miles and passing eleven very small rapids,
with a river four hundred feet wide and the same walls of
homogeneous red sandstone about one thousand feet high.
The cliffs in the bends were often slightly overhanging, that
is, the brink was outside of a perpendicular line, but the oppo-
site side would then generally be very much cut down, usually
to irregular, rounded slopes of smooth rock. The vertical por-
tions were unbroken by cracks or crevices or ledges, being
extensive flat surfaces, beautifully stained by iron, till one
could imagine all manner of tapestry effects. Along the
river there were large patches of alluvial soil which might
easily be irrigated, though it is probable that at certain
periods they would be rapidly cut to pieces by high
water.

Prof, again climbed out at our noon camp, and saw little but
naked orange sandstone in rounded hills, except the usual
mountains. In the barren sandstone he found many pockets
or pot-holes, a feature of this formation, often thirty or forty
feet deep, and frequently containing water. Wherever we
climbed out in this region we saw in the depressions ilat beds
of sand, surrounded by hundreds of small round balls of stone
an inch or so in diameter, like marbles — concretions and hard

I40 A Canyon Voyage

fragments which had been driven round and round by the winds
till they were quite true spheres.'

The next day, October 4th, we ran into a stratum of sand-
stone shale, which at this low stage of water for about five
miles gave us some trouble. Ledge after ledge stretched
across the swift river, which at the same time spread to at
least six hundred feet, sometimes one thousand. We were
obliged to walk in the water alongside for great distances to
lighten the boats and ease them over the ridges. Occasionally
the rock bottom was as smooth as a ballroom floor ; again it
would be carved in the direction of the current into thousands
of narrow, sharp, polished ridges, from three to twelve inches
apart, upon which the boats pounded badly in spite of all
exertions to prevent it. The water was alternately shallow
and ten feet deep, giving us all we could do to protect the
boats and at the same time avoid sudden duckings in deep
water. With all our care the Nell got a bad knock, and leaked
so fast that one man continually bailing could barely keep the
water out. We repaired her at dinner-time, and, the shales
running up above the river, we escaped further annoyance from
this cause. Even with this interference our progress was fairly
good, and by camping-time we had made twenty-one miles.

We had a rapid shallow river again the following day,
October 5th, but the water was not so widely spread out and
there were fewer delays. The walls were of orange sandstone,
strangely cut up by narrow side canyons some not more than
twenty feet wide and twisting back for a quarter of a mile
where they expanded into huge amphitheatres, domed and
cave-like. Alcoves filled with trees and shrubs also opened
from the river, and numerous springs were noted along the cliffs.
Twelve miles below our camp we passed a stream coming in on
the left through a canyon about one thousand feet deepj similar
to that of the Colorado. This was the San Juan, now shallow
and some eight rods wide. We did not stop till noon when we
were two miles below it near one of the amphitheatres or

' The illustration on page 43 of The Romance of the Colorado well shows the
character of the Glen Canyon country, and that on page 63 the nature of the
pot-holes.

Glen Canyon.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871,

The Music Temple 141

grottoes to which the first party had given the name of "Music
Temple." The entrance was by a narrow gorge which after
some distance widened at the bottom to about five hundred
feet in diameter leaving the upper walls arching over till they
formed a dome-shaped cavern about two hundred feet high
with a narrow belt of sky visible above. In the farther end was
a pool of clear water, while five or six green cottonwoods and
some bushes marked the point of expansion. One side was
covered with bright ferns, mosses, and honeysuckle. Every
whisper or cough resounded. This was only one of a hundred
such places but we had no time to examine them. On a smooth
space of rock we found carved by themselves the names of
Seneca Rowland, O. G. Rowland, and William Dunn, the
three men of the first party who were killed by the Shewits in
1869. Prof, climbed up eight hundred feet and had a fine view
of Navajo Mountain which was now very near. We then chiefly
called it Mount Seneca Rowland, applied by the Major in
memory of that unfortunate person but later, the peak already
having to some extent been known as Navajo Mountain, that
name was finally adopted. No one had ever been to it, so far
as we knew, and the Major was desirous of reaching the summit.
Leaving the Music Temple, which seemed to us a sort of
mausoleum to the three men who had marked it with their
names, we soon arrived at a pretty rapid with a clear chute. It
was not large but it was the only real one we had seen in this
canyon and we dashed through it with pleasure. Just below
we halted to look admiringly up at Navajo Mountain which
now loomed beside us on the left to an altitude of 10,416 feet
above sea level or more than 7100 feet above our position,
as was later determined. The Major contemplated stopping
long enough for a climb to the top but on appealing to Andy
for information as to the state of the supplies he found we
were near the last crust and he decided that we had better pull
on as steadily as possible towards El Vado. We ran down a
considerable distance through some shallows and camped on
the left having accomplished about twenty miles in the day
towards our goal. Rere the remaining food was divided into
two portions, one for supper, the other for breakfast in the

142 A Canyon Voyage

morning. Though we were running so close to the starvation
line we felt no great concern about it. We always had con-
fidence in our ability somehow to get through with success.
Andy, particularly, never failed in his optimism. Generally
he took no interest in the nature of a rapid, lying half asleep
while the others examined the place, and entirely willing to
run anything or make a portage or even swim ; he cared not.
" Nothing ever happens to any outfit I belong to," he would
declare shifting to an easier position, " Let her go ! " and
now so far as Andy's attitude was concerned we might have
possessed unlimited rations. Jack lightened the situation yet
more with his jolly songs and humorous expressions and no
one viewing that camp would have thought the ten men had
before them a possibility of several days without food, except
what they might kill in the barren country, and perhaps a walk
from El Vado over an unknown trail about one hundred miles
out to Kanab. In the morning, Friday, October 6th, we got
away as quickly as we could and pulled down the river hoping
that El Vado was not far ahead and feeling somewhat as
Escalante must have felt a century before when he was trying
to find it. He had the advantage of having horses which
could be eaten from time to time. Of course we knew from
the position of the San Juan and of Navajo Mountain, that we
could reach El Vado in at most two days, but the question
was, "would we find any one there with rations ? '* The Major
apparently was unconcerned. He told me a story about a
farmer's son in his neighbourhood when himself a boy who had
no shoes, no good clothes, no decent hat, but who went to
the father and declared he wanted a *' buzzum pin," and noth-
ing but a buzzum pin would he have, though his parent
called his attention to his lack of other necessaries, one after the
other. " No Pa," the boy would repeat " I want a buzzum pin."
As we rowed along the Major sang softly another of his
favourites :

" Flow|jently, sweet Afton! among thy green braes.
Flow gently, I '11 sing thee a song in thy praise ;
My Mary 's asleep by thy murmuring stream —
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream."

Looking down upon Glen Canyon.

Cut through homogeneous sandstone.

Photograph by J. K. Killers, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.

Friends and Rations 143

The almost vertical walls ran from two hundred to one thou-
sand feet in height, cut by many very narrow side canyons
opening into large glens or alcoves. On and on we steadily
pulled till noon, making i^^ miles when we stopped on the
right on a sandstone ledge against a high cliff. Andy had a
few scraps left, among them a bit of bacon which Jack enter-
prisingly used for baiting a hook and soon drew out several
small fish, so that after all we had quite a dinner. The walls
became more broken as we went on apparently with numerous
opportunities for entrance from the back country, though the
sandstone even where not very steep was so smooth that descent
over it would be difficult. We had gone about three miles
after dinner when we saw a burned place in the brush on the
right where there was quite a large piece of bottom land. We
thought this might be some signal for us but we found there
only the tracks of two men and horses all well shod proving
that they were not natives. About three miles farther down
we caught a glimpse of a stick with a white rag dangling from
it stuck out from the right bank, and at the same moment
heard a shot. On landing and mounting the bank we found
Captain Pardyn Dodds and two prospectors, George Riley and
John Bonnemort, encamped beside a large pile of rations.
Dodds was one of the men with Old Jacob who had tried
desperately to reach the mouth of the Dirty Devil with our
supplies. He thought he had arrived at a point where he
could see it and went back to inform Jacob when they received
an order from the Major to come to this place, El Vado de los
Padres, by September 25th, and here he was. Jacob had come
with him but had gone on to Fort Defiance, the Navajo
Agency, to settle some Indian business, leaving him to guard
the rations. Having left Kanab early in September they had
no late news. They had become discouraged by our non-
appearance and concluded that we would never be heard from
again. Consequently they had planned to cache the rations
and leave for the settlement on Sunday. That night Andy
was able to summon us to ** go fur" the first "square" meal
we had eaten for nearly a month. There was among the sup-
plies some plug tobacco which we cut up, all but Steward,

144 A Canyon Voyage

Prof., and Cap. who did not smoke, and rolled in cigarettes
with thick yellow paper, the only kind we had, having learned
to make them Spanish fashion from the Hamblins, and we
smoked around the fire talking to Dodds and the prospectors
over the general news. They told us they had found small
quantities of gold along the river. A great many papers,
magazines, and letters for everybody were in the packs supply-
ing us with reading matter enough for weeks. Though the
papers were of ancient dates they were new to us.

The whole next day was consumed in preparing maps, notes,
specimens, fossils, etc., to be sent by pack-train to the settle-
ment of Kanab one hundred miles off whither the Major
himself had decided to start with the outfit the next morn-
ing and go from there to Salt Lake City about 400 miles
north. None of us had a chance to write even a line to expec-
tant relatives far away and we were naturally disappointed till
Prof, persuaded the Major to hold over till Tuesday which he
willingly did when he realised the situation. We wrote late by
the light of a diminutive fire, wood being scarce. He then left
us on October loth with Jack, Captain Dodds, and the miners
who had waited only to learn something about the river above
as a place for prospecting. The trail up over the barren sand-
stone was so steep and smooth that two of the pack-animals
lost their footing and rolled back to the bottom but received
no injury except scraping the skin off their knees.

Not the least welcome articles among the supplies were a
pair of good heavy shoes and a pair of strong overalls, which
the foresight of the Major had secured for each one of us, our
clothing, as before mentioned, having been completely worn
out. My watch, which I had carried all the way in a little
rubber pocket sewed to my shirt near the neck, where it seldom
got wet enough to stop it, though occasionally it refused to go
till I punched it up with a large pin kept for the purpose,
which my wicked companions called my *' starting bar," at last
had stopped permanently, and I sent it out by Jack for repairs.
After they had gone we settled down again to our accustomed
labours. We were to run down thirty-five miles farther to the
mouth of the Paria, whence there was another known trail to

Hospital Prospects 145

the settlement, and cache the boats. The pack-train was to
come back to us there with additional supplies and horses and
take us out to Kanab, where we were to make headquarters
for our winter explorations in the practically unknown Grand
Canyon region as well as in that to the eastward. During this
interval we expected to discover some point between the Paria
and Diamond Creek where rations could be brought in to us.
while working through the Grand Canyon the next season.
We did not then know that the winter is the safest and best
time for making the passage through that wonderful gorge.*

Our appetites were now enormous, and as we could eat all
we wanted, the supplies diminished in an astonishing way, but
as we were soon to receive more we did not care. Every man
braced up ; all but Steward, who felt quite sick. Jones began
to feel trouble brewing in the leg which he had hurt at the
Junction ; Andy showed the effects of the scorpion bite by
becoming thin and pale, thinner than our previous lack of
rations justified; Cap., who had been shot in the Civil War
through and through near the heart, now felt the effects of the
long exposure ; and neither Clem nor Beaman considered their
health perfect. Altogether, however, we had come through
very well. Our worst work was over for this year, and the
maladies portending seemed not dangerous. Prof., desiring to
get some notes from up the river, went on the nth, with Cap.,
Beaman, and Clem, back six miles in the Dean to the foot of
some rapid water they could not pass. Arriving there about
half-past twelve, they spent all afternoon going up numerous
gulches, trying to find a way out. As there was a large area of
bottom land, with old camp-fires and much broken pottery,
they were sure there was a path, but it was late before they
discovered a place where modern natives had piled brush and
stones to make a horse trail, and another where the old
Shinumos for fifty feet had cut steps in the smooth rock. The
party followed the Shinumo trail, finding the steps in places

» We learned later that while we were working through Cataract Canyon, Lieu-
tenant George M. Wheeler, U. S. Engineers, was coming up from Fort Mohave.
After great labour he reached the mouth of Diamond Creek, See The Romance
of the Colorado, Chapter XII.

146 A Canyon Voyage

almost worn out by time, in others still quite good and large
enough to get the toe of a shoe in. By the time they came to
the top it was too late for observations, and they returned to
the river for camp, making the same climb by the steps the next
day and securing the observations. They got back to our Camp
79 late in the afternoon. Meanwhile Steward's illness had
increased, and I spent much of the night trying to relieve his
pain. The air was cold and he was most uncomfortable, the
only shelter being a wickiup of boughs we had built to protect
him from the sun. We had opium pills in our medicine chest,
and I had the little flask of brandy referred to. With several
of the pills and my brandy, which I at last persuaded him to
take as medicine (he despised alcoholic drinks), his suffering was
somewhat relieved, and he was able to lie still on his bed of
willows. During the next day his condition was no better,
and Prof, returning, was much distressed by it. By drawing
further on the medicine chest, which contained numerous
remedies, he was able to relieve him a little more. The expo-
sure had brought on a trouble of the back which had
originally developed during the campaigns of the Civil
War.

Before leaving this point Prof, wanted some observations
from the heights, and he and Cap. tried to climb the near-by
cHffs, but failed. They then took a hammer and chisel, and
by cutting " holds ** in the sandstone after the manner of the
old Shinumos, they got up 850 feet and secured the bearings
Prof, desired. The following day they went out on the trail
toward Kanab five miles, trying to find another point of exit to
the summit, but did not succeed. While they were gone we
heard a sudden shout, and saw an Indian standing on the
rocks not far away. We beckoned for him to come, and there-
upon he fell back to another, and together they approached.
We saw by their dress, so different from the Ute (red turbans,
loose unbleached cotton shirts, native woven sashes at the
waist, wide unbleached cotton trousers reaching to a little
below the knee and there slashed up on the outer side for
seven or eight inches, bright woven garters twisted around their
red buckskin leggins below the knee, and red moccasins with

Tom.

A Typical Navajo.

Photograph by Wittick.

Tom became educated and no longer looked like an Indian.

Navajo Visitors 147

turned up soles and silver buttons), that they were Navajos/
They indicated that they were father and son, the father
announcing himself in a lordly way as "Agua Grande." He
was over six feet tall and apparently sixty or seventy years
old. The son was a fine young lad of about fifteen. Their
bearing was cordial, yet proud and dignified. They had not
long been with us when Prof, came in, and during the next
hour seven more Navajos arrived, all dressed very much as the
first ones were. They expressed great friendliness by embracing
us after their custom and delivering long speeches, of which
we understood not a word. One had a short black mustache
which came straight out sidewise and then turned at right
angles down past the corners of his mouth. I never had heard
of an Indian with a mustache before. They had no visible
firearms, being armed with strong bows and cougar-skin quivers
full of iron-headed arrows.' Old Agua Grande became much
interested in our sick man, and made signs by placing two
spread fingers of one hand inverted upon one finger held hori-
zontally of the other hand, and moving them north-westerly to
indicate that he ought to ride out to the Mormon settlement,
whither they were bound, and that they would take him along.
As the chief had exhibited a document, signed by the agent at
Fort Defiance, to the effect that he and his band were peace-
able and going on a trading expedition to the Mormon settle-
ments, we felt certain they would take good care of the invalid,
but Steward said he preferred to remain with us.

We now had no further work for this immediate locality,
and concluded to run down a mile or so to separate our-
selves from the Navajos, one having disclosed a tendency to

> For further description of the Navajo costume, see The North Americans of
Yesterday, by F. S. Dellenbaugh, pp. 148, 150.

' Like all the tribes of the region of that time, the Navajos considered the
Mormons a different people from the Americans. They had been at war with the
Mormons, from whom they stole horses and cattle, and there had been some
bloodshed. Old Jacob had induced them to make peace, and this party now on its
way to trade was the first to try the experiment. Vanquished by our troops, a few
years before, the Navajos were very poor and anxious to acquire live stock and
firearms, for which they had blankets and other articles of their own make to
trade.

148 A Canyon Voyage

surreptitiously appropriate small articles belonging to us. A
bed was made on the middle deck of one of the boats for Stew-
ard, and when all was ready we carried him down to it. The
Navajos ranged themselves along the bank to see us off, and
Clem, with his customary urbanity, went down the line all
smiles, shaking each one cordially by the hand, and requesting
him to " Give my love to all the folks at home," and ** Remem-
ber me, please, to Eliza Jane," and similar expressions. The
Navajos did not understand the words, but being themselves
great jokers they saw that it was fun, and they all laughed,
making remarks which doubtless were of the same kind. Just
below was El Vado de los Padres by which these Navajos had
now come across. It was also sometimes called the Ute Ford.
The necessary route was indicated by a line of small piles of
stones showing above water. It was not an easy crossing,
feasible only at low water, and quite impossible for waggons,
even had there been a road to it. A shoal was followed up
the middle of the river half a mile with deep channels cutting
through it, reached from the south over a steep slope of bare
sandstone and from the north through a very narrow, small
canyon, not over ten feet wide. Escalante in 1776, after the
failure of his attempt to reach California, had great difHculty
in finding the place, which for centuries has been known to all
the tribes of the region. About three miles below our last
camp we landed on the left on a very pretty piece of bottom
land, inaccessible except by river, being bounded behind by a
high, vertical, unscalable wall. Here we made Camp 80, with
plenty of food, water, and wood, and all were comfortable by
a fine fire ; all but Steward, who, feeling very sick, was lying
on the bed we had prepared for him. He had another bad
night, but after this his condition seemed gradually to improve.
Prof.'s favourite quotation now was Charles Fenno Hoff-
man's poem :

** We were not many — we who stood

Before the iron sleet that day;
Yet many a gallant spirit would
Give half his years if but he could

Have been with us at Monterey."

Glen Canyon.
Sentinel Rock — about 300 Feet High.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, 1871.

Shinumo Traces 149

In the morning he went with Jones across the river and climbed
out while the rest of us did nothing but lie around camp doing
what was possible to make Steward comfortable. It was Sun-
day as well and whenever practicable we rested the whole or
part of that day. Monday we started late and ran only a short
distance before dinner which we ate on the right. Steward still
was unable to sit up and he was carried on the middle deck of the
Nell where he had a rope to cling to so that he should not roll
off into the water when the boat lurched. Toward evening we
camped at the head of a small rapid near a fine little stream
coming in from the left which we named Navajo Creek. The
river was about four hundred feet wide with walls on each side
of four hundred feet in height. The next morning Prof., Cap.
and I climbed out for bearings reaching an altitude a mile or so
back from the river of 875 feet. Everywhere we discovered
broken pottery, fragments of arrow-heads, and other evidences
of former Shinumo occupancy. Even granting only a few
persons at each possible locality, the canyons of the Colorado
and Green must have been the former home of a rather large
population. In the afternoon we ran the little rapid and kept
on for about six miles making twenty in all from El Vado, when
we camped on a heavy talus on the left. The following morning,
October i8th, we had not gone more than a mile when we came
to a singular freak of erosion, a lone sandstone pinnacle on the
right, three hundred or four hundred feet high, the river run-
ning on one side and a beautiful creek eight feet wide on the
other. We named these Sentinel Rock and Sentinel Creek and
camped there for Beaman to get some photographs. Prof, and
I went up the creek and tried to climb out for observations, but
though we made three separate attempts we had to give it up.
Steward grew so much better that he was able to walk a little,
but now Jones began to feel more pain in his injured leg. On
Thursday, the 19th, we made nearly seven miles between walls
about eight hundred feet high and one quarter of a mile apart,
so nearly vertical that we could not get out.

The next day we ran six miles more with walls one thousand
feet high, camping at a place where there was a wide bottom with
many signs of old native camps, probably Navajo. In the

ISO A Canyon Voyage

morning Prof., Cap., and I climbed a steep slope of bright orange
sand a little below our camp, a rather hard task as the sand was
loose, causing us to slip backward at every step. After twelve
hundred or fifteen hundred feet of this kind of climbing we
reached the base of three rocky peaks several hundred feet
higher. We had considerable difficulty in surmounting one of
these, being forced around to the opposite side, where there
was a sheer descent from our position of some fifteen hundred
feet, with sharp black rocks at the bottom where any one slip-
ping would fall. There were some narrow transverse crevices in
the rock by means of which we got up. One man, having been
pushed aloft from the solid ledge by the two below, would lie
back against the slope, brace himself with one heel in a trans-
verse fissure, and lower the free foot as a handhold for the
others to mount by. The next trouble was a crevice wide
enough for us to pass through to the top, but holding exactly
midway a large rock lodged in such a manner that we could not
crawl under and yet seeming in danger of rolling down if we
went over it. It was precarious not only for the man ahead
who tried to pass but for those below waiting for results, but it
was more firmly wedged than it appeared to be and each one
in turn climbed over it. Emerging from this crack we were on
the summit 2190 feet above the river and 5360 above the sea,
with standing room no more than six or eight feet square. The
view was superb. The peaks formed the northern end of a
long line of cliffs running back to the south at the end of Glen
Canyon, and we looked out across a wonderful region, part of
that on the south being the '' Painted Desert," so called by Ives.
Mountains solid and solitary rose up here and there and line
upon line of strangely coloured cliffs broke across the wide
area, while from our feet stretching off to the south-west like
a great dark dragon extending miles into the blue was the deep
gorge of Marble Canyon, its tributary chasms appearing like
mighty sprawling legs. Far away west were the San Francisco
Mountains, and the Kaibab, while behind we saw Navajo
Mountain and others.

This peak, or cluster of peaks, of course had never been
named, had never been cHmbed before, but they soon named

At the Paria 151

themselves. For amusement I tried to shoot into the river
with Cap.'s 44 Remington revolver. As I pulled the trigger
the noise was absolutely staggering. The violent report was
followed by dead silence. While we were remarking the
intensity of the crash, from far away on some distant cliffs
northward the sound waves were hurled back to us with a rattle
like that of musketry. We tried again with the same result,
the interval between the great roar and the echo being twenty-
four seconds by the watch. We could call the place nothing but
Echo Peaks, and since then the name has been applied also to
the line of cliffs breaking to the south. Our descent was easy
and we reached camp without any incident except the loss of
my sheath knife.

Nobody did anything the next day, for it was Sunday,
so when Monday morning came we were eager to be off for
the mouth of the Paria, which we had seen from the top of
Echo Peaks. Two or three miles down we reached it ; a small
river coming through a great canyon on the right. The cliffs
of Glen Canyon broke back south-westerly and south-easterly in
a V form with the point at the foot of Glen Canyon, leaving a
wide platform of different rock rising gently from under them
and mounting steadily toward the south. Into the middle of
this the river immediately slashed a narrow gorge very much as
a staircase might be cut through a floor, beginning the next can-
yon of the series, called Marble, through which we would not
descend till the following year. We went into camp on the
left bank of the Paria and the right of the Colorado, Camp 86,
in the tall willows. A rough scow lay there, which the Major
had built the year before when on his way from Kanab to the
Moki Towns, for there is no ford.

We were to wait here for our pack-train which the Major,
on arriving at Kanab, was to start back with rations and some
extra horses. Our altitude was 3 1 70 feet, showing a total descent
for the season of 2905 feet, 913 feet from Gunnison Crossing.
Our work on the water for the present was now over ; we would
pursue it with mule and pack instead of with boats. As the 23d
of October had arrived we were glad to avoid daily saturation.

CHAPTER XI

More Navajos Arrive with Old Jacob — The Lost Pack-train and a Famished
Guide — From Boat to Broncho — On to Kanab — Winter Arrives — Wolf Neigh-
bours too Intimate — Preparing for Geodetic Work — Over the Kaibab to
Eight-mile Spring — A Frontier Town — Camp below Kanab— A Mormon
Christmas Dance.

AT the mouth of the Paria we established ourselves for a
stay of several days. Not only did we have the pack-
train to wait for, but there were maps to finish, boats to cache,
and all manner of things to attend to before we could leave
for the winter. Steward recovered so that he could slowly
walk around, but to balance this Jones developed inflammatory
rheumatism in both knees, but especially in the one which had
been injured by the fall at the Junction. Though he was per-
fectly cheerful about it, he suffered excruciating pain, and was
unable to move from the bed of willows which we made for
him. The medicine chest was drawn on again, and we hoped
that the attack would not last long. Andy remained wan and
thin, but he insisted on sticking to his work. So liberally had
we used our rations that we were nearing the end, and we
began to look hopefully in the direction from which we ex-
pected the pack-train to arrive. Four days passed and still
there was no sign of it. We had to put ourselves on half-
rations once more, and Prof, declared that if the train did not
soon arrive either he or I, being the only entirely well members
of the party, would have to walk out to Kanab and obtain
relief. None of us knew anything about the trail. On the
26th Prof, and I climbed the cliffs back of camp to a height of
two thousand feet, and had a remarkable view similar to that
from Echo Peaks. On Saturday, October 28th, in the morning

152

Jacob Hamblin 153

we were surprised to hear from the opposite or south side of
the river an Indian yell, and looking across we perceived what
appeared to be three natives, with horses, standing on the edge
of the canyon wall, here very low. We prepared one of the
boats to cross and find out what was wanted, when a fourth
figure joined the group, and in good English came the words,
" G-o-o-d m-o-r-n-i-n-g," long drawn out. On landing we were
met by a slow-moving, very quiet individual, who said he was
Jacob Hamblin. His voice was so low, his manner so simple,
his clothing so usual, that I could hardly believe that this was
Utah's famous Indian-fighter and manager. With him were
three other white men, Isaac Haight, George Adair, Joe Man-
gum, and nine Navajos, all on their way to the Mormon settle-
ments. They desired to be put across the river, and we willingly
offered the services of ourselves and our boats. Some of the
Navajos had never before seen so large a stream, and were free
to express their surprise. We took on board Jacob and one or
two others, and after landing them made several trips with
both boats to ferry the rest over, including all their saddles and
baggage. The Navajos were rather afraid of the boats, which
to them probably looked small and wobbly, but they all got on
board with much hilarity, except one who preferred to swim.
He struck boldly out with a sort of dog-paddle stroke. Having
no confidence in his swimming ability, we followed closely.
The water was cold ; the distance greater than the Navajo had
imagined. Before he was one third of the way over he con-
sented to be pulled into our boat and finish the passage that
way. The horses were towed over, swimming behind the boats,
a rope being held by a man sitting in the stern. There was a
rapid not far below, and we feared if driven in to swim loose
they might be drawn into it. One horse refused to swim or
even to try, and made repeated efforts to plunge his head
under, giving us a lot of trouble, but by holding his head close
to the boat we towed him across in spite of his opposition.
Without the boat he would surely have gone down the river.
When everybody and everything were safely across the hour
was so late that Jacob concluded to camp with us for the night. ^
* Five years later Jacob came near being drowned in crossing here. Lorenzo

154 A Canyon Voyage

The Navajos were found to be a very jolly set of fellows,
ready to take or give any amount of chaff, and perfectly
honest. They were taking blankets of their manufacture to
trade for horses and sheep. Their spirits ran high, they sang
their wild songs for us, and we had the liveliest evening we
had seen in many a month. Finally we joined in a circle with
them, dancing and singing around the smouldering fire, while
the chief Kon^co, a noble-looking fellow, sitting at one side,
with a patriarchal expression, monotonously drummed an
accompaniment with a willow root on the bottom of one of
the camp-kettles. When any of us would stumble on a stick
they were all convulsed with laughter. The blankets they had
were beautiful, and Jacob possessed one valued at $40, which
had taken seventy days to make. After the Navajos had gone
to rest we listened to some Mormon songs by Jacob's party.
They left us the next morning, Sunday, October 29th, Prof, ob-
taining from Jacob some red Mexican beans to eke out our sup-
plies ; also a description of the trail. I traded a cap I happened
to have to one of the Navajos for his feather plume, and a pair
of shoes to one of the white men for some Mishongnuvi moc-
casins. Monday we took the Dean across the river, and some
distance down we hauled her by means of ropes up high above
the water under a large rock, where we concealed her well.
Then we made five caches near camp of goods not needed till
next year, covering our traces by fires and other devices.
Jones was so much improved that he managed to hobble
about on a pair of crutches I had made for him out of
strong willow sticks, and we felt much encouraged as to his
ability to stand riding when the time came to start for
Kanab.

On Tuesday we built a shelter back of camp for the Nell
and housed her there. The next day was the first of No-
vember and we thought surely the pack-train would come,
but the sun went down behind the cliffs and no one arrived.
Prof, could not understand what the trouble was, but he went
on with his observations. The next morning, as we were about

W. Roundy was lost, as well as two waggons loaded with supplies. The scow they
had tried to use tilted, throwing everything into the fierce torrent.

A Lost Guide 155

to eat our bean breakfast beside the fire, we were astonished
by the extremely cautious appearance through the willows,
without a word of announcement, of a single, ragged, woebe-
gone, silent old man on as skinny and tottering a pony as ever
I saw. The old man was apparently much surprised to find
himself here, and with the exclamation, *' My God ! I have
found you ! " he dropped to the ground. When at last he
spoke he said his name was Mangum of Kanab, and that he
had been employed to guide our pack-train, of which Riley, one
of the prospectors we had met at El Vado, was leader. ** Well,
where is the train ? ** we asked, for if he were all that remained
of it we wanted to know it soon. "Several miles back on the
trail," he said. Not having eaten a mouthful since the morn-
ing before it was no wonder he was weak and silent. We gave
him the best breakfast we could command from our meagre
stock and then Hke a spectre he vanished on his scrawny steed
up the Paria Canyon. All the day long we watched and waited
for his triumphal return with the longed-for supplies at his back,
but the sun departed without his approach and the twilight
died into that mystery which leaves the world formless against
the night. And still we had faith in the stranger's story. Early
the next morning Prof., Clem, and I started on his track think-
ing we would soon meet the train. It led us up the valley of
the Paria, between the great cliffs about three miles, and then
we had another surprise, for it swung sharply to the right and
climbed a steep sandy slope towards the only apparent place
where the two-thousand-foot cliffs could possibly be scaled with
horses. We saw that he had followed a very old Indian trail.
When we had mounted to the base of the vertical rocks we
travelled zig-zagging back and forth across the face of the
precipice till presently the trail passed through a notch out
upon the plateau. From an eminence we now scanned the
whole visible area without discovering anything that apparently
had not been there for several thousand years. Save the com-
ing and going tracks of our strange visitor there was nothing to
show that any Hving animal had trod this place in centuries.
We could see to where Prof, and I previously climbed to this
same plateau, and to-day was like yesterday and yesterday like

iS6 A Canyon Voyage

the year before last. Time and the years were as little grains
of drifting sand.

Leaving Clem as a sentinel on our observation point Prof,
followed the out track and told me to follow the in till three
o'clock. It was now high noon. I walked on and on through
an arid, wonderful maze of sand, rocks, and cacti, feeling that
the old horseman was no more than a phantom, when in half an
hour I almost fell upon our lost pack-train meandering slowly
and silently through a depression. I fired our signal shots and
Prof, soon joined us. The situation was precarious. The ani-
mals were nearly dead from thirst, one had been abandoned,
and Riley was in a state of pent-up rage that was dangerous for
the spectre guide, who had nearly been the destruction of the
whole outfit, for he did not know the trail and was himself lost.
Of course he blamed Riley — it was his only defence. Riley
broke loose in a string of fiery oaths, declaring he would shoot
"the old fool," then and there. But receiving no encouragement
from Prof, or me he did n't. There was a third member of the
party, Joe Hamblin, a son of Jacob, a very sturdy young fellow.
He said afterwards that he thought often that Riley would "sure
let daylight through the old man." Our next care was to suc-
cessfully manoeuvre the pack-animals down the difificult trail
across the face of the cliff, which had not seen a horse for many
a year and probably never had been traversed by animals with
packs on their backs. We had to watch that they did not
crowd each other off, but with all our exertions one fell and
rolled down a few feet. He was not injured and we continued
the descent, finally reaching the bottom without so much as a
scratch of any consequence. There, at the Paria, the horses
enjoyed the first full drink for several days and we followed it
down to camp. Riley had started from Kanab October 23d
and had been twelve days making a journey that required at
most only four or five by the regular trail. Mangum had not
known the way, had led toward El Vado, and his finding the
Indian trail to the mouth of the Paria was an accident.

Provisions were now plenty again, and by the light of a
big fire we overhauled the mail, finding letters, newspapers and
magazines enough to satisfy any party. Word was received

The First Snow 157

from the Major to move to a place called House Rock Spring,
and Prof, said we would leave Camp 86 on November 5th, which
gave us a day intervening in which to pack up. About noon of
this packing day we were not surprised when two horsemen,
Haight and Riggs, galloped into camp at full speed leading a
lightly laden pack-mule. They had come through in two and
one half days, at top speed, by direction of Jacob, who on reach-
ing Kanab with the Navajos learned that our pack-train had
left long before, and he had seen nothing of it. On the pack-
mule were fifty pounds of flour and several rolls of butter ; the
first time we had seen any of this latter article since the final
breakfast at Field's on May 22d. They were greatly relieved to
know that the train was found and that all was well. They
brought news of the burning of Chicago about a month before.
In the evening Isaac Haight favoured us with some Mormon
songs and recited examples of the marvellous curative effects
of the Mormon " laying on of hands." Heavy clouds had set-
tled along the face of the cliffs and the air grew wintry. We
felt the chill keenly, as we were not clad for cold weather. In
the morning snow began to drop gently out of the leaden sky
and continued all day, preventing any one from starting. Soon
the cliffs and Echo Peaks were white and we knew that now
autumn was gone. Toward evening the sun flared across the
rocky landscape, turning everything to gold, and we believed
the next day would be fair. We were not disappointed. Mon-
day the 6th of November came sharp and cold. Haight,
Riggs, Mangum, and Joe Hamblin left early and we got under
way as soon as we could. With two very sick men and a new
method of travel it was not easy. We had to learn the art of
packing on mules and horses from Riley, who was an expert in
this line and who could " sling the diamond hitch " with great
skill. He was just as handy with a lasso and seldom missed if
he wished to catch an animal, but Prof, did not approve of the
lasso method, for it makes stock wild and unmanageable. His
way was the quiet one and he was right, for we soon had the
entire herd so that there was no rumpus at starting-tim.e. With
a free use of the lasso preparations to start partake of the ac-
tivity of a tornado.

158 A Canyon Voyage

Steward by this time was able to walk slowly. Andy was
well enough to travel on his feet, but Jones could not move at
all without crutches. We did not have extra horses for all to
ride, so Steward and Andy changed off, while the rest of us had
to walk. Jones we lifted as gently as possible, though it was
pain even to be touched in his condition, upon Riley's special
horse called Doc, a well-trained, docile animal, who walked off
with him. It was after noon before the start was accomplished,
and meanwhile I went back on the incoming trail of the lost
pack-train to the foot of the steep precipice for Riley's canteen,
which had been forgotten there, and when I returned all were
gone but Steward, Clem, and Beaman, who had remained
behind to round up a young steer which had been driven in
with the train for us to convert into beef at a convenient
opportunity. As the advance party travelled very slowly we
soon caught them, the steer being gentle as a kitten. The
trail followed south along the foot of the cliffs which emerged
from Paria Canyon, and to which the Major had given the
name of Vermilion on account of their rich red colour.
We wound in and out of deep alcoves, around the heads
of impassable lateral canyons running to the Colorado,
and past enormous rocks balanced in every conceivable
position on extremely slender pedestals. After about eight
miles we arrived at a diminutive spring, which gave enough
water for Andy to make bread and coffee with, but none for
the stock. There we camped. A few armfuls of scraggy
sage-brush furnished wood for a fire, but it was not enough
to make our invalids comfortable, and the night was cold
and raw. We did all we could for them and they did not
grumble.

In the morning a pair of bronchos — that is, recently broken
wild horses — made the camp lively for a time, but they were
subdued and the caravan again got under way. Our next
camp was to be Jacob's Pools, so called from the fact that
Jacob was the first white man to camp there. We had gone
only a mile or so when we crossed in a small canyon a little
stream already enjoying two names. Clear and Spring (now
called Badger) Creek, and a little farther on another called

Cold Weather 159

Soap Creek, still holding that name.' When first travellers
enter a country they naturally bestow names on important
objects, and two or three parties of white men who had passed
this way had named these two creeks. After this we had no
more water, and we pushed slowly ahead, looking for the
Pools. Snow began to fall again in widely scattered, reluctant
flakes, but melted on touching the ground. Late in the after-
noon the trail turned the corner of the cliffs, which here broke
to the west, and we saw a wide, desolate open plain stretching
away to the foot of a distant table-land, which we knew to be
the Kaibab Plateau or Buckskin Mountain. None of the party
had been over the trail before, but it was easy to follow,
especially for a man of Riley's experience. It was an old
Navajo trail, and was here fairly well worn. The sun went
down as we plodded on, the light faded from the west, and
still we saw no Jacob's Pools. The air was biting, and with
our thin, worn garments we felt it keenly and wished for a fire.
At last just as the darkness began to thicken a patch of reeds
on the right between some low hills was discovered, where it
seemed there might be water, and we could not well go farther.
The ground was moist, and by digging a hole we secured red,
muddy liquid enough for Andy to make a little bread and a
cup apiece of very poor coffee. The men and animals came
straggling in out of the darkness. We gathered a lot of sage-
brush and made a fire, and as soon as Jones came we lifted
him off and put him as near the warmth as possible, for he
was chilled through. There was no water for the stock, but
the grass was wet and they did not suffer. Everything was
damp and uncomfortable, and the fire was too small to dry any-
thing out, so all turned in to the limited blankets and passed
a cold, half-sleepless, uncomfortable night.

Morning was a relief, though the thermometer stood at 1 1 F.
There was water enough in the holes for breakfast, and as soon
as this meal was over the pack-train was on the move towards
Jacob's Pools, which we found not two miles farther on. There
were two of them, each seven or eight feet long, supplied by

» It was in the rapid in Marble Canyon near the mouth of the canyon of this
creek that Frank M. Brown was drowned in July, 1889.

i6o A Canyon Voyage

fine clear water oozing out of a hill-side. The lower one we
turned over to the animals, reserving the upper for ourselves.
We approached the plateau all day, and late in the afternoon
we were within three or four miles of it, when the right-hand
cliffs turned sharply to the north in a line parallel with the
plateau, forming a long narrow valley. Cedars and piftons now
grew about us, so that we were assured of a good fire. About
sunset we passed two large boulders which had fallen together,
forming a rude shelter, under which Riggs or some one else
had slept, and then had jocosely printed above with charcoal
the words " Rock House Hotel." Afterward this had served as
identification, and Jacob and the others had spoken of " House
Rock " Spring and House Rock Valley. We called it the same,
and finally it went on the maps and is now permanent. A few
yards beyond the House Rock the trail led into a gulch, at the
head of which was a good spring. Plenty of cedars and pifions
grew about, and we soon had a fire that compensated for the
meagre ones of the preceding nights. The sick men became
warm and dry, and we all felt much better. The whole outfit
halted two days, and on the second the poor little steer, gazing
sadly at us, was shot and cut up. In an hour the quarters
were swinging from a tree and some of the beef was in the pan.
Necessity is a sauce that niakes every grist palatable. We were
hungry, and nothing could have tasted better than that fresh
beefsteak. The entrails and refuse were left on the ground
in the neighbouring gulley where we had killed the steer, and
next morning the place was about cleaned up by the lurking
wolves.

Prof, decided to go on across the Kaibab to Kanab with
the two very sick men, and leave Cap., Clem, Andy, and me
here at House Rock Spring until the plan for the winter's
campaign had been better formulated. Steward concluded
that his condition was too precarious to risk further exposure,
and said he would now leave the expedition permanently,
which we learned with deep regret, but it was plainly im-
perative. Jones thought that a week or two of warmth and
rest, accompanied by a change of diet, would make him whole
again and enable him to stay till the end of our special task.

1
I

Wolf Neighbours i6i

On Saturday, November nth, the party started, with the in-
valids riding the gentlest and easiest horses, though Steward
found it less painful at times to walk. I accompanied them to
the summit of the Kaibab to bring back one of the horses we
called Thunderbolt, on which Jones was to be carried to the
top and there change to Doc. After I left them I halted many
times to look out into the wonderful land to the west and
north. When I got back to the spring, our Camp 3 of the
land operations, we immediately set up a stout 6 by 8 tent that
was in the outfit brought from Kanab, and it made a very snug
sleeping-place for the four of us. Around the fire we rolled
big stones for seats, and soon had the gulch in a homelike con-
dition. There was an abundance of dead, fat pifion, which
burned like a candle, and we could easily extend our reading
into the evenings.

From all around us there arose the frequent bay and bark
of the wolves. They were of different kinds, numerous and
rather bold. At night they came in and cleared up what was
left of the entrails of the steer, also securing a fine, large piece
of beef which Cap. had hung in a tree, but not high enough to
escape their efforts. We took turns bringing the four horses
left with us to water, and in that way kept ourselves informed
about them. During these trips, especially in the late after-
noon, the wolves were apt to trot along near by, and on one
occasion Clem was obliged to drive one out of the trail with
stones, not having his rifle. One morning, as I was riding
along not far from camp, a huge whitish fellow followed behind
like a dog about twenty yards back, licking his chaps. At first
I thought he might be the dog of some Indian camped near,
but remembering that there were none in the valley, and also
that an Indian dog, or any strange dog, would have run from
me, I saw that he was a hungry wolf unused to man. I had
no rifle with me, but I took a walk over the same ground next
morning with my Winchester, hoping to see my acquaintance
again, but he discreetly kept out of sight. We had little now
to occupy us except to examine the locality, chop wood for
our fire, and read over and over the newspapers and magazines.
The nights were very cold, the spring always freezing over, but

1 62 A Canyon Voyage

the days were delightful. The beef had to be jerked to pre-
serve it. We cut it up into thin long strips, which we strung
through the ends on long withes, these in turn being hung on a
framework that left the strips swinging within two or three
feet of a slow fire. One hour's neglect of this tempting array
would have seen it vanish to the four winds, so we kept a
constant watch day and night, taking turns through the dark
hours. Every article which had grease or leather about it had
to be carefully put away to prevent its disappearance. Riley
had lost his spurs on the way out from this cause, the leather
on them making sweet morsels for the watchers.

Cap. concluded to profit by this appetite, and in an ad-
joining gulch he built a trap between two rocks, in which he
set his Remington six-shooter, so that a wolf picking up a
scrap of beef would pull the trigger by a string and receive the
ball in his head. That night during my watch over the beef I
roasted a piece on a stick for a lunch, and as the savory odour
drifted off on the crisp winter air howl after howl of ravenous
desire rang out from many directions, followed by the bang
of the revolver in the trap. Cap. went over, but found no
game, though later he often came back with a fine large speci-
men, bearing a perfect coat of fur, which Cap. always removed
by the firelight at once. About every night except Sunday,
when Cap. refused to set the trap — for he never did any work
on that day that was not absolutely necessary — there was a
fatal shot, and he accumulated a lot of excellent large skins,
which he tacked on trees to preserve them. He thought he
had put them up securely high, but one morning every skin
had disappeared. The wolf relatives had carried them away to
the last shred.

The Kaibab was too far away for us to go there to hunt
deer, and there were none around the spring, though one night
at supper-time, the western sky being a broad sweep of deep
orange, we saw a large wild animal of some sort on the crest of
the hill silhouetted against the colour. I started for it with my
rifle, but of course it did not wait; no animal ever does if
he can help it, unless he is carnivorous and famished. The
weather remained generally fair, though one day we had a wild

O O

G ^

o p4

5 o
o "

8 (^

Camp Ennui 163

gale that nearly relieved us of the tent in the midst of thick
flurries of snow. We often climbed among the cliffs, and
everywhere we found picture-writings, poles laid up, stepping-
stones, fragments of pottery, arrowheads, and other evidences
of former occupation. The poles and stones may have been
placed by the Pai Utes as well as by the old Shinumos, who
once were numerous over all this country. Cap. was by no
means well. An extreme nervousness connected with the old
gunshot wound developed, and he said he felt sure he could
not continue the work in the field during the winter, much less
go through the Grand Canyon with us the next year. Clem
also felt under the weather, and besides was growing home-
sick. He confided to me one day that he also had concluded
not to remain with us. As there was little the matter with
him I undertook to argue him out of his determination not to
go through the Grand Canyon, pointing out the disappoint-
ment he would feel when we had accomplished the passage
and he realised that he might as well have come along. This
produced some impression, but I was uncertain as to its lasting
result.

By November 17th we began with confidence to look for
some one to come over the mountains from Kanab, and just
after sunset we heard Riley's long shrill " ee — ii — 00000000,''
which he could deliver upon the air in such a fashion that it
carried for miles. Presently Prof, and he rode into our camp
with fresh supplies and a great bundle of mail that included
papers giving the details of the burning of Chicago. Prof, with
Cap. then reconnoitred the neighbourhood, and on the 21st he
returned to Kanab, leaving us as before, except that Riley re-
mained two days longer. The Major had not yet arrived at
Kanab from Salt Lake and our winter work could not begin
till he came. The days rolled by with occasional rain and snow
and we began to grow impatient with our inaction, especially
when November passed away. The second day of December
was fading when we distinguished in the distance the familiar
Riley yell, and in a little while he came into view with welcome
news. We were to move at once to a spring eight miles from
Kanab. He also brought some apples, native raisins and a large

1 64 A Canyon Voyage

canteen full of fresh wine from " Dixie " as the country along
the Virgin was called. These luxuries together with a number
of letters from home made that night one of the most cheerful
we had known for a long time. Monday morning, December
4th we left House Rock Spring behind with our pack-train,
followed the trail across the open valley, climbed two thousand
feet to the top of the Kaibab, and were soon traversing the
forest on its broad summit. Riley having been over the trail
now several times we went ahead steadily, and about sunset
arrived at the farther side of a narrow longitudinal depression
of the top which Cap. immediately put down in his notes as
Summit Valley, a name that holds to-day. There we threw
off our packs and made camp for the night. Though there
was no water the ground was covered by a thin layer of snow,
that made the long bunch grass palatable to the horses and
for ourselves we had sufficient water in two small kegs and
several canteens. A bright fire blazed cheerfully, the dense
cedars broke the wind, and everybody felt that it was a fine
camp. The others spent the evening playing euchre by fire-
light, but I preferred to read till bedtime.

The next morning, after crossing some rough gulches, we
came to the western edge of the great plateau, and emerging
from the forest of pine and cedar we saw again the magnificent,
kaleidoscopic, cliff country lying to the north. First about
twenty miles away was a line of low chocolate-coloured cliffs,
then a few miles back of this the splendid line of the Vermilion
Cliffs, the same which began at the mouth of Glen Canyon and
which we had skirted to House Rock Spring. From there the
line continued northward till it passed around the north end of
the Kaibab, when it struck southwesterly far to our left, where
it turned back to the north again, forming one of the longest
and finest cliff ranges anywhere to be seen. Above them and
some miles still farther back, rising higher, was a line of greyish
cliffs following the trend of the Vermilion, and still above
these was the broken meandering face of the Pink Cliffs, frosted
with snow, whose crest marks the southeastern limit of Fre-
mont's *' Great Basin," the end of the High Plateaus, and tops
the country at an altitude of some ii,ooo feet above sea-level.

Four-Legged Robbers 165

A more extraordinary, bewildering landscape, both as to form
and colour, could hardly be found in all the world. Winding
our way down to the barren valley, in itself more a high plateau
than a valley, we travelled the rest of the day in the direction
of the great cliffs. The sun was just gone when we reached
the first low line, and passing through a gap turned into a side
gulch thickly studded with cedars, where we saw before us two
white-covered waggons, two or three camp-fires blazing, and
friends. We heard a hearty voice cry, " Tirtaan Aigles dis wai !"
and we sprang from our horses to grasp Jack's welcoming hand
and greet all the others, some of whom were new acquaintances.
The fragrance of coffee and frying bacon filled the sharp air,
while from the summits of the surrounding cliffs the hungry
chorus of yelping wolves sent up their wail of disappointment.
In an alcove a large tent had been put up, which the
Major's family was occupying, for Mrs. Powell and her baby
daughter had come from Salt Lake with him, arriving a few
days before. The daughter was but three months old and was
happy in a big clothes-basket for a cradle. Mrs. Thompson,
Prof.'s wife, and sister of the Major, had also come from Salt
Lake and another large tent sheltered them, while still another
of equal size, not yet erected, was designed for the men. It was
a specially interesting camp to us who had come over from
House Rock for it was novel to see so many people around.
The Major himself was absent at Kanab. Before the camp
was asleep the hour was late, and so soundly did every one
rest that the sneaking wolves without the least molestation
carried off two large sacks of the jerked beef from near our
heads, where we had put it against a huge rock thinking they
would not come so close ; but as they had pulled a ham the
night before from under the head of Captain Dodds where he
had placed it for safety, we ought to have been more sensible.
Two or three nights later, as I was sleeping in a special bed one
of the men then absent had made by a big rock some yards
from the main camp, I was awakened by a wolf crunching
bones by the fire not eight feet from my head. I Avanted to
shoot the impertinent wretch, but his form was indistinct and
my rifle lying by my side had to be trained his way. This

1 66 A Canyon Voyage

took some time, as I had to move cautiously, and in the midst
of my effort my elbow slipped. Like a shadow he flitted into
the deeper gloom and I went to sleep again. I did not want
to shoot without certainty, though some nights later I did shoot
with Riley's huge double-barrelled shotgun loaded with buck-
shot straight into our mess kit, not killing the wolf that was
there, but putting holes in numerous tin plates through which
bean soup delighted to percolate, so that I never heard the last
of this midnight effort of mine to diminish the wolf family.

The day following our arrival the Major came from Kanab
and the plans for our winter's campaign were put in operation.
A base line for our geographic work was necessary and this was
to run south from Kanab, so Prof, on December 7th, with Mrs.
Thompson, Cap., Clem, Andy, Jones (who had recovered his
health), and one of the new men named MacEntee, left us
with loaded waggons to establish another camp nearer to the
scene of this work. Another member of the party was Fuzz,
Mrs. Thompson's dog, an intelligent Dandie Dinmont. As I
was much interested to see Kanab, of which so much had been
said, and as it was now nearly seven months since I had seen
an occupied house, I decided to take a Sunday ride in that
direction. On the 17th, about noon, I put a saddle on a white
mule which Jack had named Nigger and was soon on my way.
Emerging from the Chocolate Cliffs the road led along the
foot of the Vermilion Cliffs, crossing long ridges covered with
cedars and pinons with a vast view to the Kaibab on the south
and east, and soon joining a road that led from a canyon to
eastward where there was a very small settlement called John-
son's, and from two or three houses which had been built where
the El Vado trail crossed the Paria River. Nigger went along
very well and I was in Kanab by three o'clock. The village,
which had been started only a year or two, was laid out in the
characteristic Mormon style with wide streets and regular lots
fenced by wattling willows between stakes. Irrigating ditches
ran down each side of every street and from them the water,
derived from a creek that came down a canyon back of the
town, could be led into any of the lots, each of which was about
one quarter of an acre; that is, there were four lots to a block.

A Mormon Town 167

Fruit trees, shade trees, and vines had been planted and were
already beginning to promise near results, while corn, potatoes,
etc., gave fine crops. The original place of settlement was a
square formed by one-story log houses on three sides and
a stockade on the fourth. This was called the fort and was
a place of refuge, though the danger from Navajo attack
seemed to be over and that from any assault by the Pai Utes
certainly was past. One corner of the fort was made by the
walls of the schoolhouse, which was at the same time meeting-
house and ball-room. Altogether there were about 100 families
in the village. The houses that had been built outside the fort
were quite substantially constructed, some of adobe or sun-dried
brick. The entire settlement had a thrifty air, as is the case
with the Mormons. Not a grog-shop, or gambling saloon, or
dance-hall was to be seen ; quite in contrast with the usual dis-
graceful accompaniments of the ordinary frontier towns. A
perfectly orderly government existed, headed by a bishop
appointed by the church authorities in Salt Lake, the then
incumbent of this office being an excellent man. Bishop Stew-
art. I rode to the fort, where I found Clem and Beaman
domiciled with their photographic outfit, with a swarm of chil-
dren peeping through every chink and crevice of the logs to get
a view of the ** Gentiles," a kind of animal they had seldom
seen. Every one was cordial. Beaman even offered me a drink
made with sugar-water and photographic alcohol, but it did not
appeal to my taste. It was after sunset when I started Nigger
towards Eight Mile Spring and I enjoyed the ride in the edge
of night with not a living thing, besides Nigger (and Nigger
was a mule), to disturb my reveries.

I had as yet seen none of the natives of the locality. They
were now very friendly and considered harmless, thanks to
Jacob's wise management. The only Indians the settlers
dreaded were some renegades, a band of Utes and Navajos,
collected by a bold and skillful chief named Patnish, whose
"country" was south of the Colorado around Navajo Moun-
tain. He was reputed to be highly dangerous, and the Kanab
people were constantly prepared against his unwelcorne visits.
He had several handsome stalwart sons, who dressed in white

1 68 A Canyon Voyage

and who generally accompanied him. Though Patnish was so
much feared, I do not remember to have heard that he com-
mitted any depredations after this time. There had been
much trouble with the Navajos, but Jacob, growing tired of
the constant warfare, had resolved to go to them and see if he
could not change the state of affairs. When he had guided
the Major to the Moki Towns and Fort Defiance the year
before (1870), about six thousand Navajos were assembled at
the Agency. The chiefs were invited to meet in council on the
2d of November, and all the principal chiefs but one and all
subchiefs but two were there. The Major led the way by
introducing Jacob and speaking in highly complimentary terms
of the Mormons; and Jacob then gave a long talk in his low-
voiced way, illustrating the great evils of such warfare as had
existed, and closed by saying :

" What shall I tell my people the * Mormons * when I return
home ? That we may expect to live in peace, live as friends, and
trade with one another ? Or shall we look for you to come prowling
around our weak settlements, like wolves in the night ? I hope we
may live in peace in time to come. I have now grey hairs on my
head, and from my boyhood I have been on the frontiers doing all
I could to preserve peace between white men and Indians. I de-
spise this killing, this shedding of blood. I hope you will stop this
and come and visit and trade with our people. We would like to
hear what you have got to say before we go home."

Barbenceta, the principal chief, slowly approached as Jacob
ended, and putting his arms around him said : " My friend and
brother, I will do all that I can to bring about what you have
advised. We will not give all our answer now. Many of the
Navajos are here. We will talk to them to-night and will see
you on your way home." Several days later Jacob met him
and the chiefs who had been absent ; he said they would all
really like to see peace with the Mormons carried out, and
continued:

" We have some bad men among us, but if some do wrong, the
wise ones must not act foolishly, like children, but let it be settled
according to the spirit of your talk at Fort Defiance. Here is

'.,^py_-,'0^

2 S
h2

A Moki Ceremony 169

Hastele. I wish you would take a good look at him, so you will not
be mistaken in the man. He never lies or steals. He is a truthful
man ; we wish all difficult matters settled before him. He lives on
the frontier nearest to the river ; you can find him by inquiry. We
hope we may be able to eat at one table, warm by one fire, smoke
one pipe, and sleep under one blanket."

Jacob proceeded towards home, taking a Moki, named
Tuba, and his wife back with him, so that they might see the
Mormon country. Arriving at the crossing of the Colorado
Tuba was sad. He said his people had once lived on the other
side, and their fathers had told them they never again would
go west of the river to live. " I am now going on a visit to
see my friends. I have worshipped the Father of us all in the
way you believe to be right ; now I wish you would do as
the Hopees think is right before we cross." Jacob assented,
and Tuba, he said,

** then took his medicine bag from under his shirt and offered me
a little of its contents. I offered my left hand to take it ; he re-
quested me to take it with my right. He then knelt with his face
to the east, and asked the Great Father of us all to preserve us in
crossing the river. He said that he and his wife had left many
friends at home, and if they never lived to return their friends
would weep much. He prayed for pity upon his friends the Mor-
mons, that none of them might drown in crossing ; and that all the
animals we had with us might be spared, for we needed them all,
and to preserve unto us all our food and clothing, that we need not
suffer hunger nor cold on our journey. He then arose to his feet.
We scattered the ingredients from the medicine bag into the air,
on to the land, and into the water of the river."

When they were all safely over Tuba gave thanks that his
prayer had been answered.'

The last white men to be killed by the Navajos in the
Kanab region were Dr. Whitmore and his herder at Pipe
Springs, twenty miles west, five years before in the winter of
1865-66. The raiders were pursued by a strong party, and
some of them, turning down the Kanab Canyon, perhaps think-

^ Jacob Hamblin, a Narrative, etc. Faith-promoting Series — ^Juvenile Instruc-
tor Office, Salt Lake City— i88i.

170 A Canyon Voyage

ing the river could be crossed there, were surprised and fired
on at dawn. Some escaped, though wounded. Jacob kept
a close watch on all the passes, and especially at El Vado.
Several raiders were intercepted and shot. In 1869 a raiding
band successfully drove off twelve hundred head of horses and
cattle from northern settlements, and the winter of 1869-70
was one of the worst, requiring Jacob's presence in the field
almost constantly. He was accompanied by friendly Pai Utes,
who hated the Navajos. One Navajo was shot in a band who
had stolen cattle, but the others were allowed to leave on
giving up the stock. The shot did not kill the Navajo, and
they followed to see what became of him. He was carried
along by his friends to where another raiding party was en-
camped. The Pai Utes then killed two of this party, scalping
one, but refraining from taking the scalp of the other because
he had sandy hair and looked too much like a white man.
Later three more Navajos were killed in a fight, but the rest
escaped with ten horses. Jacob grew heartily sick of this kind
of work, and made the resolve to appeal to the Navajos, with
the result stated. He also visited the Red Lake Utes to the
north, and all the Indians along the Sevier. Beginning with
the band of Navajos under Agua Grande, which we had met at
El Vado, they came north in numerous parties with perfect
confidence that the Mormons would receive them peacefully.
But they continued to despise the Pai Utes, considering them
beneath notice.

In September of the year 1870 the Major, by Brigham
Young's advice, had engaged Jacob to go with him to Mt.
Trumbull in the Uinkaret region adjoining the Shewits coun-
try. Jacob, wishing to see these Indians himself, was very
willing to go. They made a camp by a spring, and finding
some natives near, Jacob asked them to bring in some of the
party who had taken part in the killing of the Howlands and
Dunn the year before. Twelve or fifteen finally came, and
they had a talk.

" I commenced [said Jacob] by explaining to the Indians Pro-
fessor Powell's business. I endeavoured to get them to understand

A Central Camp 171

that he did not visit their country for any purpose that would work
evil to them, that he was not hunting gold or silver or other metals ;
that he would be along the river next season with a party of men,
and if they found any of them away from the river in the hills, they
must be their friends and show them places where there was water
if necessary."

They replied that friends of theirs from across the river had
declared the men were miners and advised killing them, for if
they found mines it would bring great evil among them. The
men were followed and killed while asleep. They declared that
had they been correctly informed about the men they would not
have killed them. Kapurats (" No-arm," meaning the Major),
they said, could travel and sleep in their country unmolested
and they would show him and his men the watering-places.*
On December 19th we moved our camp from Eight Mile
Spring to a place below the gap in the Chocolate Cliffs south
of Kanab and not far below the Utah- Arizona boundary ; the
37th parallel. Bonnemort and I remained behind to gather up
the last articles and it was dark when we reached the new
ground. Our large tent was pitched in the creek bottom with
the others not far off, making quite a settlement. The weather
was rainy and cold, but a conical sheet-iron stove heated the
tent well and there we had dry comfortable evenings, some of
the men singing, some writing letters or plotting notes, others
reading and still others perhaps playing a game. Bonnemort
was something of a singer and was specially fond of Beautiful
Isle of the Sea, but Jack still maintained his complete supremacy
as a tenor. His repertory always increased and he was ever
ready to entertain us. One of his selections I remember was
the ballad :

" I wandered by the brookside,
I wandered by the mill;
I could not hear the brook flow,
The noisy wheel was still,

' In 1864 the danger from the Pai Utes, who had not been well treated, increased
till Jacob had to take the matter in hand and made a visit to the place -where they
were gathering for attack. He was asked how many men he wanted to go with
him, and he answered, "One, and no arms; not even a knife in sight."

172 A Canyon Voyage

There was no burr of grasshopper

No chirp of any bird,
But the beating of my own heart

Was all the sound I heard."

Mrs. Thompson had a sweet voice and knew a lot of songs,
which were frequently heard issuing from her tent, and this,
with the presence of Mrs. Powell and the baby, added to the
locality a pleasant homelike air. Both Mrs. Thompson and
Mrs. Powell had been familiar with camp life, Mrs. Powell hav-
ing spent a winter, 1868-69, with the Major in Middle Park,
Colorado, near the camp of Chief Douglas, the father of our
friend Douglas Boy.

Andy cooked all the meals on a fire out of doors, and they
were no longer served in our ** go fur it boys ** canyon style,
but a large canvas, showing by its colour the effects of ex-
posure, was elegantly spread on the ground and around its
edges the tin plates, cups, etc., were arranged, with the beanpot
and other provender in the middle. This method continued
henceforth. The company would sit around on the ground,
each in whatever position was comfortable. Liberal portions
of bread and sorghum molasses formed the dessert, and after
a while so indispensable did the sorghum grow that we dubbed
it the " staff of life." It was easy to get, quantities being pro-
duced in "Dixie." Kanab besides being favoured with two
mails a week had a telegraph line connecting with the settle-
ments of the Virgin region and with Salt Lake, and we now
felt that once more we had a grip on the world.

On the 22d of December the Major, accompanied by Cap-
tain Dodds, Riley, and one of the Kanab men, John Stewart, a
son of the bishop, started for the Kaibab to find a way to get
rations to the Colorado next year near the mouth of the Little
Colorado. The weather now was rather stormy but Prof, con-
tinued his observations as well as he could, and parties were
sent out in a number of directions to place flags and monu-
ments for the geodetic work. The base line was to be measured
south from near Kanab for about ten miles. Christmas day
came with rain and small prospect of special enjoyment, and we
all kept the shelter of the tent after hunting up the horses in

A Christmas Dance 173

mud ankle-deep. But our dinner was a royal feast, for Mrs.
Thompson herself made a huge plum-pudding and Prof, sup-
plied butter and milk from Kanab, making this feature of the
holiday an immense success. In the evening a number of us
rode up to the settlement to witness a dance that had been
announced to take place in the schoolhouse, tabernacle, or
town hall — the stone building in the corner of the fort which
answered all these functions. The room was about 1 5 by 30 feet
and was lighted by three candles, a kerosene lamp, and a blazing
fire of pitch pine. Two violins were in lively operation, one
being played by Lyman Hamblin, a son of Old Jacob, and there
was a refreshing air of decorous gaiety about the whole assem-
blage. Dancing is a regular amusement among the Mormons
and is encouraged by the authorities as a harmless and beneficial
recreation. At that time the dances were always opened with
prayer. Two sets could occupy the floor at one time and to
even things up, and prevent any one being left out, each man
on entering was given a number, the numbers being called in
rotation. None of our party joined as we were such strangers,
but we were made welcome in every respect. It was ten o'clock
before we left, and the way being dim and muddy, midnight
was on before we threw off saddles at our camp.

The next morning work was begun on the base line, but for
some days the weather was so bad that little was accomplished.
The year 1871 ended in this way and we hoped the new one
would be more propitious.

CHAPTER XII

Reconnoitring and Triangulating — A Pai Ute New Year's Dance — The Major
Goes to Salt Lake — Snowy Days on the Kaibab — At Pipe Spring — Gold
Hunters to the Colorado — Visits to the Uinkaret Country — Craters and
Lava — Finding the Hurricane Ledge — An Interview with a Cougar — Back
to Kanab.

NEW-YEAR'S DAY, 1872, passed with nothing more event-
ful than the return of John Stewart in advance of the
Major with the news that they had succeeded in reaching
the Colorado at the foot of Kanab Canyon. They had given
up the Kaibab direction because of snow which interfered with
their advance. He also said that Riley had found gold at the
mouth of the Kanab. The telegraph operator was so deeply im-
pressed with this statement that it was telegraphed as an item of
news to Salt Lake. Work on the base line went on daily by
our topographical staff, but presently it was turned over to a
special gang under Captain Dodds, so that the rest of us
might be freed to carry on the triangulation. On Monday
the 15th, Prof., Jones, Mac, and I started with some pack
animals on a ten days' reconnaissance trip over the Kaibab, first
going to Kanab for some supplies and taking dinner with Jacob
at the house of his wife Louisa. According to the Mormon
custom, though it was not universal, Jacob had several wives,
I do not know how many. I met two, and he was besides that
** sealed " to one or two Pai Ute women. Sister Louisa was
the one I came to know best and she was a good woman. We
had an excellent dinner with rich cream for the coffee which
was an unusual treat. In all Mormon settlements the domestic
animals were incorporated at once and they received special
care; butter, milk, and cheese were consequently abundant; but
in a " Gentile " frontier town all milk, if procurable at all, was

174

C 9)

etf "^

« Si

^ I

The Navajo Well 175

drawn from a sealed tin. The same was true of vegetables.
The empty tin was the chief decoration of such advance settle-
ments, and with the entire absence of any attempt at arrange-
ment, at order, or to start fruit or shade trees, or do any other
sensible thing, the " Gentile " frontier town was a ghastly
hodge-podge of shacks in the midst of a sea of refuse. As
pioneers the Mormons were superior to any class I have ever-
come in contact with, their idea being home-making and not
skimming the cream off the country with a six-shooter and a
whiskey bottle. Jacob's home was simple but it was comfort-
able. He was a poor man for he did his work for the people
with very slight compensation.

From Jacob's we proceeded to our old camp ground at
Eight-Mile Spring and there spent the night. Prof, had
forgotten his sextant and rode back to our main camp for it.
We continued in the morning without him to a place farther
east called Navajo Well, a deep spring in a sort of natural
hole, somewhat aided by native hands, in the midst of some
sloping, barren rocks, the last spot where one would look for
water. A large flat stone covered the top, the water being
dipped out at one side where there was a depression leading
down to it. A careless man, or one not familiar with the
country, might ride within a few yards of this spring without
noticing its existence. Prof, came along towards night and
the next day we went on eastward to the top of the Kaibab
Plateau and there put up a geodetic monument. Here we
made a dry camp having water for ourselves in a keg and some
canteens, while the animals got along very well as there was a
little snow on the ground. Proceeding from this place east-
ward we bame to the edge of the plateau opposite the largest
of a series of four or five peculiar red sandstone peaks. The
Mormons had explored a waggon road across at this place and
the grades were easy. We followed the road and reached
House Rock Valley about ten miles north of House Rock Spring
where we went to get water and camp. We had started late
and by the time we got down into the valley darkness had
fallen but a bright moon compensated for the absence of day-
light, enabling us to see plainly our landmarks. We jogged

176 A Canyon Voyage

along toward the spring and I sang Oh the Lone Starry Hours^
Give Me Love^ when I was suddenly interrupted by old Thun-
derbolt's pack loosening. Thunderbolt was a horse that waited
for such an event with remarkable docility and when it arrived
he made the best of the opportunity to get even with us for
drawing the lash-rope so tight. Before I could dismount and
lay hands on him the pack slipped back over his rump which
was the signal he watched for. Joyously flinging his heels in
the moonlit air, jumping high off the ground the next instant,
and then darting off into the misty night with a clatter and a
whirl he spread the contents of that pack to all points of the
compass. This revenge adequately accomplished we were per-
mitted to catch him. A long search was necessary before we
had gathered up all the things and replaced the pack on the
now meek and patient Thunderbolt, and half-past eight by the
watch arrived as we got to water and supper.

We put up another " station " back of House Rock Spring
and spent a day reconnoitring. On Sunday, January 21st, we
went to Red Cliff and made a camp under some cedars, as we
wished to put a station on the highest peak. The camp was a
dry one, but we had the usual supply of water in the keg and
canteens, and as the temperature was very low we did not get
thirsty. There was an abundance of wood for the camp, but
Mac and I concluded we wanted more warmth and light, so we
set fire to two large cedars that stood alone, and they made
a superb illumination, burning all night. In the morning we
got to the top of the cliff, and built a monument, with a high
pole and flag, to which to ** sight " from other geodetic points,
while Prof, took observations for time and latitude. When
our work was finished we went back to House Rock Spring,
arriving just before sunset. In the morning Jones and I went
across and climbed the Kaibab, intending to put up a monu-
ment there, but we could find no proper site and returned to
camp. Prof, and Mac had been off in another direction, but
they got in just before supper-time. We had not finished this
meal when, night having come on, we heard through the dark-
ness sounds of some one approaching, and thirteen Navajos
one after the other came into the light of our fire, with their

A Navajo Ceremony 177

greeting of " Bueno heh ! " and camped just below us. Some
were mounted, some were on foot. The chief was Ashtishkal,
whom we had met before at the Crossing of the Fathers (El
Vado). They were all friendly, and did not intrude upon us.
They were on their way north to trade with the Mormons,
having come across at the Paria. The night was very cold,
and a heavy, dry snow began to fall, so that in the morning
when we arose we could see but a short distance. The Navajos
about sunrise stood silently in a circle till at a signal they all
sat down and began singing, continuing for several minutes a
low musical refrain, and then all rose to their feet again.
They left us early, with friendly demonstrations, and went
on their way towards Kanab, while we moved to another spring
in a gulch farther up the valley, where we made a tent out of a
pair of blankets to keep off the snow. During the stormy
night our animals started to leave us, travelling before the
wind, but we suspected their intention and got out and headed
them back, much to their disgust, no doubt. Thursday, Janu-
ary 25th, came bright and clear, but still extremely cold. Prof,
with Mac started across the Kaibab by the trail, while Jones
and I went farther north by the waggon road referred to, camp-
ing near the station we had made on the way out. The next
morning we did some work there, and then went on to the
Navajo Well, reaching it at sunset, where we watered our stock
and continued by moonlight through a piercing wind to Eight-
Mile Spring, which enabled us to reach our main camp in time
for dinner on Saturday the 27th. Prof, got back the evening
before at 7.30, having made another station on the Kaibab on
the way over and travelled twenty-five miles.

About a mile from Kanab the Kaibab band of Pai Utes were
encamped, and we had a good opportunity to visit them and
study their ways.* The Major was specially interested and
made voluminous notes. They came to the village and our
camp a great deal. While they were dirty, they were not
more dishonest than white men, so far as I could learn. Their
wickiups, about seven feet high, were merely a lot of cedar

^ For the linguistic classification of stocks and tribes of the United States, see
Appendix, The North Americans of Yesterday, by F. S. Dellenbaugh.

178 A Canyon Voyage

boughs, set around a three-quarter circle, forming a conical
shelter, the opening towards the south. In front they had
their fire, with a mealing-stone or two, and round about were
their conical and other baskets, used for collecting grass seeds,
piflon nuts, and similar vegetable food, which in addition to
rabbits formed their principal subsistence. At certain times
they all went to the Kaibab deer-hunting. Their guns, where
they had any, were of the old muzzle-loading type, with out-
side hammers to fire the caps. Many still used the bow-and-
arrow, and some knew how to make stone arrow-heads. We
learned the process, which is not difficult. Their clothing was,
to some extent, deerskin, but mainly old clothes obtained from
the whites. They made a very warm robe out of rabbit skins,
twisted into a long rope and then sewed side to side into the
desired size and shape. But when we traded for one of these
as a curiosity we placed it beside a large ant hill for some days
before bringing it into camp. They obtained fire by the use of
matches when they could get them, but otherwise they used
the single stick or " palm " drill. We went to the camp one
moonlight night, January 6th, to see a sort of New-Year's
dance. They had stripped a cedar tree of all branches but a
small tuft at the top, and around this the whole band formed
a large circle, dancing and singing. The dancing was the usual
hippity-hop or " lope " sideways, each holding hands with his
or her neighbours. In the centre stood a man, seeming to be
the custodian of the songs and a poet himself. He would first
recite the piece, and then all would sing it, circling round at
the same time. We accepted their cordial invitation to join
in the ceremony, and had a lot of fun out of our efforts, which
greatly amused them too, our mistakes raising shouts of laugh-
ter. The poet seemed to originate some of the songs, but
they had others that were handed down. One of these, which
I learned later, was :

" Montee-ree-ai-ma, mo-quontee-kai-ma
Umpa-shu-shu-ra-ga-va
Umpa-shu-shu-ra-ga-va
Umpa-ga-va, shu-ra-ga-va
Montee-ree-ai-ma. "

Departures 179

This, being translated, signifies that a long talk is enough to
bore a hole in a cliff ; at least, that was the interpretation we
obtained. Another popular one was :

" Ca, shakum, poo kai
Ca, shakum poo kai
Ca, shakum tee kai
Ca, shakum tee kai,"

these lines being repeated like the others over and over and
over again. They were highly philosophical, for they explain
that you must kill your rabbit (shakum) before you eat him. I
do not remember that they sang these particular songs on that
occasion, but they will serve as examples.

On February ist the Major left camp for Salt Lake with
Mrs. Powell and the baby. Jack went along to accompany
them as far as Tokerville on the Virgin River. Before leaving,
the Major settled up with Beaman, who was now to separate
from the party. The Major intended to go to Washington to
ask Congress for another appropriation to continue the work of
exploration and map-making when we had finished that already
planned. On the 6th Clem and Bonnemort arrived from an
expedition to make photographs down the Kanab Canyon,
where the Major had been with Riley and Dodds. They had
met with bad luck, and did not get a single negative. The
silver bath got out of order, and the horse bearing the camera
fell off a cliff and landed on top of the camera, which had been
tied on the outside of the pack, with a result that need not
be described. Bonnemort's time was now up ; he wanted to
go back to prospecting, and we reluctantly said good-bye to
him. On the i6th of February, finding our central camp no
longer practicable, we abandoned it and operated in small
parties from various nearby points, finally returning again in
three or four days to near the site of the old camp. MacEntee
then wanted to go to prospecting also, and he departed. He
was an interesting, companionable young man, educated at the
University of Michigan, seeking a fortune, and he was desirous
of striking it rich. Whether he ever did or not I have not
learned.

i8o A Canyon Voyage

While camped below Kanab, Clem and I in walking one
day saw a place where the creek which flowed on a level with
the surroundings suddenly plunged into a deep mud canyon.
This canyon had been cut back from far below by the under-
mining action of the falling water, and it was plain to see that
it would continue its retrogression till it eventually reached the
mouth of the great canyon several miles above, but I did not
dream that it could accomplish this work as rapidly as it actually
did years after. During a great flood it washed a canyon not
only to Kanab but for miles up the gorge, sweeping away at
one master stroke hundreds of acres of arable land and leaving
a mud chasm forty feet deep. Had the fall we examined been
arranged then so that the water might glide down, the fearful
washout would not have occurred. There are thousands of
places in the West to-day that require treatment to conserve
arable land, and in time the task may be undertaken by the
Government.

Cap's health being such that he deemed it inadvisable to
continue work in the field, he had severed his connection with
the expedition, after finishing the preliminary map of Green
River, and was temporarily settled in Kanab, where he had
been for some time. On Wednesday, February 21st, Prof.,
Mrs. Thompson, and I took supper with him in one of the log
houses at the fort, and on the 2 2d several of us accepted his
invitation to dinner, a sort of farewell, for on the following day
we started with our whole outfit for the Kaibab. We were
extremely sorry to lose Cap, with his generous spirit and cheery
ways, but when one has been punctured by a minie-ball he has
to heed warnings. All day long we travelled through sandy
hills gradually rising toward the plateau, the foot-hills of which
we reached late in the afternoon. We had followed a waggon
road with our pack-train up to this point, but here we struck
off on a trail that was said to be a shorter way to the canyon
we were aiming for, and a little before sunset we came to the
brink of a steep slope, almost a cliff, where a picturesque, a
romantic view opened before us. Below stretched away to
the south a narrow, deep, and sharply defined valley or canyon
one-eighth mile wide, the bottom of which seemed perfectly

A Snow-Storm i8i

flat. A light snow which had fallen the night before whitened
the sharp slopes, but from the valley bottom it had melted
away, leaving a clear line of demarkation on either side and
producing an extremely beautiful effect under the evening
glow. Tall pine trees accented the scene, which was one of the
most inviting I had ever beheld. One of our helpers from
Kanab had been over the trail, and led us down to a small but
excellent spring, within a quarter of a mile of which we camped,
passing a most comfortable night.

Before we had finished slinging the last pack in the morning,
a heavy grey sky began to sift down thickly falling snowflakes
gently as if not wishing to give alarm. But when we were
fairly under way this mildness vanished, and the storm smote
our caravan with fierce and blinding gusts, amidst which pro-
gress was difficult. After four miles up the valley through
beautiful pine trees of great height, we came to a deserted log
cabin only half roofed over, and there we stopped to make our
temporary headquarters. The Stewarts of Kanab had started
a saw-mill at this place, but as yet the work had not gone very
far. The snow ceased by the time we had thrown off the
packs, and we made ourselves as comfortable as circumstances
permitted. Prof, had a tent put up for Mrs. Thompson, while
some took possession of the half-roofed house, for by keeping
on the side where the board cover was they were slightly shel-
tered. With two or three of the others I pitched a small tent.
There was plenty of fat pine, and rousing fires made the valley
seem habitable. A fine little brook swept full grown fifteen
inches in diameter from under a cliff two hundred feet above
the valley bottom, and there was no lack of good water. Our
trouble was with the horses and mules, for we had no grain for
them, and if the snow got very deep they would not be able to
paw down to the bunch grass. The snow soon began again,
and all night it fell with aggravating faciUty. Sunday morning
opened as leaden and dark as a February day could be, and
there was no cessation of the showers of whiteness that were
rapidly building up on the ground a formidable barrier to our
operations. As I was wearing rather low brogans, having dis-
carded top-boots as too close-fitting and uncomfortable around

i82 A Canyon Voyage

camp, I now made for myself a pair of leggins out of pieces of
a common but heavy seamless sack. When these were buttoned
in place they answered perfectly to protect my legs from the
snow. We hoped Monday would begin the week with a clear
sky, but we were disappointed. We had to sally out to hunt
horses, hoping at the same time to come across a deer, but that
hope was not realised. As I got far from camp in the midst of
the tall pines and the unbroken snow sheet, I suddenly became
aware of a whispering sound, which I could not at first account
for, as I did not believe in fairies. Standing perfectly still, I
perceived that it was produced by the friction of the snow-
flakes upon the pine needles. It was a weird, ghost-like
language which I had never listened to before.

Prof, went up one thousand feet on the mountain and
climbed a tree 125 feet high with a determination to see
something in spite of the snow. He caught a glimpse of the
south wall of the Grand Canyon near Mt. Trumbull, miles to
the west. On Tuesday he started George Adair, one of our
Mormon assistants, back to Kanab for more rations, and
directed Jones and Captain Dodds to get ready to start the
next day for the south-east corner of the plateau, while Andy
and I were to go to the south-west corner. Wednesday, Feb-
ruary 28th, came clear, with the snow lying twelve inches on
the level, but some of the horses were missing, and the day
was spent in hunting this wayward stock, so it was not till
Thursday afternoon that we got started. Our paths lying for
a distance in the same direction, we four travelled together
along a divide on the right or west of camp. It was slow work
in the deep drifts, and we had not made many miles when
night came on. We went into camp where we were. The
horses bothered us by trying to go back searching for grass,
and nobody could blame them. Finally we tied the worst
offender to a tree in a bare place where he might pick up a few
mouthfuls of food, and we managed to sleep the rest of the
night. The only sound I heard when I woke up at one time
was the satirical voice of an owl in the far distance. It seemed
to be saying very deliberately " poo-poo, poo-poo," and that did
not sound respectful. The next morning was March ist, and

Hard Travelling 183

it brought a fine sky, which would have put us quickly on the
way, or rather in motion toward our respective goals, as there
was no road or trail, but one of our animals which bore the
mysterious name of Yawger, and which was the pack-horse of
Andy and me, could not be found. Jones and Dodds went
on, as they would probably soon have to separate from us any-
how, while we took Yawger's track, and at last found him
browsing happily in a bare spot about a mile from our stopping
place. It was two o'clock by the time we started on, flounder-
ing through the drifts in the trail of Jones and Dodds. Some
drifts were so high it was all we could do to wallow through
them even after the others had in a measure broken the way.
After two hours of hard work in this line we came to the edge
of a wide gully, where the advance party had halted. The
slope was towards the south and the ground was somewhat
bare, with good bunch grass, where the other horses were feed-
ing, while Jones and Dodds were just descending from a tall
pine tree. They declared nothing but snow could be seen in
all directions on the mountain and they were going back.
Besides it was impossible, they told me, to cross the gulch
ahead. I did not want to turn back till I was compelled to,
and I appealed to Andy as to whether or not he wanted to
give up, not wishing to drag him along unwillingly. With his
characteristic nonchalance he said, " Go ahead if you want to."
Dodds had one of his own horses with him, and he said he
would bet me that horse I could not cross the gulch. I made
a trial, wading ahead of my horse, the pack animal following
and Andy driving from behind. When I got into the middle
it was all I could do to move, but I continued my efforts
till suddenly the bottom seemed to rise, and then in a few
yards the going grew easier and we emerged triumphantly on
the other side, where we waved an adieu to the others. By
keeping close to the boles of the large pine trees, where the
wind had swept circular places, leaving the snow shallow, we
were soon out of sight of our late companions.

After two or three miles of tiring work the day began to
fade, but we reached a beautiful south slope where there was
little snow, with a rich crop of bunch grass just starting green

1 84 A Canyon Voyage

under the vernal influence that was a feast for the famished
horses, the snow reUeving their thirst. While Andy the ever-
faithful got supper I reconnoitred and made up my mind that
I could reach the locality I was trying for, by following a ridge
I saw ahead where the snow seemed moderate. We were up
and off early. The snow was deep but we got on quite rapidly
and finally reached the ridge, crossing two big gulches to get
to it. At eleven o'clock we were at the end of its summit and
I could see a wide area to the west and north. The point ap-
peared to be one of several similar projections though the one
we were on was the most prominent. I selected a spot for a
monument where we dug a hole in the rocks and dirt, and then
cutting a tall slim pine and trimming it clean we hitched Yawger
to it and made him drag it to the hole, where by a combination
of science and strength we got it upright. While Andy, who
had great strength, lifted and pushed after we had together
got it half way, I propped it with a strong pole with a Y on
the end, and in a few moments we saw the flag waving triumph-
antly from its tip at least thirty feet above our heads. Around
its base we piled the rocks, which were exceptionally heavy,
waist high, first cutting a notch in the pine and placing
therein a can containing a record, and our '* Point F '* was
finished. The rest of the day I spent in triangulating to various
other stations, and we went to bed under a clear sky and a
milder atmosphere. In the morning I completed my triangu-
lating work and by that time the snow had settled and melted
so that the back track was much easier than the outward march,
enabling us to get to headquarters at the spring before dark.
I had been a little afraid that a heavy snow would come on
top of the large drifts which would have held us prisoners for
a day or two.

On Wednesday, March 6th, the whole party packed up and
left the valley by its narrow canyon outlet, a tributary of the
Kanab Canyon. It began eight hundred feet deep and continu-
ally increased. We called it Shinumo Canyon because we found
everywhere indications of the former presence of that tribe.
Snow fell at intervals and we were alternately frozen and melted
till we reached an altitude where the warmth was continuous

At Pipe Spring 185

and the snow became rain. Grass fresh and green and shrubs
with the feeling of early spring surrounded us at the junction
with Kanab Canyon where the walls were twelve hundred feet
high. A mile below we camped by a lone cedar tree where
there were " pockets " of rain-water in the rocks. The next day
our course was laid up Kanab Canyon through thick willows that
pulled the packs loose. One horse fell upside down in a gully,
but he was not hurt and we pried him out and went on, camp-
ing near a large pool of intensely alkaline water. On the 8th
going up a branch on the left called Pipe Spring Wash we came
out on the surface, very much as one might reach a second floor
by a staircase. This is a feature of the country and as one goes
northward he arrives on successive platforms, in this manner
passing through the several cliff ranges by means of transverse
gorges that usually begin in small " box " canyons and rapidly
deepen till they reach the full height of the cliff walls. At two
o'clock we came to Pipe Spring. A vacant stone house of one
very large room and a great fireplace was put at our disposal
by Mr. Winsor the proprietor, and it was occupied by the men
while Prof, had a tent put up for Mrs. Thompson. We found
a party of miners here who had heard of the gold discovery at
the mouth of the Kanab on the Colorado and were heading that
way to reap the first-fruits. They were soon followed by hun-
dreds more, making a steady stream down the narrow Kanab
and out again for some time, for on reaching the river the limited
opportunity to do any mining was at once apparent and they
immediately took the back track swearing vengeance on the
originator of the story.

For protection against raiders Mr. Winsor was building a
solid double house of blocks of sandstone, making walls three
feet thick. The two buildings were placed about twenty feet
apart, thus forming an interior court the length of the houses,
protected at the ends by high walls and heavy gates. No
windows opened on the exterior, but there were plenty of
loopholes commanding every approach. A fine large spring
was conducted subterraneously into the corner of one of the
buildings and out again, insuring plenty of water in case of a
siege. Brigham Young was part owner of this establishment,

1 86 A Canyon Voyage

and it was one of the most effective places of defence on a
small scale, that I have ever seen. It was never needed so far
as I have heard, and even at the time I marvelled that it should
be so elaborately prepared — far beyond anything else in the
whole country. The cut opposite shows this fort as it was
in 1903. Clem here told Prof, he did not care to stay with
us any longer. Ill success with his photographs had dis-
couraged him, but Prof, persuaded him to remain for a time.

Until March 21st we operated around Pipe Spring triangu-
lating and recording the topography, and other data, when we
packed our animals again and laid our course across the open
country towards a range of blue mountains seen in the south-
west. One of these had been named after Senator Trumbull
by the Major in the autumn of 1870. They were the home of
the Uinkarets and we called the whole group by that name,
discarding North Side Mountains, the name Ives had given
when he sighted them in 1858 from far to the south. Adjoin-
ing the Uinkaret region on the west was the Shewits territory
where the Rowlands and Dunn were killed. Travelling across
the dry plains we came to a well defined trail about sunset and
followed it hoping that it would lead to water. We were not
disappointed for it took us to a pool of rain-water in a little
gulley at the foot of some low hills. A band of wild horses
roamed the plain and as we had been told about a pool called
the Wild Band Pocket, we had no doubt this was the place.
There was no wood anywhere, but a diligent search produced
enough small brush to cook by, though Andy had a hard time
of it. Clem's horse ran away from him and lost his gun, so he
remained behind at Pipe Spring to hunt for the weapon.

The next day we travelled on over hilly country, follow-
ing a moccasin trail, with here and there cedar groves as we
approached nearer to the mountains. On the edge of night
traces of water were found in a gulch near the foot of Trumbull,
and while Jack and a new member of our force, Will Johnson
of Kanab, dug for more, Prof., Jones, and I scoured the vicin-
ity in search of a spring or pocket, but though we found many
old wickiups there was no water. The Uinkarets had evidently
camped here in wet weather. When we returned we were told

On Mount Trumbull 187

that the little trace of water in the gulch had disappeared
completely after the digging, a sad development which was
accepted by all but one old white horse which stood on the
edge of the hole for an hour or more patiently waiting. Our
kegs and canteens provided enough to make bread which we
ate with sorghum, and as early as possible in the morning we
pushed on without breakfast, three men scouting ahead to dis-
cover the pool where the Major in the autumn of 1870 had
camped. Prof, finally found it, a large pool of about a hundred
barrels of clear, clean water, in a lava gulch, surrounded by
cedar and piflon trees. Andy then gave us breakfast and
dinner at the same time, eleven o'clock. Another new mem-
ber of our party was Beaman's successor, Fennemore, from Salt
Lake, who had joined us at Pipe Spring on March 19th, and he
was prepared to photograph the region. We reconnoitred the
neighbourhood during the afternoon, and the next morning
Jones and I rode in one direction around Mount Trumbull,
while Prof, and Captain Dodds rode the other way, to ascer-
tain the lay of the land, and especially to find a ranch which
some St. George men had started in this locality. Jones and I
met Whitmore, the proprietor of the ranch, and a friend of his,
who informed us the ranch was six miles farther on. We con-
cluded not to go to it, but when Prof, and Captain Dodds got
in after dark they told us they had gone the whole way. The
following day, Monday March 25th, all the party except Andy
and a new member, Alf Young of Kanab, climbed to the sum-
mit of Mount Trumbull, finding the ascent very gradual and
easy and taking the horses to the top, which was 2440 feet
above the pool and 8650 above sea level, commanding a magnifi-
cent view in every direction, as far to the south-east as Mount
San Francisco. Jones, Jack, Fennemore, and I remained there
all night while the rest returned to camp. Jones and I wanted
to do some topographical work and get sights to some of
our other stations, and Fennemore, assisted by Jack, wanted
pictures.

Descending the opposite side the next day we went to a
spring in an oak grove which Prof, had seen, where the others
were already encamped. On the 27th, Prof, and I cHmbed a

1 88 A Canyon Voyage

high cinder peak, of which there were many, to get a view, and
then went to Whitmore's Ranch, where we had a talk with
him to get points on the region. He told us he had fol-
lowed a trail to the Colorado, about twelve miles, to what
he called the Ute Crossing. If I remember correctly he had
taken a horse down at that point. The next day Johnson and
I put a signal flag on one of the high mountains, afterwards
named Logan, forming Signal Station Number 7. This was a
volcanic district and there were many old craters. Near the
Oak Spring camp was an extensive sheet of lava, seeming to
have cooled but a year or two before. Its surface was all
fractured, but there were no trees on its lower extremity and
where it had flowed around a hill its recent plasticity was ex-
ceedingly distinct. It had come from a crater, about five hun-
dred feet high, two miles north. This had once been a cone
but it was now disrupted, the lava having burst through to the
north and to the south, leaving two sections standing, the stream
to the south being one quarter mile wide and a mile and a half
long, that on the north one mile wide and about the same in
length. The depth of these streams was not far from thirty
feet, and in spite of the exceedingly rugged surface the south-
ern stream was marked by deeply worn trails running to and
from a small spring situated in the middle of it. Beside this
spring one of the men from the ranch had found a human
skeleton, covered with fragments of lava, with the decayed re-
mains of a wicker water-jug between the ribs, marking some
unrecorded tragedy. We estimated that less than three hun-
dred years had passed since the last outburst from the crater.
As there were pine trees a hundred years old on the lava where
it was more disintegrated near the point of outpour, the age of
the flow could not have been less than that.

Friday the 29th being cloudy and stormy nothing in the
line of geodetic work was done and we could only rest in camp.
Dodds and Jones who had gone to explore a way to the Grand
Canyon came in reporting success. Saturday morning Jones
and Fennemore started for Kanab to bring out more rations
and meet us either at Fort Pierce or at Berry's Spring near
St. George, while Prof, with Dodds and Johnson went to try to

The Edge of the World 189

follow the trail Whitmore had told about to the river, but after
four miles they gave it up and climbed by a side trail to the
plateau again. They made a dry camp and the next day went
on till they found water enough for the horses in some pools
on the rocks, and here, leaving the others to continue the recon-
naissance, Prof, came back to our camp, arriving in a snow-
storm. It had been snowing with us at intervals all day. The
next day was April first, and with it came still heavier snow.
We planned to move down to the edge of the Grand Canyon,
and Jack and Andy started as Jack wished to make some
photographs there, but the snow continuing we concluded to
wait till another day. When that came the snow was quite
deep on the ground and was still falling hard, which it continued
to do most of the time, preventing us from moving. Fenne-
more had brought with him a copy of The Count of Monte
CristOj which I had never read, and in its pages I soon became
oblivious to the surroundings. The snow kept on the next day
also and all the men out returned to the main camp, Dodds
and Johnson having reached the river bank. When another
morning dawned and showed no cessation of the aggravating
storm, with the snow fifteen inches on the level. Prof, said he
would pack up Friday the 5th and get down to lower country
around St. George. The day came clear and sunny and the
snow began to melt. We headed for the Pine Valley Moun-
tains back of St. George and made about twenty miles with no
snow after the first six, the altitude dropping to where the
temperature was milder. Prof, had inquired at the ranch about
trails, but there were so many cattle trails that we did not get
on the right one. We made a dry camp and early the following
morning went on, not being able to see any landmarks because
of the clouds. Half an hour after starting a thick snow-storm
set in but we kept going, till in about a mile and a half the
world seemed suddenly to end. Above, below, and around us
was a great blank whiteness. Dismounting and cautiously ad-
vancing on foot we discovered that we were on the brink of a
very high cliff. As we did not know which way to turn we
threw off the packs and stopped where we were. Spreading
out blankets we scraped the snow from them into the kettles to

190 A Canyon Voyage

melt for water. Then by holding a blanket up over Andy by
the four corners he was able, with some chips he had previously
chopped out of the side of a dead pine, to start a fire, by which
he proceeded to cook dinner.

When the snow fell less heavily we could peer down and
then saw that the cliff was continuous in both directions. By
half-past two, with our kegs and canteens filled with the snow
water, we were again on the way following along to find a place
to go down, but we saw none that seemed practicable, and at
last, having made altogether five miles, we halted for the night
in a grove of cedars, where we had a good fire and were com-
fortable though our rations were now growing scarce. Snow
at intervals continued all day up to bedtime. The next day
was Sunday. We travelled twenty miles along the line of
cliffs and camped near a canyon in which we found pools of
good water. We saw an antelope during the day but could
not get it. Andy baked up the last of our flour for supper and
put on a pot of beans and one of dried peaches to cook for
breakfast. The beans were edible in the morning and we dis-
posed of them and the peaches and went on our way. After a
day of many ups and downs we arrived about two o'clock at a
ranch called Gould's or Workman's, where we bought five
dollars, worth of corn-meal and milk. We were now on what
the inhabitants of the region called Hurricane Hill, and from this
we applied the name Hurricane Ledge to the long line of sharp
cliffs we had followed, which begin at the Virgin River and ex-
tend, almost unbroken and eight hundred to a thousand feet
high, south to the Grand Canyon, forming the western boundary
of the Uinkaret Plateau. From Gould's we had a waggon road
and following it we were led to the brink of the Hurricane
Ledge, where a road had been constructed to the bottom. Be-
fore descending we took a final look at the enchanting view
opening away to the north and north-west. At our feet was
the Virgin Valley with the green fields of Tokerville, while
beyond rose magnificent cliffs culminating to the north-west in
the giant buttes and precipices of the Mookoontoweap, or, as
the Mormons call it. Little Zion Valley. Topping the whole
sweep of magnificent kaleidoscopic topography were the Pine

Back to the Uinkarets 191

Valley Mountains and the lofty cliffs of the Colob and Markar-
gunt plateaus. It has ever since been my opinion that few
outlooks in all the world are superior for colour and form to
that stretching north from the northern part of the Hurricane
Ledge.'

Descending to the valley we arrived just at dusk at Berry*s
Spring, where our waggon under the direction of Jones had
come with supplies. The spring was an excellent one and the
rivulet flowing away from it was bordered with large wild-rose
bushes. Though the waggon and supplies were there Jones
was not, for we had expected to come in from farther west past
Fort Pierce, and he had gone on to that place to tell us where he
had decided to camp. Clem had found his gun and come out
with them, the others of the party being Fennemore and George
Adair. Jones came back the next day and prepared to start
with Andy, and Johnson for several days* work in the Pine
Valley Mountains, while Jack, Captain Dodds, Fennemore,
and I were to return to the Uinkaret region to complete cer-
tain work there. Some goods to be distributed to the natives
from the Indian Bureau arrived at St. George and Prof, went
there with George Adair to have a talk with the Indians to be
found, and distribute goods. We had seen no Indians at all
in the Uinkaret region. He discovered the Shewits who came
in to be afraid of us, thinking we wanted to kill them, but they
were willing to accept anything they could get in the line of
presents. Hardly any would acknowledge themselves to be
either Uinkarets or Shewits.

On April 12th, according to the plan. Jack, Dodds, Fenne-
more, and I started back to the Uinkaret Mountains, following
the trail we had tried to strike coming out. It led past a place
called Fort Pierce, a small stone building the settlers had
formerly used as an advance post against the Shewits and
Uinkarets. There we spent the night, and the next day after
some trouble we got on the right trail, and on Monday, the
15th of April, we again reached what we had called Oak Spring,
near Mount Trumbull, and the southern flow of lava already

* For a description of Little Zion Valley, see "A New Valley of Wonders," by
F. S. Dellenbaugh, Scribners Magazine, January, 1904,

192 A Canyon Voyage

described. The following day Jack and Fennemore went down
to the brink of the Grand Canyon, at the foot of a sort of
valley the Uinkarets called Toroweap, while with Dodds I
climbed the peak later named after Senator Logan, and at-
tempted some triangulation, but the air was so murky I could
not get my sights and had to return for them the next morning.
The day after that we climbed Mount Trumbull, and I trian-
gulated from there. One of my sights from Logan was to
a conical butte near which we had camped as we came out,
and near which we had found a large ant-hill covered with
small, perfect quartz crystals that sparkled in the sun like
diamonds. When I sighted to this butte, for want of a better
name, I recorded it temporarily as Diamond Butte, remember-
ing the crystals, and the name became fixed, which shows how
unintentionally names are sometimes bestowed. We examined
the lava flows and the crater again, and I made a sketch in
pencil from another point of view from one I had made during
our former sojourn. Then we joined Jack and Fennemore,
who had been taking negatives at the canyon edge. On the
20th Dodds and I climbed down the cliffs about three thousand
feet to the water at a rapid called Lava Falls. Across the river
we could see a very large spring, but of course we could not
get over to it. Returning to Oak Spring, we spent there
another night, and in the morning, while the others started for
headquarters, I rode around to the ranch to inquire about a
spring I had heard something about existing on the St. George
trail; but the solitary man I found there, who came out of the
woods in response to my shout, a walking arsenal, did not
know anything concerning it. After drinking a quart or two
of milk, which he kindly offered me, I rode on to join my com-
panions by continuing around the mountain, " running in " the
trail as I went with a prismatic compass. Presently I saw a
cougar sitting upright behind a big log, calmly staring at me,
so I dismounted and sent a Winchester bullet in his direction.
My mule was highly nervous about firearms, and having to
restrain her antics by putting my arm through the bridle rein,
her snorting skittishness both at the rifle and the cougar dis-
turbed my aim and my shot went a trifle under. The bullet

Riding Alone 193

seemed to clip the log, but if it hit the cougar the effect was
not what I expected, for with a rush like a sky-rocket the
animal disappeared in the top of the pine tree overhead, and I
could see nothing more of it though I rode about looking
for it. Not wishing to dally here, I spurred on to overtake
my party, but in trying a short cut I passed beyond them, as
they had by that time halted in some cedars for lunch. The
man at the ranch had told me that Whitmore was due to arrive
that day, and having missed a part of the trail by the short
cut, I could not judge by the tracks as to where my party
were, and not caring to waste time, I rode on and on till I had
gone so far I did not want to turn back. Evening came, but
there was a good moon, and I did not stop till eight o'clock.
The night was cold ; the plain was barren and bleak. I had
no coat, but with the saddle blanket and a handful of dead
brush, which I burned by installments, I managed to warm
myself enough to sleep by short intervals. I was on my feet
with the dawn, but my mule was nowhere to be seen, though I
had hoppled her well with my bridle reins. I tracked the mule
about five miles to a muddy place where there had been water,
caught her, and rode back to my saddle, when I continued my
journey, running in the trail as I went. I became pretty thirsty
and hungry, but the only thing for me to do was to continue
to our main camp. Had I gone back I might have missed our
men again, for there had been some talk about a short-cut
trail, and I feared they might try it. At two o'clock I reached
Black Rock Canyon, where there was a water-pocket full of
warm and dirty water, but both the mule and I took a drink
and I rode on, passing Fort Pierce at sunset. Off on my
right I perceived ten or twelve Shewits Indians on foot
travelling rapidly along in Indian file, and as the darkness
fell and I had to go through some wooded gulches I con-
fess I was a little uncomfortable and kept my rifle in read-
iness; but I was not molested and reached camp about ten
o'clock, where I ate a large piece of bread with molasses,
after a good drink of water, and went to bed. The others
arrived the following afternoon. I had left notes for them
by the trail in cleft-sticks, so they knew that I was ahead.

194 A Canyon Voyage

This was the longest trip I ever made without water or
food.

We prepared to start out again in different directions ; one
party was to go to the Pine Valley Mountains, another to Pipe
Spring and the mouth of the Paria to look after our property
there, a third up the Virgin Valley for photographs, and a
fourth to St. George and the Virgin range of mountains south-
west of that town. Prof, headed this last party, and he took
me as his topographical assistant. April 27th we rode into St.
George, a town I was much interested to see. I found a very
pretty, neat, well-ordered little city of about fifteen hundred
population, with a good schoolhouse, a stone tabernacle with a
spire, and a court house, the water running in ditches along
the streets for irrigating purposes as well as for drinking.
About a mile below the town we camped, and we could hear
the band playing a serenade to one of the officials who was to
start the next day on a long journey. After several days of
feeling our way about in the rugged and dry region below St.
George, we finally discovered a good water-pocket, from which
Prof, and I made a long, hard ride and climb, and about sunset
camped at the base of what is now called Mount Bangs, the
highest peak of the Virgin Mountains, for which we were
aiming. The next day we climbed an additional eleven hun-
dred feet to its summit, and completed our work in time by
swift riding to get to our main camp at the water-pocket by
half-past six.

It was an easy trip back to St. George, following an old
trail, and then we made our way to Kanab again, where we
put all our notes in shape and fitted out for the journey to the
mouth of the Dirty Devil across the unknown country.

►5 >>

CHAPTER XIII

Ofif for the unknown Country — A lonely Grave — Climbing a Hog-back to a
green grassy Valley — Surprising a Ute Camp— Towich-a-tick-a-boo — Follow-
ing a Blind Trail — The Unknown Mountains Become Known — Down a deep
Canyon — To the Paria with the Canonita — ^John D. Lee and Lonely Dell.

ANDY and Captain Dodds, who had gone to the mouth
of the Paria to ascertain the condition of our boats,
returned May 15th, reporting the boats all right, but the caches
we had left torn up by wolves and prospectors. The latter
had stolen oars and other things, and gone down on a raft to
be wrecked at the first rapid in Marble Canyon, where they
just escaped with their lives. A settler had established himself
there a short time before, the notorious John D. Lee, who was
reputed to have led the massacre of the unfortunate Missourians
at Mountain Meadows in 1857, ^^^ who had eluded capture
all these years. He had been "cut off,** nominally at least,
from the Mormon Church, and had lived in the most out-of-
the-way places, constantly on his guard. Our men took all
our ropes and remaining materials from the caches to his cabin,
where they would be safe till our arrival. We prepared for the
trip eastward across the unknown country to the mouth of
the Dirty Devil River, and by the 22d of May I had completed
the preliminary map of the region to westward which we had
just reconnoitred. Mrs. Thompson was to stay in Kanab, for
Prof, decided that it would not be advisable for her to accom-
pany him on this journey, although she was the most cheerful
and resolute explorer of the whole company. A large tent
was erected for her in the corner of Jacob's garden, ahd she
was to take her meals with Sister Louisa, whose house stood
close by. With Fuzz, a most intelligent dog, for a companion

195

196 A Canyon Voyage

in her tent and the genial Sister Louisa for a near neighbour
she was satisfactorily settled. Fuzz had the pecuHarity of
sympathising with the Navajos in their contempt for the Pai
Utes. The latter roused his ire on the instant, but when a
Navajo came up, with his confident step, Fuzz would lie still,
with merely a roll of the eye to signify that he was on guard.

Saturday, May 25th, our caravan of riders, pack animals,
and a waggon moved slowly toward Eight-Mile Spring, the
first stop in prospect. I rode a brisk little horse which had
received the lofty name of Aaron. When we reached Eight-
Mile Spring about noon there was barely enough water for our
animals and for cooking dinner, which compelled our going
elsewhere to put on the finishing touches to our outfit before
cutting loose from the settlements, and Prof, directed the
caravan to continue to Johnson, farther east and up one of
the canyons of the Vermilion Cliffs. He returned to Kanab
to make some final arrangements there, while we kept on to
Johnson, passing the little settlement of two or three houses,
and making a camp two miles above, where the canyon bottom
was wide and level. Here we went over everything to be sure
that all was in good order and nothing left behind. The
animals were reshod where necessary, which operation kept
Andy and Dodds busy all of Sunday, the 26th. By thus
making a start and proceeding a few miles all defects and
neglects become apparent before it is too late to remedy them.
On Monday Jack went back to Kanab with the waggon, re-
turning toward night with George Adair. Fennemore had
started with them, but he had turned back after something
forgotten, and they did not know whether or not he had come
on. In the morning George went off to look for him, and met
him down at the settlement. He had followed on the day
before, but instead of turning up the Johnson road, according
to instructions, he had gone ahead on the road towards the
Paria settlement. Finally concluding that he was wrong he
had tried to correct his mistake by moonlight, but after a while
gave it up, tied his mule, unsaddled, to a cedar, and claimed
the protection of another for himself. During the night the
mule chewed the bridle in two and departed for Kanab, leaving

The Last Settlement 197

Fennemore, when daylight came, to walk some eight miles under
a hot sun without water or breakfast to Johnson. He was con-
siderably used up by this episode, and put in the remainder of
the day in recuperating. The evenings were wonderfully beau-
tiful, and looking from a height the scene was exceptionally
picturesque, with the red rocks, the warm sky, the camp equi-
page, and the air so still that the smoke of the camp-fires rose
slender and unbroken till lost in the zenith.

Early Wednesday morning Prof, rode up on his powerful
buckskin-coloured horse, and with Johnson and me went over
to our Point B some miles away for some bearings, while
Fennemore rode in search of his abandoned saddle. By night
there was nothing to interfere with our making the final start,
which we did May 30th, proceeding up the canyon without
Mormon, one of our strongest horses, which by an accident
had been injured so badly that he had to be left behind at
Johnson. He was a fractious, unruly beast, but with so great
vitality that we were sorry not to have his services. He died a
week or two later. Towards night we passed another very
small settlement called Clarkston, and camped near it, the last
houses we would see for some time. Several Pai Utes hung
around, and Prof, engaged one called Tom to accompany us as
interpreter and, so far as he might know the country, as guide.

The next day, after sixteen miles north-easterly up canyons,
we entered about three o'clock an exceedingly beautiful little
valley, with a fine spring and a small lake or pond at the lower
end. George Adair instantly declared that he meant to come
back here to live, and after dinner when we reconnoitred the
place he staked out his claim. All the next morning, June
1st, our way led over rolling meadows covered with fine grass,
but about noon this ended and we entered the broken country
of the upper Paria, with gullies and gulches barren and dry the
rest of the day, except two, in which we crossed small branches
of the Paria. In one of the dry gulches we passed a grave,
marked by a sandstone slab with E. A. cut on it, which the
wolves had dug out, leaving the human bones scattered all
around. We could not stop to reinter them. They were the
remains of Elijah Averett, a young Mormon, who was killed

198 A Canyon Voyage

while pursuing Pai Utes in 1866. Just before sunset we arrived
at the banks of the Paria, where we made camp, with plenty of
wood, water, and grass. Captain Dodds during the afternoon
recognised a place he had been in when hunting a way the
autumn before, and we followed his old trail for a time. Leaving
the Paria the following day where it branches, we followed the
east fork to its head, twelve miles, climbing rapidly through a
narrow valley. We could plainly see on the left a high, flat, cliff-
bounded summit, which was called Table Mountain, and early
in the afternoon we reached a series of " hog-backs," up one of
which the old Indian trail we were now following took its pre-
carious way. The hog-backs were narrow ridges of half-disin-
tegrated clay-shale, with sides like the roof a house, the trail
following the sharp summit-line. Before we had fairly begun
this very steep, slippery, and narrow climb, the thunder boomed
and the heavens threw down upon us fierce torrents of rain,
soaking everything and chilling us through and through, while
making the trail like wet soap. Part way up, at one of the
worst places, a pack came loose, and, slipping back, hung on
the rump of the horse. There was no room for bucking it off,
and there was no trouble so far as the beast of burden was con-
cerned, for he realised fully his own danger. Two of us man-
aged to climb along past the other animals to where he meekly
stood waiting on the narrow ridge, with a descent on each side
of eight hundred or nine hundred feet, and set things in order
once more, when the cavalcade continued the ascent, the total
amount of which was some twelve hundred feet.

Arriving at the top we found ourselves almost immedi-
ately on the edge of a delightful little valley, mossy and green
with a fresh June dress, down which we proceeded two or three
miles to a spring where Dodds and Jacob had made a cache of
some flour the year before. The flour had disappeared. We
made a camp and dried out our clothes, blankets, etc., by,
means of large fires. Though it was summer the air was de-
cidedly chilly, for we were at an altitude of nearly 6000 feet.
Our interpreter that was to be did not enjoy the situation and
I think he dreaded meeting with the stranger Indians we might
encounter. He declared he was "heap sick," and begged to

On the Wrong River 199

be allowed to return, so Prof, gave him several days' rations
and we saw him no more. There was a pretty creek in this
valley flowing eastward, which Dodds said was the head of the
Dirty Devil, the same stream he had followed down the year
before in the attempt to find a way to bring us rations. The
weather was very bad but we kept on down Potato Valley as it
had been named, crossing three or four swift tributaries. About
four o'clock we stopped beside a raging torrent and went into
camp to reconnoitre. There were signs of some one having
been here about a month before, and as the animals were shod
we judged it was some prospector. The next day was so
wet and Prof, was feeling so sick that we kept our camp, having
made tents out of paulins and pack-covers, which gave me a
chance to plot up the trail from Kanab to this point, one hun-
dred and three miles. Instead of crossing the torrent the
following day, June 5th, we went over the chief stream be-
fore the union and travelled down the right-hand side till we
arrived within half a mile of the place where the river can-
yoned and received a tributary from the left. It cut into the
rocks very abruptly and being high we could not enter the
canyon as Dodds had done. While the party camped here,
Prof, and Dodds rode away to the south on a dim trail to find
out what move to make; how far we might be able to go down
the Dirty Devil the next day. When they got back they re-
ported finding a canyon twelve miles farther on, with many
water-pockets, and concluded to go there. We arrived about
noon Thursday, June 6th, making camp. Prof, and Dodds
then climbed to where they could get a wide view, and Dodds
pointed out the locality he had before reached when he
thought himself so near the mouth of the Dirty Devil. No
sooner had he done so than Prof, perceived at once that we
were not on the river we thought we were on, for by this ex-
planation he saw that the stream we were trying to descend
flowed into the Colorado far to the south-west of the Unknown
Mountains, whereas he knew positively that the Dirty Devil
came in on the north-east. Then the question was, " What
river is this? " for we had not noted a tributary of any size
between the Dirty Devil and the San Juan. It was a new river

200 A Canyon Voyage

whose identity had not been fathomed. This discovery put a
different complexion on everything. The problem was more
complicated than Dodds had imagined when he was trying to
reach the mouth the year before.

Prof, declared it was impossible to proceed farther in this
direction towards our goal. The canyon of the river was nar-
row, and with the stream swimming high it was out of the
question as a path for us now, and even had we been able to
go down far enough to get out on the other side, the region
intervening between it and the distant mountains was a hetero-
geneous conglomeration of unknown mesas and canyons that
appeared impassable. He concluded the only thing to do was
to go north to the summit of the Wasatch cliffs and keep along
the high land north-east to an angle where these slopes vanished
to the north. From that point we might be able to cross to
the Dirty Devil or Unknown Mountains. Once at these moun-
tains we felt certain of finding a way to our former camp-ground
at the mouth of the Dirty Devil River. We retraced our path
to the foot of Potato Valley, and there Jones, Clem, and George
Adair were sent out to Kanab for additional rations, it being
plain that we were in for a longer effort than had been contem-
plated. They were to be here again in twelve days to meet
Prof, with his party, on the return from starting down the
Canonita with a crew selected from the seven remaining men.
This seven, which included Prof., were now to strike up a branch
creek and reach the upper slopes of what he later called the
Aquarius Plateau, and along its verdant slopes continue our
effort to reach the Unknown Mountains. The two parties sepa-
rated on Saturday, June 8th, our contingent travelling about
eighteen miles nearly due north, till just at sunset we entered a
high valley in which flowed two splendid creeks. There we
camped with an abundance of everything needed to make a
comfortable rest for man and beast. In such travel as this the
beast is almost the first consideration, for without him move-
ment is slow and difficult and distance limited. We had gone
up in altitude a great deal, 1800 or 2CXX) feet, and the next day,
which was Sunday, we continued this upward course, seeing
signs of deer and elk with an occasional sight of a fat " pine

^r ^^ ■ ■ *^ -»

/Li:^t>. 7^^/Jr». •' ■ #:^

-y

Navajo Mountain from near Kaiparowits Peak.

Photograph by J. K. Hillers, 1872.

The Unknown Country 201

hen " winging its heavy flight from tree to tree. The pines
were very tall and thick, interspersed with fir and balsam as
well as with the usual accompaniment of high altitude in the
West, the aspen. Our aneroids indicated 10,000 feet above sea-
level, and we could look down upon the vast canyoned desert
to the south as on a map. Descending into a deep canyon
where a clear torrent was foaming down at the rate of five
hundred feet to the mile, we went up a branch and finally
passing over a sudden crest discovered before us a very beauti-
ful lake of an extent of some two hundred acres. It was now
late, and though we had come only ten miles we went into
camp for the night. There were several smaller lagoons nearby
and we named the group the Aspen Lakes. Around them
in the dense groves huge snowbanks still lingered from the
heart of winter. A prettier mountain region than this could
not be imagined, while the magnificent outlook to the south
and east across the broken country was a bewildering sight,
especially as the night enveloped it, deepening the mystery of
its entangled gorges and cliffs. From every point we could see
the Navajo Mountain and at least we knew what there was at
the foot of its majestic northern slope. I climbed far above
camp and crossing over a promontory looked down upon the
nebulous region to the eastward that we were to fathom, and it
seemed to me one of the most interesting sights I had ever
beheld. The night was so cold that ice formed in our kettles,
for our altitude in feet above sea was in the ten thousand still.
All the next morning, Monday, June loth, we rode through
a delightful region of rolling meadows, beautiful groves of
pines and aspens, and cool, clear creeks. Near noon we de-
scended into a fertile valley where we crossed two superb
torrential streams and camped at the second under a giant
pine. Fennemore felt very sick, which prevented further pro-
gress this day, and we put in the afternoon exploring as far as
we could the neighbourhood. More lakes were found and as
they were in a cup-like depression we called them the " Hidden
Lakes.** Jack made some fine negatives of several of these
pretty bodies of water, two of which I have added to the illus-
trations of this volume. Not far from our camp two more

202 A Canyon Voyage

splendid creeks came together to form one, which Dodds
said he thought was that named by them Big Boulder, where
it joined the main stream down below. The next morning,
Tuesday, we began our day's work by soon crossing Cataract
and Cascade creeks before they united to form the Big Boulder,
rushing down with an impetuosity that was forbidding. The
two forming creeks were much alike, but we could see back in
the distance a beautiful cascade of fully looo feet in which the
second stream originated, and we distinguished it by that name.
All day we travelled over a rancher's paradise, meeting no In-
dians and seeing no recent signs of any except in some filmy
smoke mounting mysteriously from canyons in the tangled
sandstone labyrinth below. Who were they, how many, and
what might be their temper ? were questions that came to us
as we reflected on the presence there of unknown human beings,
and furthermore would we meet them, and if so when ? As on
the preceding day we crossed many fine brooks which in the
dry season probably would not make so vigorous a showing.
Late in the afternoon, having travelled fifteen miles, we reached
the point where the end of the Wasatch or Aquarius Plateau,
the high slope of which we were using as a bridge from Potato
Valley to the Unknown Mountains, broke back to the north,
cutting us off once more from our objective, for a wide stretch,
twenty-five miles in an airline, of ragged desert apparently im-
passable still intervened. We camped there at a convenient
little spring. In the morning I was sent with Johnson for my
companion in one direction down the mountain to look for some
old trail, while Prof, with Dodds went in another. Scarcely had
I gone half a mile when I found tolerably fresh Indian sign, and
a mile or two farther on we struck a recently travelled trail.
The horses that had gone over it were unshod and there were
moccasin tracks indicating Indians without a doubt, but what
kind of course the track did not reveal. The trail led towards
the Dirty Devil Mountains, and we followed it three or four
miles to ascertain with certainty its general course. There was
a possibility of our stumbling upon the Indians in camp at
some bend, and as this was not desirable for only two of us we
turned back as soon as we felt sure of the direction. Prof, had

A Difficult Trail 203

seen no trail at all, and he said we would take the one I had
found and follow it. That night was disagreeable and rainy
with numberless mosquitoes, but worst of all one of our new
men always snored till the ground shook, and owing to the rain
we could not get away from him, for we had to remain in the
improvised tent to keep dry.

The morning light never was more welcome and we were
all up early. The day was fair. We were soon off and made
our way down from the grassy heights to the trail, tracing its
wearisome twists and turns, sometimes thinking it was not
going our way at all when the next turn would be exactly right.
In general its course was about east. The land was desolate
and dry, and exactly as the region appeared from above, a
complete labyrinth of variously coloured cliffs and canyons.
Besides being very crooked on account of the nature of the
topography, the trail at times was indistinct because of the
barren rocks, smooth as a floor, with nothing to take an imprint.
In these places we were obliged to make the best guess we
could. We came to a place where a valley lay about 1800
feet below us, with the descent to it over bare, smooth, white
sandstone almost as steep as a horse could stand on. We
travelled a mile and a half over this and then found ourselves
in a better looking region where, after a few miles, we discovered
a beautiful creek flowing rapidly. There was plenty of good
grass and we made our camp beneath some cottonwood trees,
having accomplished twenty miles the way we came. Smoke
of an Indian fire was rolling up about three miles below us, but
we paid little attention to it. Every man delayed putting
down his blankets till the champion snorer had selected the site
of his bed, and then we all got as far away as the locality would
permit. Having slept little the night before, we hardly stirred
till morning, and in gratitude we called the stream Pleasant
Creek without an attempt at originality.

It was Friday, May 14th, and our long cavalcade proceeded
in the usual single file down along the creek in the direction of
the Indian smoke. Scarcely had we gone three miles when sud-
denly we heard a yell and the bark of a dog. Then we discovered
two squaws on the other side who had been gathering seeds,

204 A Canyon Voyage

and who were now giving the alarm, for we were'^lose upon an
Indian camp set on the edge of a low hill on the opposite side
of the creek. Our outfit presented rather a formidable appear-
ance, especially as we were an unexpected apparition, and we
could see them all running to hide, though I thought for a
moment we might have a battle. Without a halt. Prof, led the
way across the creek to the foot of the hill, and as we reached
the place one poor old man left as a sacrifice came tottering
down, so overcome by fear that he could barely articulate,
** Hah-ro-ro-roo, towich-a-tick-a-boo," meaning very friendly he
was, and extending his trembling hand. Doubtless he expected
to be shot on the instant. With a laugh we each shook his
hand in turn saying " towich-a-tick-a-boo, old man," and rode
up the hill into the camp, where we found all the wickiups with
everything lying about just as they had been using it at the
moment of receiving the alarm. We dismounted and inducing
the terrified old man to sit down in one of the wickiups. Prof,
sat with him and we rolled cigarettes, giving him one, and
when all were smoking, except Prof, who never used tobacco,
we urged him in English and Pai Ute and by signs to call the
others back. I walked a few yards out on the hill and just
then, with a rush and a clatter of language I could not under-
stand, except " Impoo immy pshakai ? ' ' (What do you want ?)
the two squaws who had been up the creek arrived. The fore-
most one, frothing at the mouth with excitement and effort,
dashed at me with an uplifted butcher knife as if she would
enjoy sending it into me, but I laughed at her and she halted
immediately in front of me. She broke into a maniacal laugh
then and shouted something to the hidden refugees. We
persuaded the old man also to call them, and he stepped out
from the cedars which grew on the point and spoke a loud
sentence. At last they began to appear silently and one by
one. There were eight of the men, all well dressed in buck-
skin, and a number of women and children. When they
became confident that we really meant to be friendly
they relaxed their vigilance. With the hope of securing
a guide and also to study them a little we went into camp
in the creek bottom under the hill where they came to

Red Lake Utes 205

visit us. Their language and appearance showed them to be
Utes.

When Prof, got back to Kanab he heard that a party of
Red Lake Utes had killed a white boy near the Sevier settle-
ments, and he concluded this band must have been the one.
They probably thought we were pursuing them into their
secret lair to punish them. Their great anxiety to trade for
powder indicated their lack of that article and partly explained
the precipitousness of their retreat They had numbers of well
dressed buckskins and a very small amount of powder would
buy one, but as we had only metallic cartridges we could do
little in the line of exchange. To satisfy one of them that we
had no loose powder I removed the spring from the magazine
of my Winchester and poured the sixteen cartridges out. He
had never seen such a gun before and was greatly astonished,
though he hardly understood how it worked. Prof, tried his
best to persuade one to go with us as a guide, for the labyrinth
ahead was a puzzle, but whether through fear or disinclination
to leave friends not one would go. The chief gave us a minute
description of the trail to the Unknown or Dirty Devil Moun-
tains as well as he could by signs and words, some of which we
could not understand, and long afterwards we learned that his
information was exactly correct, though at the time through
misunderstanding we were not able to follow it. They also
told us there was a trail to the big river beyond the mountains.

There was a little canyon in the creek nearby and the water
rushed down over a bed of bare rock at an angle of about
twenty degrees. We were surprised to discover hundreds of
fish six to nine inches long wriggling up the stream along one
edge where the water was very shallow. They formed a line
from top to bottom.

Unable to secure the guide, we left at six o'clock in the
morning, Saturday, June 15th, with all our relations cordial,
the Utes going away before we did, and struck out on the trail
which led south-eastward from this camp. Travelling twelve
miles, we passed through a narrow canyon into a larger one,
believing that we were following the chief's direction. Recent
heavy rains had washed out the trail, and not knowing its course

2o6 A Canyon Voyage

it was impossible to keep even its general direction. Going
up a left-hand branch of the canyon — that is, to the north —
we found no exit, so we came down and followed a trail up the
right-hand branch till it disappeared, then going back once
more to the entrance we again went up the left-hand branch
till we came to a vertical wall one thousand feet high, which
turned us around. The right-hand one was entered another
time, and towards its head where the cliflFs could not be climbed
we made camp, with an abundance of water which was so
strongly alkaline we could not use it and had to keep the
stock from it also. Our kegs were full and we did not suffer
except by limitation. In the morning we continued up the
same canyon till it ended in vertical cliffs, beneath which there
was a large pool of pure cool water, with ferns clinging above
it to the rocks and rank vegetation all around. This was an
immense relief, and we found it hard to turn our backs on so
attractive a spot and go down the gorge once more to a point
not far below our last camp. Here the walls were about a
thousand feet and very precipitous, though somewhat broken.
Prof., Jack, Dodds, and I climbed out on the north and hunted
for water in different directions on the top. I kept on and on
down a dry wash, persisting against the objection of Dodds,
who thought it useless, and was at last rewarded by discovering
a pocket among the rocks containing several barrels of water,
with another that was larger a short distance below in a crevice
on a rock-shelf at the brink of a canyon.

We returned to camp with this news, where Prof, and Jack
soon joined us. They had found no pockets, but had seen the
divide between the waters of the Colorado and the Dirty Devil,
which we could follow to the mountains if we could scale the
cliffs. Prof, had selected a point where he thought we could
mount. With a liberal use of axe, shovel, and pick we suc-
ceeded in gaining the summit in an hour and a half. With all
the cliff-climbing we had done with horses this seemed to me
our paramount achievement. The day was ending by this
time, and I led the way with some trepidation towards the
pocket I had found, for in my haste to get back I had not care-
fully noted the topography. The cedars and piflons all looked

Tantalus Creek.

Tributary of Frdmont River.

Photograph by J. K. Hillers.

Two Water- Pockets 207

alike in the twilight shades, and as I went on and on the men
behind began to lose faith and made joking remarks about my
mental status. I felt certain I was right, yet the distance
seemed so much greater in the dusk than when I had traversed
it on foot that I was a little disturbed. By the time we at last
got to the pocket darkness was upon us, though nobody cared
for anything but water, and there it was fresh and pure. The
animals and ourselves (Andy filling the kettles first) consumed
the entire amount, but it gave each a full drink, and we held
the second pool in reserve.

When morning came we engineered a way for the animals
down to the shelf where the other pocket was, twenty or thirty
feet below, by pulling rocks away in places and piling them up
in others. The shelf was perhaps fifty or sixty feet wide, with
a sheer plunge of one thousand feet at the outer end into the
first canyon we had followed. The animals could not get to
the water, but we dipped it out for them in the camp kettles.
The way up from the shelf was so very steep that at one point
two of us had to put our shoulders to the haunches of some of
the horses to " boost " them, while other men pulled on a strong
halter from above, and in this way we soon had them all
watered and ready for pack and saddle. Keeping along the
divide we had comparatively easy going, with the Unknown
Mountains ever looming nearer, till their blue mystery vanished
and we could discern ordinary rocks and trees composing their
slopes. About noon we arrived at the edge of an intervening
valley, with the wind blowing so fierce a gale that we could
barely see. Crossing this depression we reached a small creek
at the foot of the second mountain from the north (now Mt.
Pennell), and climbed its slope seventeen hundred feet to a
beautiful spring, where we camped, with plenty of fine grass
for the famished horses. We had at last traversed the un-
known to the unknown, and felt well satisfied with our success.
If it had ever been done before by white men there was no
knowledge of it.

The temperature was so low that water froze in the camp
kettles, and next morning, June i8th, the thermometer stood
at 28° F., with the water of the little brook running from the

2o8 A Canyon Voyage

spring at 37° F. After breakfast Prof., Jack, and Dodds climbed
the mountain on which we were camped, running their aneroid
out, while with Johnson I went down the slope north, crossed
the pass, and cHmbed the first mountain (now Mt. Ellen, after
Mrs. Thompson). A severe snow-storm set in, and when we
had finally attained a point where our aneroid indicated 11,200
feet above sea-level, we were obliged to turn back because of
the lateness of the hour and having no coats, no food, or water.
When we reached camp on the other mountain night had come.
Andy had been trying to cook some beans, but the high alti-
tude prevented the water from getting hot enough and the
operation was incomplete.^ I foolishly ate some of the beans,
being very hungry, with the result that I was sick for the first
time on the expedition, suffering a horrible stomach-ache.
Though not disabled I was extremely uncomfortable. In the
morning we started to go around north through the pass to
the east side of the mountain, and I ran in the trail as usual,
mounting and dismounting many times, till I was extremely
glad after eight miles when we came to the head of a little
creek and stopped to enable Prof, to climb the third peak (Mt.
Hillers) for observations. While he was gone I was content to
lie still in the shade of a bush, and finally lost my pain in sleep.
Prof, got back so late that we camped where we were, much to
my satisfaction. The view from our camp was extensive and
magnificent, the w^hole Dirty Devil region lying open, like a
book, below us.

We were striking for the creek up which Prof, and Cap.
had come the year before from the river, for we knew that
from its mouth we could easily get to where our Canonita was
cached. The next day, June 20th, we continued down Trachyte
Creek, as Prof, called it, till four o'clock, passing many old
camps and grazing grounds, when we halted for Prof, to climb
to a height. The outlook there showed him that this was not
the stream whose canyon below we wanted to descend to the
river, so the following morning he took Dodds and recon-

^ We had not yet learned to put a tight cover on the bean pot, and then by
means of a big stone on the cover and a hot fire create an artificial atmosphere
within it, thus raising the temperature.

^' Wdij *

AJ. 1 CHJ>«J t Mil— H

down four miles to the large Shinumo house. Jack rowed the
stern oars, Johnson the bow, I steered, while Fennemore sat on

(

1 not yet learned to p«fHiPtffWP»5VCT on tlie bean 'pot, and ir.,
means of a big stone on the cover and a hot fire create an artificial atmosphere
within it, thus raising the temperature.

At the Colorado 209

noitred, the latter after a while returning with orders for us to
come on eastward to another canyon. We left Trachyte Creek
and reached Prof, at two o'clock. He had prospected a trail,
or rather a way, to descend into the canyon over the smooth
bare sandstone across which we wound back and forth for a
mile, constantly going down into the strange, weird depths till at
last we reached the creek bed, where a short distance below we
went into camp in a beautiful green Cottonwood grove, with
enormous pockets of good water close by. By seven o'clock
in the morning of the 22d we were going on down the deep,
narrow canyon, and arrived at the Colorado at half -past ten.
The river was at least fifteen feet higher than last year, and
rushed by with a majestic power that was impressive. Our
first unusual incident was when Prof.'s horse, in trying to drink
from a soft bank, dropped down into the swift current and
gave us half an hour's difficult work to get him out. When
we had eaten dinner we all went up to the mouth of the Dirty
Devil, where we had stored the Canonita, and rejoiced to find
her lying just as we left her, except that the water had risen
to that level and washed away one of the oars. We caulked
the boat temporarily, launched her once more on the sweeping
tide, and in two minutes were at our camp, where we hauled
her out for the repairs necessary to make her sound for the
run to the Paria.

Sunday was the next day, June 23d, and while the others
rested I plotted in the trail by which we had crossed to this
place so that Prof, could take it out with him, as he decided
that Jack, Johnson, Fennemore, and I were to take the boat
down, while he, Andy, and Dodds would go back overland
to meet Jones and George Adair at the foot of Potato Valley.
At five o'clock they left us, going up the same canyon we had
come down and which we called Lost Creek Canyon, now
Crescent Creek. The next day we recaulked and painted the
boat, and I put the name Canonita in red letters on the stern
and a red star on each side of the bow. By Wednesday the
26th she was all ready and we put her in the water and ran
down four miles to the large Shinumo house. Jack rowed the
stern oars, Johnson the bow, I steered, while Fennemore sat on

2IO A Canyon Voyage

the middle deck. The high water completely obliterated the
aggravating shoals which had bothered us the year before, and
we had no work at all except to steer or to land, the current
carrying us along at a good pace. We stopped occasionally
for pictures and notes and got about everything that Jack and
Fennemore wanted in the line of photographs. The Fourth of
July we celebrated by firing fourteen rounds, and I made a lemon
cake and a peach-pie for dinner. On Sunday the 8th we passed
the mouth of the stream that had been mistaken for the Dirty
Devil, and which Prof, had named Escalante River. It was
narrow and shallow and would not be taken at its mouth for
so important a tributary. The next day we passed the San
Juan which was running a very large stream, and camped at
the Music Temple, where I cut Jack's name and mine under
those of the Rowlands and Dunn. The rapid below was dash-
ing but easy and we ran it without stopping to examine. On
Friday the I2th we came to El Vado and dug up a cache we
had made there the year before. Our rations for some time
were nothing but bread and coffee, and we were glad to see
the Echo Peaks and then run in at the mouth of the Paria on
Saturday, July 13th, with the expectation of finding men and
supplies. The Dean was lying high and dry on the bank and
we wondered who had taken her from her hiding-place. Firing
our signal shots and receiving no answer. Jack and I went up
the Paria, crossing it on a log, and saw a cabin and a farm on the
west side. This we knew must be Lee's. He was ploughing
in a field, and when he first sighted us he seemed a little startled,
doubtless thinking we might be officers to arrest him. One of
his wives, Rachel, went into the cabin not far off and peered
out at us. She was a fine shot as I afterwards learned. Lee
received us pleasantly and invited us to take our meals at his
house till our party came. As we had nothing but bread and
coffee and not much of these we accepted. The fresh vege-
tables out of the garden, which his other wife, Mrs. Lee XVIII.,
served nicely cooked, seemed the most delicious food that could
be prepared. Mrs. Lee XVIII. was a stout, comely young woman
of about twenty-five, with two small children, and seemed to
be entirely happy in the situation. The other wife, whose

►3 2

Gardening 211

number I did not learn, left before dark for a house they had at
Jacob's Pool and I never saw her again.

Lee had worked hard since his arrival early in the year and
now had his farm in fairly good order with crops growing, well
irrigated by the water he took out of the Paria. He called the
place Lonely Dell, and it was not a misnomer. Johnson made
arrangements to go to Kanab the next day, as he concluded
that his health would not permit him to go through the Grand
Canyon with us, so this was our last night with him. Lee gave
me his own version of the Mountain Meadows Massacre claim-
ing that he really had nothing to do with it and had tried to
stop it, and when he could not do so he went to his house and
cried. The Pai Utes ever after called him Naguts or Crybaby.'

In the morning, Sunday, July 14th, Johnson departed with
Lee and we expected someone to arrive to bring us news of
the Major and Prof., but the sun went down once more without
any message. We felt sure that Prof, got out of the Dirty Devil
country without accident, but we wanted some definite infor-
mation of it and we also desired to know when we would resume
the canyon voyage. On Monday having nothing else to do
we took some hoes and worked in Lee's garden till near noon,
when we heard yells which proved to come from Andy and
Clem with a waggon needing some help over bad places. We
soon had the waggon in a good spot under some willows and
there speedily ransacked it for mail, spending the rest of the
day reading letters and newspapers. Andy told us that Prof,
had reached Kanab with no trouble of any kind. Mrs. Lee
XVIII., or Sister Emma, as she would in Utah properly be
called, invited us to dinner and supper, and the next day we
worked in the garden again, repaired the irrigating ditch, and
helped about the place in a general way, glad enough to have
some occupation even though the sun was burning hot and the
thermometer stood at 1 10° in the shade. Almost every day we
did some work in the garden and we also repaired the irrigating
dam.

Our camp was across the Paria down by the Colorado, and

' Lee was executed for the crime five years later, 1877. Others implicated were
not punished, the execution of Lee "closing the incident."

212 A Canyon Voyage

when Brother Lee came back the following Sunday he called to
give us a lengthy dissertation on the faith of the Latter-Day
Saints (Mormons), while Andy, always up to mischief, in his
quiet way, delighted to get behind him and cock a rifle. At
the sound of the ominous click Lee would wheel like a flash to
see what was up. We had no intention of capturing him, of
course, but it amused Andy to act in a way that kept Lee on
the qui vive. We got the Nell out of her shed and found her
in very bad condition, while the Dean was about as we had left
her. Andy and Jack went to work on the Dean and in a few
days had her in excellent trim. On July 24th, which is the day
the Mormons celebrate for the settlement of Salt Lake Valley,
Lee invited us to dinner and supper, which gave us a very
pleasant time. So far as our intercourse with Lee was con-
cerned we had no cause for complaint. He was genial,
courteous, and generous.

A copy of DeForrest's Overland was in camp and I whiled
away some hours reading it, but time began to hang heavily
upon us and we daily longed for the appearance of the rest of
the party so that we might push out on the great red flood
that moved irresistibly down into the maw of Marble Can-
yon, and end the uncertainty that lay before us. August the
first came and still no message. Fennemore now felt so sick
that Jack took him to Lee's with rations in order that he might
have vegetables with his meals with the hope that he would
recover, but he grew worse, and on August 4th he decided that
he would return to his home in Salt Lake. We concluded that
one of us must go to Kanab to inform Prof, of the state of
affairs, and Clem in his big-hearted way offered to do this, but
we knew that his sense of locality was defective and that he
might get lost. Consequently we played on him an innocent
trick which I may now tell as he long ago went " across the
range." I planned with Andy that we three were to draw cuts
for the honour of the ride and that Andy was to let me draw
the fatal one. Clem was greatly disappointed. Jack went on
a chase after Nig and ran him down about sunset, for Nig was
the most diplomatic mule that ever lived Having no saddle I
borrowed one from Lee who let me have it dubiously as he

■

To Kanab and Back 213

feared we might be laying some trap. I gave him my word
that while I had his saddle no man of ours would molest him,
and furthermore that they would befriend him. I rode away
while he remarked that in the rocks he could defy an army, with
regret still in his eyes, though he accepted my pledge. I got out
a few miles before dark and slept by the roadside, with the distant
murmur of rapids speaking to me of the turmoil we were soon
to pass through. By noon of the next day I was at Jacob's
Pool, by half-past three at House Rock Spring, and at night in
Summit Valley where I camped. The day was so hot that I
could hardly bear my hand on my rifle barrel as it lay across my
saddle. My lunch of jerked beef and bread I ate as I rode
along thus losing no time.

The trail across the Kaibab was not often travelled, and it
was dim and hard to follow, a faint horse track showing here
and there, so I lost it several times but quickly picked it up
again, and finally came out of the forest where I could see all
the now familiar country to the west and north. About two
o'clock I arrived at Kanab and rode to Jacob's house where
Sister Louisa told me that the Major, Prof., Mrs. Thompson,
Professor De Motte, and George Adair had left that very
morning for the south end of the Kaibab on the way to the
Paria, and that Jones and Lyman Hamblin the day before had
started for the Paria with a waggon load of supplies drawn by a
team of four broncho mules. Nig being very tired I thought I
would rest till morning, when he rewarded my consideration by
eluding me till ten o'clock. This gave me so late a start that it
was dark and rainy when I descended the east side of the Kaibab,
and I had to drag Nig down the 2000 feet in the gloom over
boulders, bushes, ledges, or anything else that came, for I could
see only a few feet and could not keep the trail. I reached House
Rock Spring at last and camped there. In the morning I dis-
covered Jones and Lyman down in the valley and joined them
for breakfast, after which I helped them start. This was no
easy matter, for the four mules they had in harness, with one
exception, were as wild as mountain sheep, having only recently
been broken. Jones had been badly kicked three times, his
hands were burned by the ropes, and there was a lively time

214 A Canyon Voyage

whenever the excited animals were put to the waggon. The
road was new, only a waggon track in reality, and the mules
became more and more docile through exhaustion as the day
went on. At night they were far safer to handle than in the
morning.

July 9th about dark we arrived at Lonely Dell, Lee stealing
suspiciously in behind where I was walking, to ask me who the
men were and what they wanted. We had a joyful time, es-
pecially as Steward had sent out a large box of fine candy which
we found in the mail and opened at once. Four days later the
Major and his party came from the Kaibab and we had venison
for supper. The Major said we would go on down the Colo-
rado as soon as possible though the water was still very high.

W -s +?

5 o

4)vo"

CHAPTER XIV

A Company of Seven. — The Nellie /*t?w^// Abandoned. — Into Marble Canyon. —
Vasey's Paradise. — A Furious Descent to the Little Colorado. — A Mighty
Fall in the Dismal Granite Gorge. — Caught in a Trap. — Upside Down. — A
Deep Plunge and a Predicament. — At the Mouth of the Kanab.

WE now missed Steward, Cap, and Beam an more than ever,
for we had been unable to get anyone to take their
places. The fact was our prospective voyage through Marble
and Grand canyons was considered almost a forlorn hope and
nobody cared to take the risk. The plan had been to give me
the steering of the Canonita, but now with three boats and
only seven to man them it was plain that one must be aban-
doned. An examination of them all showed that the Nellie
Powell was in the poorest condition and she was chosen for the
sacrifice. She was put back in her shelter being afterwards
used by Lee for a desultory ferry business, that developed.
About ten days before our arrival, the Dean had been discov-
ered by a newspaper man named J. H. Beadle, and used to
cross to the north side where he left her. This was how she
happened to be there when we came. Beadle had denounced
Lee and the Mormons in print and tried to conceal his identity
by assuming the name of Hanson, a plan frustrated by his hav-
ing some clothes, marked with his own name, laundered by
Sister Emma. Lee was only amused by the incident. The Dean
was to be manned by the same crew as before ; Jones to steer.
Jack at the after oars, I at the forward pair, and the Major in
his usual place on the middle deck. The Canonita was to have
Prof, as steersman, Andy at the stroke oars, and Cleni in the
bow, Clem having gotten all over his inclination to leave and
being determined now to see the end of the voyage before
he departed.

215

2i6 A Canyon Voyage

The same day that the Major and his party arrived, Jack and
I, with Jones steering, tried the Dean by taking Mrs. Thomp-
son, Professor DeMotte, and Lyman Hamblin up the river so
that they might see what a canyon was like from a boat. Mrs.
Thompson was so enthusiastic that she declared she wanted to
accompany us. Prof, took her as passenger on the Canonita
about half -past four on Wednesday, August 14th, when we had
completed the sacking and packing of provisions, and with both
boats ran down through a small rapid or two about a mile and
a half, where we camped at the mouth of a little canyon down
which the waggon-road came. Mrs. Thompson enjoyed the
exhilaration of descending the swift rushing water and still
thought it attractive. I went to Lee's and brought down the
Major's arm-chair for our boat, and saw Fennemore who was
very sick. We made our final preparations at this point, and I
spent most of Thursday morning helping the Major get his
papers in order so that if we did not appear again his affairs
could be readily settled. This required considerable writing,
which I did, for the Major wrote slowly with his left hand, the
only one he had. We dined with Lee, having the first water-
melon of the season for dessert. Lee was most cordial and we
could not have asked better treatment than he gave us the
whole time we were at Lonely Dell. In the afternoon our land
outfit left for Kanab and we said a last good-bye to the men,
who looked as if they never expected to see us again. Only
the " Tirtaan Aigles " remained, and there were but seven of
these now. The next day we put the finishing touches on the
boats, and while we were doing this our late fellow voyageur
Beaman, and a companion named Carleton, passed on their
way to the Moki Towns where Beaman wanted to make photo-
graphs. All being ready the next day, Saturday, August 17th,
we pushed out on the mighty Colorado about nine o'clock and
by noon ran into Marble Canyon, nearly five miles, passing one
small rapid and another of considerable size on a river about 1
one hundred feet wide and extremely swift, with straight walls
rapidly increasing from the fifty feet or so at the Paria. Marble
Canyon while differing in name is but the upper continuation
of the Grand Canyon, there being no line of demarkation other

Rapids and Portages 217

than a change in geological structure and the entrance of the
canyon of the Little Colorado. The combined length of the
two divisions is 283 miles and the declivity is very great. The
altitude of the mouth of the Paria is 3170 feet, while the Grand
Wash at the end of the Grand Canyon is 840 feet, leaving a
descent of 2330 feet still before us.

At our dinner camp, which was^ on a talus on the left, the
walls were about 500 feet and quite precipitous, but I was able
to climb out on the right to get a view of the surroundings.
After dinner we went on in our usual order, our boat the Dean
in advance and the Canonita following. The photographing
now devolved entirely on Jack and Clem ; Andy as usual ran
the culinary branch of the expedition, Jones and Prof, mean-
dered the river. We had not gone far after dinner before we
were close upon a bad-looking rapid, a drop of about eighteen
feet in a distance of 225, which we concluded to defeat by
means of a portage on the right-hand bank. As we knew
exactly what to do no time was wasted and we were soon below,
sweeping on with a stiff current which brought us, in about ten
miles from our morning start and five from the noon halt, to a
far worse rapid than the last, a fall of twenty-five feet in four or
five hundred, with very straight walls six hundred feet high on
both sides. The Major concluded to leave the passage of it
till the next day, and we went into camp at the head. This was
the rapid where disaster fell on the miners, ten in number, who
in the spring had stolen a lot of our things at the Paria and
started down prospecting on a raft. They saved their lives but
not another thing, and after a great deal of hard work they
succeeded by means of driftwood ladders in climbing to the top
of the walls and made their way to the settlement. This is
now called Soap Creek Rapid, being at the mouth of the
canyon by which the little stream of that name reaches the
river, — a little stream which at times is a mighty torrent. In a
small rapid following or in the final portion of this, I believe, is
the place where Frank M. Brown, leader of the Denver, Colo-
rado Canyon, and Pacific Railway Survey, was drowned in
1889.

We began work on Sunday, August i8th, by making the

2i8 A Canyon Voyage

portage and had no trouble of any kind, Jack and Clem making
some photographs before we finally said good-bye to the place.
Continuing on our way we found the river very narrow, not
over seventy-five feet in many places and ranging from that to
two hundred, with frequent whirlpools strong enough to swing
our boats entirely around. Before dinner-time we had put five
large rapids behind, and then we halted under a ledge on the
left a short distance above a very ugly and difficult prospect.
There was an exceedingly heavy descent and a soft sandstone
being at the river margin it was worn away, giving little chance
for a footing by which to make a portage. The Major and
Prof, decided that we could run it safely, and after dinner we
shot into it, both boats going through in fine style. Just below
was another smaller one that was vanquished easily, and we
went swiftly on down the swirling, booming current. Rain
fell at intervals to continue our saturation, and with four more
rapids, all of which we ran, one having quite a heavy fall, there
was little chance for us to dry out. At one point we passed
an enormous rock which had dropped from the cliffs overhead
and almost blocked the whole river. Then we arrived at a
huge rapid whose angry tones cried so distinctly, " No running
through here," that we did not hesitate but began a let down
forthwith, and when that was accomplished we camped at the
foot of it for the night, having come eleven and three-eighths
miles during the day. The rapid was extremely noisy and the
roaring reverberated back and forth from cliff to cliff as it
ascended to the top, 1800 feet, to escape into the larger air.
The walls had two or three terraces and were not over three
quarters of a mile apart at the summit, the cliff portions being
nearly or quite perpendicular. The rocks, of all sizes, which were
legion at each rapid, were frequently dovetailed into each other
by the action of the current and so neatly joined in a serrated
line that they were practically one.

The rapidity with which the water went down and the walls
went up as we cut into the plateau gave a vivid impression of
descending into the very bowels of the earth, and this impres-
sion seemed daily to intensify. On Monday, August 19th, the
same conditions prevailed, the walls being of marble mostly

'I ^^

' '";»* JP.i'ft-.

Thompson
Marble Canyon.
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, 1872.

Fantastic Walls 219

vertical from the water's edge for about seven hundred feet,
and then rising by four terraces to two thousand feet, all stained
red by the disintegration of iron-stained rocks overhead though
the marble is a grey colour. We only made four and one-
quarter miles and established Camp 90 on the left, just
below a big rapid and in sight of another, with a record for the
whole day of four rapids run, three passed by let-downs, and
one overcome by a portage. The next day we did not accom-
plish a much greater distance, only about nine miles, but we
were highly successful in our encounters with the enemy, run-
ning no less than twelve big rapids and making a portage at
another to round out the dozen on the baker's proverbial basis.
The average width of the canyon at the top was about one and
a quarter miles, while the breadth of the water itself plunging
along the bottom was not more than 125 feet, and the total
height of wall was 2500 feet. We had marble at the river
margin most of the day, a greyish crystalline rock fluted
multitudinously in places by the action of high water and
sometimes polished like glass. While this was a grey rock the
entire effect of the canyon, for the reason stated above, was red.
On the right bank we made our camp on some sand at the
mouth of a gulch, and immediately put on our dry clothes from
the boats. Not far below on the same side was what appeared
to be a vast ruined tower. Around the indentations which
answered for crumbling windows bunches of mosses and ferns
were draped, while from the side, about one hundred feet up
from the river, clear springs broke forth to dash down amidst
verdure in silvery skeins. The whole affair formed a striking
and unusual picture, the only green that so far had been visible
in the canyon landscape, for the walls from brink to river were
absolutely barren of trees or any apparent vegetation. On the
former trip the Major had named the place after a botanist
friend of his, Vasey's (Vaysey) Paradise, and this was now
recorded in our notes. All day long we had seen in the
magnificent walls besides caverns and galleries resemblances
to every form of architectural design, turrets, forts, balconies,
castles, and a thousand strange and fantastic suggestfons from
the dark tower against which Childe Roland with his slug-horn

2 20 A Canyon Voyage

blew defiance, to the airy structures evolved by the wonderful
lamp of Aladdin.

Starting down again on Wednesday morning we ran past the
Paradise and heard a little bird singing there amidst the spray
and mosses, a delicate note seeming out of place amidst such
gigantic desolation. Only the boom of great cannon or the
tone of some enormous organ pipe would be correct with the
surroundings. The walls at the water's edge were vertical for
long distances up to eight hundred feet, and being now in all
about three thousand feet and not a great ways apart, the out-
look ahead was something almost overpowering in its deep
suggestion of mysterious and untold realms to come. On the
first voyage it would have been easy to persuade oneself that
the river was soon to become subterranean, but the Major
having solved the enigma, we could look with indifference on
the threatening prospect. Yet the walls nevertheless seemed
to have a determination to close together overhead as we looked
down the descending waters before us, with cliff mounting on
cliff and the distance from one to the other appearing so very
small. Deep and sombre were the shadows at the bends, and
the imagination needed no spur to picture there rapids, falls,
cataracts, of giant proportions. We made nearly eleven miles
and ran ten very big rapids, meeting with no accident, though
one was particularly violent and filled us half full of water in
the fierce breakers. The stage of water was exactly right for
this stretch ; a lower stage would certainly have given us far
more trouble. Our stop for the night, Camp 92, was made
on a wide sandbank on the left, with some mesquite growing
nearby, our first acquaintance with this tree on the river. We
now were getting on so well and were so comfortable that we
felt quite happy and Jack as usual entertained us with several
songs. The next day, Thursday the 22d, Jack and Clem took
some photographs in the morning and I hunted fossils for the
Major in the limestone shales which had run up under the
marble. By nine o'clock we were packed up again in our usual
good form, everything in the rubber sacks, hatches firmly bat-
battened down, life-preservers ready, and we set forth for an-
other day's battle. There were numerous large rapids and the

Down with the Flood 221

impetuous river, turbid and grim, rushed down with a continu-
ity that kept us alert every instant. Though we descended with
terrific velocity, nothing gave us any particular trouble before
dinner, which we ate in the shade of a mesquite on the right at
the mouth of a couple of giant gulches. Here we discovered a
large patch of cacti loaded with the red prickly pears or cactus
apples, as we called them. They were ripe, — seeming to me to
be half way between a fig and a tomato, — and very welcome
for dessert, as we had eaten no fresh fruit since a watermelon
brought along as far as the first noon camp. All the vegetation
was different from that of the upper canyons and of a kind
indicating a hotter climate; cacti, yucca, etc. In the afternoon
the walls became greater, the river ran swifter, the descent
seemed almost without a break, for rapid followed rapid in such
quick succession that it was next to impossible to separate
them one from another. At times we could barely maintain
control of the boats so powerful and uninterrupted was the
turbulent sweep of the great narrow flood. At one place as
we were being hurled along at a tremendous speed we suddenly
perceived immediately ahead of us and in such a position that
we could not avoid dashing into it, a fearful commotion of the
waters, indicating many large rocks near the surface. The
Major stood on the middle deck, his life-preserver in place, and
holding by his left hand to the arm of the well secured chair to
prevent being thrown off by the lurching of the boat, peered
into the approaching maelstrom. It looked to him like the end
for us and he exclaimed calmly, " By God, boys, we 're gone ! "
With terrific impetus we sped into the seething, boiling turmoil,
expecting to feel a crash and to have the Dean crumble beneath
us, but instead of that unfortunate result she shot through
smoothly without a scratch, the rocks being deeper than ap-
peared by the disturbance on the surface. We had no time to
think over this agreeable delivery, for on came the rapids or
rather other rough portions of the unending declivity requiring
instant and continuous attention, the Major rapidly giving the
orders, Left, right, hard on the right, steady, hard on .the left,
hard on the left, H-A-R-D ON THE LEFT, pull away strong, etc.,
Jones aiding our oars by his long steering sweep. Rowing for

222 A Canyon Voyage

progress was unnecessary ; the oars were required only for
steering or for pulling as fast as we could to avoid some bad
place.

At the same time the walls constantly gained height as the
torrent cut down its bed till both together, with the rapidity of
our movement, fairly made one dizzy. In turning a bend we
saw back through a gulch the summit of the Kaibab's huge
cliffs, the total height above our heads being over five thousand
feet ; a sublime vista. The immediate walls of Marble Canyon
were here about 3500 feet, not all vertical but rising in but-
tresses, terraces, and perpendicular faces, while immediately at
the river they were now generally flanked by talus or broken
ledges giving ample footing, as seen in the illustration opposite
page 219. Words are not adequate to describe this particular
day in Marble Canyon ; it must be experienced to be appreci-
ated and I will not strive further to convey my impressions.
As the sun sank to the western edge of the outer world we were
rushing down a long straight stretch of canyon, and the colossal
precipices looming on all sides, as well as dead ahead across our
pathway, positively appeared about to overwhelm the entire
river by their ponderous magnificence, burnished at their sum-
mits by the dying sun. On, down the headlong flood our
faithful boats carried us to the gloom that seemed to be the
termination of all except subterranean progress, but at the very
bottom of this course there was a bend to the west, and we
found ourselves at the mouth of a deep side canyon coming in
from the east, with a small stream flowing into the big river.
This was the mouth of the Little Colorado and the end at last
of Marble Canyon, one of the straightest, deepest, narrowest,
and most majestic chasms of the whole long series. It also
had more wall rising vertically from the water's edge than any
other canyon we had encountered.

Our distance for the day was eighteen miles with eighteen
rapids, one nearly three miles long and all following each
other so closely they were well-nigh continuous. We ran
seventeen and made one let-down. It was a glorious day and
a fitting preparation for our entrance into the next stupendous
canyon which the Major styled the ** Sockdologer of the World,"

Canyon of the Little Colorado.
Photograph by C. Barthelmess.

The Grand Canyon 223

the now famous Grand Canyon.' Our altitude was 2690 feet,
giving a descent in the sixty-five and one-half miles of Marble
Canyon of 480 feet, leaving 1850 feet still to be overcome be-
fore we could reach the mouth of the Grand Wash and the
end of the Grand Canyon. I counted sixty-three rapids in
Marble Canyon, Prof, sixty-nine. We made four portages and
let down by line six times.

Our Camp 93 was on the left bank of the Little Colorado,
and there we remained for Friday, August 23d, to reconnoitre
the neighbourhood, and to give Prof, an opportunity to get the
latitude and longitude. The Little Colorado was a red stream
about sixty feet wide and four or five deep, salty and impossible
to drink. The Great Colorado was also muddy and not alto-
gether palatable, for one's hand dipped in and allowed to dry
became encrusted with sediment ; but the water otherwise was
pure. The river had been rapidly rising for several days and
was still coming up so that we were likely to have in the Grand
Canyon more water than we required. I cHmbed up the wall
on the north side of the Little Colorado thinking I might be
able to reach the summit, but when about half-way up I met
vast and vertical heights that were impossible and returned to
camp. The next morning, Saturday, August 24th, we packed
up and entered the Grand Canyon proper on an easy river,
making about five miles in half an hour and putting behind six
rapids all small, camping at the head of one that was more
threatening. Here a little creek came in from the right, or
west, near camp. The canyon was wider than above, and
we could see the summits around that were six thousand
feet above the river, but some miles back. In the morning
I made a geological sketch, and in the afternoon I climbed
a high peak and put in some of the topography. The next
morning we crossed the river to examine a large igneous
butte where we found a small vein of copper ore, and after
dinner Prof, and I climbed a couple of peaks and did some

^ There is but one Grand Canyon — the one here referred to. Persons unfamil-
iar with Western geography frequently confound the Canyon of the Arkansas
with that of the Colorado because the former is in the state of Colorado. The
Grand Canyon is in Arizona but on the Colorado River.

224 A Canyon Voyage

triangulating. Monday the 26th found us still at Camp 94 to
further investigate the surroundings, and the Major, Prof.,
Jones, and I climbed up on the north about 2600 feet in
order to get a better idea of the several valleys which here
seemed to compose the bottom of the great chasm, and did not
reach camp till after dark. Everything now developed on a still
larger and grander scale ; we saw before us an enormous gorge,
very wide at the top, which could engulf an ordinary mountain
range and lose it within its vast depths and ramifications. Multi-
tudinous lofty mesas, buttes, and pinnacles began to appear,
each a mighty mountain in itself, but more or less overwhelmed
by the greater grandeur of the Cyclopean environment.

Tuesday, August 27th, after Prof, had put a new tube in
the second barometer which had somehow been broken, we
pushed off once more to see what the day would develop.
The rapid just below camp we ran through easily and then
made swift progress for seven miles, running nine more rapids,
two rather bad ones. The Canonita grounded once on a
shoal but got off without damage. Where we stopped for
dinner we caught sight of two mountain sheep drinking, and
Andy and I got our guns out of the cabins as quickly as pos-
sible and started after them, but they flew away like birds
of the air. Near this point there was a small abandoned hut of
mesquite logs. We went into camp farther down on the left for
investigations, the Major and I going up the river and finding a
small salty creek which we followed for a time on an old trail,
the Major studying the geology and collecting specimens of the
rocks, which we carried back to camp, arriving after dark. The
geology and topography here were complicated and particularly
interesting, and we ought to have been able to spend more
days, but the food question, as well as time, was a determining
factor in our movements, and with only two boats our rations
would carry us with necessary stops only to the mouth of the
Kanab Canyon where our pack-train would meet us on
September 4th. There was no other place above Diamond
Creek known at that time, except perhaps the spot near
Mount Trumbull, where supplies could be brought in. On
Wednesday we ran two or three miles and stopped for our

Heavy Rapids 225

photographers to get some views opposite a rust-coloured
sandstone. We also had dinner at this place and then continued
the descent. After running four rapids successfully, making
a let-down at another, and a portage over the upper end of a
sixth we were ready, having made in all six miles, to go into
camp part way down the last, one of the heaviest falls we had so
far encountered. It was perhaps half a mile long, with a declivity
of at least forty feet, studded by numerous enormous boulders.
A heavy rain began during our work of getting below, and our
clothes being already wet the air became very chilly. We had
to carry the cargoes only a short distance, with no climbing, and
there was ample room so the portage was not difficult in that
respect. But though we could manoeuvre the empty boats
down along the shore amidst the big rocks, they were exceed-
ingly heavy for our small band, and in sliding them down be-
tween the huge masses, with the water pouring around and
often into them, we sometimes had as much as we could do to
manage them, each man being obliged to strain his muscle to
the limit. Jack from this cause hurt his back so badly that he
could not lift at all, and overcome by the sudden weakness and
pain he came near sinking into the swift river at the stern of
the Dean where he happened at the moment to be working. I
heard his cry and clambered over to seize him as quickly as
I could, helping him to shore, where we did all that was possible
for his comfort. As we were going no farther that day he was
able to rest, and in the morning felt much better, though his
back was still weak. Andy took his place in our boat to run
the lower end of the rapid, which was easily done. We landed
below on the same side, enabling Andy to go back to help
bring down the Canonita, while Jack walked along the rocks to
where we were. Here we remained for a couple of hours while
I climbed up for the Major and measured the " Red Beds,*' and
Jack rested again, improving very fast. When we were ready
to go on his trouble had almost disappeared.

A dark granite formation had run up at the foot of the last
fall and it rose rapidly higher, hemming the water in with
steep, forbidding cliffs close together. The river became much
narrower and swirled with an oily-looking current around the

2 26 A Canyon Voyage

buttresses of granite that thrust themselves from one side or
the other into it. The declivity was not great and the torrent
was otherwise placid. After three miles of this ominous docil-
ity, just as the dinner hour was near and the threatening black
granite had risen to one thousand feet above the water, we
heard a deep, sullen roar ahead and from the boats the whole
river seemed to vanish instantly from earth. At once we ran
in on the right to a small area of great broken rocks that pro-
truded above the water at the foot of the wall, and stepping out
on these we could look down on one of the most fearful places
I ever saw or ever hope to see under like circumstances, — a
place that might have been the Gate to Hell that Steward had
mentioned. We were near the beginning of a tremendous fall.
The narrow river dropped suddenly and smoothly away, and
then, beaten to foam, plunged and boomed for a third of a mile
through a descent of from eighty to one hundred feet, the
enormous waves leaping twenty or thirty feet into the air and
sending spray twice as high.* On each side were the steep,
ragged granitic walls, with the tumultuous waters lashing and
pounding against them in a way that precluded all idea of
portage or let-down. It needed no second glance to tell us
that there was only one way of getting below. If the rocks
did not stop us we could " cross to Killiloo," and when a driving
rain had ceased Andy gathered the few sticks of driftwood
available for a fire, by which he prepared some dinner in ad-
vance of the experiment. Jack and Clem took three negatives,
and when the dinner was disposed of we stowed all loose
articles snugly away in the cabins, except a camp-kettle in
each standing-room to bail with, and then battening down the
hatches with extra care, and making everything shipshape, we
pulled the Dean up-stream, leaving the Canonita and her crew
to watch our success or failure and profit by it. The Major
had on his life-preserver and so had Jones, but Jack and I put
ours behind our seats, where we could catch them up quickly,
for they were so large we thought they impeded the handling
of the oars. Jack's back had fortunately now recovered, so

' Professor Thompson in his diary calls the descent 130 feet in three-quarters
of a mile.

The Grand Canyon.

Running the Sockdologer.
From a sketch afterwards by F. S. Dellenbaugh.

Running Through Chaos 227

that he was able to row almost his usual stroke. We pulled
up-stream about a quarter of a mile close to the right-hand
wall, in order that we might get well into the middle of the
river before making the great plunge, and then we turned our
bow out and secured the desired position as speedily as pos-
sible, heading down upon the roaring enemy — roaring as if it
would surely swallow us at one gulp.

My back being towards the fall I could not see it, for I
could not turn round while waiting every instant for orders.
Nearer and nearer came the angry tumult ; the Major shouted
•* Back water ! '* there was a sudden dropping away of all sup-
port ; then the mighty waves smote us. The boat rose to them
well, but we were flying at twenty-five miles an hour and at
every leap the breakers rolled over us. " Bail ! " shouted the
Major, — ** Bail for your lives ! " and we dropped the oars to
bail, though bailing was almost useless. The oars could not
get away, for they had rawhide rings nailed around near the
handle to prevent them from slipping through the rowlocks.
The boat rolled and pitched like a ship in a tornado, and as
she flew along Jack and I, who faced backwards, could look up
under the canopies of foam pouring over gigantic black boul-
ders, first on one side, then on the other. Why we did not land
on top of one of these and turn over I don't know, unless it
might be that the very fury of the current causes a recoil.
However that may be, we struck nothing but the waves, the
boats riding finely and certainly leaping at times almost half
their length out of water, to bury themselves quite as far at the
next lunge. If you will take a watch and count by it ninety
seconds, you will probably have about the time we were in this
chaos, though it seemed much longer to me. Then we were
through, and immediately took advantage of an eddy on one
side to lie to and bail out, for the boat was full of water. Set-
ting her to rights as quickly as we could, we got ready to make
a dash for the crew of the Cahonita in case she fared worse
than we did. We looked anxiously for her to appear, and
presently, at the top of what seemed to us now to be a -straight
wall of foam, her small white bulk hung for an instant and then
vanished from our sight in the mad flood. Soon appearing at

228 A Canyon Voyage

the bottom uninjured, she ran in to where we were waiting.
The Canonita, being lighter than our boat, did not ship as
much water as in some other places, and altogether we agreed
that notwithstanding its great descent and furious aspect the
passage was not more difficult than we had made in several
previous rapids.

Continuing on down the narrow and gloomy granite gorge,
we encountered about a mile farther down a singular rapid,
which turned the Canonita completely around. About four
o'clock we found ourselves before another tremendous fall, and
a very ugly one. Landing on the left, we discovered that to
be the wrong side, and crossed over to a little cove where there
was a patch of gravel, surrounded by vertical walls, the crossing
being easily made because the water seemed to slacken before
the plunge. We did not intend to run the place if it could be
avoided, and the south side gave no opportunity whatever for
a portage, while the north side offered no very easy course.
Prof, declared this to be one of the worst rapids we had seen,
and we were now about two hundred feet above the head of it,
with the vertical cliffs between. Immediately at the beginning
of the drop on the same side that we were on was a pile of
boulders, and our plan was to engineer the boats by lines from
where we had landed down to these rocks, from which we
believed we could work around over the rocks into an alcove
there was there, and thence go down till we reached the lower
part of the descent, through which we could navigate. Con-
sequently several of the men entered one boat, and we lowered
her from the stern of the second as far as her line would reach,
and then lowered the second till the first lodged in the rocks at
the desired point at the head of the fall. Then, pulling up the
second boat, we who had remained got on board, and by cling-
ing to the projections of the wall, the current close in being
quite slow, we succeeded in arriving alongside the first boat.
The next thing was to get around into the alcove. The sky
above was heavy and rain began to come down steadily, making
the dark granite blacker and intensifying the gloomy character
of the locality. By hard work we finally got our boats across
the rocks and down about two hundred feet farther into a cove,

Floods from the Sky 229

where they rested easily. Up to this time we had made in all,
during the day, seven and one-quarter miles. As night was
now dropping fast we had to make camp on a pile of broken
granite, where a close search yielded an armful or two of small
pieces of driftwood, all wet. Under a rock several dry sticks
were discovered, and by their aid a fire soon blazed up by
which the indomitable Andy proceeded to get supper. There
was no use changing wet clothes for dry ones from the rubber
bags as long as the rain fell, and it increased till water was
dashig off the walls in streams. The thunder roared and
crashed as if it were knocking the cliffs about to rearrange
them all, and a deluge swept down in which Andy's struggling
little fire died with hardly a sputter. The only thing remaining
for us to do was to all stand with our backs against the foot
of the wall, which was still warm from the day, and wait
for something else to happen. The bread-pan seen through
the dim and dismal light was a tempestuous lake, with an island
of dough in it, while Andy the undaunted stood grimly gazing
at it, the rain dribbling from his hat and shoulders till he
resembled the fabled ferryman of the River Styx. The situa-
tion was so ludicrous that every one laughed, and the Weather
God finding that we were not downcast slackened the down-
pour immediately. Then we put some oars against the wall
and stretched a paulin to protect our noble chef, who finally
got the wet firewood once more ignited, and succeeded in get-
ting the bread almost baked and the coffee nearly hot and
some dried peaches almost stewed. The rain ceasing, we hur-
riedly donned dry clothes and applied ourselves to the destruc-
tion of these viands, which tasted better than might be imagined.
Each man then took his blankets, and, selecting rocks that in
his judgment were the softest, he went to sleep.

There was another alcove about three hundred yards below
our camp, and in the morning, Friday, August 30th, we pro-
ceeded to work our way down to this, several men clambering
along a ledge about 150 feet above the water with the line,
while I remained each time in the boat below with an oar to
keep the bow in against the wall, so that she could not take
the current on the wrong side — that is, on the side next to the

230 A Canyon Voyage

wall — and cut out into the river. In this way we got both
boats down to the alcove, whence we intended to pull out into
the current and run the lower portion of the rapid. It was
only noon when we reached the place, but then we discovered
that both boats had been so pounded that they badly needed
repairs — in fact, it was imperative to halt there for this pur-
pose,— and we hauled them out on a patch of broken rocks,
thirty or forty feet square, filling the curve of the alcove and
bounded by vertical rocks and the river. While at work on
them we happened to notice that the river was rapidly rising,
and, setting a mark, the rate was found to be three feet an
hour. The rocks on which we were standing and where all the
cargo was lying were being submerged. We looked around for
some way to get up the cliff, as it was now too late to think of
leaving. About fifteen feet above the top of the rocks on
which we were working there was a shelf five or six feet wide, to
which some of the men climbed, and we passed up every article
to them. When the repairs were done darkness was filling the
great gorge. By means of lines from above and much hard
lifting we succeeded in raising the boats up the side of the
cliff, till they were four or five feet above the highest rocks
of the patch on which we stood. This insured their safety for
the time being, and if the river mounted to them we intended
to haul them still higher. The next thing was to find a place
to sleep. By walking out on a ledge from the shelf where our
goods were we could turn a jutting point above the rushing
river by clinging closely to the rocks, and walk back on a shelf
on the other side to a considerable area of finely broken rocks,
thirty feet above the torrent, where there was room enough for
a camp. Rain fell at intervals, and the situation was decidedly
unpromising. While Andy and the others were getting the
cook outfit and rations around the point, I climbed the cliffs
hunting for wood. I found small pieces of driftwood lodged
behind mesquite bushes fully one hundred feet above the pre-
vailing stage of water. I collected quite an armful of half-dead
mesquite, which has the advantage of being so compact that it
makes a fire hot as coal, and little is needed to cook by. Sup-
per was not long in being despatched, and then, every man

In a Trap 231

feeling about worn out, we put on dry clothes, the rain having
ceased, and went to sleep on the rocks. Before doing so we
climbed back to examine the boats, and found the river was
not coming up farther, though it had almost completely covered
the rocks.

Saturday, the 21st of August, 1872, was about the gloomiest
morning I ever saw. Rain was falling, the clouds hung low
over our heads like a lid to the box-like chasm in the black,
funereal granite enclosing us, while the roar of the big rapid
seemed to be intensified. We felt like rats in a trap. Eating
breakfast as quickly as possible, we got everything together
again on the shelf and lowered the boats. Though the river
was not rising, it beat and surged into the cove in a way that
made the boats jump and bounce the moment they touched
the water. To prevent their being broken by pounding, one
man at each steadied them while the others passed down the
sacks and instrument boxes. Then it was seen that either a
new leak had sprung in the Dean amidships or a hole had not
been caulked, for a stream as wide as two fingers was spurting
into the middle cabin. To repair her now meant hauling both
boats back against the side of the cliff and spending another
day in this trap, with the chance of the river rising much higher
before night so that we might not be able to get away at all — at
least not for days. For an instant the Major thought of pulling
the boats out again, but as his quick judgment reviewed the
conditions he exclaimed, " By God, we *11 start ! Load up ! "
It was the rarest thing for him to use an oath, and I remember
only one other occasion when he did so — in Marble Canyon when
he thought we were going to smash. We threw the things in as
fast as we could, jammed a bag of flour against the leak in the
Dean, battened down the hatches, threw our rifles into the
bottom of the standing rooms where the water and sand washed
unheeded over them, and jumped to our oars. The crew of
the Canonita held our stern till the bow swung out into the
river, and then at the signal Jack and I laid to with all our
strength — to shoot clear of an enormous rock about fifty feet
below against which the fierce current was dashing. The Dean
was so nearly water-logged that she was sluggish in responding

232 A Canyon Voyage

to the oars, but we swept past the rock safely and rolled along
down the river in the tail of the rapid with barely an inch of
gunwale to spare, — in fact I thought the boat might sink. As
soon as we saw a narrow talus on the right we ran in and landed.
When the Canonita was ready to start one of Clem's oars
could not be found, and Prof, had to delay to cut down one of
the extras for him. Then they got their boat up as far as they
could, and while Prof, and Andy kept her from pounding to
pieces, Clem got in, bailed out, and took his oars. Prof, then
climbed in at the stern, but the current was so strong that it
pulled Andy off his feet and he was just able to get on, the
boat drifting down stern first toward the big rock. Prof, con-
cluded to let the stern strike and then try to throw the boat
around into the river. By this time Andy had got hold of his
oars, and the eddy seemed to carry them up-stream some
twenty-five feet, so perverse and capricious is the Colorado.
They swung the bow to starboard into the main current, and
with a couple of strong oar-strokes the dreaded rock was cleared,
and down the Canonita came to us over the long waves like a
hunted deer. We unloaded the Dean and pulled her out for
repairs, but it was after four o'clock when we were able to go
on again with a fairly tight boat. Then for eight miles the
river was a continuous rapid broken by eight heavy falls, but
luckily there were no rocks in any of them at this stage of
water, and we were able to dash through one after another at
top speed, stopping only once for examination. Two of these
rapids were portages on the former trip, proving the ease and
advantage of high water in some places ; but the disadvantages
are much greater. Through a very narrow canyon on the right
we caught a glimpse of a pretty creek, but we were going so
fast the view was brief and imperfect. At 5:15 o'clock we ran
up to a wide sandbank on which grew a solitary willow tree and
there Camp 99 was made. For a space the inner canyon was
much wider than above and the mouth of Bright Angel Creek
was just below us ; a locality now well known because a trail
from the Hotel Tovar on the south rim comes down at this
point. The name was applied by the Major on his first trip to
offset the name Dirty Devil applied farther up.

Mighty Billows 233

The next day was Sunday, September ist, and after the
Major had climbed the south wall for observations we started
once more on a powerful current. For the first three miles
there was a continuous rapid with no opportunity to land. We
dashed through waves that tossed us badly and filled the boats
half full and then half full again before we had a chance to bail.
In fifteen minutes we made the three miles and a half mile more,
to arrive at a heavy rapid, which we ran and in two miles reached
another with fearful waves, which we also ran. In one Jones
was overbalanced by his oar hitting the top of a big wave
behind the boat and he was knocked out. He clung by his
knees and hands, his back in the water, and the boat careened
till I thought she would go over. We could not move to help
him without upsetting and were compelled to leave him to his
own resources. In some way he succeeded in scrambling back.
The waves were tremendous and sometimes seemed to come
from all directions at once. There were whirlpools, too, that
turned us round in spite of every effort to prevent it. The
river was about one hundred and fifty feet wide. After an ex-
tremely strenuous morning we halted on the right for dinner,
continuing as soon as we had disposed of it. Presently we
arrived at a sharp fall of about twenty feet, where we made a
portage, and waited at the foot for the photographers to take
some negatives and also for repairing the Cahonita. Finally it
was decided to camp on the spot. It was Camp 100. Our
record for the day was a trifle over seven miles with nine rapids
run and one portage.

Almost the first thing in the morning of September 2d was
a portage, after which we had fair water for two or three miles,
and then reached a very heavy fall, where we landed on the left
and had dinner before making another portage. This accom-
plished, we proceeded on a river still rising and ran a great many
bad rapids, some of them having tremendous falls. In one the
fierce current set against the cliff so strongly that we were
carried within an oar's length of it, notwithstanding our severe
effort to avoid so close an acquaintance with the rough wall.
Even between rapids the velocity of the water was extremely
high and we flew along at terrific speed, while in the huge

234 A Canyon Voyage

waves of the rapids the boats leaped and plunged with startling
violence. Toward night a sudden halt was made on the left to
examine a bad-looking place half a mile below. The Major
and Prof, tried to climb where they could get a good view of it,
but they failed. The Major said we would run it in the morn-
ing, though Prof, was dubious about the feasibility of doing so
successfully and said he thought it about the worst place we
had yet seen. We camped on a rocky talus where we were.
A small sandbank was found nearby for our beds, and we made
another discovery, a small pool of clear, pure water, a rare treat
after the muddy Colorado which we had been drinking for so
long. Twenty rapids were placed to our credit for this one
day in a trifle over fifteen miles, and we felt that we were
vanquishing the Grand Canyon with considerable success.

Our life now was so strenuous every hour of the day that
our songs were forgotten, and when night came every man was
so used up that as soon as supper was over rest and sleep were
the only things that interested us. Though our beds were as
hard and rough as anything could be, we slept with the inten-
sity of the rocks themselves, and it never seemed more than a
few minutes before we were aroused by the Major's rising sig-
nal " Oh-ho, boys ! ** and rose to our feet to pack the blankets
in the rubber bags, sometimes with a passing thought as to
whether we would ever take them out again. For my part,
never before nor since have I been so tired. One night when
the Major called us to look out for the boats I did not hear him
and no one waked me so I slept on, learning about it only the
next morning. Our food supply was composed partly of jerked
beef, and as this could not be put in rubber because of the
grease it became more or less damp and there developed in it
a peculiar kind of worm, the largest about an inch long, with
multitudinous legs. There were a great many of them and
they gave the beef a queer taste. In order to clear the sacks
as far as possible of these undesirable denizens I several times]
emptied them on wide smooth rocks, and while the worms were
scrambhng around I scraped up the beef without many of them,
but could not get rid of all. Andy's method of cooking this
beef was to make a gravy with bacon fat and scorched flour

An Ugly Fall 235

and then for a few moments stew the beef in the gravy. Ordi-
narily this made a very palatable dish but the peculiar flavour of
the beef now detracted from it, though we were so hungry that
we could eat anything without a query, and our diminishing
supply of rations forbade the abandonment of the valuable
beef.

When we arose on the morning of September 3d the dubi-
ous rapid was tossing its huge waves exactly as on the night
before and humanity seemed to be out of the reckoning. By
eight o'clock we were ready for it, and with everything in good
trim we pushed off. The current was strong from the start, and
a small rapid just below camp gave additional speed, so that we
were soon bearing down on the big one with wild velocity.
The river dropped away abruptly, to rise again in a suc-
cession of fearful billows whose crests leaped and danced
high in air as if rejoicing at the prospect of annihilating us.
Just then the Major changed his mind as to running the place,
for now standing on the boat's deck he could see it better than
before from the region of our camp. He ordered us to pull
hard on our left, intending to land at a spot that was propitious
on the left or south bank, but no sooner had he given this
command than he perceived that no landing above the fall was
possible. He gave another order which put us straight in the
middle again and down we flew upon the descent. The Major
as usual had put on his life-preserver and I think Jones had on
his, but Jack and I, as was our custom, placed ours inflated im-
mediately behind our seats, not wishing to be hampered by
them. The plunge was exceedingly sharp and deep, and then
we found ourselves tossing like a chip in a frightful chaos of
breakers which almost buried us, though the boats rose to
them as well as any craft possibly could. 1 bailed with a camp
kettle rapidly and Jack did the same, but the boat remained
full to the gunwales as we were swept on. We had passed the
worst of it when, just as the Dean mounted a giant wave at an
angle perhaps of forty or fifty degrees, the crest broke in a
deluge against the port bow with a loud slap. In an instant we
were upside-down going over to starboard. I threw up my
hand instinctively to grasp something, and luckily caught hold

236 A Canyon Voyage

of a spare oar which was carried slung on the side, and by this
means I pulled myself above water. My hat was pasted down
over my eyes. Freeing myself from this I looked about. Bot-
tom up the boat was clear of the rapid and sweeping on down
with the swift, boiling current toward a dark bend. The Can-
onita was nowhere to be seen. No living thing was visible.
The narrow black gorge rose in sombre majesty to the everlast-
ing sky. What was a mere human life or two in the span of
eternity ? I was about preparing to cHmb up on the bottom of
the boat when I perceived Jones clinging to the ring in the
stern, and in another second the Major and Jack shot up along-
side as if from a gun. The whole party had been kept together
in a kind of whirlpool, and the Major and Jack had been pulled
down head first till, as is the nature of these suctions on the
Colorado, it suddenly changed to an upward force and threw
them out into the air.

There was no time to lose, for we did not wish to go far in
this condition ; another rapid might be in waiting around the
corner. Jack and I carefully got up on the bottom, leaving the
Major at the bow and Jones at the stern, and leaning over we
took hold of the starboard gunwale under water, and throwing
ourselves back quickly together we brought the Dean up on
her keel, though she came near rolling clear over the other
way. She was even full of water, but the cabins supported
her. Jack helped me in and then I balanced his effort so as
not to capsize again. The bailing kettles were gone, but as our
hats had strangely enough remained on our heads through it
all we bailed with them as fast as possible for a few seconds till
we lowered the water sufficiently to make it safe to get the
others on board. The Major came aft along the gunwale and
I helped him in, then Jack helped Jones. The oars, fortunately,
had not come out of the locks, thanks to our excellent arrange-
ment, and grasping them, without trying to haul in the bow
line trailing a hundred feet in the water, we pulled hard for
slight eddy on the left where we perceived a footing on the
rocks, and as soon as we were near enough I caught up the
rope, made the leap, and threw the bight over a projection,
where I held the boat while Jack and Jones bailed rapidly and

Difificult Navigation 237

set things in order so that we could go to the assistance of the
Canonita. The Major's Jurgenssen chronometer had stopped
at 8 : 26 130 from the wetting.

The Canonita, being more lightly laden than the Dean, and
also not meeting the peculiar coincidence of mounting a wave
at the instant it broke, came down with no more damage than
the loss of three oars and the breaking of a rowlock. Probably
if the Major had sat down on the deck instead of in the chair
we might also have weathered the storm.* About a mile and
a half below we made a landing at a favourable spot on the
right, where the cargoes were spread out to dry and the boats
were overhauled, while the Major and I climbed up the wall to
where he desired to make a geological investigation. We joked
him a good deal about his zeal in going to examine the geology
at the bottom of the river, but as a matter of fact he came near
departing by that road to another world.

We were now in an exceedingly difficult part of the granite
gorge, for, at the prevailing stage of water, landings were either
highly precarious or not possible at all, so we could not
examine places before running, and could not always make
a portage where we deemed it necessary. There were also all
manner of whirlpools and bad places. Starting on about three
o'clock we descended several rapids in about six miles, when
we saw one ahead that looked particularly forbidding. The
granite came down almost vertically to the water, projecting in
huge buttresses that formed a succession of little bays, es-
pecially on the left, where we manoeuvred in and out, keeping
close against the rocks, the current there being slack. The plan
was for me to be ready, on turning the last point, to jump out on
some rocks we had noticed from above not far from the be-
ginning of the rapid. As we crept around the wall I stood up
with the bight of the line in one hand, while Jack pulled
in till we began to drift down stern foremost alongshore.
At the proper moment I made my leap exactly calculated.
Unluckily at the instant the capricious Colorado threw a

^ For the benefit of any one who contemplates descending the Colorado I would
state that unsinkable boats are the only kind to use and the centre of gravity should
be kept low. Cork life-jackets are indispensable.

238 A Canyon Voyage

** boil " up between the bow and the flat rock I was aiming at,
turning the bow out several feet, and instead of landing where
I intended I disappeared in deep water. I clung to the line
and the acceleration of the boat's descent quickly pulled me
back to the surface. She was gliding rapidly past more rocks
and the Major jumped for them with the purpose of catching
the rope, but they were so isolated and covered with rushing
water that he had all he could do to take care of himself.
Jones then tried the same thing, but with the same result.
Jack stuck to his post. I went hand over hand to the bow as
fast as I could, and reaching the gunwale I was on board in a
second. One of my oars had somehow come loose, but Jack
had caught it and now handed it to me. We took our places
and surveyed the chances. Apparently we were in for running
the rapid stern foremost and we prepared for it, but in the
middle of the stream there was a rock of most gigantic propor-
tions sloping up the river in such a way that the surges alter-
nately rolled upon it and then slid back. Partly up the slope
we were drawn by this power, and on the down rush the boat
turned and headed diagonally just right for reaching the left
bank. We saw our opportunity and, pulling with every muscle,
lodged the Dean behind a huge boulder at the very beginning
of the main rapid, where I made the line fast in the twinkle of
an eye. Meanwhile the Major had hastily scrambled up to
where he could see down the canyon, and he heard Jack's
hearty shout of " All right!" Lowering the Dean a couple of
rods farther to a sandbank at the mouth of a gulch we went
into camp feeling that we had done enough river work for one
day, and the Canonita*s crew without accident lowered down to
the same place before Andy had supper ready. My hat had
come off in my deep plunge and beyond this I did not have one.
Near by was a small clear spring that gave us another treat of
palatable water, the Colorado now being muddier than ever, as
it was still on the rise, coming up three feet more while we were
here. The entire day's run was eight and one-eighth miles.
The Major and Prof, succeeded in getting down three miles on
foot to reconnoitre.

Continuing in the morning, September 4th, we lowered the

2 Sen

^ °rv:

Great Whirlpools 239

boats past the remainder of the rapid and then shoved out into
the terrific current once more. Water could hardly run faster
than it now did, except in a fall or rapid. The canyon was
narrow and for five miles we encountered the worst whirlpools
we had anywhere seen. The descent was swift and continuous,
but the river was broken only by the whirlpools and " boils " as
we called them, the surface suddenly seeming to boil up and run
over. These upshoots, as a rule, seemed to follow whirlpools.
In the latter the water for a diameter of twenty or twenty-five
feet would revolve around a centre with great rapidity, the
surface inclining to the vortex, the top of which was perhaps
eighteen or twenty inches lower than the general level. The
vortex itself was perfectly formed, like a large funnel, and
about six or eight inches in diameter, where it began to be a
hole in the water, tapering thence down in four or five feet to a
mere point. The same effect is often seen when the water is
flowing out of a round wash-basin through a pipe at the bottom.
These were the most perfect whirlpools I have ever seen, those
above having been lacking in so distinct a vortex. There were
many and we could often see them ahead, but try as we would
to cleave through without a complete revolution or two of the
boat we could not do it. The boats sank down into the hollow,
enabling one to look over the side into the spinning opening,
but the boats, being almost as long as the whirlpool's usual
diameter, could not be pulled in and we were not alarmed.
We found it rather interesting to see if we could get through
without turning, but we never did. Any ordinary short object
or one that could be tipped on end would surely go out of
sight. So furious ran the river along this stretch that we found
it impossible to stop, the boats being like bits of paper in a
mill-race, swinging from one side to the other, and whirling
round and round as we were swept along between the narrow
walls till we ran the granite under about five miles from our
last camp. Finally, after a run all told of fourteen miles with
twenty-three rapids, we made Camp 103 with walls of friendly
sandstone about us. Here again we discovered a small
clear spring for drinking and cooking purposes. There was no
rain this day and at night we put on our dry clothes with

240 A Canyon Voyage

confidence and had a warm comfortable camp with a good
sound sleep.

Thursday morning found us early on the river, which to
our surprise turned suddenly in a north-north-east direction.
When we had gone about nine miles and had run the granite
up and down again, it began to turn to the west. At one
point the river was not more than fifty feet wide ; the current
was everywhere exceedingly strong and there were many rapids,
of which we ran twelve, and made a portage at another, and a
let-down at still another. We camped at the end of the nine
miles on a small sandbank, with the total height of walls about
four thousand feet, breaking back in terraces after about eight
hundred feet. Clem and Jack made a number of photographs
wherever practicable, and altogether they had succeeded in
securing a representative collection.

During the morning of Friday, September 6th, we ran two
rapids in two miles, which brought us to one which we thought
required a let-down and we made it. As it was easy. Jack and
Clem busied themselves photographing while we were doing it,
and we also had dinner here. About two o'clock we went on
and in less than three miles ran four rapids, the fourth being an
exceedingly heavy fall, at the foot of which we went into
camp on the right bank. A little distance above on the same
side of the river was a fine clear cold creek larger than the Paria
in quantity of water. We called it Tapeats Creek, because
a Pai Ute of that name, who had pointed it out to the Major
from the Kaibab, claimed it. During the day the work had
been far less strenuous, there were few whirlpools, the river was
falling, and it was in every way much easier than above in the
granite. A morning was spent at Tapeats Creek for examina-
tions, and we found there some ancient house ruins not far up
the side canyon. I discovered a fine large metate or Indian
mill, deeply hollowed out, and foolishly attempted to take it to
camp. On arriving there it was so heavy I had to drop it and
it broke in two, much to the Major's disgust, who told me
I ought to have let it alone, a fact which I realised then also.
Our rations were now running very low again, for we had taken
more days for this passage than were planned, and as soon as

At Kanab Canyon 241

we launched forth after dinner we began to look longingly for
the mouth of Kanab Canyon and the pack-train. The river
was much easier in every respect, and after our experience of
the previous days it seemed mere play. The granite ran up for
a mile or two, but then we entered sedimentary strata and
came to a pretty little cascade falling through a crevice on the
right from a valley hidden behind a low wall. We at once
recognised it as one which Beaman had photographed when he
and Riley had made their way up along the rocks from.the mouth
of the Kanab during the winter. We remembered that they had
called it ten miles to the Kanab from this place, and after we
had climbed up to examine what they had named Surprise
Valley we went on expecting to reach the Kanab before night.
Running several small and one fairly large rapid, we saw, after
twelve miles from the last camp, a seeming crack on the right,
and a few seconds later heard a wild yelling. In a little while
we landed and lowered to the head of a rapid, and running
to the right up the backwater into the mouth of the Kanab Can-
yon, we found George Adair, Nathan Adams, and Joe Hamblin,
our three faithful packers, waiting there for us with the rations.
They had grown very anxious, for we were several days overdue,
and they feared we had been destroyed, — a fear that was empha-
sised by one of Andy's discarded shirts washing ashore at
their feet. We pulled the boats a short distance up the Kanab
on the backwater and made a comfortable camp, 106, on its
right bank, where we were soon lost in letters and papers the
pack-train had brought down.

Our altitude was now i8cx) feet above sea-level, showing
a descent from the Little Colorado, in about 70 miles, of 890
feet, with 131 rapids run, besides six let-downs and seven port-
ages. The total descent from the Paria was 1370 feet.

CHAPTER XV

A New Departure — Farewell to the Boats — Out to the World through Kanab
Canyon — A Midnight Ride — At the Innupin Picavu — Prof. Reconnoitres
the Shewits Country — Winter Quarters in Kanab — Making the Preliminary
Map — Another New Year — Across a high Divide in a Snow-storm — Down
the Sevier in Winter — The Last Summons.

THE day following our arrival at the mouth of the Kanab
Canyon was Sunday, September 8th, and with the
exception of some observations taken by Prof., and the writing
of notes, the whole camp was in a state of rest. After our try-
ing work in the granite we enjoyed immensely the lying around
warm and dry with plenty to eat. Monday morning every-
body expected to begin preparations for the descent to the
Grand Wash. We were surprised just as we were about to
rise from our places around the canvas on which breakfast had
been spread, when the Major, who was sitting in his chair thinking,
suddenly exclaimed, "Well, boys, our voyage is done!" In a
way these words were a disappointment, for we all wanted to
complete the task and we were entirely ready to go on, not-
withstanding that our recent experience with high water in the
granite indicated great hazard ahead, where there was more
granite ; but on the whole the disappointment was agreeable.
We knew the second granite gorge toward the lower end of
the chasm to be nearly as bad as the first one. There was
besides one exceedingly difficult passage there, which Prof,
called Catastrophe Rapid, where the Howlands and Dunn had
left the first party, which on the prevailing stage of water the
Major believed would be foolhardy to attempt. Prof, in his
diary says, " It is nonsense to think of trying the lower bend
with this water." He and the Major had talked the matter

242

2 :2

A She wits Plot 243

over Saturday night and thought of stopping about forty
miles down at Mount Trumbull, where we knew we could climb
out ; then they thought of sending only one boat that far, but
by Sunday night they decided to end all river work here.
Prof, said he could map the course from the notes of the first
party and that he would rather explore the adjacent country
by land.* There were some breaks in the notes from here
down to Catastrophe Rapid, due to the fact that when the
papers were divided on that memorable day on which the
Rowlands and Dunn left the party, instead of each division
having a full copy of all the notes, by a mistake they had only
portions of both sets. In addition to the difficulty of the
forbidding Catastrophe Rapid there was a possibility of an
attack on us by the Shewits. Jacob through one of his Pai
Ute friends had information that they were preparing to lay
an ambush, and he sent warning to that effect. Jacob knew
the natives too well to have given us this notice unless he
thought it a real danger, but we did not allow it much con-
sideration at the time. Yet it would have been an easy matter
for the Shewits to secrete themselves where they could fall
upon us in the night when we were used up by working
through some bad rapid, and then, hiding the goods, throw
our bodies into the river and burn the boats, or even turn
them loose, thus leaving no proof of their action, our dis-
appearance naturally being laid to destruction by the river, a
termination generally anticipated. I have sometimes thought
that when they killed the Rowlands and Dunn they did it
deliberately to get their guns and clothes, thinking it would
not be found out, or at least that they could put forth a
good excuse, as they did.

We were in the field to accomplish certain work and not to
perform a spectacular feat, and the Major and Prof, having de-
cided that the descent of the remainder of the canyon, con-
sidering all the circumstances, was for us impracticable and
unnecessary, we prepared to leave for Kanab. We unpacked

^ Professor Thompson declared to me not long before his death that the river
was accurate as far as Catastrophe Rapid, (about where longitude 113.39 intersects
the river) but from there to the Virgin it might need some corrections.

244 A Canyon Voyage

the good old boats rather reluctantly. They had come to
possess a personality as such inanimate objects will, having
been our faithful companions and our reliance for many a
hundred difficult miles, and it seemed like desertion to abandon
them so carelessly to destruction. We ought to have had a
funeral pyre. The flags of the boats, which Mrs. Thompson
had made and which had been carried in them the entire way*
were still to be disposed of, and that of theZ^^^« was generously
voted to me by the Major, Jack, and Jones, who had crew claims
to it ; that of the Nellie Powell was awarded to Steward ;
while Clem received the Canonitas, I tried to persuade the
Major to pack the Dean out in sections and send her east to
be kept as a souvenir of the voyage, but he would not then
listen to it, though years later he admitted that he regretted
not taking my suggestion. Three years afterward I came back
to this place with my own party and would then have executed
my desire, but no trace of our former outfit remained except a
hatch from one of the middle cabins, and the Major's chair.
The latter I carried to Salt Lake, where I presented it to
Cap, who was living there.

As before mentioned, the Colorado was so extremely high
that the water backed up into the Kanab Canyon, and it
was there that we left the boats, each tied to an oar stuck in
the ground.' We could not get all the goods on the horses of
the pack-train, and left a portion to be brought out later. Jack
and Clem remained to make photographs, and taking a last
look at the boats, with a good-bye to all, we turned our faces
up the narrow chasm of the Kanab. A small stream ran in the
bottom, and this formed large pools amongst numerous pon-
derous boulders that had fallen in from the top of the walls
some three thousand feet above our heads, the bottom being
hardly more than sixty to seventy-five feet wide. It was with
considerable difficulty that we got the animals past some of
these places, and in one or two the pools were so long and
deep they had to swim a little. The prospectors the year

* Some men from Kanab afterwards came in, sawed one in two and made it
shorter, and then tried to go up the canyon by towing. They did not get far, and
the boat was abandoned. The floods then carried both down to destruction.

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Up Kanab Canyon 245

before had worked a trail to some extent, but here, where the
floods ran high at times, changes occurred frequently. By five
o'clock we had gone about eight miles up this slow, rough way,
and arrived at a singular spring, where we went into camp.
This we called Shower-Bath Spring. The water charged with
lime had built out from the wall a semi-circular mass covered
by ferns, which was cut away below by the floods till one could
walk under in the sprinkling streams percolating through it.
It was a very pretty place, but like all of its kind in the deep
gorges it was a favourite resort for tarantulas, many of which we
had seen in the depths of the Grand Canyon. These, with
scorpions, rattlesnakes, and Gila-monsters, were the poisonous
reptiles of the gorge.

The next morning, Tuesday, the loth of September, our
pack-train was early on the way. The walls grew somewhat
lower, though still two thousand feet high, and the canyon was
usually seventy-five to one hundred feet wide at the bottom.
There were patches of alluvial deposit now along the sides of
the watercourse, covered by fields of cactus loaded with "apples,"
the prickly leaves compelling us to keep the trail the prospectors
had made by their passage to and from the ephemeral Eldo-
rado. After a time we emerged from the lower canyon into
a wider one in the way previously described ; that is, like going
from one floor to another by an incline between narrow walls.
The little stream having vanished, a pool of rain-water helped
us out for dinner, and while it was preparing Prof, and I
climbed up to secure notes on the topography. A trifle
before sunset we arrived at the cedar tree, a short distance
below the mouth of the Shinumo Canyon, where our party
had camped the previous March. The pockets were full
of clear, fresh water, and we had plenty for horses as well as
men. Not far off some human bones were found, old and
bleached. We thought they must be the remains of one of
the Navajo raiders who escaped wounded from the Mormon
attack near this locality. The canyon bottom was quite wide
at this point and comparatively level, covered by rushes and
grass, and the horses were able to get a good meal.

During the day every time I dismounted to take compass

246 A Canyon Voyage

bearings on the trail I felt a sharp, peculiar pain shoot up my
right leg from in front about half-way between ankle and knee.
I could only discover a small red spot at the initial point, and
concluded that I must have struck a sharp rock or cactus spine.
Our party now again divided, the Major and Jones going up
Shinumo Canyon to the Kaibab region, while Prof, and I rode
on up the Kanab Canyon, starting at eight o'clock in the
morning, Wednesday, September nth, and riding steadily all
day. As we had not expected to come out in this way saddles
were scarce. Prof, and the Major had two of the three
used by the packers, while the third was awarded to Jones,
who was to have a long ride on the Kaibab trip. The rest of
us had to make shift as we could, and I rigged up a " sawbuck '*
pack-saddle, with rope loops for stirrups and a blanket across it
to sit on. This was not much better than, or as good perhaps
as, bareback, and the horse was a very hard trotter. We
wished to reach Kanab that night. We kept on at as rapid
a gait as the canyon would permit, though it was easier than in
March, when the numerous miners had not yet broken a way
by their ingress and egress in search of the fabulous gold that
was supposed to exist somewhere in the inaccessibility of the
great chasm. The harder a locality is to arrive at the bigger
the stories of its wealth, while often in the attempts to reach it
the prospector treads heedlessly ground that holds fortunes up
to his very eyes. We continued straight up Kanab Canyon,
the walls running lower and lower, till there was nothing but
rounded hills. Then we emerged on the summit, which was a
valley bottom, about twenty miles from Kanab. Shortly after
dark we halted for a bite to eat and a brief rest before striking
for our old storehouse, a log cabin in Jacob's corral, where
we arrived about eleven o'clock, having made about forty
miles. I collected all the blankets I could find, and, throwing
them on the inside of Jacob's garden fence, I was almost imme-
diately asleep, and knew nothing till Jacob came along and
said a " Good-morning." My ablutions over, I went to Sister
Louisa's to breakfast with Prof, and Mrs. Thompson. The
gardens were now yielding an abundance of fresh fruits, peaches,
melons, etc., and I blessed the good management and foresight

A Bad Wound 247

that directed the immediate planting of these things in a
Mormon settlement. It seemed as if I could not get my fill.

Friday the 13th, the next day, was my birthday and Mrs.
Thompson, who was always striving to do something to make
our circumstances pleasant, prepared a large peach pie with her
own hands in celebration. The Major and Jones having come
in the night before, we passed most of the time that day in a
large tent eating melons, the Major acting as carver of the
fruit. When we had eaten a watermelon he would declare that
he thought muskmelon far better. We all agreed. He would
cut one only to find when we had eaten it that we had changed
our minds and wanted watermelon, which see-saw opinions we
kept up till all the melons were gone. It would be impossible
for anyone who had not had our canyon fare to appreciate the
exhilarating effect of this fresh fruit.

My leg, which had developed the pain coming up the Kanab
Canyon, now swelled till it was almost the same size throughout
and any pressure made an imprint as in a piece of putty. No
one knew what to make of it. I rode over to Johnson's, that
person being the nearest to a doctor of any one in the country,
though the Mormons do not much believe in medicines, and he
gave me a liniment to apply. This did no good. In a few
days the swelling disappeared except where the spot of keen
pain was, and there a lump was left half as large as a man's fist,
with two small red spots in the middle of it. I now concluded
that these spots marked the bite of a tarantala that must
have gotten in my blankets at Shower-Bath Spring. Suppura-
tion set in at the spots where the flesh turned black and all the
men said it was a bad-looking wound. They thought I would
lose my leg. I concluded to poultice it to draw out any poison
that remained, and kept bread-and-milk applied continuously.
After a while it seemed to have a tendency to heal.

We ran the base line up through Kanab and at the head of
it pitched a small observatory tent over a stone foundation on
which Prof, set up a large transit instrument for stellar obser-
vations. He got in connection, by the telegraph, with .Salt Lake
City and made a series of close observations. I began an hourly
set of barometrical readings and as soon as Clem came back he

248 A Canyon Voyage

helped me to run them day and night for eight consecutive
days. Jack meanwhile was preparing for a trip to the Moki
Towns, the Major and Jones had gone off for some special
work, and Andy started with a waggon for Beaver to bring down
rations. Occasional bands of trading Navajos enlivened the
days and I secured five good blankets in exchange for old Yaw-
ger, who was now about useless for our purposes. Prof, gave
him to me to get what I could for him, and he also gave Clem
another derelict for the same purpose. On the 9th of October
Jack, Andy, and Clem, started with Jacob on his annual trip
to the Mokis by way of Lee's Lonely Dell while Jones went
north to Long Valley on the head of the Virgin, for topography.
The Major on foot, with a Mormon companion and a Pai
Ute, explored from Long Valley down the narrow canyon
of the Virgin to Shunesburg, about 20 miles, a trip never
before made.* The canyon is about two thousand feet deep and
in places only twenty or thirty feet wide, twisting in such a way
that the sky was not visible at times, and the stream often filled
it from side to side so that they had to swim.

About eleven o'clock that night Prof, came to wake me up
to say that a telegram had arrived stating that Najavos again
had been raiding and had stolen seventy head of horses from
Parowan. They were supposed to be making for El Vado and
nobody in the absence of Jacob seemed to know just what to
do about it. Prof, had advised them to organise a party and
cut off the raiders, but they preferred to consult Jacob before
doing anything. Prof, now asked me if I would be willing to
ride at once to the Navajo Well where Jacob had expected to
camp and notify him of the raid, no one else in town under-
standing where the well was, few besides ourselves and Jacob
ever having travelled that way. I said I would go if I could
have one companion. It was a lonely journey, and besides I
might come on the Navajos before reaching the well. Charley
Riggs, a splendid fellow whom I liked exceedingly, volunteered.
Filling our overcoat pockets with cartridges, and each with a
good Winchester across his saddle, we started about 12:30

' A description of this jouraey ascribed to September, 1870, occurs at page 108,
etseq., in ^oyr^iVsr&^oxt on t\ie Exploration of the Colorado River of the West, 1875.

2 S

A Midnight Ride 249

under a fine moon and a clear sky. I knew the way perfectly,
even by moonlight. We took no wrong turns, had no stops,
and made excellent time toward the Navajo Well twenty
miles away. On we went over the open country, skirting the
Vermilion Cliffs on our left.

" Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place,"
but not at the headlong gallop by which they brought the news
over a first-class road to Aix, we rode steadily as fast as the
ground would permit, sometimes on a gallop, sometimes on a
trot. About two o'clock, as we neared a canyon where an old
trail came down from the north which the raiders might follow,
we slowed up and advanced with caution. Dimly we perceived
what appeared to be a number of sleeping forms under the
ordinary Navajo dark-blue and white striped service blanket.
Throwing our guns up ready for action we rode ahead slowly
to pass by a detour if not discovered. We then saw that the
objects were nothing but peculiar bushes. With a feeling of
sympathy for the dear Knight of La Mancha and his worthy
Sancho we spurred forward. At half-past four by the watch
dawn began to spread on the sky and we rode into the camp at
the Navajo Well. A shout and our hoof beats had roused the
sleepers. I delivered my message to Jacob who immediately
started for El Vado with Charley Riggs, intending to add several
more men to his band at the Paria settlement which he would
pass through ; a route he had often before followed for a like
purpose. My leg was by no means well and it would have
been imprudent on this account for me to further lend my ser-
vices. I let Jacob have my rifle and ammunition and returned
to Kanab, Jack, Andy, and Clem going on to Lee's to wait. I
reached the settlement before noon, when George Adair and
Tom Stewart started heavily armed to join Jacob at the earliest
moment. A Pai Ute later came in with a report that a fresh
party of Navajos on a trading trip had recently come across the
Colorado, and from this we concluded that the alarm was false,
or that the culprits were Utes who went off into the Dirty
Devil country. Prof, with Adams went out towards the Paria
and then to the Kaibab to do some topographic work along the
north rim of the Grand Canyon and I was left without any of

250 A Canyon Voyage

our party in the village, it being deemed inadvisable for me to
do much riding or walking till my wound, which was now doing
well, had more nearly healed. I devoted my time to plotting
up notes, finishing sketches, drawings of pictographs, etc., and
took my meals at Sister Louisa's. I became much interested
in the story of her experiences which she told us from time to
time, especially as she was one of the women who had pushed
a handcart across the plains. After a few days the Major came
in from a trip accompanied by several Pai Utes, among whom
was Chuarooumpeak, the young chief of the Kaibab band,
usually called Frank by the settlers and Chuar by his own peo-
ple. The Pai Utes having no " F " in their language pronounced
his English name **Brank," just as they called me "Bred."
Their usual name for me was Untokarowits, derived from the
dark red colour of my hair. Frank was a remarkably good man.
He had been constantly devoted to the safety and welfare of
the whites. A most fluent speaker in his native tongue, he would
address his people with long flights of uninterrupted rhetorical
skill.

Old Patnish came in occasionally. Though he did not look
particularly dangerous his eye was keen and his bearing positive.
Nobody would have interfered with him unless prepared for a
fight to the finish. One day I rode to Johnson by the trail and
learned when I got back that Patnish had arrived at Kanab by
the road, so I just missed an interview. The term " old " Pat-
nish signifies ** that scoundrel '* Patnish, but when the people
spoke of "old" Jacob the prefix was one of respect and affec-
tion — so contrary is the meaning that can be put into three
letters. Charley Riggs and George Adair came back from El
Vado saying that no raiding Navajos had been seen, so our
opinion of the false alarm was confirmed.

On the 27th of October we had the first snow of the season,
which lasted only a few hours, snow never being heavy at
Kanab. The Major had planned another journey to the Uin-
karet region and we started November 2d, taking with us three
of the Kaibab band — Chuar, another called George, or, as they
pronounced it, "Judge," and Waytoots; the Major desiring to
talk to them in our camps to continue his vocabulary and the

A Wet Night 251

collection of other linguistic material which he had been gather-
ing from them and others in and around Kanab at every oppor-
tunity. Our party proceeded to Pipe Spring, camping half a
mile below the houses and striking the next day, Monday,
November 4th, for the Wild Band Pocket. Finding no water
there the natives led on toward a spring they knew of in a low
line of cliffs. I was riding a broncho broken only a few weeks
before, and at an unexpected moment I was suddenly deemed
persona nongrata^ but I kept my seat and vanquished the beast
after a vigorous circus, meeting thereafter with no further op-
position. We saw a band of twenty wild horses spinning across
the plain one behind another like a train of railway cars, a
huge stallion playing locomotive. Perhaps my broncho felt
the call of the band ! Darkness dropped down on us before
we could get to the spring. We had to make a camp that was
not exactly dry, though there was no drinking water, for a
drizzling rain, half snow, set in, the snow serving to hold the
accompanying rain on the surface. We were wading in slush
and it was a task to find a decent place for one's blankets.
Jones and I bunked together. His side of the bed was a slight
hollow, in consequence of which the melting slush formed under
him a chilly pool that interfered seriously with his slumbers. I
happened to be lying on a lump or ridge and kept fairly dry
by never stirring the whole night.

The rain ceased by morning and all day Tuesday we trav-
elled toward the Uinkaret Mountains over a comparatively
level desert, but not going rapidly, as we had a waggon. The
ground having been softened by the rain the wheels cut deeply,
there being of course no road. A flock of antelope blew by.
We did not give them a second glance, as they were too far off
to be hunted. It was after dark when we arrived at the rocky
pool where we had before camped in March, which we learned
now from Chuar the natives called the Innupin (or Oonupin)
Picavu, or Witch Water-pocket. They said the locality was a
favourite haunt of witches. These were often troublesome and
had to be driven away or they might hurt one. There was
plenty of wood and we were soon comfortable, with a keen
November wind to emphasise our blessings. The water in the

252 A Canyon Voyage

pocket was clear and pure, but it was full of small " wigglers."
We tried to dip up a pail which should be free from them.
The Major, seeing our efforts, took a cup and without looking
drank it down with the nonchalant remark, "I haven't seen
any wigglers." The Pai Utes had killed some rabbits, which
they now skinned and cooked. I say cooked, but perhaps I
should say warmed. Dexterously stripping off the skins they
sHt open the abdomen, removed the entrails, and, after squeez-
ing out the contents by drawing between thumb and fingers,
they replaced the interminable string in the cavity, closing the
aperture with the ears, and stowed the carcass in the hot ashes
for a few minutes. Then they ate the whole thing with com-
plete satisfaction. We preferred to fry ours, without the
entrails, in a pan with bacon fat. Frequently the Major gave
me little talks on science, as he was much interested in my
future career, and by the fire this evening he instructed me in
some of the fundamental principles of natural philosophy.
Chuar having had one of his men remove his shoes, which were
heavy " Mericats ** ones, was reclining in a princely way smok-
ing a cigarette on a bank near the fire. Suddenly he rose to
his feet, intently listening and peering anxiously out through
the enveloping gloom of the pifions and cedars. I asked him
what he heard. "Oonupits," he whispered solemnly, never
ceasing his watchful gaze. Then cautiously aiming his long
muzzle-loading rifle in the direction, he fired a shot and seemed
satisfied that the intruder was driven away or destroyed. He
described the noise of the Oonupits as a whistling sound. He
and his men had a habit of waking in the night in our various
camps and singing, first one beginning very low, the others
joining in one by one, and increasing the power as they did so
till all were singing in full voice. This woke us up. We threw
things at them, but with no effect. *' What do you do it for? "
said I to Chuar. " To drive away the Oonupits," he answered. *

» Oonupits or Innupits is the singular, Innupin the plural. It may be translated
witch, elf, or goblin, with evil tendencies. On the other hand they did not fear a
spirit. When on the Kaibab in July with Chuar and several other Indians, Prof,
while riding along heard a cry something like an Indian halloo. " After we got
into camp," he said in his diary: " Chuar asked George Adair what he called that

Compact with the Shewits 253

In the morning, November 6th, the Major, Prof, and I went
off reconnoitring and did not get back to camp till after dark,
when we found there a short, fat, Uinkaret whom Chuar intro-
duced as Teemaroomtekai, chief. In the settlements when he
ventured to go there he was known as Watermelon, according
to Frank Hamblin, who was with us. Teemaroomtekai had a
companion and next day Prof, and the Major climbed Mt.
Trumbull with them. Wishing to have a talk with the Shewits
we moved on the 9th around to Oak Spring, near which some
of them were encamped with their kinsmen the Uinkarets. I
was interested to see what the slayers of the Rowlands and
Dunn looked like. Except for a wilder, more defiant aspect,
they differed little from other Pai Utes. Their country being
so isolated and unvisited they were surly and independent.
The Uinkarets on the other hand were rather genial, more like
the Kaivavit band. The Major traded for bags of food seeds,
baskets, spoons made from mountain sheep's horns, balls of
compressed cactus fruit from which the juice had been ex-
tracted for a kind of wine, rolls of oose-apple pulp, which they
ate like bread, etc., all for the Smithsonian Institution.

With the Shewits the Major and Prof, had a conference.
Prof, wished to make a reconnaissance through their region and
explained to them what he wanted to do. An agreement was
reached by which he was to be permitted without molestation
of any kind to go anywhere and everywhere with two Shewits
for guides and one of our party as cook and helper, in order that
he could tell *' Washington " about the country. The helper,
however, was to stick to the trail and remain in camp, so that
he would know as little as possible, and should not tell that
little to the " Mormoni " whom the Shewits disliked. Nathan
Adams, a Mormon, was the man to accompany Prof, and he
did not enjoy the prospect at all. On Monday, November
nth, the Major, Prof., and Jones climbed Mount Logan for

which lived after the body died. George replied, * A spirit.' * Well,' said Chuar,
' that was what hallooed in the forest to-day. It was the spirit of a dead Indian.
I have often heard it. Sometimes it is near, sometimes far away. When I was
here with Beaman I heard it call near me. I answered, telling it to come to me.
It did not come nor reply, and I felt very much ashamed to think I had called.'"

2 54 A Canyon Voyage

more data and took a general survey of the country, while I
went out on foot, climbed, measured and located eight large
cinder-cones. When they came down the Major said he had
seen a fine, isolated mountain to the west which he had called
after me, and I naturally felt much pleased with the honour of
having my name stamped on the map.

The next day, November I2th, our party divided into three.
Frank Hamblin went out to St. George with the waggon after
rations ; Prof, with Nathan Adams, one Shewits, named Paan-
tung, and our guide " Judge," who may have been a Shewits
also for all we could tell, prepared for the entrance into Shewits
land, while the Major, Jones, and I proceeded to the foot of
the Toroweap, to a water-pocket near the edge of the Grand
Canyon called by the Uinkarets Teram Picavu. Chuar and
Waytoots went back to Kanab and we hired Uinkarets to carry
our goods nine miles down to the pocket, descending I2<x>
feet at one point over rough lava. After some work at the
canyon we went back to the spring on the 14th, the Uinkarets
again acting as our pack-horses. We had no salt left by this
time and very little food, but we killed some rabbits and cooked
them on hot coals, the adhering ashes making a substitute for
salt. I reached the spring first and found little, round, beam-
ing, Teemaroomtekai, who knew our plans, already there with
a great big " Mericats " fire to welcome us, as well as a large
pile of wood for feeding it. The Major got in soon after, but
Jones failed to come at all, which worried us. Before we could
go in search of him in the morning he arrived. His horse had
given out, compelling him to stay where he was all night. We
had travelled hard up and down all kinds of hills, canyons, and
mountains, with seldom a trail, and it was wearing on the animals
living only on bunch grass.

I continued measuring and locating the oonagaritchets or
cinder-cones, of which there were more than sixty, and got in
four more on the 15th. Then the Major decided to move to
another water-pocket the Uinkarets told about, farther east
across the lava, a pocket they called Tiravu Picavu or Pocket-
of-the-Plain. It was on the edge of the basaltic table over-
looking what they termed the Wonsits Tiravu or Antelope

The Grand Canyon.

From North Side near Foot of Toroweap Valley, Uinkaret District.
Photograph by J. K. Hillers.

To the Tiravu Picavu

Plain. They said there was no water now, but as one declared
there was a little we decided to go. While the Major followed
a waggon-track leading to or from St. George, wishing to make
some special observations along it and expecting to meet and
stop Frank with the waggon now due, Jones and I struck across
on the moccasin trail, leaving our goods to be brought on by
the Uinkaret packers. At sunset we rounded a clump of cinder-
cones studding a black, barren waste. Far away across the
Wonsits Tiravu rose the red cliff land up and up to the eastern
sky ; behind was the great bulk of Trumbull, together with
scores of the smooth, verdureless heaps of volcanic cinders.
Everywhere near was the desert of basalt, with nothing but the
faint trail to point the way and the night slowly enwrapping
us. On we urged our stumbling, weary beasts, their iron clink-
ing on the metallic rocks ; on till the thick blackness circled us
like a wall. Then we halted and built a little brush fire, think-
ing to stay till dawn. At the instant a weird cry from far back
fell leaden on the strangely heavy winter air. Our packers saw
where we were and presently came to us. They were in a rage,
pitching along in the dark under their heavy loads. They were
cold, tired, famished, for the way had been long, the packs
heavy. Frost was in the wind. They now pretended not to
know where the end was. I thought this was to see what we
would say or do. We did not care ; we said and did nothing
with all the nonchalance born of the feeling that the further we
went the worse it was. Then one remembered. The pocket
was near and he struck out for it, the rest following as best we
could through the thick night, the guide occasionally lighting
a torch of grass. After a quarter of a mile he stopped in the
bottom of a deep basaltic gulch. Here was the place. The
Uinkarets threw down their loads and squatted glum and silent.
From the hill Jones and I scraped together an armful of brush
and got a small fire started in the bottom of the desolate hollow.
At the upper end of it on a sort of bench eight feet wide was a
depression covered with ice three or four inches thick. With
some difficulty pounding a hole through this we found beneath
a small amount of thick, slimy water, full of green scum. We
drank some, the Uinkarets drank some, but we could not see well

2S6 A Canyon Voyage

enough to get any out for the animals. We tied them to rocks to
prevent them from leaving in the night. The Indians thawed
a little under the influence of the fire, but they would barely
speak when spoken to. They skinned a wildcat they had killed
on the way and boiled the red meat briefly in our kettle and
ate it like hungry wolves, while Jones and I, all the time won-
dering what had become of the Major, made a light lunch on
some of our scanty supply. Then we climbed the hill, and get-
ting together a little more brush Jones sat keeping a signal fire
going as long as he had fuel. But the wind was keen and
strong, wood limited, and he gave it up. Spreading our blankets
we went to sleep. Morning came clear and sharp. I took my
glasses and went up to scan the country for some sign of the
Major or our waggon and I rejoiced to discover him not a quarter
of a mile distant. He had headed for the fire, and losing it
kept on by a star till he thought he was near us, when he made
a small fire of his own, tied his mule, and waited for day. We
had a bite together and thawed out some of the ice in our
kettle, providing a diminutive drink for each horse ; then leav-
ing the natives in charge of the baggage we rode down into the
plain to find our waggon, taking along our last bit of bread for
lunch. In about ten miles we came to it and Frank Hamblin
gave us the latest news, " Grant elected and Boston burned.**
After a lunch we turned back, making a camp at the foot of the
basalt, thawing out more ice for the animals, and giving the
Indians some food. About two o'clock the Major and I rode
over to the Innupin Picavu while Jones and the waggon went
around, as it could not cross the basalt. We arrived at seven,
while the waggon did not come till half past eleven, when we
prepared a good supper for all hands, turning in about three in
the morning. Not a man awoke before ten, though the strong
sun fell on our faces. The animals were used up and we did
what we could on foot that day. I climbed four more cinder-
cones, reaching camp at dark. Every day I climbed several of
the cones, but some were so far away that I had to make a
special camp from which to operate. The waggon was loaded
with ice from the water-pocket, and a supply of provisions, and
driven about seven miles to a basaltic gulch, in a well-wooded

Camping Alone 257

locality on the edge of a treeless valley, where the load was
dropped and I was left with my horse. Before dark I gathered
a lot of wood, made a good fire, and melted some of the ice
that formed my water supply, in a brass kettle, watering my
horse, which I then tethered with a long rope where there was
good grass. I did not intend to waste time hunting my mount
in the morning. After supper I spread my blankets near the
fire and by the light of a bright piflon blaze I began to read
Great Expectations, a paper edition with the last leaves gone
having gotten into camp. As I read Pip's interview in the
twilight with the convict on the dreary marshes I was in deep
sympathy with the desperate hunger of the terrible man, and
when Mrs. Joe buttered the end of the loaf and carved off the
slices I myself was hungry enough to cook supper over again.
Butter had now been absent from my bill of fare, with a few
exceptions, for nearly two years. I was careful to place my fire
where it would be well screened and not easily seen from a
distance. I did not care to have any Shewits or even Uinkarets
visit me and I hoped they were all in their own camps, though
I sometimes had a feeling that one might be watching from the
shadows of the great basaltic rocks. This, of course, was due
to the circumstances and not to any probability, though I kept
my Winchester near my hand. When I again got back to the
main camp the Major told me that the first night of my absence
several of the natives came in and, not seeing me around, in-
quired my whereabouts. He gave them an evasive answer,
believing that it was quite as well not to apprise them of the
situation.

The following day, Thursday, November 21st, I covered a
wide territory, climbing five cinder-cones a great distance apart
and each quite high. Several' times I crossed recent moccasin
tracks, but met no natives, and at nightfall I was still a long
way from my camp. When the darkness became so dense
that I could not see even faint outlines I took a star for guid-
ance till clouds blotted it out. Then I was completely adrift
in a sea of mountains. I could not tell one direction from
another. Throwing the reins on the broncho's neck I sat back
in my saddle to see what would come of it. Slowly, cautiously

258 A Canyon Voyage

the animal plodded over broken, rocky ground succeeded by
smoother footing, as I could tell by the motion, and in about
an hour suddenly and quietly halted. I perceived that I was
in the midst of cedars. A light spot appeared almost beneath.
Dismounting I dropped to my hands and knees and found that
it was the ashes of my fire. The broncho, the same that had
tried to buck me off a few days before, had come back to the
camp of a single night, about the best example of horse sense
that I ever experienced. After another comfortable evening
with Dickens I was prepared to go on with my special task, and
finished it in this place by climbing the group of cones near
the Tiravu Picavu the next day. About two in the afternoon
I got back to my camp with a very tired mount, but I loaded
all my traps on my saddle, the ice being almost exhausted, and
started to find a new locality where I was to meet the Major.
My pack was high, my broncho tired. While crossing a small
open valley near sunset the poor beast suddenly lay down
with me. There being no water anywhere in that locality, I
was forced to use some brutality to get the animal up. With-
out further incident I came to the place agreed on and found
the Major there in advance. We camped at the spot and the
next day, Saturday, November 23d, I climbed five more cones,
reaching the camp at sunset. Sunday the Major went on with
his particular task while I added six more of the cones to my
list, getting back to the side camp late in the day. The Major
was to go in by himself when he was ready, so I took all the
outfit on my horse again, reached the Oak Spring trail at sunset,
and the main camp two hours after dark, glad enough to drop
the load of pails, bags, blankets, etc., in which my broncho
sympathised more deeply than could be expressed.

Monday morning, November 25th, we turned our faces
toward Kanab, and I climbed four more cones on the way
out, overtaking the waggon about an hour after dark. The
night was very cold and I was ready to enjoy the warmth of a
fire by the time I reached the camp. In the morning we had
a visit from Lieutenant Dinwiddie of Lieut. Wheeler's survey.
I rode over to the cinder-cone region again and climbed the
remaining ones, seven or eight, reaching camp after dark, the

■^ I

>. o

a CO

(3 B

Back to Kanab 259

days being very short at this time of year. The camp had
been moved nearer to the spring in the low line of cliffs where
we had halted coming out and the Major with his usual original
ideas had caused the waggon to be lowered by ropes into a
deep gulch. He had estimated that it was possible to go out
through the cHffs that way instead of going all the way around.
His geological knowledge did not lead him astray. There was
no trouble whatever in taking the waggon up the gulch, and
when we emerged we were many miles on the road to Pipe
Spring, where the Major and I arrived in advance of the others.
We had dinner and he then went on alone to Kanab, where the
whole party arrived the next day — Thanksgiving Day. Prof,
had come in on the 25th by way of St. George, having had a
successful tour through the Shewits region, all agreements on
both sides having been carried out to the letter. He had been
two weeks in the wild country and Adams declared that to him
the time was years, his only comfort being that he was wearing
his "endowment garment," a sure protection from all evil.
Prof, had climbed Mount Dellenbaugh, though the Shewits ob-
jected to Adams's going up and he remained on the trail. It
was found to be a basaltic peak 6650 feet above sea-level, but
only 1200 or 1500 above its base. On the summit were the
ruins of a Shinumo building circular in shape, twenty feet in
diameter, with walls remaining about two feet high. It was
not far from the base of this mountain that the Howlands and
Dunn were killed, Paantung, Prof.'s guide, saying it was done
by some "no sense'' Shewits. Prof, was of the opinion that
the guide had been of the party himself.

All was preparation in our camp for the departure of the
Major for Salt Lake and Washington. I had expected to go
east at this time also, but both the Major and Prof, being de-
sirous of having me remain a while longer, to help finish up the
preliminary map, I agreed to do so and on the 30th of Novem-
ber all the original party set out but Prof., Mrs. Thompson,
and myself. A new member, John Renshawe, had arrived a
few days before to assist at the topography. When the party
had been gone some time it was discovered that they had
forgotten several things. I took a horse and rode over with the

26o A Canyon Voyage

articles to the camp they intended to make at Johnson, where
I remained till morning. The Major was so eager to get an
early start that he had all hands up long before sunrise.
When breakfast was eaten we had to sit by the fire three quarters
of an hour before there was light enough for the men to trail
the horses. Then I said good-bye ; they went on and I went
back. Jones and Andy I never saw again.

Prof, concluded to make winter headquarters in Kanab and
a lot was rented for the purpose. On December 3d, we put up
a large tent in one corner, with two small ones for rations and
saddles. The next day we put up one in the other corner for
Prof, and Mrs. Thompson, and at the back of the lot we arranged
a corral for the horses or mules we might want to catch. The
large tents were floored with pine boards and along the sides
heavy cedar boughs were placed in crotches around which the
guy ropes were passed before staking. The tents thus were
dry inside and could not blow down. A conical iron stove on
a boxing of earth heated the large tent like a furnace. In the
middle of the general tent we placed a long drafting-table and
were ready for work. Another tent, half boards, was erected
near ours for kitchen and dining-room, and Riley, who had
turned up again, hired as cook and master of this structure.
Riley, who had spent his whole life in camp and saddle, was
the best frontier or camp cook I ever saw. Scrupulously clean
to the last detail of his pots and pans, he knew how to make
to perfection all manner of eatables possible under the circum-
stances. Prof, arranged for a supply of potatoes, butter, meats,
and everything within reason, so we lived very well, with an
occasional dash of Dixie wine to add zest, while on Christmas
Day Riley prepared a special feast. Though the sky was
sombre the town was merry and there was a dance in the
school-house, but I did not attend. Rainy weather set in on
the 26th, and the old year welcomed the new in a steady down-
pour, making January i, 1873, rather a dismal holiday. Even
the mail which arrived this day was soaked. Toward evening
the skies lifted somewhat and a four-horse waggon appeared, or
rather two mules and two horses on a common freighting
waggon, in which Lyman Hamblin and two others were play-

Mapmaking 261

ing, as nearly in unison as possible, a fiddle, a drum, and a fife.
While we were admiring this feat we heard Jack's hearty shout
and saw our waggon returning under his charge from Salt Lake
with supplies, with a cook stove for our kitchen, and with a new
suit of clothes for me accompanied by the compliments of
Prof, and the Major.

Our camp in Kanab was now as complete and comfortable
as any one might wish, and our work of preparing the map
went forward rapidly. As soon as it could be finished I was
to take it to Salt Lake, and send it by express to the Major in
Washington, to show Congress what we had been doing and
what a remarkable region it was that we had been investigating.
In the evenings we visited our friends in the settlement or they
visited us, or we read what books, papers, and magazines we
could get hold of. John and I also amused ourselves by
writing down all the songs that were sung around camp, to
which I added a composition of my own to the tune of Fare-
well to the Star Spangled Banner, an abandoned rebel one.
These words ran :

Oh, boys, you remember the wild Colorado,
Its rapids and its rocks will trouble us no more,

etc., with a mention in the various stanzas of each member of the
party and his characteristics. The horses became high-spirited
with nothing to do and plenty of good feed. One of our
amusements was to corral several, and then, putting saddles on
the most prancing specimens, mount and ride down on the
plain, the horse running at top speed, with the impression that
he was full master of the situation and expecting us to try to
stop him. Instead we enjoyed the exhilaration of it, and let
the charger alone till after a couple of miles he concluded the
fun was all on our side and took a more moderate gait of his
own accord. There were several horse races also, and the days
flew by. On February 3d I finished plotting the river down to
the Kanab Canyon, and as if to emphasise this point a snow-
storm set in. By the 5th the snow was five inches deep, and
we had word that the snow on the divide to the north over
the culmination of the various lines of cliffs, where I would

262 A Canyon Voyage

have to pass to go to Salt Lake, was very heavy. On the 7th
the mail rider failed to get through. We learned also that an
epizootic had come to Utah and many horses were laid up by
it, crippling the stage lines. It had been planned that I should
go north with our own horses till I could connect with some
stage Hne, and then take that for the remainder of the distance
to the Utah Southern Railway, which then had been extended
south from Salt Lake as far as Lehi.

On the i6th of February, which was Sunday, I put the
last touches on the map, drawn from the original on a
large sheet of tracing cloth, rolled it carefully up, and placed
it in a long tin tube we had ordered from the local tinsmith.
This I carried on my back, as I did not mean to be separated
from it a minute till I gave it into the hands of Wells, Fargo &
Co.'s express in Salt Lake. Jack was to go with me. Saying
a last good-bye to Prof, and Mrs. Thompson, to John, and to
some of my Kanab friends who came to see the start, we left a
Httle after noon, with one pack on a broncho mule, Jack riding
a mule and I a favourite horse of mine called by the unusual
name of Billy. The pack-mule always had to be blindfolded
before we could handle him, and if the blind should accidentally
slip off there was an instantaneous convulsion which had a most
disrupting effect. Going straight up the canyon, we crossed
over finally into Long Valley, and were on the headwaters of
the Virgin. At sunset we came to a little settlement called
Mt. Carmel, but continued to Glendale, where we arrived about
half-past seven, having come in all thirty miles. At the bishop's
house we were welcomed and there got some supper, putting
our three animals in his corral. We did not care to sleep in
the house, choosing for our resting-place the last remains of
a haystack, where we spread our blankets, covering the whole
with a paulin, as the sky looked threatening. I never slept
more comfortably in my life, except that I was half-aroused in
the stillness by water trickling down my neck. Half-asleep we
pulled the canvas clear up over our heads and were troubled
no more. When we awoke in the morning a heaviness on top
of us we knew meant snow. We were covered by a full foot of
it, soft and dry. Valley, mountain, everything was a solid

Crossing the Divide 263

expanse of white, the only dark spot being our red blankets as
we threw back the paulin. The sky was grey and sullen. More
snow was in the air. As soon as breakfast was eaten we slung
our pack, saddled, and rode up the valley, following as well as
we could the directions given by the bishop. Neither Jack nor
I had been this way before. We could see the slight depression
in the surface of the snow which indicated a waggon-rut beneath,
and by that token continued up the ever-narrowing valley; the
slopes sprinkled by large pine trees. Snow fell thickly. It
was not always easy to see our way, but we went on. At a
certain point we were to turn to the left up a side gulch, fol-
lowing it till we came to the divide, some eight thousand or
nine thousand feet above sea-level, where we expected to go
down to the head of the Sevier Valley, where Jack had before
been by another route. At the gulch we deemed the correct
one, no road or trail being visible, we turned late in the after-
noon to the left and rapidly mounted higher, with the fresh
snow growing correspondingly deeper till it was about two feet
on the level. The going was slow and hard, the sky still drop-
ping heavy flakes upon us. About five o'clock we found our-
selves on the summit of a high bald knob topping the world.
In every direction through the snow-mist similar bald knobs
could be seen looming against the darkening sky. The old
drifts were so deep that where a horse broke through the crust
he went down to the end of his leg. This excited them, and
they plunged wildly. I finally got them all three still and
quiet, while Jack scanned the outlook intently. ** See any
landmark. Jack?" said I. "Not a damned thing I ever saw
before ! " answered Jack. At brief intervals the falling snow
would cease, and we could see more clearly, except that the
impending night began to cast over all a general obscurity.

There was a deep valley beyond to the right. While it was
not possible to tell directions we felt that our course must lie
there, and I led the way down a long treeless slope, breaking a
path as well as I could, my horse following behind ; the others
urged on by Jack from the rear. The snow became shallower
near the bottom. We mounted and I rode in the direction
that Jack thought we ought to take to come to the road down

264 A Canyon Voyage

the Sevier where he had before travelled. We crossed the
valley in doing this, but at one point in the very bottom my
horse wanted to turn to the left, which would have taken us
down the deepening valley. I prevented his turning and we
continued up a gulch a mile or two, where it narrowed till we
could barely proceed. Jack then climbed up on a cliff and
disappeared, endeavouring to see some familiar object, the fall-
ing snow having at last stopped. I stood in my tracks with
the three animals and waited so long I began to be afraid that
Jack had met with an accident. Just then I heard him descend-
ing. It was nearly dark. He could not see any sign of the
region he had been in before. Snow and darkness puzzle one
even in a familiar country. We then went back to the valley
where the horse had wished to turn and followed it down, now
believing that it might be the right way after all, for Billy had
been over the road several times. Another example of horse
sense, which seems to prove that horses know more than we
think they do. We had expected to reach Asa's ranch before
night and had not brought an axe, in consequence. Keeping
down the valley till we came to a group of cedars, some of
which were dead, and a tall pine tree, we camped, pulling
branches from the cedars and bark from the pine for a fire,
which quickly melted its way down to the ground, leaving a
convenient seat all round about twenty inches high, upon which
we laid blankets to sit on. Our pack contained enough food
for supper ; breakfast would have to take care of itself. We
also had some grain, which we fed to the hungry animals and
tied them under the cedars, where they were protected in a
measure from the sharp wind though they were standing in
deep snow. For ourselves we cut twigs from the green cedars
and made a thick mattress on the snow with them. Our blankets
on top of these made a bed fit for a king. The storm cleared
entirely ; a brilliant moon shone over all, causing the falling
frost in the air to scintillate like diamonds.

In the morning, Tuesday, February i8th, we packed up at
once, having nothing left to eat, and proceeded down the
valley wondering if we were on the right road or not. The
sky arched over with that deep tone that is almost black in

At Asa's Ranch 265

winter in high altitudes, and the sun fell in a dazzling sheet
upon the wide range of unbroken white. The surface was like
a mirror ; the eyes closed against the intense Hght instinctively.
As we went on northwards and downwards a faint, double,
continuous hollow began to appear on the snow — a waggon-track
at the bottom. It became more and more distinct and we then
felt sure that we were on the right road, though we were not
positive till near noon when, approaching a rocky point, we
suddenly heard the clear ring of an axe on the metaUic air. A
few moments later turning this we saw a large, swift stream
flowing clear between snowy banks, and beyond a log cabin
with blue smoke rising from the immense stone chimney. In
front was a man chopping wood. His dog was barking. It was
a welcome, a beautiful picture of frontier comfort. It was Asa*s
ranch. Asa was one of the men who helped the Major on his
arrival at the mouth of the Virgin in 1869, now having changed
his residence to this place. We were soon made welcome in
the single large room of the cabin where all the family were,
and while the horses were having a good feed an equally good
one for us was prepared by Mrs. Asa on the fire burning snugly
in the great chimney. Never did fried ham, boiled eggs, and
hot coffee do better service. We could not have been more
cordially received if these Mormons had been our own relatives.
We rested there till about three o'clock, when we bade them
all good-bye and rode on down the valley, the snow continually
lessening in depth, till, when we reached the much lower alti-
tude of Panguitch at sunset, twenty-six miles from our night's
camp, there were only three or four inches and the temperature
was not nearly so low, though still very cold. According to
custom we applied to the bishop for accomodation for ourselves
and our stock and were again cordially received. We were
quickly made comfortable before a bright fire on the hearth
which illumed the whole room. While the good wife got sup-
per, the bishop, an exceedingly pleasant man, brought out
some Dixie wine he had recently received. He poured us out
each a large goblet and took one himself. After a hearty sup-
per Jack and I put down our blankets on the bishop''s haystack
and knew nothing more till sunrise. Leaving Panguitch we

266 A Canyon Voyage

rode on down the Sevier, crossing it frequently, and made about
forty miles, passing through Sevier Canyon and Circle Valley,
where there were a number of deserted houses, and arrived
for night at the ranch of a Gentile named Van Buren. By this
time my eyes, which had been inflamed by the strong glare of
the sun, began to feel as if they were full of sand, and presently
I became aware that I was afflicted with that painful malady
snowblindness. I could barely see, the pain in both eyes was
extreme, and a river of tears poured forth continually. Other
men whom we heard of as we went on were blinded worse than
I. All I could do, having no goggles, was to keep my hat
pulled down and cut off the glare as much as possible.* At
Marysvale the stage had been abandoned. We kept on, find-
ing as we advanced that all the stages were put out of business
by the epizootic. There was nothing for Jack to do but to go
on with me to Nephi.

In riding through one village I saw a sign on the closed
door of a store just off the road and my curiosity led me to
ride up close enough to read it. I did not linger. The words
I saw were *' SMALL POX." That night we reached Nephi
under the shadow of the superb Mount Nebo, where I tried
again for a stage so that Jack could return. No stage arrived
and the following morning we rode on northward over very
muddy roads, finally reaching Spanish Fork, where a fresh snow-
storm covered the country about a foot, making travelling still
more difficult. Another day's journey put us as far as American
Fork, only three miles from the end of the railway, a place
called Lehi, for which we made a very early start the next day,
Wednesday, February 25th, but when we arrived there through
the mud and slush the train had taken its departure. Our pack
mule was now very lame and travelled with difficulty, but we
continued on toward Salt Lake. The train had become stalled
in the immense snowdrifts at the Point-of-the-Mountain and
there we overtook it. I was soon on board with my tin case
and other baggage, but it was a considerable time before the

* For travelling across snow one should always be provided with smoked gog-
gles. Failing to have them, lines of charcoal should be drawn below the eyes or a
scarf tied so as to break the glare.

The Last Problem

267

gang of men and a snow plough extricated the train. About
five o'clock we ran into the town. I went to the Walker House,
then the best hotel, and that night slept in a real room and a
real bed for the first time in nearly two years, but I opened the
windows as wide as they would go. In the morning I sent off
the map and then turned my attention to seeing the Mormon
capital. Cap. was now living there and it was Fennemore's
home. I also found Bonnemort and MacEntee in town, and
Jack came on up the remaining short distance in order to take
a fresh start for Kanab.

Nearly forty years have slipped away since the events
chronicled in this volume. Never was there a more faithful,
resolute band of explorers than ours. Many years afterward
Prof, said in a letter to me speaking of the men of the Second
Powell Expedition, ** I have never seen since such zeal and cour-
age displayed." From out the dark chasm of eternity comes the
hail, " Tirtaan Aigles dis wai ! " and already many of that little
company have crossed to Killiloo. The Major and Prof, repose
in the sacred limits of Arlington. Strew their graves with roses
and forget them not. They did a great work in solving the
last geographical problem of the United States.

INDEX

Adair, George, 153, 241

Adams, Nathan, 241, 253; his

endowment garment, 259
Agua Grande, Navajo chief, 147
Aigles, Tirtaan, slogan, 75, 267
Alcove Brook, 47
Altitude of Colorado River above

vsea. Black's Fork, 15; Junction

Green and Grand, 1 14 ; Paria, 151,

217; Grand Wash, 217; Little

Colorado, 223; Kanab Canyon,

241
American Fork, 266
Amerind, viii.
Andy, see Hattan
Aquarius Plateau, 200, 202
Arlington, Powell and Thompson

buried there, 267
Arms, kind used, 12
Asa, ranch, 264,

Powell, 265
Ashley, Wm. H.,

Canyon, 2, 28,

rocks, 28
Ashley Falls, 26; portage at, 27
Ashtishkal, Navajo chief, 177
Aspen Lakes, 201
Averett, Elijah, grave of, 197
Azure Cliffs, 99

Baird, Professor Spencer, vi.
Bangs, Mount, climbed, 194
Barbenceta, principal chief of the

Navajos, 168
Baseline, 166, 173, 174
Basor, teamster, 68
Beadle, J. H., 215; under name of

Hanson, 215

265; assisted

through
95; name

Red

Beaman, E. O., place in boat, 11;
duty of, 11; leaves party, 179;
passes Paria on way to Moki
Towns, 216; up from Kanab
Canyon to Surprise Valley, 241

Beaver, ground, 77; shoot one, 78;
steak cooked, 78; soup, 78

Berry's Spring, 188; arrive at, 191

Berthoud and Bridger lay out wag-
gon road, 67

Best Expedition, place of starting,

Big Boulder Creek, 202

Bishop, Francis Marion (Cap.),
place in boat, 1 1 ; duty of, 11;
leaves party, 180

Bishop's Creek, 54

Bison, pictographs, 61; range on
Green River, 61

Black Rock Canyon, 193

Black's Fork, 15

Boats of the Second Powell Ex-
pedition, the, 4; names of, 4;
described, 5,6; method of pack-
ing, 8 ; order of going, 1 1 ; crews
of, 11; no iron on keels, 14;
built to float when full of water,
25; reassignment of crews, 136,
215; Canonita cached, 135;
launched again, 209; crew for,
209; Dean cached, 154; Nellie
Powell cached, 154; Dean dis-
covered by Beadle, 215; Nellie
Powell abandoned, 215; Canonita
and Dean abandoned, 244

Bonito Bend, 1 1 1

Bonnemort, John, 143 ; leaves party,
179; in Salt Lake City, 267

Boston burned, news off received,
256

Bow-knot Bend, 108

Bread, kind used, 4

269

270

Index

Bridger and Berthoud lay out

waggon road, 67
Bridger, Jim, 95
Brigham Young, 170, 185
Bright Angel Creek, arrive at

mouth of, 232; why so named,

232
Brown expedition, place of starting,

95
Brown's Hole, name changed to
Brown's Park, 18, 30; arrive at,

Brush Creek, 54

Buckskin Mountain (Kaibab Pla-
teau), 159

Buenaventura, Rio San, Escalante's
name for Green River, 67

Buffalo Express, letters from F. S.
Dellenbaugh to, vii.

Butte of the Cross, no

Campbell, Richard, knew of ford
El Vado de los Padres, 96

Camp moved to the Gap, 171

Canonita, left behind, 135; reached
overland, 209

Canyon of Desolation, enter it, 77;
character and height of walls,
80, 84, 85; length of, 91

Canyon of Lodore, enter it, 34;
declivity of, 43; length of, 48;
fall of, 48

Canyons, for* list of, with heights
of walls, lengths, etc., see The
Romance of the Colorado River,
Appendix

Canyons not dark in daytime, 25

Cap., see Bishop

Capsize, of the Canonita^ 23; of the
Dean, 235

Carleton, companion of Beaman,
216

Carson, Kit, 95

Cascade Creek, 43, 202

Cascades of rain, 105, 106, 132

Cataract Canyon, declivity com-
pared, 43 ; beginning of , 1 1 5 ; height
of walls, 116, 122, 126, 128, 129;
we enter it, 118; declivity in, 118;
boulders rolled by current, 118;
width of river, 119; boat runs
rapid alone, 121; stones rocked
by current, 127; length of, 132;
end of, 132; number of rapids,
132

Cataract Creek, 96, 202

Catastrophe Rapid, vi., 242, 243

Caves once occupied, 132

Chandler Falls, 87; Creek, 87

Chicago, burning of, first news, 157

Chicago Tribune, letters from Clem-
ent Powell to, V.

Chief Douglas, Major and Mrs.
Powell winter near his camp, 172

Chocolate Cliffs, 166

Chuarooumpeak, chief of Kaibab
band of Pai Utes, 250; shoots at
Oonupits, 252; singing, 252;
hears spirit call, 253; goes back
to Kanab, 254

Circle Valley, pass through it, 266

Clarkson, Mormon settlement, 197

Clear or Spring Creek (Badger
Creek), 158

Clem, see Powell

Clemente, Rio San, Escalante's
name for White River, 67

Cliff-of-the-Harp named, 43

Coal Canyon, 91

Colob Plateau, 191

Colorado, from, into Utah, 56

Colorado River, accuracy of plat
of course, vi., vii., 243; upper
continuation of, i ; white salmon,
98; actual beginning of, 115; ex-
cessive high water, 244

Compass Creek, 24

Condition of party at end of first
season's river work, 145

Course of the Colorado River, accu-
racy of, vi., vii., 243

Craggy Canyon, 57

Crater, recent, in Uinkaret country,
188

Creek, Sentinel, 149

Crescent Creek, 209

Crossing of the Fathers, the, see
El Vado de los Padres

Dance, Mormon, 1 73

Davy Crockett, Fort, 30

Dean, the Emma, cached for the

winter, 154; discovered by J.

H. Beadle, 215
Deer, game, etc., 26
Dellenbaugh, Butte, 102, 104;

Mount, named, 254; Thompson

climbs it, 259
Dellenbaugh, F. S., joins party, 3;

position in boat, 11 ; duty of, 11 ;

letters from, to Buffalo Express,

vii.

Index

271

De Motte, Professor, 213

Denver, Colorado Canyon, and
Pacific Railway, 119

Denver and Rio Grande Railway
crossing of Green River, 95

Denver to Salt Lake, waggon road
via Golden and Provo, and
Robideau Crossing of Green
River, 67

Descent, in feet of Green-Colorado
River, fromUnionPacificRailway
to Black's Fork, 15; to Flaming
Gorge, 17; in Red Canyon, 33;
in Lodore, 48; in Whirlpool, 56;
to the mouth of the Uinta, 71;
from Wonsits Valley to Gunnison
Crossing, 93; from the Union
Pacific to Gunnison Crossing,
^3; from Gunnison Crossing to
junction of Green and Grand, 114;
from Union Pacific to mouth of
Grand River, 114; from mouth
of Grand River to Dirty Devil,
134; from Union Pacific to
Dirty Devil (Fremont), 135;
from Union Pacific to Paria (Lee
Ferry), 151; from Paria to Little
Colorado, 223; from Little Colo-
rado to Grand Wash, 223; from
Little Colorado to Kanab, 241 ;
from Paria to Kanab, 241

Desolation, Can5ron of, enter it, 77;
perforations in walls of, 82;
width of river in, 83, 89; height
of walls, 84, 85; natural arches
in, 87, 88; end of, 91; length of,

Diamond Butte, how named, 192

Diamond Creek mouth astronomi-
cally determined, 95

Diary, of Professor Thompson, vii. ;
of John F. Steward, vii. ; of F. S.
Dellenbaugh, vii.; of Jack Sum-
mer, 7

Dinwiddie, Lieut., 258

Dirty Devil Mountains, see Un-
known Mountains

Dirty Devil (Fremont) River, viii.;
point of junction with Colorado,
3 ; failure to get to it overland, 70,
99; arrive at mouth by river, 133;
overland trip to, 195; on head
of, according to Dodds, 199;
mistake discovered, 199, 200;
reach mouth of, overland, 209

Disaster Falls, 39; dinner from
wreckage of No-name, 40; fall
of river at, 42

Distance, from Union Pacific Rail-
way to Gate of Lodore, ^^•, to
Echo Park, 48; to junction of
Green and Grand, 114; to Dirty
Devil, 135; Paria to Little
Colorado, 223; Little Colorado
to Kanab Canyon, 241; Wonsits
Valley to Gunnison Crossing, 93.
See also Appendix, Romance of
the Colorado River

Dixie, name for Virgin Valley, 164

Dodds, Captain Pardyn, fails to
reach Dirty Devil River, 70;
meet him at El Vado, 143

Dog, Dandie Dinmont, of Mrs.
Thompson, 166, 195

Douglas Boy, first meeting with,
64 ; comes to mouth of Uinta, 70 ;
an eloper, 71; farewell to, 76

Dummy and his prophecy, 9

Dunn, William H., vi.; name carved
in Music Temple, 141; killed by
Shewits, 141, 259

Dunn's Cliff, 43

Dutch oven, 4

Dutton, Major, vii.

Echo, Cliff, 49; Park, 49; Rock,
53; Peaks, how named, 151

Eight Mile Spring, camp at, 165

El Vado de los Padres (Crossing
of the Fathers), 7, 8, 41, 95, 96;
first white man to ford after
Escalante, 96; arrive at, 187 1,
143; description of, 168; arrive
at, 1872, 210; early known by
Richard Campbell, 96

Emma, Sister, a wife of John D.
Lee, 211

Endowment garment, Adams wears
one, 259

Epizootic visits Utah, 262

Escalante, his crossing of the
Colorado, 7 ; Sierra, 43 ; of Green
River, 67; his name for Green
River, 67; for White River, 67;
River, 210; river named by Pro-
fessor Thompson, 210

Failure Creek, 129

Fennemore, joins party, 187; falls

sick, 212; leaves party, 216; in

Salt Lake, 267

272

Index

Field, 5; arm-chair obtained from

8; breakfast at, 9
Flaming Gorge, i, 2; height of

walls, 1 7 ; Green River enters, 1 7 ;

accessibility, 20 ; gateway to the

series of canyons, 22
Frank, see Richardson
Frank, Pai Ute, see Chuarooum-

peak
Fremont, River, 3; see Dirty Devil;

General, 95;
First. Granite Gorge of the Grand

Canyon, declivity in, 43
First Powell Expedition, v. ; plat of

river by, vi., 2, 96; boats of, x.
Food supply exhausted, 141
Fort Davy Crockett, 30
Fort Defiance, Jacob Hamblin goes

there, 143
Fort Pierce, 188
Fort Robideau, 67; only house on

the river, 72
Fretwater Falls, 83
Fuzz, Mrs. Thompson's dog, 166,

19s

Gate of Lodore, 32

Gentile frontier town compared
with Mormon, 1 74

Gila monster, 245

Gilbert, G. K., vii., 136

Glen Canyon, beginning, 137; width
of river in, 139; height of walls,
139, 143; end of, 151

Glencove, attempt to reach Dirty
Devil River from, 99

Glendale, Mormon settlement, 262

Goblin City, journey to, 68; de-
scription of, 69

Gold, found on Colorado, 144; at
mouth of Kanab, 174; miners go
after, 185

Golden to Provo, waggon road, 67

Gosi-Utes, Gunnison killed by, 95

Gould's ranch, 190

Grand Canyon, Jacob Hamblin
circumtours it, 96; Powell finds
way in to the mouth of the
Kanab, 174; Dodds and Jones
get to it, 188; Whitmore de-
scribes a crossing, 188; Dodds
and Johnson reach river, 189;
Dodds and Dellenbaugh go to
river at Lava Falls, 192; Marble
division begins, 216; length of, in-
cluding Marble Canyon, 217; be-
ginning of, 223; enter it, 223

Grand River, 109

Grand Wash, 96; altitude of, 217

Granite, the, runs up, 225

Grant, news of election of, 256

Graves, ancient, discovered, 77

Gray Canyon, enter it, 91; colour,
height, and character of walls,
91, 92; end of, 93; length of, 93

Gray Cliffs, 164

Great Basin, 164

Green River, points on, astronomi-
cally fixed before Powell, 19, 95

Green River City, arrive there, 3 ;
described, 5; settlements below, 8

Green River Suck, 20

Green River Valley, i, 2

Grizzly bears, 26

Gunnison, Captain, crossed Green
River, 95; killed, 95

Gunnison Butte, 93, 99

Gunnison Crossing, Powell plans to
rejoin his party there, 70

Gypsum Canyon, 127

Habasu (Havasu), 96

Haight, 153, 157

Hamblin, Frank, 254

Hamblin, Fred, 99

Hamblin, Jacob, scout and pioneer,
96; first after Escalante to cross
at El Vado, 96; circumtours
the Marble and Grand canyons,
96; arrives at Paria, 153; treaty
with Navajos, 168; title of his
book, 169; Indian engagements,
170; goes to Mt. Trumbull with
Powell, 170; wives of, 174; hears
plot to ambush, 243

Hamblin, Joseph, 156, 241

Hamblin, Lyman, 99

Hanson, name assumed by J. H.
Beadle, 215

Harrell brothers, camp in Brown's
Park, 30

Hastele, Navajo chief, 169

Hattan, Andrew, 4; place in boat,
11; his call to meals, 1 1 ; depar-
ture, 260

Headquarters, winter, of, 1872-73,
260

Hell's Half Mill, 44

Henry Mountains (Unknown Mts.,
q. v.), 207

Henry's Fork, mouth of, 17; as-
tronomically fixed, 95

Henry, Professor Joseph, vi.

Henry (Azure) Cliffs, 99

Hidden Lakes, the, 201

Index

273

High Plateaus of Utah, continua-
tion of Wasatch Range, 95; end
of, 164

Killers, John K., joins party, 7;
catches fish, 15; songs of, 52, 74;
catches salmon, 98; photo-
grapher, 217; hurts his back,
225; trip to Moki towns, 248

Hog-backs, topographical feature
described, 198

Hook, Theodore, drowned, 25;
grave of, 25

Horse discovered, 90

Horse sense, 258, 264

Horseshoe Canyon, why so called,
21

Hotel Tovar, 232

House ruins, Shinumo, 112, 137, 138

House Rock Spring, 157, 160

House Rock Valley, 160, 175

Howland, Seneca, and O. G., 141

Howlands and Dunn, vi., vii.;
why killed by Shewits, 171; left
first party, 242; killed near Mt.
Dellenbaugh, 259

Hurricane Hill, 190

Hurricane Ledge, 190

Illustrations in VowelVs Report, x.
Innupin, definition of, 252
Innupin Picavu (Water-pocket),

251
Island Park, 56
Ives, comes up Colorado, 1858, 2;

reconnoitres south of Grand

Canyon, 96; names North Side

Mountains, 186

Jack, see Hillers

Jacob, see Hamblin

Jacob's Pools, 159

Johnson, Will, 186; leaves party,

211
Johnson's, Mormon settlement 166
Jones, S. v., 10; place in boat, 11;

falls ill, 152; leaves, 260
Julien, D., inscriptions by, 108,

113, 118
Junction, the, of the Grand and

Green, 113; summit at, 116;

trail to, 118

Kaibab (Buckskin Mountain), seen
from Echo Peaks, 150; band of

Pai Utes, 177; trip to south-west
corner of ,182 ; Point F established
on, 184; seen from Marble Can-
yon, 222

Kanab, settlement of, 8; head-
quarters, 145; headquarters,
winter of 1872-73, 260; descrip-
tion of, 166; base line near, 173;
Christmas dance, 173

Canyon, journey up, 185, 244; sup-
plies to be brought in there, 224

Kapurats, Pai Ute name for Major
Powell, 171

Kettle Creek, 24

Killiloo, refrain, 75, 81, 226, 267

Kingfisher Canyon, 22; why so
called, 22

Kingfisher Creek, 21

Kit Carson, 95

Koneco, Navajo chief, 154

Labyrinth Canyon, enter it, 105;
end of, no; length of, no

La Sal, Sierra, 103, 109, 127

Latter-Day Saints, 212

Lava Falls, Dodds and Dellenbaugh
climb to river there, 192

Leaping Brook, 46

Lee, John Doyle, 195; settles at
Paria, 210; meet him, 210;
wife Rachel, 210; wife Emma
(his XVIII. ), 210; called Naguts,
211; executed, 211

Lee Ferry, 215

Lehi, Mormon town, 262, 266

Let-down, 26; method of accom-
plishing a, 90

Letters from Clement Powell to
the Chicago Tribune, v.; from
F. S. Dellenbaugh to the Buffalo
Express, vii.

Life preservers, 8; indispensable,
237

Light, the controversy of the, 63

Lighthouse Rock, 80

Lignite Canyon, 91

Line portage, 26

Little Brown's Hole, 29; name
changed to Red Canyon Park, 29

Little Canyon, 31

Little Colorado, canyon of, forms
division between Marble and
Grand Canyons, 217; mouth of,
222; altitude of mouth, 223

Little White, or Price River, 92

Little Zion Valley, 190

Lodore Canyon, party goes through
on the ice, 2; gate of, 32; why

274

Index

Lodore Canyon — (Continued)

so called, 32; we enter it, 34;

width of river in, 35, 42, 43;

velocity of current in, 35, 42;

sunlight in, 36; wreckage found

in, 41; height of walls, 42,43,46;

character of 42 ; declivity in, 43 ;

end of, 48; length of, 48
Logan, Mt., 188
Log-cabin Cliff, 84
Lonely Dell, 211
Long Valley, route via, 262
Lost Creek (Crescent Creek), 209
Louisa, a wife of Jacob Hamblin,

174, 195, 250
Lower Disaster Falls, 42

MacEntee, 166; leaves party, 179;
in Salt Lake, 267

Mackenzie, General, ix., map A,
facing page 95

Macomb, 95

"Major, The" viii., see Powell,
John Wesley

Mangum, Joseph, 153; the lost
guide, 155, 157

Manti, Mormon settlement, 99, 174

Map, accuracy of plat of Colorado
River, vi., vii., 243; sheets giv-
ing Colorado River, viii. ; prelimi-
nary, finished, 262 ; sent to Wash-
ington, 267

Marble Canyon, 1 50 ; miners wrecked
in, 195, 217; enter it, 216; total
length with Grand Canyon, 217;
height of walls, 216, 217-222;
end of 222; descent in, 223;
number of rapids in, 223

Markargunt Plateau, 191

Meek, Joseph, goes through Lodore
on the ice, 95

Melvin Falls, 86

Millecrag Bend, 129, 132

Moki (Hopi) ruin, 79

Monument built 1869 by Powell,

78
Mookoontoweap or Little Zion

Valley, 190
Mormon, settlements, 96; method

of pioneering, 167, 174; dance,

173
Mt. Carmel, Mormon settlement,

262
Mount Dellenbaugh, named, 254;

altitude, 259; Shinumo remains

on, 259
Mount Ellen, Henry Mountains, 208

Mount Killers, Henry Mountains,

208
Mount Logan, 188, 253
Mount Nebo, 266
Mount Pennell, Henry Mountains,

207, 208
Mount Seneca Howland (Navajo

Mt.), 141
Mountain Meadows massacre, 195;

Lee's version, 211
Music Temple, grotto, 141, 210

Narrow Canyon, 3, 133

Natural arches in Canyon of Deso-
lation, 87, 88

Navajos, agency, 143; meet with,
146; afraid of our boats, 153;
dance with, 154; ceremonial, 177

Navajo Creek, 149

Navajo Mountain, 139, 141, 201

Navajo Well, 175, 248

Nephi, 266

New Year's Day, 1872, 174; 1873,
260

No-name, boat, wreck of, 38

North Side Mountains (Uinkaret
Mts.), 186

Oak Spring, 187, 188, 191

Old Jacob, see Jacob Hamblin

Old Spanish Trail, 95, 246

Oonupits, sound made by, 252; de-
scribed, 252; Indian shoots at,
252

Orange Cliffs, no

Order of going, ti, 72, 136, 215

Overland Stage Co. road. Salt Lake
to Denver via Provo, Robideau
Crossing, and Golden, 67

Paantung, Thompson's Shewits
guide, 259

Painted Desert, 150

Pai Ute women, Jacob Hamblin,
sealed to, 174; language without
an "F," 250; name for Major
Powell, 250; name for Professor
Thompson, 250; name for Dellen-
baugh, 250; George, Waytoots,
Chuar, 250; 5^^ aZso Chuarooum-
peak ; method of cooking rabbits,
252

Pai Utes, despised by Navajos, 170;
Kaibab band of, 177; wickiups,

Index

275

Pia Utes — (Continued)

177; arms, 178; rabbit skin robe,
178; fire obtained by drill, 178;
ceremonial, 178; songs, 178, 179;
stone arrowhead making, 178

Panguitch, arrive at, 265

Paria, 95, 151, 197; ^up cliffs at,
155; settlement, 166

Parowan, 248

Patnish, chief of renegades, 8, 167,
250

Photographic outfit, 6, 58

Pictographs, 61

Pierce, Fort, 188, 191

Pine Valley Mountains, 189, 190

Pink Cliffs, 164

Pipe Spring, 185; Wash, 185

Plateau Province, the, 109

Point F, 184

Portage, line, 26; method of mak-
ing, 40

Potato Valley, 199

Powell, Clement, letters from to
Chicago Tribune, v.; place in
boat, 11; duties of, 11; leaves
party, 259

Powell, Emma Dean (Mrs. J. W.),
j; and infant daughter, 165;
m Middle Park, 172; leaves for
Washington, 179

Powell, John Wesley (The Major),
the conqueror of the Colorado,
2 ; title in Volunteer Army, 2 ; first
descent of Colorado; v., 3, 96,
no right arm, 8; titles of reports,
v., vi., position in boat, 11;
duty of, 11; goes up Yampa, 50 ;
on Yampa River 1868, 50; goes
ahead to Uinta, 56; to Salt Lake,
67, 7o» 99, 144, 179. 259, 266;
songs of, 73; rejoins party, 98;
fails to reach Dirty Devil over-
land, 99 ; leaves for Washington,
179, 259; reports through
Smithsonian Institution, vi. ;
runs course of river, vii; buried
at Arlington, 267

Price River, 92

"Prof," viii., see Thompson, A. H.

Provo to Golden, waggon road, 67

Putnam's Magazine, copy found,
43

Rabbits, Pai Ute method of cook-
ing, 252
Rain cascades, 105, 106, 132
Rapid, the first, 21; method of
running, 35, 36; tails of, 36;

eddys at, ^^6; Catastrophe, vi.,

242, 243
Rations, 4, iii, 119
Red Canyon, 2; entrance of, 22;

upset of Nellie Powell in, 23;

width of river in, 24; speed of

current, 24; height of cliffs, 24,

28; end of, 30
Red Canyon Park, 29
Red Cliff, 176
Red Lake Utes, Jacob pacifies

them, 170; meet with band of,

204
Regiment marches from Salt Lake

to Denver, 68
Renshawe, John, joins party, 259
Richardson, Frank C. A., 10;

position in boats, 11; skill in

dressing deer, 1 6 ; leaves party, 3 1
Riggs, 157
Riggs, Charley, 248
Riley, George, 143; head of pack

train, 156; cook, 260
Rio, San Buenaventura, 67; San

Clemente, 67 ; San Rafael, 95, 103 ;

San Juan, 140, 210
Robideau, crossing of Green River,

67; Fort, 67
Rocking stones in current, 127
Roundy, Lorenzo W., 153
Rudder useless on the Colorado, x.

Sag, the, at Disaster Falls, 38

St. George, Mormon settlement, 194

Salmon, white, caught, 98

Salt Lake City, 7, 17; the major

goes to, 67, 70, 99, 144, 179, 259,

266
Salt Lake to Denver, waggon road,

via Provo and Golden, 67
San Clemente, Rio, Escalante's

name for White River, 67
San Francisco Mts., seen from

Mt. Trumbull, 187; from Echo

Peaks, 250
San Juan River, mouth of, 140;

pass it, 1872, 210
San Rafael River, 95 ; arrive at, 103
Santa F6 and Los Angeles trail, 94
Santa F^ Railway to the Grand

Canyon, x.
Scorpions, 132
Second Powell expedition, the, vi.,

3; material used fpr report on

first expedition, vi.; supplies of,

4; method of sacking rations,

6; ready to start, 8; personnel

of, II

276

Index

Selden, 95

Sentinel Rock and Sentinel Creek,
149

Sevier Canyon, 266

Sharp Mountain Falls, 91

Shewits, killed Powell's men, vii.
96; territory of, 186; afraid of
us, 191; plan to ambush us, 243;
meet us, 253; conference and
agreement, 253; Thompson's
guide, 259

Shinumo, the, 112, 149; trail, 113,
145; caves, 132; Canyon, 184;
ruin on Mt. Dellenbaugh, 259

Shower Bath Spring, 245

Shunesburg, Powell descends Vir-
gin River to, 248

Sierra, Escalante, 43; La Lai, 103;
Abajo, 127

Simpson, Captain, 95

Sinav-to-weap, 117

Sister Emma, 211

Sister Louisa, 174

Smithsonian Institution, Powell re-
ported through, vi.

Snowblind, 266

Soap Creek, 159; Frank M. Brown,
drowned near mouth of, 159, 217;
Rapid, 217

" Sockdologer, of the World," 222;
rapid, 226

Songs of the camp, 73, 74

Sorghum molasses, 172

Spanish Fork, 266

Spanish Trail, Old, 95

Split Mountain Canyon, 5 7 ; enter it,
58; end of, 60; length of, 60

Springs in river bottom, 103

Stanton, R. B., proves the White
story incorrect, v.; completed
Brown expedition, ix.; Canyon
Railway project, x

Steward, John F., place in boat, 1 1 ;
duty of, 11; on a raft, 16; dis-
covers gigantic fossil, 20; de-
termines nature of Unknown
Mts., 136; ill, 146; recovers, 152;
leaves party, 160

Stewart, Bishop, of Kanab, 167;
saw-mill of, on Kaibab, 181

Stewart, John, goes with Powell
to Grand Canyon, 172; returns
with news of gold find, 1 74

Stillwater Canyon, beginning of,
no; nature of walls, in, 113;
house ruins in, 112; width, 113;
end of, 113; length, 114

Summit Vallejr, 164

Sumner Amphitheatre, 79

Sumner, Jack, 7

Supplies, nature of, 4 ; to be brought

in at three places, 7
Surprise Valley, 241
Swallow Canyon, 31
Swallow Park, 197

Table Mountain, 198
Tapeats Creek, 240
Tavaputs Plateau, 80
Teemaroomtekai, Uinkaret chief,

253
Teram Picavu, 254
Thompson, Professor Alvin Harris,

vi., vii., ix., 7; place in boat, 11;

duty of, 11; first white man to

explore Shewits country, 254;

to climb Mt. Dellenbaugh, 259;

buried at Arlington, 267
Thompson, Mrs. Ellen Powell, 7,

165, 166, 172, 181, 195, 216, 259
Tiravu Picavu, 254
Tirtaan Aigles, slogan, 75, 267
Tokerville, Mormon settlement, 190
Tom, Pai Ute guide, 197; leaves

party, 199
Toroweap Valley, 192
Trachyte Creek, 208
Trail up cliffs of Paria, 155
Tribune, Chicago, letters to, from

Clement Powell, v.
Trin Alcove, 107
Triplet Falls, 43
Trumbull, Mt., why so called, 186;

climbed, 187, 192; height of, 187
Trumbull, Senator, 186
Tuba, a Moki (Hopi), goes home

with Jacob, 169; ceremony on

crossing Colorado River, 169

Uinkaret, Indians, 186; region, 186;
plateau, 190; chief, 253

Uinta, Indian Agency, 7, 8, 71

Uinta Mountains, i; first view of
from river, 15

Uinta River, pass mouth of, 76; ar-
rival at, 66; Powell goes ahead
to, 56; mouth astronomically de-
termined, 95

Uinta Utes, 61

Undine Springs, 103

Union Pacific Railway, crossing of
Green River, 3; see Descent and
Distance

Unknown country, the, 95, 96,
199, 200, 201, 202

Index

277

Unknown Mountains (Henry Mts.)
viii., 104, 127, 133; Steward de-
termines nature of, 136; position
of Dirty Devil (Fremont) River
with reference to, 199; arrive at,
207; map of, 207

Untokarowits, Pai Ute name for
F. S. Dellenbaugh, 250

Utah Southern Railway finished
to Lehi, 262

Utah, from, into Colorado, 31

Utes of Wonsits Valley, Uinta and
White River, 61

Ute Crossing of Colorado in Uin-
karet region, 188

Ute Ford, the (El Vado de los
Padres), 148

Ute law as applied to capture, 71

Van Buren, Gentile settler on the

Sevier, 266
Vasey^'s Paradise, 219
Vermilion Cliffs, 158, 164; length

of, 164
Vermilion River, 31
Virgin Mountains, 194
Virgin River, canyon of, explored

down to Shunesburg, 248; Little

Zion or Mookoontoweap Valley

of, 190
Volunteers march from Salt Lake

to Denver, 68
Voyage, Canyon, the end of, 242

Walcott, Professor, vii.

Walker House, Salt Lake City, 267

Wasatch Cliffs, 200

Wheeler, Lieut. George M., goes up

Colorado to Diamond Creek, 145
Whirlpool Canyon, 5;^; end of, 55;

descent in, 56
Whirlpools described, 239
Whiskey not taken, 6
White, James, 2 ; story of his trip

through canyons disproved, v.
White River, 66; journey down,

69; pass mouth, 76
White River Utes, 61
Whitmore, Dr., killed by Navajos,

169; ranch, 188
Wild Band Pocket, 251
Winnie's Grotto, 35
Winsor, of Pipe Spring, 185; Castle,

185
Winter quarters, 1872-73, 260
Witch Water - pocket (Innupin

Picavu), 251
Wolfskin, William, pioneer, 94
Wolves, 161, 162, 165
Wonsits Tiravu, 254
Wonsits Valley, 60
Woonoopits, see Oonupits
Workman's Ranch, 190
Wreckage found in Lodore, 41
Wyoming, from, into Utah, 16

Yampa River, 48, 49; Powell on it
in 1868, 50; goes up, in boat, 50

Young, Brigham, 170, 185; Alfred,
187

A Selection from the
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Full text of "A canyon voyage : the narrative of the second Powell expedition down the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the explorations on land, in the years 1871 and 1872"

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