Chapter XIV

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

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

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

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

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

F. S. Dellenbaugh.

New York, October, 1902.

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

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

NOTE ON THE AUTHOR’S ITINERARY IN THE BASIN OF THE COLORADO RIVER AND ADJACENT TERRITORY

(Except where otherwise stated journeys were on horseback.)

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

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

1873—To Salt Lake City, _via_ Long Valley and the Sevier River.

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

1876—To St. George across the Uinkaret Plateau. To Las Vegas, Nevada, _via_ Beaver Dam, Virgen River, the Muddy, and the desert. To St. George, by the desert and the old “St. Joe” road across the Beaver Dam Mountains. To the rim of the Grand Canyon, _via_ Hidden Spring, the Copper Mine, and Mt. Dellenbaugh. To a red paint cave on the side of the canyon, about twenty-five hundred feet down. To St. George _via_ same route. To Ivanpah, California, _via_ the old desert road, the Muddy, Las Vegas, and Good Spring. To St. George _via_ same route. To Kanab _via_ Short Creek and Pipe Spring. To the Uinkaret Mountains _via_ Pipe Spring and Antelope Valley. Across to the Shewits Plateau and to Ambush Waterpocket south of Mt. Dellenbaugh.[2] To the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the east side of the Shewits Plateau. To St. George _via_ Mt. Dellenbaugh and Hidden Spring. To Kanab _via_ Berry Spring and Pipe Spring. To Salt Lake City _via_ Upper Kanab and the Sevier Valley.

[2] This waterpocket, which is a very large one, has, so far as I am aware, never had an English name and I do not know the Amerind one. I have called it “Ambush” because it was the place where three of Powell’s men were shot by the Shewits in 1869.

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

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

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

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

THE ROMANCE OF THE COLORADO RIVER

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