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Show CHAPT.ER I. THE VALLEY 01!"' 'f lU~ COLORADO. The Colorado River is formed by the junction of the Grand and Green. The Grand River has its source in the Rocky Mountains, five or six miles west of Long's Peak, in latitude 40° 17' and longitude 1 0& 0 43' approximately. A group of little alpine lakes, that receive their waters directly from perpetual snow-banks, discharge into a common ret~ervoir, known as Grand Lake, a beautiful sheet of water. Its quiet surface reflects towering cliffs and crags of granite on its eastern shore; and stc"Ltely pines and firs stand on its western margin. The Green River heads near Fremont's Peak, in the Wind River 1\{ount· ains, in latitude 43 ° ln' and longitude 109° 45' approximately. 'fhis river, like the last, has its sources in alpine lakes, fed by everlasting snows. Thousands of these little lakes, with deep, cold, emerald waters, are embosomed among the crag of the Rocky Mountains. rrl1eso streams, born in the cold, gloomy solitudes of the upper mountain-region, have a ~:~trange, eventful history as thoy pass down through gorges, tumbling in caseu.des and cataracts, until they reach the bot, arid plains of tlte Lower Colorado, where the waters that were so clear above empty as turbid floods into the Gulf of California. The mouth of the Colorado is in latitude 3~ 0 53' and longitude llfi 0 • 'rhe Green River is larger than the Grand, and is tho upper continuation of tho Colorado. Including this river, the whole length of tho stream is about two thousand milos. The region of country drained by tho Colorado and its tributaries is about eight hundred miles in length, and varies ii·om throe hundred to five hundred in width, containing about three hundred thonl:iand square miles, an area larger than all the Now England and Middle States, with Maryland and Virginia added, or as large as Minnesota, Wil:!cousin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. 'J'horo arc two distinct portions of the baHin of t.ho Col rHdo. Tlw |