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Show 6 EXPLORATION OF THE OAN"ONS OF THE COLORADO. is a loose sandstone, the disintegration of which has left broad stretches of drifting sand, white, golden, and vermilion. Where this sandstone is a conglomerate, a paving of pebbles has been left, a mosaic of many colors, polished by the drifting sands, and glistening in the sunlight. After the canons, the most remarkable features of the country are the long lines of cliffs. 'rhese are bold escarpments, often hundreds or thousands of feet in altitude, great geographic steps, scores or hundreds of miles in length, presenting steep faces of rock, often quite vertical. Having climbed one of these steps, you may descend by a gentle, sometimes imperceptible, slope to the foot of another. They will thus present a series of terraces, the steps of which are well-defined escarpments of rock. The lateral extension of such a line of cliffs is usually very irregular; sharp 'salients are projected on the plains below, and deep recesses are cut into the terraces above. Intermittent streams coming down the cliffs have cut many canons or canon valleys, by wluch the traveler may pass from the plain below to the terrace above. By these gigantic stairways, you may ascend to high plateaus, covered with forests of pine and fir. The region is further diversified by short ranges of eruptive mountains. A vast system of fissures-huge cracks in the rocks to the depths belowextends across the country. From these crevices, floods of lava have poured, covering mesas and table-lands with sheets of black basalt. The expiring energies of these volcanic agencies have piled up huge cinder-cones, that stand along the fissures, red, brown, and black, naked of vegetation, and conspicuous landmarks, set, as they are, in contrast to the bright, variegated rocks of sedimentary origin. These ca:fion gorges, obstructing cliffs and desert wastes, have prevented the traveler from penetrating the country, so that, until the Colorado River Exploring Expedition was organized, it was almost unknown. Y ct enough had been seen to foment rumor, and many wonderful stories have been told in the hunter's cabin and prospector's camp. Stories wore related of parties entering the gorge in boats, and being carried down with fearful velocity into whirlpools, where all were overwhelmed in the abyss of waters ; others, of , OAN'ON MYTH. 7 underground passages for the great river, into which boats had passed never to be seen again. It was currently believed that the river was lost under the rocks for several hundred miles. There woro other accounts of groat falls, whose roaring music could be heard on the distant mountain-summits. There were many stories current of parties wandering on the brink of the ' canon, vainly endeavoring to roach the waters below, and perishing with thirst at last in sight of the river which was roaring its mockery into dying ears. The Indians, too, have woven the mysteries of tho canons into the myths of their religion. Long ago, there was a great and wise chief, who mourned the death of his wife, and would not be comforted until Ta-vwoats, one of the Indian gods, came to him, and told him she was in a happier land, and offered to take him there, that he might see for himself, if, upon his return, he would cease to mourn. The great chief promised. Then Ta-vwoats made a trail through the mountains that intervene between that beautiful land, the balmy region in the great west, and this, the desert home of the poor Nu' -ma. 'rlus trail was the canon gorge of the Colorado. Through it he led him; and, when they had returned, the deity exacted from the chief a promise that he would tell no one of the joys of that land, lest, through discontent with the circumstances of this world, they should desire to go to heaven. Then he rolled a river into the gorge, a mad, raging stream, that should engulf any that might attempt to enter thereby. More than once have I been warned by the Indians not to enter this canon. They considered it disobedience to the gods and contempt for their authority, and believed that it would surely bring ttpon me their wrath. For two years previous to the exploration, I had been making some geological studies among the heads of the canons leading to tho Colorauo, and a desire to explore the Grand Carron itself grew upon me. Early in the spring of 1869, a small party was orga:nized for this purpose. Boats were built in Chicago, and transported by rail to the point whore the Union Pacific Railroad crosses tho Groen River. With tho e we were to descend the Green into the Colorado, and the Colorado down to the foot of the Grand Canon. |