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Show 34 EXPLORA.T ION OF TilE .O ARONS OF TilE COLORADO. help me with tho barometer case; but I fear I cannot hold on to it. The moment is critical. Standing on my toes, my muscles begin to tremhle. It is sixty or eighty feet to the foot of the precipice. If I lose my hold I shall fall to the bottom, and then perhaps roll over the bench, and tumble still farther down the cliff. At this instaJ.?.t it occurs to Bradley to take ofl his drawers, which he does, and swings them down to me. I hug close to the rock, let go with my hand, seize the dangling legs, aPd, with his assistance, I am enabled to gain the top. Then we walk out on a peninsular rock, make the necessary observations for determining its altitude above camp, and return, finding an easy way down. June 19.-To-day, Tiowland, Bradley, and I take the "Emma Dean," and start up tho Yampa River. Tho stream is much swollen, tho current swift, and we are able to make but slow progress against it. The canon in thiK part of the course of the Yampa is cut through light gray sandstone. Tho river is very winding, and the swifter water is usually found on the out ide of the curve, sweeping against vertical cliffs, often a thousand feet high. In the center of these. curves, in many places, the rock above overhangs tho nver. On the opposite side, the walls are broken, craggy, and sloping, and occasionally side cailons enter. When we have rowed until wo are quite til·eJ we stop, and take advantage of one of these broken places to climb out of the cailon. When above, we can look up the Yampa for a distance of several miles. From the summit of the immediate walls of the canon the rocks rise gently back for a distance of a mile or. two, having the appearance of a valley, with an irregular, rounded sandstone floor, and in the center of tho valley a deep gorge, which is the cafion. The rim of this valley on the north is from two thousand five hundred to three thousand feet above the river; on the south, it is not so high. A number of peaks stand on this northern rim, the highest of which has received the name l\1ount Dawes. Late in the afternoon we descend to our boat, and return to camp in Echo Park, gliding down in twenty minutes on the rapid river a distance . of four or five miles, which was only made up stream by several hours' hard rowing in the morning. • ) OLIMBING TilE OLIFFS. 35 - June 20.-This morning two of the men take me up the Yampa for a short distance, and I go out to climb. Ila ving reached tho top of the canon, I walk over loug stretches of naked sandstone, crossing gulches now and then, and by noon reach the summit of Mount Dawes. From this point I can look away to the north, and see in the dim dist..'lnce the Sweetwater and Wind River Mountains, more than a hundred miles away. To the northwest, the Wasatch Mountains are in view and peal{s of the Uinta. 'r o the east, I can see the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, more than a hundred and fifty miles distant. 'rhe air is singularly clear to day; mountains and buttes stand in sharp outline, valleys stretch out in the perspective, and I can look down into the deep canon gorges and see gleaming waters. Descending, I cross to a ridge ncar tho brink of the canon of Lodore, the highest point of which is nearly as high as tho last mentioned mountain. Late in the afternoon I stand on this elevated point, 3.11d di cover a monument that has evidently been built by human hands. A few plant are growing in the joints between the rocks, and all arc ]ichened over to a greater or less extent, showing evidences that the pile was built a long time ago. This line of peaks, the eastern extension of the Uinta Mountains, has received the name of Sierra Escalanti, in honor of a Spanish priest, who traveled in this region of country nearly a century ago; and, perchance, the reverend father Luilt this monument. Now I return to the river and discharge my gun, as a signal for the boat to come and take me down to camp. While wo have been in the park, the men have succeeded in catching quite a number of fish, and we have an abundant supply. This is quite an addition to our cuisine. June 21.-We float around the long rock, ancl enter another cailon. The walls are high and vertical; the canon is narrow; and the river fills the whole space below, so that there is no landing-place at tho foot of the cliff. The Groen is greatly increased by tho Yampa, and we now have a much larger river. All this volume of water, confined, as it is, in a nanow channel, and rushing with great velocity, is set eddying and spinning in whirlpools by projecting rocks and short curves, and tho waters waltz their way through the canon, making their own rippling, rushin rr, roaring music. The |
