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Show 62 EXPLORATION OF .TfllO UARONS OF TllB COLOl~ADO. rock; the heavens for a ceiling; cascade fountains within; a grove in the conservatory, clear lakelets for a refreshing bath, and an outlook through the doorway on a raging river, with cliffs and mountains beyond. Our way, after dinner, is through a gorge, grand beyond description. The walls are nearly vertical; the river broad and swift, but free from rocks and falls. From the edge of the water to the brink of the cliffs it is one thousand six hundred to one thousand eight hundred feet. At this great depth, the river rolls in solemn majesty. The cliffs are reflected from the more quiet river, and we seem to be in the depths of the earth, and yet can look down into waters that reflect a bottomless abyss. We arrive, early in the afternoon, at the head of more rapids and falls, but, wearied with past work, we determine to rest, so go into camp, and the afternoon and evening are spent by the men in discussing the probabilities of successfully navigating the river below. The barometric records are examined, to see what descent we have made since we left the mouth of the Grand and what descent since we left the Pacific Railroad, and what fall there yet ' must be to the river, ere we reach the end of the great canons. The conclusion to which the men arrive seems to 'Qe about this: that there are great descents yet to be made, but, if they are distributed in rapids and short falls, as they have been heretofore, we will be ablo to overcome them. But, may be, we shall come to a fall in these cafions which we cannot pass, where the walls rise from the water's edge, so that we cannot land, and where the water is so swift that we cannot return. Such places have been found, except that the falls were not so great but that we could run them with safety. How ~ill. it .be. in the future I So they speculate over the serious probabilities m Jesting mood, and I hear Sumner remark, "My idea is, we had better go slow, and learn to peddle." July 24.-W e examipe the rapids below. Large rocks have fallen from the walls-great, angular blocks, which have rolled down the talus, and are strewn . along th~ channel. We are compelled to make three portages in successiOn, the distance being less than three fourths of a mile, with a fall of seventy five feet. Among these rocks, in chutes whirlpools and oTeat w~ves, w1. th rush m' g breakers and foam, the water fin' ds its way' still ~tu m-bhng down. We stop for the night, only three fourths of a mil: below the ~ UEPAlRlNG BOATS AND BAROMETERS. 63 last camp. A very hard day's work has been done, and at evening I sit on a rock by the edge of the river, to look at the water, and listen to its roar. Hours ago, deep shadows bad settled into the canon as the sun passed behind the cliffs. Now, doubtless, the sun has gone down, for we can see no glint of light on the crags above. Darkness is coming on. The waves are rolling, with crests of foam so white they seem almost to give a light of their own. Near by, a chute of water strikes the foot of a great block of lime· stone, fifty feet high, and the waters pile up against it, and roll back. Whero • there are sunken rocks, the water heaps up in mounds, or even in cones. At a point where rocks come very near the surface, the water forms a chute above, strikes, anJ is shot up ten or fifteen feet, and piles back in gentle curves, as in a fountain ; and on the river tumbles and rolls. July 2u.-Still more rapids and falls to day. In one, the "Emma Dean" is caught in a whirlpool, and set spinning about; aud it is with great difficulty we are nble to get out of it_, with the loss of an oar. At noon, another is made; and on we go, running some of the rapids, letting down with lines past others, and making two short portages. We camp on the right bank, hungry and tired. July 26.-We n1n a short distance this morning, and go into camp, to make oars and repair boats and barometers. The walls of the catlon have been steadily increasing in altitude to this point, and now they are more than two thousand feet hjgh. In many places, they are vertical from tho water's edge; in others, there is a talus between the river and the foot of the cliffs, and they are often broken down by side canons. It is probable that the river is nearly as low now as it is ever found. High water mark can be observed forty, fifty, sixty, or a hundred feet above its present stage. Sometimes logs and drift wood are seen wedged into tho crevice overhead, where floods have carried them. About ten o'clock, Powell, Bradley, Howland, Hall, and myself start up a side canon to the east. We soon come to pools of water; then to a brook, which is lost in the sands below; and, passing np the brook, we find the canon narrows, the walls close in, are often overhanging, and at last we find ourselves in a vast amphitheater, with a pool of deep, clear, cold water on the bottom. At first, our way seems cut off; but we soon discover a • • |
