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Show 134 EXPLORATION 0.1!' THE OARONS OF TilE OOLOHADO. of tho Pari a Hiver. As re-organized, my party consisted of S. V. Jones and F. S. Dellenhuagh, topographers; J. Fennemorc, photographic artist, wit.h W. C. Powell and J. K. Ilillers, assi tants; P. Dodds, W. D. Johnson, A Hattan, and G. Adair, packers and general assi tants. Our preparations being completed, we left Kanab on May 27, 1872, traveling that day thirteen miles, in a northea t direction. At fu·st our way was over low, sandy ridges, running out from tho base of the Vermilion Cliffs. At the end of ten miles, we entered a canon, half a milo wido, cut through tho Vermilion Cliffs, and known as Johnson Canon. At the entrance the walls roso 1,000 feet, but rapiuly decreased in l10ight, s that at our camp, three miles above its month, we had low, rocky hills on either side. Our course from Camp No. 2 to Camp No. 3 was nearly north. For six miles we wore in a broad, sandy valley, bounded by vertical walls of sandstone on the east, and on the west by low, rocky hill , that, gradually rising, form tho northeast slope of the plateau above the Vermilion Cliffs. Six miles from Camp No.2 we entered a narrow canon, cut through the White Cliffs. At the entrance it i ~ half a mi.le wide, with vertical walls one thousand to one thousand two hundred foot high, often beautifully arched in bas relief. As we ascended, the canon narrowed to fifty feet, its floor rose rapiuly, tho walls grew lower, and at the end of throe miles we came out into tho open country, near the Mormon l:lOttleruent of Skoompa, having risen 1,098 feet above Kanab settlement. IIere we made a camp, and established a topographic station on the summit of a near hill. · Toward the south, between Kanab and Skoompa, the country is tr~wer ·cd by two lines of cliffs-tho V crmilion and White-havinO' a o-oneral n b trend north 55° cast, and presenting bold, vertical faces from one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred feet high. Through thol::le cliffs but three passes were known between the Virgen and the Paria Rivers, a diHtance of one hundred and ten miles. The first, that known as tho Long Valley Pass; the second, up the Kanab Creek; the third, tho route which we followed. From the very brink, or crest, of these cliffs, tho surface of the country slopes hack at an anglo of about 2°, so that the general appearanc~ is that of terraces, with escarpments frontiug southward and summits sloping toward tho north. Scattered ov r thol::lo uccli vi tio~ aro field!:! of loose PAUNS-A'-GUNT J.>LA'fBAU. 135 sand, with continually changing boundaries, in some places burying trees and rocks; in others heaped in huge drifts. North of our camp, and eight miles distant, the south end of tho table ~and known as the Pttuns-a' -gunt Plateau rose to an altitude which we dotermined to be 3,295 feet above our camp, or about nine thousand two hundred feet above sea level. The eastern boundary of this plateau js a line of cliffs, having a general trend north 45° cast. Those cliffs show in the distance a beautiful pink color, and, for tho upper 2,000 feet, pro ont bold, perpendicular faces, with bore and there stoop, rocky slopes. } rom tho £ ot of these slopes and vertical faces long, narrow ridges run out ou tho plain below. Botwoon these ridges are many beautiful valleys, but probably the wl10lo country is too much elevated for permanent settlement. From Camp No. 3 to Camp No. 4 our course was northeast. Camp No. 4 was in a beautiful, grassy valley, half a. milo wide and six miles long, lying between two cedar covered ridges. At its foot, a small lake stands at tho entrance of a narrow cafion, that drains tho valley, and cuts its way through both the White and Vermilion Cliffs, furni hing, us we dotorminou by exploration, another practicable route through those escarpments to the valley connecting the Kanab and Paria settlements. From Camp No. 4 to Camp No. 5 our course was nearly northeast. . For four miles we passed over low, grass covered ridges, when wo came to the brink of a basin like region, drained by tho head waters of tho Paria River. The extension of the White Cliffs to tho cast forms tho southern boundary of this basin, and the-Pink Cliffs (forming tho eastern face of the Pauns-a' -gunt Plateau, and here swinging in a great curve to the north) tho northern. • From underneath the cliffs standing around tho northern rim of this basin ma11y springs burst fol'th. These gather at firl:lt into five considerable streams, which, uuiting near tho southern limit of tho basin, form the Paria River, and cut through tho White and Vermilion Cliffs in doop canons. In the soft, easily eroded rock within this bal:lin each of those five streams has cut a deep, narrow canon. Literally, hundredH of side eai1ons are tributary to these. Between the siclo caoonl:l sta11d loug, uarrow mesas. Somotimcl:l the canon is cut two or throe hundred foot, and thou, in its floor, a still |