Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, Under the Direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Page 021, Distances and Heights.

DISTANCES AND HEIGHTS. 21 below. I can do this now, but it has taken several years of mountain climbing to cool irjy nerves, so that I can sit, with my feet over the edge, and calmly look down a precipice 2,000 feet. And yet I cannot look on and see another do the same. I must either bid him come away, or turn my head. The canon walls are buttressed on a grand scale, with deep alcoves intervening; columned crags crown the cliffs, and the river is rolling below. When we return to camp, at noon, the sun shines in splendor on vermilion walls, shaded into green and gray, where the rocks are lichened over; the river fills the channel from wall to wall, and the canon opens, like a beautiful portal, to a region of glory. This evening, as I write, the sun is going down, and the shadows are settling in the cafion. The vermilion gleams and roseate hues, blending with the green and gray tints, are slowly changing to somber brown above, and black shadows are creeping over them below; and now it is a dark portal to a region of gloom-the gateway through which we are to enter on our voyage of exploration to-morrow. What shall we find? The distance from Flaming Gorge to Beehive Point is nine and two-thirds miles. Besides, passing through the gorge, the river runs through Horseshoe and Kingfisher Canons, separated by short valleys. The highest point on the walls^ at Flaming Gorge, is 1,300 feet above the river. The east wall, at the apex of Horseshoe Canon, is about 1,600 feet above the water's edge, and, from this point, the walls slope both to the head and foot of the canon. Kingfisher Canon, starting at the water's edge above, steadily increases in altitude to 1,200 feet at the foot. Red Caiion is twenty-five and two-thirds miles long, and the highest walls are about 2,500 feet. Brown's Park is a valley, bounded on either side by a mountain range, really an expansion of the canon. The river, through the park, is thirty five and a half miles long, but passes through two short canons, on its way, where spurs, from the mountains on the south, are thrust across its course.