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 141, Henry Mountains

HENRY MOUNTAINS 141 camped on the side of the second peak of the range, at an elevation of about eight thousand feet above the sea. Our camp was on a small stream, evidently formed by the melting snows in the gulches above us. The Henry Mountains consist of five peaks, having a northerly and southerly axis, standing on the back of the plateau lying between the Dirty Devil and Colorado Rivers. They are completely isolated, being fifty miles from the Wasatch Plateau and Thousand Lake Mountain, on the west; about the same distance from the Sierra Abajo, on the east, and sixty miles from a huge, lone peak, which we have called the Navajo Mountain, on the south. The three northern peaks have an elevation of about eleven thousand feet above the sea; the others, less. The crest of the most northern is a long, irregular ridge; but the others rise to sharp points. From the summits of these mountains we could see the junction of the canons of the Dirty Devil and Colorado Rivers. So, after such an examination of the range as our limited time would permit, we pursued a course a little north of east,^ and camped, the night after leaving the mountains, by a small stream, which, from the boulders in its bed, we called Trachyte Creek. The next day we followed its course, with considerable difficulty, until we found it would take us to the Colorado, at a point south of our point of destination. We then camped, and, after much search, found a way up and across the sand covered mesa lying north of the creek, and came to the head of a deep canon, that joined the Colorado two miles south of the mouth of the Dirty Devil River. I recognized it as one explored by members of our party when camped near its mouth last year, and felt confident that if we could once get down its precipitous side to the bottom, we could easily make our way to the river. After many efforts, we succeeded in descending, and camped that night near a spring in the canon. The next day we followed down its course without difficulty, and came to the river about two miles below the point where our boat was cached. Here we went into camp, and made our way on foot along the west bank of the Colorado to our boat, finding it undisturbed, although the high water had washed the sand from underneath her keel. The next day was spent in repairing the boat. With the aid of the materials brought from Kanab we were able to make her perfectly seaworthy.