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Show 56 EXPLORATION OF THE CANONS OF THE COLORADO. great speed. An hour of this rapid running brings us to the junction of the Grand and Green, the foot of Still water Canon, as we have named it. These streams unite in solemn depths, more than one thousand two hundred feet below the general surface of the country. The walls of the lower end of Stillwater Canon are very beautifully curved, as the river sweeps in its meandering course. The lower end of the canon through which the Grand comes down, is also regular, but much more direct, and we look up this stream, and out into the country beyond, and obtain glimpses of snow clad peaks, the summits of a group of mountains known as the Sierra La Sal. Down the Colorado, the canon walls are much broken. We row around into the Grand, and camp on its northwest bank; and here we propose to stay several days, for the purpose of determining the latitude and longitude, and the altitude of the walls. Much of the night is spent in making observations with the sextant. The distance from the mouth of the Uinta to the head of the Canon of Desolation is twenty and three quarters miles. The Canon of Desolation is ninety seven miles long; Gray Canon thirty six. The course of the river through Gunnison's Valley is twenty seven and a quarter miles; Labyrinth Canon, sixty two and a half miles. In the Canon of Desolation, the highest rocks immediately over the river are about two thousand four hundred feet. This is at Log Cabin Cliff. The highest part of the terrace is near the brink of the Brown Cliffs. Climbing the immediate walls of the canon, and passing back to the canon terrace, and climbing that, we find the altitude, above the river, to be 3,300 feet. The lower end of Gray Canon is about two thousand feet; the lower end of Labyrinth Canon, 1,300 feet. Stillwater Canon is forty two and three quarters miles long; the highest walls, 1,300 feet |
