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J. W. Powell - Canyons of the Colorado
guages but different religions and worship different gods. These pueblo peoples are in a higher grade of
culture than most Indian tribes of the United States. This is exhibited in the slight superiority of their arts,
especially in their architecture. It is also noticeable in their mythology and religion. Their gods, the
heroes of their myths, are more often personifications of the powers and phenomena of nature, and their
religious ceremonies are more elaborate, and their cult societies are highly organized. As they had begun
to domesticate animals and to cultivate the soil, so as to obtain a part of their subsistence by agriculture,
they had almost accomplished the ascent from savagery to barbarism when first discovered by the
invading European. All the Indians of North America were in this state of transition, but the pueblo tribes
had more nearly reached the higher goal.
The great number of ruins found throughout the land has often been interpreted as evidence of a much
larger pueblo population than has been found in post-Columbian time. But a careful study of the facts
does not warrant this conclusion. It would seem that for various reasons tribes abandoned old pueblos
and built new, thus changing their permanent residence from time to time; but more frequent changes
were made in their rancherias. These were but ephemeral, being moved from place to place by the
varying conditions of water supply. Most of the streams of the arid land are not perennial, but very many
of the smaller streams of the pueblo region discharge their waters into the larger streams in times of great
flood. Such floods occur now here, now there, and at varying periods, sometimes fifty years apart. When
dry years follow one another for a long series, the channels of these intermittent streams are choked with
sand until the streams are buried and lost. Under such circumstances the rancherias were moved from
dead stream to living stream. In rare instances pueblos themselves were removed for this cause. Other
pueblos, and the rancherias generally, were abandoned in time of war; this seems to have been a potent
cause for moving. When pestilence attacked a pueblo the people would sometimes leave in a body and
never return. The cliff pueblos and dwellings, the cavate dwellings, and the cinder-cone towns were all
built and occupied for defensive purposes when powerful enemies threatened. The history of some of the
old ruins has been obtained and we know the existing tribes who once occupied them; others still remain
enshrouded in obscurity.
CHAPTER V. FROM GREEN RIVER CITY TO FLAMING GORGE.
In the summer of 1867, with a small party of naturalists, students, and amateurs like myself, I visited the
mountain region of Colorado Territory. While in Middle Park I explored a little canyon through which
the Grand River runs, immediately below the now well-known watering place, Middle Park Hot Springs.
Later in the fall I passed through Cedar Canyon, the gorge by which the Grand leaves the park. A result
of the summer's study was to kindle a desire to explore the canyons of the Grand, Green, and Colorado
rivers, and the next summer I organized an expedition with the intention of penetrating still farther into
that canyon country.
As soon as the snows were melted, so that the main range could be crossed, I went over into Middle
Park, and proceeded thence down the Grand to the head of Cedar Canyon, then across the Park Range by
Gore's Pass, and in October found myself and party encamped on the White River, about 120 miles
above its mouth. At that point I built cabins and established winter quarters, intending to occupy the cold
season, as far as possible, in exploring the adjacent country. The winter of 1868-69 proved favorable to
my purposes, and several excursions were made, southward to the Grand, down the White to the Green,
northward to the Yampa, and around the Uinta Mountains. During these several excursions I seized every
opportunity to study the canyons through which these upper streams run, and while thus engaged formed
plans for the exploration of the canyons of the Colorado. Since that time I have been engaged in
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