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J. W. Powell - Canyons of the Colorado
The distance from the mouth of the Uinta to the head of the Canyon of Desolation is 20 3/4 miles. The
Canyon of Desolation is 97 miles long; Gray Canyon, 36 miles. The course of the river through
Gunnison Valley is 27 1/4 miles; Labyrinth Canyon, 62 1/2 miles.
In the Canyon of Desolation the highest rocks immediately over the river are about 2,400 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 canyon and passing back to the canyon terrace and climbing that, we find the
altitude above the river to be 3,300 feet. The lower end of Gray Canyon is about 2,000 feet; the lower
end of Labyrinth Canyon, 1,300 feet.
Stillwater Canyon is 42 3/4 miles long; the highest walls, 1,300 feet.
CHAPTER X. FROM THE JUNCTION OF THE GRAND AND GREEN
TO THE MOUTH OF THE LITTLE COLORADO.
July 18. - The day is spent in obtaining the time and spreading our rations, which we find are
badly injured. The flour has been wet and dried so many times that it is all musty and full of hard lumps.
We make a sieve of mosquito netting and run our flour through, it, losing more than 200 pounds by the
process. Our losses, by the wrecking of the "No Name," and by various mishaps since, together with the
amount thrown away to-day, leave us little more than two months' supplies, and to make them last thus
long we must be fortunate enough to lose no more.
We drag our boats on shore and turn them over to recalk and pitch them, and Sumner is engaged in
repairing barometers. While we are here for a day or two, resting, we propose to put everything in the
best shape for a vigorous campaign.
July 19. - Bradley and I start this morning to climb the left wall below the junction. The way we
have selected is up a gulch. Climbing for an hour over and among the rocks, we find ourselves in a vast
amphitheater and our way cut off. We clamber around to the left for half an hour, until we find that we
cannot go up in that direction. Then we try the rocks around to the right and discover a narrow shelf
nearly half a mile long. In some places this is so wide that we pass along with ease; in others it is so
narrow and sloping that we are compelled to lie down and crawl. We can look over the edge of the shelf,
down 800 feet, and see the river rolling and plunging among the rocks. Looking up 500 feet to the brink
of the cliff, it seems to blend with the sky. We continue along until we come to a point where the wall is
again broken down. Up we climb. On the right there is a narrow, mural point of rocks, extending toward
the river, 200 or 300 feet high and 600 or 800 feet long. We come back to where this sets in and find it
cut off from the main wall by a great crevice. Into this we pass; and now a long, narrow rock is between
us and the river. The rock itself is split longitudinally and transversely; and the rains on the surface above
have run down through the crevices and gathered into channels below and then run off into the river. The
crevices are usually narrow above and, by erosion of the streams, wider below, forming a network of
"caves, each cave having a narrow, winding skylight up through the rocks. We wander among these
corridors for an hour or two, but find no place where the rocks are broken down so that we can climb up.
At last we determine to attempt a passage by a crevice, and select one which we think is wide enough to
admit of the passage of our bodies and yet narrow enough to climb out by pressing our hands and feet
against the walls. So we climb as men would out of a well. Bradley climbs first; I hand him the
barometer, then climb over his head and he hands me the barometer. So we pass each other alternately
until we emerge from the fissure, out on the summit of the rock. And what a world of grandeur is spread
before us! Below is the canyon through which the Colorado runs. We can trace its course for miles, and
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