Adventures in the Canyons of the Colorado, by Two of Its Earliest ExplorersBass, William Wallace
History
Adventures in the Canyons of the Colorado, by Two of Its Earliest Explorers
Bass, William Wallace
Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)
My interest in the Grand Canyon dates from soon after my arrival, in
July, 1883, at Williams, Arizona. I had come West for my health on the
still uncompleted line of the Santa Fe route, then known as the
"Atlantic & Pacific." Williams was a railroad construction town and
vied with Kingman in its "wild and woolly" reputation, but I located
there and soon began to improve in health. In one of my exploring
trips (the story of which is fully told in my life history, soon to be
published), I found it necessary to refer to the available maps in
order to secure what information was possible as to water locations and
the general contour of the country I desired to explore. I succeeded
in securing a Government map, and, as it was one with the name of J. W.
Powell as Director of the Geological Survey, I supposed it was correct
and reliable. But, to my dismay, after four days' journey following
the dry washes and valleys I found myself farther away from the walls
of the Grand Canyon than when I started. The water-holes and tanks
were a myth and my animals nearly famished before I could retrace my
steps to where I knew I could save them. In a word, the drainage
system as shown on his map was a delusion and a snare and nearly
resulted in my disaster.
Naturally, this incident made me suspicious ever after of anything
Powell claimed to have done in this particular region, but it remained
for me to have some very positive evidence as to the reliability of his
claims in another direction. Up to this time I had never met him and
when in 1887 he employed me as guide in some triangulation work on the
Bill Williams Mountain I was thoroughly convinced as to the doubtful
character of certain statements he made to me regarding other work of
the same nature he claimed to have done some years previous. One in
particular was as to a station he said I would find on "Red Butte,"
which lies about forty-five miles northeast of Williams and is a
prominent feature on the landscape, as it is the only one to be seen
anywhere along the south wall of the Grand Canyon for a distance of
over fifty miles. It lies in the plain about twelve miles from the
Canyon wall. As I had spent considerable time there only a few days
previous in looking for a silver prospect reported to be there, I knew
there was no such pile of rocks as he described and never had been
within the knowledge of the oldest inhabitant in this region. I could
not find enough rocks on the top of that mountain to build a
respectable mining location. I also knew of others who had been there
on the same mission and they can verify this statement. In addition to
this the later geological work in this section failed to locate any
such station as was claimed by him to me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account