Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico); Grand Canyon (Ariz.); United States -- Discovery and exploration
After this the walls suddenly close in, so that the canyon is narrower
than we have ever known it. The water fills it from wall to wall, giving
us no landing-place at the foot of the cliff; the river is very swift
and the canyon very tortuous, so that we can see but a few hundred yards
ahead; the walls tower over us, often overhanging so as almost to shut
out the light. I stand on deck, watching with intense anxiety, lest this
may lead us into some danger; but we glide along, with no obstruction,
no falls, no rocks, and in a mile and a half emerge from the narrow
gorge into a more open and broken portion of the canyon. Now that it is
past, it seems a very simple thing indeed to run through such a place,
but the fear of what might be ahead made a deep impression on us.
225 powell-canyons-147.jpg
PESCADO HOUSES.
226
CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.
At three o'clock we arrive at the foot of Cataract Canyon. Here a long
canyon valley comes down from the east, and the river turns sharply to
the west in a continuation of the line of the lateral valley. In the
bend on the right vast numbers of crags and pinnacles and tower-shaped
rocks are seen. We call it Mille Crag Bend.
And now we wheel into another canyon, on swift water unobstructed by
rocks. This new canyon is very narrow and very straight, with walls
vertical below and terraced above. Where we enter it the brink of
powell-canyons-148.jpg
REPAIRING BOATS AT THE MOUTH OF DIRTY DEVIL RIVER.
the cliff is 1,300 feet above the water, but the rocks dip to the west,
and as the course of the canyon is in that direction the walls are seen
slowly to decrease in altitude. Floating down this narrow channel and
looking
PROM THE GRAND TO THE LITTLE COLORADO. 227
out through the canyon crevice away in the distance, the river is seen
to turn again to the left, and beyond this point, away many miles, a
great mountain is seen. Still floating down, we see other mountains, now
on the right, now on the left, until a great mountain range is unfolded
to view. We name this Narrow Canyon, and it terminates at the bend of
the river below.
As we go down to this point we discover the mouth of a stream which
enters from the right. Into this our little boat is turned. The water is
exceedingly muddy and has an unpleasant odor. One of the men in the boat
following, seeing what we have done, shouts to 'Dunn and asks whether
it is a trout stream. Dunn replies, much disgusted, that it is "a dirty
devil," and by this name the river is to be known hereafter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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