Large rivers, more or less persistent in the face of opposing disturbance, therefore appear to be generally recognized; but it is noticeable that those quoted from the Himalaya and the Alps presumably occupied, at the time of disturbance, well enclosed valleys, from which it would have been difficult for them to escape backwards or laterally; and that, even if successful in the end, they for a time suffered defeat or ponding of greater or less extent and duration. There is no evidence that the Green river was well enclosed immediately north of the Uinta mountains at the time of their first elevation; hence the likelihood of its temporary ponding or enclosure is increased. It is stated by Powell that not only the Green but even the smaller streams of the Uintas are of origin antecedent to the mountains. He writes: "the explanation of the cañons of Green river will assist us in understanding the origin of the lateral valleys and cañons. The streams were there before the mountains were made--that is, the streams carved out the valleys and left the mountains. The direction of the streams is indisputable evidence that the elevation of the fold was so slow as not to divert the streams, although the total amount of elevation was many thousands of feet. Had the fold been lifted more rapidly than the principal streams could have cut their channels, Green river would have been turned about it, and all the smaller streams and waterways would have been cataclinal" (Colorado River, 162). This appears to me an unproved conclusion, and the evidence of it needs careful attention. It appears that there are several streams which descend from the crest of the mountains towards the flanks, but instead of running all the way out to the margin of the fold, they turn along the strike of a monoclinal valley, and thus reach the main river by a short cut. Such streams are cataclinal for a time, then monoclinal. It is in reference to these that it is said, "the streams were there before the mountains were made;" and again that "the drainage was established antecedent to the corrugation or displacement of the beds by faulting and folding" (163). In approaching this conclusion, Powell says these streams cannot be consequent; for "valleys consequent upon the corrugation, which was one of the conditions of the origin of the Uinta mountains, could not have taken the direction observed in this system; they would have all been cataclinal, as they ran down from the mountains, and turned into synclinal valleys at the foot, forming a very different system from that which now obtains" (166). Nor can the streams be superimposed, for the "later sedimentary beds, both to the north and south, were found not to have been continuous over the mountain system, but to have been deposited in waters whose shores were limited by the lower reaches of the range" (166). Therefore the discordant streams must be antecedent.