Chapter II: Preface

This is a simple narrative of our recent photographic trip down the Green and Colorado rivers in rowboats--our observations and impressions. It is not intended to replace in any way the books published by others covering a similar journey. Major J. W. Powell’s report of the original exploration, for instance, is a classic, literary and geological; and searchers after excellence may well be recommended to his admirable work.

Neither is this chronicle intended as a handbook of the territory traversed--such as Mr. F. S. Dellenbaugh’s two volumes: “The Romance of the Grand Canyon,” and “A Canyon Voyage.” We could hardly hope to add anything of value to his wealth of detail. In fact, much of the data given here--such as distances, elevations, and records of other expeditions--is borrowed from the latter volume. And I take this opportunity of expressing our appreciation to Mr. Dellenbaugh for his most excellent and entertaining books.

We are indebted to Mr. Julius F. Stone, of Columbus, Ohio, for much valuable information and assistance. Mr. Stone organized a party and made the complete trip down the Green and Colorado rivers in the fall and winter of 1909, arriving at Needles, California, on November 27, 1909. He freely gave us the benefit of his experience and presented us with the complete plans of the boats he used.

One member of this party was Nathan Galloway, of Richfield, Utah. To him we owe much of the success of our journey. Mr. Galloway hunts and traps through the wilds of Utah, Colorado, and Arizona, and has a fame for skill and nerve throughout this entire region. He makes a yearly trip through the upper canyons, usually in a boat of his own construction; and in addition has the record of being the only person who has made two complete trips through the entire series of canyons, clear to Needles. He it is who has worked out the type of boats we used, and their management in the dangerous waters of the Colorado.

We have tried to make this narrative not only simple, as we say, but truthful. However, no two people can see things in exactly the same light. To some, nothing looks big; to others, every little danger is unconsciously magnified out of all proportion. For instance, we can recall rapids which appeared rather insignificant at first, but which seemed decidedly otherwise after we had been overturned in them and had felt their power--especially at the moment when we were sure we had swallowed a large part of the water that composed them.

The reader will kindly excuse the use of the first person, both singular and plural. It is our own story, after all, and there seems to be no other way than to tell it as you find it here.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. PREPARATIONS AT GREEN RIVER CITY, WYOMING 1

II. INTERESTING SIGHTS OF SOUTHERN WYOMING 12

III. THE GATEWAY OF ALL THE CANYONS 22

IV. SUSPICIOUS HOSTS 36

V. THE BATTLE WITH LODORE 50

VI. HELL’S HALF MILE 64

VII. JIMMY GOES OVER THE MOUNTAIN 71

VIII. AN INLAND EXCURSION 83

IX. CANYON OF DESOLATION 93

X. HOSPITABLE RANCHMEN 102

XI. WONDERS OF EROSION 111

XII. COULD WE SUCCEED? 121

XIII. A COMPANION VOYAGER 129

XIV. A PATIENT AMID THE CATARACTS 142

XV. PLACER GOLD 156

XVI. A WARNING 169

XVII. A NIGHT OF THRILLS 178

XVIII. MARBLE HALLS AND MARBLE WALLS 190

XIX. SIGNALLING OUR CANYON HOME 203

XX. ONE MONTH LATER 219

XXI. WHAT CHRISTMAS EVE BROUGHT 235

XXII. SHORT OF PROVISIONS IN A SUNLESS GORGE 249

XXIII. THE LAST PORTAGE AND THE LAST RAPIDS 267

XXIV. ON THE CREST OF A FLOOD 280

XXV. FOUR DAYS TO YUMA 290

XXVI. ACROSS THE MEXICO BORDER 303

XXVII. THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA 321

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Grand Canyon near the mouth of Ha Va Su Creek
_Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE
After a difficult picture. E. C. Kolb on rope 2
In the Grand Canyon near the Little Colorado 6
The start at Green River, Wyoming 10
Fire Hole Chimneys 10
A typical butte formation 14
Boats and crew. Photo taken in the Grand Canyon 18
Skeleton found in the Grand Canyon 22
Inside of the first canyons 26
Tilted rocks at Kingfisher Canyon 26
“Immense rocks had fallen from the cliff” 36
Ashley Falls, looking down-stream 40
The rocks were dark red; occasional pines grew on the
ledges, making a charming combination of colour 44
“We stopped at one hay ranch close to the Utah-Colorado
line” 48
Remarkable entrance to Lodore Canyon 52
“The river cut a channel under the walls” at Lower
Disaster Falls 56
“Everything was wet” 56
A Colorado River salmon 60
Lodore Canyon as seen from Brown’s Park. 60
“The Canyon was gloomy and darkened with shreds of
clouds” 64
“It took nine loads to empty one boat” 68
“An upright log was found wedged between the boulders” 68
Echo Cliffs. “This was the end of Lodore” 72
End of Echo Cliffs. The mouth of the Yampa River is
on the right 72
Marvels of erosion 76
“Here was one end of the rainbow of rock that began
on the other side of the mountains” 80
Pat Lynch: the canyon hermit 84
Each bed was placed in a rubber and a canvas sack 90
“Now for a fish story” 100
The centre of three symmetrical formations in the Double
Bow Knot 114
The Buttes of the Cross 118
“The Land of Standing Rocks was like a maze” 122
Rocks overhanging the Colorado’s Gorge 122
Thirteen hundred feet above the Green River 124
The junction of the Green and the Grand Rivers 128
Looking west into Cataract Canyon 132
Charles Smith and his boat 132
A narrow channel at Rapid No. 22 136
Developing tests 136
Rapid No. 22 in Cataract Canyon 140
The _Edith_ in a cataract 144
A seventy-five-foot drop in three-fourths of a mile 144
Camp in the heart of Cataract Canyon 148
Lower Cataract Canyon. Boats tandem 152
Beginning of a natural bridge. Glen Canyon 152
Pictographs in Glen Canyon 158
Cliff ruins near San Juan River 162
Rainbow Natural Bridge, looking south 162
Rainbow Natural Bridge, looking north 166
Glen Canyon near Navajo Mountain 170
Upper Marble Canyon 170
Placer dredge at Lee’s Ferry 174
Badger Creek Rapid 180
Bands of marble in Marble Canyon 180
A peaceful camp in Marble Canyon 184
The Soap Creek Rapid; a little above lowest stage. Photo
published by permission of Julius F. Stone 188
“It was too good a camp to miss” 192
Arch in Marble Canyon 192
Walls of Marble Canyon 196
Approaching the Grand Canyon 200
End of Marble Canyon, from the mouth of the Little
Colorado 204
Cataracts of the Little Colorado River 204
End of Hance Trail. Small white line is an intrusion of
quartz in the algonkian 208
Below the Sockdologer 210
The Rust Tramway. Span four hundred and fifty feet 214
Bright Angel Creek and Canyon 218
Leaving home, Dec. 19, 1911 222
A composite picture of Marble Canyon walls and a Grand
Canyon rapid 222
The _Edith_ (on left of central rock) in
Granite Falls 226
Rough water in Hermit Creek Rapid 230
Type of rapid in the granite near Bass Trail 234
The inner plateau, thirteen hundred feet above the river 238
Bert Lauzon, above Separation Rapid 238
The break in the _Edith_ 242
Merry Christmas. The repair was made with bilge boards,
canvas, paint, and tin 242
Pulling clear of a rock 246
A shower bath 246
Grand Canyon at the mouth of Ha Va Su Canyon. Medium
high water. Frontispiece shows same place in
low water 250
“Morning revealed a little snow,” on the top 252
New Year’s Eve was spent in this section between the
highest sheer walls in the lower gorge 252
Lava Falls. Lava on left, hot springs on right 254
Swift water in Tapeets Creek Rapid 260
Lauzon, equipped with a life preserver on a rope, on
guard below a rapid 260
In the last granite gorge 260
Capt. Burro: a Ha Va Supai 266
The Last Portage. The rocks were ice-filmed. Note
potholes 270
Mooney Falls: Ha Va Su Canyon 274
Watching for the signal fire. Mrs. Emery and Edith Kolb 278
The granite gorge near Bright Angel Trail 282
The Grand Canyon from the head of Bright Angel Trail 286
The Cork Screw: lower end of Bright Angel Trail 290
Zoroaster Temple from the end of Bright Angel Trail 298
Winter in the Grand Canyon from the Rim 308
Winter in the Grand Canyon at the River 308
A vaquero in the making 318
Cliff swallows’ nests. Found from Wyoming to Mexico 318
Steam vents beside Volcanic Lake 326
Cocopah Mountain, Mexico 326
Ten miles from the Gulf of California. Coming up on
a twenty-foot tide 332
Sunset on the lower Colorado River 332

_Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico_

THROUGH THE GRAND CANYON FROM WYOMING TO MEXICO