Chapter XXX: Appendix

The parties who have made extended voyages through one or more of the canyons of the Green and Colorado rivers, and the order of their leaving, according to Dellenbaugh, are as follows:

Major J. W. Powell left Green River, Wyoming, May 24, 1869; arrived at the Virgin River with five of his party, six in all, Aug. 30, 1869--was met there by some Mormons who had been ordered to be on the lookout by Brigham Young. The party were distributed as follows:

The boats: 1. _Emma Dean._ J. W. Powell, John C. Sumner,
Wm. H. Dunn.
2. _Kitty Clyde’s Sister._ Walter Powell, G. Y.
Bradley.
3. _No Name._ O. G. Howland, Seneca Howland,
Frank Goodman.
4. _Maid of the Canyon._ Wm. R. Hawkins,
Andrew Hall.

Notes. F. Goodman left the party at the Mouth of the Uinta. The _No Name_ was wrecked in Lodore Canyon. O. G. Howland, Seneca Howland, and Wm. H. Dunn left the party when about twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Grand Canyon, and were killed by the Shewits Utes near Mt. Dellenbaugh. Sumner and Hall went on down to the Gulf of California.

The second Powell expedition left Green River, Wyoming, May 22, 1871, taking advantage of the high water, which is desirable on the Green River. They arrived at the Mouth of the Paria, Oct. 22, 1871. Starting again from the Paria (Lee’s Ferry) Aug. 17, 1872, they passed through Marble Canyon and nearly 100 miles of the Grand Canyon, reaching the mouth of Kanab Canyon Saturday, Sept. 7, 1872. Here the voyage was discontinued on account of high water, rising higher each day. The crews of this party were distributed as follows:

1871. 1. _Emma Dean._ J. W. Powell, S. V. Jones, F. S.
Dellenbaugh, J. K. Hilliers.
2. _Nellie Powell._ A. H. Thompson, John F. Steward,
F. M. Bishop, F. C. A. Richardson.
3. _Canonita._ E. O. Beaman, W. Clement Powell,
Andrew C. Hatton.

Notes. Richardson left in Brown’s Park; Beaman, Steward, and Bishop at the end of the first season. The boats had been badly pounded, the _Nellie Powell_ very much so, and she was left at Lee’s Ferry. The party proceeded as follows:

1872. 1. _Emma Dean._ J. W. Powell, S. V. Jones, F. S.
Dellenbaugh, J. K. Hilliers.
2. _Canonita._ A. H. Thompson, W. Clement
Powell, A. C. Hatton.

H. M. Hook with fifteen miners in crude boats left Green River, Wyoming, June 1, 1869. H. M. Hook and one other were drowned in Red Canyon, and the expedition was abandoned.

Earlier parties to attempt descent: 1825--Wm. H. Ashley and party to Brown’s Park. 1849--Wm. L. Manly and party to Uintah Valley. The name D. Julien, Mai 1836, occurs carved in the walls in Labyrinth Canyon, and again in Cataract Canyon. No further record at present.

BROWN-STANTON

This expedition left Blake (Green River, Utah) May 25, 1889, 16 men with 6 boats (very light). The entire party was Frank M. Brown, chief, Robert Brewster Stanton, chief engineer, John Hislop, C. W. Potter, T. P. Rigney, E. A. Reynolds, J. H. Hughes, W. H. Bush, Edward Coe, Edward ----, Peter Hansborough, Henry Richards, G. W. Gibson, Charles Porter, F. A. Nims, T. C. Terry.

Notes. Brown, Hansborough, and Richards were drowned in Marble Canyon. The expedition was temporarily abandoned in lower Marble Canyon. Hughes, Terry, and Rigney left at Glen Canyon, Reynolds left at Lee’s Ferry, and Harry McDonald joined the party.

STANTON

Stanton re-outfitted with heavy boats, 22 feet long, and began the second trip in Glen Canyon. This party included R. B. Stanton, Langdon Gibson, Harry McDonald, Elmer Kane, John Hislop, F. A. Nims, Reginald Travers, W. H. Edwards, A. B. Twining, H. G. Ballard, L. G. Brown, and James Hogue. They entered the head of Marble Canyon Dec. 28, 1889, and finished at tide water in the Gulf of California, Apr. 26, 1890. One boat wrecked in the Grand Canyon. Purpose of trip, survey for a railroad.

Notes. Nims had a fall in Marble Canyon, which broke his leg. He was taken out over a 1700-foot wall and carried over the plateau to a point where he could be hauled out by wagon. McDonald left the expedition near the upper end of the Grand Canyon, Hogue and one other left at Diamond Creek.

GALLOWAY

Nathan Galloway left Green River, Wyoming, in the autumn of 1895 and went to Lee’s Ferry. Late in 1896 N. Galloway and Wm. Richmond left Henry’s Fork, Wyoming, and reached Needles, Feb. 10, 1897. Galloway passed down as far as the Uintah Valley five times, and through Desolation and Gray canyons seven times, through Cataract three times, and the Grand Canyon, once before making the trip with Julius F. Stone. Galloway was a trapper.

FLAVELL

On Aug. 27, 1896, George F. Flavell and one companion, name unknown, started from Green River, Wyoming, and went to Yuma, Arizona, which was reached Dec. 1896. They had one boat; flat-bottomed. Little is known about this expedition. Prospector or trapper?

RUSSELL-MONNETTE

Charles S. Russell, E. R. Monnette, and Bert Loper, in three steel boats, left Blake (Green River), Utah, Sept. 20, 1907. Russell and Monnette reached Needles in Feb. 1908 with one boat. Purpose, prospecting.

Notes. Loper’s boat was punctured in the lower end of Cataract Canyon, and he held up to repair while the others continued to prospect as far as Lee’s Ferry. After a long wait they proceeded with the trip. Loper arrived shortly after, but discontinued the trip when he found he was left behind. A second boat was lost in the Hance Rapid. The third boat was torn away from them, while lining it in the Hermit Creek Rapid. They climbed the granite, and followed a trail which took them to the camp of L. Bouchre, a prospector. The boat was found the next day with three holes in its side, in a whirlpool five miles below the Hermit Creek Rapid. The boat was repaired and the voyage completed to Needles.

STONE

Julius F. Stone of Columbus, Ohio, accompanied by Nathan T. Galloway, Chas. S. Sharp, S. S. Denbeudorff, and R. A. Cogswell (Photographer), outfitted with four flat-bottomed boats, left Green River, Wyoming, Sept. 12, 1909, and reached Needles Nov. 15, 1909, with all boats in good condition, and with the remarkable record for Stone and Galloway of having brought their two boats through without an upset.

Notes. Sharp discontinued the trip at Glen Canyon, and one boat was left at this place. Purpose, photographic exploration.

KOLB

On Sept. 8, 1911, Emery C. Kolb, James Fagin, and Ellsworth L. Kolb, outfitted with two flat-bottomed boats, left Green River and arrived at Bright Angel Trail, Nov. 16, 1911. James Fagin left the party at the mouth of Lodore Canyon. On Dec. 19, Herbert Lauzon joined the party at the Grand Canyon for the trip to Needles; Ernest V. Kolb was taken along for a twenty-five mile ride to the end of the Bass Trail. Lauzon finished the trip at Needles with the Kolb brothers, Jan. 18, 1912. Purpose, moving pictures and photographs. In May, 1913, E. L. Kolb made the trip from Needles to the Gulf, travelling on the high water and making the 400-mile run in 8 days.

THE HISTORY OF CATARACT CANYON

J. S. Best and party left Green River, Utah, July 10, 1891. Wrecked in Cataract Canyon. No lives lost.

There are incomplete records of nine parties who have attempted to pass through Cataract Canyon, and who undoubtedly met with fatalities. On two occasions a single member escaped and reached the Hite ranch in a famished condition.

John Vartan, an Armenian prospector, lost his boat and barely succeeded in escaping. His clothes were made into a rope by which he dropped from a ledge to a canyon, through which he reached the Land of Standing Rocks. He was found after weeks of exposure, during which time he lived on plants and roots. He was nursed back to life, but never gave a very clear account of his experiences.

A. G. Turner, the Glen Canyon prospector, made a successful passage through the rapids of this canyon in 1907.

The Stone expedition found a wrecked boat and fresh tracks of three persons, one of these being a boy’s tracks, on the shore. No further trace of them has been discovered.

Charles Smith wrote us that he succeeded in getting through after we saw him in 1911.

In 1912 Smith and Galloway combined and passed through in safety. Near Dark Canyon they found the decomposed body of a man on a rock in mid-stream. From odors, they judged there were other bodies in other places not far from this find.

Just before this book goes to press we have received two letters, one from Mr. J. F. Stone, stating that Galloway had died a natural death. Another letter is from John Hite, informing us that his brother Cass Hite was dead. In the same letter he states that Smith left Blake, Utah, for the third time, in November, 1913, and had never showed up at his home. Later he and Loper found half of his wrecked boat. A full heart pays tribute to the memory of Smith.

So it goes on from year to year. Judging by these experiences it would seem that the carefully planned expeditions, especially those with covered boats containing air chambers, succeed in getting through.

The writer believes that a passage can be made through Cataract Canyon, in low water, without being compelled to run more than one or two bad rapids, if great care is taken while crossing from one shore to the other between the rapids. With a light canvas boat, or with a canoe in the hands of experts, it might be possible to avoid them all, but I would not care to be so quoted, as I am a little uncertain about the two last bad rapids. This would not be possible in Marble or the Grand Canyon. The last mentioned contains many rapids as bad as any in Cataract Canyon. We find that all those who have made successful passages are infatuated with their type of boat. All we will claim for our type, which came to us through Stone and Galloway, is that three expeditions have used this type of boat, and they all--with the exception of one in perfect condition left by Stone’s party with Hite--finished at Needles. But whether made of steel, wood, or canvas, all boats should be decked as much as possible to keep out the powerful waves, and should contain large air chambers. Rowlocks, oars, paddles, and ropes should be carefully guarded against breakage and loss.

The flood stage on the Colorado River, about 300,000 cubic second feet, exceeds that on the St. Lawrence River at Niagara Falls, which carries about 250,000 cubic second feet. The descent in many rapids on the Colorado equals that of any section of the St. Lawrence, excepting Niagara Falls. In the low water stage, the rapids lose much of their strength of current and violence of waves, and the flow is only a small fraction of the flood stage.

The deepest canyons of the Green and Colorado rivers, their length, approximate depth, and the fall of the river are as follows. These figures are compiled from “A Canyon Voyage,” U. S. G. S. maps, and other sources.

================+=========+==============+===========
|LENGTH IN|GREATEST DEPTH|APPROXIMATE
| MILES | IN FEET | DESCENT
----------------+---------+--------------+-----------
Flaming Gorge ⎫ | | |
Horseshoe ⎬ | 35 | |
Kingfisher ⎪ | | |
Red ⎭ | | 2700 | 350
Lodore | 20½ | 2700-3000[8] | 425
Whirlpool | 14 | 2200 | 140
Split Mountain | 9 | 2000 | 90
Desolation | 97 | 2700 | ⎫
Gray | 36 | 2000 | ⎭ 550[9]
Cataract | 41 | 2700-3000[10]| 430
Marble | 65½ | 3500 | 480
Grand Canyon | 217 | 5000-6000[11]| 1850
================+=========+==============+===========

The entire distance from Green River, Wyoming, to the tide water is something over 1600 miles. The descent is a little over 6000 feet. About 4300 feet of this descent occurs in 500 miles of the canyons listed above; 2330 feet comes in Marble Canyon and the Grand Canyon, the two combined making an unbroken canyon of 283 miles.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] Peaks close to the canyon reach a height of 3000 ft. above the river.

[9] The upper half of Desolation Canyon has no rapids.

[10] Maps give depth as 2700 ft. We believe some walls are higher.

[11] Greatest depth on the south side of the Grand Canyon is near 5000 ft., on the north rim about 6000 ft.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:

Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged, as were jargon, dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the end of the book. Seven misspelled words were corrected. Spelling of Pittsburg was not changed, as the official spelling lacked an ‘h’ until 1911. Denis Julien, mentioned in the appendix, was a French-Canadian who left at least eight inscriptions on rock walls in Utah and Colorado. Spelling of his name was changed from Julian to Julien, but the French spelling of ‘Mai’ was not changed.