The Romance of the Colorado River

The Story of its Discovery in 1840, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great Canyons.

by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872

“No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms: This, as it frothed by, might have been a bath For the fiend’s glowing hoof——” Browning

To my friends and comrades of the Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872 in grateful remembrance.

Looking up the Bright Angel Trail. Looking up the Bright Angel Trail. This is one of the modern trails into the Grand Canyon, which at this point is some 6000 feet deep. From water-color sketch by Thomas Moran, N.A.

DETAILED CONTENTS

PREFACE

NOTE ON THE AUTHOR’S ITINERARY

CHAPTER I. The Secret of the Gulf—Ulloa, 1539, One of the Captains of Cortes, Almost Solves it, but Turns Back without Discovering—Alarçon, 1540, Conquers

CHAPTER II. The Unknown River—Alarçon Ascends it Eighty-five Leagues and Names it the Rio de Buena Guia—Melchior Diaz Arrives at its Banks Later and Calls it the Rio del Tizon—Cardenas Discovers the Grand Canyon.

CHAPTER III. The Grand Canyon—Character of the Colorado River—The Water-Gods; Erosion and Corrasion—The Natives and their Highways—The "Green River Valley" of the Old Trappers—The Strange Vegetation and Some Singular Animals

CHAPTER IV. Oñate, 1604, Crosses Arizona to the Colorado—A Remarkable Ancient Ruin Discovered by Padre Kino, 1694—Padre Garces Sees the Grand Canyon and Visits Oraibi, 1776—The Great Entrada of Padre Escalante across Green River to Utah Lake, 1776—Death of Garces Ends the Entrada Period, 1781.

CHAPTER V. Breaking the Wilderness—Wanderings of the Trappers and Fur Traders—General Ashley in Green River Valley, 1824—Pattie along the Grand Canyon, 1826—Lieutenant Hardy, R.N., in a Schooner on the Lower Colorado, 1826—Jedediah Smith, Salt Lake to San Gabriel, 1826—Pattie on the Lower Colorado in Canoes, 1827-28

CHAPTER VI. Frémont, the Pathfinder—Ownership of the Colorado—The Road of the Gold Seekers—First United States Military Post, 1849—Steam Navigation—Captain Johnson Goes to the Head of Black Canyon

CHAPTER VII. Lieutenant Ives Explores to Fortification Rock—By Trail to Diamond Creek, Havasupai Canyon, and the Moki Towns—Macomb Fails in an Attempt to Reach the Mouth of Grand River—James White’s Masterful Fabrication

CHAPTER VIII. The One-armed Knight—A Bold Attack on the Canyons—Powell and His Men—The Wonderful Voyage—Mighty Walls and Roaring Rapids—Capsizes and Catastrophes

CHAPTER IX. A Canyon of Cataracts—The Imperial Chasm—Short Rations—A Split in the Party—Separation—Fate of the Howlands and Dunn—The Monster Vanquished

CHAPTER X. Powell’s Second Attack on the Colorado—Green River City—Red Canyon and a Capsize—The Grave of Hook—The Gate of Lodore—Cliff of the Harp—Triplet Falls and Hell’s Half-Mile—A Rest in Echo Park

CHAPTER XI. An Island Park and a Split Mountain—The White River Runaways—Powell Goes to Salt Lake—Failure to Get Rations to the Dirty Devil—On the Rocks in Desolation—Natural Windows—An Ancient House—On the Back of the Dragon at Last—Cataracts and Cataracts in the Wonderful Cataract Canyon—A Lost Pack-Train—Naming the Echo Peaks