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June 27, 1869 (Powell 1875, p.38) "Now our way is along a gently flowing river, beset by many islands, groves are seen on either side, and natural meadows, where herds of antelope are feeding.... during the afternoon, we z make a long detour to the west, and return again to a point not more than a half mile from where we started at noon. June 28, 1869 (Powell 1875, p.38) "Today the scenery on either side of the river is much the same as that of yesterday, except that two or three lakes are discovered, lying in the valley to the west. After dinner we run a few minutes, when we discover the mouth of the Uinta, a river coming in from the west." "A little above the mouth of the Uinta, on the west side of the Green, there is a lake of several thousand acres. We carry our boat across the divide between this and the river, have a row on its quiet waters, and succeed in shooting several ducks." The lakes were likely Shepherd, and Leota bottoms of Ouray National Wildlife Refuge. Figure (2a) shows the area just upstream from the Duchesne River in June, 1993. John Wesley Powell's accounts of the region now occupied by the _ Ouray National Wildlife Area speak of large lake-like environments and extensive cottonwood forests. Many of these cottonwood forested areas were logged for timber (Steve Brock, Refuge Manager, Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, pers. comm. 1996). From bluffs overlooking Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, after only an average high flow year of 600 m3s"', one can observe what remains of once extensive floodplain environments. Figure (2b) shows Wyasket Lake which occurred persistently enough in recent time to be depicted on most regional maps as a permanent lake feature. Large lake environments also occurred periodically as a result of lava dams at the Lava Falls site in western Grand Canyon (Hamblin 1990).. Hamblin reported that lava dams formed at least 12 times in the last one or 4