7352

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7352
• Author: Woolley, R. R.
• Title: Editor
• USFW Year: Series
• USFW - Doc Type: 1930
• Copyright Material: NO

30 THE GREEN RIVER AND ITS UTILIZATION
GREEN RICER CANYONS
GENERAL CHARACTER
The channel of the Green River through its upper basin is city
into the undulating surface of the basin floor-in some places only,.
few feet and in others more than 100 feet -with precipitous w
several hundred feet apart, and the stream meanders through
broad bottom lands, but in its course through the High Plat.eaugf,
the south, the river has carved a series of remarkable canyons who,.
history is replete with interesting and romantic incidents, discovers _
starvation, and lonely, dangerous journeys, k
On the headwaters of Green River lived the Crows, who called it the' eedskee .
Agie or Prairie Hen River. The Snakes and hates, living farther down, called
the Bitterroot.'" -a.
Father Escalante in his memorable journey of 1776, in search for.
route to Monterey from Santa Fe by way of the north, came upon
Green River in September. He camped on the bank of the riv
short distance above and opposite the present settlement at Jen
then crossed over and made his
Buenaventura, a name attnb.•
Basin. To him the river was the San
preceded Escalante to this
to Fray Alonzo de Posadas, who had of his journey in the early sixties of the eighteenth century.i°
Just when the river began to be known as the Green and by w
the name was first applied are questions upon which historians are
agreed, but according to Chittenden m the name seems to have xs.
into general use some time between 1824 and 1833. He says: ,
That part of the stream [Colorado Riverl now called the Green River was.
commonly known, down to 18,10, as the Seedskeedee, or Prairie Hen Riverl
generally so appears in the literature and correspondence of the times. The
Green River began to come into general use about 1833, although it dates
ae far. as 1824, Its origin is uncertain. Bancroft says it was given for obi
Ashley's men, but it certainly was in use before Ashley was in the country;
William Becknell has left a narrative of a trip that he made from Santa
Green River in 1824, and the name was evidently a fixture at that time among-
Sp&nish. -Fr- -t-say- that it was the "Rio Verde of the Spaniards and
that "the refreshing appearance of the broad river, with its timbered shore"
green wooded islands, in contrast to its dry sand} plains, probably obtained
it the name of Green River." This dots not seem unreasonable, although-
who are well acquainted with the characteristics of the river are more inctit!9?
attribute the name to the appearance of the water, which is a very prop
u&
_ ;,,thsA to the foliage of the valley, which is in no marled degree dif
from that along other streams in this locality.
At the time that Ashley and his men entered the valley of Green River,
it was st to floor mto'tne Gulf of Mexico. Various hints in the corm
e of Lhe+dm hetirn d .
enz? as s5ovc thifi to be the cane, and it is averred even that Gane_ZR
."thought so when he started to descend the river in s canoe in 18>5. 1+ x ,
it D:.'Ienhaugh, F. 9., The romt,nce of the Co onsdo River, p• 67, IM.
22, IM
It Freeman, 1. R., The Colorado River, yeS,9rday, A day, and to-tcmioa, p.
u 4h t2¢Ten 3 is Azienica= to trade _oil @ R`?s ._ra 2 p-779,19=
however, that the Astorians understood the identity of the stream in 1811-12,
for their tailed it the "Colorado or Sp:mish" River. (,See Missouri Gazette
May 15, 1S13.)
Cout alit "gives the credit for it to Gencral Ashley:
Ashley was a coo], daring disposition, and under his leadership his men became
bold and successful partisans. His company brought out. in 1823 consisted of
;ibout 40 men, and with these he attempted to citver a large territ•orv.
With his little band he pushed forward to Spanish River, the name of which he
promptly changed to Green River, after one of his St.. Louis partners. It has
been claimed by several historians that the name of tliis river comes from the color
of its waters, be that as it may, General Ashley named it.
But the following statement of Ashley is rather significant. After
he had descended the river he described a meeting with some Indians
from whom he bought horses and said: "I understood (by signs) front
them that the river which I supposed to be the Rio Colorado of the
Best continued its course, as far as they had any knowledge of it,
southwest through a mountainous country. YI 22
Dale 2' also cites accounts of trapping parties corning up from Taos
find Santa Cruz in 1824-25 to trap on the Green River as indicating
that the lower reaches of the stream may have been known as the
Green River before the advent of General Ashley.
EXPEDITIONS THROUGH THE CANYONS
The canyons of the Green that are cut through the great Uinta
uplift are practicably impassable except by going downstream with
boats, and even that is a difficult and hazardous venture. Several such
trips have been made, and the following short descriptions taken from
accounts of them give an idea of the physical characterisitics of the
canyons. asarar
The first known trip by white men was made by Gen. William Henry
Ashley in the spring of 1825.P1 At the head of a band of trappers he
Came Upon the Green River in April, 1825, and made his first camp a
few miles above the mouth of Sandy Creek. His expedition had
become seriously crippled by the loss of "17 horses and mules, driven
off by a marauding parts of Crows," and the packs of the stolen
aLimals were an added burden to the party. Ashley therefore deter-
mined to lighten the burden of his men and the remaining horses, and
to do so he made four divisions of his party. Three of them were to
go by land in different directions, and he was to descend the river with
the principal part of the supplies.
° Contest, C. B., History of wyomtag. p. 123, 1899.
° Da a H. C., The Aehley-amtth ,rloratiom and the dison9ary of a centra route to the Pacific 1822-
ISM.P.151,1917.
p. 158.
' P eaari L. R., op, cit., p, 82, I=. _