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. , 36 THE GREEN RIVER AND ITS UTILIZATION Canyon of Desolation, so named because of its extremely barrel and forbidding aspect. The walls of the canyon steadily incres, in height to its foot-, where it terminates abruptly at the Brown Cli then Gray Canyon, named because of gray sandstone. walls be with low walls, finally terminating abruptly at the Book C After leaving Gray Canyon, :Major Powell states, "our way. through a valley, with cottonwood groves on either side. The ri . is deep, broad, and quiet." At the lower end of this valley a I rapid was run; and o beyond og three curious canyons, black bluffs fithe mouth o f ,. two the right, then San Rafael River was reached. Beyond this, be says,< we pass some beautiful buttes on the left, many of which are very svmmetn`i Thep are chiefly composed of gypsum of many hues, from light gray to s]$v color; then pink, purple, and brown beds. Now we enter another can Gradually the walls rise higher and higher as we proceed, and the summit the canyon is formed of the same. beds of orange-colored sandstone. RR?? from the brink the hollows of the plateau are filled with sands disintegrated. ev - these orange beds. They are of rich cream-color, shaded m '- where destitute of vegetation, and drifted into long, wavelike ridges. - -The course of the river is tortuous, and it nearly doubles upon itself times. The water is quiet, and constant rowing is necessary to make headway. Sometimes there is a narrow flood plain between the river a ry wall, on one side or the other. Where these long, gentle curves are foun giver washes the very foot of the outer wall. A long peninsula of willow-bo meadow projects within the curve, and the talus, at the foot of the cliff, is covered with dwarf oaks. The orange-colored sandstone is very homog6 in structure, and the walls are usually vertical, though not very high. The country lying beyond the river is described as follaowsBn?',. - In every direction, as far as we are able to see, naked rocks apps scattered on the landscape, here rounded into cones, there buttressed, col and carved in quaint shapes, with deep alcoves and sunken rece sea. All] us are basins, excavated in the soft sandstones; and these have been filled 0. ate rains. Over the rounded rocks and water pockets we look off on a fine stretch and beyond are naked rocks and beautiful buttes to the Azure Cliffs, and these, and above them, the Brown Cliffs, and still beyond, mountain peak - ------ --- --?fiudspiledvver= On we go, after dinner, with quiet water, still compelled'-to row, tin make fair progress. The canyon is yet very tortuous. About 6 miles noon camp we go around a great bend to the right, 5 miles in length, an- A back to a point within a quarter of a mile of where we started. Then we, around another great bend to the left, making a circuit of 9 miles, and canoe to-a point within 600 yards of the beginning of the bend In the two xve describe almost the figure S: The men call it a bowknot pf river; so , it Bowknot Bend. The line of the figure is 14 miles in length. There Is anexq,ite charm in our ride to-day down this beautiful -iis r with eve:, mile of travel; the walls ire_ ?;yam Y. _. _ It gradually grgvrs deeps _ curved and grandly arched, of a beautiful color, and reflected in the gnu.t in many placeex ao to almost deceive the eye and suggest £he: thougott beholder, that lie is looking into profound depths AtSht wL - - -the-south sid"t the BcRknot and as we eat our aupper, which is spread beach, we name this Labyrinth Canyon. _ GREEN RIFER CANTONS 37 ]n inediatel• upon leaving Labyrinth Canyon the party entered ,;tether canyon in which the water filled the entire channel, so that ;,ow here was there room to land. The walls are low but vertical, and as we proceed they gradually increase in i, tude. Running a couple of miles, the river changes its course man} degrees, Niard the east. Just here a little stream comes in on the right, and the wall is -,)ken down; so we land and go out to take a view- of the surrounding country. are now down among the buttes and in a region the surface of which is naked, d rock-a beautiful red sandstone, forming a smooth, undulating pavement. T!, Indians call this the "Toom'-pin Tuw•eap," or "Roe], Land," and sometimes e "Toom'-pin wu-near' Tu-weap," or "Land of Standing Rock." * * * The -gam is still quiet, and we glide along through s strange, weird, grand region. landscape everywhere, away from the river, is of rock-cliffs of rock, tables rock, plateaus of rock, terraces of rock, crags of roc k-10,000 strangely carved ms. Rocks everywhere, and no vegetation, no soil, no sand. In long, gentle r?;nee, the river winds about these rocks. When speaking of these rocks, we must not conceive of piles of boulders, or neaps of fragments, but a whole land of naked rock, with giant forms carved on it; cathedral-shaped buttes, towering hundreds or thousands of feet;'cliffs that can not be scaled, and canyon walls that shrink the river into insignificance, with vast, h,llow domes, and tall pinnacles, and shafts set on the verge overhead, and all Hchly colored-buff, gray, red, brown, and chocolate; never lichened, never moss-covered, but bare and often polished. We pass a place where two bends of the river come together, an intervening rock having been worn away and a dew channel formed across. The old channel ran in a great circle around to-the right, by what was once a circular peninsula; then _- an island; then the water left the old channel, entirely and passed through the rut, and the old bed of the river is dry. So the great circular rock stands by itself, with precipitous walls all about it, and we find but one place where it can be *caivd. Looking from its summit, a long stretch of river is seen, sweeping close In the overhanging cliffs on the right. but having a little meadow between it and _ the wall on the left. The curve is very gentle and regular. We name this Bonita Bend. A short distance beyond Bonita Bernd swift water was encountered, find after an hour of rapid running, the party reached the junction ttf the Green and the Colorado, at the foot of Stillwater Canyon. These streams unite in solemn depths, more than 1,200 feet below the general f-?irfnce of the country:-Th-e walb-of-the-tower end of Stillwater Canyon are very -- - t'rautifully curved, as the river sweeps in its meandering course. The lower end If the canyon through which the Grand [Colorado] comes down is also regular t much more direct, and we look up this stream and out into the country ?*I'6nd and obtain glimpses of snow-clad peaks, the summits of a group of awuntains known as the Sierra La Sal. Down the Colorado the canyon walls much broken. The Labyrinth Canyon is about 62 miles long, and Stillwater V&nyon is about 42 miles long. The walls of these canyons rise to a `aezimum height of about 1,00 feet. -' In August, 1869, Powen reached his goal, the mouth of the Virgin $trer, but owing to the loss of many instruments and other unfortu- sate circumstances he. was not. satisfied with the results obtained and