The Latter Had Gone To
Ferry Lieutenant Beale And His Outfit Across The River.
So in reality he
was ahead of Ives, for he entered the Black Canyon to the highest point
attainable by steamers before Ives did, and thus got the better of the man
who had refused to hire him and his steamer.
Journey Is Abandoned. But Ives went on as if Johnson had never existed,
"discovered" what was already known, viz.: that the river "was flanked
by walls many hundreds of feet in height, rising perpendicularly out of the
water, the Colorado emerging from the bowels of the range," and then struck
a sunken rock, and had to give up in disgust.
Returns East across Country. Sending his vessel, the Explorer,
back to Fort Yuma under the command of Robinson, its efficient captain, the
gallant lieutenant now struck out across country, having received new
supplies and his pack-train. Under the guidance of an intelligent Mohave
Indian, Ireteba, they reached Diamond Creek, and there not only came in
contact with the Wallapais, but for the first time saw the Big Canyon, as
they called the Grand Canyon. He then pushed on east, entered Havasupai
(Cataract) Canyon, visited the Indians there, then made a wide detour to
examine the San Francisco peaks, struck east again, crossed the Little
Colorado, and reached the province of Tusayan, where dwell the Hopis. After
a short visit there, he crossed south and east to Fort Defiance, and
finally returned east with his report. When the Civil War broke out, Ives
joined the Confederate forces and was killed in one of the battles.
Ives's Prediction. As an evidence of the folly of making predictions in
regard to what the future has in store for any region, let me quote one
paragraph from Ives which always has amused me:
"This region can be approached only from the south, and after entering it
there is nothing to do but to leave. Ours has been the first, and will
doubtless be the last party of whites, to visit this profitless locality."
Yet Ives enjoyed the Canyon, and wrote some truly eloquent descriptions of
it. How surprised he would be could he come back now, approach it from the
north, cross the river in a steel cage, and find at El Tovar such an hotel
as even the city of Washington never surpassed in Ives's day. Then, taking
the Grand Canyon Railway, he could speed to Williams, and in twenty-four
hours reach the Pacific, or in four days the Atlantic. We march forward
with great strides in these days.
Powell's Preparations for His Life-Work. Even at the time of his writing
(1858), John Wesley Powell was being prepared to bring Ives's words to
naught. Born March 24, 1834, at Mount Morris, Livingston County, New York,
he found himself in 1858 at Wheaton, Illinois, engaged in making a
conchological collection for the Illinois State Natural History Society.
While engaged in this work, he also secured collections in botany, zoology,
and mineralogy.
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