This Great Omission Mr. Dellenbaugh Supplies In His Complete
Narrative Before Referred To.
Powell's Work on the Canyon Completed.
This time three boats started, the
Emma Dean, Nellie Powell, and Canyoncita, manned by S. V. Jones, J. K.
Hilliers, F. S. Dellenbaugh, A. H. Thompson, J. F. Steward, F. M. Bishop,
F. C. A. Richardson, E. O. Beaman, W. C. Powell, and A. J. Hattan, with
Major J. W. Powell, of course, as leader and director. The start was made
from Green River City, Wyoming, as before, and the date was May 22, 1871.
On the third of September, the mouth of Kanab Canyon was reached, where, on
account of high water, the trip for the time being was abandoned. The
topographical work of the survey of the surrounding country was continued
through to the winter of 1873, when the maps were completed, and Powell's
great work on the canyons and tributary country practically brought to a
close.
Wheeler's Expedition in 1871. Another interesting Colorado River expedition
was that of Captain G. M. Wheeler, made in the fall of 1871. It was
doubtless an offset to that of Major Powell, as in those early days there
were three separate geographical surveys in the field, working
independently and without common guidance. Hence it was natural that there
should have been some degree of rivalry. Captain Wheeler started up the
Colorado River from Camp Mohave, in three boats that had been specially
made in San Francisco, and with a barge loaned by the commanding officer at
the fort. Dr. G. K. Gilbert was the geologist of the party. From September
16 to October 20, they had a difficult, arduous and occasionally thrilling
journey, reaching the mouth of Diamond Creek at the latter date. Diamond
Creek is a point on the Canyon which used to be largely visited. It is
reached from Peach Springs, but the scenery is far less impressive than at
any of the more accessible points described in this book.
Brown's Unsuccessful Expedition. Seventeen years after Powell, Frank M.
Brown, a Denver capitalist, determined to survey the canyons with the
purpose of building a railway through them to the Gulf of California. The
main start was made May 25, 1889, from the Rio Grande Western's tracks
across the Green River, with six boats and sixteen men. It was a disastrous
expedition. Brown himself lost his life at Soap Creek Rapids, some fifteen
miles below Lee's Ferry, and four days later two others were drowned in
Marble Canyon. The expedition was then abandoned, the remnant of the party
climbing the Canyon walls, and finding their way back to civilization
assisted by the kindly owner of a cattle ranch.
Stanton's Boats Travel Through the Whole Canyon System. In November of the
same year, however, Robert Brewster Stanton, Brown's engineer, observing
precautions that Brown had so unfortunately neglected, prepared to continue
the exploration. He had his boats hauled on wagons to the mouth of Crescent
Creek near Fremont River, to avoid a repetition of the experiences in
Cataract Canyon; and a good start was made. The party ate Christmas dinner
at Lee's Ferry, and a few days later, slightly below where Brown lost his
life, the photographer of the expedition fell from a ledge and broke his
leg. With incredible labor, the unfortunate man was got out of the Canyon,
four miles in distance and seventeen hundred feet in altitude, on an
improvised stretcher, and then taken in a wagon which Stanton had fetched
from Lee's Ferry. The party then went on, entered the Grand Canyon, and
reached Diamond Creek March 1, where they remained ten days recuperating.
The last dash was then made in safety. The boats left the Canyon March 17,
1890, and proceeded easily and gently, until on the twenty-sixth of April
tide-water was reached at the mouth of the river on the Gulf of California.
Galloway Repeats Stanton's Exploit. On January 12, 1897, N. Galloway, a
Mormon trapper, who for years had operated on the Canyons of the Green
River, determined to emulate Powell and Stanton. He made two light boats of
rude lumber, covered them fore and aft with canvas, got a companion,
William Richmond, and on the day named left a point near the state line of
Wyoming and Utah. On the third of February they emerged from the Canyon. As
they reached the open country below the Grand Wash, they came upon the
officers who had found the bodies of two men, killed by Mouse, a Paiuti
Indian. The officers requested the use of Galloway's boats to convey the
bodies to the Needles. This was acceded to, and on the seventeenth of
February Needles was reached, the boats sold, and the Mormons returned to
their homes.
Making Photographs of Soap Creek Rapids. Later in the same year, I made the
trip by wagon from Winslow, Arizona, over the Painted Desert to Lee's
Ferry, and there, to my great delight, met Galloway. He built a boat, and
took me up Glen Canyon for a long distance, and down Marble Canyon to Soap
Creek Rapids, where poor Brown was lost. As I photographed the rapid, he
offered to "run it" in his boat if I desired, saying that, with his light
boat, there was no danger whatever. I declined, however, on the ground that
no photograph ever made could justify the risking of a man's life. As
recently as August, 1908, in coming to the Canyon by rail, I met at
Kingman, Arizona, a deputy sheriff by name of Ayres, who was one of my
party taken by Galloway up the Glen Canyon.
In the Fall of 1909, Mr. Galloway accompanied an Eastern capitalist, Mr.
Julius Stone, of Columbus, Ohio, in boats of their own manufacture, through
the Canyons, from Green River to Needles, California. They had a
delightful, though an arduous nine weeks trip. Mr. Stone secured the
finest set of photographs of the Canyons as a whole that ever have been
made.
In another chapter, entitled "The Story of a Boat," the interesting account
of the successful trip of Russell, Monett and Loper is given.
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