And near by was the Canyon of the Little Colorado, and to
the west and north was Hackataia, and to the west was the Canyon of the
Havasu.
"The flood had lasted so long that she was grown to be a woman, and, seeing
the water gone, she came out and began to make pottery and baskets, as her
father had long ago taught her. But she was a woman. And what is a woman
without a child in her arms or nursing at her breasts? How she longed to be
a mother! But where was a father for her child? Alas! there was not a man
in the whole universe?
"Day after day, longing for maternity filled her heart, until one morning -
glorious morning for Pukeheh and the Havasu race - the darkness began to
disappear, and in the far-away east soft and new brightness appeared. It
was the triumphant Sun, coming to conquer the long night and bring light
into the world. Nearer and nearer he came, and, at last, as he peeped over
the far-away mesa summits, Pukeheh arose and thanked Tochopa, for here, at
last, was a father for her child. She conceived, and in the fullness of
time bore a son, whom she delighted in and called In-ya-a, the son of the
Sun.
"But as the days rolled on, she again felt the longings for maternity. By
this time she had wandered far to the west and had entered the beautiful
Canyon of the Havasu, where deep down between the rocks were several grand
and glorious waterfalls, and one of these, Wa-ha-hath-peek-ha-ha, she
determined should be the father of her second child.
"When it was born it was a girl, and to this day all the girls of the
Havasu are proud to be called 'Daughters of the water.'
"When these two children grew up they married, and thus became the
progenitors of the human race. First the Havasupais were born, then the
Apaches, then the Wallapais, then the Hopis, then the Paiutes, then the
Navahos.
"And Tochopa told them all where they should live, and you find them there
to this day."
CHAPTER XXVIII. The Colorado River From The Mountains To The Sea
Perhaps no river in the world has so remarkable a life-history as has the
Colorado. It is formed of two great streams, the Green and the Grand. Both
have their rise in the far-away mountains, in banks of virgin and purest
snow. Hence the waters of the Colorado at their source are pure and sweet.
Yet such is the vehement force of this river, such its haste to reach the
ocean, that it cuts down and carries with it millions of tons annually of
sand and silt, rock debris and dirt until, when it reaches the desert,
through which it flows as a lazy dragon, reddish-yellow, tawny, it is the
dirtiest stream in the world. For not only does it carry the sand of its
own grinding, as it passes through the hundred miles of canyon of its
waterway, but it accepts the sweepings of vast areas made by its
tributaries. Some of these extend through barren and desolate areas, - great
stretches of the most forsaken desert lands, where the rains occasionally
pour down with deluge-like force. Cloudbursts and floods are common; for
the whole country is high in altitude, with rising peaks, where electric
storms play and rage, and the clouds drop, with a sudden sweep, their whole
burden of water to the earth beneath. At other times, the waters are
allowed to pour down in torrential rains which quickly deluge the land, and
as there are no barriers to hinder or detain, they sweep down the
inhospitable slopes to the stream beds, carrying with them all the sand,
silt, rock debris, vegetable mould and animal matter that have accumulated
since the last storm. So that while at its source it is the purest river in
the world, at its mouth it is the dirtiest and most repulsive. The
Mississippi, with many more miles of length, the Nile, the Amazon, the
Yangste-Kiang, the Hoang-Ho, are all far cleaner at their mouths than is
this insatiable dragon of the Canyon.
Carrying Power of the River. This suggests another singularity in which it
doubtless reigns supreme. Probably no river in the world, of its length,
has anything like the carrying power of the Colorado within its waters.
Notice that I say "within its waters." It is useless for carrying anything
on its bosom. No ships use its waters for beneficent commerce. Its only
carrying power is in the amount of sand and other material it holds in
solution, and carries within itself.
Its Incredible Descent. For it is doubtful whether any river in the world
has so rapid a descent from towering mountain heights to its receiving
ocean, as has the Colorado. It falls over four thousand two hundred feet
from its source to its mouth, and in less than five hundred miles of its
distance it contains five hundred and twenty rapids, falls and cataracts. A
fall or a rapid or a cataract for every mile, and a few over for good
measure. Who can conceive the peril of journeying through such a river? And
until the facts were known, how hopeless to attempt to ascend such a river,
as did Alarcon, Ives and Wheeler!
Useless for Commerce. As already stated, it is the most useless of the
large rivers of the world as a carrier of ships of commerce. No boat,
carrying produce of field, mill or mart, has ever passed up or down its
course.
