It was getting dusk, but we pulled
away, for just ahead of us was the end of Cataract Canyon. We camped
by a large side canyon on the left named Mille Crag Bend, with a great
number of jagged pinnacles gathered in a group at the top of the
walls, which had dropped down to a height of about 1300 feet. We felt
just a little proud of our achievement, and believed we had
established a record for Cataract Canyon, having run all rapids in
four days' travelling, and come through in safety.
We had one rapid to run the next morning at the beginning of Narrow
Canyon, the only rapid in this nine-mile long canyon. The walls here
at the beginning were twelve or thirteen hundred feet high, and
tapered to the end, where they rise about four hundred feet above the
Dirty Devil River. Narrow Canyon contains the longest straight stretch
of river which we remembered having seen. When five miles from its
mouth we could look through and see the snow-capped peak of Mt.
Ellsworth beyond. This peak is one of the five that composes the Henry
Mountains, which lay to the north of the river.
Three hours' rowing brought us to the end. We paused a few minutes to
make a picture or two of the Dirty Devil River,--or the Fremont River
as it is now recorded on the maps. This stream, flowing from the
north, was the exact opposite of the Bright Angel Creek, that
beautiful stream we knew so well, two hundred and fifty miles below
this point. The Dirty Devil was muddy and alkaline, while warm springs
containing sulphur and other minerals added to its unpalatable taste.
Pages:
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158