A Canyon Voyage

F >> Frederick S. Dellenbaugh >> A Canyon Voyage

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All was preparation in our camp for the departure of the Major for Salt
Lake and Washington. I had expected to go east at this time also, but
both the Major and Prof. being desirous of having me remain a while
longer, to help finish up the preliminary map, I agreed to do so and on
the 30th of November all the original party set out but Prof., Mrs.
Thompson, and myself. A new member, John Renshawe, had arrived a few
days before to assist at the topography. When the party had been gone
some time it was discovered that they had forgotten several things. I
took a horse and rode over with the articles to the camp they intended
to make at Johnson, where I remained till morning. The Major was so
eager to get an early start that he had all hands up long before
sunrise. When breakfast was eaten we had to sit by the fire three
quarters of an hour before there was light enough for the men to trail
the horses. Then I said good-bye; they went on and I went back. Jones
and Andy I never saw again.

Prof. concluded to make winter headquarters in Kanab and a lot was
rented for the purpose. On December 3d, we put up a large tent in one
corner, with two small ones for rations and saddles. The next day we put
up one in the other corner for Prof. and Mrs. Thompson, and at the back
of the lot we arranged a corral for the horses or mules we might want to
catch. The large tents were floored with pine boards and along the sides
heavy cedar boughs were placed in crotches around which the guy ropes
were passed before staking. The tents thus were dry inside and could not
blow down. A conical iron stove on a boxing of earth heated the large
tent like a furnace. In the middle of the general tent we placed a long
drafting-table and were ready for work. Another tent, half boards, was
erected near ours for kitchen and dining-room, and Riley, who had turned
up again, hired as cook and master of this structure. Riley, who had
spent his whole life in camp and saddle, was the best frontier or camp
cook I ever saw. Scrupulously clean to the last detail of his pots and
pans, he knew how to make to perfection all manner of eatables possible
under the circumstances. Prof. arranged for a supply of potatoes,
butter, meats, and everything within reason, so we lived very well, with
an occasional dash of Dixie wine to add zest, while on Christmas Day
Riley prepared a special feast. Though the sky was sombre the town was
merry and there was a dance in the school-house, but I did not attend.
Rainy weather set in on the 26th, and the old year welcomed the new in a
steady downpour, making January 1, 1873, rather a dismal holiday. Even
the mail which arrived this day was soaked. Toward evening the skies
lifted somewhat and a four-horse waggon appeared, or rather two mules
and two horses on a common freighting waggon, in which Lyman Hamblin and
two others were playing, as nearly in unison as possible, a fiddle, a
drum, and a fife. While we were admiring this feat we heard Jack's
hearty shout and saw our waggon returning under his charge from Salt
Lake with supplies, with a cook stove for our kitchen, and with a new
suit of clothes for me accompanied by the compliments of Prof. and the
Major.

Our camp in Kanab was now as complete and comfortable as any one might
wish, and our work of preparing the map went forward rapidly. As soon as
it could be finished I was to take it to Salt Lake, and send it by
express to the Major in Washington, to show Congress what we had been
doing and what a remarkable region it was that we had been
investigating. In the evenings we visited our friends in the settlement
or they visited us, or we read what books, papers, and magazines we
could get hold of. John and I also amused ourselves by writing down all
the songs that were sung around camp, to which I added a composition of
my own to the tune of _Farewell to the Star Spangled Banner_, an
abandoned rebel one. These words ran:

Oh, boys, you remember the wild Colorado,
Its rapids and its rocks will trouble us no more,

etc., with a mention in the various stanzas of each member of the party
and his characteristics. The horses became high-spirited with nothing to
do and plenty of good feed. One of our amusements was to corral several,
and then, putting saddles on the most prancing specimens, mount and ride
down on the plain, the horse running at top speed, with the impression
that he was full master of the situation and expecting us to try to stop
him. Instead we enjoyed the exhilaration of it, and let the charger
alone till after a couple of miles he concluded the fun was all on our
side and took a more moderate gait of his own accord. There were several
horse races also, and the days flew by. On February 3d I finished
plotting the river down to the Kanab Canyon, and as if to emphasise this
point a snow-storm set in. By the 5th the snow was five inches deep, and
we had word that the snow on the divide to the north over the
culmination of the various lines of cliffs, where I would have to pass
to go to Salt Lake, was very heavy. On the 7th the mail rider failed to
get through. We learned also that an epizooetic had come to Utah and many
horses were laid up by it, crippling the stage lines. It had been
planned that I should go north with our own horses till I could connect
with some stage line, and then take that for the remainder of the
distance to the Utah Southern Railway, which then had been extended
south from Salt Lake as far as Lehi.

On the 16th of February, which was Sunday, I put the last touches on the
map, drawn from the original on a large sheet of tracing cloth, rolled
it carefully up, and placed it in a long tin tube we had ordered from
the local tinsmith. This I carried on my back, as I did not mean to be
separated from it a minute till I gave it into the hands of Wells, Fargo
& Co.'s express in Salt Lake. Jack was to go with me. Saying a last
good-bye to Prof. and Mrs. Thompson, to John, and to some of my Kanab
friends who came to see the start, we left a little after noon, with one
pack on a broncho mule, Jack riding a mule and I a favourite horse of
mine called by the unusual name of Billy. The pack-mule always had to be
blindfolded before we could handle him, and if the blind should
accidentally slip off there was an instantaneous convulsion which had a
most disrupting effect. Going straight up the canyon, we crossed over
finally into Long Valley, and were on the headwaters of the Virgin. At
sunset we came to a little settlement called Mt. Carmel, but continued
to Glendale, where we arrived about half-past seven, having come in all
thirty miles. At the bishop's house we were welcomed and there got some
supper, putting our three animals in his corral. We did not care to
sleep in the house, choosing for our resting-place the last remains of a
haystack, where we spread our blankets, covering the whole with a
paulin, as the sky looked threatening. I never slept more comfortably in
my life, except that I was half-aroused in the stillness by water
trickling down my neck. Half-asleep we pulled the canvas clear up over
our heads and were troubled no more. When we awoke in the morning a
heaviness on top of us we knew meant snow. We were covered by a full
foot of it, soft and dry. Valley, mountain, everything was a solid
expanse of white, the only dark spot being our red blankets as we threw
back the paulin. The sky was grey and sullen. More snow was in the air.
As soon as breakfast was eaten we slung our pack, saddled, and rode up
the valley, following as well as we could the directions given by the
bishop. Neither Jack nor I had been this way before. We could see the
slight depression in the surface of the snow which indicated a
waggon-rut beneath, and by that token continued up the ever-narrowing
valley; the slopes sprinkled by large pine trees. Snow fell thickly. It
was not always easy to see our way, but we went on. At a certain point
we were to turn to the left up a side gulch, following it till we came
to the divide, some eight thousand or nine thousand feet above
sea-level, where we expected to go down to the head of the Sevier
Valley, where Jack had before been by another route. At the gulch we
deemed the correct one, no road or trail being visible, we turned late
in the afternoon to the left and rapidly mounted higher, with the fresh
snow growing correspondingly deeper till it was about two feet on the
level. The going was slow and hard, the sky still dropping heavy flakes
upon us. About five o'clock we found ourselves on the summit of a high
bald knob topping the world. In every direction through the snow-mist
similar bald knobs could be seen looming against the darkening sky. The
old drifts were so deep that where a horse broke through the crust he
went down to the end of his leg. This excited them, and they plunged
wildly. I finally got them all three still and quiet, while Jack scanned
the outlook intently. "See any landmark, Jack?" said I. "Not a damned
thing I ever saw before!" answered Jack. At brief intervals the falling
snow would cease, and we could see more clearly, except that the
impending night began to cast over all a general obscurity.

There was a deep valley beyond to the right. While it was not possible
to tell directions we felt that our course must lie there, and I led the
way down a long treeless slope, breaking a path as well as I could, my
horse following behind; the others urged on by Jack from the rear. The
snow became shallower near the bottom. We mounted and I rode in the
direction that Jack thought we ought to take to come to the road down
the Sevier where he had before travelled. We crossed the valley in doing
this, but at one point in the very bottom my horse wanted to turn to the
left, which would have taken us down the deepening valley. I prevented
his turning and we continued up a gulch a mile or two, where it narrowed
till we could barely proceed. Jack then climbed up on a cliff and
disappeared, endeavouring to see some familiar object, the falling snow
having at last stopped. I stood in my tracks with the three animals and
waited so long I began to be afraid that Jack had met with an accident.
Just then I heard him descending. It was nearly dark. He could not see
any sign of the region he had been in before. Snow and darkness puzzle
one even in a familiar country. We then went back to the valley where
the horse had wished to turn and followed it down, now believing that it
might be the right way after all, for Billy had been over the road
several times. Another example of horse sense, which seems to prove that
horses know more than we think they do. We had expected to reach Asa's
ranch before night and had not brought an axe, in consequence. Keeping
down the valley till we came to a group of cedars, some of which were
dead, and a tall pine tree, we camped, pulling branches from the cedars
and bark from the pine for a fire, which quickly melted its way down to
the ground, leaving a convenient seat all round about twenty inches
high, upon which we laid blankets to sit on. Our pack contained enough
food for supper; breakfast would have to take care of itself. We also
had some grain, which we fed to the hungry animals and tied them under
the cedars, where they were protected in a measure from the sharp wind
though they were standing in deep snow. For ourselves we cut twigs from
the green cedars and made a thick mattress on the snow with them. Our
blankets on top of these made a bed fit for a king. The storm cleared
entirely; a brilliant moon shone over all, causing the falling frost in
the air to scintillate like diamonds.

In the morning, Tuesday, February 18th, we packed up at once, having
nothing left to eat, and proceeded down the valley wondering if we were
on the right road or not. The sky arched over with that deep tone that
is almost black in winter in high altitudes, and the sun fell in a
dazzling sheet upon the wide range of unbroken white. The surface was
like a mirror; the eyes closed against the intense light instinctively.
As we went on northwards and downwards a faint, double, continuous
hollow began to appear on the snow--a waggon-track at the bottom. It
became more and more distinct and we then felt sure that we were on the
right road, though we were not positive till near noon when, approaching
a rocky point, we suddenly heard the clear ring of an axe on the
metallic air. A few moments later turning this we saw a large, swift
stream flowing clear between snowy banks, and beyond a log cabin with
blue smoke rising from the immense stone chimney. In front was a man
chopping wood. His dog was barking. It was a welcome, a beautiful
picture of frontier comfort. It was Asa's ranch. Asa was one of the men
who helped the Major on his arrival at the mouth of the Virgin in 1869,
now having changed his residence to this place. We were soon made
welcome in the single large room of the cabin where all the family were,
and while the horses were having a good feed an equally good one for us
was prepared by Mrs. Asa on the fire burning snugly in the great
chimney. Never did fried ham, boiled eggs, and hot coffee do better
service. We could not have been more cordially received if these Mormons
had been our own relatives.

We rested there till about three o'clock, when we bade them all good-bye
and rode on down the valley, the snow continually lessening in depth,
till, when we reached the much lower altitude of Panguitch at sunset,
twenty-six miles from our night's camp, there were only three or four
inches and the temperature was not nearly so low, though still very
cold. According to custom we applied to the bishop for accomodation for
ourselves and our stock and were again cordially received. We were
quickly made comfortable before a bright fire on the hearth which
illumed the whole room. While the good wife got supper, the bishop, an
exceedingly pleasant man, brought out some Dixie wine he had recently
received. He poured us out each a large goblet and took one himself.
After a hearty supper Jack and I put down our blankets on the bishop's
haystack and knew nothing more till sunrise. Leaving Panguitch we rode
on down the Sevier, crossing it frequently, and made about forty miles,
passing through Sevier Canyon and Circle Valley, where there were a
number of deserted houses, and arrived for night at the ranch of a
Gentile named Van Buren. By this time my eyes, which had been inflamed
by the strong glare of the sun, began to feel as if they were full of
sand, and presently I became aware that I was afflicted with that
painful malady snowblindness. I could barely see, the pain in both eyes
was extreme, and a river of tears poured forth continually. Other men
whom we heard of as we went on were blinded worse than I. All I could
do, having no goggles, was to keep my hat pulled down and cut off the
glare as much as possible.[39] At Marysvale the stage had been
abandoned. We kept on, finding as we advanced that all the stages were
put out of business by the epizooetic. There was nothing for Jack to do
but to go on with me to Nephi.

In riding through one village I saw a sign on the closed door of a store
just off the road and my curiosity led me to ride up close enough to
read it. I did not linger. The words I saw were "SMALL POX." That night
we reached Nephi under the shadow of the superb Mount Nebo, where I
tried again for a stage so that Jack could return. No stage arrived and
the following morning we rode on northward over very muddy roads,
finally reaching Spanish Fork, where a fresh snow-storm covered the
country about a foot, making travelling still more difficult. Another
day's journey put us as far as American Fork, only three miles from the
end of the railway, a place called Lehi, for which we made a very early
start the next day, Wednesday, February 25th, but when we arrived there
through the mud and slush the train had taken its departure. Our pack
mule was now very lame and travelled with difficulty, but we continued
on toward Salt Lake. The train had become stalled in the immense
snowdrifts at the Point-of-the-Mountain and there we overtook it. I was
soon on board with my tin case and other baggage, but it was a
considerable time before the gang of men and a snow plough extricated
the train. About five o'clock we ran into the town. I went to the Walker
House, then the best hotel, and that night slept in a real room and a
real bed for the first time in nearly two years, but I opened the
windows as wide as they would go. In the morning I sent off the map and
then turned my attention to seeing the Mormon capital. Cap. was now
living there and it was Fennemore's home. I also found Bonnemort and
MacEntee in town, and Jack came on up the remaining short distance in
order to take a fresh start for Kanab.

Nearly forty years have slipped away since the events chronicled in this
volume. Never was there a more faithful, resolute band of explorers than
ours. Many years afterward Prof. said in a letter to me speaking of the
men of the Second Powell Expedition, "I have never seen since such zeal
and courage displayed." From out the dark chasm of eternity comes the
hail, "Tirtaan Aigles dis wai!" and already many of that little company
have crossed to Killiloo. The Major and Prof. repose in the sacred
limits of Arlington. Strew their graves with roses and forget them not.
They did a great work in solving the last geographical problem of the
United States.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 35: Professor Thompson declared to me not long before his
death that the river was accurate as far as Catastrophe Rapid, (about
where longitude 113.39 intersects the river) but from there to the
Virgin it might need some corrections.]

[Footnote 36: Some men from Kanab afterwards came in, sawed one in two
and made it shorter, and then tried to go up the canyon by towing. They
did not get far, and the boat was abandoned. The floods then carried
both down to destruction.]

[Footnote 37: A description of this journey ascribed to September, 1870,
occurs at page 108, _et seq._, in Powell's report on the _Exploration of
the Colorado River of the West_, 1875.]

[Footnote 38: Oonupits or Innupits is the singular, Innupin the plural.
It may be translated witch, elf, or goblin, with evil tendencies. On the
other hand they did not fear a spirit. When on the Kaibab in July with
Chuar and several other Indians, Prof. while riding along heard a cry
something like an Indian halloo. "After we got into camp," he said in
his diary: "Chuar asked George Adair what he called that which lived
after the body died. George replied, 'A spirit.' 'Well,' said Chuar,
'that was what hallooed in the forest to-day. It was the spirit of a
dead Indian. I have often heard it. Sometimes it is near, sometimes far
away. When I was here with Beaman I heard it call near me. I answered,
telling it to come to me. It did not come nor reply, and I felt very
much ashamed to think I had called.'"]

[Footnote 39: For travelling across snow one should always be provided
with smoked goggles. Failing to have them, lines of charcoal should be
drawn below the eyes or a scarf tied so as to break the glare.]

INDEX

A

Adair, George, 153, 241

Adams, Nathan, 241, 253;
his endowment garment, 259

Agua Grande, Navajo chief, 147

Aigles, Tirtaan, slogan, 75, 267

Alcove Brook, 47

Altitude of Colorado River above sea, Black's Fork, 15;
Junction Green and Grand, 114;
Paria, 151, 217;
Grand Wash, 217;
Little Colorado, 223;
Kanab Canyon, 241

American Fork, 266

Amerind, viii.

Andy, _see_ Hattan

Aquarius Plateau, 200, 202

Arlington, Powell and Thompson buried there, 267

Arms, kind used, 12

Asa, ranch, 264, 265;
assisted Powell, 265

Ashley, Wm. H., through Red Canyon, 2, 28, 95;
name on rocks, 28

Ashley Falls, 26;
portage at, 27

Ashtishkal, Navajo chief, 177

Aspen Lakes, 201

Averett, Elijah, grave of, 197

Azure Cliffs, 99

B

Baird, Professor Spencer, vi.

Bangs, Mount, climbed, 194

Barbenceta, principal chief of the Navajos, 168

Base line, 166, 173, 174

Basor, teamster, 68

Beadle, J. H., 215;
under name of Hanson, 215

Beaman, E. O., place in boat, 11;
duty of, 11;
leaves party, 179;
passes Paria on way to Moki Towns, 216;
up from Kanab Canyon to Surprise Valley, 241

Beaver, ground, 77;
shoot one, 78;
steak cooked, 78;
soup, 78

Berry's Spring, 188;
arrive at, 191

Berthoud and Bridger lay out waggon road, 67

Best Expedition, place of starting, 95

Big Boulder Creek, 202

Bishop, Francis Marion (Cap.), place in boat, 11;
duty of, 11;
leaves party, 180

Bishop's Creek, 54

Bison, pictographs, 61;
range on Green River, 61

Black Rock Canyon, 193

Black's Fork, 15

Boats of the Second Powell Expedition, the, 4;
names of, 4;
described, 5, 6;
method of packing, 8;
order of going, 11;
crews of, 11;
no iron on keels, 14;
built to float when full of water, 25;
reassignment of crews, 136, 215;
_Canonita_ cached, 135;
launched again, 209;
crew for, 209;
_Dean_ cached, 154;
_Nellie Powell_ cached, 154;
_Dean_ discovered by Beadle, 215;
_Nellie Powell_ abandoned, 215;
_Canonita_ and _Dean_ abandoned, 244

Bonito Bend, 111

Bonnemort, John, 143;
leaves party, 179;
in Salt Lake City, 267

Boston burned, news of, received, 256

Bow-knot Bend, 108

Bread, kind used, 4

Bridger and Berthoud lay out waggon road, 67

Bridger, Jim, 95

Brigham Young, 170, 185

Bright Angel Creek, arrive at mouth of, 232;
why so named, 232

Brown expedition, place of starting, 95

Brown's Hole, name changed to Brown's Park, 18, 30;
arrive at, 30

Brush Creek, 54

Buckskin Mountain (Kaibab Plateau), 159

Buenaventura, Rio San, Escalante's name for Green River, 67

Buffalo _Express_, letters from F. S. Dellenbaugh to, vii.

Butte of the Cross, 110

C

Campbell, Richard, knew of ford El Vado de los Padres, 96

Camp moved to the Gap, 171

_Canonita_, left behind, 135;
reached overland, 209

Canyon of Desolation, enter it, 77;
character and height of walls, 80, 84, 85;
length of, 91

Canyon of Lodore, enter it, 34;
declivity of, 43;
length of, 48;
fall of, 48

Canyons, for list of, with heights of walls, lengths, etc.,
see _The Romance of the Colorado River_, Appendix

Canyons not dark in daytime, 25

Cap., _see_ Bishop

Capsize, of the _Canonita_, 23;
of the _Dean_, 235

Carleton, companion of Beaman, 216

Carson, Kit, 95

Cascade Creek, 43, 202

Cascades of rain, 105, 106, 132

Cataract Canyon, declivity compared, 43;
beginning of, 115;
height of walls, 116, 122, 126, 128, 129;
we enter it, 118;
declivity in, 118;
boulders rolled by current, 118;
width of river, 119;
boat runs rapid alone, 121;
stones rocked by current, 127;
length of, 132;
end of, 132;
number of rapids, 132

Cataract Creek, 96, 202

Catastrophe Rapid, vi., 242, 243

Caves once occupied, 132

Chandler Falls, 87;
Creek, 87

Chicago, burning of, first news, 157

Chicago _Tribune_, letters from Clement Powell to, v.

Chief Douglas, Major and Mrs. Powell winter near his camp, 172

Chocolate Cliffs, 166

Chuarooumpeak, chief of Kaibab band of Pai Utes, 250;
shoots at Oonupits, 252;
singing, 252;
hears spirit call, 253;
goes back to Kanab, 254

Circle Valley, pass through it, 266

Clarkson, Mormon settlement, 197

Clear or Spring Creek (Badger Creek), 158

Clem, _see_ Powell

Clemente, Rio San, Escalante's name for White River, 67

Cliff-of-the-Harp named, 43

Coal Canyon, 91

Colob Plateau, 191

Colorado, from, into Utah, 56

Colorado River, accuracy of plat of course, vi., vii., 243;
upper continuation of, 1;
white salmon, 98;
actual beginning of, 115;
excessive high water, 244

Compass Creek, 24

Condition of party at end of first season's river work, 145

Course of the Colorado River, accuracy of, vi., vii., 243

Craggy Canyon, 57

Crater, recent, in Uinkaret country, 188

Creek, Sentinel, 149

Crescent Creek, 209

Crossing of the Fathers, the, _see_ El Vado de los Padres

D

Dance, Mormon, 173

Davy Crockett, Fort, 30

_Dean_, the _Emma_, cached for the winter, 154;
discovered by J. H. Beadle, 215

Deer, game, etc., 26

Dellenbaugh, Butte, 102, 104;
Mount, named, 254;
Thompson climbs it, 259

Dellenbaugh, F. S., joins party, 3;
position in boat, 11;
duty of, 11;
letters from, to Buffalo _Express_, vii.

De Motte, Professor, 213

Denver, Colorado Canyon, and Pacific Railway, 119

Denver and Rio Grande Railway crossing of Green River, 95

Denver to Salt Lake, waggon road _via_ Golden and Provo,
and Robideau Crossing of Green River, 67

Descent, in feet of Green-Colorado River, from Union Pacific
Railway to Black's Fork, 15;
to Flaming Gorge, 17;
in Red Canyon, 33;
in Lodore, 48;
in Whirlpool, 56;
to the mouth of the Uinta, 71;
from Wonsits Valley to Gunnison Crossing, 93;
from the Union Pacific to Gunnison Crossing, 93;
from Gunnison Crossing to junction of Green and Grand, 114;
from Union Pacific to mouth of Grand River, 114;
from mouth of Grand River to Dirty Devil, 134;
from Union Pacific to Dirty Devil (Fremont), 135;
from Union Pacific to Paria (Lee Ferry), 151;
from Paria to Little Colorado, 223;
from Little Colorado to Grand Wash, 223;
from Little Colorado to Kanab, 241;
from Paria to Kanab, 241

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