The Romance of the Colorado River: The Story of Its Discovery in 1540, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell Through the Line of the Great Canyons

Front Cover
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1902 - 399 pages
 

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 218 - We have an unknown distance yet to run; an unknown river yet to explore. What falls there are, we know not ; what rocks beset the channel, we know not ; what walls rise over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things. The men talk as cheerfully as ever; jests are bandied about freely this morning; but to me the cheer is somber and the jests are ghastly.
Page 135 - We had reached a very elevated point; and in the valley below, and among the hills, were a number of lakes of different levels ; some two or three hundred feet above others, with which they communicated by foaming torrents.
Page 227 - True, the late rains have been favorable to us, should we go out, for the probabilities are that we shall find water still standing in holes; and at one time I almost conclude to leave the river. But for years I have been contemplating this trip. To leave the exploration unfinished, to say that there is a part of the canyon which I cannot explore, having already nearly accomplished it, is more than I am willing to acknowledge, and I determine to go on.
Page i - Low scrubby alders kneeled down over it; Drenched willows flung them headlong in a fit Of mute despair, a suicidal throng: The river which had done them all the wrong...
Page 170 - Ours has been the first, and will doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended by nature that the Colorado river, along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed.
Page 159 - ... feet in height, could be distinctly seen, flashing and sparkling in the moonlight, extending from one bank to the other, and advancing swiftly upon us. While it was only a few hundred yards distant, the ebb tide continued to flow by at the rate of three miles an hour. A point of land and an exposed bar close under our lee broke the wave into several long swells, and as these met the ebb the broad sheet around us boiled up and foamed like the surface of a cauldron, and then, with scarcely a moment...
Page 117 - April 10th, we arrived where the river emerges from these horrid mountains, which so cage it up, as to deprive all human beings of the ability to descend to its banks, and make use of its waters. No mortal has the power of describing the pleasure I felt, when I could once more reach the banks of the river.
Page 168 - The canon continued increasing in size and magnificence. No description can convey an idea of the varied and majestic grandeur of this peerless water-way. Wherever the river makes a turn the entire panorama changes, and one startling novelty after another appears and disappears with bewildering rapidity.

Bibliographic information