Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico. E. L. Kolb
home, Dec. 19, 1911 … … … … … … … … … … … . … 222
A composite picture of Marble Canyon walls and a Grand Canyon rapid … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 222
The Edith (on left of central rock) in Granite Falls … … . … 226
Rough water in Hermit Creek Rapid … … … … … … … … … . … 230
Type of rapid in the granite near Bass Trail … … … … … . … . 234
The inner plateau, thirteen hundred feet above the river … . … . 238
Bert Lauzon, above Separation Rapid … … … … … … … … . … . 238
The break in the Edith … … … … … … … … … … … … . … 242
Merry Christmas. The repair was made with bilge boards, canvas, paint, and tin … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 242
Pulling clear of a rock … … … … … … … … … … … … . … . 246
A shower bath … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 246
Grand Canyon at the mouth of Ha Va Su Canyon. Medium high water. Frontispiece shows same place in low water … … … . … 250
"Morning revealed a little snow," on the top … … … … … . … . 252
New Year's Eve was spent in this section between the highest sheer walls in the lower gorge … … … … … … … … … . … . 252
Lava Falls. Lava on left, hot springs on right … … … … … … 254
Swift water in Tapeets Creek Rapid … … … … … … … … … … 260
Lauzon, equipped with a life preserver on a rope, on guard below a rapid … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . … 260
In the last granite gorge … … … … … … … … … … … … … 260
Capt. Burro: a Ha Va Supai … … … … … … … … … … … . … . 266
The Last Portage. The rocks were ice-filmed. Note potholes … … 270
Mooney Falls: Ha Va Su Canyon … … … … … … … … … … . … . 274
Watching for the signal fire. Mrs. Emery and Edith Kolb … … … 278
The granite gorge near Bright Angel Trail … … … … … … . … . 282
The Grand Canyon from the head of Bright Angel Trail … … … … 286
The Cork Screw: lower end of Bright Angel Trail … … … … . … . 290
Zoroaster Temple from the end of Bright Angel Trail … … … . … 298
Winter in the Grand Canyon from the Rim … … … … … … … . … 308
Winter in the Grand Canyon at the River … … … … … … … . … 308
A vaquero in the making … … … … … … … … … … … … . … . 318
Cliff swallows' nests. Found from Wyoming to Mexico … … … . … 318
Steam vents beside Volcanic Lake … … … … … … … … … . … . 326
Cocopah Mountain, Mexico … … … … … … … … … … … … . … 326
Ten miles from the Gulf of California. Coming up on a twenty-foot tide … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . … 332
Sunset on the lower Colorado River … … … … … … … … … … 332
[Illustration]
THROUGH THE GRAND CANYON FROM WYOMING TO MEXICO
CHAPTER I
PREPARATIONS AT GREEN RIVER CITY, WYOMING
Early in September of 1911 my brother Emery and I landed in Green River City, Wyoming, ready for the launching of our boats on our long-planned trip down the Green and Colorado rivers.
For ten years previous to this time we had lived at the Grand Canyon of Arizona, following the work of scenic photography. In a general way we had covered much of the country adjacent to our home, following our pack animals over ancient and little-used trails, climbing the walls of tributary canyons, dropping over the ledges with ropes when necessary, always in search of the interesting and unusual.
After ten years of such work many of our plans in connection with a pictorial exploration of the Grand Canyon were crowned with success. Yet all the while our real ambition remained unsatisfied.
We wanted to make the "Big Trip"—as we called it; in other words, we wanted a pictorial record of the entire series of canyons on the Green and Colorado rivers.
The time had come at last, after years of hoping, after long months of active preparation.
We stood at the freight window of the station at Green River City asking for news of our boats. They had arrived and could be seen in their crates shoved away in a corner. It was too late to do anything with them that day; so we let them remain where they were, and went out to look over the town.
Green River City proved to be a busy little place noisy with switch engines, crowded with cattle-men and cowboys, and with hunting parties outfitting for the Jackson Hole country. A thoroughly Western town of the better sort, with all the picturesqueness of people and surroundings that the name implies.
It was busier than usual, even, that evening; for a noisy but good-natured crowd had gathered around the telegraph office, eager for news of a wrestling match then taking place in an Eastern city. As we came up they broke into a cheer at the news that the American wrestler had defeated his foreign opponent. There was a discussion as to what constituted the "toe-hold," three boys ran an impromptu foot-race, there was some talk on the poor condition of the range, and the party began to break up.
The little excitement over, we returned to the hotel; feeling, in spite of our enthusiasm, somewhat lonesome and very much out of place. Our sleep that night was fitful and broken by dreams wherein the places we had known were strangely interwoven with these new scenes and events. Through it all we seemed to hear the roar of the Rio Colorado.
We looked out of the window the next morning, on a landscape that was novel, yet somehow familiar. The river, a quarter of a mile away, very clear and unruffled under its groves of cottonwood, wound through low barren hills, as unlike as could be to the cliffs and chasms we knew so well. But the colours—gray, red, and umber, just as Moran has painted them—reassured us. We seemed not so far from home, after all.
It was Wyoming weather, though; clear and cold, after a windy night. When,