academy of sciences] WHEELER SURVEY 21 



river a few years before. After the' canyon was entered the chief of the party found valiant 

 support in his geologist at a time of emergency: "No one but Mr. Gilbert and myself," he 

 wrote, "think that the boats can pass the rapid in front of us. . . . Mr. Gilbert and myself 

 propose to reassure the men by taking the first boat across [up] the rapid "; and they succeeded. 

 Boyhood practice in boating at home on the Genesee here served a good purpose. 



The leading facts regarding this trip are as follows : While a small division of the expedi- 

 tion went eastward over the plateau, a party of 34 persons, including 8 survey members, 6 

 boatmen, 6 soldiers, and 14 Mohave Indians, set out on September 16 in three boats and a 

 barge from Camp Mohave, where the southernmost point of Nevada lies between Arizona and 

 California, a short distance up the river from the present crossing of the Santa Fe Railway at 

 Needles; they worked their way against the current 80 miles almost directly northward and 

 60 miles deviously eastward, passing on the way through several subordinate canyons that 

 trench certain members of the basin range system, and thus reached the " crossing of the Colo- 

 rado," where some of the party left the boats and went on overland. Above this point the 

 reduced boat party advanced about 50 miles southeastward into the lowermost section of the 

 Grand Canyon as far as Diamond Creek; but one of the boats was sent back with a number 

 of the men when further progress was threatened by some difficult rapids ; and the exploration 

 was completed by only 20 of the original 34 members. In the 30 days of travel, the distance 

 along the river was 222 miles, and in this distance 208 rapids were ascended. The boats were 

 left at the mouth of Diamond Creek, a side valley was ascended southward to the plateau, 

 where, after joining the rest of the expedition, the journey was continued eastward over a lava- 

 covered country. Wheeler wrote a narrative description of the boat trip in the first volume 

 of his reports (pp. 157 to 169), illustrated by several good photographs — many others were 

 lost in the river or spoiled in overland transit afterwards — and accompanied by a topographical 

 map on which the 31 camps of the river party are indicated; but as the publication of this volume 

 was delayed by Wheeler's ill health until 1889, it was out of date when it appeared. The 

 following extracts from Gilbert's notes, though they now are even more of a "back number," 

 will give some idea of the observations made and of the difficulties encountered : 



September 19, 1871: 



. . . P [ainted] canon is not a very startling affair in point of size but well deserves its name. Its variegated 

 lavas are umber, ochre, black & reddish. Not brilliant colors but in good contrast. 



September 21: 



. . . The wind was of great service today carrying us along gaily except at three or four rapids. Contra, 

 it interfered with photography & kept O in a perpetual state of profanity ... I am a little dis- 

 appointed in Black canon as I had based my ideas on Ives' view of the entrance of which I cannot find the 

 original . . . Gibraltar affords data for half of that picture but the other side is wanting. 



September 23: 



. . . The canon in this part better accords with the idea I had conceived. The walls are not so steep as 

 fancy (& Ives) had pictured them nor are they so high but they are for considerable distances unclimbable and 

 we found camping ground so scarce that our search for it was prolonged into the darkness. 



October 2 : 



. . . Adjacent to the river are gravel mesas of two distinct epochs, the lower being red. These are in one 

 sense conformable. The red was eroded deeply before the deposition of the other ... In general we may 

 say that the red was succeeded by a low water system, succeeded in turn by a higher . . . 



October 4: 



. . . The edge of the Great Carboniferous Mesa [the western margin of the Plateaus] is not due to erosion 

 but to a dislocation with a N. S. trend . . . The wall has the right to all the adjectives (except numerical) 

 that have been given to it. 



October 5 [in camp at the Crossing of the Colorado] : 



... In the course of the afternoon the land parties arrived & were ferried over. Had a long talk with 

 Marvine & Ogden. Packed a box for Truxton Springs. Hence the River party takes but three boats, each 

 with 15 days' rations for its 7 men. Lieut. W., Mr. O'S & I command the boats. 



