CHAPTER IV 

 THE SILENT RIVER 



THE career of the Colorado, from its rise in 

 the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming to its 

 final disappearance in the Gulf of California, 

 seems almost tragic in its swift transitions. It 

 starts out so cheerily upon its course ; it is so 

 clear and pure, so sparkling with sunshine and 

 spirit. It dashes down mountain valleys, gur- 

 gles under bowlders, swirls over waterfalls, 

 flashes through ravines and gorges. With its 

 sweep and glide and its silvery laugh it seems to 

 lead a merry life. But too soon it plunges into 

 precipitous canyons and enters upon its fierce 

 struggle with the encompassing rock. Now it 

 boils and foams, leaps and strikes, thunders and 

 shatters. For hundreds of miles it wears and 

 worries and undermines the rock to its destruc- 

 tion. During the long centuries it has cut 

 down into the crust of the earth five thousand 

 feet. But ever the stout walls keep casting it 

 back, keep churning it into bubbles, beating it \ 

 63 



Rise of the 

 Colorado. 



In the 

 canyon 



