December 13, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



925 



domain. The sole ultimate object of the 

 national irrigation policy is to make homes 

 on the public domain, and when this has 

 been done the national purpose has been 

 accomplished. Until the home-builder is 

 actually there, the national Government 

 will never abdicate its functions or transfer 

 to state politicians the administration of 

 this great national trust. 



'The Grand Canyon of the Gunnison.' 

 Illustrated evening lecture by A. L. Fel- 

 lows, Resident Hydrographer of U. S. 

 Geological Survey, Denver. 



Below the Black Canyon of the Gunni- 

 son, which is traversed by the D. & R. G. 

 Railway in Western Colorado there remains 

 still a portion of the Gunnison canyon which 

 has been practically unknown, and a por- 

 tion at least of which has never been ex- 

 plored until it was investigated by Mr. A. 

 L. Fellows, resident hydrographer of the 

 TJ. S. Geological Survey, and by one com- 

 panion, Mr. Will Torrence, of Montrose, 

 Colorado, in the month of August, 1901. 

 This portion of the Gunnison Canyon is 

 known in Hayden's survey as the Grand 

 Canyon of the Gunnison, and although a 

 number of efforts had been made to pene- 

 trate its secrets, these efforts have been 

 without avail until the present attempt. 

 This is the more extraordinary as there 

 is no portion of Colorado that can com- 

 pare with it in scenic grandeur, and the 

 problems in geology that are presented are 

 also of intense interest. The absolutely 

 unexplored portion is of but a few miles in 

 length, but there are some thirty-five miles 

 of which very little is known. This is that 

 portion of the canyon between the mouth 

 of the Cimarron River at Cimarron and the 

 mouth of Uncompahgre at Delta. The 

 plateau which is cut by the Grand Canyon 

 of the Gunnison is known as the Vernal 

 Mesa, and appears to have been caused 

 by an uplifting of the overlying strata by 

 geological forces beneath. The sandstones 



of the surrounding region were uplifted 

 several thousand feet above the adjacent 

 territory, but these sandstones have been 

 eroded from the region traversed by the 

 canyon, and the canyon itself is eroded into 

 the metamorphic granite and through crys- 

 talline rocks to a depth at present amount- 

 ing to about 2,000 feet on the average below 

 the surrounding territory. The walls are in 

 many cases very nearly vertical, and at times 

 are strangely marked by gigantic veins of 

 quartz. The flora and fauna of the canj^on 

 do not differ materially from those of other 

 Colorado canyons, the stream being lined 

 by spruce and cottonwood trees, and the 

 canyon being occupied, to some extent at 

 least, by the usual fauna of the wilder por- 

 tions of Colorado. The investigation was 

 made in the interest of a survey that is 

 being carried on by the hydrographic divi- 

 sion of the U. S. Geological Survey under 

 the general direction of Mr. F. H. Newell, 

 for the purpose of determining the feasi- 

 bility of diverting the water of the Gunni- 

 son into the Uncompahgre Valley for the 

 irrigation of its lands. The trip was 

 made, commenced on the 12th and ended 

 on the 21st of August, 1901. The inves- 

 tigation resulted in the obtaining of prac- 

 tically all the data desired, over a hun- 

 dred excellent views of the canyon being 

 taken, and copious memoranda made con- 

 cerning the nature of the rocks and other 

 features of interest. The trip was an ex- 

 cessively hard one, and was made with the 

 lightest possible equipment, the explorers 

 being obliged to take to the river and 

 swim some seventj^-odd times, besides scal- 

 ing the sides of the cliffs times innumer- 

 able. 



' The Development of Irrigation in Colo- 

 rado ' : L. G. Carpenter, Director of Ex- 

 periment Station and Professor of Irrigation, 

 Fort Collins, Colorado. 



' The Social and Economic Aspects of Ir- 

 rigation ' : George H. Maxwell, Chairman 



