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GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



Greenriver. 



the station of Greenriver, an oasis in this inhospitable desert, at the 

 lowest point on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. In this 

 region the summer temperature is almost torrid and 

 the precipitation is slight, probably about 6 or 7 inches 

 Elevation 4.080 feet, annually'. Water has here been taken from Green 



Population 771. -p,. .... 



Denver 555 miles. Jiiver for the irrigation of a small area that has been 

 made to produce almost all kinds of crops and fruit. 

 Fruit trees flourish here, as shown in Plate LXXXIV. A much 

 larger area could be irrigated, though at much greater expense, by 

 damming Green River in the canyon far above the town and con- 

 structing expensive canals to carry the water high up on the sur- 

 rounding slopes. Sooner or later this work will be done, and then 

 Green River valley will rival Grand Junction in the acreage under 

 cultivation and in the abundance of its products. 



AMiere it is crossed by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad 

 Green River is a quiet, peaceful stream, as shown in Plate LXXXIII, 

 flowing in a broad valley with low banks. It is hard to realize, 

 therefore, that above this place it is a roaring torrent, confined in 

 narrow walls hundreds if not thousands of feet high, and that 50 

 miles downstream it joins the Colorado, which there enters the grand- 

 est canyon in the world.*® 



" It is impos.sible here, in describing 

 Green River, to avoid naentioning the 

 exploration of this wonderful stream 

 and its southward continuation, the 

 Colorado, in 1869 by Maj. John W. 

 Powell, who aftem-ard became the 

 Director of the United States Geologi- 

 cal Survey. Although Maj. Powell 

 had lost his right arm on the battle 

 field of Shiloh, this loss did not deter 

 him from attempting the descent of 

 the canyon of the Colorado, an ex- 

 ploit that few men physically perfect 

 have been able to accomplish. 



For a number of years prior to 1869 

 Powell liad been doing geologic and 

 geographic work in the Uinta Moun- 

 tains and the adjacent plateaus, and 

 he had many times looked down into 

 the swirling waters in the bottoms of 

 the unexplored canyons and longed to 

 embark upon them and learn the secret 

 of the canyon land. He thus fell 

 under the spell of the Grand Canyon, 

 and for many years he dreamed of 

 exploring it, although up to that time 

 no one who had been brave or fool- 



hardy enough to attempt to ride the 

 current of the mighty Colorado had 

 lived to tell the tale. Powell was 

 warned by the Indians that no one 

 who entered the secret and sacred 

 precincts of the gods, as the Indians 

 conceived the canyon to be, could ex- 

 pect to come out alive. But such tales 

 only whetted his curiosity and spurred 

 him on to increased activity. In his 

 narrative (ExiJloration of the Colo- 

 rado River of the West and its tribu- 

 taries, p. 7, Washington, 1875) Powell 

 says: 



" The Indians, too, have woven the 

 mysteries of the canyon into the myths 

 of their religion. Long ago there was 

 a great and wise chief who mourned 

 the death of his wife and would not 

 be comforted until Ta-^^woats, one of 

 the Indian gods, came to him and told 

 him she was in a happier land and 

 offered to take him there that he might 

 see for himself if upon his return he 

 would cease to mourn. The great 

 chief promised. Then Ta-vwoats made 

 a trail through the mountains that 



