PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. sli 



e the waters of Green Eiver. From the western slopes of 

 ipmie " Summit Plateau " of the Eocky Mountains, further to 

 iF'^e southward, collect the heads of Grand Eiver. These 

 j,ffllltiite about twenty miles below the crossings of the old 

 Danish trail from Los Angelos to Abiquiu, about lat. 37*^ 

 ' ynd", long. 11 f^, and form the Eio Colorado of the West. 

 «^,i fine stream, the Eio San Juan, enters from the east, and 



f»*bout lat. 26° 15", and long. 113^ (Ives' Eep.), the 



r '^feat tributary pours its waters into the Eio Colorado ; thi 

 ^^ the Flax Riverj or Colorado Chiqiiito (Little Colorado) 

 ,/ -^ad, lastly, the Rio Gila, which drains all the southern ha] 



^j,^ Arizona^ enters the main stream at Fort Yuma, sixty 

 • iles above its mouth. 



^ 



" In the course of the following pages the reader ^ill, in 

 ,f (pM^iagination, cross the Colorado Basin at thi'ee different 



^ 0nts : 





On the 32iid parallel, in tlie Basin of Eio Gila. 



On the Soth „ ,, Colorado Cliiquito. 



On tlie 41st „ ,, Green Eiver. 



|. In my brief description of the general features of this 

 .^ ^onderful country, I shall constantly quote the authority 

 ! Dr. J. S. ]^^ewberry, who examined, with the greatest 

 "^^ility, that section which is most interesting to us, from its 



^oximity to the proposed line of railway, to the survey ing 



arties for which we were attached. 



' In 1857-8 Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, imder the autho- 

 l^'ity of the United States Government, made an explora- 



ion of the Eio Colorado from the Gulf of California to the 



lead of navigation, 530 miles by water, from the mouth. 

 ■*^is party then left the stream, and crossed the continent by 



and, traversing the country between the 35th parallel and 

 '^he Colorado Chiq[uito, and striking the Big Canon of the 





