20 INTRODUCTION. 
point the river looked very large. They averred that some rocks, which appeared from above 
: to be the height of a man, were higher than the tower of the cathedral of Seville. This was 
the first description of the famous Big Cafion of the Colorado. 
Several times, during the succeeding two centuries, the lower part of the river was visited 
by Catholic priests. In 1744 a Jesuit missionary, named Jacob Sedelmayer, went thither, 
following the course of the Gila, and travelled extensively in both New Mexico and Sonora, 
and about thirty years afterwards the Jesuits established missions among the Yuma Indians, 
who live at the junction of the Gila and Colorado. The priests were subsequently massacred 
by the fierce tribe among whom they had located themselves. 
In 1776 another Catholic missionary, Father Escalante, travelled from Santa Fé to Utah, 
and having explored the region south of the Great Salt Lake, pursued a southwesterly course, 
towards the sources of the Virgin, and then crossed to the Colorado, which he reached at a 
point that appears to have been almost identical with that attained, from the opposite direction, 
by Cardinas, more than two centuries before. 
From this time the river was scarcely approached, excepting by an occasional trapper, or 
some overland party crossing the lower portion, en route to California. A considerable part of 
the emigration, induced by the gold discoveries in that region, passed through New Mexico, 
by way of the Gila, and the travellers were subjected to molestation from the Yumas. In 
1850 a detachment of troops was sent to the mouth of the Gila to keep these Indians under 
control, and not long afterwards a military post, called Fort Yuma, was regularly established. 
The difficulty of furnishing supplies to the garrison, across the desert, was such that, in 
the winter of 1850 and 1851, General Smith, commanding the Pacific division, sent a schooner 
+ from San Francisco to the head of the Gulf of California, and directed Lieutenant Derby, 
topographical engineers, to make a reconnaissance, with a view of establishing a route of 
supply to Fort Yuma, via the Gulf and the Colorado. The result of the reconnaissance was 
successful, and the route was at once put in operation. The freight, carried in sailing vessels 
to the mouth of the river, was transported to the fort—the distance to which, by the river, is 
one hundred and fifty miles—at first in lighters, and afterwards in steamboats.* 
In 1851, Captain Sitgreaves, topographical engineers, with a party of fifty individuals, made 
an exploration from Zuni westward. He struck the Colorado at a point about 160 miles above 
ort Yuma, and followed the east side of the river, keeping as near to the bank as possible, 
to the fort. He encountered the Mojaves, and found their appearance and customs generally 
to agree with the descriptions of the early explorers. The descent was accompanied with 
hardship and danger. Both the Mojaves and Yumas were hostile, and the difficulty of travel-_ 
ling near the river was extreme, owing to the chains of rugged and precipitous mountains that 
crossed the valley. The summer heats had parched and withered the face of the country; 
the stream was low, and what was seen of it did not create a favorable opinion regarding its 
navigability. 
In the spring of 1854 Lieutenant Whipple, topographical engineers, in command of an 
expedition for the exploration and survey of a railroad route near the 35th parallel, reached 
the Colorado, at the mouth of Bill Williams’s Fork, and ascended the river about fifty miles 
lexving it at a point not far below where Captain Sitgreaves had first touched it. The pbs 
dition was composec of nearly a hundred persons, including the escort. The Mojaves were 
friendly, furnishing provisions to the party, whose supply was nearly exhausted, and sending 
guides to conduct them by the best route across the desert westward. The river was probably 
higher than when seen by Captain Sitgreaves, and it was the opinion of Lieutenant Whipple 
that it would be navigable for steamers of light draught. The course of the Colorado north- 
So ward could be followed with the eye for only a short distance, on account of mountain spurs 
oA fuller account of the opening of this route is given in a subsequent chapter. 
