APPENDIX SS. 



1781 



beautiful spring, its water sinking in the plain below, utilized by the Indians, whose 

 Se are there located, and who cultivate some of the land near by. 



Fa? to the Southwest, about 60 miles distant, .near the > southwest corner o he State, 

 and Tying near the Arizona and New Mexico line .rise the summit. j of the Sea Car- 

 riz so named from the abundant reed-grass there; farther east the sharp and 

 Steel snmm it of the -Needles," an isolated and remarkable mass of volcanic rock, 

 FtsTons sS ana needle-like, as if to pierce the great sedimentary rocks through 

 which it ha^arisen solitary and alone to nearly 2,000 feet, its sides vertical, sheer 



Cl ^ rS^"^** tops of the Sierra Aba* fa « '^^SSJjS^ 



settlers the "Blue *Mountains> on account of their beautiful color at this distance, but 

 S^todtattSSiSSSi from the magnificent range of i that name ^S ™r «o the 

 Tumi between the headwaters of the Gunnison and the Grand. Still farthei to the 

 north anymore distant nearly 100 miles away, in Utah, in the angle between the 

 Demand Sand, rise' dimlv the tops of the highest peaks of the Sierra la Sal or 

 ri°? : _.^TrL m u c ir,m rl A -nnmtfl thereof. All this region is one devoid of 



Maintain of Salt from its large deposits thereof. All this region is one devonl or 

 m ^ ultura hope.' TL, bevond doubt, a fine grazing region, and the rank growth of 

 ^e^tiJninTmos, or the dry, narrow beds of streams, is indicative of exceeding 

 riXSs of the soil, out water is everywhere absent. Enthusiasts suggested their 

 .d em of a lono- canal from the Dolores for irrigating the large area to the south and 

 so vest. Thfs is unfortunately wholly impracticable for both the Dolores and 

 its tribuSry on the south here serve their country to but little good, being confined in 

 naiio\vcanons of true isolation, whose sides are almost vertical walls m die sedi- 



1U Before coming to the Dolores, about 4 miles therefrom and fourteen from Maiicos, an 

 affluent of tl e former is reached, known as the « Lost Canon." The origin of the name 

 was not learned, but was probably due to the disappearance of the canon cut through 

 ^uKTmie as the stream is ascended. The canon was here not excessively deep, and 

 ^eachea aVseverr^mts without difficulty. Utes from the Peak to the southwest, 

 and Pi Ut^s, the latter a rascally looking lot of vagabonds, from the west, were en- 

 camped near by to obtain water for their ponies. During our entire stay here all our 

 movements were signaled to and fro by puffs and columns of smoke m the usual Indian 



±l1 The'vegetation is here largely of grass, sage, and pinon, with cedars ne >ai : the river, 

 and bevond to the south, replacing the pinon, areas are covered with cacti and the 

 soan-ulant ( Yucca anqusti folia), whose fruit is the great Indian favorite 



tU river w-is reached at the point where a direct sweep to the north is made from 

 to^toe^l^toorily asthe -Big Bend" of the Dolores. Notfarbelow the 

 mouth of The « Lost Canon" we descended from the plain to the river-bottom, a few ^hun- 

 dred feet below ; a narrow, but fertile section, well wooded and grassed and looking 

 metre beautiful than elsewhere would appear from the very anelness of the region 



1, ^e 1 Bi^nd e ^t^ith, an oasis in the dry desert region surrounding it ; it has 

 beenocc\Tpied for ranching purposes, and is the extreme outpost of the agricultural 

 rXn, not of the San Juan only, but of the whole of Colorado. Attracting attention 

 from its location at so distant a western point it becomes the ^j**™"*^*^ 

 other unfavorable surroundings that of untnenelly Inelians is added. It was there- 



^^Y^T^^s trains V * T t of the La Plata Mountains and ridges to 

 the north ; its West Fork rises to the northeast on the southern sides of the Sierra San 

 Mt el, a group of peaks whose general anticlinal axis is apparently east and L west 

 wateVs tributary to the San Miguel flowing from the northern slopes. At the Big 

 B^BnnWo?7havhig drained an extended area, the Dolores possessed no mean vol- 

 nmel'its sle m S^ptelber when we first reached here was 80 feet wide by some 8 

 i dies deep, 3 milesbelow being 50 feet with a corresponding increase of depth. The 

 river in changing and shifting its bed has worn in the sedimentary rocks a fertile , al- 

 ley narrow and limited in area. Upon either side rise ye low sandstones, in general 

 g&SSL cliffs ; broken down upon the south, easy access is had from the 'P^m above 

 to the bottom below, a valley of depression; upon the east or i8^f« 

 down the river, the hills are 300 feet above the water, increasing shortly to 4o0, ove ■ 



a ging the stream, and 500 not far distant, in general steep ^escarpments J upim the 

 left loO feet near us while bevond the mesa is 300 to 350 feet above the valley . Thiee 

 mUefbe^rtCSr side, the walls break off to the left and J ^appear m he 

 general plain, low rolling hillocks replacing them. A gentle slope out* ard torn the 

 bottom to the upper surface exists, and an unusual widening of the little valley 

 occurs; this, however, of limited extent, the hills soon reappearing, confining it as 



l'o e.' Approaching those on the eastern bank below they close to a canon nature and 

 the valley s\it an end. Within the bottom the river, with a rapid current, abuts from 



