186 



DYNAMICAL GEOLOGY. 



165. 



106. 



167. 



168. 



169. 



170. 



171. 



172. 



173. 



174. 



175. 



176. 



Sections illustrating results of denudation. Lesley. 



177. 



The Colorado Canon, along an east and west portion of the river, between 

 the meridians of 111° and 115° W., 3000 to more than 5000 feet in depth, 

 affords grand illustrations of canon-making by water-sculpture. It was 



studied at some point, by ISTewberry in 

 the Ives expedition in 1857-58, and more 

 fully by Powell in 1869-1872. The rocks 

 are horizontal or nearly so, and their 

 edges make the vertical walls of the 

 canon. In some parts the canon is cut 

 out clean from side to side, with barely 

 room between precipitous walls 3000 

 feet high for the stream, as in the " Mar- 

 ble Canon," (Fig. 178) — an eastern por- 

 tion of the stream north of the west- 

 ward bend. In other parts, a wide region 

 intervening between the lofty walls of 

 rock is sculptured throughout into moun- 

 tains 3000 to 5500 feet in height, consti- 

 tuting a group of architectural structures 

 of unsurpassed grandeur. Part of one of 

 the views from Captain C. E. Button's 

 History of the Grand Canon (1882) is given on page 188. The principal 

 mass to the left of the center bears the name of Vishnu's Temple, and 

 has a height above its base of 5500 feet. The walls in the distance are 

 the northern walls of the canon, and the foreground to the right in front is a 

 portion of the opposite or south side. The deeper part of the canon, at the 

 base of this side, containing the river channel, is not in the view. The 

 peaks of the interior are higher than the Appalachians. As all is bare rock, 

 the view is a remarkably instructive example of simple denudation. 



Erosion, Monument Park, Colorado. Hayden. 



