72 GRAND CANON DISTRICT. 



a gorge of very simple form, and its width is about twice as great as its 

 depth. Its course is at first southwest, but gradually deflects to the 

 southward. Its lower end is arbitrarily fixed at the junction of the 

 Little Colorado or Colorado Chiquito, a stream coming in from (he 

 southeast and entering by a lateral chasm as deep as the main gorge 

 itself. Below this junction the river turns westward, the walls grow- 

 rapidly higher, the great chasm widens out to six or eight times its 

 width in the Marble Canon, and the valley of the river is filled with 

 buttes as large as mountains and wonderfully sculptured. Here the 

 river enters the Kaibab, and its walls soon attain the altitude of about 

 0,000 feet. Alter a tortuous course of sixty miles in a prevailing north- 

 west direction the river passes out of the Kaibab and at once changes 

 its trend to west southwest. It passes without a break from the Kai- 

 bab to the Kanab Plateau. Here its depth diminishes to about 5,000 

 feet and its topography changes in character, becoming more simple. 

 Preserving its new features and the direction of its course throughout 

 the Kanab and Uinkaret plateaus, it at length crosses the Hurricane 

 fault where the whole platform of the country suddenly drops more than 

 a thousand feet, correspondingly diminishing the height of the walls. 

 But the lost altitude is steadily and rather rapidly regained as the river 

 enters the Sheavwits Plateau. Soon after crossing the fault the river 

 turns abruptly to the south, and after describing a great curve in the 

 heart of the Sheavwits platform it turns northwestward again. The 

 great chasm suddenly terminates in the face of the giant wall which 

 forms the western boundary of the Sheavwits Plateau. Here the river 

 emerges through a mighty gateway a mile in depth, and is almost in 

 open country, its banks dropping at once to altitudes of only a few hun- 

 dred feet. This is the western bound, not only of the Grand Canon Dis- 

 trict, but of the Plateau Province itself. Thenceforth the course of the 

 Colorado to the ocean is through and across that dismal, torrid sierra 

 region, which is the southward extension of the features of the Great 

 Basin. 



For convenience of discussion the Grand Canon is divided into four 

 divisions, (1) the Kaibab, (2) the Kanab, (3) the Uinkaret, (4) the Sheav- 

 wits, divisions. The last three are much alike in all their features and 

 dimensions. The Kaibab division is a little deeper, notably wider, 

 and very much grander and more diversified than the others. The to- 

 tal length of the Grand Canon, as the river runs, is about 218 miles, and 

 its depth varies from 4,500 to 0,000 feet, averaging 5,000. Its width, 

 from crestline to crestline, varies from 4i to 12 miles — the widest por- 

 tions being always the grandest. 



It is also necessary to advert to the tributaries of the Colorado lying 

 within the district. Upon the northern side there is but one now enter- 

 ing the Grand Canon ; but there are on this side two others, one of which, 

 named the Paria, enters at the head of the Marble Canon, and the other, 

 the Virgen, which enters it about 40 miles west of the lower end of the 



