402 Ward — Geology of the Little Colorado Valley. 



under certain conditions appear beautiful and innocent, but 

 any attempt to invade this desert or to scale these cliffs, except 

 by means of the few well known Indian trails, is certain to be 

 met with defeat, and the hardships that have to be endured in 

 striving to traverse this region are of the severest kind. Lieut. 

 Ives described the region in the following language : 



"The scene was one of utter desolation. Not a tree nor a 

 shrub broke its monotony. The edges of the mesas were 

 flaming red, and the sand threw back the sun's rays in a yel- 

 low glare. Every object looked hot and dry and dreary. The 

 animals began to give out. We knew that it was desperate to 

 keep on, but felt unwilling to return, and forced the jaded 

 brutes to wade through the powdery impalpable dust for fif- 

 teen miles. The country, if possible, grew worse. There was 

 not a spear of grass, and from the porousness of the soil and 

 rocks it was impossible that there should be a drop of water. 

 A point was reached which commanded a view twenty or 

 thirty miles ahead, but the fiery bluffs and yellow sand, paled 

 somewhat by distance, extended to the end of the vista. Even 

 beyond the ordinary limit of vision were other bluffs and sand 

 fields, lifted into view by the mirage, and elongating the hide- 

 ous picture. The only relief to the eye was a cluster of blue 

 pinnacles far to the east that promised a different character of 

 country. It was useless, however, to take the risk of proceed- 

 ing directly thither. The experience of the day had demon- 

 strated the hopelessness of trying to drive the mules for any 

 length of time through an untrodden and yielding soil, and it 

 was determined, as a last chance, to go back to Flax River and 

 ascend the bank, at the hazard of having to make a long cir- 

 cuit, till some Indian trail should be encountered leading in the 

 desired direction, and affording a beaten way practicable to be 

 followed."* 



Very little seems to be known of the more detailed nature 

 of these deposits. They are usually spoken of as a single 

 great system of beds, and I am not aware of any serious 

 attempt to subdivide them or arrange them into anything like 

 a successive series of varying deposits. It was my chief 

 object during my entire stay in that country to subject these 

 deposits to a searching analytical study and to work out, if 

 possible, their true succession. I began this study by a recon- 

 naissance of the Little Colorado Valley. After making camp 

 at Tanner's Crossing, which is only 12 miles above the point 

 where the Little Colorado enters the limestone canyon at the 

 foot of Coconino Point, I set about mastering the details of 

 the stratigraphy of that general region. Later on, and in the 



* Report upon the Colorado River of the West, explored in 1857 and 1858 by 

 Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, Washington, 1861, Part I, p. 117. 



