Greatest Declivity 
59 
at Lee’s Ferry (mouth of the Paria), the head of Marble Can¬ 
yon, and steadily deepens to some 3500 feet near the Little 
Colorado, where the sudden uplift of the Kaibab lends about 
2000 feet more to the already magnificent gorge. Along the 
end of the Kaibab the walls, for a long distance, reach their 
greatest height, about 6000 feet, but the other side is consid¬ 
erably lower than the north all the way through. At the 
mouth of the Kanab the altitude of the river-bed is 1800 feet 
above the sea, showing a fall in the interval of 890 feet. The 
greatest declivity is about 210 feet in 10 miles, in what is 
termed the Kaibab division, extending from a point 10 miles 
below the Little Colorado to a point 58 miles farther down. 
Here the smooth stretches of river are long, the rapids short 
and violent. Here, also, is the “granite,” making the walls 
sombre, as the colour is slaty to black. At the mouth of 
Diamond Creek the river is still 1300 feet higher than the sea, 
giving a fall of 500 feet from the Kanab. There is another 
descent of 460 feet to the Grand Wash, and then 149 to the 
mouth of the Virgen. Next to the Kaibab division of the 
Grand Canyon, the greatest declivity occurs in the Uinta 
region, in the Canyon of L.odore. The profile of the river in 
these two districts is approximately given on page 57. The 
average depth of the Grand Canyon is about 4000 feet. Its 
width at the top varies from 4^ to 12 miles. This is the ex¬ 
treme outer cliff-line. The inner gorge is much narrower, at 
the Toroweap being only about 3500 feet. The river varies in 
width from 500 or 600 feet to 75 or 100. In thjs canyon is 
water-power enough to run the machinery of the world, and 
there is as much more in the canyons above. 
Joining Marble Canyon on the north is Glen, 149 miles 
long, from the Paria to Fremont River. It has but one rapid 
of consequence. At high water, with the exception of this 
rapid, the tide sweeps smoothly and swiftly down with a ma¬ 
jestic flow. The walls are homogeneous sandstone, in places 
absolutely perpendicular for about a thousand feet. I have 
stood on the brink and dropped a stone into the river. The 
highest walls are 1600 feet. Next is Narrow Canyon, about 9 
miles long, 1300 feet deep, and no rapids. It is hardly more 
