A Collision 
167 
crest, the line broke and she at once fell back, bumping over 
the rocks and finally lodging amidst a mass so firmly that it 
required half the next day to pull her out. The second at¬ 
tempt to surmount the rapid was successful, and they were 
then rewarded by a fierce gale from the north, detaining them 
twenty-four hours, filling everything with sand, and dragging 
the steamboat from her moorings to cast her again upon the 
rocks. When, at last, they could go on they came after a 
short time to a canyon deeper and grander than any they had 
yet seen, called Black Canyon, because it is cut through the 
Black Mountains. Ives was uncertain, at the moment, whether 
this was the entrance to what was called Big Canyon (Grand 
Canyon) or not. The Explorer by this time had passed 
through a number of rapids and the crew were growing expert 
at this sort of work, so that another rapid a hundred yards 
below the mouth of the canyon was easily conquered. The 
current becoming slack, the steamer went gaily on toward the 
narrow gateway, where, “flanked by walls many hundreds of 
feet in height, rising perpendicularly out of the water, the 
Colorado emerged from the bowels of the range. “ Suddenly 
the boat stopped with a crash. The bow had squarely met a 
sunken rock. The men forward were knocked completely 
overboard, those on the after-deck were thrown below, the 
boiler was jammed out of place, the steampipe was doubled 
up, the wheelhouse torn away, and numerous minor damages 
were sustained. The Explorer had discovered her head of 
navigation! They thought she was about to sink, but luckily 
she had struck in such a way that no hole was made and they 
were able by means of lines and the skiff to tow her to a sand¬ 
bank for repairs. Here the engineer, Carroll, and Captain 
Robinson devoted themselves to making her again serviceable, 
while, with the skiff, Ives and two companions continued on 
up the deep gorge. Though this was the end of the upward 
journey, so far as the Explorer was concerned, Johnson with 
his steamboat had managed to go clear through this canyon. 
Rations were at a low stage, consisting entirely, for the past 
three weeks, of corn and beans, purchased from the natives, 
but even on this diet without salt the skiff party worked its 
