172 
The Colorado River 
“ On every side we were surrounded by columns, pinnacles, and 
castles of fantastic shapes, which limited our view, and by impas¬ 
sable canons, which restricted our movements. South of us, about 
a mile distant, rose one of the castle-like buttes, which I have men¬ 
tioned, and to which, though with difficulty, we made our way. 
This butte was composed of alternate layers of chocolate-colored 
sandstone and shale about one thousand feet in height; its sides 
nearly perpendicular, but most curiously ornamented with columns 
and pilasters, porticos and colonnades, cornices and battlements, 
flanked here and there with tall outstanding towers, and crowned 
At the Junction of the Green and Grand on the Surface. 
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp. 
with spires so slender that it seemed as though a breath of air would 
suffice to topple them from their foundations. To accomplish the 
object for which we had come so far, it seemed necessary that we 
should ascend this butte. The day was perfectly clear and intensely 
hot, the mercury standing at 92° in the shade, and the red sand¬ 
stone, out of which the landscape was carved, glowed in the heat of 
the burning sunshine. Stripping off nearly all our clothing, we 
made the attempt, and, after two hours of most arduous labor, suc¬ 
ceeded in reaching the summit. The view which there burst upon us 
was such as amply repaid us for all our toil. It baffles description.” 
