196 
The Colorado River 
made a careful copy in 1871, which is given on page 112. The 
second figure could, of course, be only an 8, and the fourth 
was plainly a 5. The third, however, was obscure, and Powell 
was uncertain whether it was a 3 or a 5. It could have been 
nothing but a 2, because, as we have seen, it was in the twen¬ 
ties of the last century that Ashley operated in this region; 
and it was in 1825 that he made the Red Canyon journey. At 
the date which a 3 would make he was a Congressman, and he 
was never in the Far West again. Running on through Red 
Canyon with exhilarating velocity, but without any serious 
drawback, the party came out into the tranquil Brown’s Hole, 
henceforth called Brown’s Park. At the foot of this, without 
any preliminaries, they were literally swept into the heart of 
the mountains, for it is here that the river so suddenly rends 
the massive formations in twain and speeds away toward the 
sea between wonderful precipices of red sandstone, churning 
itself to ivory in the headlong rush. This was named the 
Canyon of Lodore at the suggestion of one of the men. The 
work of safely proceeding down the torrent now grew far more 
difficult. Rapids were numerous and the descent in most of 
them very great. The boats had to be handled with extra 
caution. The method of travelling was for Powell to go ahead 
in the Emma Dean to examine the nature of each rapid before 
the other boats should come down to it. If he saw a clear 
chute he ran through and signalled “come on,’’ but if he 
thought it too risky he signalled “land,’’ and the place was 
examined as well as he was able from the shore. If this in¬ 
vestigation showed a great many dangerous rocks, or any other 
dangerous element, a portage was made, or the boats were let 
down along the edge by lines without taking out the cargoes. 
In this careful way they were getting along very well, when 
one day they came to a particularly threatening place. Powell 
immediately perceived the danger, and, landing, signalled the 
other boats to do likewise. Unfortunately, the warning came 
too late for the No-Name, which was drawn into a sag, a sort 
of hollow lying just above the rapid, to clutch the unwary and 
drive them over the fall to certain destruction. Powell for a 
moment had given his attention to the last boat, and as he 
