The Junction 277 
promontory, about thirty feet above the water, were the ruins of 
stone buildings, one of which, twelve by twenty feet in dimen¬ 
sions, had walls still standing about six feet high. The 
canyon here was some six hundred feet wide; the walls about 
nine hundred feet high, though the top of the plateau through 
which the canyon is carved is at least fifteen hundred feet 
above the river. We discovered the trail by which the old 
Puebloans had made their way in and out. Where necessity 
called for it, poles and tree-trunks had been placed against the 
rocks to aid the climbers. Some of our party trusted them¬ 
selves to these ancient ladders, and with the aid of a rope also, 
reached the summit. 
Beyond this place of ruins, the river flowed between walls 
not over four hundred and fifty feet apart at the top. The 
current was about three miles an hour, with scarcely a ripple, 
though it appeared much swifter because of the nearness of 
the cliffs. At the end of seven miles of winding canyon, there 
came a sharp turn to the east, which brought into view, at the 
other end, another canyon of nearly equal proportions and 
similar appearance. In the bottom of this flowed a river of 
almost the same size as the Green. The waters of the two 
came together with a good deal of a rush, the commingling 
being plainly visible. Neither overwhelmed the other; it was 
a perfect union, and in some respects it is quite appropriate 
that the combined waters of these streams should have a special 
name to represent them. The new tributary was Grand River, 
and when our boats floated on the united waters, we were at 
last on the back of the Dragon. Away sped the current of the 
Colorado, swirling along, spitefully lashing with its hungry 
tongue the narrow sand-banks fringing the rugged shores, so 
that we scarcely knew where to make a landing. Finally we 
halted on the right, constantly watching the boats’ lines lest 
the sand should melt away and take our little ships with it. 
Along the bases of the cliffs above the high waters were narrow 
strips of rocky soil, supporting a few stunted cottonwoods and 
hackberry trees, which, with some stramonium bushes in blos¬ 
som, were the sum total of vegetation. In every way the 
Junction is a desolate place. It is the beginning of Cataract 
