ARKANSAS RIVER, COLORADO. 35 
CANYON STATION, ON ARKANSAS RIVER. 
Observations at this point were begun on April 17, 1889, the station 
being established here by Mr. Robert Robertson. The record has been 
maintained since that time, with occasional breaks due to absence or 
change of observer. This locality is at the Hot Springs Hotel, 1J miles 
west of Canyon, Colo., and at the mouth of the Grand Canyon of the 
Colorado. Two ditches are taken out, one on each side, about this 
point, but these are easily accessible, and their average discharge is 
relatively small, except in times of low water. This site was used in 
1888 for the same purpose by the State engineer of Colorado, and is 
highly favorable for obtaining accurate measurement. The channel of 
the river is straight for several hundred yards, both above and below, 
and the current, though swift, is not too great at high water nor too 
sluggish at low stages for satisfactory results. The banks on both 
sides are high and are not overflowed. The cross section is regular and 
has not been subject to notable changes, except on the right bank, 
near the gage, where a sand bar has formed at times of low water. 
The gage rod established by Mr. Robertson was of 2 by 6 inch 
timber, inclined, and attached to the crib of an old bridge on the south 
or right-hand side of the river, almost directly in front of the hotel. 
There were two bench marks: No. 1, on the top of a log of the crib; 
elevation, 10.01 feet above the datum. No. 2, in the cleft of a red 
bowlder at the foot of a charred stump 50 feet down stream and on 
the same side of the river; elevation, 9.60 feet. On April 13, 1891, the 
station was inspected by Mr. Frank Tweedy, and a third bench mark 
was established, this being a bedded rock 40 feet from the north end of 
the cable, toward Hot Springs Hotel and 10 feet from the river bank. 
It is marked "B. M. No. 3, U. S. GL S.," and is 15.98 feet above the zero 
of the gage. The present observer is Br. J. L. Prentiss. 
The measurements were at first made from a car suspended from a 
cable stretched across the river, the bridge from which measurements 
were originally made by the State engineer having been destroyed. 
Later a new suspension bridge was constructed in front of the hotel, 
necessitating the removal and replacement of the gage, and subsequent 
measurements were made from this bridge, which, having a clear span, 
offers no obstruction to the current. Discharge measurements were 
made by Mr. F. H. Newell in 1893 and 1894, and by Mr. Arthur P. 
Davis in the fall of 1894. From these the following provisional rating 
table was constructed as being applicable to the river heights obtained 
after the spring flood of 1893. 
On May 1, 1889, a station 35 miles below Canyon was established at 
a point where the river flows through a small box canyon about one half 
mile long, with almost vertical walls from 20 to 30 feet high. The 
channel is straight and the river can not overfloAv. In low stages, 
however, the bottom silts, forming sand bars, and in high stages the 
