Canyons of the Colorado | Page 3

Wisconsin,
Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri combined.
There are two distinct portions of the basin of the Colorado, a desert
portion below and a plateau portion above. The lower third, or desert
portion of the basin, is but little above the level of the sea, though here
and there ranges of mountains rise to an altitude of from 2,000 to 6,000
feet. This part of the valley is bounded on the northeast by a line of
cliffs, which present a bold, often vertical step, hundreds or thousands
of feet to the table-lands above. On the California side a vast desert
stretches westward, past the head of the Gulf of California, nearly to
the shore of the Pacific. Between the desert and the sea a narrow belt of
valley, hill, and mountain of wonderful beauty is found. Over this
coastal zone there falls a balm distilled from the great ocean, as gentle
showers and refreshing dews bathe the land. When rains come the
emerald hills laugh with delight as bourgeoning bloom is spread in the
sunlight. When the rains have ceased all the verdure turns to gold. Then
slowly the hills are brinded until the rains come again, when verdure
and bloom again peer through the tawny wreck of the last year's
greenery. North of the Gulf of California the desert is known as
"Coahuila Valley," the most desolate region on the continent. At one
time in the geologic history of this country the Gulf of California

extended a long distance farther to the northwest, above the point
where the Colorado River now enters it; but this stream brought its mud
from the mountains and the hills above and poured it into the gulf and
gradually erected a vast dam across it, until the waters above were
separated from the waters below; then the Colorado cut a channel into
the lower gulf. The upper waters, being cut off from the sea, gradually
evaporated, and what is known as Coahuila Valley was the bottom of
this ancient upper gulf, and thus the land is now below the level of the
sea. Between Coahuila Valley and the river there are many low,
ashen-gray mountains standing in short ranges. The rainfall is so little
that no perennial streams are formed. When a great rain comes it
washes the mountain sides and gathers on its way a deluge of sand,
which it spreads over the plain below, for the streams do not carry the
sediment to the sea. So the mountains are washed down and the valleys
are filled. On the Arizona side of the river desert plains are interrupted
by desert mountains. Far to the eastward the country rises until the
Sierra Madre are reached in New Mexico, where these mountains
divide the waters of the Colorado from the Rio Grande del Norte. Here
in New Mexico the Gila River has its source. Some of its tributaries
rise in the mountains to the south, in the territory belonging to the
republic of Mexico, but the Gila gathers the greater part of its waters
from a great plateau on the northeast. Its sources are everywhere in
pine-clad mountains and plateaus, but all of the affluents quickly
descend into the desert valley below, through which the Gila winds its
way westward to the Colorado. In times of continued drought the bed
of the Gila is dry, but the region is subject to great and violent storms,
and floods roll down from the heights with marvelous precipitation,
carrying devastation on their way. Where the Colorado River forms the
boundary between California and Arizona it cuts through a number of
volcanic rocks by black, yawning canyons. Between these canyons the
river has a low but rather narrow flood plain, with cottonwood groves
scattered here and there, and a chaparral of mesquite bearing beans and
thorns. Four hundred miles above its mouth and more than two hundred
miles above the Gila, the Colorado has a second tributary--"Bill
Williams' River" it is called by excessive courtesy. It is but a muddy
creek. Two hundred miles above this the Rio Virgen joins the Colorado.
This river heads in the Markagunt Plateau and the Pine Valley

Mountains of Utah. Its sources are 7,000 or 8,000 feet above the sea,
but from the beautiful course of the upper region it soon drops into a
great sandy valley below and becomes a river of flowing sand. At
ordinary stages it is very wide but very shallow, rippling over the
quicksands in tawny waves. On its way it cuts through the Beaver
Mountains by a weird canyon. On either side grease-wood plains
stretch far away, interrupted here and there by bad-land hills.
The region of country lying on either side of the Colorado for six
hundred miles of its course above the gulf, stretching to Coahuila
Valley below