The Romance of the Colorado River | Page 5

me to his small party. I was very young at the time,
but muscular and healthy, and familiar with the handling of small boats.
The Major remarked that in the business before us it was not so much
age and strength that were needed as "nerve," and he evidently believed
I had enough of this to carry me through. Certainly in the two-years,
continuous work on the river and in the adjacent country I had some
opportunity to develop this desirable quality. I shall never cease to feel
grateful to him for the confidence reposed in me. It gave me one of the
unique experiences of my life,--an experience which, on exactly the
same lines, can never be repeated within our borders. Now, these thirty
years after, I review that experience with satisfaction and pleasure,
recalling, with deep affection, the kind and generous companions of
that wild and memorable journey. No party of men thrown together,
without external contact for months at a time, could have been more
harmonious; and never once did any member of that party show the
white feather. I desire to acknowledge here, also, my indebtedness to
Prof. A. H. Thompson, Major Powell's associate in his second
expedition, for many kindnesses.
* I use the title Major for the reason that he was so widely known for so
long a period by it. He was a volunteer officer during the Civil War,
holding the rank of Colonel at the end. The title Major, then, has no
military significance in this connection.
When his report to Congress was published, Major Powell, perhaps for
the sake of dramatic unity, concluded to omit mention of the personnel
of the second expedition, awarding credit, for all that was accomplished,
to the men of his first wonderful voyage of 1869. And these men surely
deserved all that could be bestowed on them. They had, under the
Major's clear-sighted guidance and cool judgment, performed one of
the distinguished feats of history. They had faced unknown dangers.
They had determined that the forbidding torrent could be mastered. But
it has always seemed to me that the men of the second party, who made

the same journey, who mapped and explored the river and much of the
country roundabout, doing a large amount of difficult work in the
scientific line, should have been accorded some recognition. The
absence of this has sometimes been embarrassing for the reason that
when statements of members of the second party were referred to the
official report, their names were found missing from the list. This
inclined to produce an unfavourable impression concerning these
individuals. In order to provide in my own case against any unpleasant
circumstance owing to this omission, I wrote to Major Powell on the
subject and received the following highly satisfactory answer:
Washington, D. C., January 18, 1888.
My Dear Dellenbaugh: Replying to your note of the 14th instant, it
gives me great pleasure to state that you were a member of my second
party of exploration down the Colorado, during the years 1871 and
1872, that you occupied a place in my own boat and rendered valuable
services to the expedition, and that it was with regret on my part that
your connection with the Survey ceased. Yours cordially, J. W. Powell.
Recently, when I informed him of my intention to publish this volume,
he very kindly wrote as follows:
Washington, January 6, 1902.
Dear Dellenbaugh: I am pleased to hear that you are engaged in writing
a book on the Colorado Canyon. I hope that you will put on record the
second trip and the gentlemen who were members of that expedition.
No other trip has been made since that time, though many have tried to
follow us. One party, that headed by Mr. Stanton, went through the
Grand Canyon on its second attempt, but many persons have lost their
lives in attempting to follow us through the whole length of the
canyons. I shall be very glad to write a short introduction to your book.
Yours cordially, J. W. Powell.
In complying with this request to put on record the second expedition
and the gentlemen who composed it, I feel all the greater pleasure,
because, at the same time, I seem to be fulfilling a duty towards my old

comrades. The reader is referred to Chapter XIV., and to pages 368-9
for later data on descents. Notwithstanding these the canyons remain
almost terra incognita for each new navigator. There have been some
who appear to be inclined to withhold from Major Powell the full credit
which is his for solving the great problem of the Southwest, and who,
therefore, make much of the flimsy story of White, and even assume on
faint evidence that others fathomed the mystery even before White.
There is, in