The Romance of the Colorado River | Page 6

my opinion, no ground for such assumptions. Several
trappers, like Pattie and Carson, had gained a considerable knowledge
of the general course and character of the river as early as 1830, but to
Major Powell and his two parties undoubtedly belongs the high honour
of being the first to explore and explain the truth about it and its
extraordinary canyon environment. If danger, difficulty, and disaster
mean romance, then assuredly the Colorado of the West is entitled to
first rank, for seldom has any human being touched its borderland even,
without some bitter or fatal experience. Never is the Colorado twice
alike, and each new experience is different from the last. Once
acknowledge this and the dangers, however, and approach it in a
humble and reverent spirit, albeit firmly, and death need seldom be the
penalty of a voyage on its restless waters.
I have endeavoured to present the history of the river, and immediate
environment, so far as I have been able to learn it, but within the limits
of a single volume of this size much must necessarily be omitted.
Reference to the admirable works of Powell, Gilbert, and Button will
give the reader full information concerning the geology and topography;
Garces, by Elliott Coues, gives the story of the friars; and the excellent
memoir of Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Far West, will
give a complete understanding of the travels and exploits of the real
pioneers of the Rocky Mountain country. I differ with this author,
however, as to the wise and commendable nature of the early trappers'
dealings with the natives, and this will be explained in the pages on that
subject. He also says in his preface that "no feature of western
geography was ever discovered by government explorers after 1840."
While this is correct in the main, it gives an erroneous impression so far
as the canyons of the Colorado are concerned. These canyons were
"discovered," as mentioned above, by some of the trappers, but their

interior character was not known, except in the vaguest way, so that the
discovery was much like discovering a range of mountains on the
horizon and not entering beyond the foothills.
For the titles of works of reference, of the narratives of trappers, etc., I
refer to the works of H. H. Bancroft; to Warren's Memoirs, vol. i.
Pacific Railroad reports; and to the first volume of Lieut. Geo. M.
Wheeler's report on Explorations West of the 100th Meridian. The
trappers and prospectors who had some experience on the Green and
the Colorado have left either no records or very incomplete ones. It
seems tolerably certain, however, that no experience of importance has
escaped notice. So far as attempts at descent are concerned, they
invariably met with speedy disaster and were given up.
In writing the Spanish and other foreign proper names I have in no case
translated, because such translations result in needless confusion. To
translate "Rio del Tizon" as Firebrand River is making another name of
it. Few would recognise the Colorado River under the title of Red River,
as used, for example, in Pattie's narrative. While Colorado means red, it
is quite another matter as a NAME. Nor do I approve of hyphenating
native words, as is so frequently done. It is no easier to understand
Mis-sis-sip-pi than Mississippi. My thanks are due to Mr. Thomas
Moran, the distinguished painter, for the admirable sketch from nature
he has so kindly permitted a reproduction of for a frontispiece. Mr.
Moran has been identified as a painter of the Grand Canyon ever since
1873, when he went there with one of Powell's parties and made
sketches from the end of the Kaibab Plateau which afterwards resulted
in the splendid picture of the Grand Canyon now owned by the
Government.
I am indebted to Prof. A. H. Thompson for the use of his river diary as
a check upon my own, and also for many photographs now difficult to
obtain; and to Dr. G. K. Gilbert, Mr. E. E. Howell, Dr. T. Mitchell
Prudden, and Mr. Delancy Gill for the use of special photographs.
Other debts in this line I acknowledge in each instance and hence will
not repeat here. I had hoped to have an opportunity of again reading
over the diary which "Jack" Sumner kept on the first Powell expedition,

and which I have not seen since the time of the second expedition, but
the serious illness of Major Powell prevented my requesting the use of
it. F. S. Dellenbaugh. New York, October, 1902.
NOTE.--Since the last edition of this work was published, the inquiries
of Mr. Robert Brewster Stanton have brought to light among some
forgotten papers of Major Powell's at the Bureau of Ethnology in
Washington the diary of Jack Sumner and also that