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 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.