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.