feet. I have stood on the brink and dropped a stone into the river.
The highest walls are 1600 feet. Next is Narrow Canyon, about 9 miles
long, 1300 feet deep, and no rapids. It is hardly more than the
finish of Cataract, a superb gorge about 40 miles long with a depth
of 2700 feet, often nearly vertical. The rapids here are many and
violent, the total fall being about 450 feet. At its head is the
mouth of the Grand River. The altitude of the junction is 3860 feet.*
Following up the Green, we have first Stillwater, then Labyrinth
Canyon, much alike, the first 42 3/4 and the second 62 1/2 miles in
length. The walls of sandstone are 1300 feet. Their names well
describe them, though the stillwater of the first is very swift and
straight. There are no rapids in either. All these canyon names, from
Green River Valley to the Grand Wash, were applied by Powell. Between
Labyrinth and the next canyon, Gray, so called from the colour of its
walls, 2000 feet high, is Gunnison Valley, where the river may first
be easily crossed. Here the unfortunate Captain Gunnison, in 1853,
passed over on his way to his doom, and here, too, the Old Spanish
Trail led the traveller in former days toward Los Angeles. The Denver
and Rio Grande Western Railway has taken advantage of the same place
to cross. The 36 miles of Gray are hardly more than a continuation of
the Canyon of Desolation's 97 miles. Desolation is a fine chasm,
whose walls are 2400 feet. The view on page 206 gives an excellent
idea of their average character. The mouth of the Uinta River, not
far above its head, is 4670 feet above the sea, while Gunnison Valley
is 4083, showing a descent for the river, in Desolation and Gray,
together of 587 feet. Desolation is full of rapids, some of them bad.
Wonsits Valley, which succeeds Desolation, is the longest of the few
valleys, being about 87 miles, with a width of 6 or 8 miles. There is
a considerable amount of arable land, and along the river bank large
groves of cottonwood trees. The river course is winding, the current