sluggish, the width being 600 to 800 feet. At the head of this valley
is Split-Mountain Canyon, 8 miles long, with ragged, craggy walls
2700 feet high. It contains a number of medium rapids. Island Park
separates it from Whirlpool Canyon. It is a charming little valley,
full of islands, a mere expansion of the walls, 9 miles long,--9
miles of rainbow, for the surrounding rocks and marls are of every
hue. Whirlpool, 2400 feet deep, is about 14 miles in length and
contains a number of rapids, but the whirlpools depend on the stage
of water. Then comes the beautiful little Echo Park, really only the
head of Whirlpool. Its name is derived from a wonderful echo of ten
words returned from the smooth wall seen in the cut on page 203. It
is only a mile long with walls of 600 feet. At its head enter the
Yampa River and Canyon, which mark the foot of Lodore, the most
striking gorge, next to the Grand Canyon, on the whole river. Lodore
is only 20 miles long, but it is 20 miles of concentrated water-power
energy and grandeur, the fall being about 400 feet, the walls 2700.
Never for a moment does it relax its assault, and the voyager on its
restless, relentless tide, especially at high water, is kept on the
alert. The waters indeed come rushing down with fearful impetuosity,
recalling to Powell the poem of Southey, on the Lodore he knew, hence
the name. The beginning of the gorge is at the foot of Brown's Park
through what is called the Gate of Lodore, an abrupt gash in the
Uinta Mountains 2000 feet deep. In viewing this entrance the ordinary
spectator is at a loss to comprehend how the stream could have begun
its attack upon this precipitous ridge. The theory that the river was
there before the upheaval formed the mountain does not entirely
satisfy, for it would seem in that case that the canyon walls would
long ago have become much more broken down than they are. But the
walls have a strikingly fresh look, as if formed recently, compared
with the time of the original upheaval. It seems possible that there