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TERTIARY HISTORY OF THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT

I

DEPARTMENT OF THE

INTERIOR

\/0

MONOGRAPHS

OF THE

United States Geological Survey

VOLUME

II

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT

PRINTING

1882

OFFICE

U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GRAND

SMITHSONIAN BUTTE-VALLEY OF THE VIRGEN

CANON

DISTRICT

PL. I

UNITED

STATES

GEOLOGICAL

SURVEY

J. W. POWELL DIRECTOR

OF

THE

GRAND CANON DISTRICT
WITH

ATLAS

By CLARENCE E. BUTTON
CAPTAIN OF ORDNANCE U. S. A.

Peregrine Smith, Inc.
SANTA BARBARA AND SALT LAKE CITY

1977

Department

of

the

Interior,

United States Geological

Survey,

,D. C., March 1, 1881.
Hon. Clarence
Director

King,
of tlic Geological Survey:

Sir: Herewith I have the honor to transmit in

monographic form the

results of my survey of the Grand Canon District, or the region which
drains into the Grand and Marble Canons of the Colorado River of the
West.

With great respect, your

obedient servant,
C. E.

Captain of

Introduction

DUTTON,
U. S.

copyright © 1977 by Peregrine Smith, Inc.

Library of Congress Card Catalog number: 77-15074
ISBN

0-87905-031-4

All

rights reserved for all countries,
including the right of translation.
No part of copyrighted material may be used or
reproduced
without written permission from the publisher.
Manufactured in the United States of America

,

PREFACE.

journey through the canons of the Colorado
River it has been Major Powell's intention to write a description of the
region adjacent to the Grand Canon and to discuss its geological problems.
It is to be regretted that other duties have prevented him. There is no one
so well fitted for it, and his right to do so is virtually prescriptive.
But
the time and opportunity never came to him. When Mr. King assumed
the Directorship of the Survey he acceded to Major Powell's desire to have
the work in the Grand Canon district prosecuted, and, in accordance with
the wishes of the latter, I was assigned to the immediate charge of it.
Much of it was familiar ground.
During the seasons spent in the study of
the High Plateaus I had found the temptation irresistible to wander far
outside of the limits of my prescribed field; and whither should the errant
geologist turn his footsteps so eagerly as towards the wonder-land of the
south? And so, when the early snows and biting winds of autumn drove
us out of the lofty volcanic regions of the north, the remaining weeks of
each year were spent in rapid excursions through the milder regions which
lie beyond the foot of the great stairway of terraces which leads down
from the heights of the Markagunt.
In the summer of 1879 Messrs. Bodfish and Renshawe were
employed
in making detail maps of more than ordinary accuracy, the former in the
Kaibab, the latter in the Uinkaret.
Mr. Renshawe completed his field
work that season and finished his map in the office the following winter.
But Mr. Bodfish's work was much more extensive and difficult,
requiring
Ever since his memorable

(XV)

xvi

PEEFACE.

another field

season.

Both

are

entitled to

high praise for the skill and

ability which they have proven by their results.
In the

summer

of 1880 I revisited the district for the
purpose

of

making a study of the Uinkaret, and as much of other portions as possible.
The geological problems proposed were purely physical. With
questions
of mere stratigraphy, paleontology, or lithology, I resolved to have no
more to do than was essential to an elucidation of the
physical questions.
The latter are remarkable, and in some respects unique. To
present them
most clearly and sharply it seemed
necessary to disencumber them as much
as
possible of all subsidiary questions not absolutely essential to their
comprehension. Nor did it seem at all satisfactory to gather up disjointed
facts merely to swell the aggregate, already vast, of unreduced and uncor¬
rected observations. It is not enough to know the facts; their
meaning is
of much greater concern. I have striven, therefore, to group them in their
natural order and relations, in order that they may yield
testimony as to
the causes and processes which have made this region what it is.
I have in many places departed from the severe ascetic
style which
has become conventional in scientific monographs.
Perhaps no apology is
called for. Under ordinary circumstances the ascetic discipline is
necessary.
Give the imagination an inch and it is apt to take an ell, and the funda¬
mental requirement of scientific method—accuracy of statement—is im¬
periled. But in the Grand Canon district there is no such danger. The
stimulants which are demoralizing elsewhere are necessary here to exalt
the mind sufficiently to comprehend the sublimity of the subjects. Their
sublimity has in fact been hitherto underrated. Great as is the fame of
the Grand Canon of the

Colorado, the half remains to be told.
During the summer of 1880 I was so fortunate as to have the com¬
panionship and assistance of Mr. Holmes. His reputation as a fieldgeologist is already established by his work in connection with Dr.
Hayden's Survey. But besides rendering valuable assistance in working
out geological details he made
many sketches which he has reproduced in
the pictures of the text and in the panoramas of the Atlas. To
praise such
work would be superfluous. But I must call attention to a merit which

XVII

PKEFACE.

the region, and this is
the wonderful fidelity with which he portrays rock-characters.
The Atlas has been printed by Mr. Julius Bien, of New York, who
spared no pains or effort to obtain the best possible results of the litho¬
graphic art under the limitations imposed upon him. His success will not
may

be

not be so obvious to one who has never seen

questioned.

C. E. DUTTON.

■

CONTENTS.

Page.
Abstract
Chapter

1

Monograph

of the

I.—General description of the topographic and geologic features of the
Grand Canon

III.—A

9

district

II.—The Mesozoic terraces
description of the

upon the northern

vermilion cliffs

border of

the district

valley

and of the

of the

vlrgen

V.—The Toroweap Valley and the middle portion of the Grand Canon

the

brink

VIII.—The scenery

kanab

kaibab plateau

across the desert to the

and to

122

of the chasm

of the

Grand Canon

in

the

Kaibab

division viewed

from

Point Sublime

IX.—The

XI.—The Paria Plateau

XIV.—The

Kaibab

and the

excavation of the

Kaibab Plateau

183

Marble Canon Platform

and evolution of the

excavation of the

157

division

geology and evolution of the

XII.—Physical History
XIII.—The

140

amphitheaters of the

X.—Structural

78

101

VI.—The Uinkaret Plateau
journey from

51
61

IV.—The Great Denudation

VII.—A

26

199

Grand Canon

Grand Canon—corrasion

Grand Canon—origin

and

206

district

230

weathering

of the details of its erosion.

250

LIST OF PLATES.
Plate

the Valley of the Virgen. This illustration is from a sketeli by Mr. Holmes.
across the river
showing pale belted colors are the lower Permian. Be¬
yond them on the right and in the background is the Smithsonian Butte, composed
of Triassic strata.
The great Temples and Towers are not visible.
Chromo-lithographed by Sinclair. (Frontispiece.)
II.—A geological section across the platform of the Grand Canon district from the Grand Wash
to the Echo Cliffs.
(Opposite page 6.)
III.—A geological section from north to south through the Grand Canon district from the Mark£gunt Plateau to the Aubrey Cliffs south of the San Francisco Mountains. (Oppo¬
site page 16.)
IV.—Colored map on a small scale showing the distribution of the Eocene, Mesozoic, and Per¬
mian strata around the greater part of the central Carboniferous
platform of the dis¬
trict.
(Opposite page 28.)
V.—The Pink Cliffs (Eocene) upon the southern end of the Pauns^gunt Plateau.
Drawn from
a photograph by W. H. Holmes.
Wood-cut. (Opposite page 30.)
VI.—The Mesa Verde. Illustrating the general aspect of the Cretaceous strata in the heart of
the Plateau Province.
Reproduced from a line drawing by W. H. Holmes. His Re¬
port in Dr. Hay den's Ninth Annual Report of the Survey of the Territories. Photo¬
engraving. (Opposite page 32.)
I.—Looking

up

The strata

(xix)

CONTENTS.

XX

Plate

VII.—The Jurassic Cliffs
This is the

or

White

more common

Cliffs, consisting of very massive, cross-bedded sandstone.
aspect of the cliffs in this formation and the view is quite

typical. Heliotype. (Opposite page 34.)
Midsummerday's Dream on the Colob. Showing the curious and quaint forms given to
the remnants of the Jurassic white sandstone in an advanced stage of denudation.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes from a photograph. Wood-cut. (Opposite page 36.)
IX.—The Jurassic terrace on the Colob.
The subject is of the same general nature as the pre¬
ceding. The curious forms are due in great part to the cross-bedding of the Jurassic
white sandstone.
In the distance are the summits of the Temples of the Virgen.
Drawn from a photograph by Thomas Morau.
Wood-cut. (Opposite page 37.)
X.—The Vermilion Cliffs at Kanab.
Illustrating the general character of theTriassic escarp¬
ment east of the Pipe Spring Promontory.
The altitude of the cliffs back of the vil¬
lage varies from 1,100 to 1,300 feet. Heliotype. (Opposite page 40.)
XI.—Land of the Standing Rocks.
Showing the characters of the Permian buttes in the heart

VIII.—A

of the Plateau

country.

Grand and Green Rivers.

(Opposite page 41.)
XII.—Permian Butte. Illustrating

The

scene here represented is near
Drawn from a photograph by W. H.

the junction of the
Holmes. Wood-cut.

the character of the upper Permian, with the Shinarump
The finely bedded shales are the brilliantly colored beds of
this formation.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
Photo-engraving. (Opposite page 52.)
XIII.—Towers at Short Creek.
Showing the buttressed and columnar aspect of the Vermilion
Cliffs as we approach the Valley of the Virgen from the southeast. These cliffs rise
about 1,800 feet above the plain.
The columnar portion is the great sandstone bed
of the upper Trias. Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Plioto-engraving. (Opposite
page 54.)
XIV.—Summit of the Western Temple of the Virgen. Drawn by W. H. Holmes in the style of
an etching.
Wood-cut. (Opposite page 58.)
XV.—Summit of the Eastern Temple of the Virgen. Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Wood-cut.
(Opposite page 59.)
XVI.—A pinnacled gable of the Toroweap.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Wood-cut. (Opposite
page 84.)
XVII.—The Grand Canon at the foot of Toroweap looking up stream.
This view is taken from
the great esplanade at the brink of the Inner Gorge, The river is about
3,000 feet
below, and the summit of the wall, of which a fragment is seen in the distant gable,
is about 1,900 feet above the esplanade.
Heliotype. (Opposite page 85.)
XVIII.—Dikes in the canon wall. A view from the opposite side of the Inner Gorge. The
darkly
shaded portions represent the protruding dikes in the wall.
Upon the further brink
is the remnant of a basaltic cinder cone, now largely undermined and destroyed.
To
the left are sheets of columnar basalt, and near the left margin the effect of the
Toroweap fault shearing these beds is shown. Its effect also is shown in the back¬
ground where the horizontal continuity of the strata is broken. Drawn by W, IL
Holmes.
Photo-engraving. (Opposite page 92.)
XIX.—Lava falls in the Grand Canon. These occur immediately beneath the scene of the
pre¬
ceding illustration. From a photograph. Drawn by Thomas Moran. Wood-cut.
(Opposite page 93.)
XX.—View of Mount Trumbull from Mount Logan.
Mount Trumbull consists of Permian
strata, heavily capped by basalt of considerable antiquity, probably early Pliocene.
Upon the right flank of the mountain is a knob, which is a much more recent basaltic
cinder cone, sending down heavy streams of lava to the plain below. Drawn
by W.
H.Holmes.
Wood-cut. (Opposite page 106.)
XXL—Recent lava flow on the Uinkaret. This basalt field appears to be
extremely recent, and
the lava looks as fresh as the eruptions which have come from Vesuvius within the
last twenty or thirty years.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Wood-cut. (Opposite page
107.)
XXII.—The Hurricane Fault in the Queantoweap Valley. The fault here has four
branches, of
which three appear in the sketch, and they are very manifest in the
topography.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
Photo-engraving. (Opposite page 116.)

conglomerate above.

CONTENTS.

xxi

Plate

tlie Kanab Desert. From the brink of the Permian Cliff—a Permian butte in
foreground, the Vermilion Cliffs in the distance, and the Jurassic white sand¬
stone in the extreme background.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Cliromo-lithographed
by Sinclair. (Opposite page 124.)
XXIV.—Kanab Canon. This cut has already been published in Picturesque America.
The pin¬
nacle or tower is in the Red Wall limestone, and is about 780 feet high.
Drawn by
Thomas Moran.
Wood-cut. (Opposite page 126.)
XXV.—Kanab Canon, near the junction of Kanab Creek with the Colorado. About 2,800 feet of
wall is shown here, the upper portion being the Red Wall.
The upper walls (Aubrey)
are not disclosed.
The depth of Kanab Canon here is about 4,700 feet. Drawn by
Thomas Moran.
Wood-cut. (Opposite page 127.)
XXVI.—De Motto Park. The large park on the summit of the Kaibab, about 8,700 feet above
sea-level.
It is an ancient river valley. Drawn by Thomas Moran.
Wood-cnt.
(Opposite page 134.)
XXVII.—A lagoon on the Kaibab. Drawn by Thomas Moran.
Wood-cut. (Opposite page 135.)
XXVIII.—Key to the panorama, from Point Sublime looking east. The panorama is given in large
size in the Atlas. (Opposite page 142.)
XXIX.—The same; middle part of the panorama looking south.
(Opposite page 142.)
XXX.—The same looking west. (Opposite page 142.)
XXXI.—Granite Falls. A scene in the inner gorge of the Kaibab division. The river here is deep
in the Archaean.
Drawn by Thomas Moran from a photograph. Wood-cut.
(Oppo¬
site page 143.)
XXXII.—Pinnacles in the upper wall of the Kaibab division. Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Wood¬
cut.
(Opposite page 166.)
XXXIII.—An amphitheater in the Red Wall. The view is from below, and illustrates the rounded
character of an amphitheater at its head.
The upper walls are not visible. Drawn
by W. H. Holmes. Wood-cut. (Opposite page 167.)
XXXIV.—Vishnu's Temple. This is the finest butte in the chasm. It is situated near the head of
the Grand Canon, and is more than a mile high. Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Photo¬
engraving. (Opposite page 178.)
XXXV.—The great unconformity at the head of the Grand Canon between the Carboniferous and
Silurian. Drawn by W. H. Holmes. Plioto-engraving.
(Opposite page 178.)
XXXVI.—The Marble Canon. This cut has been published by Picturesque America. Drawn by
Thomas Moran.
Wood-cut.
(Opposite page 202.)
XXXVII.—Head of the Grand Canon. Drawn by Thomas Moran from a photograph. Wood-cut.
(Opposite page 212.)
XXIII.—Sunset

011

the

XXXVIII.—A

In the distance the Jurassic white sandstone appears in
probably since the glacial period. The
locality is known as Johnson's Canon, twelve miles east of Kanab. Ileliotype.

canon

refilled with alluvium.

cliffs.

The alluvium has been washed in

(Opposite

page

213.)

XXXIX.—Profile of the Colorado in its

course through the Grand Canon.
Diagram. Photo-engraving. (Opposite page 240.)
XL.—Development of cliff profiles. (Opposite page 250.)
XLI.—Panels or niches in the Red Wall limestone. These panels are very numerous and are a
characteristic feature of the Red Wall escarpment. They are from 400 to 800 feet
high, and in the present instance rather more than 600 feet high. Their origin or
causation is unknown.
Drawn by W. II. Holmes. Wood-cut.
(Opposite page 256.)
XLI I.—Plastic map showing the horizontal projections of canon
topography, and especially illus¬
trating the inward rounded form of all the recesses, great and small, with projecting
cusps between.
Drawn by J. Entlioffer. Photo-engraving. (Opposite page 257.)

xxii

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ATLAS SHEETS.
Sheet

I.—Title page.
II.—Sketch map

(colored) showing the distribution of the strata in the western half of the

Plateau Province.

III.—Sketch map showing the approximate positions and courses of the faults of the Grand
Canon district and of the High Plateaus.
IV.—The

Valley of the Virgen. Described in Chapter III. Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
up the Toroweap Valley from u Vulcan's Throne." Described in Chapter V.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
VI.—Looking up the Grand Canon from " Vulcan's Throne." Described in Chapter V.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
VII.—Map of the Uinkaret Plateau, northern portion colored. Topography by J. II. Renshawe. Geology by Capt. C. E. Dutton.
VIII.—Map of the Uinkaret Plateau, southern portion colored. Topography by J. II. Renshawe.
Geology by Capt. C. E. Dutton.
IX.—Views looking east and south from Mount Trumbull. Described in Chapters V and VI.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
X.—Two views, one looking north from Mount
Trumbull, the other looking north from
Mount Emma.
See Chapter VI. Drawn by W. II. Holmes.
XI. XII, XIII, and XIV.—Map of the southern portion of the Kaibab Plateau, colored. To¬
pography by S. H. Bodfish. Geology by Capt. C. E. Dutton.
XV, XVI, XVII.—Panorama in the Kaibab division of the Grand Caiion from Point Sublime.
Described in Chapter VIII.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
XVIII.—The Transept. View of an amphitheater of the second order from above.
Described
in Chapter IX.
Drawn by Thomas Moran from a sketch by W. H. Holmes.
XIX.—View of the Marble Canon platform from the eastern brink of the Kaibab. Described
in Chapter XI.
Drawn by W. H. Holmes.
XX, XXI, XXII, and XXIII.—Geological sheets, colored, of the Grand Canon district.

V.—Looking

THE TERTIARY HISTORY OF THE GRAND CANON
DISTRICT.
BY CLARENCE E. DUTTON.

ABSTRACT OF THE MONOGRAPH.
This work is

chiefly devoted to a description of the methods and
upon a grand scale. Since erosion depends for its effi¬
ciency principally upon the progressive elevation of a region, and upon
its climatal conditions, these collateral subjects are also discussed in their
relations to the principal theme. And in general such an erosion influences
and is in turn influenced by the whole train of phenomena of which physi¬
cal geology takes account.
I have endeavored to show in what manner
and to what extent the most important of these events and groups of events
are correlated.
In the analysis and synthesis of these processes may be
found the materials for reconstructing the history of the evolution of the
physical features of the region. This history is indeed but an outline, but
in it appear many things which would not readily be discerned without
such a comparison.
Chapter I gives a brief and summary account of the geography of
the Grand Canon district and of the distribution both of its topographical
and of its principal geological features.
It is situated chiefly in north¬
western Arizona, with an extension northward into Utah.
Its length
from northwest to southeast may be taken arbitrarily at about 180 miles,
results of

erosion

and its width from northeast to southwest at about 125 miles.
ural

boundary

can

As

no

nat¬

be fixed for its southern portion, its area may be placed

2

CARON DISTRICT.

THE GRAND

anywhere between 13,000 and 16,000
of the West

runs across

square miles. The Colorado River
the middle of the district in a very tortuous course,

averaging west-southwest. Its valley is the Marble Canon and Grand
Canon.* That part of the district which lies south of the river has been
reconnoitered but not thoroughly studied. Its broader geological features
are in great part known, but its details remain to be worked out.
The por¬
tion which lies north of the river has been studied in considerable detail.

Upon the northern side six subdivisions

be recognized. Upon the
by erosion out of the Mesozoic
and lower Eocene strata, which, covering all the region of the High Pla¬
teaus, suddenly terminate in a succession of high cliffs, dropping step by
step to lower and lower formations, like a great stairway. At the foot of
the stairway is the comparatively smooth platform of the summit Carbon¬
iferous, which stretches southward and southeastward into central Arizona
for 150 miles or more. The "Terraces" form one subdivision, and are a
border country between the High Plateaus on the north and the Grand
Canon district on the south, and may be regarded as the appanage of either
district. The main Carboniferous platform north of the river may be sub¬
divided into five distinct plateaus. On the west is the Sheavwits Plateau;
next in order towards the east is the Uinkaret; the third is the Kanab Pla¬
teau, the fourth is the Kaibab, and the fifth is the Paria Plateau.
The dividing lines between these plateaus are well marked,
consisting
of great faults or equivalent monoclinal flexures, trending north and south.
extreme

north is

a

may

series of terraces carved

The westernmost fault bounds the Sheavwits Plateau

as

well

as

the district

itself, and is named the Grand Wash fault. Beyond it, to the westward, is a
region having features very similar to those of the Great Basin of Nevada.
Next in order towards the east

are

the Hurricane and the

Between the last two is the Uinkaret Plateau.

platform
the

Passing

Toroweap faults.

the Kanab
greater altitude than
across

we reach the Kaibab, which is hoisted to a
others, with the West Kaibab fault on one side and the

East Kaibab

*

This name has been repeatedly infringed for
purposes of advertisement. The canon of the Yel¬
lowstone has been called "The Grand Canon."
A more flagrant piracy is the
naming of the gorge of
the Arkansas River in Colorado "The Grand Canon of
Colorado," and many persons who have visited
it have been persuaded that
they have seen the great chasm. These river valleys are certainly very

pleasing and picturesque, but there is

no more

Colorado River than there is between the

comparison between them and the mighty chasm of the
or Trosaclis and the Himalayas.

Alleghenies

3

ABSTRACT OF THE MONOGRAPH.

monocline

on

the other.

The Paria Plateau is situated at

East of the latter

than the others.

a

lower level

the margins of the
formations, which wall the Grand Canon district upon the eastern
side and present their broken edges towards it in the Echo Cliffs.
Chapter II gives an account of the Terraces and the strata which they
disclose.
It also points out the extension of those strata westward and
southwestward into the sierra country of southern Nevada, where they
assume a littoral character around the Mesozoic mainland, whence their
materials were derived.
This mainland occupied what is now the site of
we

come

upon

Mesozoic

the Great Basin of Nevada and western Utah.

The extensions of the

Grand Canon district are
the heart of Arizona and
beyond the limits of observation. The edges of the Mesozoic system are
found encompassing about two-thirds of the periphery of the district. The
remaining part of the circuit now appears to have been the locus of a shore¬
line.
The peculiarities of the cliffs of the terraces are also described and
the drainage system is explained.
Chapter III is mainly devoted to a description of the Vermilion Cliffs
system along the eastern side of the
also pointed out.
They reach far south into
Mesozoic

which hound the Triassic terrace.

It is written in effusive style, and is an

magnificent scenery which this colossal wall presents.
Its grandeur culminates in the Valley of the Virgen, which is not only of
great proportions, but is remarkable and even unrivaled for the beauty and
coloring of its rock temples. There is added to this chapter a description
attempt to portray the

of the lowest

or

Permian terrace.

Chapter IV is devoted to the inference that the Permian, Mesozoic,
Tertiary formations, now ending cliff-wise in the terraces, once ex¬
tended over the entire expanse of the Carboniferous platform of the Grand
Canon district. During Tertiary time they were denuded, and the total

and

thickness of strata thus swept away,

though varying somewhat and per¬

haps notably in different places, averaged

probably about 9,000 feet. The
discussed at some length
believed to be well sustained

evidences upon which this conclusion rests are
and carefully criticised, and the conclusion is

by the evidence.
The argument

for the conclusions reached is

mainly derived from the

4

THE GRAND

of three

CASfON DISTRICT.

of facts upon a common inference: 1, the
stratification; 2, the displacements; 3, the lateral drainage system. In
some
respects the argument is novel, and in all respects its various ele¬
ments are pushed to a much greater extreme than there is precedent for in
the works of physical geologists; hut this is held to he justified by the
wonderful clearness and simplicity of the observed facts, which are quite
unparalleled in any other portion of the world.
In Chapter V the descriptive treatment is resumed for the
purpose of
developing additional facts bearing upon the broader problems of the evo¬
lution of the physical features of the region, upon the sequence of events
and the epochs of their occurrence. With this purpose the reader is con¬
ducted in an imaginary journey from the base of the Vermilion Cliffs across
the Carboniferous platform to the Toroweap Valley and to the Grand
Canon. The Toroweap is a broad lateral valley upon the eastern flank of
the Uinkaret, cut down only two-fifths of the depth of the great chasm. It
enters the Grand Canon, opening upon the great esplanade between its
upper walls. The canon here is at its narrowest.
It consists of an inner
and an outer chasm. The upper or outer one is about five miles in width,
with a row of palisades on either side 2,000 feet high, and with a flat broad
esplanade between. In the floor of this esplanade is sunk the inner gorge
3,000 feet deeper, and from 3,000 to 3,500 feet wide. The total depth
convergence

of the

canon

groups

here is about 5,000 feet.

After

a

hurried mention of the

principal features of this stupendous scenery the reader is invited to
take his seat upon "Vulcan's Throne," a basaltic cinder cone 600 feet
high,
planted upon the brink of the inner gorge just where the axis of the Toro¬
weap intersects that of the canon. Apart from the merely scenic effects it
would be hard to find anywhere in the world a
spot presenting so much
material for the contemplation of the geologist. The
Toroweap fault is
clearly revealed in the opposite canon wall and its recency disclosed. It is
also shown that the vast inner gorge has been
very recently excavated, and
that it was swiftly cut. Its age is regarded as
being mostly Post-Tertiary.
The outer chasm is shown to be much older, and it is
very probable that the
river, after cutting down to the level of the esplanade, remained for a time
stationary, and ceased temporarily to deepen its channel. The age of the

ABSTRACT OF THE MONOGRAPH.

5

Toroweap Valley is also inferred. It appears to be the channel of an an¬
cient river long since dried up. It is the type of a number of ancient trib¬
utaries of the Colorado, which collectively throw light upon its Tertiary
history. Many other facts are recited, for which the reader is referred to
the chapter itself.
Chapter VI describes the Uinkaret Plateau. Since the Uinkaret and
Sheavwits are very similar to each other in their geological features and
relations, the former alone is discussed as the type of the two. Three sub¬
jects receive attention: 1st, the volcanism; 2d, the Hurricane fault; 3d,
the remnants of Permian strata.
The lavas are all basaltic and very homo¬
genous in character.
They are of two ages, the earlier being referred
approximately to the early Pliocene or possibly late Miocene, the later to
very recent time, some being probably but a very few centuries old. A
long interval of time separated the two eruptive periods.
The Hurricane fault is also described at length, and its comparative
recency pointed out.
The Permian remnants here are important as relics
of an ancient topography preserved by the protection of the more ancient
basalts, and as indicating the former extension of that formation over the
entire district.
The lavas, the fault, and the Permian all throw light on
the sequence, epochs and relations, of those events which make up the his¬
tory of the region. Each by itself would be of little moment. But by
grouping them together in their proper relations and viewing them as a
whole they reveal much. It now begins to appear that the chasm had its
origin in the latter part of Tertiary time, that the faults are no older, and
that they, as well as the volcanism of the region, are associated with periods
of upheaval, and that these periods are reflected in the various stages of the
excavation of the chasm. The great denudation also finds further support
in the facts here presented.
Chapter VII resumes the narrative treatment, and the reader is con¬
ducted on an imaginary journey from the base of the Vermilion Cliffs to
the Kaibab Plateau and upon its summit to the brink of the chasm. Along
the route such facts as are of special geological interest are noted and
remarked upon, and the attempt is made to convey a mental picture of the
region traversed. I have taken the liberty in this chapter of attacking the

6

THE GRAND

CASTON DISTRICT.

reader

through his imagination, and, while trying to amuse his fancy with
pictures of travel, have sought to thrust upon him unawares certain facts
which I regard as of importance, hut which would have been overlooked
or
forgotten if treated in the ordinary fashion of formal monographs.
Chapter VIII is a description of the scenery of the Kaibab division
of the Grand Canon from Point Sublime, one of the
promontories which
project far out into the heart of the chasm. It is one of many panoramas
all of which are sublime in the highest degree. The
scenery of the Kaibab
division is very much grander than in other divisions of the
chasm, and even
the least imposing portions of the canon are in their general effects
upon the
sensibilities as impressive as any scenery to be found in the world.
Chapter IX describes the larger and more striking amphitheaters along
the Kaibab front.

It also contains

an

account of

disclosed at the head of the Grand Canon.

For

a

the great unconformity
distance of twelve miles

in the depths of the chasm the contact of the Carboniferous
of Silurian and possibly some Devonian strata. The latter
are inclined at a
varying angle of dip, and at the plane of contact are
beveled off to a smooth surface, which at the
beginning of Carboniferous
may
with

be

time

was no

a

seen

vast

mass

doubt

sensibly horizontal.
Chapter X explains the structural features and the somewhat intricate
drainage system of the surface of the Kaibab Plateau, and discusses their
relations to the evolution of the chasm and of the plateau itself. The dis¬
placements occurring on either side of the plateau, are described in some
detail. The drainage system, consisting of a
minutely ramified plexus of
ravines, is accorded a very recent origin, with the exception of one remark¬
able valley spoken of in Chapter VII. This
valley is shown to be probably
an ancient river
channel, tributary to the Colorado, but dried up at a very
early stage of the excavation of the present canon.
Chapter XI treats in a very brief and cursory manner of the Paria
Plateau and of the Marble Canon platform.
Chapter XII generalizes, interprets, and draws conclusions from the
facts set forth in all of the
preceding chapters, and groups them into a his¬
tory of the evolution of the region. Prior to Carboniferous time large
masses of Silurian strata and some Devonian
beds were deposited. The

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

Grand Wash Fault

Grand Wash

SHEA V WIl'tL.

SHE A V WITS

PLATEAU.

U INK ABET

PTE

lAl

MARBLE

CANON

PLATFORM.

SECTION FROM EAST TO

WEST 00

GRA ND CA NON PIS TR/C T.

Mt Trumbull

~TEA U.

KANAB

PLATEAU,

PL. II.

ABSTRACT OP THE MONOGRAPH.

7

country was then upheaved, enormously eroded and again submerged.

Upon the denuded surface the Carboniferous was deposited unconformably,
and deposition continued without notable interruption until the close of the
Mesozoic. In that long succession of ages from 12,000 to 16,000 feet of
strata

accumulated

over

the entire Plateau Province.

The beds

are

remark¬

able for their

homogeneity and constancy of character over vast areas,
though the different formations vary greatly in lithological character; that
is to say, homogeneity in horizontal range, with great heterogeneity in ver¬
tical range. The Carboniferous system may have accumulated in waters
of moderate depth, but the Mesozoic beds are all shallow-water deposits
The surface of deposition remained throughout Permian and Mesozoic
time very near sea level, which is equivalent to saying that the beds sank
as
rapidly as they accumulated. Near the close of the Cretaceous signs of
the coming revolution make their appearance. The waters became brack¬
ish, indicating a restricted access of the ocean. At the close of the Creta¬
ceous important disturbances took
place, and portions of the province were
uplifted and denuded. These were again submerged, but the new con¬
ditions differed from the old, for the new deposits (Eocene) laid down un¬
conformably upon the Cretaceous and Jurassic are of fresh-water origin,
indicating that a great lake was formed. The extent of this lake corre¬
sponds very nearly with that of the Southern Plateau Province itself, but
not exactly.
Near the middle Eocene began that slow action which has
gradually elevated the western portion of the continent, and which has
prevailed until a recent epoch. It does not appear to have progressed at a
constant rate, but rather by maxima and minima, or still more probably
through alternating periods of activity and repose.
The Tertiary history of the region is a great chapter of erosion. Many

The thickness removed
amounts to about 10,000 feet, while from others a

thousands of feet of strata have been swept away.
from

some

large

areas

much less thickness has been denuded.
find the

largest

denudation

was

In the Grand Cation district

we

maximum erosion. Much the greater part of this
probably accomplished by the close of the Miocene.

area of

The Colorado River appears to have originated in very early Tertiary
time as the outlet of the great Eocene lake, and has persisted in its course

8

THE GRAND CASTOR DISTRICT.

ever

since.

It has been the main track

along which the waste of the prov¬
At its beginning its bed lay in Eocene
down its channel by corrasion, severing

ince has been carried to the Pacific.

strata, and
in

as

the land

rose

it cut

succession all the beds of the Mesozoic

and Carboniferous systems

That

portion of it which constitutes the Grand and Marble Canons has cut
through 10,000 to 16,000 feet of beds, reaching a maximum amount in the
Kaibab. The present Grand Canon represents only the corrasion through
the Carboniferous and into the Archaean.

The older corrasion of

superior
only when we restore in imagination the Mesozoic
strata which have been denuded from the
vicinity of the chasm. The pres¬
ent Grand Canon therefore is the work of late
Tertiary and Quaternary
time.
Although we cannot fix with precision the exact epoch at which the
river first penetrated the Carboniferous beds, we may in roughly
approxi¬
mate language place that epoch near the
beginning of the Pliocene or close
of the Miocene. These terms, however, are used with considerable latitude.
Some critical events in the subsequent development of the chasm are pointed
beds becomes manifest

out and

the evidences cited.

Chapters XIII and XIV deal with the mechanical laws, forces, and
methods of action by which the canon has been corraded and eroded, and
explain how those abnormal architectural forms so abundantly displayed
in the chasm and in the

region roundabout have been generated.

CHAPTER

I.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
Subdivisions of the Plateau Province.—The boundaries of the Grand Cafion district.—The western

boundary at the Grand Wash — Its northern border along the terraces.—The southern and south¬
western margin at the Aubrey Cliffs.—The Sheavwits Plateau.—The Uinkaret.—The Kanab
Plateau.—The Kaibab.—The Paria Plateau and Marble Canon platform.—The Kaiparowits.—
The Colorado Plateau south of the river.—The San Francisco Mountains.—The terraces forming
the border region descending from the High Plateaus to the Grand Canon platform.—The Eocene
andMesozoic strata of these terraces and their terminal cliffs.—The Vermilion Cliffs.—The Per¬
mian terrace.—Eastern

boundary of the district along the Echo Cliffs and terminations of the
mesas of the province.—The displacements.—General inclination
of the great Carboniferous platform of the district.—The systematic character of the faults.—
The Grand Wash fault.—Hurricane fault.—Toroweap fault.—Southern termination of the Sevier
fault.—Western and Eastern Kaibab displacements.—Echo Cliff monocline.—General arrange¬
ment of the faults.—The drainage system of the region.—Course of the Colorado through the
district in the Marble and Grand Canons.—Divisions of the Grand Canon.—Its length and dimen¬
sions.—Its general characteristics in the several plateaus which it traverses.—The rivers of the
terraces.—The Virgen.—Kanab River.—Paria River.—Paucity of tributaries to the Grand Canon.
Mesozoic strata of the central

works upon western geology those features which give
the Plateau Province its distinct character have been the subjects of ex¬
In

numerous

description; and its boundaries, so far as they have been discovered,
They are gradually becoming familiar to students of
geology, and no general account of them is deemed necessary here. The
province is capable of subdivision into component districts, each of which,
while preserving the plateau features, has peculiarities of its own. Three
of these have already been the subjects of special monographs;* viz, the
Uinta Mountains, the Henry Mountains and the High Plateaus. The in¬
terest in this remarkable province no doubt culminates in that portion of
tended

have been indicated.

it which drains into the Grand Canon of the

most—perhaps

we may say

Colorado.

This is the western¬

the southwesternmost—portion of the Plateau

These three monographs are the published Reports of the Geographical and Geological Survey
Rocky Mountain Region, J. W. Powell in charge. The first of them, uThe Geology of the Uinta
Mountains," is the work of J. W. Powell; the second, "The Henry Mountains," is by G. K. Gilbert; the
third, " Geology of the High Plateaus of Utah," is by C. E. Dutton. They were all originally contem¬
plated as subsidiary to a more general treatise upon the geology of the Plateau country at large.
*

of the

9

10

CASTON DISTRICT.

THE GRAND

North of it rise the High Plateaus of Utah; to the eastward are
regions of the Plateau Province; and to the southward and west¬
ward is a sierra country, which remains to be well
explored before its dis¬
tinctive features can be described.
Upon the west the district terminates
abruptly upon the brink of a great wall, where the surface of the country
drops at once from an elevation of more than 6,000 feet to levels ranging
country.

the central

from 1,300 to 3,000 feet above the sea.
Every traveler in the
noted the desolate character of the
country through which

Pacific

far west has
the Central
feature of that desolation is

Railway in Nevada is laid; and every
degree, though identical in kind, in the nameless and formi¬

intensified in

dable desert which lies west of the Grand Canon district.
It is not

drawn,

nor

altogether clear where the boundaries of the district should

what it should be made

boundary is concerned there is

to include.

So far

as

be

the western

for debate.

It lies along the great
escarpment which overlooks the rugged sierras and desert. From the very
no room

foot of that wall the calm repose

of the strata with horizontal surfaces
changes at once to the turmoil of flexed beds and jagged mountain crests.
It is a portion of that trenchant boundary line which
separates the topogra¬
phy of the Plateaus from that of the Great Basin and of the region south
of the Great Basin so sharply that we may almost hurl a stone from one
region to the other. But it is not so obvious where the eastern limit should
be drawn.

The Grand Canon receives from the north the

drainage of four

distinct

plateaus: the Sheavwits, Uinkaret, Kanab, and Kaibab. East of
a fifth, the Paria
Plateau, which drains into the Marble Canon,
and the Marble Canon is but the prelude to the Grand Canon.
Structurally
the Paria Plateau is quite similar to the others; it has shared in their
history
and evolution, and its topography is
substantially the same in many respects,
though not in all. It differs from the rest mainly in lying at a lower level
and in the fact that the greater portion of its surface is covered with Triassic rocks, while the others present an almost unbroken
expanse of Carbonif¬
these lies

erous

beds.

These two facts

off into consequences

which are very
interesting in themselves, but which often mar the simplicity which is pre¬
sented to the mind in the study of the Grand Cafion district, as limited to
the other four plateaus. Hence it will be convenient to
play fast and loose
run

THE NATURAL BOUNDARIES.

with the Paria

11

subdivision, invoking its presence whenever it can he util¬

ized and

dismissing it from the discussion whenever it is de trop.
were content to discuss merely the existing topography, the
northern boundary would soon be chosen at the base of the Vermilion
Cliffs, where the splendid succession of terraces ends and the broad expanse
of the desert begins. But the geologist, looking beyond the visible present
into the past, seeks for history and the process of evolution. The history
of the Grand Canon district is a remarkable one, and its few remaining
records are in great part disclosed to us in the terraces which lead up to the
High Plateaus. These terraces may be regarded as the appanage of either
district—as the common ground where the threads of their respective his¬
tories are interwoven.
Neither district can be comprehended without some
knowledge of the terraces, and since they have been lightly touched upon
in the monograph of the High Plateaus, it is deemed necessary to give a
If

we

fuller account of them here.

boundary of the district is a continuation of the western
boundary. The grand escarpment which overlooks the sierra country to
the west stretches southward across the Colorado, preserving identical
features as far as it has been thoroughly studied; that is, as far as thirty or
forty miles south of the river. We do not know as yet whether this con¬
tinuity of character and relations in the terminal escarpment persists far
beyond that point, but, from the superficial knowledge we possess, it may
be inferred that it does.
As far as we know, and we have accounts cover¬
The southern

ing the entire southern border, the great mural termination of the Carbonif¬
erous platform which constitutes the surface of the district slowly changes
its trend south of the river, and at length follows an east-southeasterly
course through eastern Arizona.
There, as at the Grand Wash, the surface
of the country descends at once from the horizontal platform into a lower

apparently identical in its topographic and geologic features with
terrible desert along the lower courses of the
Colorado. But whether the passage is across a great fault, as it is at the
western side of the district, still remains to be investigated.
The four plateaus thus far named, all lie upon the northern side of the
Colorado. They are for the most part divided by distinct lines and only

country,

the Great Basin and with the

12

THE GRAND

CASTON DISTRICT.

here and there shade into each other.
Plateau.

The westernmost is the Sheavwits

Its western

Grand

boundary is a gigantic escarpment, overlooking the
broad and deep valley descending from the north to the

Wash, a
Colorado, and reaching the river at the mouth of the Grand Canon. This
"wash" carries the
drainage from a considerable area lying to the north¬
westward, and also from the western wall of the plateau. No river runs
there, but only occasional deluges of mud, whenever the storms from the
southeast are flung against the
lofty battlements and break in torrents of
winter rain. The plateau wall had its
origin in a great fault along the
course of which the
country east of it has been hoisted several thousand feet
above the country on the west.
The shear of this fault diminishes to the
northward and appears to vanish about
forty miles north of
but its details remain to be studied. From the crest of the

the Colorado,
escarpment the
plateau has a very gentle slope towards the east and northeast, for a dis¬
tance of about 30 miles.
Its surface is diversified by some volcanic masses,
and by a few large Permian outliers,
capped by basaltic sheets. One con¬
siderable mass of basalt forms Mount
Dellenbaugh, in the southern part of
the plateau, and around its base spreads out a
large basaltic field. The
eastern limit of the

Sheavwits is at the foot of the Hurricane

Ledge, one
striking of the strong geological and topographical features of
the region. The profile of the country, which has
gradually declined from
the western verge of the Sheavwits, suddenly
leaps upward 1,600 to 1,800
feet. Here begins the Uinkaret Plateau.
It is the narrowest of the four, but is
strongly marked in its features.
Its southern portion has been the scene of basaltic
eruptions of consider¬
able magnitude, though far inferior in extent and mass to those of other
of the most

districts around the borders of the Plateau Province.

But

they

are very

interesting in consequence of their connection with other features of the
plateau and with their history. The cones and coulees are in an excellent
state of preservation, and some of them have a
singular freshness and an
aspect of great recency. The positions of many of the basaltic masses
amid the stupendous scenery of the great chasm and its
tributary valleys,
are
highly impressive and suggestive. On this plateau also the basalt
has preserved the Permian beds in several localities, and the manner of

13

THE INDIVIDUAL PLATEAUS.

this

preservation yields, when carefully studied, much information concern¬
ing the progress of the events which have made this region what it is. The
western boundary of the Uinkaret is the Hurricane Ledge, which preserves
its features throughout the entire length of the plateau and continues far
beyond it with increasing emphasis to the northward. The eastern bound¬
ary is not so persistent.
It consists in part of the Toroweap fault, which
is a strong feature in the vicinity of the Grand Canon, but diminishes
northward and finally dies out about 18 miles from the chasm. North of
this there is no structural and no resulting topographical feature separating
the Uinkaret from the next subdivision.
The Kanab Plateau is the broadest of the

nounced in its features.

It is

a

four, and the least

simple monotonous

expanse,

pro¬

without

a

point to fix the attention, save one. This is a magnificent side
canon, cutting through its central portion and opening into the heart of the
Grand Canon. It is as instructive as it is magnificent.
Next in order, east of the Kanab Plateau, rises the Kaibab.
It is

salient

typical in its form, being nearly flat upon its summit and terminating in
lofty battlements upon its eastern and western sides. It is much higher
than the other three plateaus and has an elevation of 7,500 to 9,300 feet.
Its broad surface is clothed with magnificent forest, opening in grassy parks,
which during the summer are gay with flowers of rare beauty and luxuri¬
ance.
It is a paradise to the explorer, who, weary of the desert, wanders
with delight among its giant pines and spruces, and through its verdant
but streamless valleys.
This plateau is an uplift between two great dis¬
placements, throwing in opposite directions. Towards the north these con¬
verge, and near the little village of Paria, at the base of the Vermilion
Cliffs, the western fault merges into the eastern and the plateau ends there
in a cusp.
The western fault in its southern portion splits into three,
which die out upon the brink of the Grand Canon or hard by it. The
eastern displacement is a monocline of huge proportions, and about midlength it divides into two parallel monoclines, which die out upon the south¬
ern side of the Colorado.
The total length of the Kaibab from the Ver¬
milion Cliffs to the Grand Canon is about 90 miles, and its width at a
maximum about 35 miles.

14

THE GRAND CAJJON DISTRICT.

East of this

plateau the surface drops quickly across the great mono¬
cline, nearly 4,000 feet, upon the region draining into the Marble Cafion.
This region is divisible into two
parts, a northern and a southern. The
former, named the Pakia Plateau, is a terrace of Triassic strata, scored
with

labyrinth of canons, but otherwise featureless so far as its summit is
It terminates abruptly towards the south
by a line of cliffs,
describing a semicircle convex southward. They are an extension of the
Vermilion Cliffs, and their position,
projecting far in advance of the main
line, is very instructive when viewed in connection with the grand erosion
of this part of the Plateau Province. Their profiles
drop upon a lower
platform which extends far to the southward, hot, dreary, and barren, to
an extreme
degree. Diagonally across this lower platform lies the course of
the Marble Canon, which in depth and grandeur is
surpassed only by the
a

concerned.

Grand Canon.
Still eastward, and

to the

northward, is another large plateau, the
Kaiparowits, nearly equal to the Kaibab, both in area and altitude. It
reaches out from the southern cape of the Aquarius,
extending to the Glen
Canon of the Colorado. It is composed of lower and middle Cretaceous
beds, and if the chasm cut by the river were filled up again the plateau
would spread out on the southern side into an indefinite
expanse of Cre¬
taceous strata, which form the great mesas of that
region. Its surface is
scored with a plexus of canons which are interesting as the relics of an
erosion which is believed to have occurred in late Meocene or
early Plio¬
cene

more

time.
Thus far the

description has been confined to regions lying north of
Upon the southern side is an expanse of plateau land
equally extensive. Those well marked boundaries which subdivide the
district north of the Grand Canon into individual plateaus do not
appear
upon the southern side, or else appear in such changed relations that they
cannot serve the same purpose.
The country which drains from the south
into the cafion really has no subdivisions, but is a single indivisible
expanse
to which the name of Colorado Plateau has been
given. Its strata are
very nearly horizontal, and with the exception of Cataract Cafion and some
of its tributaries it is not deeply scored. Low mesas
gently rolling and
the Colorado.

15

COLORADO PLATEAU—SAN FRANCISCO MOUNTAINS.

usually clad with an ample growth of pine, pifion and cedar; broad and
shallow valleys, yellow with sand or gray with sage, repeat themselves over
the entire area. The altitude is greater than the plateaus north of the chasm
except the Kaibab, being on an average not far from 7,000 to 7,500 feet.
From such commanding points as give an overlook of this region one lonely
butte is always visible and even conspicuous by reason of its isolation.
It
stands about twenty miles south of the Kaibab division of the Grand Canon
and is named the Red Butte. It consists of Permian strata lying like a cameo
upon the general platform of Carboniferous beds.
The nearest remnant of
similar beds is many miles away. The butte owes its preservation to a mantle
of basalt which

came

to the

surface

near

the center of its summit.

It is

an

important factor in the evidence upon which rest the deductions concerning
the great erosion of this country.
Fifty or sixty miles south of the river rise the San Francisco Mountains.

They are all volcanoes, and four of them are of large dimensions. The
largest, San Francisco Mountain, nearly 13,000 feet high, might be classed
among the largest volcanic piles of the west.
Around these four masses
are scattered many cones, and the lavas which emanated from them have
sheeted over a large area. The foundation upon which they are planted is
still the same platform of level Carboniferous strata which stretches calmly
and evenly from the base of the Vermilion Cliffs for more than one hun¬
dred and fifty miles southward, patched over here and there with the lin¬
gering remnants of lower Permian strata and isolated sheets of basalt.
South of the San Francisco Mountains the level Carboniferous platform
extends for twenty or thirty miles, and at last ends abruptly in the Aubrey
Cliffs, which face southward and southwestward, overlooking the sierra
country of central Arizona.
Recapitulating now in regular order from west to east the several pla¬
teaus which lie immediately north of the Grand Canon, we note: 1. The
Sheavwits; 2. The Uinkaret; 3. The Kanab; 4. The Kaibab. East of
these, and draining into the Marble Canon from the north, is the Paria
Plateau. South of the Grand Canon is the great expanse of the Colorado
Plateau. The limits of the district must also be extended to include the

16

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

belt of terraces which descend from the

High Plateaus on the north through
steps to the four plateaus first mentioned.
If we proceed southward from the district of the
High Plateaus of
Utah, we shall gradually descend from an altitude of more than 10,000 feet
to one of less than
5,000 feet. The country thus traversed is terraced off
a

in

succession of

a

succession of

cliffs

or

steps, each terrace being terminated by a sinuous line of
abrupt slopes. Each cliff is the limiting border of a great series

of strata, no member of which is encountered
tance to the southward.

base upon

the summit of

ment the stratum
to

the northward

very

As

on

as

a

which
far

as

we

lower series.
we

again for

descend each cliff

we

From the

an

indefinite dis¬

find ourselves at its

crest of each

escarp¬

stand constitutes the surface of the

the foot of the next terrace above us,

country
and it has a

gentle and hardly perceptible dip in that direction. The whole series
a
slight dip to the northward. The uppermost series is the

in fact has

Eocene, which forms the summits of the southern members of the
High
Only the lower members of the Eocene are there present, and
these appear by their fossils to be
certainly equivalent in age to those beds
Plateaus.

in the Grreen River Basin and
upon

which Powell gave the
called Vermilion Creek.

local

name

the slopes of the Uinta Mountains to
of Bitter Creek beds, and which King

At the southern boundaries of the

Markagunt and

Paunsagunt plateaus the vertical edges of these strata have received the
of the Pink Cliffs. They are
exceedingly picturesque and beautiful
on account of their marvellous
sculpture and delicate pale red color.
Beneath them and extending farther southward is the
great Cretaceous
series, which in these parts does not give rise to cliffs, though farther east
in the Upper Paria amphitheater it
presents palisades of grand proportions
and magnificent aspect.
Here its strata are beveled off on their edges in
such manner, that while their dip is
gently towards the north the planes of
denudation incline strongly towards the south, and the
edges form long
slopes of disintegrated shale with low crumbling ledges of sandstone. From
beneath the Cretaceous project southward two divisions of the
Jurassic, the
upper consisting of red shaly beds which disintegrate easily and do not
ordinarily form cliffs; and the lower, a massive sandstone, a thousand feet
thick and of commanding aspect. It is very light
gray—almost white—
name

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

.An interval of Ihirty
miles imvliicb the strata
are horizontal.

Grand Can on JKanabDivision.
ggfm

■>7T'

['J///I/L *-vII'V

SE

-?i\wA

."j 'y

r

Devonian,Silurian&Areliuean imconforniablo

j'"

pfiT ' «±EE&

ii

to Carboniferous,

M.Silgraveff..
:ir.
^<■ '^1

i-r.

•w)m*

Eocene

y

flwwuM

s.

Cretaceous

Jura

J

-7W//0

Trias

i

r

xw^JT-p

Permian

SECTION FROM NORTH TO

SOUTOSf T

GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

^Carboniferous

IBfeMipri

Volcanic

S

OSS THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

IMIlllllMllllllIll

Horizontal and Vertical Scale

Li

i■ » ■

1

■ » *■ f

PL. III.

JtfpA,

S.H.BoclJiah.Dtl.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE TERRACES.

17

and cross-bedded from top to

bottom in a most intricate and profuse man¬
ner.
The weathering has given to these rocks a filagree tracery as beauti¬
ful as frostwork. The Jurassic sandstone terminates in grand cliffs of sin¬
gular boldness and great simplicity of form. Next below reaches out the
Triassic series, ending in that wonderful escarpment which Powell has
described under the

name

of Vermilion Cliffs.

1,000 to 2,000 feet in height, and presents

a

The tei'minal wall is from

great number of layers of

sandstone and

sandy shales with gypsiferous partings. These are very
evenly stratified, and the cliffs which are carved out of them present many
ledges and slopes which have a very ornate and architectural effect. The
color is throughout a bright rich red, which at sunset takes a strong ver¬
milion hue and fully justifies the name given by Powell. Altogether it is
the greatest cliff-forming series of the Plateau country. The Vermilion
Cliffs stretch from the southwestern border of the Markagunt in a great
curve as far as the Paria Valley, a distance of more than a hundred miles in
which sinuosities are not computed.
There is yet another terrace. Beneath the Trias the Permian is seen,
reaching still further southward. It is everywhere capped with a light
brown, coarse sandstone, here and there passing into a conglomerate, to
which Powell gave the local name of Shinarump conglomerate. Mr. Walcott, for reasons which will hereafter be presented, has placed this particu¬
lar stratum provisionally at the base of the Trias, and while I admit the
validity of his- reasons, it makes some awkward difficulties of discussion;
for in all its topographical relations it is associated with the Permian. The
true Permian lies beneath it, presenting in its upper members those densely
colored shales—chocolate, dark red, brown, purple, slate, and lavender, in
numberless tones and shades.

Lower down, dull Indian red, and still lower,

Wonderful indeed is the coloring of the
Permian, yet not more so than the sculpture. The series forms cliffs of
rather small or moderate altitude, ranging from 400 to 1,000 feet in height,
and sometimes interrupted through notable intervals where they are beveled
off. Having passed the Permian, we find ourselves upon the immense plat¬
form of the Carboniferous, which covers the entire expanse of country as

white

or

pale

grey

bands

appear.

18
far

THE GRAND

as

the

CANON DISTRICT.

Aubrey Cliffs, 150 miles to the southward, and has

a

width of

100 miles.

The

region occupied by the terraces has a width from north to south of
miles, and a length from west to east of nearly 100 miles.
The trend of the cliffs is in detail very irregular, making long detours and
throwing out great southward projections. Still there is much of system
in their arrangement, and a rude kind of parallelism in the trends of their
escarpments. In a general way their course is from west to east, reaching
from the Hurricane Ledge to the valley of the Paria. It is desirable to follow
the course of these cliffs beyond the Paria and note the manner in which
they terminate the strata along the eastern side of the district.
At the Paria River the limiting edges of the Mesozoic strata suddenly
change their trend and strike off to the southward, or rather in courses a
little east of south.
For more than 140 miles they form the eastern bound¬
ary of the Grand and Marble Cafion area. Their topographical features,
however, are very different from those presented upon the southern flanks
of the High Plateaus. Generally each terrain (Trias, Jura, Cretaceous, &c.,)
ends in cliffs facing the west and overlooking the great Carboniferous
platform through which the Grand and Marble Canons are cut; but the
regular terraces, rising step above step, are wanting. The arrangement can
be understood only by consulting the geological map and sections. It is
greatly complicated by a large monoclinal flexure (Echo Cliff flexure) which
throws down the country east of the Marble Canon and Paria Plateau, and
upon .the slope of this monocline appear the edges of the Trias and Jura,
and a little beyond it the Cretaceous. "We are here concerned, however,
only with certain facts which are common to the regions north of the dis¬
trict and to those east of it.
On both of these sides the edges of the
Mesozoic strata, ending in long lines of cliff above cliff, face towards the
about 30 to 40

great Carboniferous platform.
And while this

conception is fresh, let us turn to the western and
southern sides of the district, where the Carboniferous platform itself ends
in giant cliffs which overlook the sierra country beyond.
In that sierra
region the rocks are all of older age—Archaean, Silurian, and Devonian (f),
and the elevations, except the summits of the ridges, are much less than

THE PRINCIPAL DISPLACEMENTS.

those of the

plateaus.

We

19

realize that the district drained by
the Grand and Marble Canons consists of a vast platform of Carboniferous
strata nearly horizontal; bounded on the north and east by the edges of
abruptly terminated Mesozoic beds ascending cliff above cliff; and bounded
upon the west and south by its own terminal escarpment descending to the
Silurian and Archaean rocks of the sierra region.
In a preliminary treatment of the more general features of the district
it is necessary to advert to the displacements which serve to define its dif¬
ferent portions. The most striking structural characteristic is the approxi¬
mate horizontality of the strata.
But although the dips, except at the mono¬
clines are very small, they are important. They rarely exceed 2° and
generally are less than 1°. But as they are for the most part in one direc¬
tion—towards the north—and as the distances over which they prevail are
very great, the aggregate effect is correspondingly great. The summit of
may now

the Carboniferous at the base of the Permian

near

Kanab, five

or

six miles

Forty
miles further south, near the brink of the Grand Canon, the same geologi¬
cal horizon lies at an altitude of 6,400 feet, and at the bases of the San
Francisco Mountains its altitude is 7,800 feet above the sea. In the course
of the discussion this widely diffused dip will appear as a factor of the
utmost importance.
Allusion has already been made to the abrupt lines of displacement
which traverse the region in directions which never deviate far from north
and south. But some further discussion is advisable.
south of the Vermilion

Cliffs, is about 4,400 feet above the

sea.

faults and flexures which traverse lengthwise the district
High Plateaus and the Grand Canon district form a very striking
system. They are of great magnitude and are remarkable for their enor¬
mous length.
In the High Plateaus they are comparatively near together,
but from north to south they spread out very slightly and the area over
which they extend constantly widens southwardly.
In the Grand Canon
district they have their widest expansion and are separated by the widest
intervals, occupying there a belt of country having a width of more than
The great

of the

a

hundred miles from west to east.
The westernmost of these is the

Grand Wash fault.

It is

a

feature of

20
the

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

highest importance, since it is the boundary, not only of the Grand
district, but of the Plateau Province itself. It drops the country on
west about 6,000 feet at a maximum.
The greatest observed displace¬

Canon
the

ment is at

the lower end of the Grand

Canon, where the lower Trias appears
abutting against the lower Carboniferous. South of the river it continues
for an unknown distance, still terminating the platform of the district. North
of the river it diminishes in the amount of

George,

on

displacement, and near Saint
the Utah boundary-line, it appears to vanish. But the down¬

throw has in the

mean

time been shifted eastward to the Hurricane

As the Grand Wash fault

diminishes

northwardly

so

fault.

does the Hurricane

fault increase.
The latter

crosses

the Colorado upon

Plateau, and is known to extend
but the

studied.

a

the western base of the Uinkaret

considerable distance south of the river;

distant extensions of it in that direction have not yet been
At the Grand Canon its displacement is about 1,800 feet, and

more

this amount is

preserved with approximate uniformity for thirty miles north
until, at the point where the Yirgen River
crosses it, the displacement is more than 6,000 feet,
bringing the Jurassic
below the level of the upper Carboniferous. Here by the evanishment
of the Grand Wash fault it has become the boundary of the Plateau
country.
It continues northward in great force along the base of the
Mark&gunt
mass and
disappears seventy or eighty miles north of the Yirgen.
The next fault is the
It is of less magnitude
Toroweap. and length
than the others, though still considerable.
It crosses the Colorado at the
foot of the Toroweap Valley, which lies at the eastern base of the Uinkaret
Plateau. Here its displacement is about 700 feet. It is seen to extend
south of the river for a considerable distance, rather
increasing in the
amount of shear, or at least holding its own as far as it has been traced.
But its mode of resolution remains to be investigated. North of the river
it gradually dwindles and vanishes about 18 or 20 miles north of the Cailon.
The southern extension of the great Sevier fault also
penetrates the
district, but its effect is seen only in the terraces. It is a strong feature at
the southernmost promontory of the Vermilion Cliffs at
Pipe Spring, but
its further extension towards the south cannot be great. The soil and alluof the river.

It then increases

THE PBINCIPAL DISPLACEMENTS.

21

vium at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs hide

everything beneath for several
miles, and beyond that no trace of the fault is visible.
The Western and Eastern
Kaibab
displacements will be treated
so fully
hereafter that no extended mention of them is deemed necessary here.
They include between them the Kaibab platform. At the northern extrem¬
ity of that plateau the western fault merges into the eastern and loses its
individuality at once. The eastern displacement is a great monoclinal flex¬
ure.

South of the river, at

the head of the Grand Canon, it

appears as a

gentle inclination, becoming steeper and more abrupt upon the northern
side. All along the eastern front of the Kaibab it is a sharp sudden flexure,
turning down the Carboniferous beds from 2,500 to 4,000 feet. It reaches
far to the northward and enters the district of the High Plateaus.
The easternmost displacement is the Echo Cliff flexure. It crosses the
Colorado at the head of the Marble Canon and is known to extend at least
100 miles south of the river.

Upon the northern side it reaches up to the
little village of Paria at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs, where it appears
to merge with the Eastern Kaibab monocline.
The four faults west of the Kaibab, viz, the Grand Wash, Hurricane,
Toroweap, and West Kaibab, drop the country to the west of them. The
two monoclines east of the same plateau, viz, East Kaibab and Echo Cliff
flexures, drop the country to the east of them. We may note also a gen¬
eral feature in the trend of these faults. With the exception of the Echo
Cliff monocline their courses, though generally north and south, are curvi¬
linear and in a peculiar way. At the base of the Vermilion Cliffs the courses
are a little west of south, and thence gradually bend to due south and finally
to the south-southeast.
All of them appear to have this feature in common,
and the result is that they include between them crescent-shaped or scimetar-shaped blocks of country. Viewed in another way we may observe
that they show a tendency to maintain a parallelism with the western and
southwestern boundary of the district; which boundary, as will subse¬
quently appear, is the approximate locus of the old Mesozoic shore-line,
from which the sediments of that age were
least upon

derived. No

the northern side of the chasm—have been

cross

faults—at

detected, and it may

22

THE GRAND

be affirmed that

none

of any

CASfON DISTRICT.

importance exist.

They would not have

escaped observation if they
In the

were present.
of the present work much use

will be made of the drain¬
age system in the task of unraveling the geological history of the region,
and a brief sketch of that system is deemed necessary here. The trunk of
the drainage tree is the Colorado. This marvelous river, after traversing
the heart of the Plateau Province for hundreds of miles, and nearly all the
way in profound chasms, at length reaches the escarpment of the Echo
Cliffs. Here it emerges for a moment from between opposing walls of im¬
pressive magnitude into a comparatively open space. But it is for a moment
only. At once it begins to sink in the Carboniferous platform another
chasm, termed the Marble Carton. The course of the river as it leaves
the Echo Cliffs is southwest, and gradually it bends to due south. As its
bed descends the strata slowly rise, and at the distance of 65 miles (as the
river runs) from the Echo Cliffs the abyss attains a depth of 3,600 feet. At
this point the Little Colorado, a tributary coming from the south, enters it
through a canon of equal depth. Three or four miles from the confluence
the main stream, hitherto flowing southward, suddenly changes its course
to the west and enters the upward slope of the East Kaibab monocline.
Rapidly the chasm deepens to about 6,000 feet—the increase of depth being
mainly due to the fact that it penetrates a much higher country while the
descent of the river meantime is immaterially small. Here begins the Grand
Canon. On the north is the Kaibab Plateau, and on the south is the con¬
tinuation of the same platform as the Kaibab, at an altitude which is only
three or four hundred feet lower—a difference which is very small in com¬
parison with the depth of the chasm. Through this lofty plateau—8,000
to 9,000 feet high—the chasm extends for a distance of about 60 miles,
gradually changing its direction to the northwest. This portion of the
canon will, for convenience of discussion, be called the Kaibab division of
the Grand Canon. It is the sublimest portion of the chasm, being nearly a
thousand feet deeper than any other. But the greater depth is by no means
the chief reason for this superior grandeur, since the relative difference
between 5,000 and 6,000 feet is not so very great. But the Kaibab division
is far more diversified and complex than the others and is adorned with a
course

SUBDIVISIONS OF THE GRAND AND MARBLE CANONS.

23

multitude of

magnificent features which are either wanting or much less
strongly represented elsewhere. If now we consider the Marble Canon with
its southerly course, and the Kaibab division of the Grand Canon with its
west and northwesterly course, we shall perceive that these two portions of
the river form a great elbow or detour to the south. This detour is named
the Eastern Bend.
After

passing the Kaibab division the chasm suddenly changes its
again from northwest to a direction a little south of due west, ex¬
tending in an almost straight line through the Kanab Plateau, a distance of
forty miles. Here the chasm is about 5,000 feet in depth, varying but little
from that amount. It is also much simpler in form than in the Kaibab
division. Along this portion two great side canons, as deep as the main
chasm itself, open into it; one from the north, called Kanab Canon, the
other from the south, called Cataract Canon. The Kanab division ends at
the foot of Toroweap Valley, a broad avenue about 20 miles long and two
to three miles wide coming from the north.
This valley is excavated only
to about two-fifths of the depth of the chasm, and opens upon a broad plat¬
form in the main canon. The fault which runs through this valley drops
the country to the west, and the height of the walls where the river crosses
course

the fault at

once

lost altitude is

diminishes from about 5,200 feet to 4,500 feet.

But the

regained. Here begins the Uinkaret division, which
length. It is very similar in character to the Kanab
termination the river again changes its course to the south¬

soon

is about 15 miles in

division.

At its

west and enters

the Sheavwits Plateau.

As the river

crosses

the Hurricane

again drop and again the lost altitude is soon recovered. The
general character of the canon in the Sheavwits division is similar to that
of the Kanab. ' In this plateau the river makes a second great detour to the
south, beginning with a southwesterly course, and after running about 40
miles in this direction suddenly deflecting to the northwest. This detour is
named the Western Bend. The length of the Sheavwits division is about
80 miles.
At length the river emerges from this platform through a gate¬
way 5,000 feet in depth, and as it crosses the Grand Wash fault the walls
at once drop to mere banks a few hundred feet in height with easy slopes,

fault the walls

and the Grand Canon ends.

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

24
We may

reckon the length of the entire chasm in several ways with
varying results. If the line of measurement he laid along the middle of
the water surface of the river, following all its meanderings in detail, the
length would be about 220 miles. If it be laid along the median line be¬
tween

the crests of the summits of the walls with two-mile chords it would

be about 195 miles.

The distance between the confluence of the Little

Colorado and the foot of the cafion at the Grand Wash in

a

single straight

only 125 miles. The length of the Marble Canon can be measured
only one way, and may be stated at 66 miles.
There are three principal streams which drain the terraces. The west¬
ernmost is the Virgen River, which heads in many filaments along the south¬
ern escarpment of the Mark&gunt.
Reaching the Triassic terrace by two
principal forks, it then deflects to the westward, and crossing the Hurricane
Ledge leaves the Plateau Province altogether. Flowing thence southwestward, it threads its way through that dismal region which lies west of the
line is

in

Grand Wash and south of the Great Basin.

drainage channel of importance is Kanab
Creek. It heads at the divide separating the waters which run to the Colo¬
rado from those which flow northward through the Sevier River into the
The second and median

springs are near that portion of this divide which lies be¬
Paunsagunt and Markagunt plateaus. It flows due south, and
Grand Canon by a mighty gorge opening midway of the Kanab

Great Basin.
tween

the

enters

the

Its

division of the chasm.

principal drainage channel is the Paria River. It heads in
grand Paria amphitheater, receiving the wash of the eastern wall of the
Paunsdgunt and the western front of Table Cliff. It flows about southsoutheast, passing between the Paria Plateau and the Kaiparowits, and
The third

the

enters

the Colorado at the head of the

These three rivers
on

are

the north side between

Marble Canon.

only living streams which enter the Colorado
the head of the Marble Canon and the mouth of
the

Virgen—a distance of more than 300 miles. Only one of them, Kanab
Creek, enters the Grand Canon, and even Kanab Creek is dry along a por¬
tion of its bed during the greater part of the year, its waters sinking out of
sight but rising again near their confluence. We cannot fail to be struck
the

25

PAUCITY OF TRIBUTARIES.

with the absence of tributaries—this

one

alone excepted.

The

cause

is

obviously the arid climate. But there are also no dry canons coming from
the north, and though dry canons are abundant in the terraces there is a
conspicuous absence of them in the vicinity of the Grand Canon. The
reason for it will appear in the sequel, and it is only remarked here in a
general way that the arid climate has prevailed during a very long period,
and although other tributaries once existed, they have for the most part
been obliterated or rendered obscure.
They ceased to run with the advent
of this arid climate, which came on when the present Grand Canon had no
existence, or had just begun to develop.

CHAPTER

II.

THE TERRACES.
Mark^gunt.—The Eocene.—The Pink Cliffs.—Correlation of the
Uintas.—Unconformity
with the Cretaceous.—Brackish water deposits at the base.—Only the lower Eocene deposited here.
Volcanic sands.—Remnants of the Eocene in the littoral belt to the southwest of the Markdgunt.

View from the southern brink of the

Pink Cliffs beds with the lower Eocene of the Green River basin and the

Sources of their materials in the Mesozoic land of the Great Basin.—The old shore line.—Outlier

Kaiparowits.—Absence of the Eocene from the heart of the Plateau Province.—The Cre¬
topographical features.—Its occurrence in the littoral
belt.—Its exposures in the Kaiparowits.—Its extension into the great mesas of Arizona.—Former
extension westward of the great Cretaceous ocean and connection with the area of the Plateau
Province.—The Jurassic.—The subdivisions of the formation.—The great cross-bedded sandstone.
on

the

taceous.—Its extent and thickness.—Its

—Its characteristic cliffs.—Its forms

on

the Colob. —Absence of this sandstone from the eastern

part of the province and its blending with the Trias.—The
races

in the west flank of the

obscure

Jurassic in the littoral belt, in the ter¬

Kaiparowits and Paria and in the Echo Cliffs.—The Trias.—Its

separation from the Jura.—Lithological characters of its beds.—Its appearance in the

terraces.—The Vermilion Cliffs.—Its extension in the Paria Plateau and in the Echo Cliffs.—

Outlying remnants in the Sheavwits Plateau and Grand Wash.—Its exposures in the littoral
separation from the Trias.—Its numerous remnants over the Grand
Canon platform.—Facts of general application to the terraces.—The prevailing dip of the whole
Mesozoic series towards the north.—Sudden increments of dip at the bases of the cliffs.—Attenu¬
ation of the strata towards the east.—Subordinate watersheds of the terraces.—Drainage basin of
the Virgen.—Basin of Kanab Creek.—Canons of Upper Kanab.—The Paria.—Courses of the
drainage with reference to structural slopes.
belt.—The Permian.—Its

describing those subdivisions of the Grand Canon district which
are of greatest moment to the present discussion, I shall begin with the ter¬
races terminating the High Plateaus.
In

Before the observer who stands upon a

southern salient of the Mar-

k&gunt Plateau is spread out a magnificent spectacle. The altitude is nearly
11,000 feet above the sea, and the radius of vision reaches to the south¬
ward nearly a hundred miles. In the extreme distance is the calm of the
desert platform, its surface mottled with indistinct lights and shades, too
remote to disclose their meaning.
Against the southeastern horizon is

projected the pale blue escarpment of the Kaibab, which stretches
away to the south until the curvature of the earth carries it out of sight. To
26

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE EOCENE.

the southward rise in merest

27

outline, and devoid of all visible details, the

of Mount Trumbull and the

of the Uinkaret. Be¬
is a horizontal line, like
southwestward are the
sierras of the Basin Province, and quite near to us there rises a short but
quite lofty range of veritable mountains, contrasting powerfully with the flat
crestlines and mesas which lie to the south and east.
It is the Pine Valley
range, and though its absolute altitude above the sea is smaller than many
other ranges of the West, yet since their bases are comparatively low (3,000
to 3,500 feet above the sea), the mountain masses themselves are very high.

dark

mass

waving

cones

these and the Kaibab the limit of the prospect
that which separates the sea from the sky. To the

tween

THE EOCENE.

foreground of the picture is full of strength and animation. At
a precipice where the profiles descend 800 feet upon
rugged slopes which shelve away downwards and mingle with the inequali¬
ties of a broad platform deeply indented with picturesque valleys. The
cliff on which we stand is of marvelous sculpture and color. The rains
have carved out of it rows of square obelisks and pilasters of uniform pat¬
tern and dimensions, which decorate the front for many miles, giving the
effect of a gigantic colonnade from which the entablature has been removed
or has fallen in ruins.
The Plateau Country abounds in these close resem¬
blances of natural carving to human architecture, and nowhere are these
more conspicuous or more perfect than in the scarps which terminate the
summits of the Markdgunt and Paunsagunt Plateaus. Their color varies with
the light and atmosphere. It is a pale red under ordinary lights, but as the
sun sinks towards the horizon it deepens into a rich rose-color, which is
seen in no other rocks and is beautiful beyond description.
These cliffs are
of lower Eocene age, consisting of lake marls very uniformly bedded. At
the base of this series the beds are coarser, and contain well-marked, brack¬
ish-water fossils; but as we ascend to the higher beds we find the great
mass of the Eocene to consist of fresh-water deposits.
These beds are identical in age with the lower divisions of the Eocene,
The

our

feet is the brink of

28

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

which

are

seen

in great

volume both north and south of the Uinta Mount¬

ains, in the basins of the Green River, of Bitter Creek, and of the White
and Uinta rivers.

Their

geological relations and associations, too, are
quite the same, for the same lake bottom received the deposits of the south¬
ern Uinta slopes and those of the Mark&gunt.
Those of the Green River
basin north of the Uintas appear to have accumulated in a separate lake
basin communicating with the one which submerged the southern Plateau
Province. The interval separating the Markdgunt from the Uinta region
is two hundred and fifty miles and more, but the lower Eocene is continu¬
ous between them.
It occupies a marginal belt, sometimes narrow, but more
frequently wide, which was once the locus of the northwestern portion and
shore line of the great lake. The summits of the High Plateaus, wherever
the volcanic masses are absent, disclose this formation, and its presence is
decisively inferred beneath the lavas and their debris. A common bond be¬
tween the two regions is also indicated by the physical conditions attend¬
ing the deposition of these strata. The lower Eocene rests upon the under¬
lying formations, conformably in some places, unconformably in others.
Where conformity prevails, both the upper and lower series were at the
time of deposition sensibly horizontal. But in many places the Cretaceous,
prior to the deposition of the Eocene, was greatly disturbed and greatly
eroded. And in general the base of the Eocene marks an epoch in the
geological history of the country, in which an old order of events was
closing and a new order was making its advent. This revolution was the
transition of the region from the oceanic condition to that of an estuary
and lake, and subsequently to that of dry land. The lower Eocene beds
are brackish-water deposits in the basal members, while higher up they
become fresh-water. The basal members are coarse and even conglomer¬
atic in their texture, while the middle and higher ones are fine and marly.
Thus is indicated the complete severance of the lake from the access of
oceanic waters. Both in the Uinta district and throughout the High Pla¬
teaus these events are recorded in the same order and their meaning is the
same

in both.

The beds

now

found in the southern extremities of the

represent less than half of the duration of Eocene time.

High Plateaus

No middle and

W7 f/mi

ai/9
mm

fasp-sf '•*?*

$*u>ft,

%ny},'"'HH<*'!

S/TR/

V

)%»5"^ ^

M/

gwm*.

Cp<

,vr%#:

ynm\

MAP

OF THE
Cretaceous

GRAND
Jurassic

ME SO ZOIC FORMAT
DS
1

i

SLI tiTian

1l m 1

Archs^an
A rcht^an

NS
';:s

T
Trachvte
racliyte Rhvolite
Rhyolite &.M
& itodesito
TY

[

B

;

•

.1

29

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE EOCENE.

no

upper

are found there. But as we go northward towards
find later and later formations successively appearing until

Eocene strata

the Uintas

we

the flanks of the Uintas the whole Eocene appears in enormous
Could these middle and upper
Eocene masses once have existed upon the southern portion of the High
Plateaus and been swept away by erosion? There is strong evidence to
upon

volume, exceeding perhaps 5,000 feet.

the

contrary.

found
small patches of water-laid strata consisting of volcanic sand overlying the
Eocene marls, and upon these are piled massive sheets of andesite and
trachyte. No apparent unconformity separates the stratified tufa from the
underlying marls, and to all appearances the deposition was continuous.
The inference is plain that the lacustrine age closed here amid volcanic
convulsions, and that the epoch of its closure was at the end of the lower
Within

Eocene.
sure

to

a

few miles of

Similar evidences
the

our

are

standpoint

found

as we

on

the Markagunt

are

examine each successive expo¬

northward, in which the summit of the lacustrine series is

revealed; but with the following modification.

The beds of volcanic sand

grow thicker and more numerous, indicating a longer continuance of the
lake the further north we trace it. And when we pass northwardly beyond

the limits of the volcanic

masses

of the High Plateaus, we

find

common

sedimentary beds bearing fresh-water fossils of middle Eocene age.
further northward

we

find strata of later and later age,

their appearance until at
local Eocene is present.

Still

successively making

last, within sight of the Uintas, the whole of the

desiccation of the
great lake took place, the portion which first emerged was the southwestern,
These facts

or

point to the conclusion that when the

the Grand Canon district.

eastern

Perhaps when its southern boundary in
examined in detail we shall be

Arizona and western New Mexico is

equal antiquity for the emergence of those regions, and in
truth, from the little that is known of them, a suspicion is raised that it will
so prove.
In any event it appears that the desiccation of the southern por¬
tion of the lake is older than that of the northern, and that its shore-line
led to infer

an

gradually receded northward during middle and upper Eocene time, leav¬
ing dry land behind it, and at the close of the Eocene the last remnant of

30

THE GRAND

CASfON DISTRICT.

the lake

disappeared

of view

as

Basin.

The shore-line of that land extended from the southern end of the

the southern base of the Uinta Mountains. Nor
does this inference rest wholly upon the facts thus recited. Wherever the
physical geology and evolution of the Grand Canon district touches the
question of time, the same conclusion presents itself, sometimes dimly, some¬
times forcibly. Doubtless it will appear repeatedly and from many points
near

the discussion of the

region progresses.
Inasmuch as the most prominent theme of this work will be the recital
of the evidences which this district presents of an enormous denudation
during Tertiary time, we may with advantage proceed to the examination of
the other remnants of Eocene strata which that denudation has spared; for
by the study and comparison of residual masses some valuable indications
may be found showing the original condition and distribution of the primi¬
tive masses. The principal body of the Eocene strata terminates south¬
wardly at the brinks of the High Plateaus. But there are other bodies of
the same formation occurring in a fragmentary way far to the southwest.
At the northeastern base of the Pine Valley Mountains some large rem¬
nants are seen, and upon the opposite side of the same range still others
are found.
A general idea of their distribution may be gained by advert¬
ing to the early Tertiary geography of the region lying west and south¬
west of the Mark&gunt.
The Eocene strata in these parts derived their
materials from land which at that age occupied the site of the present Great
Wasatch

southwardly, gradually swinging its trend more and more towards
until it had a direction very nearly southwest. It crossed the
Nevada-Utah boundary very obliquely, and reached far to the southwest
the west,

in the former State.

In the littoral belt in the

neighborhood of this ancient
many remnants of lower Eocene strata. They recur at intervals
as we move southwestwardly from the Markagunt through a distance
of more than 70 miles, and possibly much further. West of the Marka¬
gunt and of the Grand Canon district the Eocene lake appears to have
extended as a great gulf or bight, covering much of the southern portion
of Nevada, and reaching well towards southern California. But as our
knowledge of the geology of those regions is very imperfect at present, it
is impossible to assert anything confidently concerning the course of the
shore

are

.U
.S

LACIGOE
.YEVRUS

KNIP

.TNUGASP-ECOFIL
DNARG
NO AC

.TCIRSD
.LF
.V

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE CRETACEOUS.

shore-line in southwestern Nevada.
a

All that

we can

say

31

at present is that

belt of remnants of littoral

Tertiary strata is known to extend for more
Mark&gunt. Whether
of them lie beyond this limit must be determined by future investi¬

than 70 miles southwest from the flank of the
any more

gation.
Turning

the southern escarpments of the High Plateaus, not a
solitary remnant of Tertiary strata lies south of the brinks of the Markdgunt and Paunsagunt. But upon the Kaiparowits, 25 miles east of the
Pauns&gunt, is a solitary outlier of Tertiary strata upon the summit of the
Kaiparowits Peak. From this point southeastward not a vestige of the Ter¬
tiary is known until we reach New Mexico. This wide interval discloses
strata of all ages from the base of the Trias to the summit of the Cretace¬
ous, and beds of the latter age form a very large proportion of the surface
of the country. But if the Tertiary once extended over the whole region
every trace of it has probably disappeared. It is indeed a general fact that
the Tertiary remnants of the Plateau Country are found in abundance
around the margin of the lake in which they were deposited, but never in
the central portions of its expanse.
now to

THE CRETACEOUS.

The

platform immediately below the Pink Cliffs is picturesque rather
grand. Rough rolling ridges of yellow sandstone, long sloping hill¬
sides, and rocky promontories clad with large pines and spruces, surround
the valleys. These rocks are of Cretaceous age. Upon the southward
slopes of the Paunsagunt and Mark&gunt Plateaus, they nowhere present
the serried fronts of cliffs, but break down into long irregular slopes much
like those of common hill countries. In those superficial and merely scenic
aspects which make the terraces so impressive, the Cretaceous is for the
most part notably deficient; but in those deeper studies, which are of most
significance to the geologist, it holds an importance not inferior to that of
any other formation. It is never wanting at its proper place in the terraces,
but always displays a vast series of sandstones and clay shales, varying
than

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

32
from 4,000 to

5,000 feet in thickness.

Around the western and southern

flanks of the

Markdgunt, and just beneath the summit platform, they oc¬
cupy a belt varying in width from 4 to 10 miles.
Around the Paunsagunt
their relative positions and relations are quite the same. But as we pass
eastward into the great amphitheater of the Paria Valley they at length
take the form of cliffs of very striking aspect. The numerous ledges rise
in quick succession, step by step, from the valley bottom to the base of the
Eocene mass of Table Cliff, which stands as a glorious Parthenon upon
the summit of a vast Acropolis. The many superposed cliffs which consti¬
tute this stairway are severally of moderate dimensions, but their cumula¬
tive altitude is more than 4,000 feet, tier above tier, and their composite or
multiple effect, intensified by the exceeding sharpness of the infinite details
of repetitive sculpture, places it among the grander spectacles of the Pla¬
teau country.
In their coloring, these cliffs are quite peculiar. There are
no red,
purple, orange, and chocolate hues, such as prevail in other forma¬
tions, but pale yellow and light brown in the sandstones and blue-gray to
dark iron-gray in the heavy belts of shale. The tones are very light and
brilliant on the whole, the darker belts playing the part of a foil which aug¬
ments rather than diminishes their luminosity.
In the region which lies west of the Markagunt the Cretaceous occurs in
much the

the Eocene.

Like the latter

formation, it is here
marginal belt skirting the Mesozoic mainland of the Great Basin. Only
remnants of it have been spared.
The country where they occur is a part
of the sierra region, and it has been greatly shattered and distorted by
same manner as

a

movements of the

and which

same

character

as

those which hoisted the Basin ranges

warped and tilted their strata. Erosion, acting upon these
masses, wasted them enormously, and wherever we find the Cretaceous we
perceive that its preservation has been due to a mere accident of the posi¬
tion in which these displacements have left it or to the protection of some
great volcanic overflow.
In the terraces of the High Plateaus the entire Cretaceous system is
preserved as a step in the stairway; but it has no outliers. It projects
southward from beneath the Eocene Cliffs and is in its turn cut off. Beyond

,

'.-A- i^B;

i,

j1."'-'v-'i

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE CRETACEOUS.

the proper
ward.

margin of its

own

terrace no vestige of it

appears

33

to the south¬

Proceeding eastward to the Kaiparowits the Cretaceous presents itself
which is highly significant, and which merits careful examina¬
tion.
We have already remarked that the Eocene is wholly absent from
the interior spaces of the Plateau Country. From the places of its exposure
in the southern parts of the High Plateaus to the places of its exposure in
in

a manner

Colorado and New Mexico is

an

interval of 180 to 240 miles.

But while the

Eocene is

wholly wanting in this great intervening space the Cretaceous
large masses, forming probably at least half of the surface of
the country.
The Kaiparowits Plateau is a broad belt of Cretaceous strata
reaching out southwardly from the Aquarius Plateau and from Table Cliff
(an outlier of the Aquarius). At a distance of 60 miles from the latter the
Colorado River cuts right across the Kaiparowits, forming the great gorge
of the Glen Canon.
South of the river the platform resumes its character,
and the Cretaceous spreads out into great mesas deeply dissected by canons
tributary to the San Juan. These Cretaceous mesas cover almost the entire
northeastern quarter of Arizona and reach indefinitely eastward. In truth
occurs

in very

there is little doubt that these strata

are

the continuation of the Cretace¬

formations which

overspread the greater part of New Mexico, Texas,
Colorado, the Indian Territory, and the Great Plains at large between the

ous

Rocky Mountains and the Missouri River.

It is already

a

foregone

con¬

which extended from the Gulf of Mexico
northward towards the Arctic Ocean, also extended west, covering the Pla¬
teau Province, and reached far into Arizona and even into southern Nevada.
clusion that the Cretaceous sea,

a broad strait running between the
the north and the sierra country of western Arizona
But this we cannot as yet prove, though many facts seem to

Perhaps it joined the Pacific through
Great Basin
on

the south.

indicate it.

area

on

At all events if the Atlantic did not

join the Pacific here the

oceans was only by a narrow belt of land.
The western wall of the Kaiparowits here marks the limit of

separation of the two

the Cre¬
Formerly, indeed, its strata extended much further
westward, but they have been swept away from the interior spaces of the

taceous

formation.

34

THE GRAND

Grand Canon district.
mouth of the Glen

The

Canon,

CANON DISTRICT.

Kaiparowits wall, broken for

resumes

its

course

a moment at

south of the river

on

the

the

sum¬

mit of the Echo Cliffs and reaches 80 miles

beyond the Colorado. Its
meaning here is the same as that of the terminal edges of the Cretaceous
in the terraces of the High Plateaus.
In the terraces we find the edges of
the Mesozoic system forming the northern margin of the Grand Cafion dis¬
trict.
In the Kaiparowits front and in its continuation along the line of the
Echo Cliffs we find the edges of the same strata forming the eastern margin
of the district. Thus, upon two sides of the Grand Canon platform, the
Cretaceous, preserved in full force, presents the abruptly terminated edges
of its strata towards that platform and overlooks it. The littoral belt of
southwestern Utah and southern Nevada may be looked upon as part of a
third side of the district, disclosing a fringe of Cretaceous remnants. Alto¬
gether, the eroded edges of this formation are found upon about two-thirds
of the periphery of the Grand Canon district. Of the remaining third of
the circuit our knowledge is very imperfect, for it has not been geologically
explored with thoroughness.

THE JURA.

To the student whose mind is

engaged chiefly with problems of strati¬
graphy the Jura-Trias system of the plateaus, (and the Permian may be
considered as indissolubly linked with it), is a most alluring field of study.
True, it yields him more questions than answers, but the questions are full
of suggestion, opening many avenues of thought which he is fain to follow.
All things considered, this series is probably the most conspicuous and typi¬
cal one in the Plateau Country, and it there displays a development grander
and more extensive than in any other region of the world.
The division of the Jurassic from the Trias is often difficult to make.
The

primary reason is the want of fossils. The uppermost members of the
Jurassic contain an abundant marine fauna; but thence downwards we find
no

organic forms sufficient for

purposes of discrimination until we reach the
A few plants, an abundance of silicified

lower members of the Permian.

wood,

a

few unrecognizable dermal scutes of fishes,

are

all that the great

■H

i

I

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE JURASSIC.

35

succession of

intervening beds has thus far yielded. The provisional sep¬
adopted is reached by tracing the series continuously into dis¬
tant regions where the discrimination can be made, and correlating the sec¬
tions of the two localities. In very few, if any, other portions of the world
would this be possible; but here the formations are so persistent over enor¬
mous areas, and they retain throughout so unmistakably their lithological
characters, both
masse and in their
en component members, that the problem
is relieved of most of its doubts and difficulties.
The Jurassic, as thus sep¬
arated, consists of a series of bright red, fossiliferous shales resting upon a
very massive bed of white sandstone nearly a thousand feet thick.
The
shales, which are from 300 to 500 feet in thickness, consist of beds which
vary much in quality, some being calcareous, some gypsiferous, and others
thinly bedded sandstones. Their interest is chiefly palaeontological, since
the calcareous layers abound in typical Jurassic fossils, which fix their
horizons with certainty. But the portion to which the attention is most
powerfully attracted is the great mass of white sandstone; and a wonderful
aration

mass

now

it is.

to be one indivisible stratum.

Here
and there signs of a division are suspected, but closer scrutiny shows that
they are produced by the contact of one plexus of cross-bedding with an¬
other, or by some peculiarity in the texture of the rock, or by weathering,
or some other cause not affecting the dominant fact.
From top to bottom it
is, so far as observed, remarkably homogeneous and constant. The cross
bedding is unique. It is never wanting, and covers the entire face of every
exposure with a strange arabesque, or a filagree, as beautiful as frostwork.
The weathering of the surfaces etches out the more refractory laminae,
causing them to project from six to ten and sometimes twelve or even fifteen
inches beyond the softer ones. The bright tone of the rock face, chased
across by the dark shadows of deeply etched layers, brings out with the
strongest emphasis the graceful waving of myriads of these curves. The
Jurassic sandstone is also conspicuous for its cliffs. Every formation in the
district presents cliffs, and each formation has its own style of architecture
and sculpture, which is as distinctive as its lithological constitution; for upon
that constitution the style depends. The style of the Jurassic sandstone is
From summit to base it appears

36

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

characterised

peculiar boldness and an extreme simplicity which is even
are
perfectly plain, with neither horizontal nor vertical
lines; of decoration there is not a trace, except the cross-bedding, which
becomes invisible at distances sufficient to render a general view of the
severe.

by a
Its walls

fronts effective.

A notable feature is the absence of talus

;

or,

if it be

pres¬

ent, its very small proportions. Almost all
tical upper portion, suddenly changing to a

other cliffs have a sensibly ver¬
slope of 30 to 35 degrees in the
lower portion, and this greatly enhances their beauty and relieves their
monotony. No such decoration is seen in the Jurassic cliffs, which are
as devoid of ornament
as a fortress.
It might be imagined that such
fronts would be monotonous and tame, and once seen would soon lose all
interest. Let us not underrate the versatility and resources of Nature, nor
question her good taste, for she has made these walls as full of life, variety,
and expression as any others, and yet has conserved the noble
dignity of
which simplicity is an essential part. Instead of a straight, unbroken
pali¬
sade, which would be tame indeed, the wall is exceedingly sinuous and an¬
gular, here throwing out a bastion, there deeply recessed by a bay.
Many chasms are cut through it, cleaving from top to bottom. Many great
buttes and isolated temples stand out from the parent mass, and the masses
so

isolated often weather into domes and half-domes of bald white rock

which look

a

calm defiance of human intrusion.

Occasionally, the

aus¬

terity of these forms is exchanged for those of the opposite extreme,
as if Nature were
tired and impatient of all this solemn
dignity, and
the proverbial step from the sublime to the ridiculous is
actually taken.
Looking southward from the brink of the Markagunt the eye is attracted to
the features of a broad middle terrace upon its southwestern flank, named
The Colob.
It is a veritable wonderland. It lies beyond the Cretaceous
belt and is far enough away to be obscure in its details,
yet exciting curi¬
osity. If avc descend to it we shall perceive numberless rock-forms of
nameless shapes, but often grotesque and ludicrous,
starting up from the
earth as isolated freaks of carving or
standing in clusters and rows along
the white walls of sandstone.
They bear little likeness to anything we can
think of, and yet they tease the
imagination to find something whereunto
they may be likened. Yet the forms are in a certain sense very definite,

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

A MIDSUMMERDAY'S

GRAND CA LI ON DISTRICT.

DREAM.—JURASSIC.—ON THE COLOB.

PL. VIII.

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

JURASSIC TERRACE.—THE COLOB.

PL. IX.

SCULPTURE OF THE JURASSIC.

and

many

of them look

merry

and farcical.

comedy. It is a singular display of
It is well named the Colob, for the

37

The land here is full of

Nature's art mingled with
word has

no

nonsense.

ascertainable meaning,

and yet it sounds as if
Nor are these the
there blank faces

it ought to have one.
only forms which the Jurassic discloses. Here and
of the white wall are brought into view as the sinuous line

of its front advances and recedes.

Isolated

masses

cut off

from the main

formation, and often at considerable distances from it, lie with

a

majestic

the broad expanse of the terrace. These sometimes become
very striking in their forms. They remind us of great forts with bastions
and scarps nearly a thousand feet high. The smaller masses become regular
truncated cones with bare slopes. Some of them take the form of great
domes where the eagles may build their nests in perfect safety. But noblest
of all are the white summits of the great temples of the Virgen gleaming
through the haze. Here Nature has changed her mood from levity to
religious solemnity, and revealed her fervor in forms and structures more
beautiful than anything in human art. But we shall see more of this here¬
after and from much more advantageous stand-points than the summit of
the Markagunt. There only faint suggestions of the reality are given. We
only perceive in imperfect detail some throngs of towers, snow-white above
and red below, the bristling spires of ornate buttes, or a portion of the
grand sweep of a wing-wall thrust out from some unseen facade. None of
them appear in their full relations to the whole, and all of them are weak¬
ened, faded and flattened by the distance.
The Jurassic white sandstone seems to be peculiar to the northern and
western portions of the Plateau Province.
In southern Colorado and west¬
ern New Mexico, no
stratigraphic member has yet been found which can
be identified with it.
There remains, however, the possibility that in those
more
easterly regions the Jurassic sandstone may form the upper part of
the sandstone series now reckoned as Triassic. Some color is given to this
view by the following facts. As we pass southeastward from the Aquarius,
or from the
Kaiparowits across the heart of the Plateau Province, we find
that the exposures of the Jura and Trias both undergo gradual changes of
aspect. Both formations grow thinner. While they are powerfully conrepose upon

38

THE GRAND

trasted in the terraces—the Jura

OANON DISTRICT.

being one vast indivisible mass of white
being composed of very many thin and often shaly
beds of most intense color—yet in proceeding southeastward the Trias loses
many of its layers, and those which remain are thicker and more massive;
while the Jura gradually becomes red and shows here and there well-marked
planes of subdivision. In a word, the two formations become more and more
alike as we trace them southeastwardly.
Between the Glen Canon and the
Triassic exposures of New Mexico is an interval of 80 to 120 miles in which
no explorations of a critical character have been made, and we are therefore
ignorant of the nature of the transition by which in this unexplored interval
the identity of the Jurassic sandstone is lost.
So far as present knowledge
is concerned we are at liberty to suppose (1), either that the Jurassic sand¬
stone thins out completely in the interval, or, (2), that it becomes the sum¬
mit of the presumed Trias of New Mexico and cannot be distinguished from it.
The sandstones of both formations are alike destitute of distinguishable fossils.
Like the Eocene and the Cretaceous, the Jurassic has its littoral belt
skirting the shore of the old Mesozoic mainland of the Great Basin. All
the way from the Wasatch southward throngh central and southwestern
Utah, thence obliquely into Nevada, without known limits, are found the
detached exposures of this formation, faulted and displaced after the man¬
ner
peculiar to the region. Around the southern flanks of the Mark&gunt
and Pauns&gunt the exposures of the Jurassic are very grand and impressive.
Here it is no longer displaced from sensibly horizontal positions but shows
many buttes and outliers. None of them are far distant from the principal
mass.
Further eastward the formation is disclosed in an
equally conspicu¬
ous manner in the Paria
amphitheater. Upon the eastern side of this amphi¬
theater it forms the base courses of the Kaiparowits, and
descending east¬
ward by a monoclinal flexure it disappears beneath the immense masses of
Cretaceous strata which constitute the
body of that plateau. All along the
western wall of the
Kaiparowits, as far as the Colorado, it holds this rela¬
tion, exposing its edge upon the upturn of a monocline at the foot of the
plateau wall. Beyond the Colorado the same relation continues in the
Echo Cliffs, along the base of which runs the same
flexure; and high above
the Irias, but beneath the Cretaceous, the Jurassic
appears duly in its
sandstone—the Trias

THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE TRIAS.

place. But there
They are found

39

other exposures which merit particular
upon the summit of the Paria Plateau, a mass of
Triassic and Permian strata of great extent, which has been
spared in the
general denudation. These Jurassic remnants are far away from the prin¬
proper
notice.

cipal body.

A distance of nearly 85 miles separates the

from the Jurassic terrace
between them and the

These

outliers, situated

and within

evidence

are some

a

on

the

same

so

remotest one

north, and about half that interval lies

formation

at

the foot of the

Kaiparowits.

far out in the heart of the Grand Canon district

few miles of the

Colorado,

are

noteworthy

as

fragments of

indicating the former extension of the Jurassic over the entire
platform drained by the Grand and Marble Canons.

surface of the denuded

the

The extension of the Jura south of the Colorado and its
exposure in
line of the Echo Cliffs has been traced for
nearly 60 miles. Its

mode of resolution there is at present

unknown, and must be ascertained
by future exploration. Enough has been learned, however, to establish the
fact quite positively that its general relations to the Grand Canon district
are in all essential
respects the same as those of the Cretaceous above it
and of the Trias beneath it.
Its broken edges wall the district on two sides,
the north and east, and its littoral belt along the Mesozoic shore line of the
Great Basin goes far towards establishing its former existence along a
great
part of the third or western side. Finally, the occurrence of advanced
outliers upon the Paria Plateau extend it far out into the interior spaces of
the Grand Canon district.

THE TRIAS.

The

splendor of the terraces culminates in the Trias. It is separated
provisionally adopted horizon by a conspicuous
change in the aspect of its component strata and in the grouping and habit
of the whole series.
Sometimes, however, the dividing horizon is obscured
by a transition from one to the other through a gradually changing mass of
sandstone; but more frequently the passage is abrupt. The Jurassic sand¬
stone is without a likeness in
any other formation, and the sandstones of the
from the Jurassic at the

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

40
Trias

One of the most conspic¬
uous characteristics of the latter series is the very great number of distinct
beds or layers. Most of them are but a few feet in thickness, and there is
but one stratum which attains veiy great dimensions.
In lithological char¬
acters the series is highly variable.
The majority of the members are com¬
mon sandstones, and these predominate most in the upper portions.
In the
middle part they still preponderate, but are individually thinner and are
more often separated by shaly layers and not unfrequently by bands of
almost pure gypsum. In the lower portions sandy and argillaceous shales
of wonderful color predominate; but nowhere is even a solitary band of
limestone known to occur. Lime, indeed, is found in these rocks and is
tolerably abundant, but it is always in the form of gypsum or occasionally
can

be

distinguished from it miles

away.

of selenite.
The Trias makes its appearance upon

the extreme outer flank of the
Markagunt, a little north of the Mormon town Cedar, rising by a fault out
of the valley alluvium. With a constantly expanding exposure it extends
southward along the upthrow of the Hurricane fault until the whole of its
great mass comes to the surface; then broadening out into a wide terrace,
it gradually sweeps around the southwestern limit of the Colob over into
the valley of the Virgen, where it breaks into cliffs, temples, and buttes of
ineffable splendor and beauty. Thence, with a still wider terrace, bounded
by magnificent cliffs, it. stretches to the southeast as far as Pipe Spring
Here is the southernmost promontory, from which it trends away to the eastnortheast in proportions considerably diminished, but still vast and impos¬
ing, as far as the Paria River. The distance is more than 100 miles, in
which the sinuosities are not reckoned; and throughout this entire sweep
it presents to the southward a majestic front richly sculptured and blazing
with gorgeous colors.
The cliff line is exceedingly tortuous, advancing in
long promontories, with bays and broad canon valleys setting far back into
the Triassic mesa like a long stretch of coast line gashed with fiords.
Perhaps the contour of a maple leaf may be a suggestive analogy.
The altitude of the cliffs is greatest in their western portions, where it
often exceeds 2,000 feet, while in the portion reaching from Pipe Spring to
the Paria it seldom exceeds 1,400 or 1,500 feet. In the deep bays it is still

DPIXSTRLIC.

CANO

GRAND

SURVE\

GEOLICA

S.

U.

41

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE TRIAS.

less, because there is a slight dip back from the Crestline, and because the
alluvial slope leading up from the outer plain rises through a greater dis¬
tance and reaches higher up on the breast of the wall at the heads of the

amphitheaters.
At Paria settlement the wall for

time

suddenly ends, for the drop of
brings its summit to the level of the general
surface. But to the southward the upper Trias spreads out for a great dis¬
tance to form the surface of the Paria Plateau.
Along the eastern base of
the Kaibab the cliff at length begins to rise again out of the earth with un¬
changed forms and lineaments. At the head of House Rock Valley it ap¬
pears first as a low cliff looking westward towards the Kaibab, and as it
stretches to the south it grows steadily in magnitude.
Gradually it swings
off from the Kaibab, assuming a more easterly and finally a northeasterly
trend, until it reaches the Echo Cliffs at the head of the Marble Canon. From
this point its trend is instantly changed to the south, and in this direction it
continues for 60 miles as the main escarpment of the Echo Cliff. Beyond
that the Trias breaks up into mesas, terraces, and buttes, covering a great
area with numberless outliers or limited platforms, here disappearing be¬
neath the Jurassic and Cretaceous or vast floods of Tertiary lavas, there
eroded over spaces of varying width and disclosing the Permian and Car¬
boniferous below. In that distant region its definite topography is unknown;
we
only know its most general expression. South of the terraces the Trias
is wholly wanting.
But in the colossal mass of San Francisco Mountain,
50 miles south of the Colorado, Mr. Gilbert discovered a small remnant
of it rescued from the general wreck by the lavas which once completely
a

the Eastern Kaibab monocline

buried it.
In the northern

found.

the northward.

The Hurricane fault has raised the Carboniferous above

the summit of the
side

are

part of the Sheavwits Plateau a large Triassic area is
ledge, and has a marked dip to

It lies at the base of the Hurricane

Trias, and while the Carboniferous strata

horizontal the Triassic beds

on

the thrown side have

on
a

the lifted

marked dip

parallel to the course of the fault. This arises from the
rapid increase in the amount of shear or displacement of the Hurricane
fault. In other words, the thrown beds are sunk lower and lower along the
in

a

direction

42

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

northward extension of the

fracture, until at length, near the Yirgen, the
depressed below the summit of
the Carboniferous. This Triassic mass is in
reality an outlier of the main
formation, and extends about 15 to 18 miles in advance of the principal
mass in the terraces.
It is in some sense the
counterpart of the Paria
Plateau, which is a very advanced salient of the Triassic terrace.
Jurassic

comes

There

are

in above the Trias and is

also considerable bodies of this formation in the

the Grand

valley of
Wash, extending from Saint George, Utah, southward to the

Colorado.

The remotest

one occurs near

the mouth of the Grand Canon.

Here the Trias abuts

against the base of the Carboniferous in consequence
gigantic displacement of the Grand Wash fault. Not all of the
series, however, is present here, the summit members having been removed
by erosion.
The Trias, like the superior formations, has also its littoral belt
along
of the

the Mesozoic shore-line of the Great Basin

It

occurs

in southern Nevada

in very

heavy masses much distorted and faulted. The greatly disturbed
attitudes of its strata begin as soon as we
pass west of the Hurricane and
Grand Wash

faults, and they have all those peculiarities which characterize

the Basin system.
East of those great faults the strata are but little
affected by vertical movements,
except at the sharp lines of the few princi¬

pal dislocations, and are seldom inclined more than one or two degrees.
In the foregoing accounts of the distribution of the Mesozoic strata it
will be observed that their eroded
edges are situated peripherally about the
Grand Canon district. None of them
completely encircle it. In the case
of the Cretaceous one-third of the circuit is unknown in
detail, and such
knowledge as we have leads us to presume that in this part of it few rem¬
nants may exist and
perhaps none. In the case of the Jurassic the circuit
is also incomplete, but some
important outliers are found occupying very
advanced positions out in the interior
spaces of the district.
In the Trias
the circuit is much more
nearly completed, there are more outliers, and
they are still further advanced into the interior of the Grand Canon plat¬
form.
The gaps in the Triassic circuit are still
large, but the detached
masses of it
remaining are so important, and their situations so suggestive,
that the mind has little
difficulty in closing it up. This configuration of

THE PERMIAN TERRACE.

the eroded

43

edges of the Mesozoic system and the distribution of the outliers

point strongly to the conclusion that all of its formations once stretched
across the whole Carboniferous platform which drains into the
Grand and Marble canons, and that during Tertiary time they have been
removed from it by erosion. The dimensions of this platform are indeed
vast, being in round numbers about 13,000 or 14,000 square miles. Before
accepting the conclusion that a denudation so extensive has really occurred,
the geologist needs to be assured that the Mesozoic strata were really
deposited over the whole area. The deposits of that age in other parts of
the world are often of a very local character.
Their continuity is fre¬
quently broken by the intervention of land areas; their bulk varies much
from place to place; members which have great volume in one locality
have only a nominal one in another, or perhaps have no assignable counter¬
part or equivalent whatever in other regions. May it not have been so
here, and may not the great denudation be too hasty and too large a con¬
clusion from imperfect premises! The answer to this question will depend
largely upon the facts disclosed in the interior of the Grand Cation district,
and upon facts of structure which will be treated of in other parts of this work.

unbroken

THE PERMIAN.

typically represented in the Permian as
superior formations. In many parts of the great stairway it
clearly forms the lowest step; in others it forms one cliff with the Trias; in
still others it is beveled off and covered with alluvium. On the whole it is
more frequently presented as a distinct terrace.
There is another qualifica¬
tion which requires some mention, because when we refer to the geological
map to study the surface distribution of the strata we should find some
anomalies unless the point referred to were duly explained.
Wherever we encounter a cliff which discloses the upper Permian
beds we find at the summit of the escarpment a band of pale-brown sand¬
stone of veiy coarse texture, often becoming a conglomerate.
Its thickness
is usually from 40 to 75 feet.
In a few places it is wanting from its proper
The idea of

it is in the

a

terrace is not so

44

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

horizon, and in

some

the whole it is

others its thickness becomes

more

than 100 feet. But

remarkably persistent bed, and its persistence is all the
striking when we consider the coarseness of its texture; for no beds
are so variable as the coarse ones.
This member has been named by Pow¬
ell the Shin-4-rump Conglomerate. The name Shinarump he also applied
provisionally to a large group of beds in which the conglomerate is included.
For several years it was thought very probable that these beds were a part
of the Triassic system, though no positive proof could be cited to sustain
that presumption. In the summer of 1879 Mr. C. D. Walcott, of this survey,
at length found some limestone bands near the base of Powell's Shinarump,
which seem to establish pretty conclusively their Permian age.
But the
fossils so far discovered have only a small vertical range, and lie near the
base of the group. Above them are many hundred feet of beds which yield
no fossils at all.
While some of them are unquestionably Permian, it still
remains to find the horizon where the Permian ends and the Trias begins.
The Trias is as destitute of fossils as the Permian, excepting, however, some
which are useless for determining age. In cases like this the geologist finds
himself in trouble. He is quite sure that he has beds of two distinct ages;
and he must, for purposes of discussion, separate them somehow; if not by
a natural and unmistakable dividing horizon, then by an arbitrary and pro¬
visional one, subject to amendment by future research. As we examine
on

a

more

the Triassic series from the middle downwards the various beds
alike in

are so

much

general character that a divisional horizon seems impossible. And
if we examine the Permian upwards the same similarity is observed.
The
only member which forms a sharp contrast is the Shinarump conglomerate;
and this stratum was selected by Mr. Walcott for the plane of the division.
Much more to the purpose is the fact that the conglomerate rests unconformably upon the Permian shales below. The unconformity, however,
is by erosion only without any discrepancy of dip.
The shales were slightly
eroded before the conglomerate was laid down, but neither in the emergence
nor in the following submergence was the rigorous horizontality of the beds
at all disturbed. Adopting the plane of unconformity rather than the stratum
itself as the dividing horizon, the conglomerate obviously becomes the
basal member of the Trias.

THE PERMIAN

Mr. Walcott's conclusion is
with

our

no

45

TERRACE.

doubt the best which

can

be reached

present knowledge, but it is very inconvenient and awkward to

the

geologist who is required to map the distribution of the strata and their
topographical features. In all of the other formations each group forms its
own

when

terrace or series

of terraces.

As

we

descend them

reach the foot of the Eocene cliff, upon

we

find

ourselves,

the summit of the Cre¬
Reaching the foot of the Cretaceous cliffs, or slopes, we are upon
the broad expanse of the Jurassic platform. Descending the Jurassic, we
find the Trias coming out from the base of the Jurassic Cliffs; but when we
descend the Vermilion Cliffs, we have not reached the Permian. The Trias
is still beneath us, pushing out its basal member, the Shinarump conglome¬
rate, clear to the crest-line of the Permian wall. In the Jurassic terrace
and in its terminal cliff we find none but Jurassic strata.
Similarly, also,
in the cliffs and terrace platforms of the Cretaceous and Eocene; but the
Permian terrace is everywhere sheeted over with a solitary stratum of the
Trias.
Somehow we cannot help thinking that the conglomerate has no
business there, and that it ought to have been cut off at the base of the
Vermilion Cliffs, or else it ought to be relegated to the Permian. In deline¬
ating the distribution of the formations by means of colors on the map, the
ordinary practice would require us to extend the Trias to the brink of the
Permian Cliffs, for in such delineations we only profess to show the surface
exposures of the several groups; but this would confound the Permian ter¬
race with the Trias, and obliterate the individuality of the former, whereas
in the topography both are as distinct as land and water.
To preserve this
distinction the Shinarump is denoted in the large scale maps by special
modifications of the color, which are to be interpreted as meaning merely
an
arbitrary subdivision of the Trias. In the small scale maps, which are
designed to express physical rather than stratigraphical facts, I have thrown
the Shin&rump into the Permian.
The Permian beds consist of sandy clay-shales in very many thin beds
and a few thin beds of impure limestone. They are very striking on
account of their dense, rich colors, which are sometimes also wonderfully
delicate. They are belted in a surprising way. Horizontal streaks of
chocolate, purple and red-brown are interstratified with violet, lavender, and
we

taceous.

THE GRAND CASON DISTRICT.

46
white.

Perhaps the richest tone is the red-brown, which is almost exactly
Lower in the series are layers
of a peculiar shade of Indian red, alternating with grayish white. In the
lower Trias and Permian the colors reach their climax. Surely no other
region in the world, of which I have any knowledge, can exhibit anything
comparable to it. Wonderfully even is the bedding. Thin layers may be
traced for miles without showing any variation of thickness, color, 01* texture.
In the escarpments the weathering has etched out the harder layers, leaving
a line of shadow in the
places of the softer layers, and this greatly empha¬
sizes the stratification and gives it finer detail.
The Permian has many outliers and buttes in the heart of the Grand
Canon district; indeed, the entire platform is spotted with them. Usually
only the basal members of the Permian remain, but in quite a number of
instances the entire series is preserved. The most notable ones are found
in the Mounts Trumbull and Logan, on the Uinkaret Plateau, and in the

like the color of the fumes of nitrous acid.

Red Butte south of the Kaibab.
evidence of its former extension

So far

as

this formation is concerned the

the entire district is

complete upon
stratigraphical data alone. The numberless remnants found almost every¬
where throughout its expanse are so many stepping-stones at easy intervals
which the mind uses in striding from one end of the region to the other
with its burden of inquiry, and the way to a positive conclusion is easy
and

over

sure.

FACTS OF GENERAL APPLICATION TO THE TERRACES.

Having thus recited the principal and

obvious features of the
Mesozoic formations of the terraces, it remains to examine some important
facts which apply to the whole of them. The first one to be noted is a
slight but universal dip to the north of all strata exposed in the terraces.
This dip on the average is less than two degrees, but here and there incli¬
nations as great as four or five degrees may be seen.
This dip is very gen¬
eral throughout the terraces. Its effect is to make the altitudes of the higher
or more northerly platforms less—or, conversely, to make the altitudes of
more

NORTHWARD DIP OP TERRACE FORMATIONS.

47

southerly terraces greater—than they would be if the
whole series were horizontal. In the entire series of beds which are exposed,
the aggregate thickness from the top of the Carboniferous to the summit of
the local Eocene is not far from 10,000 feet, but the summit of the Eocene
at present lies only about 5,000 to 6',000 feet above the Carboniferous plat¬
form of the Grand Canon district. Thus, if the strata were horizontal, we
should in ascending the terraces go up 10,000 feet, but the dip to the north¬
ward gradually carries down the horizons so that in crossing the edges of
10,000 feet of strata we only gain 5,000 to 6,000 feet in altitude. We find
this same northward dip prevailing in the Carboniferous to the southward,
and it is a feature of great moment in the studies which are to follow.
Looking a little more in detail we find a very striking group of subor¬
dinate facts in connection with these dips. At the base of each terminal
cliff the dip suddenly increases for a short distance and still further south¬
ward diminishes again. The strata in the median parts of any given ter¬
race are very nearly horizontal and have inclinations scarcely exceeding
one degree.
But as we cross such a terrace northwards and approach the
front of the wall terminating the next higher terrace the inclination becomes
three or four degrees, and the beds on which we stand are seen to descend
beneath the talus or alluvial slope in front of the wall. The mind here in¬
stinctively suggests that this may be due to a general settling down of the
earth beneath the abrupt increase in the gross weight of the great bodies of
superposed strata. Or, inversely, that the removal of a corresponding mass
in front of the trenchant cliff-lines has permitted in some measure the asser¬
tion of the laws of plastic equilibrium. The northward dip of the strata
and their local increments at the bases of the cliffs is represented in the
sections (Plate III).
the lower and

more

ATTENUATION OF THE STRATA

Another
ness

and

TOWARDS THE EAST.

point to be noted is that the strata slowly diminish in thick¬
The attenuation, however, is ordinarily very slow

from west to east.

gradual, and the observer would have to travel many

miles along the

48

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

escarpments exposing the edges of the strata before he became aware of it.
It is most noticeable in the

discussed.
east is

as

It is

Trias, and in the sequel this will be more fullyThe explanation of this attenuation of the strata towards the

follows.
fact that the greatest

thickness of a group of strata is
usually found near the shore-lines of the mainlands from which their mate¬
rials came. As we recede from these ancient shore-lines we generally find
that the strata diminish in thickness, at first quite rapidly, but afterwards
more slowly.
The materials deposited near the shores are, in many cases,
of coarser texture than those deposited at a distance from them.
This is
not always true of every distinct bed, but if we consider any group of strata
with many members we shall usually find it true of the group as a whole.
In the case of the Mesozoic strata of the terraces, they are remnants of beds
deposited in a sea or bay, the shore-line of which lay to the westward and
northwestward. The position of this shore-line, no doubt, varied during
the Mesozoic periods, now advancing and now receding; but in general
terms its mean position appears to have been nearly along what is now the
boundary of the Basin Province. The Great Basin was then dry land, un¬
dergoing denudation, and its detritus was washed down on this side into the
sea,

a common

where the Mesozoic strata of the Plateau Province accumulated.

The

position of this ancient shore-line in the sierra country south of the literal
Basin and west of the Grand Canon district we do not as yet know; the
presumed location not being explored as yet. This attenuation of the
strata and their relation to the shore-line of the mainland, from which they
were in great part at least derived, is another important factor which must
be kept in mind in the course of the discussion.

WATERSHEDS OF THE TERRACES.

It will be well to bestow also

glance at the distribution of the more
important drainage channels. The western portion of the terrace is drained
by the branches of the Virgen River. Upon the Colob heads the northern
fork of the Virgen, sometimes called the Mu-kun-tu-weap, sometimes Little
a

49

DRAINAGE OF THE TERRACES.

East of this is the eastern fork, called the

It flows due south.

Zion River.

Pa-ru-nu-weap. Both branches have their sources at the base of the Pink
(Eocene), and at length unite to form the Virgen. Their channels
are surely very wonderful freaks of nature.
The Parunuweap, after col¬
lecting its several filaments on the slopes of the Cretaceous terrace, at length
begins to burrow into the Jurassic, cutting a very deep and remarkably
narrow gap in the white sandstone, and then into and through the Trias.
For many miles it flows in a mere cleft barely 50 feet wide at the bottom
and sometimes narrower, and attaining a depth of more than 2,500 feet. In
scouring down its channel into the sandstones the stream did not cut always
vertically, but swayed from side to side, so that now great bulges of the
wall overhang the bottom of the abyss, and in some places shut out the sky
Cliffs

remarka¬
ble. For a considerable distance this stream also runs in a profound and
exceptionally narrow chasm, but it at length widens out, and just where it
joins the Parunuweap is a scene which must ultimately become, when the
knowledge of it is spread, one of the most admired in the world. Of this
hereafter. Below the junction of the forks the Virgen flows westward, and
passes out of the terraces and out of the Plateau Province. At length it
joins the Colorado.
East of the drainage area of the Virgen is that of Kanab Creek. It
heads in the broad valley of Upper Kanab, which occupies an indentation
of the southern margin of the High Plateaus between the Markagunt and
Paunsagunt. The bulk of the drainage passes through the upper canon of
Kanab Creek, and at length emerges upon the desert to the southward.
Little Zion Fork, is

overhead.

The

Further

it sinks another chasm in the

on

mighty side

Makuntuweap,

gorge

or

even more

Carboniferous, which becomes

a

of the Colorado, and unites with the Grand Canon in

the middle of the Kanab division.

amphitheater which gives rise to the branches
flows southeastward and ultimately enters the

Still eastward is the great
of the Paria.

This stream

Colorado at the head of the Marble Canon.
In these three subordinate

notice

some

distinctly

features of

seen

drainage basins of the terraces it is well to

importance, common more or less to

in Kanab Creek.

all, but most

They all run contrary to the dip of the

50

THE GRAND

strata.

CANON DISTRICT.

The summits of the terraces

dip to the northward, while the streams
They thus form each a chain of cations. Thus, Kanab
Creek, with its upper tributaries flowing in open valleys, at length begins to
cut into the Jurassic, and its
gorge, ever deepening, at length becomes
nearly a thousand feet in depth. Suddenly the canon walls swing to right
run

southward.

and left to form the mural front which terminates the Jurassic terrace,

the

river,

but

only for

ing

a

now

at the summit of the Trias, is

once more

and

in open country;

short distance, for it soon begins to cut into the Trias, formgreat canon as before. The same process is repeated and the river
a

flows out of its Triassic chasm into the open again,
either direction to form the terminal escarpment of

while its walls swing in
the Triassic terrace.
The three streams just mentioned are not the only drainage channels
in the terraces, though they are the principal ones, and sooner or later
gather the greater part of the drainage. There are many canons in the ter¬
races, and they all have the same relation to the cliffs and to the dips of the
strata.
They cut into the terraces and emerge from them at the bases of
their several cliffs. All except the three first mentioned are dry,
carrying
no streams
except spasmodic floods during heavy rains and the melting of
the snows. Many of them are actually filling up, the floods being unable
to carry away all the sand and clay which the infrequent rains wash into
them.

CHAPTER

III.

THE VERMILION CLIFFS AND VALLEY OF THE VIRGEN.
Grandeur and extent of the Vermilion Cliffs.—Their architecture and characteristic

profiles.—Increase
Pipe Spring promontory to the Valley of the Virgen.—The great sand¬
stone entablature.—Their huttes.—Towers at Short Creek.—Cloud effects.—Optical delusions.—
Smithsonian Butte.—The Temples and Towers of the Virgen.—Little Zion Valley.
of their dimensions from

To this great

wall, terminating the Triassic terrace and stretching from
the Hurricane Ledge to the Paria, Powell has given the name of The Ver¬
milion Cliffs. Their great altitude, the remarkable length of their line of
frontage, the persistence with which their proportions are sustained through¬
out the entire interval, their ornate sculpture and rich coloring, might justify
very exalted language of description.
But to the southward, just where the
desert surface dips downward beneath the horizon, are those supreme walls
of the Grand Canon, which we must hereafter behold and vainly strive to
describe; and however worthy of admiration the Vermilion Cliffs may be
we must be frugal of adjectives, lest in the chapters to be written we find
their force and meaning exhausted. They will be weak and vapid enough
at best.
Yet there are portions of the Vermilion Cliffs which in some re¬
spects lay hold of the sensibilities with a force not much less overwhelming
than the majesty of the Grand Canon; not in the same way, not by virtue
of the same elements of power and impressiveness, but in a way of their
own and
by attributes of their own. In mass and grandeur and in the
extent of the display there is no comparison; it would be like comparing
a
private picture gallery containing a few priceless treasures with the wealth
of art in the Vatican or Louvre. All of the really superlative portions of
the Vermilion Cliffs could be comfortably displayed in any one of half a
dozen amphitheaters opening into the Kaibab division of the Grand Canon.
51

52

THE GRAND

These
well

as

CANON DISTRICT.

occur in the beautiful valley of the Yirgen, and they, as
the features which characterize the entire front of the Yermilion

portions

Cliffs, merit

some

attempt at description.

Each of the greater

sedimentary

of the terraces, from the Eo¬
Permian, inclusive, has its own style of sculpture and architect¬
ure; and it is at first surprising and always pleasing to observe how
strongly the several styles contrast with each other. The elephantine
structures of the Nile, the Grecian temples, the pagodas of China, the cathe¬
drals of Western Europe, do not offer stronger contrasts than those we suc¬
cessively encounter as we descend the great stairway which leads down
from the High Plateaus. As we pass from one terrace to another the scene
is wholly changed; not only in the bolder and grander masses which dom¬
inate the landscape, but in every detail and accessory; in the tone of the
color-masses, in the vegetation, and in the spirit and subjective influences
of the scenery.
Of these many and strong antitheses, there is none
stronger than that between the repose of the Jura and the animation of the
cene

groups

to the

Trias.

The

profile of the Yermilion Cliffs is very complex, though conforming
to a definite type and made up of simple elements.
Though it varies much
in different localities it never loses its typical character.
It consists of a
series of vertical ledges rising tier above tier, story above
story, with inter¬
vening slopes covered with talus through which the beds project their fretted
edges. The stratification is always revealed with perfect distinctness and
is even emphasized by the peculiar weathering.
The beds are very numer¬
ous and
mostly of small or moderate thickness, and the partings of the
sandstones include layers of gypsum or gypsiferous sand and shale.
The
weathering attacks these gypseous layers with great effect, dissolving them
to a considerable depth into the wall-face,
producing a deeply engraved line
between the including sandstones.
This line is always in deep shadow and
throws into strong relief the bright edges of the strata in the rock-face,
separating them from each other with uncommon distinctness. Where the
profiles are thrown well into view the vertical lines, which bound the
faces of the ledges, are quite perpendicular and straight, while the lines
of the intervening slopes are feebly concave, being, in fact, descending

.U
.S

LACIGOE
.YEVRUS

A

NAIMREP
.ETUB

DNARG
NO AC

.TCIRSD
.LP

.I X

THE VERMILION CLIFFS.

58

hyperbolas. They are graceful in form and indeed genuine
lines of beauty.
The angles where the straight and curved lines meet,
at the bases and summits of the ledges, are very keen and well cut.
The
composite effect thus given by the multiple cliffs and sloping water-tables
rising story above story, by the acute definition of the profiles and hori¬
zontal moldings, and by the refined though unobtrusive details, is highly
architectural and ornate, and contrasts in the extreme with the rough,
craggy, beetling aspect of the cliffs of other regions. This effect is much
enhanced by the manner in which the wall advances in promontories or
recedes in alcoves, and by the wings and gables with sharp corners and
Mansard roofs jutting out from every lateral face where there is the least
danger of blankness or monotony. In many places canons have cut the
terrace platform deeply, and open in magnificent gateways upon the broad
desert plain in front. We look into them from afar, wonderingly and questioningly, with a fancy pleased to follow their windings until their sudden
turns carry them into distant, unseen depths.
Northwestward of the southernmost promontory at Pipe Spring, the
cliffs steadily increase in grandeur and animation, and also assume new
features. Near the summit of the series is a very heavy stratum of sand¬
stone, which is everywhere distinguishable from the others. This member
is seen at Kanab with a thickness of about 200 feet.
It increases westward,

branches of

becoming 400 feet at Pipe Spring. Beyond that it still increases, reaching
a thickness of more than 1,200 feet in the valley of the Yirgen
It has

and yet they elude description. One point, however,
may be seized upon, and that is a series of joints nearly vertical with which
the mass is everywhere riven.
The fissures thus produced have been
slowly enlarged by weathering, and down the face of every escarpment
run the dark shadows of these rifts.
They reach often from top to bottom
of the mass and penetrate deeply its recesses. Wherever this great mem¬
ber forms the entablature—and west of Pipe Spring it usually does so—its
crest is uneven and presents towers and buttresses produced by the widen¬
ing of these cracks. Near Short Creek it breaks into lofty truncated
towers of great beauty and grandeur, with strongly emphasized vertical
lines and decorations, suggestive of cathedral architecture on a colossal

many

strong features,

54
scale.

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

Still loftier and

ornate become

the structures

approach
Virgen. At length they reach the sublime. The altitudes increase
until they approach 2,000 feet above the plain.
The wall is recessed with
large amphitheaters, buttressed with huge spurs and decorated with towers
and pinnacles.
Here, too, for the first time, along their westward trend,
the Vermilion Cliffs send off buttes. And giant buttes they verily are,
rearing their unassailable summits into the domain of the clouds, rich with
the aspiring forms of Gothic type, and flinging back in red and purple the
intense sunlight poured over them.
Could the imagination blanch those
colors, it might compare them with vast icebergs, rent from the front of a
glacier and floating majestically out to sea, only here it is the parent mass
that recedes, melting away through the ages, while its offspring stands still;
yet the analogy would be a feeble one, for the buttes are grander, more
definite in form, and many times loftier.
But the climax of this scenery is
still beyond.
Late in the autumn of 18801 rode along the base of the Vermilion Cliffs
from Kanab to the Virgen, having the esteemed companionship of Mr.
Holmes. We had spent the summer and most of the autumn among the
cones of the Uinlcaret, in the
dreamy parks and forests of the Kaibab, and
in the solitudes of the intervening desert; and our sensibilities had been
somewhat overtasked by the scenery of the Grand Canon. It seemed to
to us that all grandeur and beauty thereafter beheld must be mentally pro¬
jected against the recollection of those scenes, and be dwarfed into com¬
monplace by the comparison; but as we moved onward the walls increased
in altitude, in animation, and in power.
At length the towers of Short
Creek burst into view, and, beyond, the great cliff in long perspective
thrusting out into the desert plain its gables and spurs. The day was a
rare one for this region.
The mild, subtropical autumn was over, and just
giving place to the first approaches of winter. A sullen storm had been
gathering from the southwest, and the first rain for many months was fall¬
ing, mingled with snow. Heavy clouds rolled up against the battlements,
spreading their fleeces over turret and crest, and sending down curling
more

as we

the

flecks of white mist into the nooks and
tresses.

The next

day

was rarer

recesses

between towers and but¬

still, with sunshine and storm battling for

I

I

THE VERMILION CLIFFS.

the mastery.

55

Rolling masses of cumuli rose up into the blue to incompre¬
heights, their flanks and summits gleaming with sunlight, their
nether surfaces above the desert as flat as a ceiling, and showing, not the
dull neutral gray of the east, but a rosy tinge caught from the reflected
red of rocks and soil. As they drifted rapidly against the great barrier,
the currents from below flung upward to the summits, rolled the vaporous
masses into vast whorls, wrapping them- around the towers and crest-lines,
and scattering torn shreds of mist along the rock-faces. As the day wore
on the sunshine gained the advantage.
From overhead the cloud-masses
stubbornly withdrew, leaving a few broken ranks to maintain a feeble resist¬
ance.
But far in the northwest, over the Colob, they rallied their black
forces for a more desperate struggle, and answered with defiant flashes of
lightning the incessant pour of sun-shafts.
Superlative cloud effects, common enough in other countries, are lament¬
ably infrequent here; but, when they do come, their value is beyond
measure.
During the long, hot summer days, when the sun is high, the
phenomenal features of the scenery are robbed of most of their grandeur,
and cannot, or do not, wholly reveal to the observer the realities which
render them so instructive and interesting. There are few middle toxxes of
light and shade. The effects of foreshortening are excessive, almost beyond
belief, and produce the strangest deceptions. Masses which are widely
separated seem to be superposed or continuous. Lines and surfaces, which
extend towards us at an acute angle with the radius of vision, are warped
around until they seem to cross it at a right angle. Grand fronts, which
ought to show depth and varying distance, become flat and are troubled
with false pex*spective. Px-oportions which are full of grace and meaning
are distorted and belied.
During the midday lxoxxrs the cliffs seem to wilt
and droop as if retracting their grandeur to hide it from the merciless
radiance of the sun whose very effulgence flouts them.
Even the colors
are ruined.
The glaring face of the wall, where the light falls full upon it,
wears a scorched, overbaked, discharged look; and where the dense black
shadows are thrown—for there are no middle shades—the magical haze of
the desert shines forth with a weird, metallic glow which has no color in it.
But as the sun declines there comes a revival.
The half-tones at length
hensible

56

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

appear, bringing into relief the component masses; the amphitheaters
recede into suggestive distances; the salients silently advance towards us;
the distorted lines range themselves into true perspective; the deformed
curves come back to their
proper sweep; the angles grow clean and sharp;
and the whole cliff arouses from lethargy and erects itself in grandeur
and power as

if conscious of its own majesty. Back also come the colors,
the sun is about to sink they glow with an intense orange vermilion
that seems to be an intrinsic luster emanating from the rocks themselves.
But the great gala-days of the cliffs are those when sunshine and storm are
waging an even battle; when the massive banks of clouds send their white
diffuse light into the dark places and tone down the intense glare of the
direct rays; when they roll over the summits in stately procession, wrap¬
ping them in vapor and revealing cloud-girt masses here and there through
wide rifts.
Then the truth appears and all deceptions are exposed. Their
real grandeur, their true forms, and a just sense of their relations are at
last fairly presented, so that the mind can grasp them. And they are very
grand—even sublime. There is no need, as we look upon them, of fancy
to heighten the picture, nor of metaphor to present it.
The simple truth
is quite enough.
I never before had a realizing sense of a cliff 1,800 to
2,000 feet high. I think I have a definite and abiding one at present.
As we moved northward from Short Creek, we had frequent opportu¬
nities to admire these cliffs and buttes, with the conviction that they were
revealed to us in their real magnitudes and in their true relations. They
awakened an enthusiasm more vivid than we had anticipated, and one
which the recollection of far grander scenes did not dispel. At length the
trail descended into a shallow basin where a low ledge of sandstones, imme¬
diately upon the right, shut them out from view; but as we mounted the
opposite rim a new scene, grander and more beautiful than before, suddenly
broke upon us. The cliff again appeared, presenting the heavy sandstone
member in a sheer wall nearly a thousand feet high, with a steep talus
and

as

beneath it of eleven

or

twelve hundred feet

more.

Wide alcoves receded

far back into the mass,
spurs

and in their depths the clouds floated. Long, sharp
plunged swiftly down, thrusting their monstrous buttresses into the

plain below, and sending

up

pinnacles and towers along the knife edges.

GRA LTD CA NON BIS TRIC T.

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

THE WESTERN TEMPLE.

FL. XIV.

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

GRA ND CA X ON DISTRIC T.

THE EASTERN TEMPLE.

PL. X

TEMPLES AND TOWEES OF THE VIRGEN.

57

But the

controlling object was a great butte which sprang into view imme¬
diately before us, and which the salient of the wall had hitherto masked.
Upon a pedestal two miles long and 1,000 feet high, richly decorated with
horizontal moldings, rose four towers highly suggestive of cathedral archi¬
tecture.
Their altitude above the plain was estimated at about 1,800 feet.
They were separated by vertical clefts made by the enlargement of the
joints, and many smaller clefts extending from the summits to the pedestal
carved the turrets into tapering buttresses, which gave a graceful aspiring
effect with
sonian
in

a

remarkable definiteness to the forms.

Butte, and it

was

decided that

a

We named it Smith¬

sketch should be made of it; but

few moments the

plan was abandoned or forgotten. For over a notch
or saddle formed by a low isthmus which connected the butte with the prin¬
cipal mesa there sailed slowly and majestically into view, as we rode along,
a wonderful
object. Deeply moved, we paused a moment to contemplate it,
and then abandoning the trail we rode rapidly towards the notch, beyond
which it soon sank out of sight. In an hour's time we reached the crest of
a

the

isthmus, and in

forgotten.

an

instant there flashed before

us a scene never

to be

In coming time it will, I believe, take rank with a very small
spectacles each of which will, in its own way, be regarded as
exquisite of its kind which the world discloses. The scene before

number of

the most
us was

THE TEMPLES AND TOWEES OF THE YIRGEN.

At

feet the surface

drops down by cliff and talus 1,200 feet upon a
rugged plan cut by narrow canons. The slopes, the winding
ledges, the bosses of projecting rock, the naked, scanty soil, display
colors which are truly amazing.
Chocolate, maroon, purple, lavender,
magenta, with broad bands of toned white, are laid in horizontal belts,
strongly contrasting with each other, and the ever-varying slope of the sur¬
face cuts across them capriciously, so that the sharply defined belts wind
about like the contours of a map
From right to left across the further
foreground of the picture stretches the inner canon of the Virgen, about
our

broad and

58
700 feet in

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

depth, and here of considerable width. Its bottom is for the
most part unseen, but in one place is disclosed by a turn in its course, show¬
ing the vivid green of vegetation. Across the canon, and rather more than
a mile and a half
beyond it, stands the central and commanding object of
the picture, the western temple, rising 4,000 feet above the river. Its
glorious summit was the object we had seen an hour before, and now the
matchless beauty and majesty of its vast mass is all before us. Yet it
is only the central object of a mighty throng of structures wrought up to
the same exalted style, and filling up the entire panorama. Right opposite
us are the two
principal forks of the Virgen, the Parunuweap coming from
the right or east, and the Mukuntuweap or Little Zion Valley, descending
towards us from the north. The Parunuweap is seen emerging on the
extreme right through a stupendous gateway and chasm in the Triassic
terrace, nearly 3,000 feet in depth. The further wall of this canon, at the
opening of the gateway, quickly swings northward at a right angle and
becomes the eastern wall of Little Zion Valley. As it sweeps down the
Parunuweap it breaks into great pediments, covered all over with the richest
carving. The effect is much like that which the architect of the Milan
Cathedral appears to have designed, though here it is vividly suggested
rather than fully realized—as an artist painting in the "broad style" sug¬
gests many things without actually drawing them. The sumptuous, bewil¬
dering, mazy effect is all there, but when we attempt to analyze it in detail
it eludes us. The flank of the wall receding up the Mukuntuweap is for a
mile or two similarly decorated, but soon breaks into new forms much more
impressive and wonderful. A row of towers half a mile high is quarried
out of the palisade, and stands well advanced from its face.
There is an
eloquence to their forms which stirs the imagination with a singular power,
and kindles in the mind of the dullest observer a glowing response. Just
behind them, rising a thousand feet higher, is the eastern temple, crowned
with a cylindric dome of white sandstone ; but since it is, in many respects,
a repetition of the nearer western temple, we
may turn our attention to the
latter. Directly in front of us a complex group of white towers, springing
from a central pile, mounts upwards to the clouds. Out of their midst,
and high over all, rises a dome-like mass, which dominates the entire land-

TEMPLES AND TOWERS OP THE VIRGEN.

59

It is almost pure white, with brilliant streaks of carmine descending
At the summit it is truncated, and a flat tablet is laid
upon the top, showing its edge of deep red. It is impossible to liken this
object to any familiar shape, for it resembles none. Yet its shape is far
from being indefinite; on the contrary, it has a definiteness and individu¬
ality which extort an exclamation of surprise when first beheld. There is
no name
provided for such an object, nor is it worth while to invent one.
Call it a dome; not because it has the ordinary shape of such a structure,
but because it performs the function of a dome.
scape.

its vertical walls.

The towers which surround it

each of them is

are

of inferior

mass

and altitude, but

study of fine form and architectural effect. They are
white above, and change to a strong, rich red below. Dome and towers
are
planted upon a substructure no less admirable. Its plan is indefinite,
but its profiles are perfectly systematic. A curtain wall 1,400 feet high de¬
scends vertically from the eaves of the temples and is succeeded by a steep
slope of ever-widening base courses leading down to the esplanade below.
The curtain-wall is decorated with a lavish display of vertical moldings,
and the ridges, eaves, and mitered angles are fretted with serrated cusps.
This ornamentation is suggestive rather than precise, but it is none the less
effective. It is repetitive, not symmetrical. But though exact symmetry
is wanting, nature has here brought home to us the truth that symmetry is
only one of an infinite range of devices by which beauty can be materialized.
a

Ancl finer forms
Than

ever

are

in the quarry

Angelo evoked.

Reverting to the twin temple across Little Zion Valley, its upper mass
is a repetition of the one which crowns the western pile.
It has the same
elliptical contour, and a similar red tablet above. In its effect upon the
imagination it is much the same. But from the point from which we first
viewed them—and it is by far the best one accessible—it was too distant to
be seen to the fullest advantage, and the western temple by its greater

proximity overpowered its neighbor.
Nothing can exceed the wondrous beauty of Little Zion Valley, which
separates the two temples and their respective groups of towers. Nor are
these the only sublime structures which look down into its depths, for simi-

60
lar

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

either hand

along its receding vista until a turn in the
valley out of sight. In its proportions it is about equal
to Yo Semite, but in the
nobility and beauty of the sculptures there is no
comparison. It is Hyperion to a satyr. No wonder the fierce Mormon
ones are seen on

course

carries the

zealot, who named it, was reminded of the Great Zion, on which his fervid
thoughts were bent—"of houses not built with hands, eternal in the heavens."
From those

highly wrought groups in the center of the picture the eye
escapes to the westward along a mass of cliffs and buttes covered with the
same profuse decoration as the walls of the
temples and of the Parunuweap.
Their color is brilliant red. Much animation is imparted to this
part of the
scene
by the wandering courses of the mural fronts which have little con¬
tinuity and no definite trend The Triassic terrace out of which they have
been carved is cut into by broad amphitheaters and slashed in all directions
by wide canon valleys. The resulting escarpments stretch their courses in
every direction, here fronting towards us, there averted; now receding be¬
hind a nearer mass, and again emerging from an unseen alcove. Far to the
westward, twenty miles away, is seen the last palisade lifting its imposing
front behind a mass of towers and domes to an altitude of
probably near
3,000 feet and with a grandeur which the distance cannot dispel. Beyond
it the scenery changes almost instantly, for it passes at once into the Great
Basin, which, to this region, is as another world.

CHAPTER

IV.

THE GREAT DENUDATION.
The

great lesson of the terraces is erosion.—Its amount stated.—The amount though very great is not
abnormal.—Erosion and deposition are complementary processes.—Methods of erosion by reces¬
sion of cliffs.—Examination of the evidences of the erosion.—Argument from the stratification.
Argument from the displacements.—Argument from the drainage system.—Base levels of erosion.

Before

leaving the terraces we may with advantage pause to contem¬
plate the great lesson which they lay open to us. The subject of the lesson
is Ekosion. The geologist, seeing that around a considerable part of the
periphery of the Grand Canon district the Eocene and Mesozoic strata
suddenly terminate in great cliffs facing the Carboniferous platform, would
at once conclude that these strata formerly reached beyond their present
boundaries. But how far ? The answer may be proposed at once. They
extended

over

the entire Grand Canon district and reached into central

Arizona, where they ended along the shore of an ancient mainland, from
which their materials were in part derived. The distance of that shore-line
from the summit of the Pink Cliffs is from 130 to 180 miles, and the width
of the denuded district is from 120 to 140 miles.

From the base of the

Vermilion Cliffs the distance is from 25 to 30 miles less.
mum

denudation is from 13,000 to 15,000 square

thickness of the strata removed from it

was

The

area

of maxi¬

miles, and the

average

about 10,000 feet.

The

general reader will no doubt feel a strong aversion to such pro¬
digious figures, and even the geologist may hesitate. In order that the reader
may not be obliged to carry a heavy burden of prejudice as he follows the
various steps of the argument, it is well to anticipate some part of the dis¬
cussion and thus relieve him of a great part of the load at the outset; for
it can be shown that the figures, while they are certainly very large, are in
no respect abnormal and in
only one respect are they at all unusual.
61

62

THE GRAND

Erosion viewed in
strata

are

accumulated.

derived from the

one

way

OASfON DISTRICT.

is the supplement of the

process

by which

The materials which constitute the stratified rocks

degradation of the land. This proposition is funda¬
mental in geology—nay, it is the broadest and most comprehensive propo¬
sition with which that science deals. It is to geology what the law of gravi¬
tation is to astronomy. We can conceive no other origin for the materials
of the strata, and no other is needed, for this one is sufficient and its verity
a thousand times
proven. Erosion and "sedimentation" are the two half
phases of one cycle of causation—the debit and credit sides of one system
of transactions. The quantity of material which the agents of erosion deal
with is in the long run exactly the same as the quantity dealt with by the
agencies of deposition; or, rather, the materials thus spoken of are one and
the same. If, then, we would know how great have been the quantities of
material removed in any given geological age from the land by erosion, we
have only to estimate the mass of the strata deposited in that age. Con¬
strained by this reasoning the mind has no escape from the conclusion that
the effects of erosion have indeed been vast. If then these operations have
achieved such results, our wonder is transferred to the immensity of the
periods of time required to accomplish them; for the processes are so slow
that the span of a life-time seems too small to render those results
directly
visible. As we stand before the terrace cliffs and try to conceive of them
receding scores of miles by secular waste, we find the endeavor quite use¬
less. There is, however, one error against which we must guard ourselves.
We must not conceive of erosion as merely sapping the face of a straight
serried wall a hundred miles long; the locus of the wall receding parallel
to its former position at the rate of a foot or a few feet in a thousand
years;
the terrace back of its crest line remaining solid and uncut; the beds thus
dissolving edgewise until after the lapse of millions of centuries their termi¬
nal cliffs stand a hundred miles or more back of their initial positions. The
true story is told by the Triassic terrace ending in the Vermilion Cliffs. This
terrace is literally sawed to pieces with canons
There are dozens of these
chasms opening at intervals of two or three miles along the front of the
escarpment and setting far back into its mass. Every one of them ramifies
again and again until they become an intricate net-work, like the fibers of
were

RECESSION OP CLIFFS.

63

wall, throughout its trunk, branches, and twigs, and
every alcove and niche, becomes a dissolving face. Thus the lines and area
of attack are enormously multiplied. The front wall of the terrace is cut
into promontories and bays.
The interlacing of branch canons back of the
wall cuts off the promontories into detached buttes, and the buttes, attacked
on all sides, molder away.
The rate of recession, therefore, is correspond¬
ingly accelerated in its total effect.
The largeness of the area presents really no difficulty. The forces
which break up the rocks are of meteoric origin. The agency which car¬
ries off the debris is the water running in the drainage channels.
Surely
the meteoric forces which ravage the rocks of a township may ravage
equally the rocks of the county or state, provided only the conditions are
uniform over the larger and smaller areas. And what is the limit to the
length of a stream, the number of its branches and rills, and to the quantity
of water it may carry ! It is not the area, then, which oppresses us by its
magnitude, but the vertical factor—the thickness of the mass removed.
But upon closer inspection the aspect of this factor also will cease to be for¬
a

leaf.

Every

canon

bidding.
For if the rate of recession of

wall

fifty feet high is one foot in a given
what will be (ceteris paribus) the rate of recession in a
wall a thousand feet high! Very plainly the rate will be the same* If
we suppose two walls of equal length, composed of the same kind of rocks,
and situated under the same climate, but one of them twice as high as the
other, it is obvious that the areas of wall-face will be proportional to their
altitudes. In order that the rates of recession may be equal, the amount of
material removed from the higher one must be double that removed from
the other, and since the forces operating on the higher one have twice the
area of attack, they ought to remove from it a double quantity, thus making
the rates of recession equal. In the same way it may be shown that the
a

number of years,

geologist will no doubt recognize that this is a simple and unqualified statement of a result
very complex, and sometimes requiring qualification. But a candid review of it in
the light of established laws governing erosion will, I am confident, justify it for all purposes here con¬
templated. Though some qualifying conditions will appear when the subject is analyzed thoroughly,
they are of no application to this particular stage of the argument. The statement is amply true for
the proposition in hand, and it would be hardly practicable, and certainly very prolix, to give here the
full analysis of it.
*

The

which is in

reality

64
rate of recession is

THE GRAND

CASfON DISTRICT.

substantially independent of the magnitude of the cliff,
Here a momentary digression is necessary.
We have hitherto spoken of the recession of the cliffs as if it comprised
the whole process of erosion, and have hardly alluded to the possible deg¬
radation of the flat surfaces of plateaus, terraces, and plains. Is it meant
that there is no degradation of the horizontal surfaces, and that the waste of
the land is wholly wrought by the decay of cliffs! Approximately that is
the meaning, but some greater precision may be given to the statement.
Erosion is the result of two complex groups of processes.
The first
group comprises those which accomplish the disintegration of the rocks,
reducing them to fragments, pebbles, sand, and clay. The second com¬
prises those processes which remove the ddbris and carry it away to another
part of the world. The first is called disintegration; the second, transpor¬
tation.
We need not attempt to study these processes in all their scope
and relations, but we may advert only to those considerations which are
of immediate concern.
When the debris produced by the disintegration
of rocks is left to accumulate upon a flat surface it forms a protecting
mantle to the rocks beneath, and the disintegration is greatly retarded, or
even wholly stopped.
In order that disintegration may go on rapidly the
debris must be carried away as rapidly as it forms. But the efficiency
of transportation depends upon the declivity. The greater the slope the
greater the power of water to transport. When the slope is greater than
30° to 33° (the angle of repose), loose matter cannot lie upon the rocks,
and shoots down until it finds a resting place. Hence the greater the
slope the more fully are the rocks exposed to the disintegrating forces,
and the more rapidly do they decay. This relation is universal, applying
to all countries, and explains how it comes about that the attack of erosion
is highly effective against the cliffs and steep slopes, and has but a trifling
effect upon flat surfaces.
Reverting to the main argument, it now appears that erosion goes on
by the decay and removal of material from cliffs and slopes; that the recession
of high cliffs is as rapid as the recession of low ones, and that the quantity
of material removed in a given time increases with the altitudes of the cliffs
and slopes. In other words, the thickness of the strata removed in a given
whatever its altitude.

EVIDENCES OF THE GREAT EROSION.

65

period of erosion should be proportional to the amount of relief in the pro¬
files of the country.
But in the Plateau Country, and especially in the
Grand Canon district, these reliefs are very great. It is a region of giant
cliffs and profound canons, and, as will ultimately appear, it has been so
during a very long stretch of geological time. The thickness of the strata
removed from it is only proportional to the values of those conditions which
favor rapid erosion. In the foregoing discussion it may appear that the
area of denudation in the Grand Canon district, though large, and the
thickness of the strata denuded, though very great, are not so excessive as
to impose such a heavy burden upon the credulity as the first announce¬
ment of the figures portended.
We may now proceed to examine the evidence upon which the infer¬
ence of so great a denudation is founded.
In this discussion three classes
of facts will be utilized: 1st, the stratification; 2d, the displacements; 3d,
the drainage. Each, by itself alone considered, might be deemed insuffi¬
cient; but when they are all placed in their natural relations to each other,
they form a compact and self-consistent whole which is quite convincing.
I. In drawing inferences from the stratification, the geologist is obvi¬
ously bound to presume that the beds cut off in the terraces, and in the long
line of the Echo Cliffs, extended originally without a break, until they
reached some locality where the conditions of deposition failed. There are
two, and only two, cases to be considered. The first case is that in which
the extension is towards the shore-line of the

sea

in which the strata

were

At the shore-line of course the strata ended. The second case
from shore-lines, in which event they thin
seaward, and either vanish entirely or dwindle to a merely nominal

deposited.

involves their extension away
out

It becomes essential therefore to ascertain

volume.

situations of the shore-lines of the

sea

something about the

in which the Mesozoic strata

were

deposited.
In the

preceding chapter I have frequently alluded to the littoral belt

of strata situated in southwestern Utah and Nevada.
continuations of those which form the terraces
masses

of the

are

the

and the entire sedimentary

In Mesozoic time the Great Basin area of
was a large mainland, and the littoral belt

High Plateaus.

Nevada and western Utah

These strata

66

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

referred

to

lies

along

portion of its southeastern shore. Great masses of
are turned
up along this belt with every indi¬
cation of a shore-line: conglomerates, coarse sandstones, and
grits, much
faulted and flexed, and showing those
peculiar unconformities produced by
the sinking and flexing of overloaded littoral beds, as the coarse detritus is
rapidly piled up. Beyond is the greatly ravaged platform of Archaean and
Paleozoic rocks. It has been shown in the
preceding chapter that these
formations and indeed the entire Mesozoic
slowly attenuate as they recede
a

Triassic and Jurassic beds

eastward and east-southeast from this shore line.

The extension of the

shore of the Mesozoic mainland towards the west

southwest remains to

be

sought.

yet been explored.

But another portion of the
sea important for our
purposes may be pointed out.
Starting from the base of the Vermilion Cliffs and proceeding southward
the Grand Canon, we find no traces of a shore-line.
If any more recent

coast of

to

It has

or

never

the Mesozoic

than Carboniferous time had existed in the

interval, it would have left

vestiges, and these vestiges could not have escaped our observation. In
the extension of the formations of the terraces, therefore, we find no
logical
halting place north of the Grand Canon. In all the interval the conditions
of the problem are quite
unchanged. The logic which extends them a
half mile extends them to the brink of the chasm.

But

even

here the

problem persists. The mind leaps across the abyss only to find the object
of its pursuit receding ever southward. At the San Francisco Mountains
the pursuit is not ended. Here are several iEtnas surrounded
by a host of
young craters which have deluged the country with rhyolite and basalt,
hiding the strata beneath. Beyond these Phlegraean fields the Carbonifer¬
ous beds
reappear as before, stretching away southward and sensibly hori¬
zontal until at last they come to a sudden end in the
Aubrey Cliffs. These
cliffs face southward and southwestward,
overlooking a region of totally
different character from that of the Plateau Province.

It is

a

sierra country

quite similar to the Great Basin. It discloses a rugged platform of Archaean
rocks, here preserving a few old rags of lower Carboniferous strata, there
covered with cumbrous masses of rhyolite and irregular
slops of basalt.
It is bent, warped, shattered, faulted, and flexed; with short misshapen

67

EVIDENCES OF THE GREAT EROSION.

ridges of granite, gneiss, and schist, traversing it at narrow intervals, and
with their axes trending northwest and southeast.
Here at last is the logical halting place. The sierra country beyond
the Aubrey Cliffs was a mainland in Mesozoic time just like the Great
Basin, and sent down its detritus into the Mesozoic sea, which washed its
coast and stretched away eastward to join the Mesozoic ocean, which sub¬

merged the central portions of the North American continent.
coast

trended northwestward.

The Arizona

The Great Basin coast trended southwest-

ward, and the two, if sufficiently prolonged, would meet somewhere in
Southern Nevada. But of the localities near this imaginary junction we

nothing geologically.
Reverting now to the distribution of the Mesozoic strata around the
borders of the Grand Carton district, as explained in the preceding chap¬
ters, we find that they occupy the entire northern side and the entire
eastern side and appear for a short distance upon the western side.
The
remaining portion of the periphery of the district is in greatest part and
perhaps wholly a shore-line. Whatsoever extensions we assign to the
edges of the Mesozoic, whether in the terraces or in the Echo Cliffs, are
know almost

towards the

original coast of the

since

find

we can

no reason

sea

in which they

were

deposited; and

for terminating them until we reach that coast,

compelled to infer that they once covered the entire district.
The second case would raise the question whether these beds may not
have thinned out to a merely nominal volume or vanished entirely in their
extensions over the denuded area, The answer to this is strongly adverse.
We have just noted that these extensions are towards the shore and not
away from it, while the directions in which strata attenuate are usually the
reverse.
Towards the coasts they thicken. We have already noted how
the strata in the terraces decrease in volume towards the east and southeast,
and as we travel along the Paria Plateau and the foot of the Echo Cliffs,
we find that they have reached a minimum.
But all this I have allowed
for in estimating the average denudation of the Grand Canon platform. If
they are below the average volume in the Echo Cliffs, they are quite as
much above it in the Valley of the Virgen. In connection with the possi¬
ble variations in the thickness it may be remarked that one of the most

we seem

68

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

striking characteristics of the strata of the Plateau Country is the remark¬
of the character of each formation over vast expanses of
country, and the extreme slowness with which their thickness varies from
point to point.
It still remains to inquire whether we are to assume this extension for
the entire Mesozoic system, together with the Permian below and the Eocene
above, or if it applies only to the older of these formations; for instance,
the Permian and Trias.
It may be replied that while the
presumption is
very strong in favor of the whole the weight of evidence varies with the
able constancy

different formations.

In the

case

of the Permian it is conclusive.

merable remnants of this formation

are

scattered

over

Innu¬

the Carboniferous

platform, and the

eye and mind carry the connection easily from one rem¬
nant to the other.
In the Trias the outlying remnants are
very few, yet
these few are situated in such a manner that they leave no reasonable

doubt; and the Trias carries the Jura with it.

nearly co-extensive, and

The two formations

are so

intimately associated that the very small
masses now
remaining will not appre¬
ciably affect the conclusions to be drawn. So, too, of the Cretaceous.
This series is wanting from some Triassic areas, but we should
naturally
expect the higher formation to be more eroded. No geologist would hesi¬
tate to restore it to those areas where the Trias is found, and
yet when this
is done it is impossible to see how the question of its further extension
are so

difference in the distribution of their

would differ from that of the Trias.
The

Eocene presents

undeniably a somewhat greater difficulty;
greater, however, in degree and not different in kind. This formation is
found only on the northern side of the district and in the littoral belt. It
is unknown in the great mesas which are bounded westward by the Echo
Cliffs. We find it again only in New Mexico. But the wonder is, not that
the Eocene is wanting from such vast areas, if it was deposited over them,
but rather that

much of it remains.

Still the main argument

which has
applied to the other formations holds good when applied to this one.
We cannot find any reason for terminating its former extension short of
the ancient shore-line in Arizona; but the additional argument from out¬
lying remnants is no doubt weaker. It seems best, therefore, to regard
been

so

EVIDENCES OE THE GREAT EROSION.

the full extension of the Eocene

as

having

a very

69

high degree of proba¬

bility, but falling short of certainty.
II. The foregoing argument is strongly sustained and supplemented
by the displacements. If it be true that the Grand Canon district received
between the close of the Carboniferous and the close of the local Eocene

10,000 feet of deposits averaged over its entire surface, it follows that at
the latter

epoch the summit of the Carboniferous lay at least 10,000 feet
was much more
nearly horizontal than it is at present.
And if such was its position and configuration, the great faults and dis¬
placements which traverse it must be of Tertiary age, and there must have
been an enormous amount of uplifting, ranging from 12,000 to 18,000 feet,
in various portions of the district.
These are some of the consequences of
the great denudation. If by independent evidence they shall appear to be
true—to have really happened—the original inference will be much
strengthened; but if they fail, the original inference will be greatly dam¬
aged, if not exploded. For it may be remarked that every true deduction
runs off into important consequences, and (in geological reasoning, at all
events) derives its strongest support from its congruity with a vast system
of facts. We shall soon find by independent evidence that the inference
of the great denudation agrees rigorously with the above mentioned con¬
below sea-level and

sequences.
It is first necessary to

find the configuration and position of the seabottom on which the Mesozoic sediments were deposited at each and every
epoch of that age. This problem looks very large and formidable, but an
approximate solution is right at hand. During the entire age the surface of
deposition was always very near the sea-level. The proof of this is
abundant and clear.
Throughout the entire Plateau Province the strata
are all shallow water deposits.
Fossil forests, ripple-marked shales, fre¬
quent unconformities by erosion without discrepancy of dip, cross-bedded
sandstones, occasional retirements of the waters, all mark very shallow
water in the Permian, Trias, and Jura; while coal, carbonaceous shales,
abundant remains of land plants indicate the same for the Cretaceous.
And, finally, the absence of all traces of appreciable displacement except
along the coasts combines to prove that the Mesozoic beds were deposited

70

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

with almost

rigorous horizontally, and very nearly at sea-level, throughout
This gives us at once a datum horizon of the best
possible kind to which all subsequent displacements may be referred.
Its advantage is at once apparent; for it will soon appear very clearly
that the faults are all of Tertiary age. In estimating the entire displace¬
ment or differential movement involved in a fault, the following difficulty
the entire

arises.

We

Mesozoic.

are

often at

a

loss to ascertain whether

one

side of the fault

plane has been lifted or the other depressed, or even whether both sides
may not have been uplifted or lowered, but one of them more than the
other; the fault being merely the difference of two movements. But the
moment we establish the origin of movement at any datum level, this
problem for any particular fault is solved at once. The faults of the Grand
Canon district are those which are due to the differences of upward move¬
ment on both sides of the fault planes.
This statement is true in every
instance, and is fully demonstrated.
The next step is to find the amount and distribution of that part of
the movement which is represented by the faults. This is done by depress¬
ing the upthrows until the edges of the faulted beds come together and the
monoclines are smoothed out. If this be done, the sharp ledges and abrupt
breaks in the topography produced by those displacements disappear. The
final step is a little more difficult and complex, and it is necessary to de¬
scribe at some length one important feature of the district.
If we examine the profile of the district from the Markagunt south¬
ward to the Grand Canon, and thence to the Aubrey Cliffs, we shall find
that the strata all dip very slightly to the north.
The amount of this dip
is irregular in different parts of the profile, being for very short distances,
and, in a few cases, as much as two and a half or even three degrees; while
there are long distances where the strata are strictly horizontal. On an
average it is not far from forty minutes. But since its effect is cumulative
over the entire distance of 130 to 180 miles, its importance is very great,
for the Carboniferous beneath the Markagunt lies below sea-level, while at
the San Francisco Mountains it is nearly 8,000 feet above.
The dips are
strongest near the terraces, and it is very interesting to note the fact that at

71

EVIDENCES OF THE GEEAT EEOSION.

the base of each terrace cliff the inclination becomes

maximum*

a

This

prolonged downward tilt towards the north must be borne in mind always
in the attempted restoration of the platform to its original condition.
Resuming the reconstruction, we begin at the Markagunt Plateau.
Here we find brackish and fresh water beds of Eocene age between 10,000
and 11,000 feet above the sea. To find their position at the beginning of
Tertiary time we must in imagination depress them that amount This car¬
ries down the Carboniferous nearly 12,000 feet below sea level.
The same
treatment is applicable to the entire front of the terraces as far as the Kaiparowits and indefinitely beyond. So also along the line of the Echo Cliffs
as far south as our knowledge extends, with, however, a notably diminished
amount in that direction arrising from the smaller thickness of the Mesozoic
strata.
Turning to the littoral belt in the Pine Valley Mountains we must
depress the country between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, but in a very irregular
way, because this region is greatly disturbed.
We must also carry on this
treatment southward along the Grand Wash and Virgen Range (Atlas Sheet
II) as far as the Colorado. Reducing the Grand Wash fault in conjunction
with this imaginary depression we find that the Carboniferous at the mouth
of the Grand Canon goes 10,000 feet below the sea. The entire western
edge of the Sheavwits goes with it. Along the Echo Cliffs the depression
of the same horizon would be 7,500 feet below the sea, and would carry
with it the Marble Canon platform, by the reduction of the Echo Cliff
monocline.

district the recon¬
struction depresses the Carboniferous 7,500 to 12,000 feet below the sea.
That the whole Grand Canon platform follows it seems incontestable.
Any
other reconstruction would force upon us some unknown arbitrary configu¬
Thus around the greater

part of the periphery of the

ration of the Carboniferous strata for which there is no

evidence.

It is in¬

admissible to suppose that flexures, faults, or broad distortions once existed
there which have subsequently been smoothed out or reset without leaving
a

single visible sign; and any other reconstruction than the one here adopted

would, it appears to me, involve just such assumptions.

suggesting that this may be due to the gross weight of the terraces them¬
analogous to the action of creeping in deep mines. The inferior beds might have
it not for the sudden intervention of these heavy masses of the terrace platforms.

*1 cannot refrain from
selves.
risen

It

seems

higher,

were

And they could

72

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

instantly be attacked by considerations arising from the evolution of the
drainage system.
It appears, then, that the Grand Canon district has undergone an enor¬
mous amount of
upheaval during Tertiary time. The minimum is nearly
12,000 feet and the maximum is about 18,000 feet
of the different

The present altitudes
portions of its surface mark the difference between the

amount of

uplift and the depth of denudation. In these respects the region
presents quantities above the average of the western half of the United
States and which are surpassed only by the great mountain platforms. The
inference of a great denudation might be traced to remoter
consequences,
and

so

facts

far

as

as we

I

am

know

;

able to do

so

I find indications of agreement

with such

but knowledge becomes imperfect.

III. The evolution of the

drainage system of the region is a subject
abounding in facts and inferences which group themselves most harmoni¬
ously with those already discussed. The origin of rivers has hitherto
received too little attention from geologists,
apparently because of the
intrinsic difficulty which the subject offers in most regions.
But it seems
as

if much

in

more use

could be made of it than has hitherto been done

even

regions where there is more or less obscurity. There are certain propo¬
regarding them which may read like truisms, yet which become
extremely useful when followed out to their obvious consequences. The
self-evident assertion that a river had a beginning implies a great deal. It
implies that it originated and developed under the limitations of natural
laws, and these laws we know. We are tempted to laugh at the assertion
that water does not run up-hill. Yet it would be easy to
point out many
cases where vexed questions would have been solved if
geologists had not
forgotten it.
In former writings I have laid stress upon propositions like the follow¬
ing: that the great rivers of a country are as a rule born with the country
itself; .that their courses were determined by the conditions prevailing at
the time of their origin; that their positions once established are (with cer¬
tain qualifications) immutable. From these propositions flow
consequences
of great importance.
Thus when we find rivers flowing across or through
mountain chains and plateaus we must infer that they are older than the
sitions

EVIDENCES OF THE GREAT EROSION.

structural deformations which
form

across

stream saws

the track of

a

73

they traverse; that the elevation of a plat¬
rarely diverts it from its course, for the

river

its bed into the rocks

as

fast

as

the obstacle rises.

It would be

impossible to point out a more complete illustration of these propositions
than that which is supplied by the Colorado and its tributaries.
We know that during the whole of Mesozoic time the watershed of the
Colorado was submerged and that in Eocene time it was a great fresh-water
lake. In due time this lake was drained presumably by the cutting down
of its outlet as the country rose. In this process may be discerned the origin
of its drainage system; and we are bound to infer that every river then
existing within it ran in conformity with the surface just exposed above the
waters.
To-day we find that surface greatly deformed by displacements
and by erosion, and the courses of the rivers to be such as they could not
have been if these inequalities and deformations were as old as the rivers.
It would be an endless task and very burdensome both to the writer and to
the reader to analyze the course of the Colorado and each of its tributaries
to show their relations to the structural features.
The subject may be sum¬
marized in the single statement that they are entirely independent of the
structural features. They run in a majority of cases against the inclinations
of the strata and against the topographical slopes.
They cut through
mountains and plateaus; they enter cliff's, they emerge from them; they
enter the lifts of monoclines, they cross faults from the upthrow to the down¬
throw. They run here obliquely up or down the structural slopes, and
there they course along the strike.
There is one and only one way in which we can account for the present
positions of these drainage channels. Confining ourselves to the Grand Canon
district (though the same generalization holds good for the entire watershed
of the Colorado), we shall find a consistent explanation of the drainage prob¬
lem by assuming precisely what we have deduced from the discussion of the
stratification and displacements; i. e., depressing the whole Grand Canon
platform many thousands of feet and covering it with the Mesozoic and
Eocene beds in full volume, reducing at the same time all the faults and
flexures until the Carboniferous becomes a smooth platform over the whole
district.

THE GRAND

74
To

to

in detail
repulsive
Take the Marble Canon in its relations

every drainage channel
interminable discussion of the dryest and most

apply this reconstruction to

would lead to
kind.

CANON DISTRICT.

An

an

example must suffice.

the Glen Canon above it.

The Colorado in the Glen Canon flows

through 150 miles of Mesozoic strata, the walls being for the last 50 miles
chiefly in the Cretaceous and Jura. At the foot of this chasm the river
emerges through a gateway 2,400 deep upon the Marble Canon (Carbon¬
iferous) platform. Just as it approaches the end the Echo Cliff monocline
turns up the entire stratigraphic system to the westward, with a displace¬
ment, the amount of which is not accurately known, but which exceeds
certainly 3,000 feet. The age of this flexure is Tertiary, for it involves
the Cretaceous beds and farther north involves the Tertiary.
That the river
at this point has cut through the entire Mesozoic and Permian, and proba¬
bly also the Eocene, is self-evident. Imagine now at a given epoch in the
early Eocene the river situated only a few hundred feet above sea-level,
and all these beds lying beneath its trough.
Imagine the monocline
smoothed out
This gives us the position of the Marble Canon platform
at the stated epoch; viz, 7,500 to 8,000 feet below sea-level.
To maintain
the river

we

must restore

that thickness of later strata.

that these strata thinned rapidly along the course
of the Marble Canon.
The supposition speedily raises difficulties. That
would imply that the Carboniferous platform had a long upward tilt in that
direction at a considerable angle, and that this tilt has since come back to
approximate horizontality. Now in truth there is a tilt of this kind, but it
amounts to less than one degree, and we may assume that it is con¬
genital so far as the river is concerned. If true it would not materially
affect the conclusion.
But the arbitrary assumption of a much greater tilt
and its subsequent reduction without a trace of evidence is hardly an
admissible argument. A still greater difficulty is encountered by applying
the test to the Little Colorado, which joins the main river at the foot of the
Marble Canon. This tributary has had the same kind of battles to fight in
order to maintain its right of way as the Colorado itself. In no stream
could the fact be clearer that it has cut through thousands of feet of strata,
and we know pretty nearly how much. It flows northward to its junction
Let

us

suppose now

EVIDENCES OF THE GREAT EROSION.

to meet the

Colorado

nearly the same
otherwise

flowing south. We
amount of Mesozoic beds as

we are

Here at the

left without

75

replace beneath it very
put beneath the Colorado,

must
we

resource.

junction the main river turns westward and enters the
ascending monocline of the Kaibab. The problem has the same aspect as
at the Echo Cliffs,
except that the displacements are increased and the
consequent amounts of depression required to affect the restoration. The
argument also is the same. At the axis of the Kaibab the displacements
reach their maximum. West of this axis the depression required for the
restoration diminishes as it passes successively each great fault. All along
the way we may check the argument from the river by the arguments from
the tributaries.
The whole forms a system, and in the treatment and con¬
clusions here adopted everything is self-consistent, and no difficulties arise
except those which are always inherent in an attempt to bring before the
mind a picture of concrete facts whose relations are to be discussed.
But
if these can be grasped in their entirety the conclusions drawn from them
will, I am confident, be deemed unassailable.
I have thus endeavored to group together different categories of facts,
in order to bring to the fullest possible tests the inference of the great
denudation of the Grand Canon district. Any deduction if true at all
must be true in all its consequences.
In the evolution of a region all the
great events are intimately associated, and their consequences reach out
almost indefinitely. The evolution of the Grand Canon district involves
many complex operations, and the dominant fact is the great erosion of its
platform. Every other fact is intimately interwoven with it. In truth it
is the major premise of the whole discussion, and we cannot therefore be
too careful in scrutinizing the ground upon which it is based.
Thus tested,
the deduction presents the best possible evidence of verity, which is self-con¬
sistency, and coherence with all the facts to which it may be brought into
relation. In the course of the argument some data have been anticipated,
the evidence of which will appear in subsequent chapters—for example, the
Tertiary age of the displacements. This and many other facts will appear
in their proper places.
It seems proper here to introduce a general consideration which will

76
be

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

employed from time to time in the explanation of
region.

some

notable features

of the

BASE LEVELS OF EROSION.

In his

popular narrative of Explorations of the Colorado River, Pow¬
employed the above term to give precision to an idea which is of
much importance in physical geology.
The idea in some form or other
has, no doubt, occurred to many geologists, but, so far as known to me,
it had not before received such definite treatment nor been so
fully and
justly emphasized. It may be explained as follows.
Whenever a smooth countiy lies at an altitude but little above the level
of the sea, erosion proceeds at a rate so slow as to be
merely nominal.
ell has

The rivers cannot corrade their channels.

Their declivities

very small,
the velocities of their waters very feeble, and their
transporting power is
so much reduced that
they can do no more than urge along the detritus
are

brought into their troughs from highlands around their margins. Their
transporting power is just equal to the load they have to carry, and there is no
surplus energy left to wear away their bottoms. All that erosion can now
do is to slowly carry off the soil formed on the
slopes of mounds, banks,
and hillocks, which faintly diversify the broad
surrounding expanse. The
erosion is at its base-level or very nearly so.
An extreme case is the State
of Florida.
All regions are tending to base-levels of erosion, and if the
time be long enough each region will, in its turn,
approach nearer and
nearer, and at last sensibly reach it.
The approach, however, consists in
an infinite series of
approximations like the approach of a hyperbola to
tangency with its asymptote.
Thus far, however, there is the implied
assumption that the region undergoes no change of altitude with reference
to sea-level; that it is neither elevated nor
depressed by subterranean forces.
Many regions do remain without such vertical movements through a long
succession of geological periods.
But the greater portion of the existing
land of the globe, so far as is known, has been
subject to repeated throes
of elevation or depression.
Such a change, if of notable amount, at length
destroys the pre-existing relation of a region to its base-level of erosion.

BASE-LEVELS OF EROSION.

77

If it is

depressed it becomes immediately an area of deposition. If it is
elevated new energy is imparted to the agents and machinery of erosion.
The declivities of the streams are increased, giving an excess of transport¬
ing power which sweeps the channels clear of debris; corrasion begins;
new
topographical features are literally carved out of the land in high relief;
long rapid slopes or cliffs are generated and vigorously attacked by the de¬
stroying agents; and the degradation of the country proceeds with energy.
It is not necessary that a base-level of erosion should lie at extremely
low altitudes. Thus a large interior basin drained by a trunk river, across
the lower portions of which a barrier is slowly rising, is a case in point.
For a time the river is tasked to cut down its barrier as rapidly as it rises.
This occasions slackwater in the

courses

above the barrier and stops cor¬

rasion, producing temporarily a local base-level. Another case is the Great
Basin of Nevada.
It has no outlet, because its streams sink in the sand or

Its valley bottoms are rather below base-level than
general result of causes tending to bring a region to an
approximate base-level of erosion is the obliteration of its inequalities.
During the progress of the great denudation of the Grand Canon dis¬
trict the indications are abundant that its interior spaces have occupied for
a time the relation of an
approximate base-level of erosion. Throughout
almost the entire stretch of Tertiary and Quaternary time the region has
been rising, and in the aggregate the elevation has become immense, vary¬
ing from 11,000 to 18,000 feet in different portions. But it seems that the
movement has not been at a uniform rate.
It appears to have proceeded
through alternations of activity and repose. Whether we can point to
more than one period of quiescence may be somewhat doubtful, but we
can
point decisively to one. It occurred probably in late Miocene or early
Pliocene time, and while it prevailed the great Carboniferous platform
was denuded of most of its inequalities, and was planed down to a very
flat expanse.
Since that period the relation has been destroyed by a gen¬
eral upheaval of the entire region several thousands of feet. The indica¬
tions of this will appear when we come to the study of the interior spaces
of the Grand Canon district and of the Grand Canon itself.
To this study
we now
proceed.
evaporate from salinas.
above it.

The

CHAPTER

Y.

THE TOROWEAP AND THE GRAND CANON.
From Kanab to

Pipe Spring—Crossing the desert—The Permian Cliffs—Desert vegetation—The Wild
water-pockets—Scenery upon the desert platform—Distant views of the terrace cliffs and the
volcanoes of theUinkaret—The Wonsits Valley—Basaltic lavas and cinder cones of the Uinkaret—
The head of the Toroweap Valley—Descent of the valley—Distant view of the canon wall—
The Witches' water-pocket.—The walls of the Toroweap, with their pinnacles,
amphitheaters,
and alcoves—The Toroweap fault—Lava cascades descending from the Uinkaret—Gigantic archi¬
tecture—The opening of the valley into the main chasm—The great esplanade—The inner
gorge—
Divisions of the Carboniferous system exposed in the chasm—Grandeur of the scenery and system¬
atic character of the profiles—Vulcan's Throne—Views up and down the main chasm—The view
up the Toroweap—The fault and its visible details—Age of the dislocation—View of the basaltic
cones of the Uinkaret and of the lava cascades—View across the
gorge—Ruined crater on the
brink—Dykes in the canon wall—Recency of the excavation of the inner gorge and the rapidity of
Band

its excavation—Descent of the inner chasm wall to the river—View of the

canon

below—Great

cor-

rasive power

of the river—Significance of the Toroweap Valley—It is the vestige of ancient drain¬
age—The excavation of the chasm is the work performed under an arid climate—The age of the
entire chasm is comparatively recent with a probable beginning near the close of the Miocene.

The

present chapter will contain an account of a journey from the vil¬

lage Kanab to the Toroweap Valley, and

description of the middle portion
rallying place and base of opera¬
tions of the survey in these parts, being located on the only living stream
between the Yirgen and the Paria.
The first stage of the journey from Kanab to Pipe Spring is an easy
one.
It leads southwestward to a gap cut through the low Permian terrace
and out into the open desert beyond.
The road, well traveled and easy,,
then turns westward and at length reaches the spring twenty miles from
Kanab
Pipe Spring is situated at the foot of the southernmost promon¬
tory of the Vermilion Cliffs, and is famous throughout southern Utah as a
watering place. Its flow is copious and its water is the purest and best
throughout that desolate region. Ten years ago the desert spaces out¬
spreading to the southward were covered with abundant grasses, affording
of the Grand Canon.

78

a

Kanab is the usual

THE KANAB DESERT—PIPE SPRING.

79

rich pasturage to horses and cattle. To-day hardly a blade of grass is to
be found within ten miles of the spring, unless upon the crags and mesas
of the Vermilion Cliffs behind it.

The horses and cattle have

disappeared,
and the bones of many of the latter are bleached upon the plains in front
of it. The cause of the failure of pasturage is twofold. There is little
doubt that during the last ten or twelve years the climate of the surround¬
ing country has grown more arid. The occasional summer showers which
kept the grasses alive seldom come noAV, and through the long summer and
autumn droughts the grasses perished even to their roots before they had
time to seed.
All of them belong to varieties which reproduce from seed,
and whose roots live but three or four years.
Even if there had been no
drought the feeding of cattle would have impoverished and perhaps wholly
destroyed the grass by cropping it clean before the seeds were mature, as
has been the

case

very

generally throughout Utah and Nevada.

Northeastward the Vermilion Cliffs extend in endless
towards

Kanab, and beyond to the Paria.

perspective
Northwestward, with growing

magnitude, they extend towards the Virgen, ever forming a mighty back¬
ground to the picture. To the southward stretches the desert, blank, life¬
less, and as expressionless as the sea. For five or six miles south of the
Pipe Spring promontory there is a gentle descending slope, and thence
onward the surface feebly ascends through a distance of thirty miles to the
brink of the Grand Canon. Thus the range of vision is wide, for we over¬
look a gentle depression of great extent. Though the general impression
conveyed is that of a smooth or slightly modulated country, yet Ave com¬
mand a far greater expanse than would be possible among the prairies.
To the southeastward the Kaibab looms up, seemingly at no great distance,
and to the southwestward the flat roof of Mount Trumbull is more than a
blue cloud in the horizon. Towards this latter mountain we take a straight
course.
The first few miles lie across drifting sands bare of all vegetation.
The air is like a furnace, but so long as the water holds out the heat is not
enervating and brings no lassitude. Everything is calm and still, except
here and there a hot whirling blast, which sends up a tall, slender column
of dust, diffusing itself in the air. At a slow pace, the sand-hills at length
are passed and we enter upon a hard, firm soil, over which we move more

80

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

rapidly.

Just here, and for three

four miles in either direction, the Per¬
by erosion and
buried beneath the wash brought down from the foot of the Vermilion
Cliffs to the northward. But seven miles from Pipe Spring, the Permian
terrace springs up out of the earth, scarped by its characteristic cliff.
Stretching northwestward it increases in altitude, becoming at last 800 to
1,000 feet high. At its summit is seen the Shinarump conglomerate, of a
pale brown color, and beneath are the gorgeous hues of the shales. Noth¬
ing can surpass the dense, rich, and almost cloying splendor of the redbrown seen in these shales.
They suggest the color of old mahogany, but
are much
more luminous and quite uniform.
Under them are belts of
chocolate, slate, lavender, pale Indian red, and white. Very wonderful, too,
is the evenness of the bedding, which is brought out in great clearness and
sharpness by the etching of minute layers of clays holding selenite.
Between the shales and overlying conglomerate careful scrutiny enables us
to detect an unconformity by erosion without any unconformity of dip. As
stated in a preceding chapter, Mr. Walcott fixed provisionally the separat¬
ing horizon between the Permian and Trias at this unconformable contact.
Along the route the vegetation is scanty indeed. Several forms of cac¬
tus are seen looking very diseased and mangy, and remnants of low desert
shrubs browsed to death by cattle. Yet, strangely enough, there is one
plant and one alone that seems to flourish. It is the common sunflower,
found anywhere from Maine to Arizona, and seeming indifferent to the vicis¬
or

mian terrace has been obliterated.

It has been beveled off

situdes of climate.
About 18 miles from

broad shallow

Pipe Spring the trail leads gently down into a
valley known as the Wild Band pockets. The drainage from

the fronts of the Permian

Cliffs,

now

far to the northward, here collects into

gulch, which gradually deepens and becomes a tributary of Kanab Canon.
stream-bed may be found many depressions which would hold
water even though the sources of supply were cut off
This is as true of
wet-weather channels as of perennial streams. After the infrequent show¬
ers, and after the surface waters have ceased to run, the bed of the stream
will still retain pools of water, provided the bottom of it is of a consistency
which will prevent it from filtering away. To these pools the people of the
a

In every

THE SCENERY OF THE DESERT.

81

west have

given the name of " water-pockets." They are very common in
the wash from the Permian and lower
Triassic shales.
These shales yield a very fine impervious clay, which
forms an excellent " puddling" for water holes and basins.
The Wild Band
pockets have received their name from the fact that they are the resort of
bands of wild horses that roam over these deserts, far from human haunts,
the stream-beds which bear away

ranging from spring to spring, which they visit by stealth only at night, and
never so long as they can find chance water in these and other pockets.
Beyond the Wild Band Yalley there is a slight ascent to a rocky platform,
consisting of the summit beds of the Carboniferous. In the course of 20
miles we have crossed the entire Permian series, which now lies to the north
of us. A few stunted cedars, most of which are dead or dying of drought,
are scattered over this platform and give us until nightfall some slight shel¬
ter from the sun.
It is as good a camping place as we are likely to find,
and if we are fortunate enough to reach it after a copious shower, the hol¬
lows and basins in the flat rocks may contain a scanty supply of clear rain¬
water.
It is a good locality, also, from which we may overlook the out¬
spreading desert, which is not without charms, however repulsive in most
respects.
To the northward rises the low escarpment

of the Permian, forming

a

picture which is somewhat indistinct through distance, but weird be¬
of its strange colors and still stranger forms. Beyond and in the far
distance rise the towering fronts of the Vermilion Cliffs, ablaze with red
light from the sinking sun. To the eastward they stretch into illimitable
distance, growing paler but more refined in color until the last visible prom¬
color

cause

its purple into the azure of the evening sky. Across
quarter of the horizon stretches the long level summit of
the Kaibab as straight and unbroken as the rim of the ocean. To the
southwestward i-ises the basaltic plateau of Mount Trumbull, now present¬
ing itself with somewhat imposing proportions. Around it a great multi¬
tude of basaltic cinder cones toss up their ominous black waves almost as
high as Trumbull itself. Their tumultuous profiles and gloomy shades form
a
sharp contrast with the rectilinear outlines and vivid colors of the region

ontory seems to merge
the whole eastern

roundabout.

82

THE GRAND

At dawn

we

descends two

or

moved

CANON DISTRICT.

onward, reaching soon the summit of

three hundred feet to

a

hill which

broad flat

depression called the
barren and smooth expanse, dotted with a few
moldering buttes of Upper Carboniferous rocks, now wasted to their foun¬
dations.
The plain is about seven miles in width, and on the further side
rises a low mesa of great extent capped with basalt.
It is the Uinkaret,
Beyond the nearer throng of basaltic cones Mount Trumbull rises with a
striking aspect dominating strongly the entire western landscape. The
Wonsits Plain.

smaller

It is

a

cones are now

a

very

seen

parently perfect in form,

to be very numerous,

and all of them

are

ap¬

if time had wrought no great ravage among
with which they
peperino,
are covered, have become
dull red by the oxidation of the iron, and this
peculiar color is easily recog¬
nized though the cones are still far
away. Just before reaching the basaltic
them.

The lapitti

mesa we

must

as

and

make

our

choice between two routes to the

Toroweap,

one

direct, the other

very circuitous.
No spring
the further side of Mount Trumbull, but we

is to be found until we reach
know of a large water-pocket
on this side, which has never been known to
dry up. The spring water is
sure to be
good, but the water in the pocket will depend for its quality upon
the length of time which has passed since the last
heavy rain. Let us here
choose the shorter one, and go to the
water-pocket.
Ascending the mesa, which rises abruptly about 200 feet above the
Wonsits Plain, we find ourselves at once upon the basalt. The
ground is
paved with cinders and fragments half buried in soil, the debris of decaying
lava sheets.
These sheets are rarely of any great
thickness, seldom ex¬
ceeding 30 or 40 feet, and often much less, and none of the individual erup¬
tions of lava

seem

to

have covered any very great expanse.

Probably the
by the largest would be less than a square mile. They show
no
perceptible differences in composition or texture, and all are basalts of
the most typical variety—very black and
ferruginous in the unweathered
specimens and speckled with abundant olivine. At the time of eruption
they appear to have been in a state of perfect liquidity, spreading out very
thin and flowing rapidly and with ease. In none of them has erosion
wrought much havoc, though here and there some local destruction has
been effected, most conspicuously upon the
edges of the principal mesa
area

covered

THE CRATERS AT THE HEAD OF THE TOROWEAP.

83

where the sheets have been undermined and their

fragments scattered upon
plain below. The cones, which stand thick around us, are still in good
preservation. They are of ordinary composition—mere piles of cinders
the

thrown out of central vents and

dropping around it. The fume and froth
surfaces, the spongy inflated blocks, the lapilli and peperino,
are not greatly changed, though all of them here show the oxidation of the
iron. We wonder what their age may be; what time has elapsed since
they vomited fire and steam. But there is no clew—no natural record by
which such events can be calendared. Historically, they have doubtless
stood in perfect repose for very many centuries. Not a trace of activity of
any kind is visible, and they are as perfectly quiescent as the dead volca¬
noes of the Auvergne or of Scotland.
Geologically, they are extremely
recent; yet even here where historic antiquity merges into geologic recency
the one gives us no measure of the other.
Following a course which winds among the silent cones and over
rough, flat surfaces of lava beds half buried in drifting sands, we at
length reach the border of a slight depression, into which we descend.
It is hardly noteworthy as a valley just here, and might be confounded
with any one of the innumerable shallow water courses which occur round
about; only when we look beyond we see it growing broader and much
deeper. It is the head of the Toroweap. Upon its smooth bottom is a
soft clayey soil, in which desert shrubs and stunted sage-brush grow in
some abundance.
Here and there a cedar, dwarfed indeed, but yet alive,
of the lava

welcome green, and upon the valley slopes are a few sprays of
grass. The valley bottom descends at a noticeable rate to the southward,
and as we put the miles behind us we find the banks on either side rising
in height, becoming steeper, and at last displaying rocky ledges.
In the
course of six or seven miles the left side has become a wall 700 feet high,
while the other side, somewhat lower, is much broken and craggy. Huge
piles of basalt lie upon the mesa beyond, sheet upon sheet, culminating in
a cluster of large
cones. At length the course of the valley slightly
deflects to the left, and as we clear a shoulder of the eastern wall, which
has hitherto masked its continuation, a grand vista breaks upon the sight.
The valley stretches away to the southward, ever expanding in width; the
displays

a

THE GRAND OAS ON DISTRICT.

84
walls

either side increase in

altitude, and

profiles of wonderful
and nobility. Far in the distance they betoken a majesty and grand¬
eur quite unlike anything hitherto seen.
With vast proportions are com¬
bined simplicity, symmetry, and grace, and an architectural effect as precise
and definite as any to be found in the terraces. And yet these walls differ
in style from the Trias and Jura as much as the Trias and Jura differ from
each other. In the background the vista terminates at a mighty palisade,
stretching directly across the axis of vision. Though more than 20 miles
distant it reveals to us suggestions of grandeur which awaken feelings of
awe.
We know instinctively that it is a portion of the wall of the Grand
on

asume

grace

Canon.
The western side of the

valley is here broken down into a long slope
descending from the cones clustered around the base of Mount Trumbull,
and is covered with broad flows of basalt. Turning out of the valley we
ascend the lava bed, which has a very moderate slope, and about a mile
from the valley we find the Witches' Water Pocket. In every desert the
watering places are memorable, and this one is no exception. It is a weird
spot. Around it are the desolate Phlegrsean fields, where jagged masses
of black lava still protrude through rusty, decaying cinders. Patches of
soil, thin and coarse, sustain groves of cedar and pinon. Beyond and above
are groups of cones, looking as if they might at any
day break forth in
renewed eruption, and over all rises the tabular mass of Mount Trumbull.
Upon its summit are seen the yellow pines (P. ponderosa), betokening a
cooler and a moister clime.
The pool itself might well be deemed the
abode of witches. A channel half-a-dozen yards deep and twice as wide,
has been scoured in the basalt by spasmodic streams, which run during the
vernal rains. Such a stream cascading into it has worn out of the solid
lava a pool twenty feet long, nearly as wide, and five or six feet deep.
Every flood fills it with water, which is good enough when recent, but
horrible when old. Here, then, we camp for the night.
Filling the kegs at daylight, we descend again into the Toroweap and
move southward.
Our attention is strongly attracted by the wall upon the
eastern side.
Steadily it increases its mass and proportions. Soon it be¬
comes evident that its profile is remarkably constant.
We did not notice

.U
.S

LACIGOE
YEVRUS
A

ELBAG
HTIW

EHT—.SLCANIP
PAEWORT
DNARG
NO AC

.TCIRSD
'

.LP

.IVX

DESCENT OF THE TOROWEAP.

this at

first, for

but

the

as

unfold.

85

in the upper valley only the summit of the palisade;
valley cuts deeper in the earth the plan and system begin to
At the summit is a vertical ledge, next beneath a long Mansard
we saw

slope, then a broad plinth, and last, and greater than all, a long, sweeping
curve, gradually descending to the plain below.
Just opposite to us the
pediments seem half buried, or rather half risen out of the valley alluvium.
But beyond they rise higher and higher until in the far distance the profile
is complete.
In this escarpment are excavated alcoves with openings a
mile wide. As soon as we reach the first one, new features appear. The
upper ledge suddenly breaks out into a wealth of pinnacles and statues
standing in thick ranks. They must be from 100 to 250 feet high, but now
the height of the wall is more than a thousand feet, and they do not seem
colossal. Indeed, they look like a mere band of intricate fretwork—a line
of balustrade on the summit of a noble facade. Between the alcoves the
projecting pediments present gable-ends towards the valley-plain. Yet
whithersoever the curtain wall extends the same profile greets the eyes.
The architect has adhered to his design as consistently and persistently as
the builders of the Thebaid or of the Acropolis. As we pass alcove after
alcove, and pediment after pediment, they grow loftier, wider, and deeper,
and the decoration becomes more ornate. At length we pass one which is
vast

indeed.

It is recessed back from the main front three-fourths of

and shows three sides of

mile,

with walls 1,800 feet in height.
into the broad valley.
"Wonderfully rich and profuse are the pinnacles and statues along the upper
friezes.
The fancy is kindled as the eye wanders through the inclosure.
We look across the valley, which is here three miles in width, and
behold the other wall, which presents an aspect wholly different, but quite
as interesting.
The western wall of the Toroweap is here lower than the
eastei'n, but still is more than a thousand feet high. The geologist soon sur¬
mises that along the valley bottom runs a fault which drops the country on
the west several hundred feet, and the conjecture soon becomes certainty.
Above and beyond the western escarpment is the platform of the Uinkaret
Plateau.
Upon its summit is a throng of large basaltic cones in perfect
preservation. Streams of lava larger than any hitherto seen have poured
an

oblong

a

room

The fourth Side is obliterated and the space opens

86

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

from their vents, flooding many a square mile of mesa land, and in the
wide alcoves they have reached the brink of the wall and cascaded over it.
Still pouring down the long taluses they have reached the

valley bottom
spread out in wide fields, disappearing underneath the clayey
alluvium, which has buried much of their lower portions. The appearance
of these old lava cascades, a mile or more wide, a thousand feet high, and
black as Erebus, is striking in the extreme. There are five of these basaltic
cataracts, each consisting of many individual coulees. Between them the
bold pediments of brightly-colored Carboniferous strata jut out into the
valley.
At length we approach the lower end of the Toroweap.
The scenery
here becomes colossal. Its magnitude is by no means its most impressive
feature, but precision of the forms. The dominant idea ever before the
mind is the architecture displayed in the profiles.
It is hard to realize that
below and

this is the work of the blind forces of nature. We feel like

mere

insects crawl¬

ing along the street of a city flanked with immense temples, or as Lemuel
Gulliver might have felt in revisiting the capital of Brobdingnag, and find¬
ing it deserted. At the foot of the valley the western wall is nearly 1,500
feet high, the eastern about 2,000, and the interval separating them is about
three miles.
Suddenly they turn- at right angles to right and left, and
become the upper wall of the Grand Canon of the Coloi'ado.
The Toro¬
weap now opens into the main passageway of the great chasm.
The view,
however, is much obstructed. At the foot of the eastern gable is a medley
of rocky ledges of red sandstone, while around the base of the western
gable are large masses of basalt reaching more than half-way across the
valley. In front rises a crater, which is about 600 feet high, seemingly a
mere knoll in the midst of this colossal
scenery. Beyond it, and five miles
distant, rises the palisade which forms the southern upper wall of the chasm,
stretching athwart the line of vision interminably in either direction. Its
altitude is apparently the same as that of the palisade above us, and its
profile is also identical. Climbing among the rocky ledges which lie at the
base of the escarpment, we at length obtain a stand-point which enables
ns to gain a
preliminary view of the mighty avenue. To the eastward it
stretches in vanishing perspective forty miles or more.
Between symmetric

THE GREAT ESPLANADE.

87

walls 2,000

feet high and 5 miles apart is a plain, which in comparison with
its limiting cliff's might be regarded as smooth, but which in reality is
diversified by rocky hummocks and basins, and hillocks where patches of
soil give life to scattered cedars and pinons. Of the inner chasm nothing

Moving outward into this platform we find its surface
to be mostly bare rock, with broad shallow basins etched in them, which
hold water after the showers. There are thousands of these pools, and
when the showers have passed they gleam and glitter in the sun like innu¬

as

yet is to be seen.

merable mirrors.

As

outward towards the center of the

grand
avenue the immensity and beautiful proportions of the walls develop.
The
vista towards the east lengthens out and vanishes against the blue ramp of
the Kaibab, which lies as a cloud upon the horizon.
To the west the view
is less symmetric and regular, and the eye wanders vaguely among cliffs
and buttes of stupendous magnitude, displaying everywhere the profile
with which

we

we move

have become of late familiar.

the west is obstructed

Much of the distance towards

by the crater, but the portions in view bewilder us

by the great number of objects presented, and oppress us by their magni¬
tudes.

At

a

distance of about two miles from the base of the northern wall

suddenly upon the inner chasm. We are not conscious of its prox¬
imity until we are within a few yards of it. In less than a minute after we
have recognized the crest of the farther wall of this abyss Ave crane over
its terrible brink and gaze upon the water of the river full 3,000 feet below.
The scene before us is a type of the Grand Cation throughout those
portions which extend through the Kanab, Uinkaret, and Sheavwits Plat¬
eaus.
The plan and section here presented are quite simple. They con¬
sist of a broad upper chasm from five to six miles in width with walls vary¬
ing in altitude but little from 2,000 feet. Between these escarpments is a
rocky plain, rough indeed, but in the overpowering presence of such walls
seeming relatively smooth and uniform In this floor is cut the inner chasm
3,000 feet deep and from 3,500 to 4,000 feet wide from crest to crest. The
true profiles will be best understood by consulting the diagram (Fig. 1), which
is drawn to scale.
The strata in which the chasm is excavated are all of Car¬
we come

boniferous age
gorge.

the bottom of the
at present believed to be

excepting three or four hundred feet at

The strata beneath the Carboniferous are

88

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

lower

Silurian, and their contact with the Carboniferous is unconformable,
by dip and by erosion. In the upper part of the palisades which form
the wall of the upper chasm we find at the summit two series of limestones.
The upper contains an abundance of siliceous matter, one portion of which
is intimately disseminated through the mass while another portion is aggre¬
gated into myriads of cherty nodules varying from two to ten inches in
diameter.
The lower one is a purer limestone with few nodules.
The
cherty members form a nearly vertical band at the summit of the wall; the
purer members form a Mansard slope beneath, covered with talus. The total
both

thickness of the limestones is about 700 to 750 feet.

sandstones

little

Beneath them

come

than 250 feet

thick, which form everywhere a ver¬
plinth or frieze. They are very adamantine in texture, and one of the
members, about 180 feet thick, is in every exposure seen to be uniformly
a

more

tical

cross-bedded.

Under the cross-bedded sandstone is

of

thinly bedded
shaly sandstones, having an aggregate thickness very closely
approximating to 1,000 feet. They are of an intensely brilliant red color,
but are, in greatest part, covered with a heavy talus of imperishable cherty
nodules, fragments of the cross-bedded sandstones, and spalls of limestone
shot down from above. The color of these is pale gray, with occasionally
a
yellowish or creamy tinge. The brilliant red sandstones form the long
curved slope which descends from the plinth of cross-bedded sandstone to
the plain below.
The walls of the inner gorge have at the summit about 325 feet of hard
a mass

and almost

sandstone of
feet of

a

brown-red color.

Beneath the sandstone

are

about

impure limestone in layers of the most massive description

1,800

Very

Fig. 1.—Section of the Grand Canon at the foot of the Toroweap

Valley. 1. Upper Aubrey; 2. Lower Aubrey; 3. Red
Wall; 4. Base of the Carboniferous; 5. Lower Silurian and Archaean unconformable. Scale one mile to the inch.

few such

ponderous beds of limestone are found in any part of the world.
deep red with a purplish tone, but the brilliancy of the color-

The color is

THE CHASM AT THE FOOT OF THE TOROWEAF.

89

ing is notably weakened by weathering. Still lower are red-brown sand¬
stones again, having a dark and strong shade and
lying in very massive
beds. The strata forming the walls of the outer chasm from the summit to
the plain below are designated the Aubrey group, and this is again subdi¬
vided at the base of the cross-bedded plinth into upper and lower Aubrey
groups.
The two subdivisions are believed to be the equivalents, in age,
of the coal measures of Pennsylvania and England. The strata disclosed
in the inner gorge correspond in age to the lower Carboniferous of those
countries, and are here termed the Red Wall group. Some uncertainty
exists regarding the beds which lie at the base of the conformable series
deep down in the chasm, but they are regarded at present as being just
what they seem and just what they would naturally be inferred to be—a
part of the Carboniferous system. Of the strata at the bottom of the canon,
we shall have more to say hereafter.
They are regarded at present as being
of lower Silurian
The observer

or

Primordial age.

who, unfamiliar with plateau

stands for the first
time upon the brink of the inner gorge, is almost sure to view his surround¬
ings with commingled feelings of disappointment and perplexity. The
fame of the chasm of the Colorado is great; but so indefinite and meager
have been the descriptions of it that the imagination is left to its own de¬
vices in framing a mental conception of it
And such subjective pictures
are of course wide of the truth.
When he first visits it the preconceived
notion is at once dissipated and the mind is slow to receive a new one. The
creations of his own fancy no doubt are clothed with a vague grandeur and
beauty, but not with the grandeur and beauty of Nature. When the reality
is before him the impression bears some analogy to that produced upon the
visitor who for the first time enters St. Peter's Church at Rome. He expected
to be profoundly awe-struck by the unexampled dimensions, and to feel ex¬
alted by the beauty of its proportions and decoration. He forgets that the
human mind itself is of small capacity and receives its impressions slowly,
by labored processes of comparison. So, too, at the brink of the chasm,
there comes at first a feeling of disappointment; it does not seem so grand
as we
expected. At length we strive to make comparisons. The river is
clearly defined below, but it looks about large enough to turn a village
scenery,

90

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

grist-mill; yet
surface looks

we

as

know it is

motionless

a

stream three or four hundred feet wide.
lake

from

Its

distant

mountain-top. We
rushing torrent. The ear is strained to hear the roar of its
waters and catches it
faintly at intervals as the eddying breezes waft it up¬
wards; but the sound seems exhausted by the distance. We perceive dimly
a
mottling of light and shadow upon the surface of the stream, and the
flecks move with a barely perceptible cloud-like motion.
They are the
fields of white foam lashed up at the foot of some cataract and
sailing
swiftly onward.
Perhaps the first notion of the reality is gained when we look across
the abyss to the opposite crest-line. It seems as if a
strong, nervous arm
could hurl a stone against the opposing wall-face; but in a moment we
catch sight of vegetation growing upon the
very brink. There are trees in
scattered groves which we might at first have mistaken for
sage or desert
furze.
Here at length we have a stadium or standard of
comparison which
serves for the mind much the same
purpose as a man standing at the base
of one of the sequoias of the Mariposa grove. And now the real
magni¬
tudes begin to unfold themselves, and as the attention is held
firmly the
mind grows restive under the increasing burden.
Every time the eye
ranges up or down its face it seems more distant and more vast.
At length
we recoil, overburdered with the
perceptions already attained and yet half
vexed at the inadequacy of our faculties to
comprehend more.
The magnitude of the chasm, however, is by no means the most im¬
pressive element of its character ; nor is the inner gorge the most impressive
of its constituent parts.
The thoughtful mind is far more deeply moved by
the splendor and grace of Nature's architecture.
Forms so new to the
culture of civilized races and so strongly contrasted with those which have
been the ideals of thirty generations of white men cannot indeed be
appre¬
ciated after the study of a single hour or day.
The first conception of them
may not be a pleasing one.
They may seem merely abnormal, curious,
know it is

and

wealth of

tomed

seen

a

But he who fancies that Nature has exhausted her
beauty in other lands strangely underestimates her versatility and
In this far-off desert are forms which surprise us by their unaccus¬
character. We find at first no place for them in the
range of our

even

power.

as a

a

grotesque.

THE OH ASM AT THE FOOT OF THE TOKO WE AP.

conventional notions.

But

91

they become familiar we find them appealing'
powerfully as any scenery that ever invited the
pencil of Claude or of Turner.
The inner gorge, as we sit upon its brink, is indeed a mighty spectacle;
but as we withdraw a little it fades out of view, and, strangely enough,
the sublimity of the scene is not very greatly impaired. It is, after all, a
mere detail, and the outer chasm is the
all-engrossing feature. On either
side its palisades stretch away to the horizon.
Their fronts wander in and
out, here throwing out a gable, there receding into a chamber, or gaping
widely to admit the entrance of a lateral chasm. The profile is ever the
same.
It has nothing in common with the formless, chaotic crags, which
are
only big and rough, but is definite, graceful, architectural, and system¬
atic.
The width of the space inclosed between the upper walls is one of
the most essential elements of the grandeur. It varies from five to six
miles. If it were narrower the effect would be impaired; nor could it be
much wider without diluting and weakening the general effect. This pro¬
portion seems quite just. It is a common notion that the distinctive and
overruling feature of the great chasm is its narrowness relatively to its
depth. No greater mistake could be made. Our highest conceptions of
grandeur are most fully realized when we can see the greatest mass. We
must have amplitude in all of the three dimensions, length, breadth, and
depth, and that spectacle is in point of magnitude the grandest which has
the three dimensions so proportioned and combined as to make the most of
them. Another common and mistaken idea is that the chasm is pervaded

to the msthetic sense

as

as

gloom. The truth is almost the reverse. In the depths
there is a suggestion of gloom, but even in the narrower
portions there is seldom less than sixty degrees of sky from crest to crest,
and a hundred and sixty along the track of the river.
In the outer chasm
the scene is unusually bright. The upper half of the palisades has a pale,
ashy, or pearl-gray color, which is very lustrous, and this sometimes gives
place to a creamy or Naples yellow tint in the frieze of cross-bedded sand¬
stone.
The lower Aubrey sandstones are bright-red, but they are in great
part masked by the talus shot down from the pale-gray limestones above,
and peep out in lustrous spots where the curtain of the talus is drawn aside.

a deep, solemn
of the inner gorge

by

92
There is

THE GRAND OAHON DISTRICT.

nothing gloomy about such colors.

Under a burning sun that is
rarely clouded they have a brilliancy seldom seen in any rocks, and only
surpassed by the sugary whiteness of the Jurassic sandstone or the brilliant
red of the Vermilion Cliffs.

Directly in the southward prolongation of the axis of the Toroweap
Valley there stands a basaltic cinder cone immediately upon the brink of
the inner gorge. Its altitude above the surrounding plain is 580 feet. The
summit is readily gained, and it is an admirable stand-point from which the
entire panorama may be viewed.
We named it Vulcan's Throne. To the
eastward about forty miles of the main chasm are well in view. The alti¬
tude of the cone, though small in comparison with surrounding objects, is
sufficient to bring into view about eight miles of the opening of the inner
gorge, while in the foreground its depths are seen.
To the westward the
scenery is much more broken and diversified.
The chasm is seen through
the entire stretch in the Uinkaret Plateau and reaching a few miles into the
Sheavwits. But about twenty miles westward it makes a southward turn
and disappears. From the north the Toroweap Valley descends from near
Mount Trumbull. It is cut down only to the base of the Upper Canon
Wall and opens into the main chasm on the level of the plain above the
inner gorge.
There is reason to believe that at some prior epoch it was
cut a few hundred feet deeper than its present floor, and was subsequently
built up by many floods of basalt coming from the cones on the Uinkaret
and by considerable quantities of alluvium washed from its cliffs and over¬
looking mesas. On the south side of the Grand Canon is a valley quite the
counterpart of the Toroweap. It enters the main chasm directly opposite
to the Toroweap, so that the two form the arms of a transept, the main
chasm being regarded as the nave. Vulcan's Throne is situated almost
exactly at the intersection of the axes of nave and transept.
It would be difficult to find anywhere else in the world a spot yielding
so much subject-matter for the contemplation of the geologist; certainly
there is none situated in the midst of such dramatic and inspiring surround¬
ings. The chasm itself, with its marvelous story of erosion, and the two
lateral valleys adding their quotas of information are grand subjects indeed;
but other themes are disclosed which are scarcely less surprising and sug-

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

DIKES IN TIIE CANON WALL.

PL. XVIII.

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

T1IE INNER GORGE.—LAVA FALLS.—GRAND CANON.

PL. XIX.

THE TORO'WEAP FAULT.

gestive.
never

rrhe

was

a

stands immediately

cone

upon

fault and its consequences

Toroweap fault is

93

the line of

more

large fault; and
clearly displayed. The
a

of six which at wide intervals traverse the Grand
Canon district from north to south with a rude approximation to parallelism.
It is the smallest of the six.
Twenty miles north of the chasm no trace of
it is visible.
Its beginning there is small, but as it approaches the chasm it
increases in the amount of displacement; and at the crossing of the river the
shear
gorge

The

or

one

"throw" is between 600 and 700 feet.

In the wall-face of the inner

it is disclosed

masses

as clearly as a draughtsman could delineate it on paper.
of horizontal limestones and sandstones, displaying their fretted

edges and lines of bedding, advance from the eastward in the face of the
wall until they reach the vertical fault plane. Then they "break joints"
and drop at once six or seven hundred feet, and continue westward as
before, but at a lower level. The whole topography goes with it. Look¬
ing beyond to the upper wall of the outer chasm the "jog" where the break
occurs is plainly seen.
The whole platform of the country is dropped to
the westward. The plain between the upper palisades or esplanade, as it
will be hereafter termed, descends by a single step from east to west across
the fault by an amount equal to the displacement, and the inner gorge and
the whole chasm are correspondingly reduced in depth.
Excepting the dislocation itself, the faulting does not appear to have
been accompanied by any injury to the strata.
Not a trace of shattering,
crumbling, or mashing of the beds is discernible. All looks as clean and
sharp as if it had been cut with a thin saw and the smooth faces pressed
neatly together. But the only attainable view of it is from the distance of
a mile;
yet miles here are less than furlongs in other countries, and all
details as well as broader features are upon the Brobdingnagian scale.
What a nearer view might disclose is of course impossible to conjecture.
The plane of the fault is about vertical, though there seems to be a slight
inclination to the east, which may be apparent only and a result of per¬
spective.
After a careful study of the surroundings of the fault, it becomes appa¬
rent that it is of recent occurrence in comparison with other events which
have been in progress here.
The tenor of all evidence bearing upon the

94

THE GRAND (JANON DISTRICT.

subject

goes to

facts.

It is

show that these faults were not suddenly produced by vio¬
lent convulsions, but gradually developed through long stretches of time,
and inch by inch or foot by foot.
The Toroweap fault gives no evidence
of being exceptional in this respect.
Its recency is disclosed by many
seen

that the amount of erosion in the face of the transverse

"cliff of

displacement" produced by the faulting is very small. This cliff
the fault plane to any considerable extent; yet
giant palisades which wall the outer chasm have receded from the

has not receded from

the

median line of the
river laid bare the

canon

more

than two miles since the corrasion of the

edges of their strata.

It

plain that the outer
nearly its present condition

seems very

chasm had been formed and attained very
before the fault started. But there is still

more

conclusive evidence of

At the foot of the southern palisade and at the jaws of the lateral
valley are several basaltic craters. They look like mere bee-hives under
the eaves of such an escarpment, though in truth they are four or five hun¬
dred feet high.
From their vents streams of basalt are seen flowing down
in the lateral valley across the fault plane, and clear to the brink of the
inner abyss.
The fault shears the lava floods as neatly as it does the Red
Wall limestone. Many other facts might be cited to the same purport,
but this one is so conclusive that nothing further is necessary. We shall
find similar evidences of recency when we come to the study of the great
recency.

Hurricane fault.
Another

subject which will awaken the enthusiasm of the geologist
who visits this unique spot is the volcanic phenomena. Turning to the
northwestward he beholds the heights of the Uinkaret. Upon its broad
expanse stand many basaltic craters in perfect preservation. We know of
about a hundred and fifty distinct cones in this plateau, included in the
space which lies between the Grand Canon and a limit forty miles north of
it.
But it is in the vicinity of the chasm that they cluster most thickly
together and present the largest proportions. This part of the Uinkaret is
thickly covered with basalt, above which rises the tumultuous throng of
craters.
Very many wide and deep floods of basalt have poured over the
edge of the plateau into the lower Toroweap Valley and upon the great
esplanade of the caiion, 1,500 to 1,800 feet below, and, spreading out into

VOLCANIC PHENOMENA.

95

wide

fields, have reached the brink of the inner gorge. Pouring over its
brink, the fiery cascades have shot down into the abyss and pursued their
way many miles along the bed of the river. At one epoch they had built

the bed of the Colorado about 400 feet, but the river has scoured out
again and swept them all away, regaining its old level, and is
now cutting the sandstones below.
The spectacle of the lava floods descend¬
ing from the Uinkaret, as seen from Vulcan's Throne, is most imposing.
It tells the story so plainly that a child could read and understand it.
Compared with many classic volcanic regions the volcanism of the Uinkaret
is a small affair. But in those classic regions the mind does not come into
direct contact with the enormity of the facts by a single glance of the eye.
But here, if kind Asmodeus were to lift the basaltic roof of the plateau, we
should see no more than we do now. The boldness of the picture is much
increased by the pediments of Carboniferous strata projecting from the
body of the plateau, showing the brilliant colors of the strata and their
sharply defined architecture, with the dark masses of basalt wrapping
around them. Hard by, and almost within hail, is a superb gable project¬
ing between two broad floods of lava, and so beautifully proportioned and
richly colored that we cannot help wishing to transport it by magic to some
more habitable
region.
Turning now to the southward and looking across the inner gorge to
its opposing wall, a strange spectacle of havoc and wreck is presented to
our view.
A lateral gorge or amphitheater is excavated in the chasm wall,
very nearly as deep as the main abyss.
Here the action of volcanic forces
is displayed in a manner which is quite unique.
At the summit of the wall
of the inner gorge, just at the angle where it swings backward into the
amphitheater, a ruined basaltic crater stands upon the very brink. Indeed
its lower portions 011 two sides are undermined by the falling of the wall,
and the anatomy of the cone is laid open to view. And not only that, but
the very dike through which the lava came up is disclosed to a depth of
half a mile. There are also other dikes which show their edges in the
wall of the amphitheater in transverse vertical section, and which outcrop
in the main wall of the gorge (Fig. 2).
The strike of these dikes is parallel
to the river.
One of them protrudes from the sloping front of the wall
up

its channel

96

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

about 1,600 feet

below the summit; another protrudes about 1,200 feet be¬
low, and still another about 600 below the crest. A fourth dike appa¬

rently leads directly to the vent of the cone and no doubt constituted the
pipe of the volcano. Now a brief scrutiny shows very conclusively that
these dikes were made when the lateral gorge and main chasm had much
less depth than that which they have now attained. It is manifestly impos¬
sible that

a

dike of basalt could rise hundreds

Fig. 2.—Dikes in the wall of the inner gorge

or even

two thousand

of the canon, as shown in transverse vertical sections in the wall of
amphitheater. Toroweap.

a

feet

lateral

through solid limestone, with one edge of it protruding laterally out of the
face of a scarp wall. And if the chasm had approximately its present
depth the lava would surely have burst from the face of the wall at or near
the bottom. In no way does it seem possible to account for them in their
present positions and relations except by assuming that the depth and width
of the gorge was then but a small fraction of the present dimensions. We
know that basalts play curious pranks sometimes, but they always keep
within the limits of possibilities.
On the other hand, the chasm must have
had some notable depth, for in a few places are seen remnants of tufa beds
descending from the cone over the crest of the side gorge and several hun¬
dred feet down into it.
Where they occur the solid strata beneath them are
not scarped, but are beveled off to a moderate slope, allowing the tufa beds
to repose upon them at an angle of about 23°.
These tufas, apparently,
were formed in the usual manner about the vent by the fall of lapilli and

THE BOTTOM OF THE

fragments.

CA^ON.

97

It is clear that during the epoch of eruption a lateral valley had
there; otherwise, the tufa could not be resting upon the

been excavated

slopes.
The

depth of this valley was at least 500 to 600 feet. Between the
tufa, then, we find the limiting evidence which enables us to
say very confidently that two-thirds to three-fourths of the present depth
of the inner gorge has been excavated since the activity of that crater. As
to the age of the crater itself, all that can be said is that it looks very recent.
Except for the undermining of a considerable part of it by the recession of
the great wall beneath, its preservation would be quite perfect. Still a
nearer view might reveal evidences of antiquity which could not be dis¬

dikes and the

cerned when viewed

across

the chasm from Vulcan's Throne, at

a

distance

of

nearly two miles. But, in any event, there is one conclusion most deeply
impressed upon the mind : that this great inner gorge, vast as it is, has been
excavated in a period of time which, judged by the geological standard, has
been very short. The work has been done with a rapidity much greater
than might otherwise have been supposed. The processes which have been
so exceptionally active here are two—1st, corrasion, and 2d, the undermin¬
ing of the wall of the inner gorge.
West of Vulcan's Throne there is a place where it is practicable to de¬
scend from the esplanade to the river. The way is difficult and at times
well calculated to daunt the most active climber

broken down and the vertical face has

The wall is here much

given place to

a very

steep slope.

the cascade of lava which has flowed down the Toroweap and poured into the abyss.
Upon any ordinary rock the descent
would be impracticable; but the roughness of the basalt gives admirable
foothold, and there is no difficulty of a serious nature in passing the steep¬
est places.
The worst part is near the bottom, where the scouring of the
river has left a nearly vertical wall 400 feet high.
But there are several
crannies where a precarious foothold may be obtained, and the river may
be reached with less difficulty than might have been anticipated. Very
seldom is it possible to descend in safety the walls of the Grand Canon.
At the brink of the river there is little to call for special mention here.

The descent is upon

To the

imagination must be left the task of picturing

the aspect of the walls

98

THE GRAND CASfON DISTRICT.

of the inner gorge,

rising 3,000 feet above us on either hand. The river
appears more nearly in its true dimensions. Its width varies greatly,
being from 250 to 450 feet in width. Above and below us are cataracts
where the water rushes with a deafening roar among
huge blocks of basalt,
and the voice of the waters is reverberated from the faces of the crags in a
deep solemn monotone that never ceases. Between the cataracts the stream
outspreads to great width and rushes swiftly by. It is almost always tur¬
bid, and generally is charged with a heavy load of sand and silt. On the
lowest talus near the brink may be seen lines of high-water mark, some as
high as fifty or sixty- feet above the ordinary summer stages. Within those
stages the rocks are ground and polished, carved into strange shapes, and
worn
by pot-holes from the scouring of the current. All of the bowlders
are rounded and ground away, or have become carious and
crumbly by the
chemical reactions of air and water. All things plainly reveal the power¬
ful effects of corrasion acting with extreme energy. We do not wonder at
it now.
The impetuous rush of the waters charged with sharp sand even
at the lower stages is amply suggestive, and the mind is at a loss to conceive
what must be the power of the river when its volume is many times multi¬
plied.
The Toroweap Valley has a significance to the geologist which might
not be at once apparent to the tourist.
Even the geologist would be slow
to discern it unless familiar with cognate facts displayed in the country at
large bordering the Grand Canon. In the effort to interpret its meaning it
becomes necessary to take a hasty view of one or two broad facts relating
to the lateral drainage of the chasm.
Upon the north side there is but one
side canon carrying drainage from distant regions in all the distance
now

between the head of the Marble and the foot of the Grand Canons.

single exception is Kanab Canon.

This

In this respect the Colorado is much
like the lower courses of the Nile; and the cause is plainly the same. The
region is too arid to sustain any living streams or even to keep open the
conduits which in former periods might have sustained them. Yet upon
the assumption that at some former period the climate was much more humid
all analogy compels us to believe that the Colorado once received many
tributaries which are now extinct, and upon examination we find good evi-

PLIOCENE AGE OF THE CHASM.

dence that this
channel of
A third is

an

was

really the

ancient river.

99

case. The Toroweap Valley is the modified
On the west side of the Uinkaret is another.

the south side of the Colorado, directly opposite the
Toroweap, and a few others may be easily designated. It appears that all
these rivers dried up before the inner gorge was excavated. For if they
had continued to carry water we may be sure that they would have cut
their chasms as deep as the Grand Canon itself—just as the Little Colorado,
Kanab Creek, and Cataract Creek have done. For we have only to look
at the great multitude of lateral chasms of the upper courses of the Colo¬
rado and of its forks, the Grand and Green, to be deeply impressed with the
fact that so long as a tributary river carries, we will not say a living stream,
but

seen

upon

occasional floods, its channel will be scoured down to the
the trunk river itself. It is apparent, then, that the Toroweap

even

level

same

dried
up before the cutting of the inner gorge of the Grand Canon began, and
hence we infer that the arid climate which caused it to dry up existed before
the beginning of the inner gorge.
By the application of other homologous facts, and by the same method
of reasoning, we infer that the outer chasm has also been excavated during
the prevalence of an arid climate. The platform of the country adjoining the
cation is at present devoid of lateral chasms, yet traces are often found of
ancient channels which became dry at about the time the excavation of the
outer canon began, or very soon thereafter.
They are cut to comparatively
slight depths—from one hundred to three or four hundred feet. That they
are not of recent origin is proved by the fact that they often have slopes
away from the river, though it is clear that they formerly sloped towards
it.
In truth, the entire chasm betrays everywhere the continued action of
an arid climate through the entire period of its formation.
This arid period
is limited, approximately, to Pliocene and Quaternary time. The general
tenor of the facts is to the effect that the Miocene was a humid period and
the Pliocene a dry one throughout the greater part of the West. This is
one

as

of the

reasons

which lead

us

to the very

probable conclusion that the

of the Grand Canon is not older than the beginning of Pliocene time.
We might also draw a similar inference from a consideration of the enor¬
mous erosion which took place here before the excavation of the chasm was

age

100

THE GRAND CASON DISTRICT.

The denudation of the Mesozoic system was an incomparably
greater work, and yet that denudation could not have begun until the last
strata (the Lower Eocene) were deposited.
If these inferences are well
founded, we may assign the greater part of Eocene and the whole of Mio¬
cene time for the principal denudation of the Mesozoic, and the Pliocene
and Quaternary for the excavation of the entire canon. The proportion
thus suggested between the portions of the work done and the divisions of
time required to accomplish them seems very fair and reasonable.
But the
strongest evidence of all it would be almost impossible to recite here in
detail. In general terms, it may be characterized as that internal evidence
which appears when a vast array of facts, at first disjointed and without
obvious relation, are subsequently grouped aright into a coherent system.
Each constituent fact is then seen to admit of one intelligible interpretation
and no other; and each subsidiary proposition has an overwhelming justifi¬
cation and an evidence of verity far stronger than any which could be
summoned, if we endeavored to prove it independently.
begun.

CHAPTER

VI.

THE UINKARET PLATEAU.
Common features of the Sheavwits and

Uinkaret, with the latter

the type.—The boundaries of the
eruptions, the
Carboniferous
strata, with many remnants of Lower Permian beds.—The volcanic masses.—Ancient basaltic
plateaus.—The Trumbull, Logan, and Emma platforms.—View of the recent cones from the sum¬
mit of Trumbull.—Grouping of the cooes.—Their linear arrangement.—The lava caps of the
plateaus.—Their antiquity.—Relations of the younger to the older basalts.—Former extensions
of the lava caps and their denudation.—Similar facts presented by the Sheavwits Plateau.—The
distribution of the younger basalts.—A long interval of repose between the old and young
basalts.—Basaltic eruptions of very recent age.—The Hurricane fault.—Its appearance at the
Grand Canon.—Its northward extension.—Its great displacement at the Virgen River.—Distor¬
tion of the strata at the fault plane.—Details of the dislocation.—Action of the fault in the
Queantoweap.—Relations of the fault to the lavas.—It cuts the ancient basalts, but not the
recent ones.—Lava cascades across the fault-plane—The Permian remnants.—Comparative
smoothness of the denuded platform.—Infrequency of lateral drainage channels.—Base-levels of
erosion.—Effect of an arid climate upon the topographical features—Geological history.
as

Uinkaret defined.—The three groups of facts presented by the plateau, basaltic
Hurricane fault, and the Permian remnants.—The foundation of the plateau is of

The two western subdivisions of the Grand Canon district, the Sheav¬
wits and Uinkaret Plateaus
in

respect to the groups

much alike in their

physical features and
of geological facts which they present. To study
are

and describe both of them in detail would extend the discussion into

a

weari¬

repetition without adding anything of sufficient value to justify it.
The groups of facts which they present are displayed in a more compact,
intelligible, and, on the whole, more complete manner in the Uinkaret than
in the Sheavwits, and the former subdivision is selected for description in
some detail as the representative of both.
It will be necessary, however,
to make frequent allusions to the Sheavwits.
The position of the Uinkaret is between the Sheavwits on the west and
the Kanab Plateau on the east. For the most part, its boundaries are well
defined. Throughout its entire western border the great Hurricane fault
and the resulting cliff known as the Hurricane Ledge is the boundary;
with equal definiteness the Grand Cation terminates it upon the south. On

some

101

102

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

the northern side the Permian

cliffs, there of unusual magnitude for that
formation, constitute an unmistakable limit. Upon the eastern side only
one-half of the boundary line is well marked. The Toroweap
Valley serves
this purpose very satisfactorily so far as it extends, but this
valley fades
out

about 22

the northern

or

23 miles north of the Grand Canon and thenceforward to

boundary there is hardly more than a nominal or even im¬
aginary boundary separating the Uinkaret from the Kanab platform. Its
length from north to south may be roughly stated at 45 to 50 miles, and
its width at 8 to 12 miles.
Of the four plateaus through which the great
chasm extends it is very much the smallest. But in point of interest it is
second only to the Kaibab.
The Uinkaret offers three groups of facts which are useful and import¬
ant for our purposes.
They are (1) Basaltic eruptions, (2) the Hurricane
fault, (3) the remnants of Permian strata. They all contribute data which
may be utilized in the discussion of the physical evolution and history of
the region. No attempt will be made to draw from them any new light
upon the general subjects of volcanism, displacement, or stratigraphy, for
they present very little that is novel, and they could only serve to add a
few more facts of no uncommon kind to categories which are already replete
with observations of similar nature. They will be studied here solely with
an
eye to the main questions considered in this monograph—to find out what
light they shed upon the physical history of the district. Thus considered
they may prove to be of some value.
The foundation of the Uinkaret Plateau is the general mass of Car¬
boniferous strata which everywhere constitute the platform of the interior
spaces of the Grand Cation district. Throughout the greater part of the
Uinkaret are found many patches of Permian beds overlying the Carbon¬
iferous with apparent conformity. No doubt if the contacts were thoroughly
exposed we should find many unconformities by erosion without any differ¬
ence of dip.
In a very few places contacts of this nature have been detected
and under the circumstances they cannot well be regarded as exceptional,
but should rather be looked upon as representing the ordinary method of
apposition in these two groups of strata. These Permian remnants, with
few exceptions, belong to the basal members of that series. They are the

THE PERMIAN REMNANTS.

103

so-called Permo-Carboniferous beds of

King and Gilbert. But Mr. Walcott,
finding their fauna more closely allied to the Permian, and, in fact, very
strongly distinguished from or even contrasted with the true Carboniferous
beneath, has wisely, as it seems to me, included them in the Permian of the
Plateau Province as its basal division. Some conception of the manner in
which the remnants of this formation occur may perhaps be gained by im¬
agining a country which is nearly a smooth plain and only diversified by
wide flat-topped eminences 80 to 150 feet high, separated by broad shallow
valleys. Conceiving the strata to be everywhere horizontal the eminences
would correspond to the remnants of Lower Permian strata, while in the
valleys the summit of the Carboniferous is laid bare.
In the southern part of the Uinkaret there are several masses which
are much more than low eminences, which in fact attain
nearly or quite
the dignity of mountains or at least of very large hills, and which preserve
the entire Permian series with thick bodies of basalt overlying it. Two of
these are especially noteworthy.
The loftiest and most conspicuous is
Mount Trumbull, a broad, well-defined, and isolated mass rising nearly
2,000 feet above the plains at its base and nearly 3,000 feet above the Toroweap Valley near its southeastern flank.
It consists of Permian strata which
have here a thickness of probably 1,400 feet with a basaltic lava cap 500
to 600 feet thick forming the upper part of the mountain.
In all strictness
it is a great butte.
Its strata are sensibly horizontal, and the whole mass
has very plainly been carved out like a cameo by the denudation of the
strata

roundabout.

Two

or

three miles southwest of Trumbull is Mount

tabular mass of much greater area but somewhat lower in altitude.
respect to structure, it is very similar to Trumbull, having nearly if not
quite the whole Permian series, with a lava cap of varying thickness, but
seldom exceeding 300 feet, and usually from 100 to 200 feet thick. South
of Logan and distant about five miles is a platform which may perhaps
be regarded as the continuation of the Logan mass in that direction. A
depression exists between the two sufficient to warrant a topographical
distinction if we desire it, though not so great as to destroy entirely the
continuity of the two if we prefer that view of the case. This southern
platform has apparently a structure similar to that, of Trumbull and Logan,
Logan,

In

a

104

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

though it is inferred that only a part and perhaps a small part of the Per¬
mian series is present while the lava cap has a thickness of 600 to 800 feet.
Upon it stand a dozen basaltic cinder cones of comparatively recent origin,
the largest and highest of which has received the name of Mount Emma.
The same name will be used to designate the platform upon which that
crater stands.
To appreciate the significance of these tabular masses it is
necessary to look at the distribution of the lavas of the Uinkaret.

BASALTS OF THE UINKARET.

If

stand upon

the summit of Mount Trumbull we shall observe, in
every direction, a multitude of well-preserved basaltic craters.
In the
course of a few hours, with the aid of a large field-glass, it is possible to
descry from this point between 120 and 130 distinct cinder-cones, and there
are many others which will escape detection.
Altogether there are between
160 and 170 distinct vents upon the Uinkaret and its purlieus which have
been observed and noted, and very likely some others have been overlooked.
North of Trumbull the remotest one of the group is clearly defined at a dis¬
tance of about 26 miles.
Southward a cluster of them stands upon the brink
of the upper wall of the Grand Canon 16 or 17 miles away, and there are
others beyond concealed by the canon wall. Across the great chasm a few
scattering ones may be seen nestled beneath the mighty southern palisade
of the canon. Eastward of the Toroweap eight distinct cones appear upon
the nearer part of the Kanab Plateau. But it is around the base of Trum¬
bull on all sides that they are huddled most closely together. In truth, they
are so numerous in this vicinity that it is extremely difficult to count them,
and we can never be sure that the counting is correct. None of these are
of grand dimensions, and, in truth, most of them are very small. A few are
of respectable size, attaining an altitude of 700 or 800 feet, and a diameter
of a mile. Not one of them has yet been seen to contain any features of a
novel character. They are all of the most ordinary structure, and are as
much alike among themselves as so many ant-hills.
The grouping of the cones is not altogether capricious. The so-called
we

BASALTS OF THE UINKARET.

105

"linear

arrangement" is often seen. From three to seven or eight cones
may be found in rows, as if they were so many vents occurring along the
course of a
single fissure. Very many, however, seem too isolated in this
respect. For aught we know, the fissure may be there, but only one vent
is situated upon it.
It may be remarked here that no evidence has been
found on the Finkaret that these vents have
any association with fissures,
beyond the mere fact that the linear arrangement is in quite a number of
cases well marked.
For example, on the Kanab Plateau, three or four miles
east of the
Toroweap, is a line of craters, seven in all, occurring at intervals
of two

or

three miles.

Each has around its base

a

few small coulees of

basalt, but the country between them is in greatest part free from lava.
There is

no

trace of

a

fault

or

fissure visible there.

A fault of any

notable

magnitude could not escape detection, and a fissure, if it exists there, has
been wholly concealed
The same is true of the other lines of craters.
Although the intervals between them are frequently free from lava, and the
edges of the Permian beds well exposed in many of the shallow vales, no
trace of such a fracture has yet been seen.
Still, the fissures may be quite
small—only a yard or two in width—and they may have been covered so
effectually by alluvium that they have escaped observation. The basalts
here show no tendency to seek the great fault planes as favorite places from
which to erupt. I am inclined (with some reserve) to remark that they
rather avoid such places, or resort to them less frequently than to others.
There are very few cases where the crater seems to be very nearly or ex¬
actly upon the line of a great fault. Vulcan's Throne, at the foot of the
Toroweap, is such an one, and four or five other instances have been noted.
The strongest feature of such occurrences, however, is their paucity. If
there be any specially favored locus of eruption, with reference to a great
fault, I should say that it may be found along the upthrow of the fault, and
from a mile and a half to four or five miles from the plane or line of dislo¬
cation. While exceptional cases are found, they are very uncommon.
The heavy lava caps which form the summits of Trumbull and Logan,
and the platform on which the crater Emma stands, have nothing in common
with the craters just mentioned. These basalts did not come from such
craters, but are much older. The vents from which they issued have been

106

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

completely demolished by time and decay. The existing cones are, geologi¬
cally speaking, of very recent creation, even the oldest of them. The
eruption of the basalts in the lava-caps goes back to an older period, when
the country presented a different aspect from the present one. These ancient
lavas form in reality "basaltic plateaus" similar, in most respects, to those
of the Auvergne and Vivarais. Mount Trumbull itself is such a plateau
essentially, though its horizontal dimensions are greatly shrunken in com¬
parison with their former magnitudes. The older lavas are much more
massive, and lie in thicker sheets, than any to be found among the younger
eruptions. Lithologically, there is no difference among them. Old and
young seem to be of identical constitution, and, in truth, it seems as if every
coulee on the Uinkaret might have come from one and the same vesicle.
The point to be specially noted in connection with these older basalts
is that they are found upon the summits of the highest tabular masses,
while the younger basalts, as a general rule, occupy the lower surrounding
spaces. This is admirably shown in Mr. Holmes' panorama from Mount
Emma (Atlas sheet No. IX). On the left is shown the tabular mass of Logan,
which is capped with ancient basalt, without a single recent cone or lavaflow upon it. In the middle of the picture is Trumbull, the loftiest of all,
crowned with its old lava-cap.
On the nearest corner of the mountain there
is a solitary crater of much younger date, sending heavy streams of basalt
down to the plain below.
The profile of this crater is also well shown
in the wood-cut (Plate XX), where it is represented on the right-hand flank
of the mountain as it appears from the summit of Logan. The younger age
of this crater is betrayed at once by the fact that its lava streams are shot
down across the abruptly scarped edges of the old lava-cap and across the
eroded edges of the underlying strata.
The Emma platform is also an ancient basaltic plateau. But while
Trumbull contains only one recent crater, and Logan not even one, there
are a dozen or more on the Emma platform.
It is evident, however, that
they are much more recent than the main lava-cap; for they have many
streams of basalts proceeding from them, which can be easily distinguished
from the
cones

more

massive flows beneath.

which stand

near

The streams which

the western brink have

came

from those

poured down the western

.U
.S

LACIGOE
.YEVRUS

DNARG
NO AC

.TCIRSD
.LP

.XX

GDCXPRIASTNLO.

SURVEY.

GEOLICA
S.
U.

UINKARET.

FLTOLAHVNWE

REC NT

BASALTS OF THE UINKABET.

107

escarpment of the Uinkaret across the branches of the Hurricane fault, and
have reached to the bottom of the Queantoweap Valley, more than 3,000
feet below. These coulees lie across the scarped wall of the old
lava-cap,
which had been

greatly eroded and wasted before the younger floods were
outpoured. The relation of the younger basalts of the Emma platform
overlying the older ones is therefore exceptional, as compared with the
relations of the two groups of lavas presented in Trumbull and Logan.
The inferences to be drawn from these facts are as follows. During
the eruption of the older basalts the Uinkaret Plateau had a very different
topography from the present. It is probable that at that epoch very large
bodies of Permian strata, some of them embracing the entire series,
remained, and not only covered the greater part of the plateau, but may
have sustained important remnants of the Trias. It is useless to speculate
as to details, or even as to the broader features of that ancient
topography.
The conclusion is limited to the inference that the Permian formation then
constituted the

general platform in much the same way as the upper
Carboniferous now does. It is a fair presumption that the plane of contact
between the lava-caps of Trumbull and Logan, and the Permian beds
beneath, represents the approximate geological horizon which then consti¬
tuted the surface of the region.
In one place higher strata may have
occurred, in another some progress may have been made in the denudation
of the Permian.
and

The remnants of this formation, now found in Trumbull

owe their preservation to the
On the Sheavwits Plateau we find

Logan,

About 12

or

15

thick coverings of basalt.

precisely similar state of facts.
miles northwest of Logan is a large remnant of Permian

beds overlaid with basalt.

a

It has received the

rises 800 to 900 feet above the

name

of Diamond Butte.

It

surrounding plain, and discloses the edges of

lying almost horizontally and showing their characteristic colors.
beyond it, in the northern part of the plateau, may be discerned the
cliffs bounding the principal mass of this formation. Turning to the south¬
east of Logan, we may perceive a much larger mass of the same nature
situated in the southern part of the Sheavwits. It consists of Permian
strata covered with basalt.
The length of this outlier is about 25 miles
and its width from 3 to 6 miles. Whether the entire Permian series is

the strata
Far

108

THE GRAND

CAffON DISTRICT.

present in these insulated mesas of the Sheavwits we do not know, but

quite confident that much more than half of it is there. The
meaning of these outliers is evidently the same as that which we have
deduced from the plateaus of Trumbull and Logan. The Sheavwits basalts
were erupted at an epoch when the Permian formed the general surface of
the plateau, and these outliers have been preserved by the lava sheets from
the denudation which has removed the unprotected portions. (Plate IV.)
We may now revert to the younger basalts. These have all emanated
from cones which still remain in good preservation. Very few of the craters
have suffered any extensive ravage from the chemical processes of secular
decay or from the mechanical work of erosion. But now and then we find
one which has been sapped, battered, and dissolved to some notable extent,
though never to such an extent as to efface its more important features, or as
to leave doubt about its nature and character.
As already remarked, these
cones cover a large extent of ground, being found from the brink of the
chasm northward throughout a space of nearly 50 miles, and from the
western verge of the Uinkaret to a point 20 miles east upon the Kanab
we

are

Plateau.

All around the base of Trumbull, and thence southward

over

the

southern part

of the plateau, they cluster most thickly, often standing
base to base, or even with confluent bases.
Many of them have multiple
vents or cups, and four or five vents in the same pile are not uncommon.
As we proceed northward or eastward from Trumbull the cones gradually
become less frequent and more scattered.
extreme

The lava streams which have flowed from these

cones are never

very

voluminous, compared with what may be seen in more extensive volcanic

On the southern part of the plateau some copious eruptions may
But it is very difficult here to distinguish one eruption from others.
In numerous places we find lava flows from a mile to two miles wide, and
reaching five or six miles from the vents; but there can be no doubt that
they are composed of very many streams—perhaps hundreds of them. And
yet it is impossible to separate any one stream in its entirety from the others.
In many places the basalt has run over the edge of the plateau to the bottom
of the Toroweap, to the esplanade of the canon, and to the floor of the
Queantoweap Valley on the west. The passes where these lavas have
regions.

be

seen.

BASALTS OF THE UINKARET.

109

descended form very striking and suggestive spectacles.
holds many streams, but so blended together in appearance

Each of them
that they might
at first glance be supposed to be each a single coulee of vast
proportions.
There are five of these passes descending into the Toroweap; two from the
southern end of the Uinkaret to the esplanade of the canon, and two
descending into the Queantoweap. The largest of all is upon the western
side of the Uinkaret, leading down into the Queantoweap from a cluster of
large cones standing in the interval which separates the Logan from the
Mount Emma platform. This lava cascade is about two and a half miles
wide and descends about 2,600 feet.

Among the basalt fields which lie north and east of Trumbull there are
proportions. One of them begins about two miles
north of the mountain, and has at its summit a multiple cone consisting of
five or six vents. This cone has been considerably wasted by erosion, and
its interior structure is in great part laid open to view. It shows the familiar
two

which attain notable

material around a central pipe,
the layers dipping downwards and inwards from the rim of the crater
towards the pipe, and downwards and outwards from the rim towards the
base. The anatomy of the multiple mass is also shown, and the growth of
new craters upon the cone previously formed.
From these vents a great
number of eruptions have taken place, and they have built up a turtleshaped mass of lavas having a thickness of 700 to 800 feet, and spreading
out to the north, the east, and the west of the cone four to six miles.
Towards the borders of this field the thickness steadily diminishes and at
last vanishes in a thin irregular edge. East of Trumbull is another arid
somewhat larger field. This has many large cones upon it, standing in
clusters of three to five, arranged in a line. The largest individual coulees
seem to have emanated from these craters, and their aggregate thickness
arrangement of tufaceous and scoriaceous

of the volcanic area the lava

may exceed 500 feet. In the outer portions
fields are all of small extent and usually very

the Kanab Plateau the
lavas do not extend

thin. From the cones on

eruptions have been of very small volume
than half a mile from their bases.

and the

more

epoch of the extravasation of the ancient basalts of the
Trumbull, Logan, and Emma platforms and the epoch of eruptions from
Between the

110

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

the cones,

it is evident that

long period of time elapsed. The ancient
only have their craters been demolished, but
the massive floods which emanated from them have been
greatly wasted.
That these lava-caps are mere remnants of masses
covering originally much
broader areas is quite apparent. Their very aspect speaks
strongly in favor
of this conclusion.
The surfaces of these basalts are
gray with weathering,
and the chemical action of the atmospheric agents has penetrated
deeply into
the most massive portions. None of them have preserved
any of those
rough, inflated, ropy, scoriaceous matters which form the surface of every
fresh outpour. Nothing is left but the most compact and solid
portions of
the lava sheets. At the borders of the tabular masses which
they cover
they end in cliffs, where the thick beds of lava are suddenly cut off by the
undermining and recession of the strata beneath them. Large gorges and
amphitheaters are excavated into the flanks of those tables into which the
lava-fragments have fallen as the caps were undermined. No such devas¬
tation has wasted any of the younger lavas.
These are much fresher in
appearance and often as black as coal. Only around the outermost edges
of these sheets do we find any traces of undermining and degradation.
Almost all of them still preserve those slaggy, spongy, and scoriaceous
pro¬
ducts left by the viscous stage of cooling.
There are many indications that a long interval of quiescence
sepa¬
rated the two epochs of volcanic activity, some of which will appear in the
sequel. Here we may mention merely that none of the eruptions hitherto
seen appear to have taken place under circumstances which leave
any doubt
as to which of the two
epochs they belong. And surely no notable masses
of any age whatever have escaped observation. In that long interval of
quiescence important changes took place involving a large amount of ero¬
sion and a large amount of displacement, and these changes have left their
basalts

are

much eroded.

a

Not

marks which cannot be mistaken.

Nevertheless, the
in fact that it is

may

a

younger period of eruptions was a long one; so long
fair question whether, for purposes of convenience, we

not subdivide it artificially, giving to the earlier outbreaks the desig¬
middle-aged eruptions and to the latest that of modern eruptions.

nation of

But it should be done with the

understanding that the most ancient of all

RECENT BASALTIC ERUPTIONS.

Ill

the lavas—the basalts in the

lava-caps—form a group by themselves wholly
apart and distinct from all the others and with a great and well-marked in¬
terval between; while the so-called middle-aged and modern
eruptions
shade into each other without any such distinction.
In those volcanoes which may thus be termed
middle-aged we find
evidences of considerable progress of the decay which must ultimately re¬
move them
altogether. The cones are still standing, indeed, but are wasted
and worn.
Their flanks are channeled deeply with ravines, and in some of
them the interior structure is dissected and well exposed. The cinders and
scoria have been converted into soil and the fragments have lost all resem¬
blance to their original aspects. The lava fields around them have also put on
an appearance of antiquity; not so great indeed as that of the massive sheets
in the lava-caps far above them, but yet plain and conspicuous.
They have
become gray and dull in color, and the decomposition of the augites and
feldspars has penetrated to notable depths into the solid blocks. Such are
the cones and lava fields of the turtle-back which lies immediately north
of

Trumbull, and such

are

the

masses

which extend from the base of the

mountain eastward.
Let

us now

look at the other extreme—the extreme of recency.

Between

Logan and Trumbull we find some rather extensive fields of basalt, which
excite surprise when we first come upon them. They are hidden by a sur¬
rounding forest of large pines, and the first view is gained either by finding

yards of the border, as we wander through the
aisles, or else by a sudden
as the whole expanse flashes
coup
upon the vision from the summit of Trumbull. It looks as fresh as any
coulee of Vesuvius ejected twenty or thirty years ago.* Compared with the
other later eruptions of the Uinkaret, its dimensions are larger than the
average. Its entire surface is covered with blocks of pumice of the most
delicate kind. It has a texture very much like the lightest coke, the vesi¬
cles, however, being considerably larger than those of ordinary coke, and
very uniform throughout. The septa between the vesicles are very thin,
and the whole mass is so light that when a specimen is varnished over to

ourselves within

a

dozen

forest

*Such

was

visit to Vesuvius.

the

opinion of Mr. Holmes, who viewed

it with me, and who had just returned from a

112

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

prevent access of water to the cavities it floats upon water like a cork.* In
this condition the lava is extremely susceptible to weathering. It quickly

and dissolves into soil. But in this lava field the most
pumice is still intensely black, and only here and there may be
found specimens which begin to show the gray.
(Plate XXI.)
Any attempt, however, to fix the age of these lavas must prove quite
fruitless. All that we can say is that it is very recent, even when time is
judged by the historic or human standard. It cannot be many centuries
old, and it may be more recent than the Spanish conquest. But there are
reasons why lavas should here preserve for centuries the freshness which is
lost in other countries in as many decades. The climate is arid, and there
can be no question that the chemical action of the meteoric
agents upon the
lavas proceeds here with extreme slowness.
Between the oldest of the middle-aged eruptions and this modern out¬
pour we find lavas of all intermediate ages. No long period within those
limits appears to have passed without witnessing the activity of some one
or more of the
many cones now standing.
turns gray

or rusty,

delicate

THE HURRICANE FAULT.

We turn

the great

displacement which forms the western
boundary of the Uinkaret. Of all the great dislocations of the western
mountain region there is surely none more wonderful or more interesting.
Its full extent is not yet known, but the greater part of it has been well
studied. We do not know, as yet, where the southern end of it is located,
or in what manner it runs out, whether by merging into the great displace¬
ment of the Aubrey Cliffs, or by gradually vanishing in the sierra country
of Arizona. We know, however, that it appears in the Carboniferous plat¬
now

form south of the
tion without

where it
*

to

Colorado, and that it extends 30

or

40 miles in that direc¬

any great modification of the features it presents
the river. This portion of it, however, has not been ex-

undergoing

crosses

It may be remarked here that this basaltic pumice differs from ordinary rhyolitic pumice, the
usually having very elongated or tubular vesicles, while the vesicles are seldom drawn out in the
Uinkaret basalt, but are nearly round or polyhedral.

latter

THE HURRICANE FAULT.

113

plored in detail, and it is premature to attempt

any further account of it.
In the southern wall of the Grand Canon it appears with a displacement of
about 1,500 feet, throwing down the whole country to the west of it, and

producing a great cliff of displacement, which vanishes away into indefinite
distance beyond the river. As we look at it from the northern side it is
seen that the beds on the side of the downthrow flex downward as
they
approach the fault-plane. This feature is a very common one in the faults
of the Grand Canon district, and will repeatedly recur as we trace them.
Its effect just here is to make the displacement at the fault-plane much
greater than at the distance of a mile or two to the west of it. On the north
side of the canon the fault appears in still greater magnitude, and also branches
out into four distinct displacements, appearing at rather small intervals.
As
far north as Mount Logan this multiple character is preserved, but about 4
miles further north the branches disappear, and the dislocation becomes a
single fault, with the edges of the dropped beds turned down. There is a
slow but steady increase in the amount of displacement as it extends north¬
ward, until about thirty miles north of Logan the increase becomes more
rapid. As we approach the Yirgen River the dislocation becomes very
great. Upon the sunken side the Permian makes its appearance, then the
Trias, and finally the Jurassic sandstone, so that near the Yirgen we stand
upon the summit of the Carboniferous on the lifted side of the fault, and look
down upon the Jura, 1,200 feet below us at the base of the cliff. Here the
estimated shear of the fault is about 6,600 feet. North of the Virgen the
shear increases rapidly, until ten miles north of the Virgen we find the lower
Eocene on one side and the Carboniferous nearly a thousand feet above the
Eocene on the other. The displacement here is difficult to estimate with
accuracy, but it probably exceeds 12,000 feet, and may attain 14,000 feet.
In view of the great dimensions here inferred, there is a necessity for
great care in scrutinizing the facts, and for ascertaining whether there is no
other interpretation. This conclusion involves the assumption that the
entire Permian and Mesozoic series, as well as the local Eocene, are pres¬
ent in the

stratigraphic column of the thrown beds. Of this there can be
As we come northward along the fault we find the beds of the

little doubt.

several groups

coming in one after another

until

we

reach the Eocene. In

114

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

places they are partially obscured by volcanic sheets, but enough of
them is exposed to leave no doubt as to their presence
Moreover, they all
exhibit a much larger volume than the corresponding exposures further
eastward. Unless we suppose that the inferior formations thin out or dis¬
appear as the superior ones come in, the inferred amount of displacement is
an unavoidable conclusion.
There is no apparent reason for such a supposi¬
tion, and the presumption is quite the contrary.
Although it is going far outside of our district, it may be remarked that
the Hurricane fault extends northward into Utah along the entire western
front of the Markagunt, and is still apparent on the southwestern flank of
the Tushar range, where it finally disappeai-s beneath great floods of lava.
Its total length is certainly more than 200 miles. Wherever it runs it
always forms an important topographic feature, the prominence of which is
generally proportional to the amount of displacement. At the maximum
part it constitutes the border of the great Markagunt mass, and at the same
time the border of the Plateau Province.
Between the Yirgen and the Colo¬
rado it is the dividing line between the Uinkaret and Sheavwits. At the
upthrow is the Hurricane Ledge, which looks down 1,200 to 1,600 feet
upon the Sheavwits platform. The cliff of displacement thus formed is
perhaps the longest and best defined and one of the loftiest in the West.
The details of this displacement are full of interest, and they are also
extremely varied. The portion which lies along the greater part of the
Uinkaret border is generally not very complicated, but in a few localities
it is extremely so.
From fifteen to twenty miles south of the Virgen the
Sheavwits platform in the vicinity of the fault plane is terribly shattered
and mangled, and it is doubtful whether any analysis of it here is prac¬
ticable; but the simple character is soon resumed, and thenceforward to the
Colorado every phase of it is distinct. It presents a single sharp disloca¬
tion, with no apparent crushing or shattering of the beds, and the only
noteworthy feature is the persistent way in which the beds of the downthrow
flex downwards as they approach the fault line. In many places, also, the beds
of the upthrow flex upward a little for a few hundred yards as they approach
the fault, but this feature is somewhat less pronounced and less persistent than
the opposite flexures of the dropped side. It is interesting to note here that
some

THE HURRICANE FAULT.

the downward flexure has insured the

preservation of

115

strip of
The normal profiles
produced in the cliff by erosion are such that the Permian strip receives
protection from the talus. The explanation of this peculiar arrangement
may be as follows. We may suppose that before the fault was started the
beds along its course had been bent into a monocline
dipping to the east.
Such monoclines are the commonest and most typical form of
displacement
in the Plateau Country, and, though it would be out of place here to discuss
the matter at length, I suspect that they are much more common in other
regions, especially in little disturbed regions, than is generally supposed.
The existence of such a flexure would leave the Sheavwits platform much
higher than the Uinkaret. We may suppose the Uinkaret to have been
hoisted above the Sheavwits after the formation of the flexure, or, in brief,
that the flexing of the beds antedates the fault. This seems very simple,
and natural enough, nor does any other explanation suggest itself; but this
identical feature is repeated over and over again in other lines of displace¬
ment.
It is seen in the southern part of the great Sevier fault at Pipe
Spring, in the West Kaibab fault, and in numerous places along the great
dislocations in the terraces and High Plateaus. If the explanation be a
true one, it thus assumes a high degree of interest.
Powell has long since
remarked the homology between faults and monoclinal flexures by showing
that they often shade into each other; but in such cases the shearing couple
has the same movement, whether the displacement be flexure or fault. In
the Hurricane the movement of the shearing couple in producing the
the Permian beds at the base of the Hurricane

a narrow

Ledge.

monocline is reversed in the formation of the fault.
Let

us now

look at the features which the Hurricane

fault discloses

along those portions of the Uinkaret which have been the scene of volcanic
activity. These are admirably revealed in the Queantoweap Valley. This
valley is almost the exact counterpart of the Toroweap, repeating the feat¬
ures of the latter with singular accuracy.
It is a lateral valley excavated
upon the sunken side of the Hurricane fault, and cuts through the upper
and most of the lower Aubrey groups of the Carboniferous, and opens upon
a wide
esplanade of the Grand Canon, just as the Toroweap does. The
inner gorge of the canon, however, is much less profound here; the espla-

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

116
nade lies at

much lower level, and the floor of the Queantoweap is a thou¬
sand feet lower.
All this arises from the action of the fault, which carries
a

down

everything to the west of it from 1,200 to 1,800 feet. From the
heights of the Uinkaret two great lava cascades descend into the valley,
each composed of innumerable floods, which are so intimately blended
together that at a hasty glance they look each like a single mighty outflow.
The southern cascade emanates from a group of cones, of which Mount Emma
is the central and dominant pile.
The northern cascade, which is wider, but
probably contains less mass, descends from a line of large craters which
stand upon the brink of the plateau between the Logan and Emma plat¬
forms. We may descend either of these cascades with ease, but the northern
one is to be preferred.
Reaching the bottom of the Queantoweap, and fol¬
lowing its course downwards until we reach the southern cascade, we turn
about and, looking northward, observe the features depicted by Mr. Holmes
in Plate XXII.
Three branches of the Hurricane fault are very plainly
indicated. The high cliff on the right conceals the heights of the Uinkaret
above and beyond, but by changing our standpoint there is no difficulty in
recognizing back of this cliff a fourth branch of the fault, having a displace¬
ment of about 500 feet.
Having fixed these dislocations, we may now
return to the lava cascade and ascend to the plateau, noting on our way the
relations of the lava to the faults.
affected

We find that the basalt has not been

by them. The faults were there before the eruptions took place,
descending into the valley flowed across them, molding itself
to whatsoever features the faults and subsequent erosion had generated; nor
can we detect
any trace of shearing in the lava beds. It must be observed,
however, that the lavas in this cascade are all very young, belonging, with¬
out exception, to later eruptions.
It is doubtful, even, if they belong to
those which I have termed middle-aged eruptions, and this term I have
used to designate the earlier portions of the more recent outbreaks. They
are certainly more recent than those which lie north and east of Trumbull.
Following the branches of the fault north and south, we at length find
two of them cutting along portions of the Uinkaret flank, where remnants
of the more ancient lava caps are preserved. Here the faults cut the lavas.
This is plainly seen on the northwestern flank of Logan and again immeand the lava

THE HURRICANE FAULT—THE PERMIAN.

diately west of Emma,

And what is

117

the basalt, appears to have suf¬
shearing due to the branch of the fault which cuts
The largest branch is the westernmost, and it does not
appear to run
more,

fered the full amount of
it.

of the older basalts, so that we cannot venture any inference
concerning the age of this branch relatively to the older basalts. But in
general we have positive proof that two of these branches were formed after
the ancient eruptions and before the recent
eruptions. Here is an important
fact, for it lets light in upon the dark and difficult problem of the age of the
great Hurricane displacement, and this problem forms an important link in
the discussion of the history and physical evolution of the canon and the
region which adjoins it. This fact will be followed to its consequences very
speedily.
among any

It still remains to consider whether all these branches

are

contem¬

poraneous.
It at first seems possible that they may be of widely dif¬
ferent ages. I know of no crucial fact which may be relied upon to prove
that the several branches were formed together, but on the other hand there
is

strong presumption that they do not differ much in age.

Wherever we
position of the main fault, we observe that it lies close to the
base of the ledge. The amount of recession by erosion of the cliff of dis¬
placement is very small. Hence we infer that this cliff is of comparatively
recent origin, and, as the branch faults are proven to be recent also, the sep¬
aration in point of time cannot be very great.
a

find the true

THE PERMIAN REMNANTS.

The discussion of

general questions of stratigraphy is not contemplated
in this work, except to such extent as may be necessary to throw light upon
the principal problem of which it treats—the Tertiary history of the Grand
Canon district. There is, however, so much interest to be found in the study
of the remnants of the Permian which

are

scattered

over

the Grand Canon

platform that it seems proper to mention them somewhat more fully than the
principal theme may require.
The interior spaces of the district have hitherto been spoken of as being

THE GRAND

118

CANON DISTRICT.

patched with
remnants of the Permian.
A somewhat more precise account of its surface
geology may be given. Adverting first to the topography, it may be
remarked that, in general, it is very mildly undulated. The great chasms
which enter the Grand Canon are very few and far between, and so also
are the great cliffs of displacement.
These grand features occupy in reality
but a small portion of the entire area, and are limited to narrow winding
strips. Between the lines of diversification by cliff and canon, the vast
expanse is only very gently undulated for the most part, though here and
there a few notable masses rise above the plains to considerable altitudes.
Throughout this broad and slightly varied expanse the surface of denu¬
dation cuts the strata in such a way that the hills usually consist of lower
Permian strata lying horizontally, while the shallow valleys expose the
Carboniferous. The mean position of the surface of denudation is very
nearly coincident with the dividing horizon between those two formations.
But as that surface is an undulating one and the strata are sensibly horizontal,
it sometimes rises a little above that dividing horizon and sometimes falls a
little below it. If, however, we successively visit districts considerably
apart, we shall find in one of them that the mean position of the surface of
denudation is below that horizon so far that no Permian rocks appear in the
hills; in the other it is so far above it that no Carboniferous rocks appear in
the valleys.
Upon reflection, we cannot fail to be struck with this remarkable fact,
floored with the summit members of the Carboniferous strata,

that

an area so

extensive has been denuded in such

a manner

that the

sur¬

nearly the same geological horizon.
The fact becomes all the more striking when we recall, first, the enormous
denudation which has taken place; second, the great altitude of the country;
and, third, the very considerable inequalities of altitude. The fact is at vari¬
ance with what we usually find under the circumstances here recited.
A
high country, greatly ravaged by erosion during a long succession of geo¬
logical periods, would, we should think, be carved deeply by valleys with
rugged, lofty, and highly irregular masses between; and when displace¬
ment by faults and flexures and by the tilting of broad expanses is added
to the various conditions, we should expect to find these irregularities still

face of the

country is everywhere very

ANCIENT BASE-LEVELS OF EROSION.

119

complex. The comparative smoothness of the Grand Canon platform,
therefore, is a problem which seems to demand special explanation. Such
an
explanation may, I think, be given, and in the sequel it will be offered.
Just here it may be sufficient to indicate it
only in the briefest manner.
We may suppose that this entire region, at the
epoch at which the great
denudation of the Mesozoic system approached
completion, occupied a level

more

not much above the

sea.

Under such circumstances it would have been at

what Powell terms base-level of erosion.

The rivers and tributaries would

longer corrade their channels. The inequalities which are due to land
sculpture and the general process of erosion would then no longer increase,
and the total energy of erosion would be
occupied in reducing such ine¬
qualities as had been previously generated. During periods of upheaval, and
for a considerable time thereafter, the streams are cutting down their chan¬
nels, and weathering widens them into broad valleys with ridges between.
The diversification so produced reaches a maximum when the streams have
nearly reached their base-levels. But when the streams can no longer cor¬
rade, and if the uplifting ceases, these diversifications are reduced and
finally obliterated. Such, I conceive, was the case here. Somewhere about
the close of the Miocene the principal denudation had been nearly com¬
pleted. The Grand Cation platform then may have lain near sea-level, and
the remnants of Mesozoic beds which we may imagine to have been scattered
over it were
gradually obliterated, and the entire region was planed down
to a comparatively smooth surface.
Subsequently a new epoch of upheaval
set in, and the Grand Canon was begun.
Under an ordinary climate this
new
upheaval would have set at work an intricate plexus of streams, carving
out anew the uplifted platform into deep valleys and lofty ridges and mesas.
no

But

a new

condition intervened.

The climate had

now

become

an

arid

one.

the aridity increased these
only three or four along the entire drainage system of the Grand
Canon platform. No new inequalities were generated other than those we
now see, because there were no rivers to carve them out.
There

were

but few streams to

corrade, and

as

few became

explanation may seem at first to be a gratuitous assumption for
the explanation of a single fact. But as the discussion proceeds Ave shall
find ourselves brought frequently to the inference of an epoch when the
This

120

THE GRAND

CASl)N DISTRICT.

climate

passed from a humid to an arid condition, and of two or more
epochs when a throe of upheaval followed a considerable period of repose.
And the presumption will grow stronger, and at last become very powerful,
that this change of climate and one of the throes of upheaval, the birth of
the present Grand Canon, the most ancient basaltic eruptions of the Uinkaret and Sheavwits, and the starting of the greater faults of the region,
were not only contemporaneous events, but were mutually associated and
interdependent.
The facts which have been recited in this and in the preceding chapter
seem to me to indicate the following order of sequence in the events which
have resulted in the production of the Grand Canon. At the close of Mio¬
cene time the larger part of the general denudation of the Mesozoic strata
had been completed. Considerable masses of the Permian were then remain¬
ing, which have since been eroded. At that time the surface of the country
was

situated at

erosion.

a

level not far above the sea, and was at a base

It had been

for

level of

long stretch of time, sufficient, in fact, to have
allowed of the obliteration of most of the inequalities which had been gen¬
erated by the upheavals and erosion occurring in late Eocene and early
Miocene time. At length a new epoch of upheaval set in, hoisting the
country from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and somewhat unequally. Under ordi¬
nary circumstances this would have resulted in the production of fresh feat¬
ures
by the corrasion of streams. But a change of climate from moist to
arid had in the meantime occurred.
The streams were in chief part dried
up, leaving only the Colorado and a few of its more powerful tributaries.
Such streams
of the

as

so

a

remained alive corraded their channels, but the greater part

platform suffered no other havoc than the slow waste by sapping of
edges of the Permian remnants in much the same manner as it does at
the present time. Contemporaneously with the upheaval the Hurricane fault
was
developed. Possibly some form of displacement of much less magni¬
tude than that now existing was already established; possibly only a part
of the present displacement was effected during this particular throe of
upheaval. Accompanying the uplifting and faulting movement were the
earliest volcanic outbreaks, represented by the lava caps of the Trumbull,
Logan, and Emma platforms At length the uplifting action paused for a
the

EVOLUTION OF THE CANON.

time.

The volcanism ceased to be active.

found

a

base-level

new

Grand Canon.

at the

In its turn the

The river

121

sought and quickly
esplanade of the

horizon of the great

of corrasion rested. The pro¬
cess of erosion
during this second period of base-level was occupied
in the only work possible under the circumstances, viz, sapping the newlyformed cliffs of the canon. The cliffs, thus attacked, receded away from
the river, gradually developing the broad avenue of the outer chasm.
In
the very few tributaries which survived the advent of the arid climate the
same
process of sapping and recession of cliffs is discernible. When the
cliffs of the outer chasm had receded from two to three miles away from
the river, another and more active period of upheaval set in. Again the
process

country was hoisted, this time more than before.
the river bed
were

was

rekindled.

renewed.

The faults

Swiftly the inner

were

At once the corrasion of
increased. The volcanic fires

gorge was

scoured out, and the chasm

assumed its present condition. At present the uplifting force is inactive,
the volcanoes are extinct, the faults are not increasing, and the river has

nearly but not quite reached another base-level.
Throughout the entire stretch of the Grand and Marble canons this
order of events is betrayed. It is not confined to the Uinkaret and Toroweap, but is general for the whole district. The theory fits the facts per¬
fectly, and the range of facts to which it is adapted is a very wide and
complex one; for it comprises the drainage, the surface topography, the
erosion, the volcanism, the displacements, the climate. All these facts and
their respective trains of phenomena the theory brings into harmony, and
it shows their relations to each other. In the following chapters the same
grouping of the facts in a systematic process of evolution
and again until the cumulative proof becomes irresistible.

will appear again

CHAPTER

VII.

FROM KANAB TO THE KAIBAB.
Distant view of the Kaibab.—The Kanab gap and the Permian.—Head of Kanab Canon.—Sunset on
the Kanab desert.—Hot days and cool nights.—Distant view of the terrace cliffs from the Kanab

platform.—Reading geology thirty miles away.—Desert vegetation.—Approaching the plateau.
Stewart's canon.— Reaching water.—Sinking of the streams.—Entering the plateau.—Picturesque
ravines.—Arboreal vegetation.—Forest vistas.—De Motte Park.—Arrangement of the drainage
channels on the summit of the plateau.—Lagoons and subterranean drainage channels.—The
Sylvan Gate and Little De Motte Park.—Milk Spring.—Reaching the brink.

The Kaibab is the loftiest of the four

plateaus through which the Grand
Canon extends. It is from 1,500 to 2,000 feet higher than the Kanab
Plateau on the west, and from 2,500 to 4,000 feet higher than the Marble
Canon platform on the east. Its superior altitude is due wholly to displace¬
ment and not to erosion, for the strata upon its summit are the same as
those upon the surfaces of the others.
The upheaval has produced a sharp
fault upon the western flank and a great monoclinal flexure upon its eastern
flank. Throughout its entire platform the upper Carboniferous forms the
surface. The Kaibab begins at the base of the Vermilion Cliff's near the
little village of Paria, its northern extremity terminating in a slender cusp.
Steadily widening, and increasing very slowly in altitude, it reaches south¬
ward nearly a hundred miles to the Colorado River, where it attains a breadth
of about 35 miles.
Its highest point is about 9,280 feet above the sea, but
most of its surface is between the altitudes of 7,800 and 9,000 feet.
When viewed from a distance its summit, projected against the sky,
looks remarkably smooth and level. The slow increase of altitude from
north to south may be discerned, and yet, in the absence of positive knowl¬
edge, it would be doubted by the careful observer whether this might not be
due to perspective, and not real. When we actually visit the plateau we
find the summit, seeming so smooth when viewed from afar, to be really
122

THE KAIBAB PLATEAU

123

It is scored with a minutely ramified system of ravines, vary¬
ing much in depth, but averaging about 300 feet in the heart of the plateau,
and much deeper at the flanks. The whole summit is magnificently forestvery rugged.

clad.

In this respect

it is in strong contrast to the other plateaus, excepting,
however, in a much inferior way, the higher parts of the Uinkaret. The
other plateaus are formidable deserts; the Kaibah is a paradise. The for¬
ests are due to the superior altitude of the plateau, for the higher the altitude
the moister the climate. Through the southern portion of the Kaibab is
cut the finest portion of the Grand Canon.
Vast and imposing as is the
scenery at the foot of the Toroweap, the scenery of the Kaibab is much
more impressive.
I propose in the present chapter to describe, in familiar
language, a journey from Kanab to the Kaibab, and to the brink of the
chasm, where we may contemplate its sublimity.
Before us is the Permian terrace, rising by the gentlest of slopes;
through it the Kanab River has cut a wide, shallow gap, in which stand
several pretty

little buttes carved sumptuously in the characteristic style of

Fig. 3.—Section across the Kaibab.

The vertical scale is double the

Kaibab monocline.

Fig. 4.—Section

across

the formation.

horizontal, a, West Kaibab fault.

the Kaibab. a atwo branches of
Kaibab monocline. The vertical

the West Kaibab fault, b
scale is double the horizontal.

two branches of the East

platform extends southward
the Kaibab is in full
summit occupying a whole quadrant of the horizon,

Beyond it the Carboniferous

without visible bound.

view, its flat unruffled

East

Length of section about 32 miles.

Over the Permian terrace

124

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

and its western

escarpment facing towards us. The light of the declining
it, and the larger details stand forth in clear relief, displaying
the openings of grand ravines and the massive faces of the
intervening
pediments.
sun* is upon

In the

course

of

an

hour

boundless desert is before

us

pass through the Permian gap, and the
with the Kaibab upon our left.
Our route is
we

directly towards the plateau front, but obliquely towards a point in it
far to the southeast. In the portion of the
plateau nearest to us there is no
water, either upon the summit or in the great ravines, and without water
the journey would be indeed arduous. Moreover, it is the southern
portion
not

which commands

features which

our

are

greatest interest, and the northern part possesses no

not still

more

advantageously presented in the southern.
The desert before us is really no

The southern prospect is very extended.
more uneven than the
rolling prairie of

Iowa, but the range of vision is
vastly greater. The reason is soon explained. In the prairie the curvature
of the earth soon carries the surface out of
sight. In the Kanab Desert we
are
constantly looking across a very wide but shallow depression of the
surface, of which the center is located where Kanab Canon begins to cut into
the Carboniferous platform. In a word, the earth's surface is here
slightly
concave instead of convex, and the radius vector of the
concavity has a
length varying from 15 to 30 miles. Anywhere within the depression,
therefore, the prospect is a very wide one. The general impression con¬
veyed is that of a gently undulating plain of immense extent.
As the sun nears the horizon the desert
scenery becomes exquisitely
beautiful, The deep rich hues of the Permian, the intense red of the Ver¬
milion Cliffs, the lustrous white of the distant Jurassic headlands are
greatly
heightened in tone and seem self-luminous. But more than all, the flood
of purple and blue which is in the very air,
bathing not only the naked
rock faces, but even the obscurely tinted fronts of the Kaibab and the
*

In midsummer it is best to begin this journey late in the afternoon. The
distance between
watering places is about 40 miles, and when the sun is high the heat upon the open desert is intense.
The packs must be heavy, and if the attempt is made to
accomplish the entire distance between sunrise
and sunset, the animals are liable to be overtaxed, and what
may he gained by a long march in a single
day will be lost subsequently. It is better to start late in the afternoon, march until near
midnight,
and complete the distance to water the next
morning. Night traveling is usually to be avoided, but

here it is the better choice of two evils.

U

S

LACIGOE
YEVRUS

TESNU
NO

EHT

BAN K

TRESD
■■

■

■

.

DNARG
mam NO AC

r,s.Tf

.i

■

ID

WHMgnat

TS
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.LP

IX.

CROSSING THE KANAB DESERT.

125

pale brown of the desert surface, clothes the landscape with its greatest
charm.
It is seen in its climax only in the dying hour of
daylight. At
length the sun disappears and the glory is extinguished.
Almost instantly the air becomes cool and
refreshing, and as we ride
onward through the deepening twilight it grows even
chilly. It matters
little how hot the days may be, the nights here are
always cool and also
dry. I have known the temperature of the air to be 110° at midday, fall¬
ing to 54° at midnight, without any general atmospheric disturbance or
change except that which is due to nocturnal radiation. Upon the open
desert the air is almost always still both by day and night.
Rarely do the
high winds blow over it in summer, and even strong breezes are uncommon
except in the vicinity of great cliffs. At night the stillness is profound,
and unless there is water or green vegetation hard by, even the chirping of
insects is unheard.
The only sound which breaks upon the ear is the howl¬
ing of the wolves that prowl about the camp and follow the tracks of the
animals.
The hours roll

quickly past as we move onward in the darkness. At
length when the stars betoken the approach of midnight we halt, strip off
the packs and saddles, hobble the animals and turn them loose to browse
upon the scanty herbage. As the sun rises we are once more on the road.
For ten miles from Kanab the trail descends by a hardly perceptible grade.
Thence it ascends gradually at a rate of about 150 feet to the mile. From
the fifteenth to the twenty-third mile it lies in shallow ravines, but at last
emerges upon more open ground. As we look back towards the north, one
of the grand spectacles of the Plateau country is disclosed to us. It is a
view of the great cliffs which bound the southern terraces of the High
Plateaus rising one above another.
Nearly 10,000 feet of strata are
exposed edgewise and occupy a line of frontage from 50 to 60 miles in
length. It includes the stratigraphic series from the base of the Permian to
the summit of the Lower Eocene.

The view of the terraces from the north,

Markagunt or Paunsagunt, is of a very different char¬
There we see only their sloping summits with now and then
mural front swung into view obliquely by the meandering

from the brink of the
acter from this.
a

fragment of

course

a

of the line of escarpment.

Here the general line of frontage faces

126
while the terrace

THE GRAND GANON DISTRICT.

platforms are invisible. The view is a distant one, but
it requires great distance to bring into the field of vision an exposure so
vast.
At their nearest points the Permian is 15 miles away, the Trias 20,
the Jura 35, and the Eocene more than 50. It should be observed that we
are looking across the broad depression or concavity before spoken of, and
that there is a gentle slope downwards for 15 miles to the base of the Per¬
mian, which lies 1,900 feet below us. Notwithstanding the distance there
is no difficulty in distinguishing the different formations, and there would
have been none even if we had never before seen the terraces, provided we
had become familiar with their several aspects elsewhere; so strongly indi¬
vidualized are their colors and their sculptural forms.
The Cretaceous
alone is obscure, for in the portions of the terraces now in sight it does
not form cliffs, but breaks down in long slopes covered with soil and debris.
If we were a few miles farther west the Cretaceous cliffs of the Paria amphi¬
theater would be visible and be as easily determined as the others; but here
the Kaibab hides them. Although nearly 10,000 feet of strata are disclosed,
the summit of the Eocene lies only 5,000 to 5,500 feet above the base of
the Permian, for in the interval between the two exposures the northward
dip of the whole mass has carried down the Eocene about 5,000 feet.
From every elevated point on the Kanab Plateau this magnificent dis¬
play is in full view. All of the broader geological facts in the stratigraphy
and structure of the terraces may be distinctly seen and interpreted. The
increment in thickness of the Mesozoic strata towards the west is very plain.
The effect of the great Sevier fault, which comes down from the High
Plateaus, cutting across the terrace platforms and disappearing at the Pipe
Spring promontory of the Vermilion Cliffs, is now visible. By a simple
reconstruction, lifting up the thrown side of this fault and gradually depress¬
ing the westward extension of the strata until the Eocene is horizontal, we
can restore
mentally the whole mass to the attitude it held in Eocene time,
and it will require but a slight effort of the imagination to detect the origi¬
nal configuration which determined the present positions of the drainage
basins of the Virgen, Kanab, and Paria Rivers.
With a measured base¬
line extending east and west upon this part of the Kanab Plateau, and with
a fine large theodolite, it would be practicable to make a 11 the measureus

u. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

KANAB CANON.—NEAR THE

JUNCTION.

PL. XXV.

DESERT VEGETATION.

ments

127

for determining the masses and positions of the several
stratigraphic members with a degree of accuracy not materially less than
could he obtained by studying them upon their own ground.
A spectacle of this kind is most impressive to the
geologist. It brings
into one view the co-ordinated results of observations made
laboriously by
months of travel and inspection in a very broad and rugged field. The
great distances through which the eye can reach, the aspect of cliffs tower¬
ing above and beyond cliffs, the great cumulative altitude thus attained, the
immensity of the masses revealed, the boldness of form, the distinctness of
the lines of stratification, and especially the brilliant coloring, subdued in¬
deed, but also refined by the haze, give to the scene a grandeur which has
few parallels.
But we turn our backs upon it, and pursue our way, pausing anon to
look at it with a reverent enthusiasm. The daylight discloses the western
Kaibab wall upon our left, only five or six miles distant, and our course
changes from southeast to south parallel to its front. Already we feel the
influences of its long spurs sweeping outward and dying away in the desert
platform, and the trail becomes more hilly. Once or twice it takes us down
into ravines which are the continuations of the great chasms which cut it to
its base and recede far into its mass, winding out of sight in profound depths.
Vegetation has made its appearance all around us, not abundantly, indeed,
but sufficiently to contrast with the desolation behind us.
Upon the crest
of the plateau we can see the giant pines and spruces, and we covet their
luxurious shade. Nearer, on either hand, are piiions and cedars, mountain
mahogany and mesquite, with many low forms of desert shrubbery. Many
species of cactus are seen, the most abundant of which are the opuntias, or
prickly pears. Of these there are four or five very common species. A
large cactus "orchard" in blossom is a very beautiful sight, displaying
flowers which, for beauty of form and richness of color, are seldom sur¬
passed by the choicer gems of the conservatory. Nor is it less attractive
when in the fruit, for it yields a multitude of purple " pears," which are
very juicy and refreshing, and by no means contemptible in flavor. There
is another form of cactus not likely to be forgotten by anybody who has
once seen it, and which is very common on the Kanab desert.
It is a stout
necessary

128

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

bush, with many branches, growing from 3 to 6 feet high. The trunk and
branches have a hard, woody core, and are thickly fringed with rows of
strong, sharp spines which present a very ferocious aspect Altogether it is
the most

truculent-looking member of the vegetable kingdom I happen to
acquainted with. Yery common, too, are the yuccas, or " Spanish bay¬
onets," which resemble, on a small scale, the noted agave or century plant.
Another common species, somewhat resembling the last, bears a cluster of

be

melon-like seed

cases

of the size and form of

cucumbers, which the Indians

gather and dry for food.*
At length the trail leads down into "Stewart's Canon," a rather broad
canon
valley descending towards us from the south. Just where we enter
it it turns sharply to the west, forming an elbow, and, sinking thence ever
deeper into the earth through a course of fifteen miles, it opens at last into
the heart of Kanab Canon at a depth of nearly 3,500 feet.
Here at the
elbow it is comparatively shallow. Before reaching the elbow it runs north¬
ward close to the base of the Kaibab

wall, which rises

more

than 1,200 feet

above its

floor, while the opposite or western side is only about 400 feet
high. The difference in the altitudes of the two sides is accounted for by
the presence of the west Kaibab fault, which runs at the foot of the wall,
throwing down the western side more than 800 feet. The geological rela¬
tions here are worthy of some study.
The presence of the fault is detected
in a moment.
Upon the western side the familiar grey limestones of the
Upper Aubrey series form the entire wall. Upon the eastern side the same
beds are seen upon the summit more than 800 feet higher than on the west¬
ern side.
Beneath them is the hard cross-bedded sandstone, and still lower
down the brilliant red

sandy shales of the lower Aubrey. Here, too, is seen
phenomenon so often presented in connection with the faults
region. As the thrown beds approach the fault plane they are

that curious

of this

turned down.
The trail leads southward up

Stewart's Canon with an ascent that is
barely perceptible. We become conscious of increasing altitude indirectly
by the barometer and by the change in the vegetation. The desert shrubs
*

a

thick

The Mormons find

a

liquid which makes

singular use for this plant. The pounded root, macerated in water, yields
good substitute for soap.

a very

ABSENCE OF STREAMS ON THE KAIBAB.

129

have

mostly disappeared and given place to the scrub-oaks and weeds which
unfailing indications of a cooler and moister climate. But the most
welcome sight is the close proximity of the yellow pines which stand
upon
the summit above and even upon the lower platform which looks down from
the western side. As yet they do not grow in the valley bottom. We have
not quite reached the Kaibab, though it is close at
hand—nay, we pass right
by its open gates which seem to invite us in with a welcome; for at intervals
of a mile or two we perceive upon the left the openings of grand ravines
leading up to its platform, and the moment we enter any one of them we
are within the precincts of the
great plateau. Stewart's Canon is the trunk
valley which receives the drainage of a considerable section of the western
side of the Kaibab.
The large affluents all come from the east, and none
of any importance from the west.
About five miles from the point where the trail enters the valley we
reach the first water—a tiny stream coming down from one of the great
ravines and sinking into the soil a few hundred yards beyond the mouth.
Halting long enough to allow the animals to drink, we move onward about
two miles further up the valley and make camp.
Here there comes out of
are

the

the Kaibab wall, about 300 feet above us, a stream
man's
acre.

of water

large as a
body, which cascades down the rocks into a pool covering half an
There is a phenomenon here worth noticing, for it is a prelude to some
as

throughout this wonderful plateau.
has been constructed of stones and
mud, which may be easily torn open or replaced. When the dam is open a
large stream equal to the influx pours out of it, but the whole outpour sinks
within a quarter of a mile. When the dam is closed the water in the pool
very singular facts of general prevalence
Across the outlet of the pool a rude dam

rises about 15

inches, and there is

no

outflow. All the water which enters the

pool then sinks along the newly submerged margin. A stream of that size
anywhere else in the Plateau Country would ordinarily run eight or ten miles,
and in a moist country would run much further. The sudden sinking of
streams is by no means rare, but is generally exceptional.
On the Kaibab
it is the rule.
Upon all its broad expanse there is nothing which can be
properly called a brook or living stream. About a dozen springs are known,
but their waters in every instance sink in the earth within a few hundred

130

THE GRAND

yards of their
several times

as

CA$ON DISTRICT.

sources. And the "Big Spring-" in Stewart's Caflon yields
much water as all the others put together. With this fore¬

knowledge the prospects of water supply upon the Kaibab might seem dis¬
couraging, but we shall not suffer for the want of it.
Although the sun is still high when the Big Spring is reached, nothingwill be gained by prolonging the day's march, and it is well to take a look
at the surroundings.
In some way, without knowing exactly when and
where, we seem to have gotten into the Kaibab; for around us is the sylvan
scenery and a rolling country traversed by many valleys and ravines.
True, they are not the finest types, but when we recall the desert we have
just left, this place looks like a paradise. The barometer shows a consider¬
able altitude, 7,850 feet, and the air though warm is not oppressive. As we
approached the plateau from the desert and saw its battlements towering
grandly in the distance and becoming hourly more grand, its level parapet
retreating into indefinite distance in either direction, it never occurred to
us that we might be spared the arduous struggle of scaling the wall, or, as
a still more
arduous alternative, the forcing of a rough passage through
some narrow ravine for many miles.
Yet we have reached this spot by a
route as easy as an old fashioned turnpike.
In truth, the configuration of
the southern part of the Kaibab could not be discerned as we approached
it from the north.
But, putting together the observations of the journey, it
now becomes apparent that the platform of the Kanab Plateau rises quite
rapidly towards the south, while the Kaibab gains in altitude much more
slowly. Opposite our last camp the difference in the altitudes of the two
plateaus is about 2,300 feet. Here it has greatly diminished, and the pas¬
sage from one to the other is now partly by a very gentle inclined plane
and partly by a fault. Fifteen miles further south the fault vanishes or be¬
comes insignificant, and the passage is by a long slope.*
Resuming in the morning the route up Stewart's Canon, a half-hour's
*

be remarked here that every fault in the district is accompanied with a corresponding
topography. A cliff or steep slope is produced by it. I do not recall an instance where
the lifted beds are planed off by erosion, so as to make a continuons level with the thrown beds.
The
cliffs generated by displacement have a character of their own which the experienced observer distin¬
guishes quickly and confidently from cliffs of erosion. These characteristic breaks in the topography
often betray a fault in localities where it would otherwise have been passed over unnoticed and unsus¬
pected.
It may

break in the

THE RAVINES OF THE KAIBAB.

ride

brings

131

abandoned saw-mill.

Here the trail leaves the valley
which we have followed for ten miles and turns up into a
large ravine com¬
ing from the east or southeast. It is much narrower than Stewart's Cation,
with very abrupt and almost precipitous walls about 600 feet
high. The
us

to

an

traveler in the Plateau Province learns to dread the

necessity which compels
deep gorge or cation unless he knows beforehand that there
is a practicable and easy trail through it.
If it is dry it is almost certain
to be obstructed by fallen fragments and
thickly set with scrub, its bottom
scoured into rough gullies by the sudden floods; and half the time it will
be necessary to mount the steep talus and thread it. If it carries a
living
stream the way is still worse, for, in addition to the
foregoing difficulties,
there are dangerous quicksands, impenetrable thickets of willows and
thorny
bushes, and the stream meanders from wall to wall. Unless there is a good
trail the traveler will usually prefer to mount the cliff, if a break can be
found in it, and seek the mesa above, and thus by a single struggle get rid
of the miseries below. Not so the ravines of the Kaibab.
Like the paths
trodden by the pilgrims in the Delectable Mountains, " their ways are
pleasantness and all their paths are peace." The ravine we enter is but a
fair specimen of a vast number of them which cover the whole broad sur¬
face of the plateau with an infinite network of ramifications. Its bottom
is covered with a carpet of grass and flowers growing rankly in a smooth
firm soil free from rocks and undergrowth.
Here and there a clump of
aspens or noble pines grow in the way, but offer no obstacles to progress.
It is like riding through a well-kept park or an avenue shaded by ancient
him to thread

trees.

Not

And

a

now

the effect of the absence of streams becomes manifest.

perennial brooks, but there
or melting snow

indications that
any notable amount of
water ever runs in these channels.
Yet the Kaibab is a moist region. In
summer the rains are frequent and in winter the snow lies deep.
Horses
cannot winter there, and the wild cattle and deer, late in October, abandon
it and seek the lower regions around its flanks.
In all other plateaus or
mountain ranges of equal mass and altitude and with equal precipitation
there are many goodly streams, and even large creeks, fed throughout the
summer
by numberless copious springs; and when the snows melt these
even

only

are

there

in the time of

no

heavy rains

are no

132

THE GRAND

CA^ON DISTRICT.

streams become

raging torrents. But so rare are the indications of running
Kaibab, even in times of melting snow or of vernal rains, that
whenever we find a "wash" we look at it with surprise as if it were a
strange phenomenon demanding special explanation. But the very absence
of these traces of running water constitutes one of the greatest charms of
the Kaibab, for every ravine is as smooth as a lawn and carpeted with a
turf of mountain grass, richly decked with flowers of rare beauty and lux¬
water

on

the

uriance.
The great trees grow

chiefly upon the main platform above us. Ex¬
cept in the highest part of the plateau they are mostly the yellow pine
{Finns
ponderosa),
but large spruces are also common (Abies
,A.
JEngelmanni). Upon the flanks of the ravines they also grow, the pines upon
the northern or sunny side, the spruces upon the opposite.
In the valley
bottom they grow scatteringly, and for the most part leave it quite open.
Contrasting finely with these are the aspens (
), with their
white trunks and pale green foliage.
Throughout the greater part of the
plateau these three genera comprise all the arboreal forms that occur. But
upon its borders we also find cedars, mountain mahogany, and pinon
erus occidentalism Gercocarpus ledifolius, and Finns edulis), the latter, though
classed as a pine, differing greatly from the more typical forms of the genus.
The ravine, where we enter its mouth, is about 600 feet in depth.
The
ascent is by a very easy grade, averaging about 100 feet to the mile.
As
we progress it becomes shallower, but not so rapidly as the grade might
indicate, for the plateau summit also rises, though at a lower grade, towards
the east. The course is a crooked one, but none the less agreeable on that
account.
Every traveler on foot or horseback has probably observed how
tiresome and monotonous the road becomes when he can see it stretching
away before him for many miles, and how charming the diversity when it
wanders hither and thither.
much alike

two turns of

It matters not if the successive vistas

are as

kaleidoscope, there is always an impatience to
beyond the next turn. So it is here. The successive scenes
are much alike, or change by insensible degrees, but the same
general view
is presented in ever-varying detail, and its subject-matter is always delight¬
see

ful.

what is

as

a

SYLVAN SCENERY.

133

It is difficult to say
precisely wherein the charm of the sylvan scenery
of the Kaibab consists. We, who
through successive summers have wan¬

dered

through its forests and parks, have come to regard it as the most en¬
chanting region it has ever been our privilege to visit. Surely there is no
lack of beautiful or grand forest
scenery in America, and it is a matter of
taste what species of trees are the most
pleasing. Probably few people
would select the conifers and poplars as the
highest types of arboreal beauty.
I suspect that the charm consists in influences far more subtle than these
outward forms.

The delicious climate, neither cold

hot, neither wet
excessively dry, but always exhilarating, is a fundamental condition by
virtue of which the body and mind are brought into the most
susceptible
nor

nor

mood.

The

with which

from

place to place, the absence of
anxiety or care for the three great requisites of camp life—fuel, water,
and grass—are accessory conditions.
The contrast of the desert, with its
fatigue, its numberless discomforts and privations, is still another. But the
scenery is also very beautiful in itself.
The trees are large and noble in
aspect and stand widely apart, except in the highest parts of the plateau,
where the spruces predominate. Instead of dense thickets, where we are
shut in by impenetrable foliage, we can look far beyond and see the tree
trunks vanishing away like an infinite colonnade.
The ground is unob¬
structed and inviting.
There is a constant succession of parks and glades—
dreamy avenues of grass and flowers winding between sylvan walls, or
spreading out in broad open meadows. From June until September there
is a display of wild flowers which is quite beyond description.
The valley
sides and platforms above are resplendent with dense masses of scarlet,
white, purple, and yellow. It is noteworthy that, while the trees exhibit
but few species, the humbler plants present a very great number, both of
species and genera. In the upper regions of the High Plateaus, Mr. Lester
F. Ward collected in a single season more than 600 species of plants, and
the Kaibab, though offering a much smaller range of altitude and climate,
would doubtless yield as rich a flora in proportion to the diversity of its
ease

we move

all

conditions.
At

a

distance of about

chosen has become very

eight miles from its mouth, the ravine

shallow, with gently sloping sides.

we

have

At length

we

134

THE GRAND

leave it and ascend its

CANON DISTRICT.

right bank to the

platform. The way here is
pleasant as before, for it is beneath the pines standing at intervals, vary¬
ing from 50 to 100 feet, and upon a soil that is smooth, firm, and free from
undergrowth. All is open, and we may look far into the depths of the forest
on either hand.
We now perceive that the surface of the plateau undulates
with rolling hills and
gently depressed vales. These valleys are the rami¬
fications of the drainage channels. They are innumerable and cover the
entire surface of the plateau. The main channels all
deepen as they
approach the edges of the plateau and often attain considerable depth, hecoming at the same time precipitous. The deepest are those which emerge
near the elbow of Stewart's Canon and north of that
point. These attain
depths exceeding a thousand feet. The ravines which descend towards the
eastern flank of the
plateau terminate in a different manner, which we shall
see hereafter.
In the interior parts of the plateau these
drainage valleys
are all
shallow, rarely exceeding 300 or 400 feet in depth, and seldom
abrupt.
upper

as

After two

three miles upon

the summit, the trail descends into
valley, whose course we follow upward for about seven miles. At
the distance of about
twenty miles from Stewart's Canon, we find that we
have gained about 1,400 feet of altitude, and that the
vegetation has changed
its aspect somewhat. The
pines, though still abundant, are now in the
minority, and the spruces and aspens greatly predominate. The spruces
form dense thickets on either hand, which
nothing hut the direst necessity
would ever induce us to enter.
Of this genus there are several
species,
varying much in habit. The great firs (
) are
exceedingly beautiful on account of their sumptuous foliage. But the most
common
species is a smaller one (A.
), with a tall and straight
trunk, its branches spreading only five or six feet. These trees cluster so
thickly together that a passage through them is extremely difficult and
sometimes impossible.
But we are not constrained to attempt it, for they
seldom grow in the valley bottoms.
Again we leave the ravine, and wind¬
ing about among the hills, passing from glade to glade, we at length find
ourselves upon the summit of a long slope, which descends
rapidly into a
great park, the largest on the Kaibab. It has received the name of
another

or

.U
.S

LACIGOE
.YEVRUS

ETOMD
.KRAP

DNARG

.TCIRSD
.LP

.IVX

DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF THE KAIBAB.

135

DE MOTTE PARK.

Its

length is about ten miles, its average width about two miles. It is
depressed area in the heart of the plateau and is on every side girt about
by more elevated ground rising by strong slopes 300 or 400 feet above its
floor. The borders and heights above are
densely forest-clad, but not a
tree stands within the park itself.
Descending into its basin and proceeding
southward about two and a half miles, we reach a little
spring where we
make camp. The distance from the Big Spring to Stewart's Canon is about
26 miles by trail.
De Motte Park is eminently adapted to be the "base of
operations" in
a
campaign of geological investigation upon the southern part of the Kaibab.
It is a central locality from which we may radiate in any direction to the
bounds of the plateau. Here the great bulk of the supplies may be depos¬
ited, and from the supply camp we make journeys with light packs for one,
two, or three days, as it may suit the convenience, and to it we may return
to fit out for another short trip.
The circumstances which make the park
so advantageous in this respect are worth reciting.
Notwithstanding the open character of the forest there are two diffi¬
culties in the way of travel on the Kaibab. The first has already been
mentioned, scarcity of water. We know of about a dozen small springs,
some of them conveniently located for the purposes of the explorer, others
not.
There is, however, another source of water supply which will be de¬
scribed presently. The second difficulty is the danger of getting lost and
bewildered in the forest. This may seem to be a singular source of danger
for an explorer, who of all men is bound to know his exact whereabouts at
every step.
But if he were to visit the Kaibab with that easy confidence
and without a guide he would probably learn a severe lesson in less than
a
fortnight. The young Mormon herders who range over this region, and
a

who follow
an

Indian's

know them.

a

trail with the keen instincts of Indians,

intelligence, dread the

mazes

and with

of the forest until they

Even the Indians who live and hunt there

and autumn have sad tales about comrades lost when

and buried the trails

so

that

more

during the

the

they could not be followed.

than

come to
summer

snows came

early

The bewildering

136

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

character arises from the monotony
hills and gulches, but they all look

trees, which

are worse

second time at

than

none

of the scenery. There are hundreds of
alike. There are no landmarks except

at all.

If you enter a ravine for the

point other than that at which you first entered it you
probably fail to recognize it As with the faces of the Chinese, no
conscientious white man would be willing to swear that he had ever seen
any particular one before. Yet the riddle of the Kaibab is soon solved, and,
once read, all
danger is over. If the traveler is lost there is an infallible
clew.
He must go at once to De Motte Park. But how shall he find the
way? If he has reason to suppose that he is within a dozen miles of it he
has only to enter a main ravine and follow it to its head. This,
however,
does not apply to the portions of the plateau which lie more than five miles
north of the park. The way may be long, but is easy and sure. A few
ravines fade out before reaching the near neighborhood of the park. In
that event take the nearest one on the right or left. All of them head
upon
the summit which looks down into the park. It is necessary, however, to
keep to the
ravine main
and avoid its minor tributaries, and there is a crite¬
a

would

rion

by which it may be distinguished At the confluence of a lateral
grade of the main ravine is always the less of the two.
Although this may seem to be nothing more than a trivial bit of wood¬
craft, it really illustrates an important fact—the drainage system of a large
portion of the Kaibab. The study of this drainage system will shed some
light upon the geological history not only of the plateau itself, but of the
region adjoining, and of the Grand Canon.
The thought which must be predominant in the mind of one who for

ravine the

the first time enters the Kaibab is of the Grand Canon.

The fame of its

grandeur is world-wide, and the desire to see it as it is grows stronger the
nearer he
approaches to it. This longing must be at least tempered, if not
wholly satisfied, before the mind is in the humor to contemplate anything
else. Our first expedition, then, shall be to the brink of the great abyss.
As the sun is rising and before his beams have penetrated to the bot¬
tom of the park we are on the
way. On either hand is the forest, covering
the slopes and the heights above, but ending suddenly at the foot of
every
incline. Before us to the southward stretches the open field with
hardly an

LAGOONS AND SUBTERRANEAN DRAINAGE.

undulation.

Six

or seven

J 37

miles away we can see

the sylvan walls approach
other, leaving a narrow gateway between the tall spruces where the
surface of the ground for a moment is sharply
projected against the sky.
The scene is, on the whole, a very attractive one. There is a
great wealth
of vegetation, somber indeed, and monotonous, but the darkness of the tone
is suggestive of depth and richness of color. The
only alleviating contrast
is between the smooth expanse of the
park and the myriads of sharp spikes
which terminate the tree tops. The spirit of the scene is a calm, serene,
and gentle one, touched with a tinge of
solemnity and melancholy.
About a mile from camp we came upon an object worthy of attention.
It is a rather deep depression in the earth about 200 feet across and
very
nearly circular. Within it is a large pool of water. Its depth below the
valley floor may be about 40 feet, and the depth of the water 5 or 6 feet
in the middle.
It is a fair specimen of a frequent occurrence upon the
Kaibab. I have never seen them elsewhere, and the explanation is difficult.
The interest lies in the mystery of their origin. In every day's ride we
usually find three or four of them and sometimes more. Some of them con¬
tain water, but the majority do not.
Some hold water throughout the year,
some
only in the early summer or until autumn. They vary in size and
depth very considerably. Some are as narrow as 20 feet; some are 300 to
400 feet across.
The depths vary from a yard or two to a hundred feet.
each

The form is

crater-like—always approximately circular. They do not
appear to occur under any special set of conditions.
They are found as
often upon the platforms as in the valleys, and are not uncommon upon the
slopes of the ravines. In a few instances traces may be seen of rain gullies
or washes
leading into them, but not often, and none have ever been noted
leading out of them. Whatever running water may enter them sinks within
their basins; but it is certain that many of them rarely receive any running
water.
In the cases of those which do the wonder is that they do not soon
fill up with sand and silt, for the water generated by heavy rain-storms or
by melting snows, when sufficient in volume to run in a stream, is always
thick with mud. The scarcity of running water on the Kaibab has been
mentioned. Yet the precipitation is comparatively great and the evapora¬
tion small. It is apparent that all the water which falls upon its vast

138

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

with the exception of a slight percentage evaporated, must sink
earth, where it is doubtless gathered in subterranean drainage
channels, which open in the profound depths of the great amphitheaters of
the Grand Canon. In those depths are large creeks of perennial water
issuing from the openings of those underground passages. This implies a
system of subterranean rivulets, but it is not more wonderful than the end¬
less caverns in the limestones of Kentucky and Indiana, and it is probably
not upon so large a scale nor so greatly ramified.
It also argues a high
degree of permeability both in the upper strata and in the overmantling
soil.
The water sifts through them as easily as through sand, and rarely
gathers into streams even in the most copious showers or most rapid melting
of the snow. Whether these "lagoons" and "sink-holes," as we termed
them, are the openings of pipes leading down into the subterranean rivers,
and kept open by a gradual solution of the limestone, it is difficult to say.
There are some difficulties in the way of this theory.
Moving rapidly southward, at length we reach the Sylvan Gate at the
lower end. Passing through we immediately find ourselves at the head of
a second
park very similar to De Motte's, but smaller, having a length of
nearly three miles. It is named Little De Motte Park, and the Sylvan Gate
occupies a divide between the two. It contains a large lagoon holding stag¬
nant water.
There is a chain of these parks reaching from the northern
end of De Motte's southward, a distance of 25 miles, separated only by

expanse,
into the

necks of forest.
Our first

objective point is a spring situated in one of the large ravines
which head in the heights overlooking these two parks. Without some
foreknowledge of the way to reach it, or without a guide, it would be im¬
possible to find it, and the same is true of any other spring on the summit,
but with this foreknowledge we seek the southwestern border of Little De
Motte and enter the timber.
During half an hour there is a miserable
struggle with fallen trees and thick-set branches of spruce and aspen, but
at length the heights are gained, and we descend into a shallow ravine,
where the way is once more open. The winding glade, with smooth bot¬
tom richly carpeted with long green grass, aglow with myriads of beautiful
blossoms, is before

us,

and the tall trees

are on

either hand.

Soon it leads

REACHING THE BRINK.

into

139

larger one, and this into another, until at last the main ravine is
reached. Very sweet and touching now are the influences of nature. The
balmy air, the dark and somber spruces, the pale-green aspens, the golden
shafts of sunlight shot through their foliage, the velvet sward—surely this
is the home of the woodland nymphs, and at every turn of the way we can
fancy we are about to see them flying at our approach or peeping at us from
the flowery banks.
By half-past ten the spring is reached. Next to the Big Spring in
Stewart's Canon, it is the largest on the summit of the plateau. Here,
too, is the only semblance of running water, for the stream flows a little
a

more

than half

a

mile before it sinks.

The water is cold and delicious.

It

faint whitish cast,

like that which would be produced by putting a
drop or two of milk into a bucket of pure water. I presume it is caused by
a fine
precipitate of lime. We called it the "Milk Spring." Pausing here
for a hasty lunch, and to fill the kegs (for to-night we may make a "dry"
camp), we push on. We climb out of the ravine, and in fact we only came
here to obtain water, as it is the only place near to the point of destination
at which water can be procured.
The route now becomes more rugged,
leading across ravines and over intervening ridges, crossing the grain of the
country, so to speak. But it is not difficult, for the pines have taken place

has

a

of the spruces, and where the pines predominate the forest is very open.
For eight miles from the Milk Spring we continue to cross hills and valleys,
then follow

a

low swale shaded

by giant pines with trunks three to four feet

On yonder hillside,
kingly trees, is a spot which seems to glow with an
unwonted wealth of floral beauty. It is scarcely a hundred yards distant;
let us pluck a bouquet from it. We ride up the slope.
The earth suddenly sinks at our feet to illimitable depths. In an instant,
in the twinkling of an eye, the awful scene is before us.

in thickness.

beneath

one

The banks

of these

are a

parterre of flowers.

CHAPTER

VIII.

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.
Abrupt disclosure of the spectacle.—Point Sublime.—The Grand Canon an innovation in modern ideas.
Familiarity required for a just appreciation.—Erroneous nature of preconceived notions.—Width
of the chasm.—Extent of the panorama.—Vastnessof its component objects.—Their multitude.—
The infinity of details.—The grandeur and splendor of the buttes.—Lateral amphitheaters or.
side gorges.—Architectural styles of decoration.—The Cloisters.—Shiva's Temple.—Profusion of
grand objects.—Color effects.—Atmospheric effects.—Sensitiveness of the picture to variations of
light and shadow.—Effects of shadows and optical delusions.—The western haze.—Modulations
of the picture through the day.—Sunset in the chasm.—The climax of the day.—Twilight.

reach the Grand Canon in the Kaibab it bursts upon
moment.
Seldom is any warning given that we are near

Wherever
vision in

brink.

a

we

the
the

At the

Toroweap it is quite otherwise. There we are notified that
we are near it a day before we reach it.
As the final march to that portion
of the chasm is made the scene gradually develops, growing by insensible
degrees more grand until at last we stand upon the brink of the inner gorge,
where all is before us. In the Kaibab the forest reaches to the sharp edge
of the cliff and the pine trees shed their cones into the fathomless depths
below.
If the

approach is made at random, with no idea of reaching any par¬
point by a known route, the probabilities are that it is first seen from
the rim of one of the vast amphitheaters which set back from the main chasm
far into the mass of the plateau. It is such a point to which the reader has
been brought in the preceding chapter. Of course there are degrees in the
magnitude and power of the pictures presented, but the smallest and least
powerful is tremendous and too great for comprehension. The scenery of
the amphitheaters far surpasses in grandeur and nobility anything else of
the kind in any other region, but it is mere by-play in comparison with the
panorama displayed in the heart of the canon.
The supreme views are to be
obtained at the extremities of the long promontories, which jut out between
ticular

140

THE PANORAMA PROM POINT SUBLIME.

these

141

far into the

gulf. Towards such a point we now direct our
steps. The one we have chosen is on the whole the most commanding in
the Kaibab front, though there are several others which might be regarded
as
very nearly equal to it, or as even more imposing in some respects. We
recesses

named it Point Sublime.
The route is of the

character

that

have

already traversed—
open pine forest, with smooth and gently-rolling ground.
The distance
from the point where we first touched the rim of the amphitheater is about
5 miles.
Nothing is seen of the chasm until about a mile from the end we
come once more upon the brink.
Reaching the extreme verge the packs
are cast off, and sitting upon the edge we
contemplate the most sublime and
awe-inspiring spectacle in the world.
The Grand Canon of the Colorado is a great innovation in modern
ideas of scenery, and in our conceptions of the grandeur, beauty, and
power of nature.
As with all great innovations it is not to be comprehended
in a day or a week, nor even in a month.
It must be dwelt upon and
studied, and the study must comprise the slow acquisition of the meaning
and spirit of that marvelous scenery which characterizes the Plateau Coun¬
try, and of which the great chasm is the superlative manifestation. The
study and slow mastery of the influences of that class of scenery and its
full appreciation is a special culture, requiring time, patience, and long
familiarity for its consummation. The lover of nature, whose perceptions
have been trained in the Alps, in Italy, Germany, or New England, in the
Appalachians or Cordilleras, in Scotland or Colorado, would enter this
strange region with a shock, and dwell there for a time with a sense of
oppression, and perhaps with horror. Whatsoever things he had learned to
regard as beautiful and noble he would seldom or never see, and whatsoever
he might see would appear to him as anything but beautiful and noble.
Whatsoever might be bold and striking would at first seem only grotesque.
The colors would be the very ones he had learned to shun as tawdry and
bizarre. The tones and shades, modest and tender, subdued yet rich, in
same

as

we

fancy had always taken special delight, would be the ones which
are conspicuously absent.
But time would bring a gradual change. Some
day he would suddenly become conscious that outlines which at first seemed
which his

142

THE GRAND

CAftON DISTRICT.

harsh and trivial have grace and meaning; that forms which seemed grotesque
are full of
dignity; that magnitudes which had added enormity to coarse¬
have become

replete with strength and

majesty; that colors which
unrefined, immodest, and glaring, are as expressive,
tender, changeful, and capacious of effects as any others. Great innova¬
ness

even

had been esteemed

tions, whether in art
world

or

literature, in science

It is

so

in nature, seldom take the

They must be understood before they
cultivated before they can be understood.

by storm.

and must be

or

with the Grand Canon.

can

be estimated,

The observer who visits its command¬

ing points with the expectation of experiencing forthwith a rapturous exal¬
tation, an ecstasy arising from the realization of a degree of grandeur and
sublimity never felt before, is doomed to disappointment. Supposing him
to be but little familiar with plateau scenery, he will be simply bewildered.
Must he, therefore-, pronounce it a failure, an overpraised thing? Must he
entertain a just resentment towards those who may have raised his expecta¬
tions too high ? The answer is that subjects which disclose their full power,
meaning, and beauty as soon as they are presented to the mind have very
little of those qualities to disclose. Moreover, a visitor to the chasm or to
any other famous scene must necessarily come there (for so is the human
mind constituted) with a picture of it created by his own imagination.
He
reaches the spot, the conjured picture vanishes in an instant, and the place
of it must be filled anew.
Surely no imagination can construct out of its
own material any picture having the remotest resemblance to the Grand
Canon.
In truth, the first step in attempting a description is to beg the
reader to dismiss from his mind, so far as practicable, any preconceived
notion of it.

Those who have

long and carefully studied the Grand Canon of the
a moment to pronounce it by far the most sub¬
lime of all earthly spectacles,
if its sublimity consisted only in its dimen¬
sions, it could be sufficiently set forth in a single sentence. It is more than
200 miles long, from 5 to 12 miles wide, and from 5,000 to 6,000 feet deep.
There are in the world valleys which are longer and a few which are deeper.
There are valleys flanked by summits loftier than the palisades of the KaiColorado do not hesitate for

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

KEY TO THE
E. C. Eastern Cloister.
F. San Francisco Mount.
K» Mount Kendricks.

H. Hindoo Amphitheater.
S. Shiva's Temple.
R. Cape Royal.

PANORAMA

J'liVNIC

DVNON

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KEY TO THEr
E. Mount Emma.
I. Inner Gorge.
P. Powell's Plateau.

T. Mount Trumbull.

1.
2.

Cherty limestone.
Upper Aubrey limestone.

3. Cross-bedded sandstone.

PANORAMA H St

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.

bab.

143

Still the Grand Canon is the sublimest

thing on earth. It is so not
alone by virtue of its magnitudes, but by virtue of the whole—its ensemble.
The common notion of a canon is that of a deep, narrow gash in the
earth, with nearly vertical walls, like a great and neatly cut trench. There
are hundreds of chasms in the Plateau
Country which answer very well to
this notion. Many of them are sunk to frightful depths and are fifty to a
hundred miles in length.
Some are exceedingly narrow, as the canons of
the forks of the Virgen, where the overhanging walls shut out the sky.
Some are intricately sculptured, and illuminated with brilliant colors; others
are picturesque by reason of their bold and striking sculpture.
A few of
them are most solemn and impressive by reason of their profundity and the
majesty of their walls. But, as a rule, the common cafions are neither
grand nor even attractive. Upon first acquaintance they are curious and
awaken interest as a new sensation, but they soon grow tiresome for want
of diversity, and become at last mere bores. The impressions they produce
are very transient, because of their great simplicity and the limited
range
of ideas they present. But there are some which are highly diversified, pre¬
senting many attractive features. These seldom grow stale or wearisome,
and their presence is generally greeted with pleasure.
It is perhaps in some respects unfortunate that the stupendous path¬
way of the Colorado River through the Kaibabs was ever called a canon,
for the name identifies it with the baser conception. But the name presents
as wide a range of signification as the word house.
The log cabin of the
rancher, the painted and vine-clad cottage of the mechanic, the home of the
millionaire, the places where parliaments assemble, and the grandest tem¬
ples of worship, are all houses. Yet the contrast between Saint Marc's and
the rude dwelling of the frontiersman is not greater than that between the
chasm of the Colorado and the trenches in the rocks which answer to the

ordinary conception of a canon. And as a great cathedral is an immense
development of the rudimentary idea involved in the four walls and roof of
a cabin, so is the chasm an expansion of the simple type of drainage chan¬
nels peculiar to the Plateau Country. To the conception of its vast propor¬
tions must be added some notion of its intricate plan, the nobility of its
architecture, its colossal buttes, its wealth of

ornamentation, the splendor of

144

THE GRAND

CASON DISTRICT.

its

colors, and its wonderful atmosphere. All of these attributes combine
complexity to produce a whole which at first bewilders and at
length overpowers.
From the end of Point Sublime, the distance across the chasm to the
nearest point in the summit of the opposite wall is about 7 miles.
This,
however, does not fairly express the width of the chasm, for both walls
are recessed
by wide amphitheaters, setting far back into the platform
of the country, and the promontories are comparatively narrow strips be¬
tween them.
A more correct statement of the general width would be
from 11 to 12 miles.
This must dispose at once of the idea that the
chasm is a narrow gorge of immense depth and simple form.
It is some¬
what unfortunate that there is a prevalent idea that in some
way an
essential part of the grandeur of the Grand Canon is the narrowness of its
defiles. Much color has been given to this notion by the first illustrations
of the canon from the pencil of Egloffstein in the celebrated report of Lieu¬
tenant Ives.
Never was a great subject more artistically misrepresented
or more charmingly belittled.
Nowhere in the Kaibab section is any such
extreme narrowness observable, and even in the Uinkaret section the width
of the great inner gorge is a little greater than the depth.
In truth, a little
with infinite

reflection will show that such

a

character would be inconsistent with the

highest and strongest effects. For it is obvious that some notable width is
necessary to enable the eye to see the full extent of the walls.
In a chasm
one mile deep, and only a thousand feet wide, this would be
quite impos¬
sible. If we compare the Marble Canon or the gorge at the Toroweap with
wider sections it will at
If

once

be

seen

that the wider

ones are

much stronger.

of the longer alcoves having a width of 3 or 4 miles with
the view across the main chasm the advantage will be
overwhelmingly with
the latter. It is evident that for the display of wall surface of
given dimen¬
sions a certain amount of distance is necessary.
We may be too near or
too far for the right appreciation of its magnitude and
proportions. The
distance must bear some ratio to the magnitude. But at what
precise limit
this distance must in the present case be fixed is not
easy to determine. It
can
hardly be doubted that if the canon were materially narrower it would
suffer a loss of grandeur and effect.
we

compare one

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.

The

length of canon revealed clearly and in detail at Point Sublime is

about 25 miles in each direction.
nates

145

behind the

projecting

mass

Towards the northwest the vista termi¬

of Powell's Plateau. But again to the
the upper walls reaching through the
finally disappearing in the haze about

westward may be seen the crests of
Kanab and Uinkaret Plateaus, and
75 miles away.

The space

under immediate view from our standpoint, 50 miles long
and 10 to 12 wide, is thronged with a great multitude of objects so vast in
size, so bold yet majestic in form, so infinite in their details, that as the truth
gradually reveals itself to the perceptions it arouses the strongest emotions.
Unquestionably the great, the overruling feature is the wall on the opposite
side of the gulf.
Can mortal fancy create a picture of a mural front a mile
in height, 7 to 10 miles distant, and receding into space indefinitely in either
direction? As the mind strives to realize its proportions its spirit is broken
and its imagination completely crushed. If the wall were simple in its
character, if it were only blank and sheer, some rest might be found in con¬
templating it; but it is full of diversity and eloquent with grand suggestions.
It is deeply recessed by alcoves and amphitheaters receding far into the
plateau beyond, and usually disclosing only the portals by which they
open into the main chasm.
Between them the promontories jut out, end¬
ing in magnificent gables with sharp mitered angles. Thus the wall ram¬
bles in and out, turning numberless corners. Many of the angles are acute,
and descend as sharp spurs like the forward edge of a plowshare.
Only
those alcoves which are directly opposite to us can be seen in their full
length and depth. Yet so excessive, nay so prodigious, is the effect of fore¬
shortening, that it is impossible to realize their full extensions. We have
already noted this effect in the Vermilion Cliffs, but here it is much more
exaggerated. At many points the profile of the facade is thrown into view
by the change of trend, and its complex character is fully revealed. Like
that of the Vermilion Cliffs, it is a series of many ledges and slopes, like a

plinth, in which every stratum is disclosed as a line or a course of
masonry. The Red Wall limestone is the most conspicuous member, pre¬
senting its vertical face eight hundred to a thousand feet high, and every¬
where unbroken. The thinner beds more often appear in the slopes as a
molded

THE GRAND

146
succession of

CANON DISTRICT.

ledges projecting through the scanty talus which

never con¬

ceals them.
Numerous detached

also

flanking the ends of the long
promontories. These buttes are of gigantic proportions, and yet so over¬
whelming is the effect of the wall against which they are projected that they
seem insignificant in mass, and the observer is often deluded by them, failing
to perceive that they are really detached from the wall and perhaps sepa¬
rated from it by an interval of a mile or two.
At the foot of this palisade is a platform through which meanders the
inner gorge, in whose dark and somber depths flows the river.
Only in one
place can the water surface be seen. In its windings the abyss which holds
it extends for

a

masses are

short distance towards

seen

us

and the line of vision enters the

Above and below this short reach the gorge swings its
only a dark, narrow opening, while its
nearer wall hides its depths.
This inner chasm is 1,000 to 1,200 feet deep.
Its upper 200 feet is a vertical ledge of sandstone of a dark rich brownish
color. Beneath it lies the granite of a dark iron-gray shade, verging towards
black, and lending a gloomy aspect to the lowest deejis. Perhaps a half
mile of the river is disclosed. A pale, dirty red, without glimmer or sheen,
a motionless surface, a small featureless spot, inclosed in the dark shade of
the granite, is all of it that is here visible. Yet we know it is a large river,
a hundred and fifty yards wide, with a headlong torrent foaming and plung¬
ing over rocky rapids.
A little, and only a little, less impressive than the great wall across the
chasm are the buttes upon this side. And such buttes! All others in the
west, saving only the peerless Temples of the Yirgen, are mere trifles in com¬
parison with those of the Grand Cation. In nobility of form, beauty of deco¬
ration, and splendor of color, the Temples of the Virgen must, on the whole,
be awarded the palm; but those of the Grand Canon, while barely inferior
to them in those respects, surpass them in magnitude and fully equal them
in majesty.
But while the Valley of the Virgen presents a few of these
superlative creations, the Grand Canon presents them by dozens. In this
relation the comparison would be analogous to one between a fine cathedral
gorge

lengthwise.

course

in other directions and reveals

town and a

metropolis like London

or

Paris.

In truth, there is only

a very

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.

147

limited

ground of comparison between the two localities, for in style and
respective structures differ as decidedly as the works of any
two well-developed and strongly contrasted styles of human architecture.
Whatsoever is forcible, characteristic, and picturesque in the rockforms of the Plateau Country is concentrated and intensified to the utter¬
most in the buttes.
Wherever we find them, whether fringing the long
escarpments of terraces or planted upon broad mesas, whether in canons
or upon expansive plains, they are always bold and striking in outline and
ornate in architecture.
Upon their flanks and entablatures the decoration
peculiar to the formation out of which they have been carved is most
strongly portrayed and the profiles are most sharply cut. They command
the attention with special force and quicken the imagination with a singular
power. The secret of their impressiveness is doubtless obscure. Why one
form should be beautiful and another unattractive; why one should be
powerful, animated, and suggestive, while another is meaningless, are ques¬
tions for the metaphysician rather than the geologist.
Sufficient here is the
fact. Yet there are some elements of impressiveness which are too patent
to escape recognition.
In nearly all buttes there is a certain definiteness of
form which is peculiarly emphatic, and this is seen in their profiles.
Their ground-plans are almost always indefinite and capricious, but the
profiles are rarely so. These are usually composed of lines which have
an
approximate and sometimes a sensibly perfect geometrical defini¬
tion.
They are usually few and simple in their ultimate analysis,
though by combination they give rise to much variety. The ledges are
vertical, the summits are horizontal, and the taluses are segments of hyper¬
bolas of long curvature and concave upwards. These lines greatly pre¬
ponderate in all cases, and though others sometimes intrude they seldom
blemish greatly the effects produced by the normal ones. All this is in
striking contrast with the ever-varying, indefinite profiles displayed in moun¬
tains and hills or on the slopes of valleys.
The profiles generated by the
combinations of these geometric lines persist along an indefinite extent of
front. Such variations as occur arise not from changes in the nature of the
effects their

proportions. These are never
in any front of moderate extent, but are just sufficient to relieve it

lines, but in the modes of combination and
great

148
from

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

certain

monotony which would otherwise prevail.

The same type
general form is persistent. Like the key-note of a song, the mind car¬
ries it in its consciousness wherever the harmony wanders.
The horizontal lines or courses are equally strong. These are the edges
of the strata, and the deeply eroded seams where the superposed beds touch
each other. Here the uniformity as we pass from place to place is con¬
spicuous. The Carboniferous strata are quite the same in every section,
showing no perceptible variation in thickness through great distances, and
only a slight dip.
It is readily apparent, therefore, that the effect of these profiles and
horizontal courses so persistent in their character is highly architectural.
The relation is more than a mere analogy or suggestion ; it is a vivid resem¬
blance. Its failure or discordance is only in the ground plan, though it is
not uncommon to find a resemblance, even in this respect, among the Per¬
mian buttes.
Among the buttes of the Grand Cation there are few striking
instances of definiteness in ground plan.
The finest butte of the chasm is
situated near the upper end of the Kaibab division; but it is not visible
from Point Sublime.
It is more than 5,000 feet high, and has a surprising
resemblance to an Oriental pagoda. We named it Vishnu's Temple.
On either side of the promontory on which we stand is a side gorge
sinking nearly 4,000 feet below us. The two unite in front of the point,
and, ever deepening, their trunk opens into the lowest abyss in the granite
at the river.
Across either branch is a long rambling mass, one on the
right of us, the other on the left. We named them the Cloisters. They are
excellent types of a whole class of buttes which stand in close proximity to
each other upon the north side of the chasm throughout the entire extent
of the Kaibab division
A far better conception of their forms and features
can be gained by an examination of Mr. Holmes's
panoramic picture than
by reading a whole volume of verbal description. The whole prospect,
indeed, is filled with a great throng of similar objects, which, as much by
their multitude as by their colossal size, confuse the senses; but these, on
account of their proximity, may be most
satisfactorily studied. The infinity
of sharply defined detail is amazing. The eye is
instantly caught and the
attention firmly held by its systematic character.
The parallelism of the
and

a

149

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.

lines of

bedding is most forcibly displayed in all the windings of the facades,
are crossed by the vertical scorings of numberless water¬
ways. Here, too, are distinctly seen those details which constitute the
peculiar style of decoration prevailing throughout all the buttes and amphi¬

and these lines

theaters of the Kaibab.

The

course

of the walls is

never

for

a

moment

straight, but extends as a series of cusps and re-entrant curves. Elsewhere
the reverse is more frequently seen; the projections of the wall are rounded
and are convex towards the front, while the re-entrant portions are cusp¬
like recesses. This latter style of decoration is common in the Permian
buttes and is not rare in the Jurassic.
It produces the effect of a thickly
set row of pilasters.
In the Grand Canon the reversal of this mode pro¬
duces the effect of panels and niches.
In the western Cloister may be seen
a succession of these niches, and though they are mere details among myriads,

really vast in dimensions. Those seen in the Red Wall limestone
600 feet high, and are overhung by arched lintels with spandrels.
As we contemplate these objects we find it quite impossible to realize
their magnitude. Not only are we deceived, but we are conscious that we
are deceived, and yet we cannot conquer the deception.
We cannot long
study our surroundings without becoming aware of an enormous disparity
in the effects produced upon the senses by objects which are immediate and
equivalent ones which are more remote. The depth of the gulf which
separates us from the Cloisters cannot be realized. We crane over the brink,
and about 700 feet below is a talus, which ends at the summit of the crossbedded sandstone. We may see the bottom of the gorge, which is about
3,800 feet beneath us, and yet the talus seems at least half-way down.
Looking across the side gorge the cross-bedded sandstone is seen as a mere
band at the summit of the Cloister, forming but a very small portion of its
vertical extent, and, whatever the reason may conclude, it is useless to
attempt to persuade the imagination that the two edges of the sandstone lie
in the same horizontal plane.
The eastern Cloister is nearer than the west¬
ern, its distance being about a mile and a half.
It seems incredible that it
can be so much as one-third that distance.
Its altitude is from 3,500 to
they

are

are over

4,000 feet, but any attempt to estimate

the altitude by means of visual im¬

pressions is felt at once to be hopeless.

There is no stadium. Dimensions

150

THE GRAND

CASfON DISTRICT.

and all that we are conscious of in this respect
immensity.
Beyond the eastern Cloister, five or six miles distant, rises a gigantic
mass which we named Shiva's
Temple. It is the grandest of all the buttes,
and the most majestic in aspect, though not the most ornate.
Its mass is as
great as the mountainous part of Mount Washington. That summit looks
down 6,000 feet into the dark depths of the inner abyss, over a succession
of ledges as impracticable as the face of Bunker Hill Monument.
All
around it are side gorges sunk to a depth nearly as profound as that of the
main channel.
It stands in the midst of a great throng of cloister-like
buttes, with the same noble profiles and strong lineaments as those imme¬

mean

is

a

nothing to the

troubled

sense

senses,

of

diately before us, with a plexus of awful chasms between them. In such a
stupendous scene of wreck it seemed as if the fabled "Destroyer" might
find an abode not wholly uncongenial.
In all the vast space beneath and around us there is very little upon
which the mind can linger restfully. It is completely filled with objects of
gigantic size and amazing form, and as the mind wanders over them it is
hopelessly bewildered and lost. It is useless to select special points of con¬
templation. The instant the attention lays hold of them it is drawn to
something else, and if it seeks to recur to them it cannot find them. Every¬
thing is superlative, transcending the power of the intelligence to compre¬
hend it. There is no central point or object around which the other ele¬
ments are grouped and to which they are tributary.
The grandest objects
are merged in a congregation of others equally grand.
Hundreds of these
mighty structures, miles in length, and thousands of feet in height, rear
their majestic heads out of the abyss, displaying their richly-molded plinths
and friezes, thrusting ont their gables, wing-walls, buttresses, and pilasters,
and recessed with alcoves and panels. If any one of these stupendous
creations had been planted upon the plains of central Europe it would have
influenced modern art as profoundly as Fusiyama has influenced the deco¬
rative art of Japan.
Yet here they are all swallowed up in the confusion
of multitude. It is not alone the magnitude of the individual objects that
makes this spectacle so portentous, but it is still more the extravagant pro-

151

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.

fusion with which

they

are

arrayed along the whole visible extent of the

broad chasm.
The color effects

colors of the

rich and wonderful.

They are due to the inherent
rocks, modified by the atmosphere. Like any other great
are

series of strata in the Plateau
of

Province, the Carboniferous has its own range
characteristic colors, which might serve to distinguish it even if we had
other criterion.

The summit strata

with a faint yellowish
cast.
Beneath them the cross-bedded sandstone appears, showing a mottled
surface of pale pinkish hue.
Underneath this member are nearly 1,000 feet
of the lower Aubrey sandstones, displaying an intensely brilliant red, which
is somewhat masked by the talus shot down from the grey, cherty limestones
at the summit.
Beneath the Lower Aubrey is the face of the Red Wall
limestone, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high. It has a strong red tone, but a
very peculiar one.
Most of the red strata of the west have the brownish
or vermilion tones, but these are rather purplish-red, as if the pigment had
been treated to a dash of blue.
It is not quite certain that this may not
arise in part from the intervention of the blue haze, and probably it is ren¬
dered more conspicuous by this cause; but, on the whole, the purplish cast
no

seems

to

be inherent.

are

pale

grey,

Tins is the dominant color-mass of the

canon,

for

of rock surface displayed is more than half in the Red Wall
It is less brilliant than the fiery red of the Aubrey sandstones, but
quite strong and rich. Beneath are the deep browns of the lower

the expanse
group.
is still

Carboniferous.

The dark iron-black of the hornblendic schists revealed in

makes but little impression upon the boundless expanse of
bright colors above.
The total effect of the entire color-mass is bright and glowing. There
is nothing gloomy or dark in the picture, except the opening of the inner
gorge, which is too small a feature to influence materially the prevailingtone.
Although the colors are bright when contrasted with normal land¬
scapes, they are decidedly less intense than the flaming hues of the Trias
or the dense cloying colors of the Permian; nor have they the refinement
of those revealed in the Eocene. The intense luster which gleams from the
rocks of the Plateau Country is by no means lost here, but is merely sub¬
dued and kept under some restraint.
It is toned down and softened without
the lower gorge

152

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

being deprived of its character.

Enough of it is left to produce color effects
not far below those that are yielded by the Jura-Trias.
But though the inherent colors are less intense than some others, yet
under the quickening influence of the atmosphere they produce effects to
which all others are far inferior. And here language fails and description
becomes impossible.
Not only are their qualities exceedingly subtle, but
they have little counterpart in common experience. If such are presented
elsewhere they are presented so feebly and obscurely that only the most
discriminating and closest observers of nature ever seize them, and they so
imperfectly that their ideas of them are vague and but half real. There
are no concrete notions founded in experience upon which a
conception of
these color effects and optical delusions can be constructed and made intel¬
ligible. A perpetual glamour envelops the landscape. Things are not what
they seem, and the perceptions cannot tell us what they are. It is not
probable that these effects are different in kind in the Grand Canon from
what they are in other portions of the Plateau Country.
But the difference
in degree is immense, and being greatly magnified and intensified many
characteristics become palpable which elsewhere elude the closest observa¬
tion.
In

truth, the tone and temper of the landscape are constantly varying,
changes in its aspect are very great. It is never the same, even
from day to day, or even from hour to hour.
In the early morning its mood
and subjective influences are usually calmer and more full of repose than
at other times, but as the sun rises higher the whole scene is so changed
that we cannot recall our first impressions.
Every passing cloud, every
change in the position of the sun, recasts the whole. At sunset the pageant
and the

closes amid

splendors that seem more than earthly. The direction of the
sunlight, the massing of the shadows, the manner in which the side
lights are thrown in from the clouds determine these modulations, and the
sensitiveness of the picture to the slightest variations in these conditions is
very wonderful.
The shadows thrown by the bold abrupt forms are exceedingly dark.
It is almost impossible at the distance of a very few miles to distinguish
even broad details in these shadows.
They are like remnants of midnight
full

153

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.

unconquered by the blaze of noonday. The want of half tones and grada¬
tions in the light and shade, which has already been noted in the Vermilion
Cliffs, is apparent here, and is far more conspicuous. Our thoughts in this
connection may suggest to us a still more extreme case of a similar phe¬
nomenon presented by the half-illuminated moon when viewed through a
large telescope. The portions which catch the sunlight shine with great
luster, but the shadows of mountains and cliffs are black and impenetrable.
But there is one feature in the canon which is certainly extraordinary. It
is the appearance of the atmosphere against the background of shadow.
It
has a metallic luster which must be seen to be appreciated.
The great
wall across the chasm presents at noonday, under a cloudless sky, a singu¬
larly weird and unearthly aspect. The color is for the most part gone. In
place of it comes this metallic glare of the haze. The southern wall is
never so poorly lighted as at noon.
Since its face consists of a series of
promontories projecting towards the north, these projections catch the sun¬
light on their eastern sides in the forenoon, and upon their western sides in
the afternoon; but near meridian the rays fall upon a few points only, and
even upon these with very great obliquity.
Thus at the hours of greatest
general illumination the wall is most obscure and the abnormal effects are
then presented most forcibly. They give rise to strange delusions. The
rocks then look nearly black, or very dark grey, and covered with feebly
shining spots. The haze is strongly luminous, and so dense as to obscure
the details already enfeebled by shade as if a leaden or mercurial vapor
intervened. The shadows antagonize the perspective, and everything seems
awry.
The lines of stratification, dimly seen in one place and wholly
effaced in another, are strangely belied, and the strata are given apparent
attitudes which are sometimes grotesque and sometimes impossible.
Those who are familiar with western scenery have, no doubt, been

impressed with the peculiar character of its haze—or atmosphere, in the
artistic sense of the word—and have noted its more prominent qualities.
When the air is free from common smoke it has a pale blue color which
is

quite unlike the neutral gray of the east.

more

from

dense when

we

look towards the

sun

it, and this difference in the two directions,

It is always apparently
than when

we

look

away

respectively, is a maximum

154

THE GRAND

CASfON DISTRICT.

sunrise and sunset.

This property is universal, but its peculiarities
in the Plateau Province become conspicuous when the strong rich colors
near

of the rocks

palpably,

as
colored blue

through it. The very air is then visible. We see it,
a tenuous fluid, and the rocks beyond it do not appear to be
as
they do in other regions, but reveal themselves clothed in

are seen

colors of their
to

the brim.

own.

The Grand Canon is

Its apparent

ever

full of this haze.

It .fills it

density,

as elsewhere, is varied according to the
direction in which it is viewed and the position of the sun ; but it seems
also to be denser and

concentrated than elsewhere.

This is

really a
arising from the fact that the enormous magnitude of the chasm
and of its component masses dwarfs the distances; we are really
looking
through miles of atmosphere under the impression that they are only so
many furlongs.
This apparent concentration of haze, however, greatly
intensifies all the beautiful or mysterious optical defects which are depend¬
ent upon the intervention of the atmosphere.
more

delusion

Whenever the brink of the chasm is reached the chances
is

are

that the

high and these abnormal effects in full force. The canon is asleep.
a spell of enchantment which gives its
bewildering mazes an
aspect still more bewildering. Throughout the long summer forenoon the
charm which binds it grows in potency. At midday the clouds begin to
gather, first in fleecy flecks, then in cumuli, and throw their shadows into
the gulf. At once the scene changes. The slumber of the chasm is disturbed.
The temples and cloisters seem to raise themselves half awake to greet the
passing shadow. Their wilted, drooping, flattened faces expand into relief.
The long promontories reach out from the distant wall as if to catch a moment's
refreshment from the shade. The colors begin to glow; the haze loses its
opaque density and becomes more tenuous. The shadows pass, and the
chasm relapses into its dull sleep again. Thus through the midday hours it
lies in fitful slumber, overcome by the blinding glare and withering heat, yet
responsive to every fluctuation of light and shadow like a delicate organism.
As the sun moves far into the west the scene again changes, slowly and
imperceptibly at first, but afterwards more rapidly. In the hot summer
afternoons the sky is full of cloud-play and the deep flushes with ready
answers.
The banks of snowy clouds pour a flood of light sidewise into the
sun

Or it is under

THE PANORAMA FROM POINT SUBLIME.

shadows and

155

light up the gloom of the amphitheaters and alcoves, weaken¬
ing the glow of the haze and rendering visible the details of the wall faces.
At length, as the sun draws near the horizon, the great drama of the day
begins.
Throughout the afternoon the prospect has been gradually growing
clearer. The haze has relaxed its steely glare and has changed to a veil of
transparent blue. Slowly the myriads of details have come out and the walls
are flecked with lines of minute tracery,
forming a diaper of light and shade.
Stronger and sharper becomes the relief of each projection. The promon¬
tories come forth from the opposite wall.
The sinuous lines of stratification
which once seemed meaningless, distorted, and even chaotic, now range
themselves into a true perspective of graceful curves, threading the scallop
edges of the strata. The colossal buttes expand in every dimension. Their
long, nai-row wings, which once were folded together and flattened against
each other, open out, disclosing between them vast alcoves illumined with
Rembrandt lights tinged with the pale refined blue of the ever-present haze.
A thousand forms, hitherto unseen or obscure, start up within the abyss, and
stand forth in strength and animation. All things seem to grow in beauty,
power, and dimensions. What was grand before has become majestic, the
majestic becomes sublime, and, ever expanding and developing, the sublime
passes beyond the reach of our faculties and becomes transcendent.
The
colors have come back. Inherently rich and strong, though not superlative
under ordinary lights, the)' now begin to display an adventitious brilliancy.
The western sky is all aflame. The scattered banks of cloud and wavy
cirrhus have caught the waning splendor, and shine with orange and crimson.
Broad slant beams of yellow light, shot through the glory-rifts, fall on turret
and tower, on pinnacled crest and winding ledge, suffusing them with a
radiance less fulsome, but akin to that which flames in the western clouds
The summit band is brilliant yellow; the next below is pale rose. But the
grand expanse within is a deep, luminous, resplendent red. The climax has
now come.
The blaze of sunlight poured over an illimitable surface of glow¬
ing red is flung back into the gulf, and, commingling with the blue haze,
turns it into a sea of purple of most imperial hue—so rich, so strong, so pure
that it makes the heart ache and the throat tighten. However vast the mag-

156

THE GRAND

CAftON DISTRICT.

nitudes, however majestic the forms, or sumptuous the decoration, it is in
these kingly colors that the highest
glory of the Grand Canon is revealed.
At length the sun sinks and the colors cease to burn.
The abyss lapses
back into repose. But its
glory mounts upward and diffuses itself in the
sky above. Long streamers of rosy light, rayed out from the west, cross
the firmament and
converge again in the east, ending in a pale rosy arch,
which rises like a low aurora just above the eastern horizon
Below it is
the dead gray shadow of the world.
Higher and higher climbs the arch,
followed by the darkening pall of
gray, and as it ascends it fades and dis¬
appears, leaving no color except the after-glow of the western clouds and
the lusterless red of the chasm below. Within the
abyss the darkness gathers.
Gradually the shades deepen and ascend, hiding the opposite wall and
enveloping the great temples. For a few moments the summits of these
majestic piles seem to float upon a sea of blackness, then vanish in the dark¬
ness, and, wrapped in the impenetrable mantle of the
night, they await the
glory of the coming dawn.

CHAPTER

IX.

THE AMPHITHEATERS OF THE KAIBAB.
The

on the summit.—Tapeat's
Powell's Plateau.—The Hidden

spring

Amphitheater.—Descent of the

canon wall.—Surprise Valley.—
Spring.—Shinumo Amphitheater.—Muav Cauon.—Hindoo Am¬
phitheater.—Milk Spring again.—Shiva's Temple.—The central chain of parks and the drainage.—
Thompson's Spring.—The Transept.—Bright Angel Amphitheater.—The Lagoon.—Ottoman
Amphitheater.—Alcoves and buttes.—Cape Royal.—The Cloister buttes.—Cape Final.—Vishnu's
Temple.—The head of the Grand Canon.—The monocline and the exposures of the Silurian.—
The junction of the Little Colorado.—The great unconformity at the head of the Grand Canon.—
The monoclines and faults south of the chasm.

In the

present chapter I shall describe briefly the portions of the Kaibab

boundary which front the great chasm, noting the more important amphi¬
theaters and prominent objects of interest. It would be the more intelligible
if the reader have before him the several sheets of Mr. Bodfish's map of the
southern portion of the Kaibab. Let us begin this tour at the westernmost
part of the plateau represented in the northwestern sheet of the map.
In order to reach that point, it is best to start from a little spring in the
western portion of the Kaibab, which the surveying parties have always
called by its Indian name,
The traveler
Parusi-wompats.
who has never
visited it would scarcely be able to find it without a guide. It is securely
hidden in a shallow ravine, which has nothing to distinguish it from hun¬
dreds of other ravines upon the broad platform. But the trail being known
it is easily reached by a few hours' ride through the forest, either from the
Big Spring in Stewart's Canon or from De Motte Park. A more delightful
camping place in summer or early autumn cannot be found. The grand
old pines, the large graceful spruces, and pale-green aspens are abundant,
but not too dense; the grass is knee-deep and swarming with gay flowers;
the ground is dry and firm. The ravine rambles away as an open glade
in the forest, and soon winds out of sight. Beneath a clump of spruces
the spring sends forth a slender thread of clear pure water, almost icy cold,
157

158
and

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

few

yards from its fountain the waters disappear. If any one would
know how great a luxury pure cold water is, let him drink of Parusiwompats,* and afterwards pitch his tent by the water-pockets of the Kanab
and Uinkaret deserts. Leaving the spring at sunrise and moving north¬
westward through an undulating forest-clad country, a ride of about three
and a half miles brings us to an angle of the
a

TA-PEATS AMPHITHEATER.

of the first order of

magnitude, and is eroded back about
eight miles into the Kaibab mass from the angle where the river bends to
the west to flow through the Kanab division of the canon. We come upon
it suddenly and in a moment are gazing down into fearful depths or across
at cliffs piled on cliffs.
Upon the southern side is the large isolated mass
called Powell's Plateau (of which we shall see more hereafter), forming the
southern wall of the amphitheater. In the middle of the abyss is planted
one of those gigantic buttes so characteristic of the Kaibab scenery.
It is
very noble in its proportions and beautiful in its profiles. A remnant of the
cherty limestone about 200 feet thick carved into some shape, which is
quite striking though nameless, serves as a finial to the pagoda. Below it
the curved profiles sweep down 1,600 feet, and then plunge precipitously
It is

one

below the Red Wall

some

1,400 to 2,000 feet

more.

The width of the

amphitheater measured parallel to the general course of the river is about
nine miles. Its back wall on the east is nearly straight in its general trend,
but in detail it is deeply scored by notches. At the bottom runs the Tapeats
Creek, a considerable stream of clear water fed by many large springs
bursting from the lower portions of the great Kaibab wall. Though it is
wrought upon a grand scale, and though, in comparison with ordinary
plateau scenery, this profound valley is unspeakably impressive, it is infe¬
rior in diversity, and in the number of commanding objects displayed, to
those further to the southeastward. It occupies a middle ground between
*

word is

I

am

unable to

give the full translation of this

probably associated with

some

name.

Parush

means

flowing water; the last

mythical ideas of which Indians rarely speak to white

men.

DESCENDING THE CANON WALL.

tlie

159

complicated features of the Kaibab division and the simpler character¬

istics of the Kanab division.

Upon the northern side of this amphitheater there is a trail by which
it is practicable to descend from the upper crest to the brink of the river.
It is a long and devious route, requiring a whole day's journey to get down
and nearly two days to ascend.
In the year 1876 a rumor was circulated
that gold had been found in the sands of the river, and it gained credence
enough to attract a number of the restless people who tramp the deserts of
the far west in pursuit of—they know not what. With considerable labor
and danger this trail was built and used long enough to satisfy those who
went there that they had been deceived.
In 1880 it was again used by the
parties of this survey to reach the river and make a series of barometric
observations. As an instance of what the explorer must expect who
attempts the feat of scaling these mighty walls the features of this route
are worthy of description.
It may be added that there is no other known
place promising any better facilities for constructing a pathway down the
cliffs, and probably also none so good.
From the crest of the wall we descend at once a notch in the cherty
limestone so steep that it seems at first impracticable.
The gradient is only
a little less than the angle of repose, but the roughness of the rock pro¬
duced by the weathering out of the cherty nodules gives good holding
ground, and with care the way is not dangerous. By zigzag courses we at
leng-th descend about 700 feet and reach the summit of the cross-bedded
sandstone. There are two formations in the Grand Canon series which op¬
pose

the chief obstacles to the ascent or descent of the escarpments. The
the Red Wall and the other is the cross-bedded sandstone. Both

worst is

present cliffs

which

are rarely broken down into slopes. Their edges
of miles without finding a practicable passage.

be followed for scores

may
The

particularly inexorable. In all the Kaibab division of the
only three or four places are now known which offer any hope of a
passage of this formation. The cross-bedded sandstone is more frequently
beveled down, but even in this mass the breaks are few and far between.
The only locality at present known where both formations present breaks
within a day's journey of each other is the one we are describing.
Red Wall is
chasm

160

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

Here

a

rain

gully has cut

a

steep trough in the sandstone which, by

its very roughness, permits us to descend, or rather slide down, at moderate
risk.
With one man to pull on the halter and two to push, each animal

its adventurous journey. The sandstone is scoured
slopes, all of them bare rock, and
by sliding helplessly down the former and checking themselves upon the
latter, the poor beasts escape perdition. The thickness of the sandstone thus
traversed is about 350 feet. At its base we find the lower Aubrey, which
presents a less difficult aspect. It now remains to find the passage of the
Red Wall, which is ten miles distant, and in the mean time we must descend
a thousand feet of sandstones which make
up the lower Aubrey.
These
consist of innumerable beds, varying in thickness from five feet to fifty,
each presenting its own ledge and talus. The ledges are often beveled and
notched by rain gullies, and wherever the way seems easiest we alternately
travel along the talus and slide or scramble down the broken ledge to the
next talus below.
For several hours the journey consists of this kind of
travel. Here the trail heads some offshoot of a great lateral gorge, there
it rounds some lofty promontory.
Often the shelf on which we move nar¬
may

into

rows

be launched

a

on

series of maximum and minimum

to

a

mere

fillet with imminent rocks above and destruction below.

Had not the trail been

already chosen we should find the shelves gradually
vanishing, the ledge below becoming a single face with the ledge above.
As it is the trail needed in many places to be built up to give a narrow
tread along some projecting shoulder, where the packs brush the rocks as
the mules pass by.
At length it becomes steeper, the ledges more frequent
and higher, and the way grows somewhat alarming. A single inadvert¬
ence, the slightest accident, sends man or beast to the great unknown.
At length we reach the summit of the Red Wall limestone and a vertical
cliff 1,200 feet high is below us. Here the trail doubles on itself and turns
back at a lower level, following the brink of the cliff for three miles. At
the end of this stretch is the summit of a steep but practicable slope across
the Red Wall. Again the trail doubles in its course and a rapid descent
of 2,000 feet brings us with no further danger to Surprise Valley.
We seem to be in a cm
sac.
On the right is the
Ide
great Red Wall preci-

SURPRISE VALLEY.

161

pice, on the left a lofty ridge of the same, and in front is the great preci¬
pice again. Ont of a lateral chasm on the right there flows a large creek of
water, clear as crystal, and dashing merrily along its rocky bed.
It
emerges from a cavern in the cliff and passes right across the lower end of
the valley; hut whither does it go 1 It seems to enter the inclosing ridge
on the left.
Following the stream a few hundred yards the ridge is seen
to be cleft transversely by a cut 50 or 60 feet wide and 700 or 800 feet

deep. The cleft winds out of sight into its mass. Leaving the animals
entering its opening there is seen to be a deeper and narrower cleft
about 12 feet wide into which, by a succession of cascades, the brook
and

At the top of the lower and narrower cleft is a shelf, along which
may walk. The width of this shelf contracts and the walls begin to
overhang. As we progress it becomes only three or four feet wide and the
overhang is so low that we must creep on hands and knees. Beside us is
plunges.

we

the

fissure, and the reverberations of the water come

up

from

unseen

depths

which appear by the sound to be great. Soon the shelf widens again and
the roof rises higher so that we may walk erect. A few hundred yards be¬

yond we emerge into full daylight again upon the brink of a cliff about 450
high. At the bottom flows the Colorado River. A little to the west
the cliff is shattered, and there we may descend to the water's edge and
refresh ourselves. Here the river is about to flow out of the granite," for
the gentle dip of the whole stratigraphic system towards the west carries
the horizons downward at a rate more rapid than the fall of the river. Here,
too, is the beginning of the Kanab division of the Grand Canon.
There is little here of interest to the geologist beyond what will be, or
what has been, described in this work in more general terms. I have
indulged in this digression to convey graphically an idea of the canon wall
and to indicate the difficulties which attend an examination of points within
the chasm. Let us, therefore, return the way we came.
Leaving Parusi-wompats Spring, a faint trail leads to the southwestward, winding through the forest and across ravines and gulches. A ride
of two or three hours brings us once more to the brink; here is a wide gap,
separating the main Kaibab platform from a large outlying mass named
feet

162

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

POWELL'S PLATEAU.

This gap is a saddle or col between the Tapeats amphitheater on the
north and a vast lateral gorge on the south, known as the Muav Canon.
Erosion has eaten completely through the upper beds of the isthmus which

formerly connected Powell's Plateau with the mainland, removing there¬
from about 1,200 feet of strata.
feet below us, and to reach the

The saddle thus formed is therefore 1,200

outlying plateau it is necessary to descend
intervening gap. A curious phenomenon is presented
here. On the spot where we stand it would hardly be seen, but it is
very
conspicuous from points eight or ten miles north or south. One of the
branches of the West Kaibab multiple fault cuts right across the isthmus
from north to south, and presents a relation similar to those presented in
some
parts of the Hurricane, Sevier, and other faults. The beds upon the
western side of the fault flex downwards at a considerable
angle as they
approach the fault-plane. This of itself is a very common thing, and is
exhibited so frequently in the faults of the Plateau Province that we have
come to
regard it as one of the characteristic features of its displacements.
The peculiarity here is that at the distance of less than a mile west of the
fault the beds have come back to the same position they would have occu¬
pied if no fault had occurred. From the summit of the Kaibab there is a
sensibly uniform dip of the beds to the southwestward, continuing across
and beyond Powell's Plateau, and even beyond the river, the inclination
being about 1|°. This fault comes in as a purely local interruption, affect¬
ing the beds in its immediate vicinity on the west side of the fault-plane
and having no effect upon them a little distance from it.
This singular
mode of displacement is extremely perplexing when we come to inquire
into the nature of the causes which have produced faults, and reminds us
very forcibly how ignorant we are of those causes, and how inapplicable
are all theories hitherto advanced to
explain them. This same dislocation
continues both north and south of the gap.
On the northern side of the
Tapeats amphitheater the beds and general platform have been dropped by
the fault, and its effect is continuous west of the fault-plane. South of the
gap the relation of the beds is apparently the same as at the gap itself, so
into and

cross

the

163

VIEW FKOM POWELL'S PLATEAU.

far

as

could be made out for

of the Grand Canon

the

a

a

distance of

seven or

eight miles.

But south

short and rather small monoclinal flexure is

seen

in

wall, in which the platform west of the fault is actually higher than that
the east.

It is believed to be

continuation of the

displacement,
objects in the great chasm the continuity has
escaped identification. Little doubting this continuity, I may cite this case
as an instance of the complete reversal of the throw of faults as we trace
them along their trend.
The descent into the Muav saddle is very steep, and, though hardly
dangerous, requires caution and the steadiest and best trained pack animals
to go safely past some points.
At the bottom a fine camp may be made
beneath the yellow pines, and good water may be obtained from a spring
about a quarter of a mile away, issuing from a ledge of the lower Aubrey
sandstone. No permanent water is found on Powell's Plateau, and what¬
ever is required for the visitor there must be brought from this spring.
The ascent on the other side of the gap is steep and difficult, but requires
nothing more than the ordinary strength of youthful limbs and healthy
lungs. Reaching the platform above, it is quite like that of the Kaibab,
beautifully forest-clad and undulating, with shallow ravines and intervening
ridges. Once away from the immediate vicinity of the brink, there is nothing
to indicate the proximity of stupendous scenery.
Powell's Plateau is about five and a half miles in length and two miles
in width.
It declines gently in altitude from northeast to southwest, the
latter extremity being about 500 feet lower than the former. This declen¬
sion is part of the general slope which descends from the summit of the
great Kaibab mass to the central part of the Kanab and Colorado platforms,
at a rate not often exceeding 150 feet to the mile, and usually less.
The
situation of this outlying butte—for such it may be very properly con¬
sidered—is directly in the course pursued by the Colorado in the Kaibab
division. As the river approaches its base it makes a sudden detour to the
west, and skirting around its furthermost point it winds back to the north¬
east until at the mouth of the Tapeats amphitheater it reaches the head of
the Kanab division. There it bends once more to the west-southwest, and
holds that course for nearly sixty miles. Thus the plateau lies in the proon

but in the confused

mass

of

a

same

164

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

longation of the median line, and immediately athwart the course of the
grandest part of the Grand Canon, and as we reach the southern brink there
bursts upon the view a scene which rivals that at Point Sublime.
In truth,
many will no doubt consider it as the grandest in the canon, and in certain
respects it certainly is so, though I must, for my own part, give a slight
preference to that of Point Sublime. It is far more picturesque than the
latter and is less panoramic.
The objects are grouped about a central
point, or rather axis, to which they are seen to be tributary. A stretch of
the river six miles long is in full view, flowing in the dark depths of the
granite more than a mile below. The reason alone tells us it is water; to
the eye it is a fixed, motionless, slender thread—a narrow streak of color—a
ghost. It comes, we know not whence—seemingly from the bowels of the
earth, and it seems to enter them again beneath our very feet. On either
side spring up the gigantic buttes lined with richest tracery and molded
in graceful patterns.
The great promontories from either wall stretch out
towards it, presenting terminal gables or sharp spurs bristling with minarets
and needles. A perspective of fifty miles is before us of twin palisades, too
grand for comprehension, of infinite diversity, and amazing sculpture. In
the interspace are numberless structures of wonderful forms and colossal
magnitudes.
The scene here in comparison to that of Point Sublime may be likened
to the vista of a grand avenue of the most stately and imposing structures
viewed from the end of the street, while from Point Sublime the standpoint
is analogous to one from a projecting pediment situated mid-length of the
avenue, where we may with equal effect look up or down and across to
noble structures

on

the other side.

At Powell's Plateau the view is

more

picturesque and more systematic. In grandeur it is about equal. But the
defect which usually mars all cation scenery is here more pronounced.
It
is the false perspective, the flattening of objects through want of gradations
in tones and shades, and the obscurity of form and detail produced by the
great distances and hazy atmosphere. But under proper lights and con¬
ditions of the air these defects may, on rare occasions, be dispelled.
The main wall

the river with

more

on

the southern side of Powell's Plateau descends to

than usual

precipitation.

From above, little of it

can

165

VIEW FROM POWELL'S PLATEAU.

be seen,

but from distant points to the southward it is very conspicuous

splendid alcoves, buttresses, and cusps, which are carved upon a
scale of grandeur somewhat unusual even for the Grand Canon. Nothing
can
surpass the magnificence of the Red Wall group along the facade. Its
entire bulk is presented in a single plinth, which is recessed by alcoves or
deep panels 1,200 to 1,500 feet wide, with finely sculptured buttresses
intervening between them. Very ornate also are the rows of pinnacles
carved out of the cherty limestone forming the summit stratum of the pla¬
teau.
These are well displayed upon the eastern crest. They are from
180 to 200 feet high and stand about 100 feet apart.
Towards the west, Powell's Plateau divides into a series of slender
promontories pointing towards the river, and several of these have detached
buttes just beyond the main cusps.
The view from this end is also instruct¬
ive as well as very grand.
The river here is gradually passing out of and
above the granite, and the topography of the canon passes by a gradual
transition from the features peculiar to the Kaibab to those of the Kanab
division.
The Red Wall group is much less eroded than in the heart of
the Kaibab division, but much more so than in the Kanab. The great
middle terrace of the Kanab division begins to appear. It is much cut
for its

up

by side

gorges and minor amphitheaters, but the greater part of its mass
Towards the west and northwest these lateral gorges in the

still remains.

Red Wall group

they become

become fewer and smaller, while towards the southeast

more numerous, deeper, and wider, until only
All this is indicative of a more advanced stage

buttes remain.

eral erosion in the Kaibab than in the

Kanab division.

the cloister

of the
This in turn

gen¬
may

directly to the greater altitude and greater rainfall of the former
with a correspondingly greater efficiency of the eroding agents and causes.
On the return from Powell's Plateau to the Kaibab it will be interest¬

be Raced

ing to look into the great gorge which has received the name of Muav
Canon. It heads at the saddle and extends southward, opening into the

As we look into it we
are in a measure shut out from the view of the immense spectacle displayed
in the main chasm, and the mind is not under the sway of those over¬
whelming effects which the panoramic scenery of the canon always prochannel which drains the next great

amphitheater.

166

THE GRAND

duces, and is

quite
begin to realize.

CANON DISTRICT.

completely overpowered by a vastness which it
The Muav is relatively only a little nook—a mere
detail like scores of others, which open
directly into the chasm itself or into
the greater amphitheaters, and which are lost or unnoticed in the multitude.
Yet as we view it apart from the whole we are still
oppressed with its mag¬
cannot

nitude.

not

Its walls

so

mile in

height and very abrupt. The taluses are
unusually narrow and the precipices more predominant than in more typi¬
cal profiles. The lines of stratification,
always clear and bold in the cliffs
of the chasm, are disclosed with more than common
emphasis and in great
number.
Their scalloped contours, rigorously parallel,
winding gracefully
in and out, are projected in curious
figures by the perspective and give rise
to many illusions.
As we stand in the saddle and look down into the
abyss beneath, all sense of absolute magnitudes is quite lost. The trees
dwindle to shrubs and then to minute flecks; the fallen blocks, as
big as
cottages, fade away and blend together in a minutely granular patch-work
of shades and warm colors, and far down in the lower
depths the eye can
recognize nothing but a playground for the imagination. Above tis on the
crest-lines are the rows of pinnacles. As we stood beside them a few hours
ago and looked up to the quaint, curious knobs upon their summits we
felt very much as we might when looking up at the Bunker Hill Monu¬
ment.
As we see them now ranging away into the distance
they seem
altogether too tiny and trifling to serve as appropriate decorations for these
monstrous facades.
But the Muav is only a trifle!—a little
piece of by-play
on which we
may condescend to bestow a passing look of pleasure as we
hasten on to grander and mightier scenes!
Climbing out of the gap, we reach the Kaibab platform again. It is
not necessary to return to
Parusi-wompats, which is in a different direction
to that which we wish to pursue.
Moving southeastward about three miles,
we come to the brink of a
large surface ravine, cut to the depth of about
400 feet, and with steep sides.
It is one of the largest and deepest in the
southern portion of the Kaibab, though in other
respects it is quite similar
to the

others.

about 400

are a

A trail leads to the bottom of it, and a small

yards further down the ravine.

spring is found

We named it the Hidden Spring,

XPDCISGATLRNO.

SGUEORLVEICYA.

S.

U.

WAL.—KIB

TRALCHOEVED.—IN
AN

THE SHINUMO AMPHITHEATER.

167

for it is

quite deftly concealed upon the left bank, and were it not for the
our parties have made, it would not be
readily found by
future travelers. From this point the distance by trail to Point Sublime is
about 18 miles, and if it is desired to reach that promontory from here it
will be necessary to carry water in kegs. But a chapter has already been
devoted to a description of the canon as seen from Point Sublime, and our
journey should be to the next watering place to the southeastward. From
the Hidden Spring, however, we may make journeys on foot to numerous
points overlooking the chasm. Ascending the steep sides of the ravine, a
walk of two or three miles to the westward will bring us to crest of the
beaten track

SHINUMO AMPHITHEATER.

It is

one

that of the
look

of the first order of

magnitude, and though its

area

is less than

scenery is much more imposing. We
the Grand Canon to the country beyond. Between us and the

Tapeats amphitheater, its

across

opposite wall is an interval of 12 miles, thronged with those magnificent
masses

and intricate details which characterize the Kaibab division.

A

plexus of drainage channels heading all around the base of the upper
encircling walls unite in a short trunk channel which enters the Colorado.
Each branch and filament has cut a lateral chasm of immense depth, and
between the gorges rise the residual masses, in the form of buttes.
Some

pagodas, sculptured in the usual fashion, and ending
sharp finials at the summit. Others are the cloister buttes with wingwalls and gables, panels and alcoves. All are quarried out upon a superla¬
tive scale of magnitude, and every one of them is a marvel.
The great
number and intricacy of these objects confuse the senses and do not permit
the eye to rest. The mind wanders incessantly from one to another, and
cannot master the multitude of things crowded at once upon its attention.
There are scores of these structures, any one of which, if it could be placed
by itself upon some distant plain, would be regarded as one of the great
wonders of the woi'ld. Yet here they crowd each other, and no one of them

of these
in

are

gorgeous

168

THE GRAND CANDN DISTRICT.

predominates sufficiently to form a central point in the picture. Still, the
total effect is quite commensurate with that experienced in the choicest stand¬
points from which the canon may be viewed. The power and grandeur of
the scene is quite beyond description.
Leaving the Hidden Spring our next objective point is the Milk Spring,
already spoken of as lying upon the route from De Motte Park to Point
Sublime. Our base of operations, it will be perceived, is always some water¬
ing place, and such places are few and not often conveniently situated. The
distance to the Milk Spring is about 14 miles by trail through the forest.
Moving up the large ravine a distance of about 4 miles from the Hidden
Spring, we at length leave it upon its southern bank. The way is delight¬
ful.
It lies through a succession of little parks, and along the courses of
the ravines, with open forest on either hand. The drainage channels here
run to the southwest,
heading near De Motte Park, and our route crosses
them. None of them present any notable obstacles to travel, for their banks
are
rax-ely precipitous or even steep. On the way we come once more near
the brink of the Shinumo Amphitheater, for a ravine runs past a large alcove
near the head of it, and
by ascending the bank it breaks upon the view with
a suddenness which is quite startling
The traveler might pass this point
many times without suspecting his proximity to such stupendous scenery,
and unless duly advised would suppose himself far away from the brink in
the depths of the forest.
From the Milk Spring we may at our pleasure revisit Point Sublime.
The distance is only ten or eleven miles by an easy trail, which we shall
follow here far enough only to note another grand amphitheater—or rather
a
pair of them. The trail comes suddenly upon the brink about five miles
from the spring.
One of the tributaries of the Colorado between Shiva's
Temple and Point Sublime forks about three miles from the river, and each
fork is in the bed of a mighty basin, the two being separated by a long and
singularly slender promontory, which is in reality a large cloister butte.
We may regard the two basins either as two or as branches of a single
amphitheater. Taking the latter view of the arrangement we have named
the whole

as

the

AMPHITHEATERS OF THE KAIBAB.

169

HINDOO AMPHITHEATER,

It is eroded back from the river
two branches

a

distance of about ten miles.

The

parallel, and each is about three miles in width. They are
therefore much narrower than the Tapeats or the Shinumo, and strikingly
different in plan. They appear from above as immense canon-like gorges
opening far away into the central or main avenue of the Grand Canon.
Their upper ends are bounded by circular walls which descend at once cliff
below cliff to a depth of about 3,600 feet. Thence towards the river they
grow deeper at the rate of over 200 feet to the mile.
The walls are finely
sculptured and richly colored. As we look down the long vista and out
into the central chasm beyond we see the great throng of giant buttes and
temples, vast pyramids and towers ornamented with rich tracery, all clus¬
tered together so thickly that they seem to crowd each other. At the lower
are

end of the eastern

branch, or near the confluence of the two branches, rises
largest and perhaps the most conspicuous of all the pagodas, Shiva's
Temple. It is more than a mile high, and remarkably symmetrical in its
profiles. In this butte the entire local Carboniferous series is preserved. Its
summit is a horizontal tablet of the cherty limestone nearly a mile in width
occupying a horizon sensibly even with the summit of the main plateau.
Around it are gorges of immense depth into which the facades of the temple
descend by a succession of cliffs and taluses. The rain sculpture in the edges
of the strata is quite ornamental, and the detail forms repeat themselves in
characteristic ways in every member.
In these amphitheaters we cannot fail to be much impressed with the
intricate and yet systematic manner in which the ground plan of the walls is
the

laid out.

Great alcoves and cusps are

formed, and wherever the wall makes

well-rounded inward curve or by a sharp cusp-like projec¬
tion. The architectural details are always striking, and by their profusion
and richness suggest an Oriental character.
The long and rather wide promontory ending at Point Sublime sepa¬
rates the Hindoo Amphitheater from the Shinumo.
It is interesting here to
note the peculiar relation of the surface ravines of the Kaibab to these
mighty excavations. In truth, it seems at first as if the surface ravines had
a

turn it is

by

a

170
no

THE GEAND

definite

CA^ON DISTEICT.

assignable relation to them in

One
very marked ravine comes from the summit overlooking Little De Motte
Park, and runs along the middle of the promontory which ends at Point
or

Sublime and terminates at the brink.

head, but two enter it

at the sides.

any

respect whatever.

No ravine enters the Shinumo at its

There is

ravine

entering the head of
Hindoo, but a rather deep one enters the head of
the eastern branch.
A conception of the real state of the case may,
perhaps,
be gained by recalling the fact that these
amphitheaters were originally
narrow cuts
produced by corrasion, and subsequently widened by the
weathering of the edges of the strata thus exposed. The walls recede by
waste away from the axis of the cut, and sooner or later a ravine here and
there is tapped laterally by the receding wall wasting backwards across its
course.
Thus we often find an old ravine suddenly cut off on the brink of
an
abyss, and the continuation of the same ravine is seen upon the other
side of the amphitheater.
Quite probably, at some very early stage in the
excavation of the Grand Canon and its lateral gorges, the amphitheaters
were
merely the lower courses of the stream beds which constitute theKaibab drainage system. But these streams dried up and the enlargement
of the chasms went on in a measure independently of the distribution of
no

the western branch of the

the surface ravines.

Here and there

a

ravine shows that it has maintained

the old relation and enters the

amphitheater at its head. Such ravines are
always the largest ones, and they notch the wall of the amphitheater
to a depth of 400 to 500 feet.
They may in such cases possibly be regarded
as the main channels of the lateral
gorges.
But usually the surface chan¬
nels end anywhere upon the brink in seeming caprice as to choice of locality.
almost

If

we

could restore the

mass

which has been removed in the Grand Canon

might very probably find them gathering together into a series of ordi¬
nary tributaries, constituting a limited number of district drainage trees,
the trunks of which are the existing channels at the lower ends or openings
of the great amphitheaters.
From the Milk Spring we may also make a journey southward to the
end of the great promontory which forms the eastern wall of the Hindoo
Amphitheater. The scene here presented is of the same general character
as that from Point Sublime.
It is not quite so satisfactory, however, because
we

PARKS ON THE SUMMIT OF THE KAIBAB.

171

the

mighty mass of Shiva's Temple is interposed, and hides from view
a
large part of the panorama. It has, however, some advantages, for
it gives us probably the clearest view we can obtain of the stupendous
character of the side gorges.
This aspect of the great butte, Shiva's Temple,
is on the whole decidedly marred by too great proximity.
So vast a mass
can be seen advantageously only from a considerable distance.
Here it is
only a little more than a mile away, and but a small portion of it is visible.
From the Milk Spring we journey eastward.
Two or three miles from
the spring we descend into a very broad valley, forming a large open park,
with a few scattered groves of spruce, aspen, and pine, but mainly clear
meadow, densely carpeted with grass and flowers. It is one of a long chain
of wide parks, of which the largest is De Motte's. The one we are now
entering is a few miles south of Little De Motte. It is conspicuously differ¬
ent in its features from the ordinary drainage channels which cover the sur¬
face of the Plateau, being very much wider. All of the others are narrow.
Here the width is about two miles. Upon its western bank no ravines enter
it, but those which head upon the summit flow away from it to the westward
and southwestward. A few short ravines come into it upon the eastern side.

dividing furrow, completely separating the drainage of the
independent systems and areas. They never inter¬
lace or show any relation to each other. This broad valley on the summit
of the Plateau completely separates them, and receives absolutely nothing
from the area west of it, and almost nothing from the area east of it.
At the bottom of the valley we find outcrops of the cross-bedded sand¬
stone.
Inasmuch as the cherty limestone is found upon the heights over¬
looking the valley, and as the difference in altitude is just equal to the
thickness of strata between the two geological horizons, we may safely
conclude that the valley is the work of erosion, and is not due to the dis¬
location and dropping of a wedge of strata, as was at one time suspected.
Crossing the park and ascending the heights upon the east, we once
more descend into a rather deep ravine of the usual type.
Upon its bank
the trail passes by a small trickling fountain, known as Thompson's Spring.
A basin has been dug and made water-tight by our parties to save the
scanty supply of precious liquid which issues from it.
The flow, though
This

valley is

a

Kaibab summit into two

172

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

extremely feeble, is unfailing and the water excellent. The Milk Spring,
though very much more copious, has been known to fail in very dry sea¬
sons.
Thompson's Spring is an important camping place in the study of the
extreme southern portions of the Kaibab, for it is the last
spring of water in
that direction which can be depended upon. A good trail leads to it from
De Motte Park, the distance being about 17 miles.
From this point we may visit several interesting localities.
Following
downwards the main ravine about five miles we find it at length
betraying
evidence that it is near the brink of some amphitheater. Climbing the
steep bank to the main platform 300 feet above, we move towards the
southwest, and in half an hour more are upon the verge of one of the
finest and perhaps the most picturesque of the gorges in the whole Kaibab
front. It is a tributary to the Bright Angel Amphitheater, and has been
called by us The Transept. Though only of the second or third order of
magnitude among the lateral excavations along the Grand Canon, it is far
grander than Yosemite. At the very head of the gorge the walls plunge
downwards at once more than 3,000 feet. As the gorge
deepens towards
its junction with the main amphitheater the aspect of the lateral walls, as
they recede from us, becomes most imposing. The details of their sculp¬
ture are very beautiful and thoroughly systematic, and
every characteristic
is sustained throughout their whole extent. The entire length of the cham¬
ber is seen in perspective.
Beyond its opening we see the grandeur of the
central canon with butte beyond butte, and the vast southern wall of the
main chasm in the background fifteen miles away.
To many spectators
the dominant thought here might be that this stupendous work has been
accomplished by some intelligence akin to the human rather than by the
blind forces of nature. Everything is apparently planned and cut with as
much definiteness of design as a rock-temple of Petraea or Ellore.
Another interesting locality is the cape where the
Transept joins the
main amphitheater.
It is easily reached from Thompson's Spring. Here
is disclosed the

173

AMPHITHEATERS OP THE KAIBAB.

BRIGHT ANGEL AMPHITHEATER.

Altogether it is perhaps the finest of those of the first order. It is the
longest and deepest of any, and is also the narrowest. Its length is about
fifteen miles, its width varies from two to three miles, and through the
greatest part of its extent it is cut deeply into the granite. A fine large
creek of clear water flows along its bottom and enters the Colorado. Its
walls, more than 5,000 feet in height, are majestic in the extreme, and pre¬
sent the noblest forms.
Upon its southern side and along the lower portion
the promontory which separates it from the amphitheater next beyond has
been carved into

a

cloister butte, which is

one

of the finest of its class.

Upon its thicker parts are planted pagodas, which are terminated above by
sharp finials. The projecting wings include grand alcoves between them,
which toward sunset
with

are

filled with

a

"dim religious light," commingled
O

O

'

o

haze

suggestive of the smoke of incense. The walls which
ascend in awful grandeur, as rich in sculpture as a
Gothic cathedral. Beyond is the throng of temples and the dominant facade
of the further canon wall. It is a repetition of the scenery which over¬
a

tenuous

encircle these

recesses

powers us at Point Sublime, unchanged in style and undiminished in grandeur.
There are many spots, and this is only one of them, where comparisons

longer possible. Each is far beyond the power of the faculties to
comprehend it, and no one of them greatly exceeds the others. They differ
as the turns of the kaleidoscope differ from each other.
But they never grow
monotonous.
When the mind has once wrestled with this scenery it feels

seem no

insignificance, but it does not grow listless, nor lose its enthu¬
siasm. It is rather disciplined and brought into a calmer and better regu¬
lated mood and the better fitted to enjoy it.
Thompson's Spring is also the starting-point from which to visit the
extreme southern portion of the Kaibab.
It is the southernmost spring
which can be depended upon to furnish good water. There is a lagoon
further south, which in ordinary seasons retains water through the summer,
but the quality is by no means of the best, and it is desirable to carry a
supply in kegs from the spring. Ascending Thompson's ravine about a
mile, we leave it by a side gulch and pass over two broad ridges, keeping a

its

own

174

THE GRAND

general

course

to head

the

CANON DISTRICT.

towards the east. It is necessary to make a detour in order
Bright Angel Amphitheater, which is very long, and is eroded
so far back into the
plateau that its upper end is only a little more than a
mile from the main eastern flank of the plateau, and the portion of the
Kaibab south of it is almost isolated from the main

At

length the
depth, with very steep banks. A
few hundred yards below it plunges into the vast depth of the
great amphi¬
theater. There is a very small spring* in the bottom of the ravine a few
hundred yards above the point where the trail reaches the bottom, but it is
hardly available, and yields but a very few gallons per day. Climbing the
southern bank, we once more reach the summit platform, and a mile further
on we find a
large lagoon. Its water is stagnant and strongly impregnated
with vegetable matter, but it is incomparably better than that which we are
sometimes compelled to use at the pockets in the desert. If a
protracted
stay is made at the south end of the Kaibab, there is no alternative but to
send back to this lagoon for a supply for camp purposes and to sustain the
animals. In very dry seasons its contents are wholly evaporated before the
summer or early autumn is over.
The picturesqueness of the spot, how¬
ever, is some compensation for the inferiority of the water.
Very lovely is
the sylvan scenery of the Kaibab summit. It never fails. Wherever we
go the grand old trees are above us and the grassy lawn beneath our feet.
The ground is unencumbered with undergrowth, and the beautiful vistas of
open parks, winding glades, and vanishing avenues of tree trunks, the long
nodding grasses, and flowers, invite the fancy to wander forever in Paradise.
From the lagoon our course is nearly southward.
Crossing several
ravines athwart our path, we at length follow downwards the course of one
leading southwestward. The trail "scatters" and is finally lost, and our
way is literally in the pathless woods. As the ravine grows more rugged,
and deepens and narrows rapidly, we
interpret its meaning to be a near
approach to its termination at some lateral chasm. Ascending its left bank
to the upper platform, a ride of half a mile
brings us to the verge of the
trail leads down into

*1 have been

of the utmost

a

mass.

ravine of unusual

particular to note the locations of the few springs on the Kaibab, because they
importance to the traveler.

are

175

THE AMPHITHEATERS OF THE KAIBAB.

OTTOMAN AMPHITHEATER.

It is

of the first order of

magnitude with several branches, and
about as grand as any.
It is notable for its magnificent display of buttes.
These wonderful structures seem to grow more picturesque, more ornate,
and more numerous as we approach the head of the Grand Canon, and,
though none of them are of such vast dimensions as Shiva's Temple, they
are still of enormous magnitude and much more elaborately designed and
more sumptuously carved.
Perhaps the butte-work has it climax here,
though it is well developed everywhere in the Kaibab division. The
facades are exceedingly tortuous and full of great alcoves. The lavish
wealth of this kind of display is its most remarkable feature. Very im¬
pressive, too, are the branch amphitheaters. These features are more simple
and concentrated when considered by themselves than the panoramic spec¬
tacles in the principal amphitheaters or in the central chasm. In truth it is
difficult to suggest anything which appeals more strongly to the sense of
magnitude and at the same time satisfies it more completely than the down¬
one

ward look into

one

of these vast chambers of the second

or

third order.

The

Transept is perhaps the most perfect and pleasing of them all, but
are many others which fall short of it only in an immaterial degree.
There are several fine ones in the Ottoman Amphitheater, and one especially
which is even larger than the Transept and only a little less perfect in exe¬
cution.
The simplicity of the work, its symmetry, the definiteness of pro¬
file, the sustained character, arouse the mind at once, and the magnitude
of it can be appreciated the more fully because the attention is not dis¬
tracted by an endless number of objects, all of which are about equally
impressive.

there

easily spend a whole day skirting the branches of the Ottoman
Amphitheater without halting to contemplate anything in detail, but merely
viewing them as we pass It is much smaller than the Tapeats or Shinumo,
and a little smaller than the Hindoo or Bright Angel, but larger than several
others of which no mention can here be made. The circuit of any one of
We

these

can

mighty

recesses

is

a

long, arduous day's journey by the shortest pos-

176

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

sible route, and around some of them it cannot be made in less than two,
without excessive driving.

Passing around the head of the central and main branch of the amphi¬
theater, we pause for a time to look into its depths and contemplate the
grandeur of its walls. Moving onward seven or eight miles further towards
the south, we at length reach the end of a
promontory, from which we be¬
hold a panorama of the central chasm rivaling in grandeur that of Point
Sublime. A part of it, however, is obscured by a vast cloister-butte in
front of the cape and in close proximity to us. But
though it hides what
lies beyond, it is in itself so imposing that it compensates the loss.
To the
south and west the vista of the Grand Canon stretches
away in the fullest
measure of its
sublimity. The congregation of wonderful structures, count¬
less and vast, the profound lateral chasms, the still lower but unseen
depths
of the central abyss that holds the river, and the
overwhelming palisade of
the southern wall, are much the same in their general effects as at Point
Sublime ; but the kaleidoscope is turned and the arrangement differs. We
named this place Cape Royal. It may be considered as
dividing with one
other headland the distinction of being the end of the Kaibab.
Leaving the point, we make a detour to the eastward and descend into
a
large ravine and mount the platform beyond it. A ride of four or five
miles brings us to the promontory, which we named Cape Final. Here
we command a view of the head of the Grand Canon.
The scenery is in a
large measure changed, not only in the arrangement of its parts but in its
character. The portion of the panorama which includes the chasm is, in
the main, similar to what we have seen from other
commanding points, and
so far is it from
being diminished in grandeur that it may in some respects
be regarded as the finest of all.
But the chasm is only half the scene be¬
fore us.
To the eastward is spread out in full view the
great expanse-of
the Marble Canon platform, the Echo Cliffs beyond, and in the dim distance
the Cretaceous
far off

mesa

mesas

about the San Juan.

To the southeastward is the

country around the Moquis villages sixty or seventy miles away,

and to the southward

fifty miles distant rise the grand volcanic piles of the

San Francisco Mountains.
As

we

mount

the parapet

which looks down

upon

the

canon

the eye

CAPE FINAL—VISHNU'S TEMPLE.

is at

caught by

177

object which seems to surpass in beauty any thing
It is a gigantic butte, so admirably designed and so
exquisitely decorated that the sight of it must call forth an expression of
wonder and delight from the most apathetic beholder. Its summit is more
than 5,000 feet above the river. Mr. Holmes' picture will convey a much
more accurate idea of it than
any verbal description can possibly do. We
we

once

an

have yet seen.

named it Vishnu's Temple.
No

point in the canon presents so much matter of interest to the geolo¬
gist as Cape Final. It is upon the crest of the East Kaibab monocline,
and the local aspects of that displacement are remarkably clear.
Looking
southward
a

the river to the main

wall, the strata are seen to possess
strong dip to the eastward, amounting to five or six degrees. This dip
across

prevails through a distance of about six miles, and gradually increases the
height of the southern wall by a corresponding amount. Or, conversely,
the descent of the strata towards the east lowers the entire platform; for
the same upper stratum everywhere in these parts forms the surface of the
country. The monocline beyond the river gradually dies out. But on the
north side of the river, and directly in front of us as we face the eastward,
its dip is seen to be much greater, amounting to ten or twelve degrees, and
as we follow it northward along the eastern Kaibab front we shall find the
dip still increasing at a slow rate. But as it smooths out south of the river
we
may observe that the locus of displacement is transferred to the west¬
ward, for we can very plainly discern an abrupt upward turn in the flexure
exposed in the canon wall away to the westward. The dip for a short dis¬
tance is as great as 25° or more, and after it has brought up all the beds
to the westward five hundred feet the strata flex back to horizontality.
This sharp flexure manifests itself far south of the river and away from it
by a long hillside facing the east. As the eye follows it along its strike it
perceives it growing in altitude and becoming more and more abrupt until
it presents a tall cliff, which, ten miles south of the river, seems to be nearly
or quite a thousand feet high.
At that distance the East Kaibab monocline
has wholly disappeared. This cliff, which undoubtedly has a fault at its
base, has taken up the displacement and carried it on to the southward as
far as the eye can follow it. To this extent we may, with perfect confi-

178

THE GRAND

CA^ON DISTRICT.

dence, predict the structure of the country many miles away, though no
geologist has yet visited the locality.
To the east

the chasm of the Little Colorado

it

approaches
junction with the Marble Canon. Little of it is disclosed. An ordinary
canon seldom is seen until we are close upon its brink, and the canon of the
Little Colorado, though of very grand proportions, cannot be traced far,
though we are more than 2,000 feet above the plain in which it is sunken.
The place where it opens into the chasm of the Colorado is somewhat arbi¬
trarily chosen as marking the lower end of the Marble Canon and the head
we can see

as

its

of the Grand Canon.

Here the Marble Canon descends from the

north, and,

after

passing the junction of the Little Colorado, the main chasm begins to
pass, by a gradual transition, into the features of the Grand Canon. The
river sweeps around a long curve, changing its course to the westward, and
enters the rising slope of the East Kaibab monocline.
Through a distance
of about ten miles from the junction the walls steadily rise more than two
thousand feet higher, the abyss widens greatly, and the buttes, promonto¬
ries, amphitheaters, and side gorges make their appearance.
The havoc
extreme.

upon the slope of the monocline is
Here the chasm is wider than at any other place, and the terrible

wrought by erosion

gorges is at its maximum. Owing to
attitudes of the strata the resulting forms are no longer

the greatly inclined
beautiful, but shape¬
less and grotesque. The whole Carboniferous system has been cut away
from the monocline just east of the point, and the lower rocks are laid bare.
And these lower rocks, from a purely stratigraphic point of view, are extremely
interesting. To these we now turn our attention.
scoring by side

THE GREAT UNCONFORMITY.

The Carboniferous series, 4,000 to 4,500
this

region perfectly conformable,

from top to
bottom.
The lowest conformable group consists of a series of thinly
bedded sandstones or quartzites, with a total thickness of about 180 to 200
feet. They have already been spoken of as exceedingly obdurate in characso

far

feet in thickness, is throughout

as appearances go,

GRA ND CA NON PIS TRIC T.

ead of the grand canon.

PL. XXXV.

THE GREAT UNCONFORMITY.

ter, and wherever the river has cut

179

through them their edges form a vertical
ledge at the summit of the inner gorge. In the middle, and indeed through
the greater portion of the Kaibab division, they rest immediately upon the
Archaean schists.
Wherever the opening of the inner gorge is disclosed, this
ledge is a very conspicuous feature. At the head of the Grand Canon it is
also visible and as prominent as elsewhere, but this lower group here rests
no
longer upon the Archaean. An enormous mass of stratified rocks of older
date has made its appearance, and the Archaean is far beneath them, and
upon this older mass the lower Carboniferous quartzites are seen to
repose unconformably. The dip of the Carboniferous system, which is still
under the influence of the vanishing East Kaibab monocline, is about 5 or 6
degrees to the eastward. The dip of the strata beneath, though not quite in
the same direction, is nearly so, and the amount of it is upon an average 14
to 15 degrees.
As each stratum rises up to the plane of contact with the
quartzites it is beveled off and disappears. Careful scrutiny discloses in the
exposed edges an old fault, with a displacement of about 1,200 or 1,300 feet,
cutting the lower strata, but not affecting the Carboniferous above; and the
beds upon the lifted side (the throw or drop of the fault is upon its western
side) are planed off to a continuous upper surface. Farther down the river
is also disclosed an abrupt anticlinal fold in the series, which is also planed
off to a uniform upper surface. For ten miles down stream this relation of
the strata may be distinctly traced, showing a dip to the eastward which is
visibly interrupted only by the fault and anticline just spoken of The view
of it is at length lost behind the buttes. The "granite" is nowhere seen, but
we know that it comes to the daylight only a mile or two beyond the point
where the inner gorge winds out of sight. The thickness of this mass must
be very great. As we follow down the river every mile of progress must
bring up about a thousand feet of lower and lower beds, and the cumulative
effects of this rise appear to be subject to subtraction only at the fault and
anticline just spoken of. Altogether there must be at least 6,000 feet of
them, and Professor Powell, who saw them in his descent of the river, esti¬
mates the total thickness at not far from 10,000 feet.
Unless there are more
faults or anticlines which cannot be seen from Cape Final, his estimate is

apparently justified,

180

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

The age of this series
be found in its upper part,

is probably Silurian. Devonian beds may also
but all that we can say about their age now is
that they are pre-Carboniferous
Lithologically, they appear at a distance
very much like the rainbow beds at the base of the Trias and summit of the
Permian in the Valley of the Virgen. The bedding is very uniform and
regular. The colors are chocolate, purple, lavender, and magenta, of many
tones and shades.
If it were not for this powerful coloring, which discloses
every band and layer with emphasis, and each with a habit peculiar to itself,
we

could not venture to assert

so

much about them

as we

have done.

For

have been

reading geology five to ten miles away from our rocks. But
Brobdingnagian country! These things seem to lie
at our very feet.
Just where the comparatively narrow gorge of the Marble Canon ex¬
pands well out into the much ampler width of the Grand Canon, we per¬
ceive among the higher beds of this ancient series some layers which we do
not hesitate to pronounce volcanic rocks—basalts or diabases.
They are
coal black, and contrast finely with the rich colors all around them. They
are interbedded with the upper Silurian (?) strata, but whether
they are
intrusive sheets or contemporaneous
,
u
o
c
outpoured
while
the rocks
were
accumulating, we cannot say. The very dykes through which the lava
came up are visible.
Powell saw them on his boat journey down the river,
but did not have an opportunity to investigate the many interesting questions
which they suggest.
Throughout the remainder of the canon, although the pre-Carbonifer¬
ous rocks are laid open for more than half the
distance, there is no such
exposure of early Paleozoic strata. Wherever the lower quartzites are cut
through they are usually found resting upon the schists. In several places,
however, remnants which correspond to the base of this Silurian series
are disclosed between the
quartzites and the schists, but the mass seldom
exceeds 200 feet, and, perhaps, never reaches a thickness of 400 feet. A
we

what

are

miles in this

few Primordial trilobites have been found in these remnants.
of this great
ozoic strata

movements,

The

meaning

unconformity obviously is that after a vast body of early Pale¬
had been laid down they were distorted by differential vertical
were flexed and faulted, and were elevated above the sea.

181

THE GREAT UNCONFORMITY.

then enormously eroded. Across the belt of country bounded
by the longitude of Cape Final and extending as far west as the
lower end of the Grand Canon, a rectilinear distance of nearly 110 miles,
and, for aught we know, indefinitely further westward, nearly the whole
mass of these strata was denuded.
A few, and perhaps many, small rem¬
nants at the base of the series were preserved, but over most of the area

They
on

were

the east

the Archaean schists

were

laid bare and suffered erosion.

Still later the

was again submerged. Over the rugged country thus ravaged 4,500
feet of Carboniferous beds and 9,000 to 10,000 feet of Mesozoic beds and,

region

perhaps, 1,000 to 1,200 feet of lower Eocene (lacustrine) were deposited.
It is with extreme regret that I am obliged to confess that there seemed
to be no way to obtain access to these beds for the purpose of studying
them in detail. At present they can be reached only by boat through the
Marble Canon, and the locality can be left only by descending the Colorado
as far as the Kanab Canon.
There seemed to be no possible way of getting
down the gigantic walls which inclose this valley of Rasselas. The Red
Wall limestone is apparently everywhere a vertical escarpment a thousand
feet high, except at some of the long spurs, where it breaks into needles and
minarets, which look almost as hopeless.
Point Final is doubtless the most interesting spot on the Kaibab. In
pure grandeur it is about the same as Point Sublime, though less typical of
the

The two localities differ much in the characteristics of

canon.

the

in addition to cation scenery, a vast pano¬
regions in the heart of the Plateau Province,
where nothing is distinctly visible, but where the imagination perceives more
than the eye. There is a dim vision of cliff upon cliff and throngs of richlycarved buttes, where the fancy runs riot, while the sober sense tells us that
it is a mauvaise terre—a land of marvels indeed, but also a land of terrors and

scenery.

The former gives

us,

ramic view of the distant

desolation.

northward, keeping now near the east¬
ern front of the Kaibab.
Here the great feature is the Kwagunt Valley,
excavation which is quite analogous to the ordinary amphitheaters of the
first order, which we have already seen. It lies along the southern portion
of the eastern base of the Kaibab, reaching up to the northward about 15
Leaving Point Final we return

an

182
miles from the river.

THE GRAND

Several

CANON DISTRICT.

large amphitheaters of the second and third
into it, scooped out of the great monocline, and these are always
very fine and imposing.
North of the Kwagunt is another one, cut out of
the East Kaibab monocline, and it opens into the lower portion of the Mar¬
ble Canon. It compares favorably with the others. Further northward
several large recesses are excavated in the eastern flank of the Plateau, but
they all debouch upon the Marble Canon platform. These will be alluded
orders open

to hereafter.

CHAPTER X.
THE STRUCTURE AND DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF THE KAIBAB.
The

principal displacements and general form of the plateau.—The West Kaibab fault.—The East
Kaibab monocline.—Relations of these displacements to each other and their continuations south
of the river.—The summit strata of the plateau.—Age of the uplifting of the mass.—The rela¬
tions of the Colorado River to the plateau as hearing upon the question of age.—Ancient river
channels.—House Rock Valley.—The moist climate of the Miocene and arid climate of the
Pliocene.—Lower altitudes in former periods.—De Motte Park and its significance.—Ancient river
channel on the summit.—The ravines of the Kaibab.—Their conformity to the structural slopes.—
Exceptional character of the Park drainage.—The origin of the ravines conjectured to have been
in the glacial period, which was rainy here without ice.—Considerations upon the amphitheaters
excavated in the East Kaibab monocline.—The inferences drawn from them as to the age of the
plateau.

The Kaibab is
its eastern side is
come

a

from the east

platform uplifted between two displacements. Upon
great monocline where the Carboniferous strata as we
suddenly flex upwards and then flex back to horizon-

a

tality upon its summit. Crossing the platform from east to west, and reach¬
ing its western margin, we perceive the same strata dropping suddenly by a
great fault, and their continuation towards the west forms the Kanab Plateau
The displacement upon the eastern flank is the East Kaibab monocline; the
one upon the western flank is the West Kaibab fault.
Towards the north
the two slowly converge and at last meet at a very acute angle in the
vicinity of the little village of Paria and at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs.
The Kaibab platform between them, therefore, terminates in a cusp. Since
the two dislocations throw in opposite directions, the result of their union is
single flexure having an amount of displacement equal to the difference of
point of junction; and this flexure continues northward through
the terraces 011 the eastern side of the Paria Amphitheater and extends into

a

the two at the

the

High Plateaus.
The

are

not

courses

of these two

displacements southward from

straight lines, but curves convex

Paria village

towards the west. I heir relations
183

THE GEAND CANON DISTEICT.

184
to each other may
moon.

The outer

be conceived by recalling the image of the crescent
"limb" might answer to the form of the West

curve or

Kaibab

fault; the inner curve or "terminator" to the form of the East
Kaibab flexure; the included horn to the form of the northern portion of the

plateau.

But the southern portion has no such analogy.
miles south of the Paria these dislocations preserve great
simplicity of character, but as they approach the Colorado River they
undergo changes and gradually die out. The West Kaibab fault is the first
to resolve.
For about 40 miles it is a simple fault, gradually increasing in
the amount of its shear from 500 to about 1,800 feet. At this point the
thrown platform of the Kanab Plateau on the west begins to rise quite
notably, and slowly brings up the edges of the thrown strata towards the
level of the Kaibab summit, thus diminishing the fault. About ten miles
further on a new parallel fault begins, throwing also to the west, and the
total shear is distributed between the original fault and its neighbor.
Further on a third parallel fault appears, and the displacement is dis¬
tributed among the three, which thus form a series of "step-faults." Mean¬
time, the Kanab platform has been rapidly rising southwardly, while the
Kaibab has increased its altitude only a very little; and that abrupt escarp¬
ment which separated the northern part of the Kaibab from the Kanab has
gradually faded out. But it has not wholly vanished, though it has become
profoundly modified. In the north a great wall, more than a thousand feet
high, separates the two; further southward the wall diminishes in height;
at length the single wall becomes two steps; further on it becomes three
steps, the heights of which continually decrease; and at last it becomes an
inclined plane, sloping about 1
to 2° towards the west, and all the faults
have vanished or have been replaced by new dislocations trivial in amount.
The East Kaibab displacement undergoes another set of modifications.
For more than thirty miles south of Paria it is a simple and abrupt mono¬
cline.
Near the head of House Rock Valley the monocline divides into
two steps.
This is common enough in faults, but that the same sort
of phenomenon should be presented by a simple monoclinal flexure is
very significant and adds another illustration of the complete homology
between faults and monoclines.
The duplex character of the displacement
For many

DISPLACEMENTS OF THE KAIBAB.

185

is

preserved for a distance of about thirty miles further south, and then it
simple and single form. Thence onward the fold gradually
smooths out, becoming less inclined but much wider. The amount of dis¬
placement, however, does not at first diminish very rapidly, for though the
inclination of the strata becomes rapidly less, it also becomes wider; the
hill is less steep but it is longer. At length as we approach the Colorado
the displacement dwindles more rapidly, and a few miles south of the river
it gradually vanishes.
But in the meantime a new displacement parallel to
it has made its appearance further to the west, and this is well worth study¬
ing, for the indications are that it is a reappearance of the West Kaibab
fault, greatly changed in its course or trend and its displacement reversed.
Reverting here for a moment to the West Kaibab fault, we find it leaving
the Paria neighborhood with a southwesterly course, gradually changing to
reverts to its

the south and then southeast.

As it

nears

the Grand Canon its throw

greatly diminishes, and I believe it vanishes entirely about four miles north
of the brink. At all events, nothing has been seen of it near the brink.
But looking across the chasm from the north side a flexure is seen in the
great wall upon the southern side, truly monoclinal in form, with a displace¬
ment of about 450 feet.
It is in the line of continuation of the vanishing
main branch of the West Kaibab fault and its throw is reversed.

side is

dropped, while the

This reversal of throw is

proper
a

Its eastern

West Kaibab fault drops its western side.

feature not

uncommon

in the long faults of the

High Plateaus as we follow them in their immense longitudinal extensions.
Thus, by a very curious, though perfectly intelligible process, the displace¬
ment which constitutes the western side of the plateau has gotten upon the
eastern side.
South of the chasm it continues with a southeasterly course,
becoming

fault and increasing in the amount of shearing for nearly
Its further extension and method of resolution is not at

a true

twenty miles.
present known.

displacements of the Kaibab thus far observed are of very
simple character, being true faults or monoclines with comparatively little
complication or subordinate fracture at the fault planes. We may note,
however, in the West Kaibab fault and in the parallel step faults into which
it divides, that feature which is so frequently observed in many of the great
All of the

186

THE GRAND

CAfrON DISTRICT.

displacements of the district—viz., the turning down of the edges of the
thrown beds in the vicinity of the fault-plane. This is revealed very strik¬
ingly in Stewart's Canon at the elbow where it turns abruptly to the west
to join Kanab Canon.
It is also seen upon the east side of the outlying
mass called Powell's Plateau, which is separated from the Kaibab by a
gorge about 1,200 feet deep. One of the steps of the fault cuts through
this gorge, and the edges of the beds upon the west side are seen to be
turned down.

The

southward into the
buttes and in the

same

feature is observed in the extension of this fault

mazes

of the canon, and it is revealed in the great

plinth walls of the cloisters, which fill the ample

expanse

of the chasm.
The

between its bounding displacements is very nearly
quite so, however. The strata are just perceptibly arched
in a broad anticlinal swell.
The dip, however, even near the edges, where
it is a maximum, does not exceed 2°, until (upon the eastern side) the influ¬
ence of the monocline is felt, and then the strata suddenly turn down at a
great angle. It was for a time suspected that the basin of De Motte Park
was the result of the dropping of a wedge-like mass between two faults,
but more careful study renders it certain that it is an ancient valley of

plateau

horizontal.

mass

Not

erosion.
The continuation of the Kaibab Plateau upon

Grand Canon has

no

definition except upon

the southern side of the
the east. The fault which has

already been alluded to gives rise to a slope which gradually becomes a
high and abrupt cliff facing northeast and forming the eastern boundary of
the plateau.
Westward the platform declines by a very gentle slope, and
grades into the general expanse of the Colorado Plateau without any line of
demarkation.
The altitude of the Kaibab at the

highest point is about 9,300 feet
slowly declines. The
altitude of the southern portion above the Paria or Marble Cation platform
lying eastward is from 2,700 to 3,600 feet. Its altitude above the Kanab
platform on the west is very variable, but ranges from 1,000 to 2,300 feet,
according to the places in close proximity which are compared.
Neglecting the minor inequalities, the general surface of the plateau
above the

sea.

From De Motte Park northward it

EVOLUTION OF THE KAIBAB PLATEAU.

187

conforms very

closely to the upper surface of the Aubrey limestones. The
principal inequalities have their origin in the unequal amounts of uplifting
which have prevailed in a platform of beds that once were horizontal. In
other words, they are almost wholly structural, and not imposed upon the
mass
by unequal erosion.
The principal points in the history of the evolution of the Kaibab may
be discerned by a comparative study of the drainage and displacements.
The argument here adopted is not a new one, but it is to be carried to an
unprecedented extent. Its validity can only be judged by the result. In
other countries—in regions where the geological data are more obscure—its
application would be very doubtful and perhaps impossible; but here the
data are exceptionally plain and definite, and enable us to co-ordinate the
facts and draw conclusions with a high degree of confidence.
It has repeatedly been remarked that the principal structural features
of the Grand Canon district are comparatively recent in their origin, prob¬
ably going back no further than the early Pliocene, while the principal
drainage channels are as old as the epoch at which the lacustrine period
terminated. We infer that the establishment of the drainage is older than
the structural features, because if we suppose otherwise, then the drainage
would have been very differently distributed from that which now exists.
For example, let us suppose that the Grand Canon were filled up evenly
with the summit of the cliffs which overlook it.

The Colorado River

being

When the inflowing waters
had filled this lake the outlet would be at the northern extremity of the
Kaibab near Paria. Here is the lowest barrier which would keep the water
from the ocean. Supposing Kanab Canon to be also filled up, the course
of the waters would be to the westward, and they would finally pour over
the Hurricane Ledge at a point near that where the Virgen crosses it. This
is the course which the Colorado would take if the present structural con¬
figuration were to determine it anew. The inevitable inference is that the
course of the river could not have been determined by the existing structure,
and must have been fixed by a configuration older than the present one.
The mind therefore recurs to the earliest period, far back in the Eocene,
when the waters of the lake receded and left a river running in the deepest
thus

dammed,

a

large lake would be formed.

188

part of its basin.

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

The gradual elevation of the entire region was the cause
gradual desiccation of the lake, and the channel through which its
waters escaped, once established, could not have been changed without leav¬
ing some indication of the process which could have effected such a change.
A powerful river traversing a region which is undergoing a great amount of
uplifting must ever sink its channel deeper and deeper in the strata, and its
position must be growing more and more immutable.
The present position of the Grand and Marble canons, therefore, is the
locus of the deepest part of the Eocene lake. This conclusion is reached by
another course of reasoning. If we restore the strata to the condition of
horizon tali ty, if we replace in imagination the bodies of Mesozoic and lower
Eocene strata which have been denuded, we shall be led to infer the exist¬
ence of a vast and
nearly level platform coextensive with the great areas now
draining into those canons. But if we suppose the strata to have thickened
as
they approached their shore-lines we should also infer the existence of
two converging slopes, one descending from the northwest, the other from
the southwest, and meeting in a line very near and perhaps exactly in the
position of these canons. Thus, the law of persistence of rivers and the
analysis of the vertical movements of the region bring us to the same con¬
clusion. The study of the tributaries also tends to the same result. The
Kanab and Paria rivers are plainly independent of the inequalities of
uplifting, and must be older than the displacements.
These tributaries shed further light upon the earliest condition of the
Kaibab area. The Kanab and Paria are apparently as old as the Colo¬
rado, and had their origin in the same train of events. Each represents a
subordinate and lateral drainage basin, and between the two lay a certain
extent of higher ground.
Just at the base of the East Kaibab flexure is
House Rock Valley, which once held a river which has long since van¬
ished, though leaving well-marked traces of its former action. This inter¬
mediate valley divides the interval between the Kanab and Paria basins
into two masses; the western is the Kaibab, the eastern is the Paria, pla¬
teau.
None of the great displacements which traverse these masses had
any existence at that remote epoch.
The earliest condition of the Kaibab, then, is inferred to have been
of the

EVOLUTION OF THE KA1BAB PLATEAU.

189

slight elevation between the Kanab and House Rock valleys.
The subsequent events which have made it what it is may be discerned in
studying the combined effects of erosion and unequal uplifting.
The great erosion which has removed so vast a body of strata from
this region is believed to have been chiefly the work of Eocene and Miocene
time.
The general uplifting, which has prevailed throughout the entire
extent of the West, had its inception in Eocene time,
This is indicated by
merely

a

the

gradual but somewhat rapid transition of the older areas from a marine
lacustrine, by the progressive shrinkage of
the great Eocene lakes and the cessation of widely extended deposition of
strata.
The lake basins, becoming dry, were at once attacked by the de¬
grading forces, and as they rose higher the efficiency of the degrading
forces augmented. Such indications as we now possess as to the climatal
condition of the region in those periods are somewhat meager, but are still
sufficient to warrant the belief that the climate was moist and subtropical.
Here and there in the surrounding regions we find remnants of temporary
lakes, some of them of great size, which disclose in their strata abundant
forms of vegetable and animal life, among which are remains of mammalia
of great size, with numerous species. These fossils and their associations
all imply a great exuberance of animal and vegetable life which is hardly
possible without a moist climate—a climate certainly much moister than
that now prevailing there, though not necessarily extreme in this respect.
The palms, which constituted some of the most abundant vegetable forms,
and estuarine condition to the

also show that it

was

much

warmer

Thus a region under¬
climate may be inferred to

than at present.

going progressive elevation with a moist warm
have wasted away rapidly under the action of degrading forces.
There are as yet no known facts which enable us to mark the periods
of Tertiary time and co-ordinate them with those which have been estab¬
lished in other regions. Yet there are indications which point to the con¬
clusion that after the vast body of Mesozoic beds had been in great part
swept away, the denuding forces for a time abated their destructive energy,
and indirectly we may infer that this diminution of the degrading forces
had its epoch not far from the close of the Miocene. The great denudation
up to that epoch had been going on vigorously throughout the whole of

190

THE GRAND

(JANON DISTRICT.

the Miocene age

and through at least two-thirds of the Eocene, and though
we
may not reckon this period in terms of centuries we cannot doubt that
it was a vast one, and sufficient, under favorable
conditions, for an enor¬
mous amount of waste.
The work of removing nearly 10,000 feet of strata
from a great area is a formidable thing to contemplate, but under the
given
conditions the time-factor will no doubt be regarded as being commensu¬
rate.
What aspect the country presented during this great stretch of time
we have no means of
judging. All records of even the broader details
have vanished with the strata.
We only infer that not far from the close
of the Miocene the great mass of Mesozoic beds had been in chief
part
denuded; that the resulting platform of the Grand Canon district was at a
much lower level than at present, and probably not very far above the sealevel.

The

canon

of the Colorado either did not exist at all at that time

or

only just begun.
At this epoch the climate
gradually became more and more arid.
Although the evidence of this is not found in the district itself, it appears
conclusively in the regions adjoining it. It is a remarkable fact that the
was

at most

Pliocene

lake-basins, both north and south of the Grand Canon district,
exhibit saline deposits, while the earlier lake beds show nothing of the kind.
A saline lake-deposit means an arid climate—small feeble streams flow¬
ing into an inclosed basin, which they cannot fill to overflowing, because
evaporation is so rapid that it keeps pace with the influx. And as the ad¬
joining regions were arid, so also we conclude was the Grand Canon district.
This inference is further sustained by the fact that those traces of Pliocene
erosion which are here and there preserved have the characteristics which
belong to the sculptural forms of an arid region. These are ancient canons
with abrupt walls in the more adamantine strata which have survived the
ravage of later periods.
Thus, through the Pliocene the conditions were
unfavorable to a very rapid rate of degradation. During the
glacial period,
however, this rate must have been vastly greater; but, if we are to attach
any value to current estimates of the relative duration of geological periods,
this

episode

to its

former

comparatively brief.
aridity.
was

At its close the climate lapsed back

PLIOCENE AGE OF THE KAIBAB FAULTS.

It will

become apparent

why

191

infer that at the commencement
by far the greatest part of that great denudation which
swept away the Mesozoic beds had been accomplished. Before that epoch
(early Pliocene) a moist climate prevailed for an immense stretch of geo¬
logical time—the whole of the Miocene and most of the Eocene—and the
region was rising. Since that epoch an arid climate has for the most part
prevailed, and the period of its prevalence has been much shorter. "We
cannot doubt that the longer duration of a more efficient cause must have
produced a far greater erosion than the much shorter duration of a less
efficient cause. The exact ratio of the results produced in the two dura¬
tions, respectively, cannot indeed be determined; but we cannot well avoid
the conclusion that the disparity was very great.
The reason for believing that at the beginning of Pliocene time the
district was at a much lower level than at present is equally forcible. The
now

we

of the Pliocene

East Kaibab monocline and the Grand Wash

fault, which bound the Grand

Canon

district, cannot have originated at an older epoch than the one in
question. They mark the difference between the amount of final elevation
of the district and of the regions on either side of it. It is true that a fault
may indicate either an absolute uplift on one side or a downthrow on the
other. Which interpretation shall in any given case be adopted turns upon
collateral facts. In the present instance there is no reason for hesitation.
The Grand Canon district is obviously an uplift between the two abovementioned displacements. The other view raises insuperable difficulties at
once.
It would require us to believe that the whole country extending in¬
definitely east of the Kaibab had once been several thousand feet higher
than at present, and subsequently subsided without leaving any evi¬
dence of such an event; and the same inference would be applicable to the

region extending from the Grand Wash indefinitely westward. Such arbi¬
trary and needless assumptions are not worthy of consideration. The only
rational conclusion left us is that the Grand Canon platform has been raised
since the Miocene by an unknown amount, though a part of that amount is
directly indicated in the displacements now observable on either side of it.
The reduction of these displacements to their original condition would
diminish the altitude of any given stratum from 2,500 to 3,500 feet upon the

192

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

eastern side of the

district, and more than 6,000 feet upon the western side.
And if, as is most probable, there has been a general
upward movement
during Pliocene time affecting all of that portion of the continent the
change of altitude has been correspondingly greater. The amount of this
more general
upheaval can be deduced for the whole of Tertiary and Qua¬
ternary time, but how much was accomplished before the advent of the
Pliocene, and how much since, it is impossible to say.
It is necessary to remark here, that the reference of this divisional
epoch to the commencement of Pliocene time ought to be considered with
some qualifications.
It should be borne in mind that a strict correlation of
geological periods is here impossible. We have within the district no Plio¬
cene beds and no Pliocene fossils.
Nevertheless, events point to that epoch
as the
approximate one, when the present order of things took their forms
and relations.

The

error

cannot be

great.

With the

Pliocene, as thus understood, the Kaibab began to have a
Probably at this time the great East Kaibab monocline
began to develop itself. It is older than the Hurricane fault, and older than
either of the displacements which occur between it and the Grand Wash.
The reasons for assigning an early Pliocene date for the East Kaibab
monocline may be found in a comparison of the drainage channels. The
problem is a charming one, carrying the requisite data for a satisfactory
conclusion, but it is also complex and difficult to present clearly to a reader
who has not thoroughly traversed the ground and made himself familiar
with the surface topography of the plateau.
Nevertheless, the attempt
must be made, and if it fails to
convey a clear idea of the facts presented,
and therefore fails to convey a clear conception of the interpretation of
them, it must be attributed to the difficulty which always attends the effort
to draw a mental picture of a distant region from a
merely graphic descrip¬
distinct existence.

tion.

near

and
400

Along the greater part of the length of the Kaibab, and keeping very
to the median or axial line of the summit of the
plateau, there is a long
comparatively narrow valley. The depth of this valley is from 200 to
feet, and its width is from

one to

two miles.

It is

seen

in the northern

part of the summit, where it is rather shallower than in the middle portion.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF THE KAIBAB.

De Motte Park is

a

from this median

or

193

portion of the same depression. Farther north it diverges
axial position, and trends off
slightly toward the south¬
west, ending at last upon the brink of the great chasm. In several places
the valley bottom, as we follow it from north to south, reverses its
grade.
But in general there is a slight upward slope for more than
forty miles,
until we reach the "Sylvan Gate," at the foot of the
larger De Motte Park.
Passing through the gate the grade of the valley descends toward the south.
When the geologists first visited the plateau they were
considerably per¬
plexed by this long valley or chain of valleys. They observed that from
the summits which overlook them on either side nearly all the
drainage
channels flowed away from it, and very few flowed into it.
Upon these
summits the numberless ravines took their rise—those upon the western side
flowing away from it like rays in every direction west of the meridian, those
upon the eastern side also flowing away from it, but not in the same manmer.
The origin of these summit ravines, their courses, and their distribu¬
tion, were easily explained, but the origin of the median chain of parks which
separated the eastern drainage-plexus from the western was a mystery.
Powell and Gilbert were at first inclined to suspect that a long, narrow
wedge on the summit of the plateau had dropped between two faults, but
no faults could be discerned, and
they abandoned the supposition. During
the last season a thorough survey of the drainage system was made, and I
think the mystery may now be cleared up. In the first place, the existence
of the supposed faults was positively disproven by the discovery of the crossbedded sandstone of the Aubrey group just where it ought to be in case no
faults exist, or where it could not be if the faults did exist. In the second

place, the chain of valleys is the locus of an ancient river which once flowed
from the north and emptied into the Colorado.
This river was far more
ancient than any of the other drainage channels now scoring the surface of
the Kaibab, which are all of comparatively recent origin. What antiquity
should be assigned to it may not be altogether established, but by far the
most probable supposition is that it is as old as the Colorado itself and its
tributaries, the Kanab, Paria, and Little Colorado. We are not concerned,
however, to find an origin so remote as these, but only to find that it ante¬
dates the Pliocene.
That it belongs to the system of drainage which pre-

194

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

vailed when the structural conformation of the country was very

different
is self-evident. The course of its valley for the most
part is against the structural and topographical slopes, and therefore the
river was older than those slopes.
That is to say, when this valley carried
a living stream, the Kaibab as a distinct
plateau had no existence.
Two causes may be readily discerned which destroyed this river. The
first was the arid climate of the Pliocene, which greatly reduced its water
supply. The second was the peculiar distribution of the uplifting, which,
being greater along the lower courses of the river than along the upper
reaches, had a tendency to reverse the slope of its channel. But Kanab
Creek has persisted to the present day in spite of similar adverse condi¬
tions, and has maintained itself by cutting down its channel as fast as the
country rose. But in the extinct river of the Kaibab a still more adverse
arrangement of the uplifting destroyed it. For the uplifting was of such a
distribution that the river was left upon the axis of a water-shed instead of
in a broad drainage-basin, and was thus deprived of tributaries and feeders.
At what epoch was this river destroyed? It perished at the epoch
when the Colorado was running in the cross-bedded sandstone of the Upper
Aubrey group, 5,000 feet above its present bed! If we follow its channel
from the park toward the confluence with the Colorado, we find it sinking
to the surface of this adamantine stratum, and a few yards into it.
At last
the valley ends suddenly in the mighty wall of the chasm, and from its
trough we look down upon the great river a mile below and three or four
miles beyond us.
When the valley sustained a living stream it must have
done just what the other tributaries did—cut down its bed in hamiony with
the Colorado itself. When its waters ceased to flow the valley ceased to
deepen. It has never earned a stream since, and has never grown materi¬
ally deeper. Its present floor mai'ks the horizon upon which its waters
ceased to run, and where the Colox-ado left it and continued to sink deeper
through the succeeding ages. But the cross-bedded sandstone is within 600
from the present one

or

700 feet of the summit of the

canon

wall, and when the Colorado

was

running over it the work of excavating the pi*esent Grand Canon had just
begun. Already the reasons have been given for referring this epoch to the

beginning of the Pliocene.

THE DKAINAGE SYSTEM OF THE KAIBAB.

195

Thus, the destruction of this ancient tributary, itself a member of the
early Tertiary river system, is associated with the movement which uplifted
the Kaibab, and with the great monocline by which that movement is indi¬
cated and in part

measured, and the epoch of these events relatively to the
age of the river is also determined. The validity of this reasoning is attested
by a great and complex array of facts, and it brings into wonderful har¬
mony and order a mass of observations which otherwise are inexplicable.
At the risk of becoming prolix, I venture to cite some examples of facts
which give independent support to the conclusions just drawn.
The whole surface of the Kaibab is covered with

which

a maze

of

ravines, of

description has already been given in Chapter VII. These are de¬
lineated with great care by Mr. Bodfish in Atlas sheets 11 to 14 inclusive.
Those which are found upon the western side of the De Motte Park radiate
away from it in all directions between northwest and south-southwest
But
not one of them flows into the park.
On the eastern side there are two dis¬
tinct groups of drainage channels separated by a subordinate watershed, or
divide, which extends from the summit overlooking De Motte Park east¬
ward to the brink of the plateau. The northern plexus flows eastward and
northeastward; the southern plexus flows southward and southwestward.
The former passes down into vast gorges and amphitheaters cut into the
great monocline and debouches upon the Marble Canon platform ; the lat¬
ter descends into the amphitheaters of the Grand Canon.
The origin of
these innumerable ravines is apparent at a glance. With a very few ex¬
ceptions, they all follow the structural and general topographical slopes of
the plateau.
If they could all be filled up again and the surface of the
country smoothed olf evenly with the surface of the upper Aubrey lime¬
stone and then left to the action of copious rains, the ravines would form
anew and the new ones would have nearly the same general arrangement,
the same general courses, the same general aspect, as those which now
exist.
Some slight structural changes may have occurred since the present
channels were formed, and these might produce differences in the supposed
new arrangement, but they would be of small amount.
Wkat better evidence
than this could there be that these ravines were laid out and cut after the
a

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

196

plateau had received its present structure, and that they were determined
by it?
But the great park valley is in complete contrast to all this.
Throughout
its northern portions its course is in direct opposition to the structural slopes
and throughout its southern portion it lies obliquely across them.
Every¬
where it is independent of them. What better evidence could there be that
it was laid out before the plateau had received its present structure and that
it was not determined by it ?
Its greater antiquity than that of the other
valleys is attested by many evidences. Its aspect is strikingly different.
It is very wide while the others are very narrow. The widening of valleys
is a familiar phenomenon in this region.
Those cations which are now dry
are everywhere widening without becoming deeper.
The other ravines are not apparently very old.
My conjecture is that
they had their origin in the glacial period. In this region that period was
not properly glacial, but rainy.
Not a trace of glacial action is discovera¬
ble upon the Kaibab.
But the evidence of a much moister climate than
the present one in southern Utah and Arizona is conclusive.
The exist¬
ence of such lakes as Bonneville and Lahontan during the glacial period
admits of no other interpretation. The ravines of the Kaibab were un¬
questionably scoured out by running water. At the present time such
action has entirely ceased, and it is probable that the ravines are very
slowly filling up with soil and sand, and it is certain that they are not deep¬
ening.* I can frame no conjecture so satisfactory as that which supposes
that during the glacial period the rainfall was sufficient to sustain living
streams in these ravines and that they were then carved by running water.
Prior to the glacial period the climate was arid like the present. In a coun¬
try like this, where the strata are horizontal or dip but slightly, the effect
of an arid climate upon the drainage is to obliterate the greater part of the
channels and to increase the area of the individual drainage basins. A few
*

Iii Chapter VII I have adverted to the fact, that although the rainfall of the Kaibab is very
considerable—perhaps 25 or 30 inches per annum—there is not a living stream upon its surface. In an
ordinary region such a precipitation would sustain many creeks and brooks. But here the water sinks
at once into the earth and reappears in the profounder depths of the great amphitheaters and gorges
which open into the Grand Canon. The case is a very striking and suggestive one and seems to be
analogous to the limestone country of Kentucky. The existence of subterranean streams beneath the
Kaibab is apparently well attested. They emerge usually from galleries situated at the base of the Red
Wall group and sometimes still lower.

THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM OE THE KAIBAB.

channels

197

kept open; having large basins, which furnish water enough,
though it be in the form of intermittent supply, to maintain a canon
and corrade its bed. This is seen to-day all over the Kanab and Uinkaret
Plateaus. During the Pliocene the same obliterating process probably
prevailed upon the Kaibab.
If, then, the great number of drainage channels upon the plateau took
their origin at the beginning of the glacial period, the park valley must be
much older.
But we could not well suppose that it originated during the
arid period of the Pliocene in a climate which dries up rivers instead of
creating them, and we must therefore go farther back. It seems plain that
the river was running during the periods of the great denudation—during
the Eocene and Miocene, or certainly during the late Miocene—and that
it became extinct when this denudation had been nearly or quite accom¬
plished. The reasons for assigning this epoch to the beginning of the Plio¬
cene or thereabout have already been given.
Thus we arrive at the same
conclusion as before. In reaching it we may note by the way the satis¬
factory manner in which our first perplexity is removed concerning the
relation—or, rather, want of relation—between the park valley and the other
drainage channels. We could at first discover no solution of their origin
which would apply to both. But when the topographical details had been
mastered and grouped in the mind the true explanation seemed to stand
forth clearly and unmistakably. And when the facts of the drainage were
placed in relation with those of upheaval and again with those of climate,
the whole took form and coherence and disclosed a history, the verity of
which needs no better support than its self-consistency.
The conclusions drawn from the study of the Uinkaret now appear to
be confirmed by the study of the Kaibab.
We find certain facts common
to both plateaus, and their relations and logical grouping are apparently
identical. Both localities tell the same consistent story. Each, however,
are

even

But the peculiarities in no respect con¬
of strong circum¬
stantial evidence of the verity of the main conclusions.
Before closing this part of the subject it may be well to advert to the
great amphitheaters excavated in the monocline on the east side of the
possesses
flict ; on

features peculiar to itself.

the contrary, they contribute separate quotas

198
Kaibab.

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

These

magnificent gorges compare well in many respects with
into the Grand Canon. They have less depth, but are
very nearly or even quite as wide. Those which are near the southern end
of the plateau are in all respects the rivals of those which open into the
great chasm, being of about the same depth and amplitude. But as we
proceed northward, and away from the river, their depth suddenly dimin¬
ishes. The reason is obvious: they open upon the Marble Canon platform,
which is about 3,000 feet above the river, and no mountain gorge can be
excavated lower than, or even as low as, the level upon which it debouches.
Both series, however, have been excavated nearly to the lowest possible
depths, and their relative ages can be judged better by the widths than by
the depths. Allowance must also be made for differences in the conditions
which favor or retard this kind of erosion. All things considered, a com¬
parison of the two series of amphitheaters leads to the impression that
the times required to excavate them were not very unequal. Much un¬
certainty of course must attach to such an inference, but it may be said that
no reason
appears at present for assigning a longer period to one series
than to the other.
This would lead us to assign to the monocline the same
age as that of the Grand Canon—a conclusion identical with that already
drawn. Although this argument, considered by itself, is so precarious that
it could not alone justify so important a conclusion, yet when taken in con¬
nection with the whole mass of concordant facts it adds something to the
volume of cumulative evidence upon which the conclusion is based.
those which open

CHAPTER

XI.

THE PARIA PLATEAU AND MARBLE CANON PLATFORM.
Triassic strata of the Paria Plateau.—Recession of cliffs and the effect of

faulting upon its rate.—Causes
recession.—Drainage system of the surface of the plateau.—Valley of the
Paria River.—House Rock Valley.—The smaller drainage channels attributed to the moist climate
of the glacial period.—The Marble Canon platform.—The Marble Canon.—The Little Colorado
and its relations to the region through which it runs.—The Echo Cliff monocline.
of retardation in the

The

platform between the Echo Cliffs and the Kaibab

features which merit

a

brief notice.

possesses some

It is divisible into two subordinate

Upon the north of it is an extension of the Triassic formation,
a terrace of considerably greater altitude than the remaining
portion. The southern portion has for its surface the Carboniferous for¬
mation and contains the Marble Canon.
The Triassic portion has received
the name of the Paria Plateau, and the other has throughout this work
been called the Marble Canon platform.
The Paria Plateau presents some very instructive considerations in
connection with the recession of cliffs.
To appreciate them it is necessary
to glance at the structural, topographic, and stratigraphic relations.
An
examination of the map will show that this plateau consists of a mass of
Triassic beds which project far beyond the main line of the Vermilion Cliffs.
At the village of Paria the main front of the Vermilion Cliffs terminates
abruptly. The marginal line of the Triassic formation here changes its
trend, running southward along the Kaibab wall for a distance of nearly
30 miles; then swinging easterly in a large semicircle reaches the Colorado
at the head of the Marble Canon.
In this semicircle the Triassic Cliffs are
the exact counterpart in all respects of the main Vermilion Cliffs west of
Paria village; only the line of frontage has for some reason been left far
in advance of the main line.
It is to be remembered here that the I aria

portions.

which forms

Plateau is

separated from the Kaibab mass by the great

East Kaibab mono199

200

THE GRAND

CANTON DISTRICT.

cline, which throws down the former (or more properly raises the latter)
feet. The same relative downthrow affects in varying amount

about 3,500

the Marble Canon

platform.
projection of the Triassic terrace illustrates in a very
complete manner the effect of a fault upon the recession of cliffs when the
fault runs in a direction perpendicular to the trend of the cliffs. The cliff
extending away from the fault on the side of the downthrow has a dimin¬
ished rate of recession. On the side of the upthrow this rate of recession is
increased.
The two rates are of course considered relatively to each other.
This fact is of repeated application in the Grand Canon district, and indeed
throughout the Plateau country generally. Along the line of the terraces
the great faults run perpendicularly to the trend of the escarpments, and
the same effect is in each instance produced upon the rate of recession. A
case quite homologous to the Paria Plateau is seen at the north end of the
Sheavwits platform. Here the Hurricane fault throws up the Uinkaret
side, and depresses the Sheavwits side. Upon the sunken side the Trias and
Jura come in, occupying an area far in front of the main lines which termi¬
nate those formations upon the upthrow.
Still again at the base of the
Grand Wash fault, near the Colorado River, a patch of Trias is preserved
under circumstances quite similar.
This southward

The
is

merely

cause

a

of this retarded rate of recession is not far to seek.

In this

reasons.

of the general law that erosion is more rapid
high levels than upon low ones. It is so for two
region at least—and the same is true of most other regions

special

(ceteris paribus)

It

case

upon

—the rainfall increases with the altitude.

So also does the factor of

trans¬

For the higher the locality the greater are the slopes of the
from it, and the more rapidly do they remove the
debris produced by weathering.
But the more rapid removal of ddbris in
turn quickens the rate of weathering and disintegration, for the exposure of
the rocks becomes greater.
This law is repeated over and over again, and
its verity illustrated on every hand throughout the Plateau Province. Those
regions which have been elevated most have been most degraded by erosion;
and inversely.
The Paria Plateau also exhibits some interesting facts in relation to its

portation.
streams

which flow away

DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF THE PARI A PLATEAU.

201

drainage system.

We have noted upon the Kaibab that the intricate net¬
work of surface-ravines everywhere conforms to the structural and mean
topographical slopes. Whichever way the rocks dip, that way the ravines
run.
We also noted the very striking exception of those valleys, or con¬
tinuous, single line of valleys upon the summit, of which De Motte Park is
the most conspicuous; and we explained the considerations which led to
the inference that the parks are the vestiges of a very ancient river valley
existing before the development of the present structural features of the
plateau, while the other ravines are of very recent origin and posterior to
that structural development. In the Paria Plateau we have an analogous
state of affairs.
Its surface is covered with a network of drainage chan¬
nels, often becoming very sharp, narrow canons, cutting deeply into its
platform. Most of these conform to the structural slope of the plateau.
But there are two valleys which form conspicuous exceptions. One of
these is the Paria River, which heads in the great amphitheater of the same
name in the terraces between Table Cliff and the Paunsagunt.
This river
is everywhere independent of the structural slopes.
In general it runs
against them, but along the eastern limit of the Paria Plateau its course is
parallel to the strike of the strata. Into this river the entire drainage of the
plateau is gathered. Thus, while the Paria River is older than the structure
and quite independent of it, the small surface channels of the plateau are
quite dependent upon the structure, and no doubt are due to it. There is
one more drainage channel of ancient date and independent of the structure.
This is House Rock Valley, which lies along the base of the East Kaibab
monocline. There is a very slight northeasterly dip to the whole platform,
and against this dip both the Paria and House Rock valleys extend. The

ancient channel belonging to the same group
De Motte Park, the Toroweap, and
Queantoweap. For a long stretch of geological time it has been dry and
ceased to carry water; perhaps since the first establishment of an arid climate
in Pliocene time.
But although its course is now against the dip of the
strata it is inferred that it was not so originally, and that the displacements
are in part at least more recent than the epoch at which the river ceased to

latter is very

probably

an

of old tributaries of the Colorado as

flow and to corrade its

channel.

202

THE GRAND

In the

case

CANON DISTRICT.

of the ravines of the Kaibab

we saw some

reason

to

con¬

jecture that they had their origin during the glacial period. So, too, with
the surface channels of the Paria Plateau the same conjecture seems appli¬
cable. In this region the glacial period was not icy. No traces of glacial
action are discernible in the country round about until we reach the loftier
heights of the High Plateaus—9,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea. But
there is reason to believe that glacial time is here represented by a rainy
period coming in between the arid climate of the Pliocene and the arid
climate of the Quaternary. In truth the evidence of this is decisive. It
is therefore natural for us to look for just such traces of its former pres¬
ence as this network of canons, or as the ravines of the Kaibab.
For the
effect of a long-continued arid climate is to obliterate the smaller streams,
to increase the areas,

The return of

a

and diminish the number of subordinate watersheds.

moist climate would revive the minor channels.

But if

the arid climate had

prevailed for a long period, and if during its sway the
country had undergone differential vertical movements, the revived chan¬
nels would not necessarily occupy the precise places of their predecessors.
That would depend upon how deeply the original channels had been
engraved, how extensive or nearly complete had been their obliteration,
and how strongly marked had been the intervening vertical movements.
On the Kaibab and Paria plateaus these factors appear to have had such
values that the moist climate of the glacial period gave rise to networks of
channels, which were quite independent of any which may have existed
there in the Miocene.
On the Paria Plateau not

solitary channel carries a living stream
except the Paria River, which receives its supply of water from the much
loftier and moister region of the High Plateaus far to the northward. The
extinct channels flow into it, and have directions which are very plainly
determined by the general dip of the Paria table, which is towards the
a

northeast.
Wherever

turn in

the Plateau

Country the drainage is constantly
bringing up many interesting problems and suggestions, and happily also
supplies answers more or less complete to many questions. I do not know
of any other region where this subject is so fruitful or so entertaining. The
we

u. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

the marble

canon.

PL. XXXVI.

I

THE MABBLE C ASTON.

203

relations of the

drainage to the structure are so plain and so striking that
always arrested by it and the facilities for putting the facts
together in their normal sequence are unrivaled.
The Marble Canon platform presents but few considerations, and those
of the most patent kind. Like the Grand Canon platform, it consists of
the attention is

Carboniferous strata, with a considerable number of Permian remnants
scattered

it.

The

northward

dip of 50 to 100 feet per mile is
everywhere noticeable, and has the same relative importance, because of
the great distance over which it prevails. The great feature of the platform
is, of course, the Marble Canon. Mr. Holmes has given us a sort of bird'seye view of this chasm, as seen from the lofty heights of the Kaibab.
(Atlas Sheet No. XIX.) If the Grand Canon were not hard by, and if its
wholly incomparable magnitudes and grandeur did not belittle everything
with which we might think of comparing it, the Marble Canon might be
the theme of some enthusiastic description. Though far inferior to the
Grand Canon, it surpasses all others in the grandeur and power of those
over

features which

are

same

the exclusive attributes of

canon

scenery.

The Marble Canon

begins at the Echo Cliffs. Here the river is almost
country, its banks being only 200 to 300 feet high. It has just
emerged from the central mesas of the province through the Glen Canon.
Turning sharply to the southwest, the river begins at once to burrow into
the Carboniferous platform. The beds dip almost exactly up stream, so
that as the river falls, with its onward progress the crests of the walls abso¬
lutely rise. In fact, the progressive deepening of the gorge is due far more
to the rise of the strata than to the descent of the channel.
The declivity
of the channel is about seven and a half feet per mile, while the rise of the
in the open

strata is

that

an

nearly eight times

as

much; and yet it should be borne in mind

inclination of 1° is about

equivalent to

a

slope of 92 feet

per

mile,

dip of the beds is really less than 1°—an inclination so small
that the unaided eye finds difficulty in recognizing it. But as its effect
is cumulative it gives to the Marble Canon a depth of rather more than
3,600 feet at its lower end—a depth which it is very difficult to realize.
The canon is very simple in form, being a trough with walls, which are
so

that the

for the most

part nearly

vertical. The width is about double the depth,

204

THE GRAND

CASON DISTRICT.

From what we have seen of the Grand
conclude that the Marble Canon would be much more

though this ratio varies somewhat.
Canon

we

must

impressive if its width were five or six times the depth, instead of double.
Nothing resembling the great cloister buttes and temples is seen in the
Marble Canon. It is everywhere characterized by extreme simplicity. But
the enormous expanse of vertical rock-face when seen from below is very
impressive. Generally, in the deeper portions, the Red Wall limestone pre¬
sents those buttresses with vertical flutings and scorings which characterize
the same beds in the inner gorge at the Toroweap. It all looks very sol¬
emn, very architectural, and very imposing.
The only tributary which the Marble Canon receives is the Little Col¬
orado.
There are some lateral amphitheaters, but they do not set back into
the platform more than two or three miles from the river, and they cannot
be properly called side chasms.
But the Little Colorado is an important
tributary. It heads far to the southeastward among the lavas of the Great
Black Mesa of east-central Arizona. Its length is nearly 300 miles, and
its watershed proportionately great; yet it contributes to the Colorado
only a very small brook of water in the dry season. In flood time, how¬
ever, the volume is large, for not only is the watershed extensive, but it is
quite lofty on the whole, being from 7,000 to 8,000 feet over a large part
of it.

At such altitudes the rainfall in the wet

season

is considerable.

This

everywhere independent of the structural slopes. Its lower courses
nearly parallel to the principal structure lines. In the vicinity of the
Little Colorado the greatest structural feature is the Echo Cliff* monocline,
and this monocline is nearly parallel to the lower courses of the tributary.

stream is
are

But far to the southeast the main branch of the stream

crosses

the flexure

transversely, entering the ascending slope of the monocline. It soon be¬
comes apparent that this tributary had its course laid out long before the
existence of any of the great structural displacements, and that it is as old
as the Colorado itself.
Its origin goes back to the earliest Tertiary time
when the region first emerged from its lacustrine condition. No other sup¬
position seems capable of explaining the situation of the Little Colorado
and the independence of structural slopes which it betrays everywhere
along its course.

ECHO CLIFF MONOCLINE.

It
it is

seems

one

traverses

cline.

proper
of the most

the district

205

also to describe briefly the Echo Cliff monocline, since
important in that great series of displacements which
from south to north. Everywhere it is a true mono¬

It is known to extend

more

than

a

hundred miles south of the Colo¬

rado, and certainly reaches fifty miles north of the river.

Upon the flank
of the flexure the Permian Trias and Jura are upturned, forming lofty cliffs
of very irregular aspect.
Back of these the Cretaceous comes in as a series
of steps. The irregular character of the cliffs is due to the considerable
inclination of the strata, causing them to weather into sharp towers and
needles of very irregular form, instead of the systematic and regular pro¬
files which are generated where these beds are horizontal. The total down¬
throw of the monocline varies greatly from place to place, but along those
portions where it has been well observed the total displacement ranges from
3,500 to 4,000 feet. Its age is Tertiary, and probably very nearly coeval
with the East Kaibab monocline ; in other words, rather late Tertiary.
The proof of Tertiary age is conclusive, since the flexure bends the Creta¬
ceous beds wherever it approaches them and its northward continuation in¬
volves the Eocene.

CHAPTER

XII.

THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY.
Early Paleozoic conditions.—Silurian strata.—The great unconformity at the head of the

Grand Cafion

significance.—The "beginning of the Carboniferous.—Inferences as to the condition of the
region in Carboniferous time and during the Mesozoic.—Uniformity of conditions over great
areas.—Diversity of character in the beds considered in respect to vertical range.—Shallow
waters throughout the entire period of deposition.—The conditions in Cretaceous time.—Coal and
carbonaceous shales.—Constant position of the surface of deposition.—Paradoxical nature of
some of the problems presented.—Views concerning the mode of deposition in shallow waters of
and its

great area.—Relative distribution of land and water at the close of the Cretaceous.—Disturb¬
ances at the termination of the Mesozoic.—Unconformity of the Eocene and Cretaceous.—The
advent of Eocene time.—Change of waters from brackish to fresh.—Great extent of the Eocene
lakes and the causes of their creation.—The manner in which the lake of the Plateau Country
was determined and its basin isolated.—Wide extension of the uplifting movement in the west.—
Long persistence of the lakes.—Extent of Eocene deposits.—Origin of the plateau drainage

system.—Stability of position in the principal drainage channels.—The great erosion during late
Eocene time and during the Miocene.—Results accomplished at the close of the Miocene.—Gen¬
eral method of the process of denudation.—Origin of the present Grand Canon at the close of
the Miocene.—Changes of climate from moist to arid.—Condition of the district at the beginning
of the Pliocene.—Base level of erosion at that epoch.—Subsequent upheaval.—The development
of the faults.—Coincidence of the faults and basaltic eruptions with the periods of upheaval.—
Amount of uplift at this epoch.—Effect of the arid climate upon the topography.—The more
recent upheaval and further development of faults.—Second period of base level.—The evolution
of the Grand Canon.—Rapid excavation of the inner gorge.—The glacial period.—Its effects upon
the drainage channels.

We may now

attempt the somewhat difficult task of extracting from

foregoing facts the history of the Grand Canon district. Primarily, my
only its Tertiary history. But, as in
human affairs the events of any limited period are linked with those which
preceded them, so here the Tertiary history is rendered more intelligible by
reviewing whatever knowledge we may possess of the events which pre¬
pared the way for it. Prior to Tertiary time the records are very obscure,
and the conclusions we may draw concerning such remote events are very
few and of the most general nature, yet not without value.
Of the earlier Paleozoic conditions prevailing in the Plateau Province
we know as yet but little.
Already many perplexing problems have arisen
the

intention has been to reconstruct

206

PALEOZOIC HISTORY.

207

which will

require much study to solve, and their solutions promise to be
extremely difficult. "Within the boundaries of the province exposures of
rocks older than the middle Carboniferous are very few and far between.
Those which have received attention hitherto

are

confined to the Uinta

Mountains and the lowest

deeps of the Grand Canon. Limiting our atten¬
region, we find beneath that system of strata which we
have thus far treated as Carboniferous a great variety of beds which range
in age from the Archaean to the Devonian.
Throughout the Kaibab and
Sheavwits divisions we find the so-called Carboniferous resting sometimes
upon highly metamorphic schists of undoubted Archaean age, sometimes
upon the eroded edges of strata which have yielded Cambro-Silurian and
Silurian fossils. In a single instance in Kanab Canon Mr. Walcott found
in a similar situation a very limited exposure of beds bearing fossils of
Devonian age.
In general, the rocks classed as Carboniferous rest upon
the Archaean, while the older Paleozoic beds come in only at intervals.
The contact is always unconformable and usually in a high degree. The
horizontal Carboniferous beds appear to have been laid down upon the sur¬
face of a country which had been enormously eroded and afterwards sub¬
merged. In the Grand Canon this single fact is indicated to us throughout
the length of a long, narrow, and tortuous cut thousands of feet in depth.
But if we pass westward or southward, beyond the limits of the great Car¬
boniferous mass, we find a vast region where a similar state of facts is pre¬
sented. The Sierra country of central and western Arizona, of Nevada,
and western Utah shows remnants of the Carboniferous resting with great
tion to the latter

the Archaean.
XXXV) I have spoken
of the great unconformity displayed at the head of the Grand Canon.
Probably there is 110 instance to be found in the world where an uncon¬
formity is revealed upon such a magnificent scale, and certainly none amid
such impressive surroundings. It is all the more suggestive because it is
the type and symbol of a great fact which prevails over a region large
enough for an empire. It assures us that in early Silurian time this region
received enormous deposits of detritus which were faulted and flexed; that
they were afterwards raised above the waters with the accompaniment of
unconformity upon older Paleozoic rocks and upon
In the chapter on the Kaibab (Chap. IX, PI.

208

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

volcanic action;

that they

ravaged by an erosion commensurate with
grander examples of that process which are proven to have occurred in
much later stages of the world's history; and that the region was again
submerged.
With the Carboniferous began that long eraof deposition which extended
without any real break into Tertiary time.
The record of each period
seems to be
complete in the strata, and the deposition was apparently con¬
tinuous over the area of the Plateau Province taken as a whole, though
here and there we may detect evidence of a brief interruption in some
small areas.
There are some general facts connected with this process of
accumulation of strata which merit special notice.
(1.) The strata of each and every age were remarkably uniform over
very large areas, and were deposited very nearly horizontally. In the in¬
terior spaces of the province we never find rapid increments or decrements
of the strata. They do indeed vary in thickness, but they vary in the most
gradual manner. Around the old shore lines, however, which form the
present borders of the Plateau Country, we find the volumes of the strata
much larger than elsewhere. But as we depart from them towards the
heart of the province, we observe, in the course of two or three leagues, a
were

the

considerable diminution in their
tion is

slow that

thickness, and thenceforward the

discover it

attenua¬

only by comparing correlative sections
many leagues apart.
Very analogous is the constancy of lithological char¬
acters.
As we trace the individual beds from place to place, we find their
composition to be as persistent as their thickness. The sandstone of a given
horizon is always and everywhere a sandstone, the limestone a limestone,
the shale a shale. Even the minuter structure of the beds is
similarly main¬
tained, and features which are almost abnormal are equally constant. The
Jurassic and Triassic sandstones are everywhere cross-bedded after their
own marvelous fashion.
The singular cherty limestones at the summit of
the Carboniferous are quite alike on the brink of the Grand Canon, at the
junction of the Grand and Green rivers, and in the borders of the great
Black Mesa at the south. The curious Shinarump conglomerate is the same
in Pine Valley Mountains, in the terrace at
Kanab, at the base of the Echo
Cliffs, and in the Land of the Standing Rocks. The lower Triassic shales
so

we

LITHOLOGIC CHARACTERS OF THE STRATA.

209

and upper

Permian shales, with their gorgeous belts of richest colors and
ripple-marks, and with their silicified forests, have hardly varied a

beautiful
band

or

western

a

tint from the brink of the Sheavwits to the

Colorado.

Still there

pagoda-buttes of
The great Jurassic white

exceptions.
southeast, and we are in doubt, at
present, whether it failed of deposition or is blended with the Trias. Other
members might be mentioned which undergo slow changes from
place to
place. But such changes are always very gradual. Nowhere have we
found thus far what may be called local deposits, or such as are restricted to
are

sandstone fades out from northwest to

a narrow

belt

or

contracted

All of these strata

area.

seem

to

have been

the base of the Carboniferous has

beneath, which

a

deposited horizontally.

contact

Even

with unconformable rocks

but slightly roughened by hills and ridges. In the
Canon, while the great body of Carbonifer¬
horizontal, we may observe near the brink of the inner gorge
was

Kaibab division of the Grand
ous

strata

was

few bosses of Silurian strata

rising higher than the hard quartzitic sand¬
stone which forms the base of the Carboniferous.
These are Paleozoic
hills, which were buried by the growing mass of sediment But they are of
insignificant mass, rarely exceeding two or three hundred feet in height, and
a

to have ruffled the parallelism of the sandstones and lime¬
of the massive Red Wall group above them.

do not appear
stones

(2.) Another consideration is as follows: as we pass vertically from
one formation to another in the geological series, we observe the same
diversity of lithological characters as is found in other regions. The lime¬
stones occur chiefly in the lower Carboniferous, and in very great
force.

At the summit of the Carboniferous also are 700 to 800

feet of cal¬

limestones are rare, and con¬
very small portion of the volume. By far the greater part of
the entire stratigraphic column is sandstone, and the various members of
this class show great diversity of texture and composition.
Some are
excessively hard adamantine quartzites, very many are common sandstones
in massy beds.
By small gradations these pass into sandy shales, contain¬
ing more or less argillite, and such shales form a large proportion of the
bulk of the Permian and Trias. These shales in turn pass into marly beds,
careous

strata.

stitute but

a

But in the Mesozoic system

210

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

which have vast thickness in the Cretaceous and form
tion of the Eocene.

a

considerable por¬

Beds of gypsum are

also frequent, forming thin separ¬
ating layers in the slialy divisions, and sulphate of lime is a very important
ingredient of the arenaceous strata from the base of the Carboniferous to
the summit of the Jurassic.

Besides its

occurrence

in distinct bands of

nearly pure gypsum, it plays the part of a cement in the sand rock, and is
also richly disseminated in the form of selenite in the sandy shales. On the
other hand, there is a marked absence of such rocks as clay-slate. The slaty
structure and composition lias not hitherto been observed anywhere, so far
as I know, and
though argillaceous rocks are very voluminous in the Cre¬
taceous they are charged with calcareous matter, and are
very distinct from
the ordinary clay-slates of the Appalachians.
Thus it will be noted that while the strata are remarkably homogeneous
in their horizontal extensions, they are very heterogeneous in vertical
range
And this heterogeneity is found not only in the chemical constitu¬
ents, but also in the texture and in the mechanical properties of hardness,
compactness, and solubility. This consideration is an important one, since,
upon it depends the result which is obtained by the attack of the eroding
elements—the achitecture of the cliffs and profiles.
(3.) Another general fact of importance is, that during the Mesozoic
ages the surface of deposition was maintained very nearly at sea-level
throughout the entire province. With regard to the Carboniferous strata it
does not yet appear that the same was true.
From such meager knowledge
as we
possess, there may be some reason for the opinion that the Carbonifer¬
ous sea had a considerably greater depth during the earlier and middle
portions of that age than during the later portion. The lower Carbonif¬
erous strata (Red Wall group) consist
chiefly of limestones, and the over-:
lying lower Aubrey group corresponding to the coal measures is a series of
sandstones of exceedingly fine texture and often gypsiferous. There is a
notable absence in these beds of signs of very shallow water, such as ripple
marks, cross-bedding, coarse clastic material, and littoral remains, organic
or otherwise.
The fauna, as usual, is an unsafe guide, and must be regarded
as non-committal.
On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that
the depth was at all profound. It is rather by contrasting the total absence

SHALLOWNESS OF THE MESOZOIC SEA.

of the

signs of

very

it in the Mesozoic and

shallow water with the
Permian, that we

are

presence

211

of decisive signs of

drawn to the inference of some¬

greater marine depths in the early and middle Carboniferous.

what

In the upper

Aubrey series we come upon some indications of shallow
water, and from the base of the Permian upwards these are ever present.
In the Permian, Trias, and Jura we find instances of those peculiar uncon¬
formities by erosion without any unconformity of dip in the beds. Perhaps
the most widely spread occurrence of this kind is the contact of the sum¬
mit of the Permian with the Shinarump conglomerate which forms the base
of the Trias. Wherever this horizon is exposed this unconformity is gener¬
ally manifest. Between the base of the Permian and the summit of the
a

and there is

similar instance in the lower Trias.

a

localities,
It has also been detected

similar relation has been observed in

Carboniferous

between the Trias and

numerous

Jura, and between the Jura and Cretaceous.

We

tempted to ask here, whether such unconformities, without the slightest
trace of permanent displacement in the strata, may not have been due to
oscillations in the regional sea-level rather than to movements of the
are

land?

striking features of the lower Trias is the occurrence
of a vast abundance of silicified wood. It is not uncommon to find large
tree trunks imbedded in these shales in good preservation.
They are also
One of the

more

fragmental condition among the pebbles of the Shinarump con¬
glomerate. These petrifactions are found over a wide extent of country
from the Sheavwits Plateau along the front of the Vermilion Cliffs to the
Paria, and again far to the northward at the base of Thousand Lake
Mountain in the district of the High Plateaus.
These occurrences and others, which will soon be specified, point de¬

found in

a

cisively to the inference that during the great era of accumulation, lasting
closing stages of the Carboniferous to the Eocene, the surface of
deposition never varied far from sea-level, and now and then the waters
retreated from it, but only for very brief periods. On the whole the depo¬
from the

proceeded almost continuously. It necessarily follows that in the
long run the underlying beds sank deeper and deeper as the newer ones
were piled upon them.
This fact is but a repetition of what is found in
other regions where the deposition has been very heavy.
The strata subsition

212

THE GRAND

sided

CANON DISTRICT.

rapidly as tliey were formed. It was true of the Appalachians, of
the Pacific coast, of western and central Europe, and I think the same is
true of all the areas of great deposition throughout the West.
as

When

reach the Cretaceous age we

find that

little

light

may

he thrown upon the physical condition of the province, though much
than might be wished.
So large are the areas where this series is the

less

we

a

more

sur¬

face of the country, and so readily does the mind restore it to the
places
from which it has been denuded, that we feel almost as if we saw this
great
formation in its entirety. Wherever we turn in the Plateau Province the
Cretaceous tells

the

All over its extent it is a lignitic and
coal-bearing formation. We find coal or carbonaceous shales from the base
of the series to the summit. Very abundant also are the remains of land
plants in recognizable fossils, and these fossils occur not only in the carbon¬
aceous
layers but in the sand-rock and marls as mere casts or impressions
of wood and leaves. Intercalating with these are many calcareous
layers
which yield marine mollusca in the lower and middle Cretaceous, and brack¬
ish water mollusca in the upper Cretaceous
In a word, the parallelism,
so far as
physical and organic conditions are concerned, between the Creta¬
ceous of the Plateau
Country and the Carboniferous coal measures of En¬
gland, Pennsylvania, and Nova Scotia, seems perfect. What the Carbon¬
iferous age was to the Appalachian region, such was the Cretaceous
age to
the great mountain region of the West.
A careful scrutiny of the facts presented
by the Cretaceous strata of
the Plateau Country brings up before us some very curious and
perplexing
problems. No one would hesitate to say that during the accumulation of
these strata the surface of deposition must have been
very nearly at mean
sea-level. Yet the Cretaceous system varies from 3,500 to 8,000 feet in
thickness in different parts of the province. The continuous area which
they covered south of the Uintas surely exceeds 100,000 square miles, in
which not a single mountain chain, not a hill, not even a
perceptible undu¬
us

same

story.

lation of the strata is known to have then existed.*
*

There

It

seems

at

considerable areas of which we have but little
knowledge, but
greater part of the province well enough to he sure that within the limits of observation
of the text holds rigorously. Very probably it holds good throughout the province.
are some

first very
we

know the

the inference

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

GRAND CAIVON DISTRICT.

HEAD OF THE

GRAND CANON.

PL. XXXVII.

111

xa
x

di
'

yiD.j
si
i

a

non
ov
a
n

yv
o

sai
n
i

in a

y

h

ilj

aa

i3Q
y3di
n

o
ni
v

9nMAH'

1

109*OV

1.0

0

9'
lf

SHALLOWNESS OF THE MESOZOIC SEA.

difficult to understand how
in such shallow waters and
comes

so

vast

over so

considerably greater when

accumulated at different horizons

everywhere

a mass

wide
we

213

of strata could have accumulated
an

area.

And the

difficulty he-

recall the fact that coal

was

throughout the entire province.

also

If the

shallow and if notable portions of its area were
sufficiently to permit the growth of land vegeta¬
tion, it would seem difficult to account for the transportation and diffusion
of so large a mass of sedimentary materials over the entire
expanse.
Pos¬
sibly some of the difficulties will be lightened by the following suggestions.
Although to the eye the strata show no marked inclinations excepting
such as we know have been produced in later periods, still there may have
been, and probably were, very feeble slopes too small to be detected by the
eye, and these feeble slopes if continued for any great distance would carry
the surface down hundreds of feet. A slope of one degree means a differ¬
sea were

so

raised above the surface

ence
no

of level of

a

thousand feet in less than eleven miles.

Hence there is

difficulty in imagining that while some tracts were exposed just above
level, there were still larger ones where there may have been more

the water
than

a

hundred fathoms of water.

provided the shallowness be not
more

But it should

very

seem

that shallow water,

extreme, would tend to a wider and
run off into great

uniform distribution of sediments than waters which

depths. The currents having less depth of cross-section would move more
rapidly and constantly, while currents moving outward into deeper water lose
velocity and transporting power. So far, then, is the shallowness of the
Plateau sea from being an obstacle to our comprehension of the state of
facts which the region presents, that it may be the key to the mystery. One
of the most striking facts to be explained is the persistency of lithological
characters over large areas and the very slight and gradual variations in the
masses of strata from place to place.
If these sediments had been brought
down by rivers to a shore from which the waters steadily and rather rapidly
deepened seawards, we might have looked for enormous masses of littoral
beds which rapidly thinned out as they receded from the shores; for the
moving currents might be expected to lose themselves in the deepening
water.

But with shallow waters,

whether from

whatsoever currents might be

tides, from large rivers, from oceanic

generated

drift, or from prevailing

THE GRAND CATION DISTRICT.

214
winds—would

persist as far as the depths remained shallow. Some such
explanation as this, if it be tenable, would greatly assist us in explaining
the wide diffusion of cross-bedding displayed in the Jura-Trias.
It is
generally accepted as an explanation for ripple marks that they are formed
in shallow and moving water, and ripple marks are almost as abundant here
as
cross-bedding.
It would be extremely interesting to know what was the relative distri¬
bution of land and water over the western part of our continent in the
closing periods of the Cretaceous. In a general way we know that the
greater portion of the West was submerged. We also know that consider¬
able land areas existed there.
Sometimes we can point with confidence to
a
particular area and assert that it was land in Cretaceous time, but as a
rule we are in doubt about the land areas. The largest piece of terra firma
which is known was the Great Basin area, and even here we are unable to
fix more than a small part of its shore line.
We are reasonably confident
that some and perhaps most of the great mountain platforms of the eastern
ranges were above the waters with submerged valleys between them.
We
also know, and the fact is a momentous one, that nearly the whole of the
vast region of the West corresponded in its physical condition to what we
have inferred for the Cretaceous age of the Plateau Country.
But detailed
knowledge of the geography of the land areas in that age is exceedingly
meager.
Perhaps, however, we may make some very general statements
which

are

not

without value.

We cannot
from the lower

as

yet affirm confidently that the Cretaceous ocean stretched

Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean; but the facts now known
oceans were separated in that age the separation

indicate that if the two

travel from the Mississippi
Pacific, between the thirty-fourth and thirty-seventh parallels, without
being at any time more than fifty miles distant from some known mass of
Cretaceous beds. If some gaps in existing knowledge could be filled up,
we might be able to close up the vacant spaces in the distribution of the
Cretaceous, and say that strata of that age once stretched continuously
between the termini just mentioned.
Indeed the only gap of importance

was

to

only by

a very narrow

land

area.

We

can

the

is in the extreme southern part

of Nevada and southern California.

Every

POST-CRETACEOUS DISTURBANCES.

indication

have raises

215

presumption in favor of this complete con¬
nection; but it is unnecessary to speculate when the facts can be learned
we now

a

by observation.
North and south of this
an arm

areas

of the Cretaceous

sea

of considerable extent.

Great Basin; the southern

unexplored locality, where it is supposed that
reached out to join the Pacific, there lay land
The northern

was

the old mainland of the

the Arizona land, of which such frequent

mention has been made in this work.

than the southern.

was

The northern

area was

much

larger

It still remains

possible that the two were one continu¬
joined by an isthmus, or that the Arizona mass was a long Malacca¬
like peninsula projecting southeastward from the former.
At the close of the Cretaceous important vertical movements were
inaugurated, which finally revolutionized the physical condition of the
region. Around the borders of the Plateau Province some important flex¬
ures were generated at this
epoch, and portions were uplifted sufficiently to
undergo a large amount of denudation. Perhaps the most striking instance
of this is the one described in the work on the High Plateaus extending
from the eastern and southern flanks of the Aquarius southward to the
ous area

Colorado.

This

area

consists of Jura-Trias strata, from which the Creta¬

had been eroded before the

deposition of the Tertiary. Beneath the
lava-cap of the Aquarius the lower Eocene may be observed resting upon
the Jurassic sandstone, and a little further westward it lies across the
basset edges of the Cretaceous. Southeastward from the Aquarius and
along the course of the Escalante River the same relation is inferred
to have existed, but the great erosion has swept everything bare down to
the Jura-Trias, and the evidence of the extension of the Eocene here is
ceous

mainly indirect. But the two monoclines are in full view, between which the
Escalante platform was hoisted, and their age is unqdestionably pre-Tertiary
and post-Cretaceous. These relations are repeated in many other localities,
and they indicate to us very decidedly that the Cretaceous closed amid im¬
portant disturbances.
Still the deposition of strata was not yet ended. It went forward with
seemingly undiminished rapidity, but under circumstances somewhat differ¬
ent from those hitherto prevailing.
Soon after the advent of the Eocene

216

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

the waters became

until they disappeared altogether.
change was not limited to the Plateau Country, but appears to have
been general over the greater part of the western mountain region.
In
truth, I know of no more impressive and surprising fact in western geology
fresh, and remained

so

This

than the well-attested observation that most of that

by fresh-water lakes, and that the
trial condition

seems

to have been

area

from the marine to the terres¬
through an intermediate lacustrine con¬
passage

The marvel is not in the fact that here and there

dition.

has been covered

we

find the

ves¬

tiges of a great lake, but that we find those vestiges everywhere. The
whole region, with the exception of the mountain platforms and pre-exist¬
ing mainlands, has passed through this lacustrine stage.
When we take account of the peculiar circumstances our surprise may
diminish in some measure, and the facts thus described may seem natural
enough. The uplifting of the western region was a movement which acted
unequally over the continent. Some portions were raised more than others.
It is also to be considered that some of the inequalities of the surface ex¬
isted before this general uplifting began. The result of this inequality must
necessarily have been the production of depressed basins and intervening
watersheds.

Whether these basins would be

completely closed,

so as to

form great lakes, or whether they should have drainage freely to the ocean,
would depend of course upon the relations of the new axes of displacement
to the older topography.
If the new displacements merely accent and in¬
crease

the older features,
But if the

we

should hardly look for the formation of lake

marked degree independ¬
and if their axes lie transverse or oblique to the older
axes, the formation of lake-basins in a newly emerging country is inevita¬
ble ; and if the area affected be very extensive the chances are that the
basins will be either very large or very numerous—in any event covering
the greater part of the area.
Without speculating as to the cause, it may
be laid down as a general fact that the broader displacements of the West
which began in early Tertiary time are quite independent of the older
topographies, and the production of lake-basins by the new emergence
basins.
ent

new

displacements

are

in

any

of the old ones,

seems a

necessary consequence.

It is

apparent in any event that the Plateau Country formed

one con-

ORIGIN OF THE PLATEAU LAKE.

tinuous lake south of the Uinta Mountains.

217

The vertical movements which

followed the close of Cretaceous time shut it off from

access

to the

sea.

If

liberty to go on as we have done and to draw broad inferences
drainage channels concerning the mode of evolution, we can very
quickly frame a theory of the distribution of those vertical movements.
Thus we know that during Cretaceous time the Plateau area was wide open
we are

at

from the

to

the

ocean

towards the southeast, or towards the Gulf of Mexico.

For

the Cretaceous system
New Mexico and into

stretches from the heart of the province clear across
Texas, with no other interruptions than some short
mountain ranges, (themselves largely composed of Cretaceous strata), and
such gaps as have very plainly been produced by Tertiary erosion. Let
us assume that at the beginning of the Eocene, or very soon thereafter, the
western and northwestern part of New Mexico was uplifted slightly more
than regions either east or west of it; the axis of elevation trending nearly
north and south.

The effect would have been to make

an

almost, if not

completely, closed basin of the Plateau Country.
With this hypothesis we are able to frame a very simple and intelligi¬
ble account of the manner in which the Plateau Province finally was isolated
in Eocene time from the ocean. In truth, three-fourths or more of its bound¬
ary had been marked out long before, perhaps as far back as the begin¬
ning of the Trias; and in the following way. On the northwest lay the
Mesozoic mainland, now forming the Great Basin area. In some form or
other the Wasatch was then in existence as a mountain range. So, also,
the Uinta chain on the north of the province then existed, but probably did
not project so far eastward as at present, and left a gap in the boundary
along the course of the Green River. On the northeastern side of the basin
some of the great Park ranges of Colorado were standing, though the
sea may have washed their bases.
But to the southeast the area was wide
open to the Cretaceous ocean. On the southwest and south lay the Arizona
mainland so often spoken of in this work. Whether this mainland was con¬
tinuous with the Great Basin mainland we do not know as yet, nor is it
material

just here.

If,

the first effort of the elevating force which has
with more effect upon the eastern than upon
basin, the result would have been to make this basin
now,

raised the continent had acted
the western side of the

218
a

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

land-locked

area

like the Euxine.

Its outlet would

necessarily have been

along the lower courses of the Colorado to the Gulf of California, or, per¬
haps, straight westward to the Pacific.
Having thus obtained a consistent view of the manner in which the
great Eocene lake of the Plateau Province may have originated, it now
remains to follow out such changes as are indicated in its subsequent his¬
tory. It should seem that the passage from the brackish water to the fresh
water condition was quite sudden, and as the same is true of
widely ex¬
tended areas outside of this region, we are apparently obliged to assume that
the movement of which this was a result affected the entire western portion
of the

continent, and that it

was one

of elevation.

A considerable number

of

large lakes being formed, the next process was the desiccation of these
lakes and the evolution of river systems. So long as the region occupied a
low altitude this process, we may infer, would be very protracted. Before a

large lake can be drained its outlet must be cut down. But several causes in
the present instance would combine to render this action very slow and
feeble. The elevation being small, the declivity and consequent corrasive
power at the outlet must be correspondingly small. Moreover, the waters
issuing from a large lake contain little or no sediment; and sediments—
sand, grit, &c.—are the tools with which rivers chiefly work in corrading
their beds. Corrasion by clear water is an exceedingly slow process.
It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the lakes
produced by the
first action of the elevating forces persisted for a very long time. This
per¬
sistence is a general feature of the Eocene lakes of the West.
The Plateau
lake seems to have been one of the largest and most enduring, for it did
not wholly vanish until the close of the Eocene.
The volume of sediment
accumulated upon its bottom was very large, ranging from 1,200 to more
than 5,000 feet in thickness, and these deposits represent Eocene time ex¬
clusively. Here we are confronted by the same paradoxes as those we en¬
countered in viewing the Cretaceous condition of the region : a tract which
is rising yet sinking; a basin which is shallow, which receives
great thick¬
ness of deposits, and
yet is never full.
At length we detect evidence of the gradual cessation of
deposit and
of the progressive upheaval of the country. In the
chapter which treats

ORIGIN OF THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM.

of the terraces

219

noted the fact that in the southern

portion of the lake
deposited, while in the northern portion
around the Uintas the whole Eocene formation is present. Whence we
infer that the final desiccation of the lake began in its southern or south¬
western portions, and that the lake shrank away very
slowly towards the
north, finally disappearing at the base of the Uintas at the close of Eocene
basin

we

only the lower Eocene

was

time.

We must also infer that upon

the floor of this basin, as it emerged, a
drainage system was laid out. Such a drainage system would necessarily
conform to the slopes of the country then existing. Taking the supposition
already made, that the uplift was somewhat greater upon the eastern than
upon the western side of the province, the configuration of the principal
drainage channels would be very much like that now existing. The trunk
channel would flow southwestward and westward, while the tributaries
would enter it on either hand very much as the larger and older tributaries
now do.
The affluents on the south side are the San Juan, the Little Colo¬
rado, and Cataract Creek, which seem to be due to just such an original
surface. On the north side of the Colorado the arrangement of the tribu¬
taries also seems to conform to the assumption.
On this side the later
movements of the strata have been such that the prevailing courses of the
streams are almost always against the dips.
But when we restore these

displacements and deduce from them as nearly as we may the original
conformation of the country, the positions of the tributaries at once become
natural and easy of explanation.
The argument here adopted concerning the origin of the drainage sys¬
tem affords little scope for discussion.
Rivers originated somehow. It
seems almost a truism to say that they originated with the land itself, and
that their courses were, in the first instance, determined by the slopes of
the newly emerged land surface. No doubt there are many causes which
may have changed the courses of rivers, and in the subsequent changes of
position the original arrangement may have been lost and left no intelligible
trace.
On the other hand, there are certain conditions under which we may
look for the highest degree of stability in the positions of drainage chan¬
nels, and when we find such conditions to have prevailed continuously the

220

THE GRAND

CAftON DISTRICT.

question of origin becomes at once important, for it indicates to us an initial
configuration of the surface, which must be taken account of and never
violated in all subsequent discussion.
All inferences or speculations con¬
cerning later displacements and many other groups of facts must be kept
in strict subordination to it.

The Plateau

Country is one in which the conditions have been remark¬
ably favorable to the stability of the larger drainage channels. On the
other hand, it has been singularly unfavorable to the stability of smaller or
local drainage channels.
The Colorado and its larger tributaries—those
tributaries which head in the highlands around the border of the province—
exhibit everywhere incontestible evidence that they are flowing
to-day
just where they flowed in Eocene time. But the smaller tributaries are
wanting altogether in some large tracts, and where they do exist they
usually disclose the fact that they are of very recent origin and have been
determined by surface conditions of recent establishment. In the remainder
of this discussion these facts

assume

great importance.

With the final desiccation of the Grand Canon district

erosion, which has

began the great

ceased to operate down to the present time.

Con¬
cerning the details of that process we know but little, and we can only
guess at its general character during the earlier stages.
Erosion is here
associated with a large amount of uplifting, and we may conjecture that as
the uplifting went on the inequalities produced by erosion became greater
and greater, the valleys grew deeper, and the intervening mesas stood in
higher relief. This is merely an application of the general law that the
higher the country the more deeply is it engraved by erosion and the
greater are its sculptured reliefs. Much, however, must depend upon
climate.
But the Eocene climate of the West, so far as it is indicated
by
the strata and organic remains of that age, was moist and subtropical, and
presumably the climate of the Grand Canon district was similar.
During the latter part of Eocene time the degrading forces no doubt
made great progress in destroying and removing the Mesozoic
deposits,
which I have shown originally covered the region. We cannot, however,
in this district find any epoch separating the later Eocene from the Miocene.
To all intents and purposes they formed here a single
age.
From the
never

PERIOD OP THE GREAT DENUDATION.

time when the great

erosion

be

221

begun until it reached a certain stage (to
single detail can be pointed to beyond the

was

spoken of speedily) not a
principal facts of elevation and erosion. We are, so to speak, passing a
long interval of time in the dark. We must, therefore, stride at once from
the middle Eocene to an epoch which
may be provisionally fixed at the
close of the Miocene.
From this epoch looking backward the total
change
wrought upon the region up to that time breaks into view. But we know
only the beginning and the end. The intermediate stages are discerned
only by the imagination. Yet I am tempted here to view this period in a
way which may be in some measure speculative, though not wholly so.
Some deductions may be made from established principles
governing
erosion which may fairly claim to be something more than mere specula¬
tion.
At the close of the

Miocene,

thereabout, the greater part of the
denudation of the Mesozoic should have been accomplished, and it is worth
while to inquire in what manner this work may have been done. In the
fourth chapter of this book I have spoken of the general fact that the
attack of erosion is directed chiefly against the edges of the strata and the
steeper slopes, and operates but feebly upon flat surfaces. The entering
cuts are made by the corrading streams.
The 'whole region had, during
the long interval of Eocene and Miocene time, undergone a great amount
of uplifting, and this progressive movement itself constitutes a condition
highly favorable to corrasion; for the higher the country rises the greater
become the declivities of the streams, and of those factors which determine
or

corrade the most potent

by far is declivity. While the coun¬
try rises, therefore, the streams are making the reliefs greater—are creating
larger surfaces of edgewise exposure and longer and steeper slopes. Thus,
every advantage is given the agents of erosion.
The area thus exposed to rapid denudation was a very large one, and
the corrasion of streams apparently went on over its entire expanse, without
any very great local variations of amount, except perhaps near the borders
of the watershed. While the normal method of decay is expressed in the
a

stream to

must not suppose

that single and comparatively

straight lines of cliffs stretched across the

whole region and slowly wasted

recession of

cliffs,

we

THE GRAND

222

CAJfON DISTRICT.

We should rather conceive of the

backwards.

platforms

as

being cut by

a

labyrinth of drainage channels, ramifying over their entire expanse, and
as being attacked within and without, and all around—as a great conflagra¬
tion spreads through every square, street, and alley of a city.
A state of
affairs quite similar to that suggested here seems to prevail at the present
time in the interior spaces of the Plateau Province.
The drainage basins
of the Escalante River, of the San Juan, and indeed of that entire part of
the Colorado which reaches from the junction of the Grand and Green to
the head of Marble Canon, are wonderfully dissected by countless canons,
which I am confident were in existence at this very epoch, though they
have since been greatly deepened and otherwise modified.
It may also be of interest to inquire whether it is probable that canons,
architectural cliffs, buttes, and mesas existed in the Miocene, similar to
those now occurring. The answer to this must be largely conjectural, but
it seems to me that the probabilities are against such a topography.
The
present features of the region are no doubt favored greatly by an arid cli¬
mate.
Still we know that canons and cliffs may be generated in moist
climates.
But under a moist climate, other circumstances and conditions

exceptional nature to produce such features, and even if
produced, they are evanescent. An arid climate not only tends to produce,

must be

of

a

very

Under a moist climate the tendency is
normal forms. Further than this it seems useless to

but also tends to maintain
to

reduce them to

them.

speculate.
The first indications of

specialized events

are

associated with the

beginning of the present Grand Canon* About the time that the river
began to cut into the Carboniferous strata, some important physical changes
in the condition of the region took place, which have left their imprints
upon the topography.
The climate appears to have changed from moist to
arid. In preceding chapters we have noted particular instances where this
change manifests itself in the drying up of lateral streams. Perhaps the
I use the term upresent Grand Canon" to designate the state of the canon at the present time
Carboniferous, in contradistinction to the more ancient state of the valley. All through this
work the idea is kept in view that this valley in earlier times lay within Mesozoic strata, which have
been swept away from the vicinity of the river, and now appear only in the terraces, fifty miles or more
*

in the

to the northward,

CLIMATAL CONDITIONS AND CHANGES.
most

instructive

number of others

one
are

is De Motte

still

Park,

distinguishable.

on

the Kaibab.

223
A considerable

These indicate that

as

the Colo¬

rado

began to sink into the Carboniferous strata, some cause dried up their
very fountains, and they ceased to flow.
No explanation seems at all
adequate except the advent of an arid climate. If, then, we could fix the
period at which this change of climate occurred, we should have strongpresumptive reasons for selecting the same period as the one in which the
present Grand Canon originated.
We know that the Miocene climate of the West

was

moist and sub¬

tropical. This is indicated by the great extent of fresh-water lakes in some
portions of the West, their abundant vegetable remains, and the exuberance
of land life.

But the remnants of Pliocene time

usually of a different
proofs of the arid character
of that age, and it is equally evident throughout the Plateau
Country that
the Pliocene climate was in the main very much like the
present. We can¬
not, it is true, correlate with precision any definite boundary between Mio¬
cene and Pliocene; but, with no unreasonable
latitude, I think we may
still say that the Miocene climate of the Plateaus was a moist climate, while
character.

In the Great Basin

the Pliocene

was

we

are

have many

arid, and that the transition from

one

climate to the other

occurred near the close of the former age or near the beginning of the latter.
At the epoch when the cutting of the present Grand Canon began, no
doubt the district at

large presented a very different aspect from the mod¬
of the denudation of the Mesozoic had
been accomplished, there were some important remnants still left which
have been nearly or quite demolished in still more recent times.
The
basalts of the Uinkaret and Sheavwits have preserved some extensive Per¬
mian outliers, and even these must have shrunken greatly by the waste of
erosion during the long period occupied in the excavation of the Grand
Canon. Although the basalts which cap Mounts Logan and Trumbull are
certainly very ancient, and are older than the faults—or at least older than
a
great part of the faulting movements—there is no assurance that they are
as old as the
origin of the present canon. Still I do not doubt that they go
back nearly as far, and they are certainly much more ancient than the inner
gorge at the Toroweap. At the time of their outpour large masses of Peiern one.

While the greater part

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

224
mian strata
nants

These are not limited
the Uinkaret, but we find the summit

overspread the region.

described

on

similarly protected by basalt in

many

to the few rem¬
of the Permian

widely separated localities.

the Red Butte south of the Kaibab division of the canon has a
which

seems

to be about as

ancient

as

that of Logan.

Thus

basaltic

cap

In the San Fran¬

be found remnants of the same formation protected
by lavas, though our knowledge is not yet sufficient to give us any opinion
as to how great an antiquity should be assigned to those eruptions.
No
doubt they are Tertiary, but whether Miocene or Pliocene is unknown. In
the valley of the Little Colorado some Permian masses have been similarly
protected by* basalt and still reveal nearly or quite the entire series. The
Sheavwits Plateau contains these remnants with basaltic coverings more
abundantly and upon a larger scale than any other plateau. Thus there is
a
general accord of testimony that at the period of the older basaltic erup¬
tions very large bodies of Permian strata lay upon the Carboniferous plat¬
form.
In truth, it seems as if the summit of the Permian then constituted
the surface of the country, just as the summit of the Carboniferous does now.
The fact that the older basalts wherever found rest upon the same geological
horizon, viz, the summit of the Permian, suggests to us the further inference
that the region near the river was then flat and destitute of deep canons and
valleys, such as now exist there, and, therefore, destitute of great hills, buttes,
or mesas.
The meaning of this is a base-level of erosion. The rivers could
not corrade, because they had reached for the time being their limiting depth
in the strata.
The work of erosion would then be confined to leveling the
sculptural inequalities without the power to produce new ones or to augment
the relief of old ones.* This, it is true, looks at first like drawing a very
broad and rather remote inference from a very slender basis, and would not
be justified at all if it were not in general harmony with a wide range of
facts.
Many facts take form and coherence around it which would other¬
wise seem mysterious.
Let us illustrate.
The condition of base-level is one in which the rivers of a region can¬
not corrade.
As a general rule it arises from the rivers having cut down so
low that their transporting power is fully occupied, even to repletion. This, in
cisco Mountains may

*

For

a

brief

exposition of the general idea of

a

base-level

see

the concluding part of Chapter IV.

ELEVATION AND DENUDATION.

225

turn, involves the correlative fact that no

elevating force has acted upon the
region for a long period of time * For the most part base-levels are preva¬
lent during a cessation of the uplifting force. The recurrence of upheaval
terminates the condition of base-level.

increased, their

The declivities of the

streams

are

augmented, and their corrasive power renewed.
New features are then carved out of the topography, or older ones are em¬
bossed in higher relief. A period of upheaval, then, is one in which the
energy

sculptural features of the land are generated and increased; a period of
quiescence or cessation of vertical movement is one in which these features
are obliterated.f
Now, in trying to form some conception of the process by
which the great denudation of the Mesozoic was accomplished, we may
suppose that the uplifting of the region went on (1) either at a constant or
a
slightly varying rate, or (2) through alternating periods of activity and
quiescence. The results would be widely contrasted in the two cases. The
former would give us an exceedingly rough and hilly country at all periods
of the erosion; the latter would give us just such a country as we see at
present. The inequalities produced during a period of upheaval would be
smoothed off during the period of repose. As a matter of fact we may be
confident that the upheaval in its later stages has been of the paroxysmal
character. Of this the proofs are abundant.
We may then conjecture the reason for the somewhat remarkable fact
spoken of in Chapter VI, that the same stratum or geological horizon is
almost everywhere the surface of the interior platform of the Grand Canon
district. Before the last upheaval we may conceive of the region occupying
the situation of a base-level in which the inequalities which may have existed
were obliterated.
We shall see more of this subject of base-level hereafter.
might be suggested, but this no doubt is the predominant one.
suggested that a long time might have to elapse after the cessation of upheaval before
the river would find its base level, I reply to the contrary. Corrasion at any level notably above base
level is a very swift process. Our concrete ideas of corrasion are apt to be drawn solely from ordinary
rivers, which are almost always close down to base level. But any marked increase in the declivity of
a large stream would (ceteris paribus) enormously accelerate the rate of corrasion.
After the periodic
uplifts of the Grand Canon district I doubt not that the corrasion of the river bed has been exceedingly
rapid, and that the river has recovered its base level as often as disturbed in very short spaces of time,
though grinding through many hundreds of feet of strata. This will appear more fully in
next
*Other

causes

t If it be

the

two

chapters.

226

THE GRAND

CASDN DISTRICT.

I have in the

preceding chapters shown that we find at this epoch the
faults. It does not appear,
however, that these faults all originated at exactly the same epoch, and it is
certain that their respective amounts of displacement have increased
very
slowly and gradually with the lapse of time. Again, we cannot be sure
that all parts of one and the same fault were begun at the same
epoch.
Indeed, the evidence is overwhelming that the development of these dislo¬
cations has been a very slow and gradual process, and all that can be said
concerning their condition in the particular epoch of which we are treating
(close of the Miocene) is that they first betray their existence at that time.
Before this epoch we know nothing of them; and at the time in question
they were of inconsiderable dimensions for the most part. Their formation
seems to have been incidental to the
uplifting of the platform which took
place about the time the present Grand Canon began to cut. But concern¬
ing the nature of this association it is useless to speculate. In all the range
of geological phenomena I know of none more perplexing than a great
fault, and until we have some semblance of a working hypothesis which
may serve or help to explain them, it is useless to speculate upon the causes
of particular cases.
We may also note the coincidence of the earlier basaltic eruptions
with this period of uplifting and faulting. It has been noted as a fact of
very general application, that volcanism is active during periods of upheaval,
and becomes quiescent during subsidence. The relations of the two classes
of phenomena in the Grand Canon district appear to conform to the general
first indications of the existence of the great

rule.
The amount of

upheaval which took place at the epoch in question
may also be roughly estimated. It varies from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The
uplifting forces then suspended operations for a time, and the drainage
system sought a new base-level. During this paroxysm of upheaval the
outer chasm of the Grand Canon was cut; the river
corrading down to the
level of the esplanade in the Kanab and Uinkaret divisions, but below that
horizon in the Kaibab.
The corrasion was probably done as rapidly as
the country rose, or very nearly so.
At first we may presume that only a
narrow gorge was cut—like the
upper portion of the Marble Canon.
But

TUAOES OF AN EARLY ARID CLIMATE.

the river found its base-level

227

after the

uplifting ceased, and the canon
slowly widened by the recession of the cliffs. In this stage of the develop¬
ment an arid climate reigned throughout the district.
Its effect is apparent
chiefly in two ways: 1 st, in the paucity of lateral tributaries and in the
meagerness of small details in the land sculpture, and 2d, in the sharpness
and abruptness given to all the cliffs, valleys, and mesa profiles.
(1.) Allusion has frequently been made in previous chapters to the
first mentioned effect of an arid climate.
The only tributaries which
remained during this period were the large and more powerful ones which
had their sources far away in the highlands, around the margin of the water¬
shed. Within the inner platform of the district no streams took their rise.
The large tributaries continued to sink their lateral gorges in unison with
the corrasion of the main river, but no new chasms were generated.
On
the contrary, some of the lateral tributaries, which for a time valiantly
sustained a doubtful struggle for existence, at last succumbed and dried up,
leaving their troughs opening into the main gorge far up near the summit
of the

canon

soon

wall.

(2.) The sharpness and abruptness of profiles which characterizes the
plateau scenery is not of recent origin, but dates back no doubt to the
beginning of the Pliocene. An arid climate is an important factor in pro¬
ducing this effect. In such a climate weathering proceeds slowly. If the
conditions are such as to produce a high efficiency in the agencies which
transport the debris, the rocks will he left comparatively naked; little soil
and talus will be formed, and little will be left. The attack upon the edges
of the horizontal strata will thus be facilitated and the

mined

profiles will be deter¬

Such profiles are invariably cliffs.
upheaval which has brought the region to
its present condition.
The Colorado River, after remaining without corra¬
sion at the level of the esplanade of the Canon during the greater part of
Pliocene time, at length resumed the operation of sinking its channel. A
new paroxysm of upheaval set in; the faults increased their displacement;
the volcanic vents reopened. This time the upheaval was greater than
before, amounting probably from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. The narrow, inner
gorge at the Toroweap was swiftly cut, and it is in this respect a type of
chiefly by undermining.

We

come now

to the final

228
the lower

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

deeps of the entire canon. Everywhere the rapid corrasion of
deeper gorges is revealed. The epoch at which this latest upheaval
took place, is no doubt a very recent one in the geological calendar. It
began most probably near the close of the Pliocene. That it has now
ceased is almost certain. No trace of present movement can be detected
in any of the faults, and it is certain that no movement tending to increase
them has taken place in those portions which have been scrutinized. In
the Uinkaret some lava flows cross the Hurricane fault, and though they
must be thousands of years old they are not dislocated.
If any vertical
movement is now in progress it is nowhere betrayed, and is unaccompanied
by any of those collateral movements of faulting, which are usually asso¬
ciated with upheaval.
During the last stage of the evolution of the region we have to con¬
sider a very interesting episode. The glacial period here intervenes between
the arid climate of the Pliocene and that of the present time. As has been
already remarked, the glacial period here was not icy, but rainy, and very
probably colder than the present. In some localities it began to excavate
systems of local drainage channels and to carve out minuter details of
topography. In truth the amount of this work which was done in that
period was quite considerable. The most striking instance is to be found
in the ravines of the Kaibab.
The smaller drainage of the Paria Plateau
is another instance. West of the Kaibab we fail to find such conspicuous
traces of the glacial period.
The explanation of their absence or feeble¬
ness may be the fact that those western
plateaus have scarcely any slopes
upon which such a drainage system could readily find foothold, while the
slopes of the Kaibab summit and of the Paria platform are very consider¬
able. The glacial period appears to have been of too brief duration to
achieve any very great results in this district. It may have increased the
corrasive power of the Colorado and tributaries by furnishing a
larger water
supply and there is decided reason for thinking that some of the cations in
the terraces were rapidly corraded and deepened at this time. Most of those
lateral canons in the terraces are slowly filling up with alluvium at the
present time, but very plainly they were much deeper at no remote epoch
in the past.
The lower talus in some of them is completely buried and
the

GLACIAL PERIOD—REFILLING OF CANONS.

229

the alluvium mounts up on the breasts of the perpendicular
scarps. In some
cases a smooth floor of alluvium extends from side to side of what was

originally a canon valley. (Plate XXXVII.) The recurrence of a climate
sufficiently moist to sustain a vigorous perennial stream would probably
sweep out all this unconsolidated alluvium, and return the valley to its for¬
mer condition of an
ordinary canon.

CHAPTER

XIII.

THE EXCAVATION OF THE GRAND
The

CANON.

is the result of two processes acting in concert—corrasion and weathering.—G. K. Gilbert on
subject of corrasion.—Nature and extent of the water supply of the Colorado.—The tribu¬
taries.—Springs in the canons.—Evaporation.—Quantity of water flowing in the river.—Origin
and character of the load to he transported.—Character of the tributary streams.—Extremely
turbid condition of their waters.—Rainfall of the region.—Character of the sediment.—The
declivity of the river bed in the Grand and Marble Canons.—The rapids.—Relation of the bed¬
rock to declivity.—Rapids at the openings of lateral gorges.—General nature of the corrasive
action.—Scouring action of the sand.—Weathering.—Conditions essential to the development of
the topographical forms of the region.—The elevation of the country.—The horizontality of the
strata.—Vertical heterogeneity and horizontal homogeneity.—Effects of an arid climate.

canon

the

The excavation of the Grand Canon and the

sculpture of its walls and
buttes are the results of two processes acting in concert—corrasion and weath¬
ering. In discussing these processes it is necessary to take into the account
the peculiar conditions under which they have operated, and these are
chiefly the climate and the elevation of the country.
In common parlance it is customary to say that the river has cut its
canon.
This expression states but a small portion of the truth. The river
has in reality cut only a narrow trench, of which the width is equal to the
width of the water surface.

It has also been the vehicle which has carried

another part of the world the materials which have been cut away
by both processes. Opening laterally into the main chasm are many am¬
phitheaters excavated back into the main platform of the country. At the
bottom of each is a stream-bed, over which in some cases a perennial river
flows, while in other cases the water runs only during the rains. Like the
trunk-river itself, these streams, whether permanent or spasmodic, have cut
down their channels to depths varying somewhat among themselves, but
generally a little less than the depth of the central chasm. These tributa¬
ries often fork, and the forks are quite homologous to the tributaries in the
away to

THE LAWS OF CORRASION.

foregoing respects.
water

surfaces.

They too have cut

narrow

gashes

231
no

wider than their

Down the faces of the walls and down the steep

slopes of
myriads of rain gullies. When the rain comes it gathers
into rills, which cascade down the wall-clefts and rush headlong
through
the troughs in the talus. Carrying an abundance of sand and
grit, the
waters scour out these little channels in much the same
way as their united
streams and rills cut down their beds in the
amphitheaters and in the main
chasm itself.
But the work of corrasion by running water is limited to the
cutting of very narrow grooves in the rocks, the width of the cutting at
any given time and place being equal to the width of the water-surface of
the taluses

the stream.

run

Corrasion

Canon what it is.

The

alone, then, could
amount

never

have made the Grand

of material removed

by that process is but
small fraction of the total excavation. Another process acting con¬
jointly with the corrasion, and in an important sense dependent upon it, has
effected by far the greater part of the destruction. This additional process
is weathering.
In order to comprehend the combined results of the two, it
is necessary to study their action in detail.
Mr. G. K. Gilbert, in his excellent monograph on the Henry Mountains,
has embodied a chapter on " Land Sculpture," which sets forth, in most
logical and condensed form, the mechanical principles which enter into the
problems of erosion. In his comprehensive analysis may be found a dis¬
cussion of the conditions under which the sculpturing forces and processes
achieve such abnormal results as we observe in the Plateau Country. The
perusal of that chapter will give a delightful definiteness to the geologist's
comprehension of the subject, and the reader, however learned he may be,
will take great satisfaction in finding a subject so complex made so intel¬
ligible. The principles laid down by Mr. Gilbert will be adopted here and
applied. I quote from his work the following:
"The mechanical wear of streams is performed by the aid of hard min¬
eral fragments carried along by the current. The effective force is that of
the current; the tools are mud, sand, and bowlders. The most important of
them is sand; it is chiefly by the impact and friction of grains of sand that
the rocky beds of streams are disintegrated.
a

very

THE GRAND

232
"

Where

which it is

a

stream

CAHON DISTRICT.

has all the load of

a

given degree of comminution

capable of carrying, the entire energy of the descending water
and load, and there is

and load is consumed in the translation of the water

of load its velocity is thereby
diminished so as to lessen its competence, and a portion is dropped. If it
has less than a full load, it is in condition to receive more, and it corrades
its bottom.
A fully loaded stream is on the verge between corrasion and
deposition. * * * The work of transportation may thus monopolize a
none

applied to corrasion.

stream to

If it has

an excess

the exclusion of corrasion, or

ward at the

same

the two works

may

be carried for¬

time.

rapidity of mechanical corrasion depends on the hardness, size,
fragments, on the hardness of the rock-bed,
and on the velocity of the stream. * * * The element of velocity is
of double importance, since it determines not only the speed, but to a great
extent the size of the pestles which grind the rocks.
The coefficients upon
which it in turn depends, namely, declivity and quantity of water, have the
same
importance in corrasion that they have in transportation.
Let us suppose that a stream endowed with a constant volume of
water is at some point continuously supplied with as great a load as it is
capable of carrying. For so great a distance as its velocity remains the
the same it will neither corrade nor deposit, but will leave the declivity of
its bed unchanged.
But if in its progress it reaches a place where a less
declivity of bed gives a diminished velocity its capacity for transportation
will become less than the load, and part of the load will be deposited; or
if in its progress it reaches a place where a greater declivity of bed gives
an increased velocity, the capacity for transportation will become greater
than the load, and there will be corrasion of the bed.
In this way a stream
which has a supply of debris equal to its capacity tends to build up the
gentler slopes of its bed and cut away the steeper. It tends to establish a
single uniform grade.
Let us now suppose that the stream, after having obliterated all the
inequalities of the grade of its bed, loses nearly the whole of its load. Its
velocity is at once accelerated, and vertical corrasion begins through its
"

The

and number of the transient

"

"

THE LAWS OF CORRASION.

whole

233

length. Since the stream has the same declivity, and consequently
velocity at all points, its capacity for corrasion is everywhere the
same.
Its rate of corrasion, however, will depend on the character of its
bed. Where the rock is hard, corrasion will be less rapid than where it is
soft, and there will result inequalities of grade. But so soon as there is
inequality of grade there is inequality of velocity and inequality of capacity
for corrasion; and where hard rocks have produced declivities there the
capacity for corrasion will be increased. The differentiation will proceed
until the capacity for corrasion is everywhere proportioned to the resistance
and no further; that is, until there is equilibrium of action.
In general, we may say that a stream tends to
equalize its work in
all parts of its course.
Its power inheres in its fall, and each foot of fall
has the same power. When its work is to corrade, and the resistance is
unequal, it concentrates its energy where the resistance is great by crowd¬
ing many feet of descent into a small space, and diffuses it where the resist¬
ance is small,
by using but a small fall in a long distance. When its work
is to transport, the resistance is constant and the fall is
evenly distributed by
a uniform
grade. When its work includes both transportation and corra¬
sion, as in the usual case, its grades are somewhat unequal, and the
inequality is greatest when the load is least."
The foregoing analysis is applicable to the Colorado. Among the
large
rivers of the world considered as trunk streams draining large areas its con¬
dition and operations are exceptional, though by no means wholly
unique.
Nearly all large rivers along their lower and middle courses and along con¬
siderable portions of the larger tributaries have reached or nearly approxi¬
mated to that condition of equilibrium of action which Mr. Gilbert speaks
of, in which the transporting power is nearly adjusted without excess to the
load to be carried; and they have little or no tendency either to corrade 01*
to deposit.
But the Colorado is corrading rapidly, and has doubtless done
so during a great part of its history.
To appreciate fully the conditions
which determine and sustain this action it is necessary to study them in
the

same

"

detail.

234

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE WATER SUPPLY OF THE COLORADO.

The upper tributaries of this river* have their sources in lofty regions
which are abundantly watered. But the trunk river itself and its lower

tributaries, and also the lower portions of the Green and Grand Rivers, flow
through regions which are exceedingly arid. Of the body of water which
flows through the Grand Canon all but a small portion comes from the far
distant

highlands. The quantity contributed by the middle regions is very
Although there are numberless water-ways opening into the great
chain of canons, only a very few of them carry perennial streams, and
these few living streams are mostly very small.
The remainder, constitut¬
ing by far the greater number of tributary chasms, convey spasmodic floods
for a few days or hours at a time when the snows are melting, or when the
infrequent showers and storms prevail. The river, however, receives acces¬
sions to its volume of water in the following manner.
The country trav¬
ersed by its middle courses is deeply scored with a vast number of profound
side canons, and the main stream itself flows at a depth varying from 1,000
to 6,000 feet below the general surface of the adjoining country.
The
water which falls upon the country is in great part absorbed by the rocks
and sinks into the depths, where no doubt it finds subterranean channels.
Surface springs are exceedingly rare, but in the depths of the main chasm
and in the bottoms of the side chasms near the river the springs are plenti¬
ful, and in many cases very copious, sending forth clear sparkling waters,
beautiful to the sight, but sometimes heavily charged with obnoxious salts.
In the Grand Canon especially are many springs of water, and not a few
considerable streams of large volume emerging from the rocks in the lower
depths. Most of them are good and fresh, and a few are saline and hot.
The body of water thus supplied to the river is quite considerable, and it
is important here to note the fact that it brings no sediment.
Between the junction of the Green and Grand and the lower end of
small.

*Mr.

Henry Gannett, geographer of the census, makes the total area of the drainage system of
255,049 square miles, being second in extent of all the rivers of the United States which
reach the ocean. That part of this drainage area which lies above the Grand Wash is given roughly
at 105,000 square miles.

the Colorado

VOLUME OF FLOW OF THE COLORADO.

235

the Grand Canon—a distance of about 500 miles—the Colorado has

only

tributaries, which bring into it considerable bodies of water, and which
the same time run in the open air, as distinguished from subterranean

two
at

streams.

These

these rivers

at

are

the San Juan and Little Colorado.

their confluences

greater portion of the year

they

are

are

The volumes of

not

accurately known, but during the
quite notable. They also bring great

quantities of mud, sand, and gravel. Both enter the left bank of the river.
All the other living streams are very small—in fact, mere
rills—except at
the times of irregular floods.
On the other hand, the evaporation of the
water in this part of the river in summer time must be
very great.* The
dryness of the air is extreme and the heat intense. In June, July, August,
and September the midday temperature of the air is seldom below 90°, and
often exceeds 110° Fahr., while the relative humidity is
only from 0.3 to 0.4
of saturation. Still the river probably receives more water from the
springs
in the canons and from the two larger tributaries than it loses
by evapora¬
tion, and though the excess of this gain over the loss cannot be accurately
valued I believe it to be considerable. Much importance is here attached
to

the fact that this increase in the volume of the stream in the

canons con¬

sists

largely of water wholly free from sediment. It means an increase of
transporting power in the river without an equivalent increase in the amount
of material to be transported.
The quantity of water which the Colorado carries varies, of course,
enormously from season to season throughout the year. A rough estimate
may be made of its volume near its lowest stage.
In the year 1877 Prof.
A. H. Thompson gauged the flow of the Green and Grand Rivers near their
junction, in the latter part of September, and found 4,400 cubic feet per
second in the Green and 4,860 cubic feet per second in the Grand. The
sum of the two, 9,260 cubic feet per second, is no doubt less than the flow
in the Grand and Marble Canons.
The year was, so far as can be judged,
very nearly an average one. At the time the measurement was made the
river was very near its minimum.
*

width of 400 feet and an average evapora¬
lose by evaporation 407.4 cubic feet of
feet wide with an average depth ol .1
feet flowing 3 feet per second. The rate of evaporation of 0.4 inch per twenty-tour hours is, I believe,
a low estimate for the Colorado in the great chain of cations during the hot months.
A water surface 500 miles in

length, with

an average

tion of 0.4 inch per day from every square foot of surface, would
water every second.
This is equivalent to a stream ol water 45

236

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE LOAD TO BE TRANSPORTED.

We may now

turn our attention to the material brought into the canons
constituting the load to be transported. Although the Colorado is a river
which derives the greater part

of its water and transported material from
lofty regions at a great distance from the canons, it still receives a notable
amount of sediment from the Plateau Country contiguous to its banks.
And it is interesting to note the conditions under which this sediment is con¬
tributed. The region adjoining the great canons of the Colorado is so arid
that it does not give rise to a single surface stream. The very few tributa¬
ries to the canons which carry water enough to be worthy of notice have
their sources far away in much loftier and moister countries. The rainfall
of the region in question is not known, but it is doubtless exceedingly small,
and if it be stated at 4 inches per annum for the region draining laterally
into the Glen and Marble Canons, this amount seems to be as large as pres¬
ent knowledge may justify.
In the Grand Cation district it is probably
much greater, though still very small when compared with fertile regions.
On the Kaibab, though the amount has never been measured, it seems as if
20 inches per annum would be a very low estimate; but this locality is
quite exceptional. Rains sufficiently copious to saturate the soil and set the
gulches running are very infrequent, and, perhaps, do not occur oftener
than half a dozen times every year. But when they do come the conse¬
quences are very striking. The rills and washes are thick with mud and
sand, and the water is loaded to its utmost capacity. There is no vegeta¬
tion to form a sod and hold the earthy matters in their place.
The instant
a rill forms it is a rill of mud.
The country being scored with numberless
canons and steeply sloping gulches, the rills and streams are gathered
together with marvelous rapidity and plunge furiously into these narrow
chasms, where they rush along with prodigious velocity. The traveler in
such a cation, who is admonished of the coming of a storm, cannot be too
diligent in seeking a place of safety. The murmur of the falling rain is
followed in an incredibly short time by the deafening roar of the torrent,
which rolls madly down the chasm as if some great reservoir above had

QUANTITY OF SEDIMENT TRANSPORTED.

237

burst its dam and

discharged its waters. As it moves onward it sweeps
everything loose in its way. Huge fragments of tons weight fallen from
the cliffs above are bowled along with a facility that is
highly suggestive.
The water is charged to its utmost capacity with fine sand and
silt, and it
is somewhat surprising to see how much of this stuff a
given quantity of
water can carry.
In the Mesozoic rocks it would not be an improbable esti¬
mate to say that these spasmodic waters
carry nearly three times their own
volume of fine material, and it is quite certain that
they often carry more
than twice their volume.
Every explorer in this region can recite expe¬
riences of trying to obtain from some of the rills water for
camp use by
allowing a kettle-full to stand over night in order to settle, and finding in
the morning an inch or two of dubious water on the surface of the
vessel,
with 7 or 8 inches of viscous red clay beneath and 3 or 4 inches of sand and
grit at the bottom. The sediment thus transported is sand and clay. The
rocks of the Mesozoic system are composed almost wholly of these two
materials, the calcareous members being very few and of very small thick¬
ness ; and such of the latter as occur are more
frequently gypsum than
calcite. The Permian also is similarly constituted, though having a few
notable bands of arenaceous limestone. The cementing material of the
sandy-clayey beds of the Trias and Permian is more or less gypsiferous,
and many of the layers are highly charged with selenite. The ready
solution of this cement yields an abundance of sand and clay in highly
comminuted form, and every copious shower washes it along in great
quantity.
The amount of this finer material which reaches the Colorado in the

is very great:

and what is most striking, the contributions are not
extremely irregular. In the summer time local showers, though infrequent
in any given locality, are frequent enough in this portion of the Plateau
Country as a whole. From any commanding point, which overlooks a
very great expanse, distant showers may be seen on very many days of the
hot summer. If we were to spend a week on such a point we might reckon
with a high degree of probability upon one or more days in which heavy
showers would be visible in different parts of the panorama. They are,
however, extremely local, and rarely cover such large extents of country as the
canons

THE GRAND

238

CANON DISTRICT.

thunder storms of the eastern States.
rain streaks

It is not at all

uncommon

to see the

descending from a small cloud and falling upon areas no greater

is the formation of rain
showery many of the
showers fail to reach the earth, the rain being completely re-evaporated in
mid-air. It may thus be inferred that while rain is formed in the air daily
throughout this region, only a small portion of it reaches the earth in
showers sufficiently copious to saturate the soil and set the channels awash.
Still, in an ordinary summer, a great majority of the days are somewhere
four square miles. Still more curious
streaks without any cloud.
When the season is

than three

or

marked with showers of sufficient volume to start

the

arroyas

and

canons

debacle of mud and sand into the Colorado. The river itself is
rarely clear, and is rarely otherwise than turbid and muddy. In the latter
part of September and early part of October, the river is in some years
quite clear, and at its lowest stage of water displays that beautiful pis¬
tachio-green color which is seen in the waters of Niagara below the falls.
At this season showers are infrequent.
In the latter part of October, or in
November, a rain storm, lasting from two or three to eight or ten days, may
be looked for, and indeed rarely fails.
It overspreads the entire region, and
though the precipitation is not usually very copious on an average, yet it
is so in many localities, and is always sufficient to flood many canons which
are normally dry, and to raise the water in the river very considerably.
Immense quantities of sand and silt are then washed into the river, which is
sometimes overburdened temporarily with sediment.
The greater part of the precipitation takes place in the winter months.
Its amount varies more with the altitudes of the localities than with any
other cause. Upon the higher levels it falls almost wholly as snow, and is
usually very considerable. On the Kaibab the snow is always very heavy.
Upon the lower and middle levels the precipitation in winter is more irreg¬
ular when different years are compared. One year will furnish a heavy
snowfall; another year will yield only a small amount of rain.*
and pour a

Our knowledge of the meteorology of this region is as yet very imperfect, especially as regards
precipitation of the winter and spring months. Such as we have is derived largely from the state¬
ments of the most intelligent of the Mormon people residing there.
During the last six years I have
had occasion to make many thorough inquiries of them and to converse with them at much length upon
the subject. But the want of actual measurements of the amount of precipitation through a series of
years is to be regretted, I can venture only so far as to give a general statement of what I am con*

the

RAINFALL AND DECLIVITY.

While the

precipitation

6,500 feet above the sea—is

upon

239

the middle and lower levels—5,000 to

the whole quite small, the transporting
into the river is very great. A cubic yard of
on

of such water as runs
running water in the Plateau Country probably carries several times more
sediment than the same quantity of water in the Atlantic rivers. This re¬
markable difference is due to the following causes: In the first
place the
soil and comminuted ddbris of the plateaus is not held
together by vegeta¬
tion, but lies loosely upon the rocks and taluses, and is easily gathered up
by rills. But chiefly the slopes are always very great, and as the transport¬
ing power increases enormously with the declivity the only limit to the
quantity of material a given volume of water can carry is reached when
the mixture becomes so viscous that its own internal friction is
great enough
to seriously retard its rate of motion.
In the rivers which drain the Appa¬
lachian region the finer material is supplied in
quantity insufficient to load
the running waters to their full capacity, while the rainfall is
very copious
and the declivities considerable. In the prairies of the
Mississippi Valley
the declivities are small, while the water supply is great and the finer mate¬
rial superabundant. In the plateaus the water
supply is small, while the
declivities are very great and the fine material also is
relatively in excess.
This will sufficiently explain why the spasmodic streams of the plateaus are
so much more
heavily loaded with sediment than those of moister regions.
power

THE DECLIVITY OF THE RIVER.

The

declivity of the Colorado in the Grand Canon next requires our
attention. Between the junction of the Little Colorado and the Grand
Wash the absolute altitude of the river bed declines from 2,640 to 1,000
feet above the

sea—a

total fall of 1,640

feet.

the median line of the water surface is 218
7.56' feet per

the

canon

vinced is

The distance measured along
miles, giving an average fall of

mile. But the rate of descent through the various parts of
considerably. The following table, derived from the meas-

varies

as near an

necessarily be very
unquestionable.

approximation to the truth as can be obtained at present, and this statement must
The great irregularity when different years are compared is, I am satisfied,

meager.

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

240

of Professor

urements

Powell, shows the varying declivity of the major

portions, and the accompanying profile represents them graphically.

From Little Colorado to Kaibab

Division

Ivaibab Division

.

....

......

Total fall
in feet.

Distance
in miles.

Subdivisions.

Ivanab Division

60

6.25

58

700

12. 07

47.6

240

5.01

19.2

100

5.21

84

540

6. 43

1, 640

7. 56

9. G

..........

..

...........

{tinhciret Division
Sheavwits Division

218.4

1' o t it 18

Fall per
mile.

unequal in the various parts of the subdivi¬
foregoing table, in which the fall for each division is averaged
without exhibiting the true profile in detail.
The following table represents
a nearer approximation to the real variations of declivity.
In this table the
entire length of the canon is subdivided without reference to the individual
plateaus, but in such manner as to embody portions of greater or less
length, in each of which the declivity is not greatly varied. The numbersin the first column represent portions delineated in the accompanying pro¬
file and designated in the drawing by corresponding figures. In this table
Moreover, the fall is very

sions of the

the Marble Canon is included.
Fall in

Distance
in miles.

feet.

Fall in feet
per mile.

65.2

510

18.2

110

10

210

21

26.4

320

12.13

10.8

100

9. 26

4.8

50

10. 42

7. Main Kanab and TJinkaret Division

65.2

310

4. 75

8. Sheavwits Division to

12

70

5.83

18

210

11. 66

jfo.

1, Marble Canon

No.

2. From Little Colorado to

No.

3. Granite Falls on Kaibab

No.

4. In the

No.

5. Around western base of

No.

6. Head of Kanab

No.
No.
No.

9. Granite to Diamond Creek

the granite

granite to Powell's Plateau
Powell's Plateau

Division

granite

7.82
6. 04

No. 10. Granite below Diamond Creek

7.2

25

3.47

No. 11. Granite below Diamond Creek

10.8

100

9. 26

No. 12. From the Sheavwits

35

175

5

granite to the end at Grand Wash

283.6

Totals

The

7.72

foregoing table is the nearest approximation to the profile which

the barometric measurements hitherto made enable
no means gives the true profile in detail.
verbal and general account of it. The entire

by

2,190

us

to

furnish.

But it

It still remains to give a
extent of the river within

.U

-ZtcoreV
«

ELIFORP

.0 1^J

.S

LACIGOE
.YEVRUS

FO

EHT

REVIR
DEB
NI

EHT

DNARG
DNA

ELBRAM
.SNOAC

DNARG
NOIAC

.TCIRSD
.LP

.XI X

FORMATION OF RAPIDS.

the

is

241

succession

alternately of smooth reaches, with very small
declivity, and swift rapids where the declivity is very great. In the Kaibab
the smooth reaches are short, while the rapids are long and of great descent.
canon

a

In the Kanab and Uinkaret divisions the

stretches

reverse

is the case—the smooth

long, the rapids short and much less frequent and powerful.
proportion of the smooth to the rapid portions
is between those prevailing in the Kaibab and Kanab divisions
respectively.
By comparing the distribution of fall with the nature of the rocks through
which the river runs, it appears very clearly that the greater declivities
are

In the Sheavwits division the

occur

bends,

in the Archaean rocks.
one

The river enters the Archaean in two great

in the Kaibab, the other in the Sheavwits.

In the Kanab and

Uinkaret divisions the river flows in the Silurian and lower Carboniferous.
The Archaean rocks are, as a

rule, much harder and are corraded with more
difficulty than the others, and to this more obdurate character the greater
declivities may be traced.
The rapids are, however, the results of two independent causes.
(1)
When the course of the stream lies in the hard rocks the rate of declivity is
greater. The explanation is obvious. (2) The second cause is of a totally
distinct nature. At the opening of every lateral chasm or side gorge a pile
of rocks and rubble is thrown out into the main stream.
side gorges are

Most of these

dry throughout the greater part of the year. But when
the rains come their narrow beds are occupied with floods of muddy
water, rushing downward with great velocity and often in great volume,
bowling along fragments of all sizes from a few pounds to many tons. Thus
an obstruction like a low dam is built across the river.
The declivity of the
side gorges is always much greater than that of the main stream. Their
slopes are rarely less than 200 feet to the mile, except in those tributaries
which, like Kanab Creek and Cataract Canon, are of great antiquity. The
minimum slopes of the beds of the great amphitheaters in the Kaibab are
seldom so small as 200 feet to the mile. The power of a great flood rush¬
ing down such slopes is indeed formidable. When the torrents reach the
river the larger fragments are dropped; for the maximum slope of the main
stream (reckoned throughout any stretch exceeding four or five miles in
length) never exceeds 25 feet to the mile, and the water, though enormous

242

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

in volume at flood

chasms.

time, has less velocity than the torrents of the side
The river has, however, sufficient power to sweep onward masses

of considerable

rapidly ground up as they are rolled along.
It is apparent that in the work of corrasion an important part consists
of the work of grinding up and destroying the masses which are brought
into the main chasm by the spasmodic floods in the side gorges.
Indeed,
this constitutes by far the greatest part of the entire work.
The coarse
material—the large rocks, bowlders, and rubble which pile up at the mouth
of the lateral chasm—are gradually spread out below the dam, and the
tendency is to build up and increase the grade of the smoother reach
below. But this tendency is quickly checked and brought to a stop by
the increased power of the main current due to the increased slope.
The
body of fragments thus rolled in is of great amount in the aggregate. On
the whole, the amount at the present epoch is not sufficient to prevent
the river from cutting down its channel, though the process is of course
greatly retarded. The river is still sinking its chasm in the strata. There
are many stretches of comparatively still water where there is an equilib¬
rium between the tendency to cut still deeper, and the tendency to build
up the bottom by the accumulation of debris.
But a great part of the
size, which

are

river bed is in the bare rock of the Paleozoic and Archaean strata,

wherever it is
cases

occur

so

the corrasion is

proceeding at

a

and

Still other
completely
doubt constitute the

rapid rate.

where the rate of corrasion is retarded but not

counterbalanced

by the accumulation, and these no
greater part of the extent of the chasm.
The great corrasive power of the Colorado is due to the large quantity
of sand which it carries, and the high velocity given to its waters by its
great declivity. As we have already shown, the quantity of fine material
brought into the canons is very large and the supply is almost continuous
throughout the year. As Mr. Gilbert has well shown, a river may be pow¬
erless to corrade when its waters carry no sediment, and also when the sedi¬
ment is so excessive that it cannot transport the entire
supply. Neither of
these extremes is found in the Colorado. The waters are heavily charged
but not overloaded. It must be noted, however, that in the smoother
por¬
tions where the declivity is locally very small, the sand is often
dropped,

CORRASION OF THE RIVER BED.

and accumulates while floods

243

subsiding, but it is lifted and carried for¬
again when the waters increase. At low water many sand bars are
formed in the still reaches, but they are changed and modified by every
flood, and many of them are wholly swept away and reconstructed with
each oscillation. The scouring action of the sand is highly efficient. It is
seen on all the rock surfaces laid bare
by the subsidence of the waters, and
in all the large fragments rolled in from the side gorges.
The rocks are
full of pot-holes and covered often with bosses highly polished and ground
by the sand-blast. The large bowlders which fall from the cliffs above, or
which are brought in through the side gorges, are rapidly dissipated. The
largest ones are deposited at the mouth of the gorge where the rapid is
formed, and where they are exposed to the fullest energy of the current.
The largest masses, if fully exposed to this action, can scarcely survive
more than three or four years.
Although the dissipation of the fragments in
are

ward

the Colorado has never, so
not without the

far
of

as

I

am aware,

been watched and timed,

we

confidently inferring a very short duration of
In the hydraulic mines of California the water discharged
against the gravel banks has been known to cut in a single year chasms
from 12 to 20 feet deep in the hard basaltic pavements over which it flows.
The actual time of operation is equivalent to not more than 100 days of unin¬
terrupted activity. No doubt the instance here cited is an extreme case of
rapid corrasion, and is not strictly parallel to that of the river. But a large
river always charged with sand, and careering swiftly over a dam of rocky
fragments, is a very strong case, if not an extreme one, and we may per¬
haps be led to regard four years as a long life for a rock-mass, six feet in
diameter, exposed to the full and uninterrupted action of the stream.
Not all of the large fragments, however, are exposed to this continuous
action, but many of them are out of water during the greater part of the
year. At the opening of a side gorge the river is usually constricted, and
in many cases the width is not more than one-third of the mean width.
The coarse ddbris forms a deposit somewhat analogous to an alluvial cone.
Undoubtedly the corrasion is most efficient during the stages of high
water.
In many and perhaps in most rivers this is not true, or at least is
not necessarily true, for the sediment brought down by floods in other
are

that process.

means

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

244
streams is

often in

excess

of the actual

lifting

power

of the water, and

a

portion of it is deposited. But in the Marble and Grand Canons this is
rarely so. The flood-water comes from far distant regions. In the Glen
Canon, where the declivity is notably less, any excess of load above the
quantity easily transported (if any such excess ever occurs) is temporarily
deposited. Reaching the Marble Canon the greater declivity at once aug¬
ments greatly the transporting power, and the torrent sweeps everything
loose before it.

For six

or seven

weeks the corrasion goes on at a very

rapid rate. Many reaches, which at low water are protected by sand and
gravel, are swept bare, and for a time are subject to the full corrasive
energy of the torrent.
The water rises from 30 to 60 feet, attacking the
slopes at the bottom of the gorge, which are ordinarily naked rock, and
grinding them away at a rate which must be a rapid one during the time it
is in operation.
Reverting here in a summary way to the two classes of rapids formed
in the river, we find that they are due to two wholly distinct causes—1st,
to the unequal hardness or resisting power of the strata in the bed of the
stream; 2d, to the accumulation of piles of large fragments washed in
through the lateral gorges. The greater number of rapids are due to the
latter cause.
The general characters of the two kinds, however, are strik¬
ingly different. Those which occur in the hard crystalline rocks are very
long, and with some notable exceptions are less violent and headlong than
the others, but they are also complicated with the second class of rapids,
i. e., those due to the bowlders rolled in from the side chasms.
If we sepa¬
rate the latter effects, we find the effect of hardness of the strata to be a
general increase of slope distributed with some approach to uniformity over
many miles of length of the river bed.
It is plainly so in the Kaibab and
Sheavwits, and this effect is not at all obscured by the joint operation of
both causes. The rapids of the second class are short and violent, as might
have been inferred from the nature of the cause which produces them.

EXCAVATION OF THE CHASM.

245

WEATHERING.

We have

that the work of

corrasion, pure and simple, is limited
cutting of deep and narrow gashes in the strata and to the grinding up
of the larger fragments brought into the channels. The widening of these
cuts into the present configuration of the cafion and the
sculpture of the

to

seen

the

walls

the work of the process

which is termed weathering. By far the
greater part of the material removed in the total process of the excavation
has been broken up and comminuted by the action of atmospheric reagents,
and their mode of operation is worthy of careful study.
In the remaining
part of this chapter I shall treat briefly of the more general conditions and
features of this process, and devote the final chapter to the consideration of
some of its
striking details.
The peculiar cliff forms of the Grand Canon, and indeed of the
prov¬
ince at large, would hardly be possible in any other country, for no other
country presents all of the conditions which are necessary for them. These
conditions may be summarized as follows: (1) The great elevation of the
region. (2) The horizontality of the strata. (3) A series of strata con¬
taining very massive beds, which differ greatly among themselves in respect
to durability, but each member or subordinate
group being quite homo¬
geneous in all its horizontal extent; in a word, heterogeneity in vertical
range and homogeneity in horizontal range.
(4) An arid climate.
I. It is at once apparent that great elevation is essential to the
produc¬
tion of high reliefs in the topography by the agency of erosion.
Only in
a
high country can the streams corrade deeply, and it is by corrasion that
the features of this region have been originated and blocked out. The
elevation, however, is a condition whose immediate consequences are asso¬
ciated with corrasion, while it affects weathering only secondarily or
remotely. The principal effect is the determination of the heights of the
cliffs and the magnitudes of the topographical reliefs in general. All this
seems so obvious that discussion is
superfluous.
II. No less obvious is the effect of the horizontality of the strata. The
long flat crestlines, the constant profiles maintained for scores of miles along
are

THE GRAND

246

CANON DISTRICT.

edges of each stratigraphic series, would not be possible otherwise. To
appreciate this it is only necessary to glance at the effects which have been
pi'oduced by the monoclines which at wide intervals interrupt the continuity
and constancy of the cliffs.
No wilder scene can be imagined than the
pinnacles, towers, and domes which bristle upon the flank of a great flex¬
ure, like the Echo Cliff or Water Pocket folds.
III. The condition of horizontal homogeneity with vertical heteroge¬
the

neity presents considerations some of which are as obvious as the foregoing,
while others are extremely complex. It is clear that if the strata now form¬
ing the escarpment of the Vermilion Cliffs had varied rapidly from point to
point in respect to the thickness of individual members, or in respect to
their lithological characters, the action of weathering would have varied
accordingly. The profiles would undergo rapid changes of form along the
front. In truth, there is a certain amount of variability of just this charac¬
ter in that escarpment.
The Vermilion Cliffs in the valley of the Virgen
differ notably in detail from what they are at Kanab and near the Paria.
The

enormous

sandstone member dwindles in thickness from west to east,

conspicuous gradually lose identity, and the resem¬
widely separated portions of the wall is only general.
the change along the front is very slow and is nowhere abrupt.
The vertical heterogeneity is the character which gives complexity to

and other members less
blance of the two
But

Where the beds are numerous and where they differ among
themselves as to durability, the profile becomes very complicated, like a
very elaborate series of horizontal moldings.
The extreme of simplicity
is found in the Jurassic sandstone, where the cliff consists of a single massive
stratum 800 to 1,000 feet thick and homogeneous from top to bottom.
Those more complex results which follow the action of weathering upon
vertically heterogeneous strata will be discussed in the next chapter.
IV. The effects of an arid climate are by no means simple nor intelli¬
gible at a glance. They appear only upon analysis, and the analysis must
take cognizance of a wide range of facts. I cannot do better here than to
have recourse to the excellent analysis of Gilbert:
the

profile.

"All the processes

of erosion are affected directly by the rainfall and
by its distribution through the year. All are accelerated by its increase

EFFECT OF AN ARID CLIMATE.

247

by its diminution. When it is concentrated in one part of the
year at the expense of the remainder, transportation and corrasion are accel¬
erated and weathering retarded. Weathering is favored by abundance of
moisture. Frost accomplishes most when the rocks are saturated ; and solu¬
and retarded

tion when there is the freest circulation.

But when the annual rainfall is

larger share of the water fails to pene¬
trate, and the gain from temporary flooding does not compensate for the
checking of all solution by a long dry season.
"Transportation is favored by increasing water supply as greatly as by
increasing declivity. When the volume of a stream increases it becomes at
the same time more rapid, and its transporting capacity gains by the incre¬
ment to velocity as well as by the increment to volume.
Hence the increase
in power of transportation is more than proportional to the increase of
volume.
It is due to this fact chiefly that the transportation of a stream
which is subject to floods is greater than it would be if its total water supply
were evenly distributed in time.
"The indirect influence of rainfall and temperature by means of vege¬
tation has different laws. Vegetation is intimately related to water supply.
There is little or none where the annual precipitation is small, and it is pro¬
concentrated into

a

limited season, a

great—especially when the temperature is at the
same time high.
In proportion as vegetation is profuse the solvent power
of percolating water is increased, and on the other hand the ground is shel¬

fuse where the latter is

tered from the mechanical action of rains and

rills.

The removal of disin¬

tegrated rock is greatly impeded by the conservative power of roots and
fallen leaves, and a soil is thus preserved.
Transportation is retarded.
Weathering by solution is accelerated up to a certain point, but in the end
it suffers by the clogging of transportation.
The work of frost is nearly
stopped as soon as the depth of soil exceeds the limit of frost action. The
force of rain drops is expended on foliage. Moreover, a deep soil acts as a
distributing reservoir for the water of rains and tends to equalize the flow
of streams.
Hence the general effect of vegetation is to retard erosion;
and since the direct effect of great rainfall is the acceleration of erosion it
results that its direct and indirect tendencies are in opposite directions.
"In arid regions of which the declivities are sufficient to give thorough

248

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

drainage, the absence of vegetation is accompanied by absence of soil.
When a shower falls, nearly all the water runs off from the bare rock, and
the little that is absorbed is rapidly reduced by evaporation.
Solution be¬
comes a slow
process for lack of a continuous supply of water, and frost
accomplishes its work only when it closely follows the infrequent rain.
Thus weathering is retarded.
Transportation has its work concentrated
by the quick gathering of showers into floods so as to compensate, in part
at least, for the smallness of the total rainfall from which
they derive their
power." (Geology of the Henry Mountains: G. K. Gilbert.)
In this

analysis of Mr. Gilbert I fully concur. It remains only to
apply the principles he has developed. The effects which he deduces from
an arid climate
a high country in
are a scanty soil, a diminished rate of
weathering, and a great efficiency of transportation. We must further con¬
sider the effects of these varied conditions upon a country composed of hori¬
zontal strata which are vertically heterogeneous. The paucity of soil lays
bare the edges of the rocks.
The gentler slopes or taluses being found in
the softer beds these are more readily weathered than they would be if the
soil were more abundant. But harder beds are not so easily dissolved, and
can be broken down only
by the undermining resulting from the waste of
underlying softer beds. Hence the hard strata form vertical ledges, while
the softer beds form taluses or steep slopes, partially protected
by debris
and soil. In a word, the effect of an arid climate
upon such a region as
the Plateau Country is to increase the amount of bare rock, to
sharpen the
profiles and make them irregular, and to generate cliffs. To enforce this
idea, let us imagine a moist climate returning to this region. The rate of
weathering in the harder beds would be accelerated and the fragments and
finer material would increase the amount of soil
lying upon the sloped edges
of the softer beds and the weathering of the latter would be retarded.
Vege¬
tation would start into life and conserve this soil
by clogging transportation,
and the profiles would gradually lose their
abrupt angular character and
become softened and rounded, like those of the
Appalachians.
If the Plateau Country were at a much lower altitude the case would
be very different.
Transportation would then fail for want of declivity and
soil would accumulate because it could not be carried
away.

This, I

con-

EFFECT OF AN ARID CLIMATE.

ceive, is the state of affairs in the Sahara and Arabian deserts.

249

Vast ex¬
panses of drifting sand are formed which can be carried away only by the
winds. In those deserts there are no rivers whatever, and transportation
by streams is, therefore, at absolute zero. In the Plateau Country the
streams, though few and mostly spasmodic, are still sufficient to lay bare
an unusual amount of rock-surface.
And the country is also so high that
even
many of the spasmodic streams can corrade deeply.
We have also mentioned in preceding chapters that another effect of an
arid climate is to suppress the smaller streams, and to leave only a few of
the most powerful ones which head in the highlands around the borders of
the Colorado drainage basin. The intervals between these persistent streams
are not corraded, but remain as flat surfaces
These flat surfaces may be
regarded as so many local base-levels maintaining a considerable amount of
soil which protects them from erosion. The only way in which erosion can
prosecute its attack at present is by sapping the faces of the walls laid bare
by the few streams which are still able to corrade. The total process of
erosion, therefore, resolves itself into the method which Powell has so aptly
called the Recession of Cliffs. The study of some of the more striking de¬
tails of this process will be one of the themes of the following chapter; and
it is full of beauty and interest

CHAPTER

XIY.

DETAILS OF EROSION.
The formation and functions of the talus.—Effect of vertical

heterogeneity upon cliff profiles.—The
protecting mantle to the softer strata.—It is the regulator of the profile.—Curva¬
ture of profiles.—Its cause.—Application of analysis to the cliffs of the Grand Canon.—The upper
Aubrey.—The cross-bedded sandstone.—The curved profile of the lower Aubrey.—Stability of
normal profiles.—The Red Wall cliff.—Differences between the profiles of the Kaibab and those
of the other divisions.—Explanation of the differences.—The contours or ground plans of amphi¬
theaters and alcoves.—Rounded inward curves and projecting cusps.—Explanation of these
features.—Statement of the general conditions to which the peculiar sculpture of the chasm is due.
talus acts

as a

In the latter

part of the preceding chapter I have formulated the

more

general conditions under which erosion acts. In the present chapter I shall
consider the methods of operation of the forces which have produced the
architectural forms displayed in the cliffs of the great chasm and of the
adjoining country. The key to the problems they present is found when
we
analyze

THE FORMATION" AND FUNCTIONS OF THE TALUS.

Since the attack of erosion under the conditions

prevailing in the Pla¬
Country is mainly directed against the edges of the horizontal strata,
and since these strata vary among themselves in respect to hardness or du¬
rability, it follows that the different beds would, if the exposures were
equal, weather at different rates. The softer beds would disintegrate rapidly
and undermine the edges of harder beds overlying them.
The harder beds
being robbed of support, cleave off by the joints and the fragments fall.
The fragmental material thus produced is not immediately carried away,
but remains in part and forms a talus.
This talus, however, is ultimately
dissipated by solution, disintegration, and transportation, and the rate at
which it is finally carried off is in the long run sensibly equal to the rate at
which its material is supplied. It remains to consider the
arrangement
teau

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

GRAND CAJVON DISTRICT.

DEVELOPMENT OF CLIFF PROFILES.

PL. XL.

DEVELOPMENT OF CLIFF PROFILES.

251

which this

fragmental matter takes and its reaction upon the rate and mode
of weathering.
We may reach the matter most easily by discussing a
hypothetical arbitrary case.
Let us suppose a series of strata
consisting of four groups (Plate XL),
the uppermost group (A) being obdurate or
very unyielding to the attack
of weathering; the next below
(B) being notably softer or less obdurate;
the third (C) being hard; and the fourth (D) soft* Conceive a stream corrading a gash nearly but not quite through the hard upper stratum. The
quantity of fragmental material furnished will vary (
paribus) inversely
with the hardness of the rock, and since the hardness is assumed to be
great,
the quantity supplied will be small. On the other
hand, the fragments fall¬
ing into the stream are quickly dissipated by corrasion. In other words,
the removal of debris by transportation is for a time at the extreme of ra¬
pidity. Corrasion, moreover, while a country is rising, is a very rapid pro¬
cess in
comparison with the rate of recession of a hard massive wall. Very
little talus, therefore, can form at this stage ; the
obduracy of the wall rock
prevents its recession ; little material is supplied which could serve to form
a talus, and that little is
quickly swept off by the stream. Hence the canon
will be narrow, with vertical or
nearly vertical walls, and no appreciable
talus will accumulate.

Conceive

the corrasion to go on

until the stream has cut nearly
group B.
The supply of dt'bris is greatly
increased. The soft beds weather easily and undermine the hard beds above.
Let us recall here that the width of the cut is no greater than the width of the
water surface.
As the cliff recedes the fragments begin to find a lodgment at
its base, and though some of them roll into the stream and are devoured,
yet
another portion must await the slower process of solution and gradual decay
before disappearing. Thus the rate of transportation slackens by the
decreasing declivity of the river, while the rate of supply of ddbris in¬
creases.
As the cliff further recedes the talus mounts higher and higher
up the breast of the softer part of the wall.
The faces of the softer strata
become in due time a slope capable of supporting a talus.
but not

now

quite through the soft

*1 am unable to think of a pair of adjectives which will suitably express the great and small
degrees of obduracy of rocks against weathering. I shall use the terms " hard " and "soft," therefore,
in this

sense.

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

252
Conceive

now

the stream cutting

nearly but not quite through the

here is not quite the same as when it was
the earlier or higher stage of the river all
the debris came from A alone; while in the present case A, B, and C are
all furnishing fragmental matter. Hence the corrasion is slackened and a
small amount of talus may accumulate at the edge of the stream. Still the
edges of C will be nearly vertical except very near the bottom.
Finally, conceive the stream to have cut through the soft group D, and
suppose that at the bottom of this group it remains for a considerable period
at a base-level
The edges of D are steadily sapped and C is undermined.
But the undermining of C cuts otf the foot of the slope in B, increasing
the declivity in that group and facilitating the descent of fragments. And
this, in turn, accelerates the rate of weathering in B and the rate of under¬
mining of A. Thus, curiously enough, the state of affairs at the bottom of
the canon influences the rate of recession at the summit of its wall.
"We must now note the fact that a talus acts as a protecting mantle to
the rocks it covers, screening them partially from dissolution by weather¬
ing. The heavier the talus the greater is the protection. But the amount
of talus which can remain at any given level is dependent inversely upon the
slope; and the talus is always descending by the action of the rains. Hence
the accumulation is greatest at the bottom of the canon. When, therefore,
the recession of the wall has gone so far that the descending fragments do
not fall at once into the stream, the lowest beds of all receive the most pro¬
tection. The rate of recession of these lowest beds, therefore, becomes
retarded. The protection diminishes as we go higher and the rate of reces¬
sion increases correspondingly.
It follows at once that the talus is the regulator of the cliff-profile; for
it checks the rate of recession in the softer beds, keeping their l'ecession
down to the mean rate, while, by undermining, the recession of the hard
beds is brought up to the mean rate. As soon as the talus is established on
the lowest slope (D), the cliff may be said to have attained its normal pro¬
file, and in all subsequent recession that profile undergoes little change.
The only modification it receives is a decrease in the slope D, which
becomes longer and also takes the form of a curve, concave upwards.
The
second hard group
cut

near

to

C. The case
the base of A; for in

DEVELOPMENT OF CLIFF PROFILES.

cause

of this curvature is

beds,

as

as

follows.

253

If the rate of recession in the soft

due to the protection of talus, were proportional in a simple ratio
height above the bottom, the slope would be straight, but would
gradually decrease its inclination as the cliff recedes. But, in fact, the law
to

the

governing the rate of recession is

complex. The protection given to
a
higher ratio than a simple one,
being as the square of the distance below the base of C, or, perhaps, in a
still higher ratio. This arises from the fact that not only is the
quantity of
debris and soil greater in the lowest beds, but it is finer and more
compact.
Hence the rate of recession becomes inversely proportional to the
square (?)
more

the lower beds increases downwards in

of the distance below the base of
an

C, and the

curve

becomes

a

segment of

hyperbola.
The conclusions from the

fied

foregoing discussion are abundantly exempli¬
throughout the cliffs and canons of the Plateau Country. Take, for

instance, the

case

of the Jurassic sandstone

as one extreme.

very hard and resistant and very homogeneous.
slowness. The canons which are cut deeply into

This rock is

It weathers with extreme
it, but not through it or
and have very bold and

deeply into the Trias below, are always narrow
precipitous walls. The extreme is reached in the canons of the forks of the
Virgen. These are merely narrow clefts in the rocks many hundreds of
feet in depth.
But as soon as the stream beds cut into the softer members
of the middle and lower Trias the chasms at

wider

as

the stream cuts lower.

widen out and then grow
The talus at the base of the Jurassic es¬
once

carpments is always small and often entirely absent.

It is, moreover, a
into hard rocks and

general fact that the canons narrow up as they pass
as they pass into soft rocks.
In the foregoing discussion we have all the conditions
necessary for
understanding the cliff-work and sculpture of the Grand Canon, and we
may now proceed to apply these principles to the peculiar profiles which
the chasm presents in its several portions. The summit beds, consisting of
arenaceous and cherty limestones, are of medium obduracy.
They contain
a
large amount of silicious matter, and if blocks of it were submitted to the
stone-cutter they would be pronounced excessively tough and hard; but,
owing to the presence of an abundant calcareous cement of soluble charwiden out

254

THE GRAND

CANON DISTRICT.

acter, it yields readily to weathering.

Much of the silica has been aggre¬
gated into the form of cherty nodules, which are very abundant, forming,
indeed, a considerable percentage of the entire mass of these beds. The
nodules are to a considerable extent arranged in horizontal bands, occurring
at frequent intervals, with
separating layers of sandy limestone, in which
the nodules, though still numerous, are less frequent. In the process of
weathering, the nodules are less easily dissolved than the inclosing matrix,
and as the rock decays they are left projecting from its mass, giving the
faces at a little distance the appearance of a bedded conglomerate. Ulti¬
mately they are detached and fall down upon the talus below. Millions of
these nodules are found in the great talus across the edges of the lower
Aubrey.
The thickness of the upper Aubrey limestones (of which there are
several members of somewhat varied constitution) is altogether about 700
feet.

Beneath them

comes

the hardest and most obdurate

Carboniferous series—the cross-bedded sandstone.
350 to 375 feet.

It forms

mass

of the entire

Its thickness is about

vertical

ledge which is seldom broken into a
slope. It is seen as a most conspicuous band in the summit wall in every
amphitheater and promontory. Beneath it is a vass mass of rather thinly
bedded sandstones, constituting the lower Aubrey group. Their total thick¬
ness exceeds a thousand feet.
These sandstones are the most yielding of
any portion of the Carboniferous series, since the cement which holds the
mass
together is to a notable extent gypsiferous. It seldom forms a great
cliff, but is in reality a succession of ledges often imperfect and bev¬
eled off, but sometimes well marked and precipitous.
The individual
ledges are of very small altitude, corresponding to the thickness of the
several members.
They are to a considerable degree protected by the
a

nodules of chert and the slabs of hard sandstone shot down from the cal¬
careous members and cross-bedded sandstone above.
In the vast expanse
of wall surface the individuality of the
separate

ledges disappears, and the
general effect conveyed by the lower Aubrey is that of a long, steep, and
regular slope. "When seen in profile the true slope is readily appreciated;
but when viewed directly in front, or with moderate
obliquity, it looks too
steep for human foothold, though it is by no means so.

DEVELOPMENT OF CLIFF PROFILES.

255

Leaving for future consideration the characteristics of the great Red
Wall group and the strata beneath
forms of cliff profiles generated by

it, let us endeavor to infer the typical
the combined action of corrasion and
weathering in the strata thus far described. Imagine first a stream corrading its channel through the upper Aubrey limestones. The degree of ab¬
ruptness in the slopes descending to the stream would be dependent upon
the rate of weathering relatively to the rate of corrasion. If the rate of
corrasion were slow and the rate of weathering rapid the slopes would be
gentle or at a low angle; if the corrasion were rapid and the weathering
slow the banks would be precipitous. Imagine the stream to corrade still
further into and through the very obdurate cross-bedded sandstone. Upon
this latter rock weathering has but little effect directly.
It may stand for
long geological periods with but a slight loss of substance, provided it is
not undermined.
Corrasion, however, may go on in it at a rate somewhat
retarded by its obduracy indeed, but only a little less rapidly than in much
softer rocks; for declivity and the amount of protection afforded by the
clastic material in the bed of a stream are incomparably more potent factors
than the hardness of the bed-rock in determining the rate of corrasion. But
the rate of weathering is dependent upon the nature of the stratum itself.
Hence the limestones above would be much less precipitous than the ada¬
mantine sandstone below.

Imagine, further, the sinking of the channel deep into the very easily
weathered slialy sandstones of the lower Aubrey. The problem now be¬
comes a little more complicated.
As before, the quality of the newly-cut
rocks does not necessarily imply any great increase in the rate of corrasion.
But it does imply a modification in the rate of weathering and in the con¬

factor now enters in the plan of opera¬
of their very yielding character the shaly sandstones
rapidly dissolved and the adamantine stratum above is undermined. The

sequent form of the profile.
tions.
are

A

new

In consequence

equal to that in the softer
shales beneath it. So rapid at first is this decay that at a certain early stage
of the penetration of shales by the corrading stream the cross-bedded sand¬
stone and the cherty limestones above often form a single ledge.
The rate
at which they are undermined is for a time greater than the rate of reces-

rate

of recession becomes in the harder stratum

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

256

sion in the medium hard

cherty limestones.

But this condition is gradually

check by the formation of a talus. We have observed that
more yielding the beds under the action of weathering the
longer and less steep will be the weathered slope across their edges. Upon
this slope across the edges of the shaly sandstones accumulate many of the
cherty nodules and fragments of the adamantine sandstone, with large
quantities of fine sand, and even a little soil. The debris lodging there
protects, to an important extent, the shaly sandstones and retards more and
more their rate of weathering, retards the rate of undermining, and dimin¬
ishes gradually the supply of debris to the talus.
Thus the great increase
in the rate of weathering caused by corrasion penetrating the yielding shales
is, to a great extent, countervailed by the formation of the talus. It now
becomes apparent that the resulting profile of the entire cliff has a perfectly
definite and stable configuration or typical form, which the combined action
of all the incident forces tends strongly to maintain.
The cliff formed out of the upper and lower Aubrey series is very re¬
markable for the constancy of its profile throughout the entire extent of the
great chasm. Along every mile of the main fa9ade, in every amphitheater
and alcove, and in every promontory, wing wall, and gable, it discloses the
same familiar features.
It is the wall of the upper or outer chasm. In the
Kanab, Uinkaret, and Sheavwits divisions it stands far away from the lower
or inner chasm—an interval of two miles usually separating its base from
the brink of the inner gorge. In the Kaibab division the Aubrey wall is
unchanged in its general character, but everything below it is there in strong

brought to

a

the softer and

contrast

with what is disclosed in the other divisions.

In the three western

platform at the base of the upper wall is a very striking
feature; in the Kaibab the platform is quarried away by the lower depths
of the amphitheaters, leaving only intervening buttes, and the profile at
the base of the great lower Aubrey talus at. once plunges vertically down
the precipices of the Red Wall limestone.
In many places the Aubrey cliff
in its recession by waste is so closely pursued by the recession of the Red
Wall below that a few hundred feet of the lower Aubrey talus are cut off
and the shales at the base of that series are undermined, forming cliffs which
are continuous vertically with the great Red Wall precipice below.
Almost
divisions the broad

SEHCIN
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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

ROUNDED INWARD CURVES AND

GRAND CA

ft ON DISTRICT.

PROJECTING CUSPS OF THE WALLS.

PL. XLII.

DEVELOPMENT OF CLIFF PROFILES.

257

everywhere, in fact, throughout the Kaibab division the platform of the
Middle Terrace is obliterated and the entire Carboniferous series forms one
wall of alternate vertical ledges and taluses.
The reason for this difference
will

soon

Let

become manifest.

further the evolution of the cliffs by imagining the
sinking of a stream by corrasion into the Red Wall series. This forma¬
tion, constituting the lower Carboniferous of the southwestern Plateau
Country, is one of the most extraordinary in the world. It is composed
principally of limestones of the most massive and homogeneous description,
one bed
being over 750 feet in thickness without any visible horizontal part¬
ing ; another of nearly 400 feet, and a third of more than 300 feet. There are
also several other massive layers of limestone, and these calcareous beds are
quite similar to each other in their lithological characters. At the summit
of the Red Wall is a group of calcareous sandstones,
very heavily bedded
for the most part, and about 350 feet in total thickness. Beneath the
huge
us now

pursue

limestone members other calcareous sandstones
appear in considerable mass,
with a thickness of about 750 feet. These lower beds are
conspicuous to
the eye by their deep rich brown color. With the
exception of
limestone member, all of these great beds vary somewhat as

the largest

they

pass

through great horizontal distances.

They often subdivide into thinner beds
which they contain also changes.
These changes of character, however, are seldom or never
abrupt, but
usually take place by almost imperceptible degrees along many miles of ex¬
posure. In the Kanab division the whole series of nearly 2,500 feet thick¬
ness is
wonderfully massive, and the partings of the strata are comparatively
few. In the Kaibab the great 750-foot limestone is as solid as
ever, but
most of the other members have become laminated much more
minutely
than in the Kanab and Uinkaret, and are of more perishable texture.
The
results of the attack of weathering upon the edges exposed by corrasion
vary accordingly.
In the Kaibab several causes have combined to produce
a far
greater amount of destruction in the Red Wall series than in the
and the amount of

arenaceous

matter

Kanab and Uinkaret divisions.
The

so

which have

produced in the Kaibab a topography differing
widely from that which is seen in the other divisions of the chasm may be
causes

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

ROUNDED INWARD CURVES AND

GRA ND CA NON BIS TRICT.

PROJECTING CUSPS OF THE WALLS.

EL. XLII.

DEVELOPMENT OF CLIFF PROFILES.

257

everywhere, in fact, throughout the Kaibab division the platform of the
Middle Terrace is obliterated and the entire Carboniferous series forms
wall of alternate vertical
will

soon

Let

ledges and taluses.

The

reason

one

for this difference

become manifest.

further the evolution of the cliffs by imagining the
sinking of a stream by corrasion into the Red Wall series. This forma¬
tion, constituting the lower Carboniferous of the southwestern Plateau
Country, is one of the most extraordinary in the world. It is composed
principally of limestones of the most massive and homogeneous description,
one bed
being over 750 feet in thickness without any visible horizontal part¬
ing ; another of nearly 400 feet, and a third of more than 300 feet. There are
also several other massive layers of limestone, and these calcareous beds are
quite similar to each other in their lithological characters. At the summit
of the Red Wall is a group of calcareous sandstones,
very heavily bedded
for the most part, and about 350 feet in total thickness. Beneath the
huge
limestone members other calcareous sandstones appear in considerable
mass,
with a thickness of about 750 feet. These lower beds are
conspicuous to
the eye by their deep rich brown color. With the
exception of the largest
limestone member, all of these great beds vary somewhat as
they pass
through great horizontal distances. They often subdivide into thinner beds
and the amount of arenaceous matter which they contain also
changes.
These changes of character, however, are seldom or never
abrupt, but
usually take place by almost imperceptible degrees along many miles of ex¬
posure. In the Kanab division the whole series of nearly 2,500 feet thick¬
ness is
wonderfully massive, and the partings of the strata are comparatively
few. In the Kaibab the great 750-foot limestone is as solid as ever, but
us now

most of the

pursue

other members have become laminated much

than in the Kanab and

Uinkaret, and

of

more

minutely

perishable texture. The
weathering upon the edges exposed by corrasion
vary accordingly.
In the Kaibab several causes have combined to produce
a far
greater amount of destruction in the Red Wall series than in the
are

more

results of the attack of

Kanab and Uinkaret divisions.
The

so

which have

produced in the Kaibab a topography differing
widely from that which is seen in the other divisions of the chasm may be
causes

THE GRAND

258

GABON DISTRICT.

The Kaibab is now, and throughout the period of evo¬
always has been, higher than the other plateaus.
Corrasion has, therefore, penetrated there more deeply than elsewhere. It
has, moi'eover, laid bare the edges of the softer beds underlying the Red
Wall, and the rapid decay of these lower beds has undermined and wasted
the Red Wall to a great extent. In the other divisions of the chasm corra¬
sion has only at a very recent period cut below this great series of hard
limestones. In a word, the process of development of the canon is much
more advanced than elsewhere.
Besides the greater altitude leading to
deeper corrasion, the climate of the Kaibab is moister, and the degrading
forces are, therefore, more efficient.
If, in future periods, the three western
plateaus should be further elevated, it may be anticipated that the chasm
would there assume gradually the features now seen in the Kaibab.
There are certain forms in the contours or ground plans of cliffs which
claim attention. One of the most striking features in the vast maze of cliffwork in the Grand Carton is found in the extremely tortuous lines of front¬
age.
They wind about in a most intricate manner and rarely extend in
straight lines through any considerable distances. The lines of trend
usually are a succession of sweeping curves and sharp angles. The first
view is extremely confusing, and under the influence of many causes of
optical delusion prevailing in the landscape, it is very difficult to see any¬
thing but chaos—an utter absence of anything like system or arrangement.
But patient study and analysis at length reveal many striking evidences of
order.
If we consider any one of the larger amphitheaters opening later¬
ally into the main chasm, we shall note that it has many lateral amphithea¬
ters opening into it of an inferior order of magnitude.
This is well por¬
trayed in Mr. Bodfish's map of the Kaibab division. All of them are the
result of corrasion and weathering. They illustrate the remarkable uni¬
formity of the rate of weathering. The upper ends of the minor recesses
are usually rounded in contour.
The longitudinal wall extending to its
confluence with the main amphitheater makes at that point a sharp angle.
The weathering of these walls has obviously originated in the corrading
readily explained.

lution of the chasm it

channels of the lateral tributaries and their minuter branches.
row

cleft cut

by the sinking stream deepened it also widened.

As the

If

nar¬

we rep-

ORIGIN OP

BUTTES, CUSPS, AND GABLES.

259

resent the locus of the

edge of any stratum high in the series at successive
epochs of the development by parallel equidistant lines, we shall have a
series of curves running up the stream nearly parallel to its course, then cir¬
cling around its head and returning to its mouth. As these curves recede
from the stream the more nearly do they approach to arcs of circles. The
same recession is going on in the walls of the main amphitheater, into which
the minor one opens. Where two minor or major amphitheaters are situated
near each other the recession of their walls at length obliterates a portion
of the summit stratum which divided them, and at later stages successively
obliterates lower and lower members. The great cloister-buttes are formed
by the recession of the walls of any two parallel major amphitheaters, and
the wings of these buttes by the recession of the walls of the minor amphi¬
theaters.

The minor

recesses

exhibit the rounded contours at their upper

ends.

Everywhere is disclosed an approximate uniformity in the rate of
Where the expanding curves of recession from any two adjoin¬
ing recesses meet or intersect, the included mass between them is carved
sometimes into a cusp or sharp "spur," sometimes into a stately gable, ac¬
cording to the relative positions of the axes of the curves. The spurs are
frequently very narrow and sharp, and in an advanced state of erosion such
a
spur in the Red Wall band breaks into a row of needles or pinnacles.
Many of the gables are of most noble form and of wonderful symmetry.
Human conception cannot surpass their beauty even if it can rival it.
The cusp contour is also repeated on a minor scale in the wall faces,
where it appears as a minor decoration or fretting of the edges of the strata.
It is especially conspicuous in the Kaibab. It appears to have its origin in
minor corrasion by storm sluices, which at first scour out at frequent and
regular intervals deep notches, which widen out by weathering, and once
started the recesses or alcoves thus opened perpetuate themselves. The con¬
tour line along the face of the cliff thus curves inward and the intersection
recession.

of two

curves

at their ends forms the cusp.

the Red Wall may be
seen large niches or panels of very regular form spanned by circular arches
above.
These panels must be more than 600 feet high and 500 to 600 feet
wide. Sometimes they are very deeply recessed in the facade, sometimes
In the faces of the

great limestone member of

260

THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT.

only slightly

There

literally hundreds of these niches along the
and, so far as known, they are seen in no
other member. Mr. Holmes has made a drawing of three of these (Plate
XLI), which well represents their character. I am unable to explain the
cause of this persistent
phenomenon and am very much perplexed by it.
There is seldom any long stretch of the Red Wall exposure in which these
panels are not found, and they are usually of the same form and dimensions
throughout the Kaibab division. In the Kanab and Uinkaret divisions
they are much less numerous, though still common.
The analysis of details in the sculpture of the Grand Cation might be
extended almost without limit, but the examples here given must suffice. It
appears that the laws which govern the action of the eroding agents are
highly complex, though by careful study and close attention they may be
mastered. As already remarked these peculiar forms would hardly be pos¬
sible in any other region, since no other region (so far as known to
me)
presents similar conditions. These conditions have been stated to be as
follows, and the effect of each has been stated: (1.) The great elevation
of the region. (2.) The horizontality of the strata.
(3.) A series of strata
containing very massive beds, which differ greatly among themselves in re¬
spect to obduracy to weathering, but each member being very homogeneous
in all its horizontal extent; in a word,
heterogeneity in vertical range and
homogeneity in horizontal range. (4 ) An arid climate.
No doubt the question will often be asked, how
long has been the time
occupied in the excavation of the Grand Canon? Unfortunately there is
no
mystery more inscrutable than the duration of geological time. On this
point geologists have obtained no satisfactory results in any part of the
world. Whatever periods may have been
assigned to the antiquity of past
events have been assigned
provisionally only, and the inferences are almost
purely hypothetical. In the Plateau Country Nature has, in some respects,
so.

extent of the

been

more

communicative than in other

regions, and has answered many
fully and graciously. But here, as elsewhere, whenever
interrogate her about time other than relative, her lips are sternly closed,

questions far
we

are

limestone front,

more

and her face becomes

as

the face of the

Sphinx.

INDEX.

Page.

Page.

1

Abstract of the Monograph

Age of the Grand Canon
Echo Cliff monocline

Hurricane fault
Uinkaret lavas
East Kaibab monocline

187,191, 226
205
116,226
119,116
191,199

93

Toroweap fault

199

Alcoves

Alluvium,

canons

228

refilled with

71
19

Altitude of Eocene strata

Grand Canon district

186

Kaibab Plateau

26

MarMgunt

130
47

Stewart's Cafion
terraces

Vermilion Cliffs

169

Ottoman

175
167

Shinumo

Ta-peats
158
Upper Paria
16
Amphitheaters of the Kaibab
Chap. IX
Ancient valley on the Kaibab
192
Aquarius Plateau, post-Cretaceous unconformity. ...
215
18, 66
146,179
207,242

Archaean rocks of Arizona

Kaibab division
in the river bed

drying

up

effects

of,

rivers
topography

Buttes in Grand Canon

25,99,227

127

Cambro-Silurian

207

Canons, alluvium in

228

general characters of

143

of San Juan Basin

222

Carbonaceous shales, Cretaceous
Carboniferous age

compared with Cretaceous
strata of Central Arizona

Marble Canon

Uinkaret

47, 66, 67

18, 66

Aubrey Cliffs
limestones

group

displacement
Basalt, Central Arizona
Axes of

Grand Canon
recent

of the Slieavwits
Uinkaret
Basaltic Plateaus
Base level of erosion

Big Spring, Stewart's Canon

...

.88, 254

88,89
216
66
95,180
108,111
107,223
12, 82, 94,104, 223
106

76,119,121,224

129,139

82,104,196,109
94

Grand Canon

237
210
45

Clay and sand in river
Clay-slates, absence of
Cliffs, characteristic of formations

32

Cretaceous

130
27

of

displacement (note)
Eocene, or Pink
Permian

Attenuation of strata eastward

203
87
102,118

Uinkaret

Cinder cones,

Jurassic

112

platform

Toroweap

119,190,223

11, 66
152

G6

Grand Canon Platform. 3,17,19, 81, 207
limestones
209

of the Pliocene

weathering of basalt

176
176
69,212
208
212

Cape Final
Royal

227, 245, 246

and

236

floods in

upon

Arizona, topography of
Atmosphere of Grand Canon

145,147,158,172,175

Cactus

172

Hindoo

241
28
172,174

Bright Angel Amphitheater

87

Amphitheater Bright Angel

Arid climate

Bowlders from side gorges
Brackish-water beds, Eocene

40, 54

walls of Canon Toroweap

16

Bitter Creek beds

35
43, 80, 81
27

Pink

227
251

profiles of
regulated by talus
recession of

62, 200,249

Climate of Miocene

40
189

Pliocene

190,201,222

Vermilion (Triassic)

148,167
54,154

Cloister-buttes
Cloud effects

Coal, Cretaceous

67, 212

Colob Terrace

36,40
14,186

Colorado Plateau

90,98,161,164

River

239
7,217
238

declivity of
origin of
turbidity of
261

262

INDEX.

Colorado Biver, water supply

Page.
234
88

of

Colors, Aubrey sandstones
Carboniferous

32

Jurassic

38

Permian

80,151

16,27

Erosion, base-levels of

Chap. XIV

East Kaibab monocline

27

factors of

valley of the Virgen

57

the

Conglomerate Shin-a-rump

originating reliefs
of river channels

Cretaceous age

compared with Carboniferous
land

strata, Echo Cliffs
in the terraces

87
235

Evolution of the Kaibab
Excavation of the

201

Extinct river of the Kaibab

212
212

Faults—East Kaibab monocline
Grand Wash
Hurricane

20

Toroweap
West Kaibab

Faults, age of
general account of
Firs of Kaibab

240

Forest scenery

side gorges

241
12

Fresh-water

of Grand Canon district

Deposition, continuity of
in shallow waters

Depths of Carboniferous ocean
Grand Canon

wall, Toroweap
Ta-peats Amphitheater

canon

Desert scenery

vegetation
Devonian

135,171,186,193
Chap. IV
3,119,189,220, 225

-

211
213

159
79, 81,124
80,127
18, 207

Diabase

180

Dikes in cafion wall

Dimensions of Grand Canon

Dip of strata, general northward
increasing at bases of cliffs
Marble Canon platform

95

87,142,144

46, 70
47
203

Paria Plateau

201

of Plateau Province

213

Displacements. (See Faults.)
Drainage, lateral, of Grand Canon
system of district
evolution of

Kaibab
Paria Plateau

of Eocene lake
lateral streams

Eastern bend of Grand Canon
East Kaibab monocline
age of
Echo Cliffs monocline
age

of

strata of
view of

Elevation of Grand Canon district

Emma, Mount

platform

Geometric

134

profiles
effects of arid climate

Glacial

course

of

excavation of

descent of walls of
Grand Cafion

district, denudation of
defined

elevation of

Grand Biver, flow
Grand Wash

of

72, 217
136,169,192,228
201

29, 220
98, 99,120,194
23

13,177,183
199

Grand Wash fault

74

205
39. 41
176

69, 245

106
104

246

190,196,202, 228
2, 4,22
Chap. XIII
97,159

Chap. IV
9

69

235
42

2,12,19, 23, 42

Grandeur of Vermilion Cliffs

Granite Archaean Kaibab

Surprise Valley
Great Basin shore line
mainland Mesozoic

topography
of
Ground plans of buttes
Gypsum
Haze in Grand Cafion

Heterogeneity of strata, vertical
High Plateaus
Hindoo Amphitheater
History of Grand Canon district
Kaibab

231

12

Triassic of

Green Biver, flow

48
22

69

215

147

Gilbert, G. K., corrasion

period
Grand Cafion,

2, 20, 85, 93
.2, 21,122,162,183
70,226, 228
19
13,131

Forests, fossil
lakes, Eocene

210
22,87,142
97

192

2,13, 21,177,183,184,198
21,39, 74,205
2,12,19,23,42
2,5, 20 112,116,120, 200, 228

Sevier

169,259
239

De Motte Park

187

Chap. XIH

canon

Echo Cliff monocline

Marble Canon

Denudation, The Great

62

245

35,69,214

Dellenbaugh, Mount

up

Esplanade of Grand Canon
Evaporation

88,159,193, 254
-

Cusps
Declivity of Colorado

Descent of

215

16, 31

Cross-bedded sandstone, Aubrey
Jurassic

methods of

205
33, 68, 214

former extent

1,61

Escalante monocline

214

areas

64

great lesson

54

119,120, 230,251
227, 242

of the Colorado

178

82,104,106,109

44

Corrasion

76

details of

Pink cliffs

Vermilion Cliffs

215
31, 61, 68

strata

91,151

Cretaceous

Cones of Uinkaret

Drying

Eocene age
former extension of

52
146

161
30, 32, 38,42, 65
3,38,48,214
9, 60
225

147, 258

52,209
152,154
210, 245
2, 9, 28, 29
169
Chap. XII
187

Homogeneity of strata, horizontal.
210, 245
Horizontally of strata
118, 201, 208, 215
House Bock Valley
201
Hurricane fault
2, 5,12, 20, 23,41,112,116,120, 200, 228
Inner gorge, Kaibab
146
rapid excavation of
121
Toroweap
89, 91
Joints, Triassic sandstone
53
Jurassic, Echo Cliffs
205

INDEX.

263
Page.

Jurassic, former extent of
littoral belt
of the terraces

Paleozoic conditions

38

Panels in red wall

16, 34
113, 200

Sheavwits
Kaibab defined
division of Grand Canon

2,10, Chap. X
22,123

greater erosion of
lagoons

68

258
137

on

structure of

Chap. X

rainfall of

137,236

ravines of

131

summit of

Chap. VII
31

Kaiparowits Peak
Plateau
division of Grand Cafion
Creek

24, 49,194
2,10,13,104,124,130

village
Kwagunt Valley

78
181
29, 215
137,174
216

Lacustrine beds, Eocene

Lagoons
Lake basins, formation of
Land areas, Mesozoic

48, 214
103,105
85, 92,106,116

Lava caps

cascades
Lavas faulted

117

of the Uinkaret

82, 84,106

Length of Grand Canon
Limestones, rarity in Mesozoic

23, 24
209

red wall

Little De Motte Park

(Mu-kun-tu-weap)
Valley

transported by Colorado
Logan, Mount

Marble Canon
Marble Cafion

platform
Mark&gunt Plateau
Marls, Eocene
Mesozoic lands

22, 204
138,171
48
58
30,32,38,42, 65
236
46,103,105

21

237
159,168

Miocene climate

East Kaibab

223

176
163,165
48, 58
149, 259
124

Mu-kun-tu-weap
Niches and

panels
Night travel

Olivine in basalt

Origin of plateau drainage
Amphitheater
Outliers, Eocene

157

16,27

82

■

.

217
175

at foot of Hurricane

3, 88

ledge

outliers
terrace

remnants, Uinkaret

115
12,15
17,43, 80,123
102,107,117

Persistence of rivers

219

Pine V alley range
Pines on the Kaibab

133

Pink Cliffs

(Eocene)
Pinnacles, Kaibab
Toroweap
Pipe Spring
Plateau, Powell's
Pliocene climate

27

16,27
165

85

20, 53,78
162

187,192, 201, 223
Chap. VIII

Point Sublime

Powell, Silurian at head of Grand Canon
Powell's Plateau

179
162

Profiles of walls

85,147, 227, 251

Vermilion Cliffs

of district

52

106,109,115
200

236,237

of Kaibab

236

Bapids in the river

98,241, 244
131,196

Bavines of the Kaibab
Becent basalts

ill

Becession of cliffs
Bed Butte
Bed Wall

recession of

Bipple-marks
Bivers, origin of
persistence of
Sand and clay in river
San Francisco Mountains
San Juan, mesas

of

Selenito
Shallow waters

Sheavwits Plateau
basalts of

89,145,159,164, 204
149,259
257

69
219

72,219
237

15,41, 66,224
176

210,237
210, 211,213
2,10,11,101
107

Grand Canon in

23

Triassic strata of

41

Shin-^-rump Conglomerate
Amphitheater
Shiva's Temple
Shinumo

Shoreline of Great Basin
Short Creek
Sierra

62,200,249,259
15,46

Group
panels and niches

44
167

150,169,171
21,48, 66
53

country

10,18,27,48, 66

Silicified wood

69,211
18, 89,180,207, 209

Silurian strata

31

Sinking of streams

Permian

12,15, 46,102

Smithsonian Butte

Triassic

42

..

205

former extension of

13, 21, 75,122,177,183,192,198

Moquis villages

Ottoman

49, 58

Permian in Echo Cliff

197
21, 39, 74, 205

Muav Canon

133,135,138,171

Parunuweap
Parusi-wompats
Paunsdgunt

215

65, 67, 214
2,10,14, 22,74,178, 203,240
14,176,199, 203
16, 26,27
27
48, 214

shore lines

Echo Cliff.

41

the Kaibab

on

Bainfall and altitude

Meteorology of district
Milk Spring
Monocline, Amphitheaters in

Village

105
209

Mainland Mesozoic of Arizona
of Great Basin

Parks

Queantoweap Valley

arrangement of vents
Lithologic characters of strata
Little Colorado

2,10,14, Chap. XI
24,49,201

89,145,159,164

Linear

Load

Paria

23

Plateau

Littoral belt

Amphitheater

Paria Plateau
Paria Biver

14,33,38
13, 23,49, 80,128

Kanab Canon

Little Zion Fork

Paria

206

149,259
32,38,201

Spanish bayonet (yucca)

129,196
57

128

INDEX.

264

Page.

234

Springs in

canons
on the Kaibab

129,139,157,166,171,173
82

Uinkaret

128

Stewart's Canon.

Stratification, argument from
Streams, absence of, on Kaibab

65
131,137
80

Sunflowers

Surprise Valley
Sylvan gate
Table Cliff, Tertiary

138
32

formation and functions of

Ta-peats Amphitheater
Temperature, midday
canon

effect

Towers at Short Creek

Transept.
Trias (see, also, Vermilion Cliffs).
w

of Arizona
in Echo Cliff

former extension of.
in Paria Plateau
in Sheavwits

in the terraces

Triassic terrace,

erosion of

Tributaries of Grand Canon

origin of
Trumbull, Mount
Uinkaret Plateau
defined

on

131

247

erosion

158
125

Vents, basaltic, Uinkaret
Vermilion Cliffs

235

Vermilion Cliffs (see Trias)

104
Chap. Ill
3,40,79,81,199

143

Virgen, Canons of the

24,48

River

Temples and Towers of the
Temple

37, 40, 57,14G
148,177

Vishnu's

29
29

Volcanic action

sands

171
84
-

Valley

69,77,120,191,216,225
127

Uplifts of district
Vegetation, desert
Kaibab

24

drainage of
Tertiary. (See Eocene.)
Thompson's Spring
Toroweap, descent of

259

of recession

147

Chap. II

208

Uniformity of deposition

37,40, 57,146

Temples and Towers of the Virgen
Terraces

fault

110
251, 255

148,177

Yishnu's

178,207

hard beds

250

150,169,171

Temple, Shiva's

28
28
44, 69,102,211

Undermining of basalts

160

Talus of Grand Canon

in the

Mountains, Eocene of
Unconformity, Cretaceous Eocene
by erosion
The Great, pre-Carboniferous

Uinta

13,23, 84

Volcanism and

Chap. Ill
62
24

219
46,79, 81,103
Chap. VI
2,5,10,12

207

Permian fauna

103

44

Permian strata

53

41
205
68
199
200

120
4,92,105

Walcott, C. D., on Devonian strata

4,83, 93,98

172,175

upheaval

Vulcan's Throne

Ward, Lester E., flora of High Plateaus
Water pockets
Water, scarcity of, on Kaibab
supply of Colorado

133
80, 82, 84
129
234,235
48

Watersheds of the terraces

Weathering

227,230,245

Western bend of Grand Canon
West Kaibab fault

Width of Grand Cafion
Wild Band

pockets

Witches' Water Pocket
Wonsits Plain
Yuccas

23

2,21,122,128,130,162,183
...

144

80
82, 84
82
128

1500

Copies

of this two volume set

have been printed.
This is number 2£°

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