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Of John Wesley Powell ) ONTH RAIL N the 67 years since the death of John Wesley Powell, more I than 100 dams have sprung up in the sprawling seven-state Colo­ rado River basin which he was the first to traverse in the sum­ mer of 1869. But one section, hun­ dreds of mile from any dam or reservoir, remains as remote and rugged as it was a century ago. Cataract Canyon of the Colorado, a 42 - mile stretch running south from the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers to the ap­ proaches of Lake Powell behind Glen Canyon Dam in southeastern Utah, is the least traveled section of Old Red. And for good reason. For example, nobody goes through Cataract Canyon in the high - water periods of May and June. At least nobody has gone through during this runoff time and lived to tell about it. The average flow of water through Cataract in April is 13,625 cubic feet per second, just under the over-all annual average. But May's average flow is 2lh times the April figure, and June's is nearly 3lh times. When the high- mountain snow melt tails off in late June or early July, the river drops quickly. The July average through Cataract is 17,361 second-feet, and the August average dips to 8,606 second- feet, according to the U.S. Reclamation Bureau. If the 33-year-old Powell had not dawdled along his route after leav­ ing Green River, Wyo., on May 24, 1869, he would have hit Cataract in flood stage-and perhaps would not have lived to fire American thought about the arid West and set the stage for 20th century conservation programs. To research Empire's two-part series on P o w e 11, photographer George Crouter and I chose to run the C o 1 o r a d o from Moab, Utah, down to the confluence with the Green, through Cataract and into Lake Powell. We chose to do it in early April. At that time the runoff from the Wyoming and Colorado Rockies is just beginning and it's relatively safe to explore the bending, narrow canyon with its 56 hazardous rapids, Danger beckons river runners among the rapids in rarely traveLed Cataract Canyon of the Colorado River. v 14 t.A .o v 2S 19A9 e "t.APIR(; t.AAGA2lN OF JOHN WESLEY POWELL • Photography by George C-router many coming in quick succession. " ... We start this morning on the Like Powell, w stopped in ad­ bilities of successfully negotiating Powell, the one-armed Civil War Colorado. The river is r ough, and vance of each series of rapids. We the river below.' ' major and Illinois geology profes­ bad rapids in close succession are had a double purpose-to allow the In his journal Powell frequently sor, arrived at the confluence in found. Two very hard portages are pilot to check the best route ahead refers to dinnertime. He rarely com­ mid-July 1869, camped ther several made during the forenoon. After din­ (left, right or center portion of the plains about the menu, which was days and then spent a harrowing ner, in running a rapid, the Emma stream), and to let the photographer the same for every meal at this eight days g tting through Cataract. Dean (Powell's 16-foot boat named walk along the rocks and get in po­ time: rancid bacon, souring bread, We did it in three days on a rubber for his wife) is swamped and we are sition to catch the boat in its most dried apples and coffee. Others in pontoon raft piloted by a profession­ throum into the river; we cling to violent contortions. the party made up for Powell's lack al river boatman, Ron Smith of Salt her, and in the first quiet water be­ Our first day among the rapids of complaints. Lake City. low she is righted and baiLed out; ended early when we found a good Most of Cataract's rapids are of Cataract is challenging because but three oars are lost. .. campsite, a broad sandy beach with short duration and comparatively there are f w good places to pull "The larger boats (Maid of the about 150 feet of rock-strewn ground calm water follows. Frequently a into and regroup between rapids. Canyon and Kitty Clyde's Sister, 21 tapering up to the high canyon wall. serene eddy adjoins a rapid and the You have to take a series of rapids feet long) land above the dangerous Threatening clouds were looming to boatmen can pull in to bail out or at a time and take your chances of place, and we make a portage that the south and we didn't want to be rest. The danger arises when there finding a place to stop. And there is occupies all the afternoon. We camp caught in darkness on unfamiliar is a series of rapids, a lot of water no way out of the canyon once the at night on the rocks on the left water. is taken on and there is no con­ trip has begun. bank, and can scarcely find room to Powell, too, made short distances venient place to pull into before the For Empire's novice river run­ lie down." at a time in Cataract, sometimes next white water. stopping in sight of the previous ners, Cataract was a rude awaken­ On July 24, 1869, Powell reported: ing. ln the day and a half covering Th current picks up speed, the day's camp. roar below sounds angrier and the the 68 miles from Moab to the con­ " We examine the rapids below. "On starting (July 23, 1869) we fluence, the Colorado had shown us river seems to b boiling up. For the Large rocks have fallen from the come at once to difficult rapids and its peaceful nature, qui tly rippling first time we see white-foamed tops walls- great, angular blocks ... We falls that, in many places, are more through broad canyons of varied over the muddy brown water. are compelled to make three port­ At about this point, resignation re­ abrupt than in any of the canyons hues, even 1 y banded sandstone ages in succession, the distance be­ through which we have passed, and walls, great bends, sandy banks, an places fear. You know there's no­ ing less than three-fourths of a mile thing you can do at his point we decide to name this Cataract abundance of tamarisk and willows. with a fall of 75 feet. We stop for Canyon," he wrote. Even so, the Colorado in April is except hold on. Our 27-foot pontoon the night; a very hard day's work " The scenery is grand, with rap-­ cold. Heavy with silt, its color is boat goes down into the first big has been done. ids and falls below, and walls above coffee and cream, light on the wave, slides sideways and is tossed "At evening I sit on a rock by the up, down and thataway by the watet· beset un th crags and pinnacles . cream. The surface temperature is edge of the river to look at the water c h u r n e d by the rapids beneath. Our way, after dinner, is through a pleasant in th bright desert sun­ and listen to its roar. Hours ago, Whether the raft is swamped or gorge, grand beyond description. shine. But dip into a section shaded deep shadows had settled into the dumped dep nds on how well it The walls are nearly vertical. From by a canyon wall or meet a breeze canyon as the sun passed behind the rolls with the fo rces-and how well the edge of the water to the brink of whipping into your face and you're cliffs. The waves are rolling with the pilot has chosen the course. the eli fs is 1,600 to 1,800 feet. glad you're wearing a heavy jacket. crests of foam so white they seem Smith, 27, has b en a professional " The cliffs are reflected from the Our first night's camp was on a almost to give a light of their own." river runner since his teens and for more quiet river, and we seem to flat rock I dge about 10 feet above the river and adjoining a sandy the past five years bas operated be in the depths of the earth. We On the third day of our April jour- Grand Canyon Expeditions Inc. He arrive, early in the afternoon, at the bank. It offered a serene setting • ney we challenged all the remain­ where the brisk air, lapping waters plans to op rate through Cataract head of more rapids and falls but, ing rapids, deciding it was better to wearied with past work, we deter­ and clear starlit sky transported us for the first time this summer. Af­ get good and soaked one day more mine to rest, so go into camp, and far from the urban world. Later, ter the first several rapids in which instead of two. Standing in front of when the moon came up, there was the boat noses deep down and the afternoon and evening are spent a raging driftwood fire in bright an unforgettabl picture of the stark bounces up each tlme with no more by the men in discussing the proba- sunshine during the middle of the silhouetted c a n y on s around us damage to the passenger than a pierced by the glimmering river.
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