Part 1 (1/2)
The Western United States.
by Harold Wellman Fairbanks.
PREFACE
In the preparation of this book the author has had in mind the needs of the upper grammar grades. The subject matter has not been selected with the object of covering the field of Western geography in a systematic manner, but instead the attempt has been made to picture as graphically as may be some of its more striking and interesting physical features, and the influence which these features have exerted upon its discovery and settlement.
Those subjects have been presented which have more than local interest and are ill.u.s.trative of world-wide principles. Clear conceptions of the earth and man's relation to it are not gained by general statements as readily as by the comprehensive study of concrete examples.
Nowhere outside of the Cordilleran region are to be found so remarkable ill.u.s.trations of the growth and destruction of physical features, or so clear examples of the control which physical features exercise over the paths of exploration, settlement, and industrial development.
The fact that the West furnishes a wealth of material for geography teaching has long been recognized in a general way, although there has been but little attempt to present this material in a form suitable for the use of schools.
The ill.u.s.trations are, with few exceptions, from the author's own photographs, and the descriptions are made up from his personal observations. Since the ill.u.s.trations are numerous and have been selected with much care, it is hoped that they will add greatly to the value of the text. They should be _used_, and a proper understanding of the pictures made a part of every lesson.
THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
THE WORK OF THE COLORADO RIVER
The Colorado River is not old, as we estimate the age of rivers.
It was born when the Rocky Mountains were first uplifted to the sky, when their lofty peaks, collecting the moisture of the storms, sent streams das.h.i.+ng down to the plains below. Upon the western slope of the mountains a number of these streams united in one great river, which wound here and there, seeking the easiest route across the plateau to the Gulf of California.
At first the banks of the river were low, and its course was easily turned one way or another. From the base of the mountains to the level of the ocean there is a fall of more than a mile, so that the river ran swiftly and was not long in making for itself a definite channel.
Many thousands of years pa.s.sed. America was discovered. The Spaniards conquered Mexico and sent expeditions northward in search of the cities of Cibola, where it was said that gold and silver were abundant.
One of these parties is reported to have reached a mighty canon, into which it was impossible to descend. The canon was so deep that rocks standing in the bottom, which were in reality higher than the Seville cathedral, appeared no taller than a man.
Another party discovered the mouth of the river and called it, because of their safe arrival, The River of Our Lady of Safe Conduct.
They went as far up the river as its shallow waters would permit, but failed to find the seven cities of which they were in search, and turned about and went back to Mexico. For years afterward the river remained undisturbed, so far as white men were concerned.
A great part of the stream was unknown even to the Indians, for the barren plateaus upon either side offered no inducements to approach.
Trappers and explorers in the Rocky Mountains reached the head waters of the river nearly one hundred years ago, and followed the converging branches down as far as they dared toward the dark and forbidding canons. It was believed that no boat could pa.s.s through the canons, and that once launched upon those turbid waters, the adventurer would never be able to return.
The Colorado remained a river of mystery for nearly three centuries after its discovery. When California and New Mexico had become a part of the Union, about the middle of the last century, the canon of the Colorado was approached at various points by government exploring parties, which brought back more definite reports concerning the rugged gorge through which the river flows.
In 1869 Major Powell, at the head of a small party, undertook the dangerous trip through the canon by boat. After enduring great hards.h.i.+ps for a number of weeks, the party succeeded in reaching the lower end of the canon. Major Powell's exploit has been repeated by only one other company, and some members of this party perished before the dangerous feat was accomplished.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.--THE GRAND CAnON OF THE COLORADO
The work of a river]
The Colorado is a wonderful stream. It is fed by the perpetual snows of the Rocky Mountains. For some distance the tributary streams flow through fertile valleys, many of them now richly and widely cultivated. But soon the branches unite in one mighty river which, seeming to shun life and sunlight, buries itself so deeply in the great plateau that the traveller through this region may perish in sight of its waters without being able to descend far enough to reach them. After pa.s.sing through one hundred miles of canon, the river emerges upon a desert region, where the rainfall is so slight that curious and unusual forms of plants and animals have been developed, forms which are adapted to withstand the almost perpetual suns.h.i.+ne and scorching heat of summer.
Below the Grand Canon the river traverses an open valley, where the bottom lands support a few Indians who raise corn, squashes, and other vegetables. At the Needles the river is hidden for a short time within canon walls, but beyond Yuma the valley widens, and the stream enters upon vast plains over which it flows to its mouth in the Gulf of California.
No portion of the river is well adapted to navigation. Below the canon the channels are shallow and ever changing. At the mouth, enormous tides sweep with swift currents over the shallows and produce foam-decked waves known as the ”bore.”