bove its head,
is 4670 feet above the sea, while Gunnison Valley is 4083, showing a
descent for the river, in Desolation and Gray, together of 587 feet.
Desolation is full of rapids, some of them bad. Wonsits Valley, which
succeeds Desolation, is the longest of the few valleys, being about 87
miles, with a width of 6 or 8 miles. There is a considerable amount of
arable land, and along the river bank large groves of cottonwood trees.
The river course is winding, the current sluggish, the width being 600
to 800 feet. At the head of this valley is Split-Mountain Canyon, 8
miles long, with ragged, craggy walls 2700 feet high. It contains a
number of medium rapids. Island Park separates it from Whirlpool Canyon.
It is a charming little valley, full of islands, a mere expansion of the
walls, 9 miles long,--9 miles of rainbow, for the surrounding rocks and
marls are of every hue. Whirlpool, 2400 feet deep, is about 14 miles in
length and contains a number of rapids, but the whirlpools depend on the
stage of water. Then comes the beautiful little Echo Park, really only
the head of Whirlpool. Its name is derived from a wonderful echo of ten
words returned from the smooth wall seen in the cut on page 203. It is
only a mile long with walls of 600 feet. At its head enter the Yampa
River and Canyon, which mark the foot of Lodore, the most striking
gorge, next to the Grand Canyon, on the whole river. Lodore is only 20
miles long, but it is 20 miles of concentrated water-power energy and
grandeur, the fall being about 400 feet, the walls 2700. Never for
a moment does it relax its assault, and the voyager on its restless,
relentless tide, especially at high water, is kept on the alert. The
waters indeed come rushing down with fearful impetuosity, recalling to
Powell the poem of Southey, on the Lodore he knew, hence the name. The
beginning of the gorge is at the foot of Brown's Park through what is
called the Gate of Lodore, an abrupt gash in the Uinta Mountains 2000
feet deep. In viewing this entrance the ordinary spectator is at a
loss to comprehend how the stream could have begun its attack upon
this precipitous ridge. The theory that the river was there before the
upheaval formed the mountain does not entirely satisfy, for it would
seem in that case that the canyon walls would long ago have become much
more broken down than they are. But the walls have a strikingly fresh
look, as if formed recently, compared with the time of the origi