to
abandon the river and try the chance on the top, but then he says: "For
years I have been contemplating this trip. To leave the exploration
unfinished, to say that there is a part of the canyon which I cannot
explore, having already almost accomplished it, is more than I am
willing to acknowledge, and I determine to go on." So he awoke Walter
Powell and explained to him Howland's decision. Walter agreed to stand
by him, and so did Sumner, Hawkins, Bradley, and Hall. The younger
Howland wished to remain, but would not desert his brother. O. G.
Howland was determined to leave the river, and Dunn was with him.

I have never met any of the men of this party except Powell and his
brother Walter, so I have no other account of the affair than the one
just stated, which is from Powell's Report, and is the same that he gave
me orally before that Report was printed. Walter Powell never mentioned
the subject, or in any way suggested to me that there was anything
behind the version of Powell. But others have. They have said that the
real cause of the break was an incompatibility between Powell and the
elder Howland. It is quite possible that Powell may have discovered
Howland persona non grata, but had this been as serious as some have
said, Howland would not have waited, it seems to me, till they came to a
particularly bad-looking place to take his departure. At any rate, that
was a long night for Powell, and whatever the main cause of Howland's
leaving was, it was a trying ordeal for the leader. Howland's obligation
certainly was to go on as if he were an enlisted soldier, and he
evidently failed in this duty. When daylight finally came a solemn
breakfast was prepared and eaten. No one had much heart. The river was
then crossed again to the north side. The decision of the three men to
leave rendered one boat useless, and the poorest, the Dean, which was a
pine boat, was left behind. Two rifles and a shotgun were given to the
men who were leaving, but their share of the rations they refused to
take, being sure they could secure all the game they required. Their
calculations were correct enough, and they would have arrived at the
settlements had not an unforeseen circumstance prevented. When the river
party were ready to start the three deserters helped lift the two boats
over a high rock and down past the first fall. Then they parted. Powell
wrote a letter to his wife which Howland took, Sumner gave him his watch
with directio