ts published description more actual information can be gleaned
concerning the canon itself than almost any mere verbal description.

The surveyors had to carry with them, on their backs, for a great
portion of the way, the limited supplies of food they took with them,
because it was frequently impossible to get the boats along at all. When
the boats were used, several were upset, and everything was uncertainty
as to the bill of fare that would be presented at the next meal, even if
there was to be a meal at all. Mr. Frank M. Brown, president of the
railroad company, lost his life in one of the whirlpools. He was in a
boat, a little ahead of the others, and seemed to be cheerful and
hopeful. He shouted to his comrades in the rear to come on with their
boats, and that he was all right. A moment later, his friends were
astonished to see the boat gone, and their leader swimming around and
around in a whirlpool, trying hard to reach smooth water.

He was a good swimmer, and a brave man, but his efforts were futile, and
finally he sank. The party waited and watched for hours, but were
finally compelled to recognize the fact that their friend and leader was
gone forever.

It was determined almost immediately to beat a retreat. While the party
was hunting for a side canon leading northward through which they could
make their exit, it became evident that a storm was brewing. Rain
commenced to fall in a steady shower, and to increase in quantity. The
surveyors had no dry clothing beyond what they stood up in, and there
was no shelter of any kind at hand. They were near Vassey's Paradise, in
the deepest part of the canon they had yet reached. A storm in such a
location had its awfulness intensified beyond measure, and the
frightened men looked in every direction for shelter. Finally, about
forty feet up the side of the marble cliff, the opening to a small
cavern was seen. Into this Mr. R. B. Stanton, one of the party, climbed.
There was not room enough for his body at full length, but he crawled in
as best he could, curled himself up, and tried to sleep.

A terrible night followed. At about midnight he was awakened by a
terrific peal of thunder, which re-echoed and reverberated through the
canon in a most magnificently awful manner. He had been caught in storms
in mountain regions and deep valleys before, but he had never felt so
terribly alone or so superstitiously alarmed as on this occasion. Every
now and then a vivid flash