The Grand Canyon.
Storm Effect from South Rim.
Monday morning, November 25th, we turned our faces toward Kanab, and I climbed four more cones on the way out, overtaking the waggon about an hour after dark. The night was very cold and I was ready to enjoy the warmth of a fire by the time I reached the camp. In the morning we had a visit from Lieutenant Dinwiddie of Lieut. Wheeler's survey. I rode over to the cinder-cone region again and climbed the remaining ones, seven or eight, reaching camp after dark, the days being very short at this time of year. The camp had been moved nearer to the spring in the low line of cliffs where we had halted coming out and the Major with his usual original ideas had caused the waggon to be lowered by ropes into a deep gulch. He had estimated that it was possible to go out through the cliffs that way instead of going all the way around. His geological knowledge did not lead him astray. There was no trouble whatever in taking the waggon up the gulch, and when we emerged we were many miles on the road to Pipe Spring, where the Major and I arrived in advance of the others. We had dinner and he then went on alone to Kanab, where the whole party arrived the next day—Thanksgiving Day. Prof. had come in on the 25th by way of St. George, having had a successful tour through the Shewits region, all agreements on both sides having been carried out to the letter. He had been two weeks in the wild country and Adams declared that to him the time was years, his only comfort being that he was wearing his "endowment garment," a sure protection from all evil. Prof. had climbed Mount Dellenbaugh, though the Shewits objected to Adams's going up and he remained on the trail. It was found to be a basaltic peak 6650 feet above sea-level, but only 1200 or 1500 above its base. On the summit were the ruins of a Shinumo building circular in shape, twenty feet in diameter, with walls remaining about two feet high. It was not far from the base of this mountain that the Howlands and Dunn were killed, Paantung, Prof.'s guide, saying it was done by some "no sense" Shewits. Prof. was of the opinion that the guide had been of the party himself.
All was preparation in our camp for the departure of the Major for Salt Lake and Washington. I had expected to go east at this time also, but both the Major and Prof. being desirous of having me remain a while longer, to help finish up the preliminary map, I agreed to do so and on the 30th of November all the original party set out but Prof., Mrs. Thompson, and myself. A new member, John Renshawe, had arrived a few days before to assist at the topography. When the party had been gone some time it was discovered that they had forgotten several things. I took a horse and rode over with the articles to the camp they intended to make at Johnson, where I remained till morning. The Major was so eager to get an early start that he had all hands up long before sunrise. When breakfast was eaten we had to sit by the fire three quarters of an hour before there was light enough for the men to trail the horses. Then I said good-bye; they went on and I went back. Jones and Andy I never saw again.
Prof. concluded to make winter headquarters in Kanab and a lot was rented for the purpose. On December 3d, we put up a large tent in one corner, with two small ones for rations and saddles. The next day we put up one in the other corner for Prof. and Mrs. Thompson, and at the back of the lot we arranged a corral for the horses or mules we might want to catch. The large tents were floored with pine boards and along the sides heavy cedar boughs were placed in crotches around which the guy ropes were passed before staking. The tents thus were dry inside and could not blow down. A conical iron stove on a boxing of earth heated the large tent like a furnace. In the middle of the general tent we placed a long drafting-table and were ready for work. Another tent, half boards, was erected near ours for kitchen and dining-room, and Riley, who had turned up again, hired as cook and master of this structure. Riley, who had spent his whole life in camp and saddle, was the best frontier or camp cook I ever saw. Scrupulously clean to the last detail of his pots and pans, he knew how to make to perfection all manner of eatables possible under the circumstances. Prof. arranged for a supply of potatoes, butter, meats, and everything within reason, so we lived very well, with an occasional dash of Dixie wine to add zest, while on Christmas Day Riley prepared a special feast. Though the sky was sombre the town was merry and there was a dance in the school-house, but I did not attend. Rainy weather set in on the 26th, and the old year welcomed the new in a steady downpour, making January 1, 1873, rather a dismal holiday. Even the mail which arrived this day was soaked. Toward evening the skies lifted somewhat and a four-horse waggon appeared, or rather two mules and two horses on a common freighting waggon, in which Lyman Hamblin and two others were playing, as nearly in unison as possible, a fiddle, a drum, and a fife. While we were admiring this feat we heard Jack's hearty shout and saw our waggon returning under his charge from Salt Lake with supplies, with a cook stove for our kitchen, and with a new suit of clothes for me accompanied by the compliments of Prof. and the Major.
Our camp in Kanab was now as complete and comfortable as any one might wish, and our work of preparing the map went forward rapidly. As soon as it could be finished I was to take it to Salt Lake, and send it by express to the Major in Washington, to show Congress what we had been doing and what a remarkable region it was that we had been investigating. In the evenings we visited our friends in the settlement or they visited us, or we read what books, papers, and magazines we could get hold of. John and I also amused ourselves by writing down all the songs that were sung around camp, to which I added a composition of my own to the tune of Farewell to the Star Spangled Banner, an abandoned rebel one. These words ran:
Oh, boys, you remember the wild Colorado,
Its rapids and its rocks will trouble us no more,
etc., with a mention in the various stanzas of each member of the party and his characteristics. The horses became high-spirited with nothing to do and plenty of good feed. One of our amusements was to corral several, and then, putting saddles on the most prancing specimens, mount and ride down on the plain, the horse running at top speed, with the impression that he was full master of the situation and expecting us to try to stop him. Instead we enjoyed the exhilaration of it, and let the charger alone till after a couple of miles he concluded the fun was all on our side and took a more moderate gait of his own accord. There were several horse races also, and the days flew by. On February 3d I finished plotting the river down to the Kanab Canyon, and as if to emphasise this point a snow-storm set in. By the 5th the snow was five inches deep, and we had word that the snow on the divide to the north over the culmination of the various lines of cliffs, where I would have to pass to go to Salt Lake, was very heavy. On the 7th the mail rider failed to get through. We learned also that an epizoötic had come to Utah and many horses were laid up by it, crippling the stage lines. It had been planned that I should go north with our own horses till I could connect with some stage line, and then take that for the remainder of the distance to the Utah Southern Railway, which then had been extended south from Salt Lake as far as Lehi.