INSCRIPTION BY JULIEN, near mouth of Hell Roaring Canyon, thought to have been carved by Dennis Julien, an early day trapper. Photograph by K. Sawyer, August 1914, member of expedition led by E. C. La Rue (1916). (Fig. 63)
Coming down the Green River, we enter Canyonlands National Park where the Grand-San Juan county line meets the Emery-Wayne county line ([fig. 1]), about 2¼ miles north of Taylor and Upheaval Canyons. The National Park Service had three successful test wells put down in Taylor Canyon, and water under artesian pressure was found in the White Rim Sandstone at depths of 373 to 482 feet. When funds become available, they hope to complete one or more of these wells and pump the water up to Island in the Sky, where two dry holes were drilled earlier.
About 5½ miles below Upheaval Canyon is an interesting ruin on a hill in the middle of a large nearly closed loop of the river enclosing Fort Bottom. This was noted by Dellenbaugh (1902) during Powell’s 1871 trip and was described in more detail by Mutschler (1969, p. 33-34):
The ruin consists of two, two-story, interconnected, crudely circular towers, and a third separate, completely collapsed tower, built on the summit of the bluff with a commanding view downriver and of Fort Bottom. Other collapsed structures are present on the summit, and a slab-lined cist is present beneath the Moss Back ledge west of the towers. The ruin was built of dry laid masonry and most of the mud plaster on the inside has been washed away, leaving the structure in danger of imminent collapse. Please do not climb the walls!
Fort Bottom also contains a cabin believed to have been used by Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch (Baker, 1971, p. 198).
At about the mouth of Millard Canyon, we leave Labyrinth Canyon and enter Stillwater Canyon, aptly named by members of the 1869 Powell voyage (Dellenbaugh, 1902, p. 276). The beginning of Stillwater Canyon is marked by vertical walls of the White Rim Sandstone. From here Powell’s men observed a butte to the southwest thought to resemble a fallen cross and named it “Butte of the Cross.” Farther downstream they realized they had been looking at two buttes, a small one in front of a larger one, so the feature was renamed “Buttes of the Cross.” An aerial view of Buttes of the Cross is shown in [figure 64].
BUTTES OF THE CROSS, looking southwest from the air. Millard Canyon enters Green River in foreground, North Point is in right middle ground, Orange Cliffs are in background, and Henry Mountains form right skyline. White Rim Sandstone forms White Rim near mouth of Millard Canyon and near Anderson Bottom at left middle. (See [fig. 65].) Buttes are Wingate Sandstone capped by Kayenta Formation; slopes down to prominent ledge are Chinle Formation, Moss Back Member forming the ledge; steep and gentle slopes between ledge and White Rim are Moenkopi Formation. Photograph by National Park Service. (Fig. 64)
About 2 miles below the mouth of Millard Canyon, at Anderson Bottom, we reach one of the most interesting features on the river—the most recent rincon of a major river in the park, if not in the entire canyon country. Although some rincons are more recent, they are along minor tributaries such as Indian Creek ([fig. 73]). The cutoff at Anderson Bottom probably took place during the Pleistocene Epoch, whereas most of the others along the main rivers probably occurred during the Tertiary Period ([fig. 80]). An aerial view of the Anderson Bottom rincon is shown in [figure 65], and a sketch of the drainage change is shown in [figure 66]. This feature was noted and correctly interpreted by Powell and his men, who applied the name Bonita Bend to the sharp new course the river took after the cutoff.
Continuing through Stillwater Canyon, we pass Turks Head (figs. [23], [24]) and head for the confluence of the Green River with the Colorado River. [Figure 67] shows the canyon just west of the confluence. The lowest and largest cliff above the river is the upper member of the Hermosa Formation, overlain by the slopes and thin ledges of the Rico Formation. The massive sandstone at the top of the canyon wall is the Cedar Mesa. Junction Butte and Grand View Point are on the right skyline.