The History of Cataract Canyon
J. S. Best and party left Green River, Utah, July 10, 1891. Wrecked in Cataract Canyon. No lives lost.
There are incomplete records of nine parties who have attempted to pass through Cataract Canyon, and who undoubtedly met with fatalities. On two occasions a single member escaped and reached the Hite ranch in a famished condition.
John Vartan, an Armenian prospector, lost his boat and barely succeeded in escaping. His clothes were made into a rope by which he dropped from a ledge to a canyon, through which he reached the Land of Standing Rocks. He was found after weeks of exposure, during which time he lived on plants and roots. He was nursed back to life, but never gave a very clear account of his experiences.
A. G. Turner, the Glen Canyon prospector, made a successful passage through the rapids of this canyon in 1907.
The Stone expedition found a wrecked boat and fresh tracks of three persons, one of these being a boy’s tracks, on the shore. No further trace of them has been discovered.
Charles Smith wrote us that he succeeded in getting through after we saw him in 1911.
In 1912 Smith and Galloway combined and passed through in safety. Near Dark Canyon they found the decomposed body of a man on a rock in mid-stream. From odors, they judged there were other bodies in other places not far from this find.
Just before this book goes to press we have received two letters, one from Mr. J. F. Stone, stating that Galloway had died a natural death. Another letter is from John Hite, informing us that his brother Cass Hite was dead. In the same letter he states that Smith left Blake, Utah, for the third time, in November, 1913, and had never showed up at his home. Later he and Loper found half of his wrecked boat. A full heart pays tribute to the memory of Smith.
So it goes on from year to year. Judging by these experiences it would seem that the carefully planned expeditions, especially those with covered boats containing air chambers, succeed in getting through.
The writer believes that a passage can be made through Cataract Canyon, in low water, without being compelled to run more than one or two bad rapids, if great care is taken while crossing from one shore to the other between the rapids. With a light canvas boat, or with a canoe in the hands of experts, it might be possible to avoid them all, but I would not care to be so quoted, as I am a little uncertain about the two last bad rapids. This would not be possible in Marble or the Grand Canyon. The last mentioned contains many rapids as bad as any in Cataract Canyon. We find that all those who have made successful passages are infatuated with their type of boat. All we will claim for our type, which came to us through Stone and Galloway, is that three expeditions have used this type of boat, and they all—with the exception of one in perfect condition left by Stone’s party with Hite—finished at Needles. But whether made of steel, wood, or canvas, all boats should be decked as much as possible to keep out the powerful waves, and should contain large air chambers. Rowlocks, oars, paddles, and ropes should be carefully guarded against breakage and loss.
The flood stage on the Colorado River, about 300,000 cubic second feet, exceeds that on the St. Lawrence River at Niagara Falls, which carries about 250,000 cubic second feet. The descent in many rapids on the Colorado equals that of any section of the St. Lawrence, excepting Niagara Falls. In the low water stage, the rapids lose much of their strength of current and violence of waves, and the flow is only a small fraction of the flood stage.
The deepest canyons of the Green and Colorado rivers, their length, approximate depth, and the fall of the river are as follows. These figures are compiled from “A Canyon Voyage,” U. S. G. S. maps, and other sources.
| Length in Miles | Greatest Depth in Feet | Approximate Descent | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flaming Gorge | ⎫ | 35 | ||||
| Horseshoe | ⎬ | |||||
| Kingfisher | ⎪ | |||||
| Red | ⎭ | 2700 | 350 | |||
| Lodore | 20 | ½ | 2700-30008 | 425 | ||
| Whirlpool | 14 | 2200 | 140 | |||
| Split Mountain | 9 | 2000 | 90 | |||
| Desolation | 97 | 2700 | ⎫ | 5509 | ||
| Gray | 36 | 2200 | ⎭ | |||
| Cataract | 41 | 2700-300010 | 430 | |||
| Marble | 65 | ½ | 3500 | 480 | ||
| Grand Canyon | 217 | 5000-600011 | 1850 | |||
The entire distance from Green River, Wyoming, to the tide water is something over 1600 miles. The descent is a little over 6000 feet. About 4300 feet of this descent occurs in 500 miles of the canyons listed above; 2330 feet comes in Marble Canyon and the Grand Canyon, the two combined making an unbroken canyon of 283 miles.
Footnotes
8 Peaks close to the canyon reach a height of 3000 ft. above the river.
9 The upper half of Desolation Canyon has no rapids.
10 Maps give depth as 2700 ft. We believe some walls are higher.
11 Greatest depth on the south side of the Grand Canyon is near 5000 ft., on the north rim about 6000 ft.