Would that it had been as nobly, as grandly beneficent. Ashley fitted up a trapping expedition to go down Green River, in spite of its known dangers, and, expecting to find beaver in plenty, took but little provisions along with them. At first they did fairly well. Then, as the canyons narrowed, to their horror and distress, as well as surprise,--for they had kept none of the meat of the beavers they had killed,--the animals ceased to appear, and starvation stared them in the face. For six days they were without food.
The precipitous walls of the Canyon forbade escape, and at length they became so demoralized that Beckwourth declares they actually proposed to cast lots as to which should be killed to make food for the others. This fearful proposition so horrified Ashley that he begged them to hold out a while longer, and to their joy they soon emerged from the Canyon, possibly at a place known as Brown's Hole; where Provo, an experienced trapper, had his camp. From here they abandoned the Canyon expedition, and doubtless returned with Provo to Salt Lake. Powell named the falls near where Ashley left his name Ashley Falls.
There is every reason to assume that other trappers attempted the passage of the Canyon, for Powell found a bake oven, several tin plates, and part of a boot in Lodore Canyon, which he imagined were Ashley's; but, as we have seen, Ashley never went down so far.
Other Unsuccessful Trappers. In his excellent Romance of the Colorado River, Dellenbaugh recites at length, from their own narratives largely, the adventures of several trappers and others, whose experiences are connected with the Colorado River,--the Patties, Jedediah Smith, Kit Carson, William Wolfskill, Farnham, Fremont, Lieutenant Derby, Captain Johnson, and others, who, however, never came actually into the Grand Canyon region. Hence I shall make no further reference to them here.
My reason for giving so much space to Ashley has been merely to offer a sample of the kind of experiences the trappers of the early days met with, in trying to solve the problem of the canyons of the Colorado River.
Lieutenant Ives' Expedition. Lieutenant Ives' expedition, however, reached into the very heart of this country. He visited the Havasupais in their canyon, also the Wallapais, and traversed the weary miles across the desert to the villages of the Hopi. Steamboats had plied up and down the Colorado River from the Gulf of California as far as Fort Yuma--near where the present railroad bridge crosses the stream--but Ives was instructed by the War Department to explore the river further up, in order to determine whether the military posts of New Mexico and Utah could be reached, and their supplies transported by the Colorado. Instead of calling upon Captain Johnson and chartering his steamboat, the Colorado, Ives ordered his steamer constructed in Philadelphia, and shipped in sections via the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco, and thence around Cape Lucas into the Gulf of California, to the mouth of the Colorado River. Yet he was able to report, doubtless with a clear conscience, that Johnson's company "was unable to spare a boat, except for a compensation beyond the limits of the appropriation."Ives' Report and Accompanying Pictures. Ives' report is a most interesting document, and the pictures that accompany it, made by Mollhausen and Eggloffstein, especially those of the latter artist, are wonderful in their imaginative qualities. They are no more like the Grand Canyon than are the visions of Dore, yet they afford a good idea of the impression its vastness and sublimity made upon an artistic mind.
Starts up the River. Ives ascended the river, passing Johnson on the way in the Mohave Valley, a few miles above the Needles. The latter had gone to ferry Lieutenant Beale and his outfit across the river. So in reality he was ahead of Ives, for he entered the Black Canyon to the highest point attainable by steamers before Ives did, and thus got the better of the man who had refused to hire him and his steamer.
Journey Is Abandoned. But Ives went on as if Johnson had never existed, "discovered" what was already known, viz.: that the river "was flanked by walls many hundreds of feet in height, rising perpendicularly out of the water, the Colorado emerging from the bowels of the range," and then struck a sunken rock, and had to give up in disgust.
Returns East across Country. Sending his vessel, the Explorer, back to Fort Yuma under the command of Robinson, its efficient captain, the gallant lieutenant now struck out across country, having received new supplies and his pack-train. Under the guidance of an intelligent Mohave Indian, Ireteba, they reached Diamond Creek, and there not only came in contact with the Wallapais, but for the first time saw the Big Canyon, as they called the Grand Canyon. He then pushed on east, entered Havasupai (Cataract) Canyon, visited the Indians there, then made a wide detour to examine the San Francisco peaks, struck east again, crossed the Little Colorado, and reached the province of Tusayan, where dwell the Hopis. After a short visit there, he crossed south and east to Fort Defiance, and finally returned east with his report. When the Civil War broke out, Ives joined the Confederate forces and was killed in one of the battles.
Ives's Prediction. As an evidence of the folly of making predictions in regard to what the future has in store for any region, let me quote one paragraph from Ives which always has amused me:
