ter distance, varying in height
from two hundred feet at the southern end to as many thousand feet in
some places to the north. Looking to the west, we could see that here
was another of those sloping uplifts of rock, with the river cutting
down, increasing the depth of the canyon with every mile.

We had now descended about 2900 feet since leaving Green River City,
Wyoming, not a very great fall for the distance travelled if an
average is taken, but a considerable portion of the distance was on
quiet water, as we have noted, with a fall of a foot or two to the
mile, and with alternate sections only containing bad water. We were
still at an elevation of 3170 feet above the sea-level, and in the 283
miles of canyon ahead of us--Marble Canyon and the Grand Canyon
combined--the river descends 2330 feet, almost a continuous series of
rapids from this point to the end of the Grand Canyon.

After a hasty survey from our vantage point, we returned to the river
and prepared to embark. As we left the dredge, the work was closed
down for a few minutes, and the entire crowd of men, about forty in
number, stood on an elevation to watch us run the first rapid. The
Indian had crossed to the south side of the to feed his horse and
caught a glimpse of us as we went past him. Running pell-mell down to
his boat, he crossed the river and joined the group on the bank. About
this time we were in the grip of the first rapid, a long splashy one,
with no danger whatever, but large enough to keep us busy until we had
passed from view.

A few miles below this, after running a pair of small rapids, we
reached a larger one, known as the Badger Creek Rapid, with a
twenty-foot drop in the first 250 feet, succeeded by a hundred yards
of violent water. Emery had a little difficulty in this rapid, when
his boat touched a rock which turned the boat sideways in the current,
and he was nearly overturned in the heavy waves which followed. As it
was, we were both drenched.

About the middle of the afternoon, twelve miles below Lee's Ferry, we
reached the Soap Creek Rapid of which we had heard so much. The rapid
had a fall of twenty-five feet, and was a quarter of a mile long. Most
of the fall occurred in the first fifty yards. The river had narrowed
down until it was less than two hundred feet wide at the beginning of
the descent. Many rocks were smattered all through the upper end,
especially at the first drop. On the very brink or edge of the first
f