na, they discovered
the Colorado. Hernando de Alarcon co-operating with F. V. de Coronado,
explored with ships the Gulf of California and sailed up the lower
river; Melchior Diaz, marching along the shores of the gulf, likewise
reached the river; and Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, marching from
Zuni, reached the Grand Canyon, but could not descend its walls. In 1604
Juan de Onate crossed Arizona from New Mexico and descended the Santa
Maria, Bill Williams and Colorado to the gulf. The name Colorado was
first applied to the present Colorado Chiquito, and probably about 1630
to the Colorado of to-day. But up to 1869 great portions of the river
were still unknown. James White, a miner, in 1867, told a picturesque
story (not generally accepted as true) of making the passage of the
Grand Canyon on the river. In 1869, and in later expeditions, the feat
was accomplished by Major J. W. Powell. There have been since then
repeated explorations and scientific studies.

See C. E. Dutton, "Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon," _U.S.
Geological Survey, Monograph II_. (1882); J. W. Powell, _Exploration
of the Colorado River_ (Washington, 1875), and _Canyons of the
Colorado_ (Meadville, Pa. 1895); F. S. Dellenbaugh, _Romance of the
Colorado River_ (New York, 1902), and _Canyon Voyage_ (1908); G. W.
James, _Wonders of the Colorado Desert_ (2 vols., Boston, 1906).

COLORADO SPRINGS, a city and the county-seat of El Paso county,
Colorado, U.S.A., about 75 m. S. of Denver. Pop. (1890) 11,140; (1900)
21,085, of whom 2300 were foreign-born; (1910) 29,078. The city is
served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Denver & Rio Grande, the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific (of which the city is a terminus), the
Colorado & Southern, the Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District
(controlled by the Colorado & Southern), and the Colorado Midland
railways, of which the first three are continental systems. Continuous
on the west with Colorado Springs is Colorado City (pop. in 1900, 2914),
one of the oldest settlements of Colorado, and the first capital (1861).
Colorado Springs is superbly situated where the Rocky Mountains rise
from the great plains of the prairie states, surrounded on all sides by
foothills save in the south-east, where it is open to the prairie. To
the south of the mesa (tableland) on which it lies is the valley of
Fountain Creek. To the west is the grand background of the canyon-riven
Rampart range, with Pike'