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Theodore Roosevelt at the Grand Canyon Circa 1903 |
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The First Explorers
In 1540, a Spaniard called Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was
searching for gold and the Seven Cities of Cibola when Indians told
him of a great river to the north. Coronado and a party of 12 men
were guided by Hopi Indians and 20 days later found themselves at
the edge of a great chasm - the mighty Grand Canyon. After three
frustrating days searching for a way down the river Coronado and his
men moved on, in search of other legends.
The Grand Canyon and all of its splendor was then left to its
original inhabitants, the Indians, and remained so for over three
more centuries until 1869, when a one-armed civil War veteran Major
John Wesley Powell set out with four boats to explore the Colorado
River. After losing two of this boats and three of his men. Powell
eventually navigated the Colorado, reached the point where the
Hualapai Indian Reservation and Lake Mead are today, 72 days later. Theodore Roosevelt
exclaimed in 1903: "Absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world... leave
it as it is.
You cannot improve upon it. The ages have been at work on it... what
we can do is to keep it for children, your children's children, and
those who come after you as one of the great sights which everyone should see."
Grand Canyon Quick Stats
The Canyon itself took 3-6 million years
to form. Includes 70 species of mammals,
250 species of birds. Comprises six of the
seven world-wide climate belts from the
Mexican Desert to the Arctic-Alpine.
Formed by the Colorado River flowing west
through the canyon at an average speed of
4 mi. (6.4 km) per hr.
How The Canyon Was Formed >> |
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Ancient Petroglyphs Left By The First Inhabitants |
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