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GOVERNMENT EXPLORATION FROM 1851 The accelerated growth of the West after the discovery of gold in California in 1848 brought the Colorado River into focus as a possible water route from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean to serve the needs of commerce and defense, at least until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The Mormons considered it as a potential corridor to the sea and during the course of the affair known as the "Utah War" it was mentioned as a possible military route to reach the heart of the Mormon empire. The government explorations of Sitgreaves in 1851, Ives in 1857-1858, and Macomb in 1859 were concerned with the navigability of the Colorado River. The two voyages of discovery on the Colorado River directed by John Wesley Powell, who examined the long line of canyons between Green River, Wyoming, and the foot of Grand Canyon together with much of the adjacent country, 1869-1872, is much the best known chapter in the history of the Colorado River (Fig. 14). Powell's survey provided the first accurate and comprehensive description of the canyons; he demonstrated they were passable although scarcely practicable and he named the three canyons in a row to be affected now by the reservoir: Cataract, Narrow, and Glen (the latter originally two: Mound Canyon above the San Juan River, Monument Canyon below). Powell's report on the Colorado River of the West (1875) is less impressive than the other related works which issued from his survey and from the United States Geological Survey under his direction. The reports by Powell on the Uinta Mountains (1876), and on the arid region of the United States (1879), by G. K. Gilbert on the Henry Mountains (1877), by C. E. Dutton on the high plateaus of Utah (1880), and on the Grand Canyon (1882) are classic studies in geological and reclamation literature. Some of the reports of the Wheeler Survey published 1869-1889, and of the Hayden Survey published 1867-1890, touch upon geological, botanical, zoological, and anthropological aspects of the Glen Canyon watershed. The Powell, Wheeler, and Hayden surveys, and the survey of the fortieth parallel by Clarence King, are of exceptional importance. Their diverse undertakings covered much of the basin of the Colorado River, which had scarcely been studied scientifically before their time, and they -5-Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,243,840 byte