Existing comment:
Natural Barriers to Exploration and Transportation
Native People...
For centuries, the Colorado River and its deep canyons have been formidable natural barriers to travel, but for hundreds of miles the preferred crossing of the river has always been here, near Marble Canyon. Archeological evidence and oral tradition indicate that native people frequently forded the Colorado River in this vicinity when natural river flows were low enough to make crossing possible.
Explorers...
In 1776 to Franciscan priests, Fray Francisco Antanasio Dominguez and Fray Silvestre Velez de Escalante, led an expedition across this area in search of an overland route to California. Because they anticipated being followed by soldiers, priests, and settlers, the Dominguez-Escalante expedition provided the first written record of this region.
Almost 100 years later, in 1869, the Colorado River gained fame from the writings of Major John Wesley Powell, who conducted by boat the first scientific exploration of the Colorado River. Powell led a second expedition in 1871-72. His purpose was to determine if the river was navigable, map the river's canyons, and record geologic formations.
Settlers...
A ferry crossing of the Colorado River began operating at the mouth of the Paria River in 1871. The crossing is widely known as Lee's Ferry, after its first operator, John Doyle Lee. During the 19th century, thousands of pioneers crossed the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry. The wagon route became known as the "Honeymoon Trail" because recently married Mormons from new settlements
in Arizona traveled this route to St. George, Utah to have their marriages sanctioned in the Mormon Temple.
and Modern Travelers...
In 1929, the historic Navajo Bridge replaced Lee's Ferry river crossing. The bridge was so significant to this remote and rugged region that more than 5,000 people attended the dedication ceremony. Since then, travelers enroute to and through some of this country's most magnificent landscapes, have crossed the Colorado River in relative comfort and convenience by automobile.
"Nowhere in North America, and in very few localities in the world, are there any such barriers to road building as the Grand Canyon of the Colorado"
--W.G. Lubertivre State Engineer 1926 |