VOICE ONE: This isSteve Ember. VOICE TWO: And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOASpecial English program EXPLORATIONS. Today, we tell about a famousnatural place, the Grand Canyon. ((THEME)) VOICE ONE: In lateSeptember, Fifteen-Forty, a group of Spanish explorers led byCaptain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas came to a stop. For weeks they hadwalked north across the great southwestern American desert. The landwas dry. The sun was hot. They were searching for seven goldencities they had been told about. There was not much to see on thisland, just the far-away line where the sky meets the ground.Suddenly, they came to the edge of what seemed to be a huge cut inthe Earth. There seemed to be no way to walk around this deepcanyon. It stretched below them into the distance, to their left andright, as far as they could see. Below them and across from wherethey stood were strange shapes of yellow, red, brown and black rocksand stone. VOICE TWO: A small, muddy river appeared to be flowing atthe bottom. Captain Cardenas ordered three of his soldiers to climbdown the side of the canyon to see if they could find a way to crossto the other side. The three climbed about one-third of the waydown. They found that the canyon was much deeper than they thought,so they climbed back up. Captain Cardenas and his group turned backto the south. Today, history recognizes them as the first Europeansto see the Grand Canyon, formed by the Colorado River. They hadreached a place that today is considered one of the most beautiful,strange, and interesting places in the world. ((MUSIC BRIDGE)) VOICEONE: European explorers did not return to the Grand Canyon for morethan two centuries. Instead, native peoples continued to live there,as they had for hundreds, some of them for thousands of years. InSeventeen-Seventy-Six, two Spanish clergymen were seeking a way totravel from Santa Fe, in what is now New Mexico, to Monterey,California on the west coast of North America. Father FranciscoEscalante and Father Francisco Garces were unsuccessful in theirsearch. However, they re-discovered the Grand Canyon. VOICE TWO:During the Nineteenth Century, the population of the United Stateswas expanding rapidly to the west. The Grand Canyon was considered abarrier to travelers. Only two places had been found where the riveris low enough to cross. As settlers moved west, the United Statesgovernment wanted more information about western territories. Muchof the Grand Canyon was unknown. The words “Unknown Territory” werewritten on maps that showed the area. VOICE ONE: In May,Eighteen-Sixty-Nine, Major John Wesley Powell and nine others beganthe first full exploration of the Colorado River. They put fourwooden boats into the water at Green River Station in Wyoming. Theybegan their trip to where the Green River joined the Colorado River.Major Powell wrote in his book that they were beginning “the tripdown the Great Unknown”. Major Powell had served in the Union armyduring the American Civil War. He lost his right arm in a battleduring the war. After the war he became a professor of geology atIllinois Wesleyan University. He also studied paleontology, thescience of life existing in different periods of Earth’s history.And he became expert in ethnology, the study of different cultures.
He was the right person to explore the Grand Canyon. He wassomeone who could describe the geology of the area, as well as learnabout the American Indians who had begun living in the canyon asmany as nine- thousand years ago. Several of those tribes stillconsider the Grand Canyon their home. ((MUSIC BRIDGE)) VOICE TWO:The geology of the Grand Canyon is like a history of the formationof the Earth. During millions of years, water, ice, and wind formedthe canyon. Although the Grand Canyon is in the middle of a desert,water plays an important part in the way the land looks. The sunshines bright and hot almost every day. It makes the soil hard. Whenrain does come, it cannot sink into the soil. Instead it flows tothe Colorado River. Often, heavy rains cause violent floods alongsmall rivers and streams that flow into the Colorado. These floodsmove huge amounts of soil and sometimes stones as big as houses. Allof this material falls into the river and then is pushed along bythe rapidly flowing river. This way the river slowly digs itselfdeeper into the rock surface of the Earth. The Colorado has beendoing this for millions of years. You can see in the sides of theGrand Canyon different kinds of rock at different levels. Each ofthe eighteen levels was formed during a different period of Earth’shistory. VOICE ONE: The ancestor of the Colorado River began flowingabout seventy-million years ago. After it began flowing, volcanoexplosions and other natural events changed the river’s path manytimes. About seventeen-million years ago, pressures deep in theEarth pushed up the land through which the river flowed. The rivercontinued to flow through the area, cutting deeper into the rock.The Grand Canyon is twenty-nine kilometers across at the widestplace, and more than one and one-half kilometers deep. At the bottomof the Grand Canyon, where the river flows today, the rock is almosttwo- thousand-million years old. VOICE TWO: In Eighteen-Sixty-Nine,not many people expected John Wesley Powell and his team ofexplorers to survive the trip through the Grand Canyon. No one hadever done it before. There are many dangers on the fast-movingriver. Rocks hidden under the water can smash small boats. In placeswhere the river is narrow, the water becomes violent as it rushesbetween high rock walls. Also, there are rapids of fast moving waterin places where the river drops to a lower level. In some places,strong currents can push a boat into rocks in the water, or againstthe walls of the canyon. Major Powell knew the trip would bedangerous. When the boats came near a rapid, he and his crew wouldstop. Sometimes they decided to go through by rowing the boats withtheir oars, as they did in calm water. At other times they carriedthe boats and all their equipment around dangerous rapids. MajorPowell wrote every day in a book about what they did and saw. Thisis how he described the difficulties of one day: VOICE THREE: “Wecarried the boats around rapids two times this morning… During theafternoon we ran a narrow part of the river, more than half a milein length, narrow and rapid. We float on water that is flowing downa gliding plane. At the bottom of the narrow part of the river, theriver turns sharply to the right, and the water rolls up against arock that seems to be in the middle of the stream. We pull with allour power to the right, but it seems impossible to avoid beingcarried against the cliff, and we are carried up high on the waves -not against the rocks, for the water strikes us and we are pushedback and pass on with safety…” VOICE ONE: More than three monthsafter starting, Major Powell and his group reached the end of theGrand Canyon. Three men had left the group earlier and were neverseen again. Two of the men in the group continued down the river tothe sea, becoming the first people known to have traveled the entirelength of the Colorado River. ((MUSIC BRIDGE)) VOICE TWO: Today, theGrand Canyon is in a national park. About five-million people visitit each year. They stop at its edge and look in wonder at a placethat can create great emotions in those seeing it. Others walk downthe many paths into the canyon. Some ride rubber boats down theColorado River through the Grand Canyon. River guides are experts attaking the boats through the most violent rapids. This activity,called white-water rafting, is very popular. VOICE ONE: Generally,the trip takes about two weeks in boats that carry three or fourpeople. Bigger boats with motors that carry about twenty people canmake the trip in several days. As people float down the river, theysee the many wonderful and strange shapes created by the forces ofnature. They may see animals, such as bighorn sheep, and coyotes.They experience the excitement of traveling through white waterrapids, and sleeping under the stars. The sound of the river isalways present, sometimes loud, sometimes soft. After several daystraveling on and sleeping near the river as it flows through theGrand Canyon, many visitors say they feel their cares and worriesleave them. Their concerns are replaced by a feeling of wonder aboutthe canyon and the powers of nature. ((THEME)) VOICE TWO: Thisprogram was written by Oliver Chanler and produced by Paul Thompson.This is Shirley Griffith. VOICE ONE: And this is Steve Ember. Joinus again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program in SpecialEnglish on the Voice of America.