Black Canyon of the Gunnison Entrance is a photograph by Janice Pariza which was uploaded on November 18th, 2013.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison Entrance
A photograph of the sign to the entrance of The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Montrose, Colorado.... more
Title
Black Canyon of the Gunnison Entrance
Artist
Janice Pariza
Medium
Photograph
Description
A photograph of the sign to the entrance of The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Montrose, Colorado.
Big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of the Gunnison exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.
While the people of the Ute bands knew of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, it was an obscure geographic feature to explorers for hundreds of years. The Spanish were the first Europeans to canvas western Colorado with two expeditions, one led by Juan Rivera in 1765, and the other by Fathers Dominguez and Escalante in 1776. Both were looking for passage to the California coast, and both passed by the canyon.
Fur trappers of the early 1800s undoubtedly knew of the canyon in their search for beaver pelts. They left no written record of the canyon, though, probably because they couldn't, in fact, read or write.
By the middle of the century, exploration of the American west had captured the nation's attention. In turn expeditions came to the Black Canyon searching for railroad passageways, mineral wealth, or in a quest for water. Eventually explorers came to see the canyon, not for commercial wealth, but for the renewal and recreation that it offered.
Today, you can walk in the footsteps of some of these hardy and inquisitive forebearers. The canyon still offers a rugged and demanding experience, even as it did more than a hundred of years ago.
John Williams Gunnison was born on November 11, 1812 in Goshen, New Hampshire. At the age of 18 he traveled to Hopkinton Academy, where after one term, he went on to teach at the local school. During his years as a teacher, he prepared himself to enter West Point Military Academy. In June of 1837 he graduated second out of fifty.
Gunnison began military service later that year when he was ordered into active duty under General Zachary Taylor. Violent battles had been brewing in Florida between the Seminole Indians and white settlers. As peace talks were undertaken, Gunnison was ordered to explore unfamiliar lakes and rivers in search of provision routes south to Fort Besinger. Although the assignments were challenging and there were many opportunities for adventure, the heat and humidity of the South took a toll on Gunnison’s health. In 1838 he received a transfer to the Corps of Topographical Engineers.
Gunnison experienced many things in his new job and personal life. Among them was his marriage to Martha A. Delony on April 15, 1841 and the births of their children in the years to follow. In the summer of 1841 he received his first western assignment to do a standard survey of the unexplored, wild country of the Wisconsin-Michigan border. Through many challenges and hardships, one of which was long periods of time away from his family, Gunnison and the survey crew persisted and eventually mapped much of the border land and the shores of Lake Michigan.
Uploaded
November 18th, 2013
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