Early Exploration

The Utes and early explorers faced severe hardships crossing the canyon and navigating its waters. In 1900, William Torrence led a crew to explore whether Gunnison River water could be diverted for farming, but the first trip ended with the loss of most supplies and a difficult climb to the rim. The next year, Torrence set out again with A. Lincoln Fellows and a rubber air mattress on a nine-day trip that met major obstacles at the Narrows, where great boulders bridged the stream, progress slowed to a quarter mile in a day, and canyon walls rose almost perpendicularly two thousand feet or more to the top. The Gunnison Diversion Tunnel was completed in 1909 and still provides water to lands around Montrose, while today's river no longer has seasonal variation in flow and is less able to sculpt the canyon.

Crawford, Colorado · United States