Black Canyon

When, at last, they could go on they came after a short time to a canyon deeper and grander than any they had yet seen, called Black Canyon, because it is cut through the Black Mountains.

The Romance of the Colorado River Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh 1894

David Nimkin, NPCA's Southwest regional director, says all of the parks in the Colorad River basin, including the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and the Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado, are seeing the sometimes-unintended consequences of placing dams along the river, from unnatural water flow patterns, to the introduction of non-native fish species, or increased river sediment and temperatures.

The Media Consortium: Weekly Mulch: Greening the Royal Wedding is the Least of Our Worries The Media Consortium 2011

It was wedged between the river and the cliffside on a barren forty-five-degree slope where the gorge narrowed into Black Canyon.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010

Of those drawn to Black Canyon during those forlorn months, only a few laborers possessed prearranged jobs or much ready money.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010

The dam that was to rise from the floor of Black Canyon did not resemble anything that he had ever favored, and it encompassed features, such as the government-owned power plant, that he had actively opposed.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010

At Black Canyon, the threat of a Wobbly rebellion would still cast a shadow.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010

But in the end it quailed at making a radical departure from traditional construction in Black Canyon.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010

On the evening of December 21, a curious ceremony took place on the Nevada bank of the Colorado, at the end of a lonely rutted dirt road leading down to the foot of Black Canyon.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010

Unbeknownst to the project geologists, the rock of Black Canyon was shot through with fractures, shears, and faults destined to come under tremendous pressure once the reservoir filled.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010

None of them could have imagined that many years later, just a few hundred yards upstream from where the Explorer almost broke to pieces, the natural spectacle of Black Canyon would be eradicated by a huge arch of white concrete, a man-made thing to take the place of natures handiwork as a wonder of the world.

Colossus Michael Hiltzik 2010