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Places
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| This aerial photograph shows the location of the original
ferry crossing, at the narrow point of the river between the red
and blue asterisks. This is also the location of the modern boat
launch (red asterisk), as well as the USGS gauging line, which measures
the flow of the Colorado River as dictacted by the 1922 Colorado
River Compact between the seven states which benefit from diverted
Colorado River water. The blue asterisk denotes the beginning of
the rough ledge of the Shinarump congolmerate, a steep and craggy
formation rising above the river, visible here as the light colored
strip between the river and the red sandstone. During the ferry
days, the wagon route for travelers across the Colorado ran along
this formation for one and a half miles. Despite attempts to level
the hard rock, the road was so difficult that it was proclaimed
the worst stretch of frontier road in the west, and nicknamed "Lee's
Backbone." The green strips of vegetation along the river
are dominated by exotic tamarisk. |
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