Stagecoach robberies, kidnappings, escaped fugitives, and murder: Black Canyon City has hosted them all. From its gold-laced earth to its healing mud, Black Canyon Underground holds scores of stories about tough, authentic Arizonans. In this historical non-fiction, Marcy J. Miller unburies them and brings them back to life.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison River is one of the deepest, narrowest, and most inaccessible canyons in the United States. Very few explorers have ever traversed the 53-mile gorge in Gunnison and Montrose Counties. The canyon, one of the nation's wonders, has been the precipitous stage for an exciting history featuring Ute Indians, a narrow-gauge railroad, sensational explorations, and the construction of the Gunnison Tunnel--the first major Bureau of Reclamation project in history. The Black Canyon became a national monument in 1932 and a national park in 1999. Today it remains a crown jewel of Colorado's Western Slope.

The river that carved the ruggedly spectacular chasm preserved at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado, remains untamed for 26 miles. Sheer walls of primordial schist and gneiss soar 1,700 feet above river level at the 40-foot Narrows and 2,250 feet at Painted Wall. This book describes the process that helped create one of the most dramatic gorges in the United States and the efforts of local residents to preserve this breathtaking Colorado chasm as a national park.

Camping, wildlife viewing, hiking, backpacking, climbing, mountain biking, fly fishing--the recreational opportunities around Black Canyon are unsurpassed.

First published as a United States Geological Survey Bulletin, this book provides a scholarly look at the factors and forces that created the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. Numerous topographic drawings and diagrams.