Mile 13.5, Opposite Ropes Trail, Upstream View from River Left (Stake 757)
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23 December 1889
Standing on a talus slope, Nims captured this view overlooking a dense tangle of Mormon tea in the foreground, large boulders in the midground, and a long sweep of sandy beach on the opposite bank. A line of tall shrubs, likely coyote willow or desert olive, grow behind the sandbar. The trees growing along the left bank in the midground appear to be netleaf hackberry trees.
Photo credit: Franklin A. Nims, 57-RS-237, courtesy of The National Archives
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11 June 1975
This photograph, taken 86 years after the first photograph and a dozen years after completion of Glen Canyon Dam (about a mile and a half upstream), shows only the center part of the original view; the other images have not been cropped down to the field of view in 1975. Many of the same large boulders are visible on the slope in front of the camera station. The long sandbar on river right has eroded, a common effect of dam operations. A thick growth of riparian vegetation, including netleaf hackberry and non-native tamarisk, lines the river corridor; some of the former may persist from 1889. A line of new talus cones—remnants of dam construction—are visible in the center of the image.
Photo credit: Raymond M. Turner
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19 December 1989
The stage of the large-format camera has not been lowered and is part of this wide-angle view. In 1983 and 1984, large releases of water from Glen Canyon Dam scoured the river channel downstream. Tamarisk and netleaf hackberry have regained their foothold along the banks in this reach. Some of the Mormon tea that are visible in the 1889 image persist, and four-wing saltbush and rubber rabbitbrush have become established on the midground slope.
Photo credit: Raymond M. Turner
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29 October 1992
Few changes are visible in the ensuing three years. The tamarisk and hackberry, which are leafed out in this image, appear to be larger than in 1989.
Photo credit: Tom Wise
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20 April 2011
The riparian vegetation appears to have increased in size, with many of the same individual plants still visible. There has been some turnover in the four-wing saltbush, while the rubber rabbitbrush and Mormon tea have persisted and increased in size. A small flood has changed the tributary channel in the center foreground, and a thick growth of non-native red brome is visible in the lower right corner of the image.
Photo credit: Bill Lemke
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