From here to the mouth of the Virgen was the stretch that had, technically, never been explored, though it had been traversed, at least, several times.

There is one small canyon in the distance, called Boulder.

Passing the mouth of the Virgen, Wheeler entered the canyon through the Virgen Mountains, and this he named Virgin Canyon because, as he says, it was his "first canyon on entirely new ground." I am at a loss to understand his meaning.

If he intended to convey the impression that he was the first to traverse this portion, it is an unwarranted assumption, and must be emphatically condemned.

Powell had descended as far as the Virgen, and thus Wheeler was simply following his course backwards.
Passing through another small unnamed canyon, to which he applied the term Iceberg on account of the contour of its northern walls, he finally, on October 3d, came to the Grand Wash.