Three years ago I was invited by Dr. J. C. Merriam of the Carnegie Institution of Washington to study the Algonkian strata exposed in the Grand Canyon. Two field seasons have already been spent on the ground long ago pioneered by Powell, Dutton and Walcott-mostly in that little known eastern area of the Canyon where Walcott estab-lished a two-fold division of the Algonkian into the lower Unkar and upper Chuar groups.