A rapid on the Colorado River in Marble Canyon is documented in this stereoview by E. O. Beaman, Photographer for the Colorado River Exploring Expedition, from the series "Wonders of the Colorado and the Moquis Pueblos of Arizona," dating to 1871. The reverse catalog list identifies this as number 12, "Rapid in Marble Canyon, Colorado River," with the number underlined as indicated by the series note that the represented picture would be so marked.

The view is taken from river level looking upstream into the canyon, with massive stratified sandstone and limestone walls rising on both sides to towering heights, their horizontal banding clearly rendered in the albumen print. Large pale boulders and river rock fill the foreground, and the river surface reflects light in the center of the composition. The narrow slot of sky visible between the canyon walls above conveys the extraordinary depth and confinement of the gorge.

E. O. Beaman served as the official photographer on John Wesley Powell's second Colorado River expedition of 1871, producing the first systematic photographic documentation of the Grand Canyon and Marble Canyon corridor. His stereoview series, covering the river canyons from Kanab to the Grand Canyon as well as Navajo and Hopi settlements in Arizona, represents one of the most significant bodies of exploration photography produced in the American West during the nineteenth century.

The reverse bears the full catalog list of the "Wonders of the Colorado and the Moquis Pueblos of Arizona" series, credited to E. O. Beaman, Photographer for the Colorado River Exploring Expedition, with penciled notations "12" and "30" visible.