Well, then, I’d better completely change my perspective on Death Valley and its development.
I just remembered a guy in my former writers’ group who insisted the Earth was less than 10K years old, then wrote several (clunky, dull) sci fi stories that supported this view. Then he complained about the intolerant editors who rejected these stories because they were “against his religion.”
I’m pretty sure the creation story was meant to be taken literally. It’s entirely consistent with most ancient civilizations’ knowledge of the natural world, and they would have had no reason to doubt it. It’s just wrong.
I believe David Macaulay has evidence as to the origins of the so-called “Grand Canyon” http://computer-vet.com/weblog/pictures/2005-04-29-canyon.jpg
From Great Moments in Architecture: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Moments-Architecture-David-Macaulay/dp/0395255007/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224619287&sr=8-19
Aren’t christian co-workers fun? 
I was always under the impression the Grand Canyon got started as a WPA project during the Depression and it just sort of got out of hand.
That, or the army Corps of Engineers started it to test out some new excavation equipment