Boating on the Colorado

BOATING ON THE COLORADO, BY DAVID D. RUST, OF THE CLASS IN ORATORY, BRIGHAM YOUNG ACADEMY, PROVO, UTAH.

Every school boy can point out that crooked line which cuts the map, off the south-east corner of Utah, and which represents, on

the Colorado river. He can also locate the largest river system in the state; and, if asked to decsribe that system, will tell you briefly that it is formed principally by two large rivers which rise in the Rocky Mountains and, uniting, flow southwesterly for hun- dreds of miles into the Gulf of California. My readers have, no doubt, seen pictures, heard and listened to discriptions of this winding river. They may also have read Major Powell's account of the first expedition ever made through the terrible Colorado canyon. But these descriptions and paint- ings, stories and accounts, however vivid, give but dull notions of the reality. If we would known the sublimity of mighty cataracts,

and rushing streams, we must stand in their presence and hear their awful rumblings. In this exposition, it is not my purpose to describe the won- ders of this royal gorge; I only hope to present some facts relative to boating in a box-canyon nearly two thousand feet deep. Boating on the Colorado river does not mean gentle, list-

less, moonlight gliding over rippling waves with Cupid at the helm.

It does not mean navigation, with steam or sails. It means work,

steady, hard pulling, determination in every stroke, and strokes in quick succession. Many kinds of boats are used on the river, but they are all

necessarily small. A ton is considered a good load for the best

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boats used there. Nearly all have flat bottoms; when I say flat, I mean nearly flat, just turning up a little at the bow and stern. Some straight-bottomed keel-boats are used with success, but they draw too much water to be easily towed close to the shore. In- stead of a rudder to guide the boat, a stern-paddle is used. Often, however, the steering is done with the side oars. The most dreaded part of life on the Colorado, is boating up stream. This is done by rowing and towing. For towing, long lines are attached to the bow and the stern; one to draw the boat up stream, the other to keep it the right distance from shore. Any one who plays well at "tug-of-war" is physically qualified to tow a boat, but some mental power is also necessary. When the boat surges too far into the current, or, in spite of all that can be done, butts against the rocky shore, unless the "crew" has patience and plenty of it, everything goes wrong, and much time is lost. The progress thus made is slow enough at the best, often not .ex- ceeding five miles a day. My companion and I were twenty days taking our boat one hundred miles. On some of the quietest parts of the river, we have made an upstream journey of twenty miles in eight hours. While battling with the stubborn current, I have often con- soled myself with the saying, "live fish swim up stream." Then, too, I have thought how Ben Hur turned to advantage the adver- sity of a galley-slave life so that when the opportunity came for better work, he was prepared with broad shoulders, strong lung- power, and sinewy arms. Hard work seems less hard when one's mind is employed with pleasant thoughts. Sails are little used on the river, for the cliffs are so high on each side that the wind, when it does blow, is very irregular. I re-

member my first^experience with sails. Three of us inexperienced "tars" were merrily sailing along — say merrily, for was indeed I it

joy to rest our oars awhile —when the wind suddenly changed, and left us half wayup a big rapid. By the time our sails were "hauled down," and we were in position for rowing, the current had drifted us on a rock. We had not expected such a twist in the elements, and it was with no little difficulty that our boat was saved from being capsized. People not accustomed to boating are usually timid when they

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first get on the boat, especially if it is done with a view to riding on the roaring Colorado. Some cannot be persuaded to cross the river even in a comparatively smooth place. One gentleman, who was going to look at some placer mines, gave up the trip because the gold claims were on the opposite side of the river from where he lived.

There is seldom any danger in crossing the river at a smooth part; but it is quite dangerous to try to cross immediately above a rapid. The current there is smooth but very deceptive, and a boat is almost sure to be taken down stream into the rocks below. It is not over-pleasant crossing immediately below a rapid, but, al-

though the waves are slashing each other in desperate fury, they have spent their force; and, if the oarsmen make no mistake, the crossing is quickly and safely effected. To illustrate the danger referred to, I will relate the adven- ture of two inexperienced gentlemen who were camping for a few days at Lee's Ferry. They borrowed the little boat, one day, to take a ride. As they paddled out into the river, sounding the bot- tom with a long rope, and glancing about at the curious cliffs and sand-bars, the cunning old stream gradually carried them down to- wards the big rapid not more than a quarter of a mile below. On they drifted, quite unconscious of the danger; when at last they realized their position and found themselves almost in the huge waves and rugged rocks, they lost themselves in excitement. The one sitting in the end of the boat farthest down stream, rushed to the opposite end with the hope of getting farther away from the object of his terror. They screamed for help, but no help was near. Then they settled down to pull for life, and barely escaped the terrible rocks over which no boat could be saved from wreck. To show the difference between skill and lack of skill in boat- ing, 1 will contrast another incident with that just related. A few days after this almost tragic ride, the young lady who was teach- ing school at the Ferry, accepted an invitation to take a ride over the big rapid. The two gentlemen used all their persuasive power to discourage such a trip, but to no purpose. Ther young lady had unbounded confidence in the daring boatman, and both were soon gliding swiftly into the waves. But the two visitors, at the Ferry, did not share her confidence, and ran below the rapids to

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be ready to give aid, should it be required. One of them even re- moved his outer clothing that he might the better rescue the drowning girl. The rapid was a mile long, but in five minutes the boat had run the distance, and was landed safely in the still water below. The first rapid I ever rode over made a great impression upon me. The men at the oars were accustomed to rapids, so, just for a joke, they pulled right into the largest waves close to the huge,perpendic- ular mountain of sandstone which formed the banks of the stream. As each wave dashed against the boat and echoed among the bluffs, my heart jumped with corresponding pulsations, until I could have offered my own funeral prayer. The boys said I was pale, and they laughed heartily, but it was a dry, unmirthful time for me. Long before seeing the Colorado river, I had heard of its great whirl-pools. Many stories had been told how boats had been sucked down to the bottom of the river, with the result of loss in property and life. Most of these stories have been proved fakes, yet, boats have been turned end for end suddenly while crossing these great swirls. The largest of these whirl-pools that I ever saw, was about two hundred feet wide. The mush-ice had lodged in it and was turning round and round, forming itself into a great frozen wheel. Our boat ran into it, but as one man was on shore with the tow line, and another in the boat rowing, we escaped without serious

accident. While mentioning rapids, I shall be expected perhaps to say something about the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. This canyon is about four hundred miles in length, and contains four hundred extremely rough and dangerous rapids, with perhaps as many more ordinary rapids. Indeed one may say that the Grand Canyon is one great rapid, four hundred miles long. Four expeditions have been made with boats through that terrible gorge. The first was made by Major Powell of the United States Government survey. Major Powell has given us a graphic description of the canyon. The second was made by Col. Robert Stan- ton. The third was made by a Mr. Flavelle, with one boat and one companion. But the last, and perhaps the most successful trip ever made through the canyon, was made by Mr. Gallaway of Vernal,

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Utah. In January, 1897, this gentleman, with one companion and two boats, made the entire journey in thirty days. I have heard Mr. Gallaway relate in unboastful words the hor- rors of the adventures of that trip. He describes the gloomy can- yon, witb its perpendicular walls of a mile in height, by saying, "It looked as though we were being plunged into the jaws of hell!" He illustrates the height of those granite, marble-topped moun- tains, by telling how the flowers were in bloom and the darning- needle hummed his summer tunes on the shores of the river, while far over-head the sun gilding its whiteness, hung fringes of freshly fallen snow. Many tourists go every year to get a peep into that awe-in- spiring chasm. Some day, a railroad may be built through it, and if it ever is, no other natural curiosity will offer such attractions to tourists and students of nature. Men who have navigated the Colorado river, have not done so merely for pleasurable excursions. There must be intellectual or pecuniary compensation to induce people to take such hazardous journeys. The pursuits which cause the necessity for boating on the river are various. Most people go there to mine for placer gold, some to collect relics from the cliff-dwellers' ruins, some to survey mining claims and railroad ways, some to trap the beaver and otter, and others to study the miraculous truths of geology and mineralogy. A trip on the river is a most valuable course of training. Al- though no formal studies in morality are given, still the sermons that may be read in the great temples of stone, are redolent of moral influence. The dangers of life on the river tend to sharpen the mind and give to even the mediocre a resolute will and a con- quering determination. If by some magic I could carry you away to that strange lab- oratory of nature, and take you for a few hours' ride down that turbulent old river, the wonders you would see, the raptures you would feel, the truths that would be flashed upon you, would exceed in character-forming power all that could be given in hundreds of expositions. In such a ride, we should be tossed over tumultuous waves, while shooting the rapids. High in the cliffs above the water,

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would be seen the remains of a strange race. If we examined these dwellings closely, we should have to leave the boat and ascend hundreds of feet by means of steps cut long ago into the vertical walls of sandstone. The remnants of old boilers, and other aban- doned placer-mining machinery, would be seen along the sandbars, and some great excavations would show that gold has been taken from the gravel and the latter thrown into the river. We should see a few log cabins, some stone buildings, and several tents. Here and there, a few men would be found at work in placers, and should we land at their camp, we should be heartily greeted and made welcome to every courtesy and consideration they had to offer. When our ride should be completed, and we again returned to civil- ization, we should be most certain to prize our pleasant homes more

highly; yet, in our memory would always be a deeply printed page filled with fascinations which only a boat ride on the Colorado river could impress upon us.