Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico); Grand Canyon (Ariz.); United States -- Discovery and exploration
sits on a rock and holds the boat until the others are ready to pull,
then gives the boat a push, clings to it with his hands, and climbs in
as they pull for mainland, which they reach in safety. We are as glad
to shake hands with them as though they had been on a voyage around the
world and wrecked on a distant coast.
Down the river half a mile we find that the after cabin of the
powell-canyons-107.jpg
METALLIFEROUS VEINS EXPOSED TO VIEW.
wrecked boat, with a part of the bottom, ragged and splintered, has
floated against a rock and stranded. There are valuable articles in the
cabin; but, on examination, we determine that life should not
THE CANYON OF LODORE. 157
be risked to save them. Of course, the cargo of rations, instruments,
and clothing is gone.
We return to the boats and make camp for the night. No sleep comes to
me in all those dark hours. The rations, instruments, and clothing have
been divided among the boats, anticipating such an accident as this; and
we started with duplicates of everything that was deemed necessary
to success. But, in the distribution, there was one exception to this
precaution--the barometers were all placed in one boat, and they are
lost! There is a possibility that they are in the cabin lodged against
the rock, for that is where they were kept. But, then, how to reach
them? The river is rising. Will they be there to-morrow? Can I go out to
Salt Lake City and obtain barometers from New York?
June 10.--I have determined to get the barometers from the wreck, if
they are there. After breakfast, while the men make the portage, I go
down again for another examination, There the cabin lies, only carried
50 or 60 feet farther on. Carefully looking over the ground, I am
satisfied that it can be reached with safety, and return to tell the
men my conclusion. Sumner and Dunn volunteer to take the little boat and
make the attempt. They start, reach it, and out come the barometers!
The boys set up a shout, and I join them, pleased that they should be as
glad as myself to save the instruments. When the boat lands on our side,
I find that the only things saved from the wreck were the barometers, a
package of thermometers, and a three-gallon keg of whiskey. The last is
what the men were shouting about. They had taken it aboard unknown to
me, and now I am glad they did take it, for it will do them good, as
they are drenched every day by the melting snow which runs down from the
summits of the Rocky Mountains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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