EXPERIENCES IX THE GRAXD CAXYOX 



\Ye had undergone. The}' were on the 

 job, and saw the fire as soon as it was 

 buih. 



One month later, or on December 19, 

 we were ready to resume our journey 

 (see page i/O). It was with no great 

 amount of enthusiasm that we left home 

 to finish the trip to Needles, California. 

 Nearly a foot of snow had fallen, and 

 had drifted over the side of the canyon. 

 The snow had descended to the plateau, 

 3,000 feet below — something unusual, 

 occurring only after several nights of 

 zero weather on the rim. A little thin 

 ice covered the pools at the river's edge. 



A RECRUIT JOINS US 



With us was a new man who was 

 anxious to make the trip — ]\Ir. Bert 

 Lauzon. Lauzon was a practical miner 

 and a cowboy as well — an adventurous 

 young man who had followed life in 

 the open since his boyhood days — a 

 typical product of the West. Our 

 younger brother, Ernest, who had been 

 looking after our business in the studio 

 at the head of the trail, was also anxious 

 to accompany us, and we agreed to take 

 hiiTi as far as the Bass Trail, 25 miles 

 below. -^- 



We soon saw that we were "tender- 

 feet" when compared with Lauzon. In- 

 stead of walking around such rapids as 

 he could, while we ran the boat, he would 

 lie down on the deck (see page 172), 

 hanging on to the bulkhead like grim 

 death as the great waves rolled over him. 

 Then he would shake the ice-cold water 

 from his clothes, and, with a grin, would 

 remark, "Young fellows, wasn't that 

 great'" Accustomed as we were by this 

 time to the rapids, we failed to see any 

 great amount of pleasure in having a ton 

 of ice-cold water dumped down the back 

 of our necks. 

 ^ Our first camp was in a grewsome 

 spot. Just above us, several years be- 

 fore, we had helped cover up the skele- 

 ton of a human being (see page 171). 

 It was found midway between the river 

 and the plateau, lying in a natural posi- 

 tion. The man was dressed like a pros- 

 pector, and wore hob-nailed shoes, while 

 an overcoat was buttoned around him. 

 His pockets contained Eos Angeles news- 



papers dated Alay, 1900. There was noth- 

 ing about him by which he could be iden- 

 tified. He may have been on the river 

 and lost his boat, and starved. There was 

 no indication that he had met a violent 

 death. 



POOR CHRISTMAS PROSPECTS 



It looked for a while, on Christmas 

 Eve, that we would have a similar fate. 

 Ernest had left us a few hours before 

 (see pages 176 and 179), taking out our 

 exposed plates via Bass Trail. A rapid 

 was reached that looked bad, still we 

 thought we could find a passage 

 through. We had taken chances in 

 rapids that looked worse, and came 

 through unharmed; if we could run it, 

 it would be over in a few minutes and 

 forgotten an hour later. 



Lauzon had gone as near the lower 

 end of the rapid as he could, taking the 

 left side, for a sheer wall of 60 feet 

 rose from the water on the right. Ells- 

 worth went first, taking a channel on the 

 left. I had picked out another course 

 on the right as being the least danger- 

 ous, but had no more than started when 

 I found myself on a nest of rocks unable 

 to move my boat. Other rocks were be- 

 low, and the waves thundered about me. 



About that time I saw my brother's 

 boat caught sideways in a reverse 

 whirl — as they are called by rivermen — 

 water pouring over a rock and shooting 

 underneath, while a 2 or 3-foot wave 

 comes up the stream and is taken down 

 also. The Defiance was held between 

 the opposing forces — the one water pour- 

 ing over the rocks, the other a wave 

 equally as high on the lower side. Fi- 

 nally she filled with the splashing water, 

 sank low, and the water pouring from 

 above caught the 1,200-pound boat and 

 turned her over as if she were a chip. 

 For a moment she was held ; then was 

 thrown upright and forced out by the 

 torrent. Ellsworth had disappeared, but 

 suddenly shot up nearly a hundred feet 

 below, only to be carried down again 

 with every cresting wave. If he Avere 

 to be saved it must be done instantly. 



I knew he would take the same chance 

 for me, so I pried the Bdith loose with 

 an oar and pulled with all my might, 

 hoping to shoot past the rocks. I was 



