40 MOUTH OF THE COLORADO TO FORT YUMA—ACCIDENTS AND DETENTION. 
the Gulf. The difficulties of navigation are increasing, though none are of a character to 
involve more than a delay. The river is exceedingly crooked, and the current, in some of the 
bends, has been, at least, four knots an hour. Sharp turns, sand bars, and shoals are con- 
stantly encountered. There are no rocks, and the snags, though numerous, are seldom 
dangerous. The Explorer works admirably, and turns the bad corners with greater facility 
than a larger craft. We have grounded several times, but in no case have been detained more 
than a few moments. It is not worth while to make any attempts at speed during the present 
stage of water. We have been steaming to-day eight hours, exclusive of the time occupied in 
taking in wood, and are twenty-four miles from last night’s camp. This, considering the 
strong head-wind,we think a good run. The boats that ply to Fort Yuma save time by having 
regular wood depots at convenient intervals. We are obliged to stop and cut wood whenever 
it is wanted. There is plenty of excellent fuel all along the bank. The dead mesquite, willow, 
and cottonwood trees, instead of rotting become seasoned in the pure dry atmosphere. The 
mesquite has a particularly close, fine grained texture, and makes a hot fire. 
While the steamer is in motion a man stands at the bow with a sounding pole, which he 
keeps constantly employed. Captain Robinson, on the after deck, pilots the boat, and assumes 
her entire management. One must be a good while upon the river to acquire the experience 
and skill that are requisite in order to run a boat successfully. A knowledge of the locality 
of the deepest water cannot be imparted. The rapid current, the loose character of the soil, 
and the sedimentary deposits occasion great and sudden variations in the river bed, and the 
channel has been known to shift from one bank to the other in a single night.* From the 
formation of the banks, from the appearance of the water and the eddies, from the direction 
taken by pieces of drift-wood and other floating substances, and from the character of the 
islands and bars visible above the surface the experienced pilot can do much towards selecting 
the proper course, though at the present stage of water boats rarely pass over even this portion 
of the river, which is said to be better than any that has been navigated higher up, without 
running aground many times a day. If there is a chance of finding a better place the boat is 
backed off. If not, she is forced over the shoal by working her in the sand, with the help of 
the engine, poles, and lines fastened to anchors or trees, and hauled upon with the windlass. 
The bars are composed of soft and loose material, and may always be passed with more or less 
labor, depending, in a great measure, upon the skill shown in the employment of the different 
methods of extrication resorted to. 
Camp 5, January 3.—Two days of hard work have advanced us thirty-one miles. The 
general appearance of the country and the river undergoes no change. The average depth of 
water in the channel is becoming less, probably not exceeding nine feet. The bottom is very 
irregular, the soundings sometimes varying in a distance of a dozen yards from two and a half 
to twenty-one feet. Last evening we reached a place where the river was very wide and filled 
with snags. The shoals extended all the way across. While trying to extricate ourselves 
from a broad sand bar by backing off the rudder got jammed by a snag, and could not be 
moved. An anchor was then let go, and lines carried in a skiff to the shore. 
time after dark when the boat was brought alongside of the bank. The rudder was unshipped 
and the stock found to be bent, but by heating and hammering with an axe it was at bat 
straightened so as to be serviceable. To-day three hours have been spent on the shoals. We 
would scarcely be clear of one obstruction, and the boat afloat, before she would run aground 
It was some 
© The occ of earthquakes has, at times, seriously affected the river banks and bed, entirely changing their form 
and character, caving in large slices of the bluff, filling up sloughs, forming new channels, uprooting snags, and creating 
fresh obstructions. In November, 1852, while a schooner was at anchor thirty miles above the mouth of th river, and 
floating in fourteen feet of water, there came a premonitory tumbling and shock, and the bed of sand was suddenly forced 
up, lea vessel aground, with only three feet of water around her. In that position she remained till floated off by 
