CANOEING ON THE DELAWARE 



391 



of ordinary erosion is apparent, but in 

 addition angular, jagged fragments are 

 set in all positions with the bewildering 

 confusion of a volcanic crater. On the 

 western side is a high, rock girt, forest- 

 clad bank ; on the other, ledges and 

 broken masses of granite, suggesting 

 forcibly that if the mighty current 

 could do this to the resisting cliffs, it 

 could much more readily pulverize a 

 frail canoe. 



Cochecton Falls is a depository 

 for undesirable debris. The name 

 is an Indian one and means in- 

 crease. Owing to the sudden narrow- 

 ing of the river in this plunge, every- 

 thing floating or shoved along in the 

 lesser but always swift current above is 

 rammed into this hole and has a chance 

 to lodge among the opposing sharp and 

 fractured rocks. Among such bric-a- 

 brac were the parts of a steel bridge 

 which had been carried out by the un- 

 precedented freshet of the previous 

 spring, to say nothing of quantities of 

 barbed wire. 



The Cruiser's family stood on the shore 

 with camera ready. He remembers con- 

 fusedly paddling like mad to keep steer- 

 age way, desperately trying to hold seat 

 and course, of being lifted, dropped, 

 jerked up again and shoved from all 

 sides at once, and slapped in the face 

 with a drenching dash of water, such a 

 sensation as of a man tossed in a blanket 

 and dropped into a pond. 



Bridge No. 9 (Erie Railroad) is the 

 first bad place. The bridge was being 

 replaced and the river full of false 

 work. First we were for hugging the 

 Eastern shore, but the thought that in 

 the shallows of such a current the 

 slightest contact would spell disaster, 

 impelled us to head straight for the 

 heavy waves and deepest water. Big 

 rocks and sharp turns in a place like 

 this necessitate the straining of every 

 muscle to hit a pace far in excess of the 

 swift flow to put your boat where your 

 judgment dictates. Timidity, hesita- 

 tion means loss of control and destruc- 

 tion. Scream after scream of estatic 

 delight from the little girl and her 



mother, as the canoes rose far out of 

 the water and then slapped down like 

 the snapping of a big sail on a tacking 

 boat, attested their appreciation of a 

 sport that in comparison would make 

 polo or football seem games for in- 

 valids. 



The next worth mention is Rocky 

 Rift. Here is a fall and flow quite as 

 great as the other rapids, but a wider 

 river, hence less water and more rocks. 



The stern paddler, always the helms- 

 man, stands up just as the water breaks 

 into white caps. He can figure where 

 to start in, and his channel as far below 

 as he can discern the height and char- 

 acter of the waves. Beyond that, in a 

 long rapid, as these were, he must re- 

 vise and construct his course as he goes 

 along. 



Canoeists, don't listen to croakings. 

 After a reasonable apprenticeship you are 

 able to read a rapid as you would an open 

 book. Possibly in swift water we pass 

 five million rocks, any one of which 

 might have put an end to our trip, if 

 not to us. At different stages of the 

 water various rocks are covered or un- 

 covered, and the waves, channel and 

 character of the rapids entirely altered. 

 All these dangerous rocks were known 

 to the old-time raftsmen of the Dela- 

 ware, and all were named, but with the 

 decline of the lumber business the 

 names were forgotten. Instructions 

 thus are of no value. Many of the 

 farmers along the river have run rafts 

 of lumber to tidewater, but this they did 

 at freshet height, the waves being most- 

 ly smoothed out. Hence their informa- 

 tion has no relevancy to the canoeist. 

 He must rely on his own initiative abso- 

 lutely. Even when several boats go to- 

 gether, the helmsman of each must not 

 let his judgment be affected by the 

 course taken by any of the others. It 

 is this essential of self-reliance that 

 makes river canoeing so fascinating. 



At Lacka waxen the river by that name 

 joins the Delaware, and the united 

 water flows over a dam, and is pro- 

 vided with an apron over which rafts 

 can go at high water, and the venture- 



