DOWN THE ATHABASCA. 21 
terminus for the southern section of the river. The 
whole distance of eighty miles is not a continuous rapid, 
but eleven or twelve more or less impracticable sections | 
occur in it, so that no great length of navigable water is 
found at any place. As its name suggests, the Grand 
Rapid is the main rapid of the river, and has a fall of 
seventy or eighty feet. This fall occurs mostly within 
a distance of half a mile, though the total length of 
the rapid is about four times that. The upper part is 
divided by a long narrow island into two channels, and 
it is through these comparatively narrow spaces that 
the cataract rushes so wildly. Above and below the 
island, the river may with great care be navigated by 
the loaded scows, but the water upon either side is so 
rough that goods cannot be passed down or up in safety. 
The method of transportation adopted is as follows: 
About a mile above the island, at the head of the rapid, 
the steamer Athabasca ties up to the shore. There she 
is met by a number of flat-bottomed boats or scows 
capable of carrying about ten tons each, and to these 
the boat’s cargo is transferred. When loaded the scows 
are piloted one by one to the head of the island in 
the middle of the river, where a rough wharf is built, 
and to it all goods are again transferred, whence they 
are carried to the lower end of the island by means of 
a tramway. The unloaded scows, securely held with 
ropes by a force of men on the shore, and guided with 
poles by a crew on board, are then carefully lowered 
down stream to the foot of the island, where they again 
receive their loads. Accidents frequently happen in 
passing down the unloaded scows, for the channel 
(the eastern one always being chosen) is very rough and 
