198 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



recently: "Some time near the ist 

 of October Lieut. Potter received 

 orders to proceed to investigate 

 the possibilities of the Colorado 

 River for navigation purposes, 

 from the mouth of the Virgin Riv- 

 er to Yuma. The understanding 

 was that he was to proceed to the 

 Needles and from there he towed 

 up the river, a distance of 250 

 miles, by Indians." 



The adventures of the party, as 

 described in the Call, were very 

 thrilling. As Indian boatmen re- 

 fused to brave the cruel rapids of 

 the treacherous river, two old trap- 

 pers were hired, who, for $5 a day 

 were willing to undertake the risk. 

 They were experienced water-men 

 and cool headed. They had bow 

 and stern lines, each 200 feet long, 

 and at one point had to send the 

 men up on clifls 100 feet high, 

 from which, by the aid of lines, 

 they would "snub"the boat around 

 the ledges of the canyon walls. In 

 one day, within six and one-half 

 miles, they shot fifteen dangerous 

 rapids, Before them seemed al- 

 most certain destruction, and to 

 turn back was impossible. The 

 further they went the deeper and 

 blacker became the canyon. Con- 

 cerning rapid No. 26, Lieut. Smith 

 says: 



"Here on both sides towered 

 the steep black walls, 1,000 feet 

 high. Between these walls for a 

 mile there was nothing but angry, 

 hissing foam. We examined first 

 one side and then the other for 

 ledges along which we might climb 

 and draw the boat. It was useless 

 and to attempt to run that frightful 

 place would have been madness. 

 It was at this point that Major 

 Powell's men abandoned him. We 

 searched for the trail by which they 

 escaped from the prison-like in- 

 closure, but in vain. In our ex- 

 plorations I had sprained my ankle 

 and we were compelled to lie over 

 a couple of days until I could walk. 

 In the meantime Lieut. Potter in- 

 vestigated several branch canyons 

 in the hope ot finding a means of 

 egress. On the Arizona side he 

 followed a canyon for eight miles, 

 to where it abruptly ended in a 

 perpendicular wall 4,000 feet high. 

 He followed a canyon on the Col- 

 orado side fifteen miles with a sim- 

 ilar result. At least we determin- 

 ed' to take desperate chances. 

 Taking all our provisions and out- 

 fit from the boat, we prepared to 

 attempt to follow a faint bighorn 

 trail for a few miles. Lieut. Pot- 

 ter and the rest of the party went 

 on ahead, while I stayed with the 

 boat. The plan was to turn the 



boat loose and let it shoot the rap- 

 ids empty and unguided. Lieut. 

 Potter and his party would attempt 

 to catch it as it went by. I waited 

 half a day, and in that time the 

 lieutenant had reached the river 

 three miles further on. Then I 

 turned the boat loose, and in ten 

 minutes it shot by them like a race 

 horse. That left us but one alter- 

 native, to follow the bighorn trail. 

 Taking provisions, a blanket each, 

 and our firearms, we started on 

 this perilous journey. Sometimes 

 our path was 100 feet wide, some-' 

 times, for 100 feet we had scarcely 

 six inches to cling to. In the latter 

 situation onr sensations were hor- 

 rible. Over 1,000 feet below us 

 yawned the black chasm; beneath 

 us the rock was treacherous and 

 slippery. It was always level, al- 

 ways the same dizzy height from 

 the white, brawling steam below. 

 For twenty-two miles we followed 

 this dangerous trail. Then, with 

 feelings of joy, we emerged upon 

 the Hualapais Desert. We were 

 three days in crossing this. We 

 had plenty of water and provisions, 

 but the men's shoes had given out 

 and they suffered greatly from the 

 hot sand and the cacti. On the 

 third day we reached the Union 

 Pacific Railroad and were taken 

 up. We then proceeded to the 

 Needles and completed the trip as 

 originally contemplated without 

 incident. We found that the river 

 could not be navigated advanta- 

 geously by any vessel drawing 

 more than two or three feet of 

 water without the expenditure of 

 an immense sum of money." 



A Visit to a Slate Quarry. 



At Festiniog are situate some of 

 the largest slate quarries in North 

 Wales. We find in the Building 

 News the following graphic de- 

 scription of a visit to the locality: 



Passing over an iron bridge we 

 were soon in the midst of the busy 

 scene. All around extended the 

 workings, the sides of the moun- 

 tains being strewn with slate, which 

 to an outsider seems to be wasted 

 in a very prodigal manner. 



Down the precipitous sides, every 

 now and again, a huge mass of 

 slate is hurled by the quarrymen 

 above, and as it jumps and tum- 

 bles down, the crackling and crash- 

 ing of the waste slate adds not a 

 little to the prevailing noise. In 

 the distance we hear the boom of 

 blasting, and in all directions trucks 

 hurry along, some in strings laden 

 with waste, while single ones rush 



up and down very steep inclines. 

 These last are worked in couples 

 with an endless chain and drum, 

 and ringing, rattling noise they 

 make being most startling to the 

 visitor. Not infrequently these 

 chains break, when, it may be 

 imagined, the position of the un- 

 loading gang at the bottom is 

 somewhat awkward. 



At a certain point our guides 

 stretched themselves prone upon 

 the ground — we following their ex- 

 ample — and crept to the edge of a 

 cliff. Peering over, a sight met 

 our view which was .interesting to 

 a degree; four hundred feet below 

 lay the busiest and most remark- 

 able portion of the workings. Al- 

 most immediately beneath us was 

 a huged gray colored chasm, its 

 entrance all misty with the smoke 

 and dust of the blasting which was 

 going on somewhere deep down in 

 the bowels of the mountain. Around 

 this opening for some distance was 

 a cleared space alive with pigmy 

 men, who were busy loading and 

 unloading the various trucks which 

 kept arriving from all directions, 

 some appearing every now and 

 again out of the chasm, others 

 working by the tank system in 

 stages, while the majority came 

 pelting down the mountain side, 

 held by a thin bright thread which 

 glistened in the sun, this was the 

 chain system spoken of. From 

 the clearing around the chasm, 

 lines of tramway led away to the 

 railway, along which strings of 

 trucks drawn by horses toiled con- 

 tinually. Leaving our birdseye 

 view, we walked along until we 

 reached the workshops. In a large 

 building the different processes of 

 bringing the slate into shape were 

 going on in full swing; wheels 

 spinning overhead, with driving 

 bands in all directions, sawing, 

 planing, and lopping the slate into 

 sizes. Everything apparently was 

 done by machinery, with but one 

 exception, as far as we saw, of ren- 

 dering or splitting the slate into 

 the thin slabs technically known as 

 "slates;" this appears to be entire- 

 ly done by hand. The process is 

 very simple but very interesting. 

 The render sitting upon a block, 

 with a pad on his legs, is supplied 

 by boys with slabs about an inch 

 and a half in thickness. Taking 

 one between his knees, after hav- 

 ing selected the truest end, he taps 

 it with a broad blunt chisel and 

 mallet, prising it open; then, with 

 a turn of the wrist, rends the slab 

 in twain. Often when he appears 

 to have come .to the last slate 

 which can be got out of the slab, 



