ASHLEY FALLS. 17 
looking between them to the heavens, "the rocks h-e-a-p, h-e-a-p high; the 
water go h-oo-woogh, h-oo-woogh; water-pony (boat) h-e-a-p buck; water 
catch 'em ; no see 'em Injun any more ! no see 'em squaw any more ! no see 
'em pappoose any more!" 
Those who have seen these >wild Indian ponies rearing alternately 
before and behind, or "bucking," as it is called in the vernacular, will appre 
ciate his description. 
At last we come to calm water, and a threatening roar is heard in the 
distance. Slowly approaching the point whence the sound issues, we come 
near to falls, and tie up just above them on the left. Here we will be com 
pelled to make a portage; so we unload the boats, and fasten a long line to 
the bow, and another to the stem, of the smaller one, and moor her close to 
the brink of the fall. Then the bow-line is taken below, and made fast ; 
the stern line is held by five or six men, and the boat let down as long 
as they can hold her against the rushing waters ; then, letting go one end of 
the line, it runs through the ring ; the boat leaps over the fall, and is caught 
by the lower rope. 
Now we rest for the night. 
June 2. This morning we make a trail among the rocks, transport the 
cargoes to a point below the falls, let the remaining boats over, and are 
ready to start before noon. 
On a high rock by which the trail passes we find the inscription : 
"Ashley 185." The third figure is obscure some of the party reading it 
1835, some 1855. 
James Baker, an old time mountaineer, once told me about a party of 
men starting down the river, and Ashley was named as one. The story runs 
that the boat was swamped, and some of the party drowned in one of the 
canons below. The word "Ashley" is a warning to us, and we resolve on 
great caution. 
Ashley Falls is the name we give to the cataract. 
The river is very narrow; the right wall vertical for two or three hun 
dred feet, the left towering to a great height, with a vast pile of broken rocks 
lying between the foot of the cliff and the water. Some of the rocks broken 
down from the ledge above have tumbled into the channel and caused 
3 COL 
