White’s Fiction 
175 
Shadow of Death and lived to tell of its terrors. Hardy took 
him down to Fort Mohave, where he met Dr. Parry/ who re¬ 
corded his whole story, drawn out by many questions, and 
believed it. This was not surprising; for, no man ever yet 
having accomplished what White claimed to have done, there 
was no way of checking the points of his tale. ''Now, at last/’ 
remarks Dr. Parry, "we have a perfectly authentic account, 
from an intelligent source, from a man who actually traversed 
its formidable depths, and who, fortunately for science, still 
lives to detail his trustworthy observations of this remarkable 
voyage,” The doctor was too confiding. Had I the space I 
would give here the whole of White’s story, for it is one of the 
best bits of fiction I have ever read. He had obtained some¬ 
how a general smattering of the character of the river, but as 
there were trappers still living, Kit Carson, for example, who 
possessed a great deal of information about it, this was not a 
difficult matter. But that he had no exact knowledge of any 
part of the river above the lower end of the Grand Canyon, is 
apparent to one who is familiar with the ground, and the many 
discrepancies brand the whole story as a fabrication. In the 
language of the frontier, he "pitched a yarn,” and it took 
beautifully. Hardy, whom I met in Arizona a good many 
years ago, told me he believed the man told the truth, but his 
belief was apparently based only on the condition White 
was in when rescued. That he was nearly dead is true, but 
that is about all of his yarn that is. White was thirty-two 
years old, and from Kenosha, Wisconsin. He said that, with 
two others, he was prospecting in Southwestern Colorado in 
the summer of that year, 1867, when, on Grand River, they 
were attacked by the Utes. Baker, the leader, fell mortally 
wounded. Of course, White and the other man, Strole, stood 
by their leader, in the teeth of the enemy’s fire, till he expired. 
What would the story have been without this example of de¬ 
votion and fortitude? Then, holding the pursuers in check, 
they slowly retreated down the side canyon they were in to 
^ Parry’s full record of White’s story is given in William A. Bell’s New Tracks 
in North America. Dr. C. C. Parry was assistant geologist of the U. P. Railway 
Survey, and wrote in 1868. 
