The Grave of Hook 
249 
quarters of an hour the boat came rushing down with all hands 
safe and exceedingly happy over claiming the distinction of 
the first capsize. Now many rapids fell to our lot, and we 
were kept busy every moment. On the 4th of June we passed 
the wrecks of some boats half-buried in the sand, and on land¬ 
ing we discovered a grave on a little knoll some distance back 
from the water, with a pine board stuck up at its head bearing 
the name of Hook. The rapid that had apparently caused the 
disaster told by these objects we easily ran. The unfortunates 
had attempted the descent in flat-bottomed boats, that shipped 
much water and toppled over with the slightest provocation. 
They had followed Powell on his former trip, declaring that if 
he could go down the river so could they, but they learned 
their mistake and paid dearly for the experience. The leader, 
whose bones lie in these splendid depths of Red Canyon, was 
said to have been the first mayor of Cheyenne. Many more 
rapids we ran with a current of from six to twelve or fifteen 
miles per hour, and we made many “let-downs,” which means 
working a boat along the edge of a rapid by the aid of lines, 
without removing the cargo. We called this process, when we 
removed the cargo, a “line portage,” as distinguished from a 
complete portage where the boats were taken out of the water. 
Shortly after dinner one day we heard a deep roaring, which 
implied that we were approaching a violent fall, and hugging 
the left-hand bank, we drifted slowly down to within a rod or 
two of the drop and easily landed. It was Ashley Falls. In 
the centre of the river protruded an immense rock, twenty-five 
feet square, and the river rushed by on each side making 
a sudden descent of about eight feet. It would have been 
nothing to run had it been free from rocks; but it was in 
reality the rocks which formed it. They had fallen from the 
left-hand wall within some comparatively recent time, and 
acted as a dam. Many more were piled up against the left- 
hand cliff. . The river, averaging about two hundred and fifty 
feet wide, had been narrowed by about one-third and a rapid 
had thus been changed into a fall. We made a portage here 
with the first and third boats. The second we allowed to run 
through with lines attached, but as she got several severe 
