350 
The Colorado River 
been better to throw these boxes away at once and take what 
the boats could carry and no more^ but this was apparently not 
thought of. All things considered, it is a wonder this party 
ever got through Cataract Canyon alive. At some little rapid, 
after leaving the railway crossing, the first boat stove a hole in 
her side, but this was readily repaired and the party ran with¬ 
out further accident over the smooth stretches of river preced¬ 
ing the Junction, arriving at this latter point in four days. 
They were now on the threshold of Cataract Canyon. Stop¬ 
ping to adjust instruments and repair boats for a day, they 
proceeded to the battle with the cataracts on May 31st. For 
forty-one miles they would now have their courage, muscle, 
and nerve put to the full test. Stanton records seventy-five 
rapids and cataracts, fifty-seven of them within a space of nine¬ 
teen miles, with falls in places of sixteen to twenty feet. This, 
then, was what they were approaching with these frail craft. 
Two miles down they heard the roar of falling water and the 
place was reconnoitred, with the result that a large rapid was 
found to bar the way. The raft of provisions, and the boat 
that had towed it, were on the opposite side of the river, which 
afforded no chance for a camp or a portage, and a signal was 
made for the party to come over. A half mile intervened 
between this boat and the head of the rapid, but with the en¬ 
cumbering raft it was drawn down so dangerously near the de¬ 
scent that, to save themselves, the rope holding the raft was 
cut. Thus freed the boat succeeded in landing just at the 
head of the fall, but the raft went over, and that was the end 
of it. The fragments were found scattered all the way through 
the canyon. The next twenty-eight miles were filled with mis¬ 
haps and losses. Twelve miles farther down, the boat in which 
Brown, Hughes, and Reynolds were running a rapid capsized. 
The men clung to her for a mile and a half and then succeeded 
in getting ashore. The rapids in this part are very close to¬ 
gether, and to these men it seemed like one continuous cataract, 
which it very nearly is. On the same day another boat con¬ 
taining the cooking outfit struck a rock and went to pieces. 
The provisions she carried were, most of them, contributed to 
the maw of the dragon to follow those of the unfortunate raft. 
