Disasters 
351 
Sometimes the boats got away from the men altogether, run¬ 
ning wild, finally lodging somewhere below to be found again 
with the contents missing/ Soon they had so many large holes 
in them that one. No. 3, had to be broken up to obtain materials 
for repairing the others. Thus the party, by the time they had 
fairly arrived at the deepest and worst portion of this splendid 
chasm, were in a sad plight, but a plight mainly due to the 
original bad planning and mismanagement, and not necessary 
in navigating this gorge. They seldom attempted to cross the 
river, working down along one side and never entering the 
boats at all except where absolutely necessary. Thus they 
were greatly hampered in their movements. With our boats 
we never gave the crossing of the river a thought, and were in 
them continually, except where a portage was demanded. We 
could therefore always choose our course with as much freedom 
as is possible. But it must not be forgotten that the Brown party 
were in Cataract Canyon about the time of high water, while 
we passed through at a lower stage. This would make a differ¬ 
ence, low water being in all the canyons far safer, though the 
work is harder on the men and the boats. By the 15th of June 
all provisions had disappeared except a sack and a half of flour, 
presumably one hundred pounds to the sack, a little coffee, 
some sugar, and condensed milk. The flour was all baked and 
divided equally, each man receiving two and one half pounds 
of bread, one pound of sugar, and four ounces of coffee. At 
one point they fortunately found a barrel of cut loaf-sugar 
amongst the driftwood. This had been lost from some 
army-supplies crossing at Gunnison Valley up the Green, 
or up Grand River, and they also found, a little below this, 
pieces of a waggon with the skeleton of a man. These 
also had, of course, come from at least a hundred miles 
above the Junction on the Green, or sixty miles up the Grand, 
as no waggon could get to the river at any place nearer to 
Cataract Canyon. The waggon-box had probably acted as 
a raft, bearing its gruesome passenger all these long miles 
into the heart of the mighty gorge, where the dragon stored 
^ With boats built on the model we used nothing could be lost of the contents 
even if the boat rolled over, for everything was under cover. 
