Show through brough i canyon of the colorado river ENVER denver engineers heard firsthand first hand the story of the trip down clown the treacherous colorado river when col 0 H birdseye chief engineer of the united states geological geologic ill survey suney find and commander of the party which was thought for two weeks to have 11 ave perished in the flood swollen river addressed the regular lunce eon meeting of the denver chapter of the colorado society of engineers during the two weeks from september 19 to october 3 when tile the outside world was frantically speculating as to the possibility of colonel birdseye seye and the ten men of ins ills party surviving the floods which swept the river september 10 the party was peacefully continuing with its work of surveying dall dam sites near boulder canyon on september 10 30 the night when the flood started t the pa was camped just above lava falls in tile the grand canyon As tile the water began to rise tile the party moved its camp farther up tip the bank but about alx alc on that evening tile tho water waa I 1 as rising so film fast t ti tile the party broke camp and took to 0 the boats A few miles farther down tile the river they found folind a landing place where w lie re a sloping bank offered refuge the wilter water rose rosa 21 feet in describing the mode of travel down clown the mile length of the river surveyed by the party lie ho explained that the party had had four boats each partly covered with ith a deck on which three members of each crew lay face down holding to life lines and wearing cork jackets to keep them afloat in case of an upset the fourth of enil each crew sat eat in a cock pit steering with a rudder while tho the boat baat raced through the rapids when the river was not at flood stage colonel birdsale birds BIrd eio sele said the average speed in the rapids was between 35 and 40 fesper mu mi esper hour twenty twenty ave rapids besides a num nuin ber of minor i ripples were encountered by the party in marble canyon ln jn which the post office station of grand canyon Is situated while 00 rapids of major intze were found in tile the grand canyon proper farther down the river the trip of colonel Bird party was the sixth ever ma made de through the ca canyon nyon the first haying been made in 1871 more afore th th tin an a dozen lives hays have been lost in previous attempts to survey the river |