| Show Death D Cheated Chec Che t in Maddening V ing 1 I Dash Through Flood Fl od Waters Water 1 A l I A K 4 4 x s i 5 V 5 l gf K d r t l I This is the tho intrepid surveying party that charted charted the tho Grand canyon Top picture shows from left to right Lint Blake Word Colonel Birdseye chief of th the e party Moore Burchard La Rue Freeman and Kolb Lower left left Beaching Beaching the boat Marble for repairs and lower right skidding a boat over the rocks at the head of Soap Creek rapids WASHINGTON Nov 17 By NEA A. A Service ServIce Shooting Shooting stern stem first in small boats through boilIng boiling boiling boil boil- ing swirling rapids between sheer walls walls- Plunging into seething reaches of river where the wat waters rs dashing madly against rocks were lashed into waves forty to fifty feet high high high- I Riding boats that lunged like frenzied sometimes being hurled overboard sometimes s cap- cap sized always facing danger and often orten death but going steadily I ahead ahead- Such is the story brought to Washington by the the government party which surveyed the last un un- I t I charted stretch of ot the canyon of the Colorado RAINS INCREASE D DANGER NGER The party headed by Colonel C. C H. H Birdseye of ot the geological survey surey survey sur sur- vey ey E E. E C. C La Rue hydraulic engineer engineer engi engl- o neer and R. R W W. Burchard topographIc topographic topographic topo topo- graphic engineer started from Lees Lee's Perry Ferry erry in extreme north central central central cen cen- 1 Last Chance Arizona August rapids miles below was as reached reached reach reach- ed October 13 Meantime 1 torrential rains In the mountains raised the Colorado to I flood nood stage Grave Graye fears were felt for the safety of the explorers and anda a searching party was sent out from Needles Cal Cat But despite hardships and dangers not one life was lost and ard the only Injury of note was a broken rib At first portages s were made wherever possible past the worst portions of rapids At Soap Creek rapids for Instance they got tho thoo boats over o the rocks for about o yards and nd into an eddy below the main rapid However says sas Colonel Birdseye Birds Birds- Birdseye e eye e we wo might have got through safely without portage a as we ran worse rapids later It It was man- man killing work to portage the the heavy heavy y wooden boats her hee e. e J RECOVERS RECOVER BOAT I At noon on August 4 we reached a rapid that lay between vertical cliffs which rose directly from the tho water ate so that there was no foothold foothold foothold foot foot- hold for portage and no chance even to i look the rapids over and andI form a plan to run them Vo We called these the Sheer Wall I rapids and we made them safely though everybody got wet We ran ranI such i rapIds with the boat stern first firstin I in order to steer better We put I on life jackets and la lay face tace down downin I In jn tho the boats clinging hard to to- the I I lifelines that were stretched across the dock I The waves seemed mountainous and to most of us this was a thriller But wo we afterward became so used I to riding rough water that we vied make the with one another to I II j I plunge with lighted pipe or without losing the light Frank B. B Dodge expert boatman I I who accompanied the party largely I f in the role of emergency life saver I in making one rapid hi the canvas canoe upset in one of the swirls but buthe buthe buthe I he swam out dragging dragg the tho boat with him and righted it without I help i iOu Ou On August 10 Birdseye recounts re recounts re- re j I counts the boatmen of tho the party part Y I II ran the tha little four boats I through Boulder Boulde rapids while the themore themore I more conservative e members picked I their way through the boulders i I II n B E. E Blake Blak one of the boatmen l I was as hurled completely out of ot his i iJ J boat turning a ri t complete somers somersault I and going completely out of sight I But he soon reappeared d and caught i I IMS is boat climbed In and paddled on through tho the rapids I SURVEYORS BUSY All this time lime the real mission of ot otI I the expedition was never forgotten i All along long tho the course the surveying surveying survey survey- i ing instruments were set up observations observations and photographs taken in furtherance of ot the scientific ends of the trip an accurate survey of ot the canyon and location of dam sites for flood prevention power development and Irrigation This often otten forced extra dangers as at Granite Granito Gorge where great difficulty was experienced in getting getting get get- ting a footing for tor Instrument and rod stations In rn spite of ot the steep walls and swift water though the survey line was carried through without a break the tho surveyors surveyors often clinging perilously to small projections just above the skirling water to make their sights At some places no foothold for tor walking could be found for for the canyon walls rose straight from the torrent Then the whole party had to shoot through on the boats to together together together to- to gether and nd take th the chances I f SCRAPING BOULDERS At the dreaded rapIds rapids rapids rap- rap Ids where the waves ran about twenty feet from trough to crest all aU had to take to the boats The Hermit Hermit Hermit Her Her- mit Creek rapids were among the roughest The boats tossed about like corks on the huge waves many of which broke broko over them September 8 in running a cataract cataract cataract catar catar- act rip nij preceding party had ever made Kolb grazed grazer a rock and lost lostan lostan lostan an oar but managed to pull through Freeman the next man to run struck a rock on which his boat seemed to hang for a moment the stern of the boat being badly smashed It was September 18 after camp had been made maJe on on a sandbar below I Lava falls that the record rise in inthe I the tho river which occasioned national national na na- lional alarm for the safety of ot the party set in in No 1 one expected a rise of more than five fl or But time after time during tile the t e night the boats had to be dragged higher and higher up a shelving shore of ot limestone lime lime- stone At one time block bloc and tackle had to be used 0 to drag one of the boats to safety FELIX ARISES EARLY Felix the cook who went to bed ten feet above the th 0 water was flooded out at mIdnight His IUs pals pais had to rescue his bed and clothes clothe During the night the beds and the cooks cook's outfit had to be moved three times Before the recession set in the river had risen no less than than han twenty-one twenty feet At Separation rapids where the sheer walls forced ever everyone one to ride Kolb Blake Blako and Lint ran their boats l ly but the but the dec loads made the boats top heavy and they danced e. e l B-l lik corks even after the COCKpits COCK COCK- pits were filled with water COCI 1 Freeman ran last with La Rue and ind Moore clinging to the hatches EXCITING MOMENTS I They had the thrill ot of their lives Jives says say's sa o for the huge I waves tossed the Moat Boat Into the all airs I j jand and when It came camo down n bottom i iside side up the they were thrown out between between between be- be bej beI j I tween the boat and the rocks on i ithe Ithe the bank La Rue narrowly n escaping being crushed Freeman dived clear of the boat beat and camo came up a afew few yards from it where he lie caught ft rope Blake and Dodge pushed out in their boat and hauled tho the men men aboard Freeman and Moore holding hard to the upturned upturned up up- turned boat to quieter waters waters waters wa wa- anti ann righted d it All loose artes artices art artl- ces es such as hats pipes antI and glasses were lost Such were the dally daily experiences almost for tor more moro than two months if It this little band df dt nine men who I blazed tho the path of science through I tho the heretofore uncharted course of i I one OM of ot our great rivers rl I |
