Show RUN THE RAPIDS russel and monett finished rini shed per ilous journey through grand canyon canyo of the colorado the news reached vernal last wednesday from needles california to the effect that charles and E R monett had completed a trip through the grand canyon of the C colorado after thrilling experiences find and narrow escapes from death since february 29 20 last I 1 iho he distance di stanca these men traveled trav elod wits was about miles and it is i said thea ohp boat beat the record made by major powell poleu and robert B D stanton forty and twenty years ago respectively when the start was nade r from green river station utah there were three men ju iu the party the third man wag albert loper the initiator of the enterprise at athile alite one hundred miles north of the arizona line he stopped to lay in more photographic 0 supplies upp up plies liea lie ile expected to follow immediately but failed to do 95 so though his comp companions anious waited for him two months along the way at needles russell received a letter from loper in which he said financial conditions prevented him from continuing his journey it has been suggested that he got cold feet and became a deserter ile he secured help at hito hite and continued or on as far as lees Lee ferry from there he ciote that thai he had bad no idea of de deserting berting but that thai he could not secure provisions As the boat which he left at hite contained provisions enough to last three months the excuse he gave did not sound plausible to monett and russell the ultimate object ol oje the expedition was to prospect for gold in the bottora bottom of the canyon russell and monett left bright angel january 9 in a single boat fourteen miles below that point tb they ey were wrecked before they could continue the journey they spent sometime making repairs monetes Mo boat was smashed into fragments five miles above bright angel and the men thought al first that they must abandon the idea of making the entire trip finding that monett could sit on the steel covered deck of the boat and ride with his comp companion anion through all but the roughest water the pair decided to continue in major powells trip in 1869 he started with wilh four boats and ten men besides himself he and five companions got safely through the canyon three of the party who deser deserted Led forty milts above the end of the canyon were killed by the indians in robert B stan tons tona expedition in 1889 twelve men and three boats were engaged the passage of the grand was also successfully sf ully made by george flavell and a companion and in 1896 by nat galloway and william richmond all other attempts so far as known have ended in disastrous failures the powell and stanton expeditions were thoroughly outfitted geological exploration was powells object oba act and although he undertook the trip largely on his hia own res possibility he received some assistance from the government bf cantons tr trip ap was made for the purpose of running a preliminary survey for a way flavell and their companions were hunters and trappers in search of beaver skins Russell Monett are miners miners and the money with which they purchased their supplies represents the earnings for many months one of the most perilous sections of the river is known as the rapids a few miles this side of bright angel the granite walls reach toward the sky for three thousand feet and the first 1600 1500 feet are sheer and smooth there is no possible chance for escape except to shoot the rapids russell and monett faced unknown waters always russell led the way swinging his boat into the boiling current stern first his own method of taking the cammet ca tract making his hia frail craft respond to his will by a forward pull on one or the other of the oars after the first minute the cockpit in which each man sat and which is shut off from the rest of bithe the boat by water tight compartments was filled to the gun wales with icy waters in which each man sat hundreds of times waves totally submerged them the little boats each time staggering out from under the terrific weight of water only to plunge under another wave with less than a quarter of a mile of vicious water yet to cover russell heard his companion cry out in terror from behind before he could turn to learn the cause caupe of the eq he was dri driven en into smooth water ile he moored his boat to the bank at the foot of the rapids and as best he could he be worked his way back to where monett was the boys boat was wedged in between two jagged rocks and he was hanging desperately to the gunzales gunwales gun gunA wales ales of the little craft his body straightened out horizontal by the rushing waters the rho boat was wag wrecked but when russel threw the rope to his companion lie ho was astounded to see him carefully work his hi 3 way to the boat and begin to tie its contents to the rope the one means of saving his life against the roar of the rapids it was waa useless for russell to yell to him to let the provisions go and save his own life afo four times the boy let russell haul bacon and sacks of beans through the thirty feet of death dealing waters between him aad the shore before he finally caught the he ropo rope himself and let russell him to safety the loss of the LV bt almost caused them to abandon the rest of the trip but monett insisted that they try straddling the stern of the tha one boat still re maing this they decided to do but before they proceeded further they began to examine the formation of the granite and though they refused to divulge what hat they found they spent ten days at the spot before they resumed the journey journe from russells own story of the voyage down the cataract canyon in southern utah we take the following extracts 21 after describing the first stages down the green river during which few difficulties were experienced as farow apa the junction point of the green abid grand rivers chief form the Co colorado Torad russell proceeds pi at this thid junction the grand is about the same size aa the green Greenn w yd hir canada are somewhat some 8 whit it lai 11 L 1 stone strata had bad now agun b gun to n the cana can on walls the upper p i i sandstone this is also the beg inn u j I 1 the cataract canyon forty one milt of terror and termed ter moil though it 13 five miles before the first rapid is found we floated dawn the river now con sider ably swifter and camped around the bend from the first rapid the walls grew higher on the right is 13 a row of variously shaped craigs silent sentinels they are guarding this forbidding stretch of view we walked around the dand and viewed the first five rapids they presented a most terrifying appearance the rushing roaring water beaten into foam as it lunged over the rocks rolling into waves ten feet high at the foot stretching away into a tail of vicious white capped spectres spec tres for one hundred yards and more before they become quieter quiet erand and ending in a swishing whirlpool whir pool hardly does doisthe do esthe the water quiet down till it takes another plunge so canse are the rapids together the boats were made mad e of steel and were sixteen feet long decked over fore and aft with sheet steel cover bolted down by means of a row of small bolts bolta along each gunwale covers or decks reached from each end to two transverse bulkheads placed three and one half feet apart near the center of the boats thus leaving only and open compartment three and one half feet long for the oarsman all of the load is 13 placed under cover and lashed securely to prevent shifting the boats were also provided with airtight compartments in each end and under the seat containing sufficient air to float the load should all the other compartments bo be full of water the boats were v ere named arizona utah and nevada oneff one of tho the greatest obstructions obstruction sin in running this canyon will always be that on account of the enormous volume of water and the countless count lesa rocks and boulders in the rapids a huge wave may suddenly rise up where least expected and dash a passing boat entirely out of its coulso coin BO and perchance ga if boulder where it t iq i likely to I 1 lc c d dp API to pieces I 1 lit danger la Is HH t to overtake voyage p ain in steel boat oa ns in in wooden ones thi the ia russell party is not the first to contemplate the use of steel boats sterl stel boats were constructed on ted tod for knotner expedition which waa vms abandoned what has haa happened in the present instance is 3 just what ex perta looked for it has ica been n their opinion that steel boats boata were just its as frail wooden ones when they are dashed against the rocks with such a powers il current russell in tho the loss losa of ehg iyo was more fortunate than awell Fl well ile he had to send back only eg e n miles ar a blac blacksmith to repair t a wreck where powell would have aen bi cn compelled to send back miles perhaps another advantage the present expedition lias has over the one made b po ROW din oil ii the ease in getting pi ovis ions a long the route this would have been almost impossible twenty years ago at many points along the canyon prospectors are located and there are poss possible ivle trails leading out at several points at diamond creek two thirds of the way aay through the grand tanyon there is good wagon road leading from the bottom of the gorge to peach creek a station a brunch branch of the santa fe fd railroad be bond ond the end of the canyon on the way down to the needles there are small settlements and stations along the river than galloway has contracted with eastern people to test one of the three ahrer steel boats they recently had constructed the test trip will be mado made through desolation canyon beginning at at tho the mouth of white rover nver and coming out at the green iziver tation the boat is similar to the one in aich which hi ch russell and monett completed their trip to needles if mr air galloway finda this boat to be what it is supposed to be ho he will then thed arrange to make a trip through grand canyon of the colorado in company with eastern owners of the three boats the test trip will be made sometime in april mr galloway has haq made one trip through the grand canyon and has mado numerous trips through the canyons all the way from green river wyoming to the mouth of the famous grand canyon alp ilp H la is perfectly familiar with all the sti earns eams and rapids and is an expert in the running of the rapids he is a man who does not know the meaning of the word fear |