Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1870-11-17
Shooting the Rapids.
4 Lively Narrative.


was nothing ~ change the sameness OF
the view, hills, and little points of rock
jntting ont into the water; now and
then long strip OF Dunch-grass; here
some Indians were fishing; there were
large bands of cattle and horses, owned
by Indians; now and then an Indian
garden; but nothing grand. l got very
tired ol it, so went to building q few
more alr-casties, and seeing how much
tobacco the Indians in the bow Of the
boat would smoke. Then l watched
white man washing gold on one of the
many ''bars" we passed; went ashore to
talk 10 him. lay on a log, and he told
me some most admirable lies. He is.
without any doubt, the grandest liar in
America. Just had to start him on any
subject, and he was sure to lie in the
most astounding manner shout it. lie
lied about the river, about the gold he
was getting, about the land, about the
snakes, about every mortal and immor-
tai thing ne could think of. was too
lazy to contradict him or even doubt his
word, Uikewise he was much larger
than | , but when he said he had killed
snakes sixty feet long on the Columbia,
| thought it time Tor iue to paddle. lie
SAID is got into the canoe, Stranger,
| THAR i, :. bad bit OF water at the He'll
Cate. Look OUT" thought he was
living, and so only nodded to him.
What's the He'll Gate? found out be-
lore long. At Hell Gate (and more
fitting name l never could think off,
the rIsrr liarrows down to hall its usual
width and there are three large ROCKS
in the stream, making it still smaller.
a4c> with great force aud rupidity,
most OF it taking the left passage. AT
sight Of il peeled" and thought that
Il | got ashore with my skin, would
let my shirt and tobacco 20 10 the dogs
| padded that canoe, padded until l
luuU,l AT the skin across my back would
,Atc.y give way. Two hundred pounds
ncic pat III every stroke, aud | made
..o,.tt - per minute. The rocky banks
.ooktd II though they were being drag
ed back At railroad speed. Hurrahl
,nrough the Gate oi Hell without ship
ping drop OF water. l looked back
and hugged myself, | took i smoke, |
Dragged like mosquito about it, all to
myself. 1t i, u Hip OF cent which
had rather do, run Spokane Canon or
the Hell Gate; aud | would rather walk
&C.. miles than do either again.
Dt.-...l aud tin1i..I dawn tha livarin
III: Lazy manner, enjoying the air, my
pipe, au looking iurw arl to my supper
VI bacol. and hour with the greatest
satlsiac. .iJn, | saw Il house on the bank.
and wc.. there, found two white men,
and a. 1t wa, late decided to camp.
Inc meA gave me onions, peas, corn,
mclon- and coffee. | had a rare meal
l a..
tAlk aIll smoke. | wonder what makes
tnt mon oi TINS river 80 protane, and 50
exceedingly inaccurate III their state
meats. these Two out-lied the noble
lIlr nlct Ia the morning. They told
me The wonderful tales, and, OF course
| believed them. One told me about
the COLUMBIA River Canon | would pass
through about noon the next day told
me oi The great number OF men who
had iound "A path to Kin gdom come in
those water, OF the iludson's Bay
canoe men that had been lost there and
sctln. that was getting bit anxious,
he ruined all BY saying That he had seen
great cedar trees broken ir two by the
whlripools in the canon. That tree
was "a little more than | could take in.
and as don't like to reject part of the
lA!c let all his description down as one
magnificent lie, and himself down a, a
very promising young Baron Munchan-
sen. In the morning 1 started of with
great contempt Tor the canon-but
stl!t the feeling grew on Inc that tho
Baron could not have made tip all a,
those tales. 80 when | heard the rush
oi the water beyond "A rocky poin,
stripped To the skin, covered my .eIf
win a blanket, and lay back LOOKING nj
the water gcttin. faster and faster, and
tue river getting narrower and uarr,,v-
er; noticed that the high water-,ina
WAS tar above the banks, or rather for
above the present water: 50 | knew the
canon must be very narrow To pila h.cL
the water i'll that manner. NV cnu,,u.
was still good; but When | saw the wat
er loam and suddenly boil up, and then
retire into whirlpool, and rush madly
down The stream, fairly howiinu 10.
| something 10 suck IN. | .'weakened." :"
wanted 10 go ashore, but saw that one
| could not got away from the spot he
| landed at, owing to the nature of the
banks. We grabbed the paddles. and
that canoe had a Very anxious white
man III II. There III front Of Us, hiding
ifoil our eyes, was an Internal point Of
iock,, round which the river curved
anu 'hcfe, supposed from the noise,
! tiie real canoL commenced. When,
there ~ Was, a picture for Il painter
A"o NAKED Indians and one naked
"hite iilal--the Indians standing up-l
on my khees-all with uplifted paddles
-a!i Dent well forward and with tight
~ compressed lips-all looking anxious
| ~ at The point and wondering what was
beyond it. Round we came 1t a te,.
iniie per hour gait. There in the centre
oi Inc narrowed river was a mound of
water "a, least ten feet high, and that
mound seemed to be the signal for the
waters to break into waves and whirl-
pools and foam. In went the paddles,
ahd we shot little to the left OF the
| 'och that formed the mound, and then l
sd" tnat l WAS III for it. As tar Us the
eye could reach the water was white
l said to myself, 'Good bye, wife and
Daby, father and ali, am salmon bait.
Sure a. shooting, will see Mary and
,Basard tonight and then grew q blt
reckless, and thought might as wen
enjoy the novel trip till we went uhder,
still meaning to get out ii work wouid
take me out. Far above onr heaus, Al
least 30 feet, We're the Pisuorns, from
which the Indians spear the salmon al
high wafer. The water had fallen one
| half: So the canon was not near as bad
as il is at times. Then padded and
looked about me, and yelled and got ex-
cited, and lost all fear and enjoyed it
l took hastily chew Of tobacco. got
"A drink Of water. Suddenly the water
boiled up just under Us. We were hal
| filled in about a second. Not time tc
bail out. Shove those paddles into the