The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1876-06-15
A PERIL0US BIDE.

Clear Creek Is a mlnitlre river that
runs through the cannon OF the same
name. It decends upon down grade of
four hundred feet per mile, with here
and there fall over a rocky precipice
fifteen Or twenty feet in height Large
boulders forty or fifty feet in diameter,
and weighing thousands Of tons, impede
| its daslling progress every two or three
hundred yards, while it's curves are so
| sharp and 50 frequent that the stream
can nowhere be seen for distance of
thousand feet. Granite cliffs two and
three miles high project over it on eth
er side, and give frightful, romantic
and dangerous appearance to the rush
ing torrent beneath.
Just below Black Hawk, on the side
OF the stream, n small reservoir has been
constructed, in which is kept an ordinary
skiff One Sunday two little boys aged
respectively ten and twelve years got
into the boat and were splasling the wa
ter with stick, when the fastenings
wards the 1apidly running current. The
little boys soon discovered their danger,
but were powerless to avert It; they
clutched hold of the sides of the boat
and with pallid countanances awaited
their doom. Soon the boat was caught
| by the current and begun descending at
a fearful rate. On she went; the boys
| hats blew off and their hair stood
straight up. Over Black Hawk rarids
they went like an arrow, clearing dis
tance of sixty feet at single dash.
Lighting again on the torrent surface,
the boat seemed to have gained new
impetus and shot by the boulders and
around the rocky points with the celer-
| ity Of sunbeam. At di ,tance of six
miles below the starting point, conduc-
tor Gibbons, who was standing OH the
rear platform of the down Clear Greek
train, saw the boat coming, and immed-
lately stopped the train. All hands re-
paired to the waters edge, ana did
everything in their power to arrest the
flying boat, but past them she went like
bullet from q rifle, and was ont of
sight in moment. The conductor then
ordered the engineer to put on a full
head of steam and follow as rapidly as
possible, which he did, Constantly
sounding the alarm of danger. He did
not get another glimpse of the boat, but
the alarm brought the employees at
Beaver Creek station to the lookout, and
! quickly making a slp-noose, sought to
throw 1t over the bow of the boat as she
came under the bridge. This they sue
ceeded in doing, but could no more hold
it than they could, have held thunder
bolt, and over Beaver Creek falls she
went with the speed of lightning. The
falls are thirty feet high, and at the foot
are number of hugh boulders, but the
velocity of the boat was such that it
cleared them easily, and struck the wa
ter some twenty feet beyond. From
here no mortal eye saw the boat or~its
living freight until it reached a point
ohS 1lulluItu IuilcS Dc1OW DGUfcI
Through Golden into Platte river, and
under the Denver bridges she went un
noticed, nor slackened her pace until
she lodged in drift at the distance be-
low Denver above mentioned. The
Platte does not run very rapidly, but the
boat had acquired such q wonderful
speed in its descent from the mountains
that it far outrode the current. man
vino lives on n farm near the drift where
the boat lodged, discovered the boys
still in the boat, which was nearly full of
water, and took them home. They were
restored to their overjoyed parents the
following evening, after having accom-
plished the most perilous journey in the
quickest time ever before made by any
human being who escaped alive. The
distance travelled was q hundred and
forty miles in two hours, but how il was
ever done, or how the boat escaped be-
ing dashed to pieces upon some of the
hugh boulders Oh rocky cliffs which
everywhere intercept the course of Clear
Greek, is nothing short of providential
miracle. Probably not again in thou
sand years could the journey be made
with the best appliances and by the
most skillful marines. Central city
| (COl) Coach.