The Benton record., 1878-06-14
Original Story.
|: :RONTIER sketches
NUMBER FIFTEEN.
By JOHN J. HEALY.


The intelligent compositor made me
state in last issue that our party was
hound down the Salmon river instead of
.,,D the stream. The perils and hardships
of that journey, which are too deeply i'm
pressed upon my memory ever to be effac-
3D. would have been comparatively moth.
#ing had our course been with the current
Hof the stream.
/ There is perhaps no river upon the con-
ttinent, at least the portion Of it over which
1--we travelled, SO hard to navigate as the
salmon river. At all points it is a swift,
turbulent stream, but in places where il
rushes trough narrow passes, filled with
huge rocks and boulders and masses of
tangled brush and drift wood, it is nearly
impassable for the smallest skif guided BY
the most intrepid and skillful boatman.
III Our course was from the mouth of Meadow
Kcreek to the north fork ofthe Salmon, some
forty miles below Lemhi At some points
the river passes through canons SO mar
row that fallen trees frequently span them,
and their perpendicular sides extend up
ward to such fearful heighths that only
thin strip of sky is visible from below.
These narrow passages are rendered still
more dangerous by the presence of whirl-
ling eddies, which suck down all substanSS
ces that come within their foaming circles;
whole trees are tumbled about like corks
until reaching the center Of the whirlpool,
down which they suddenly disappear from
sight, and no craft, however strong and
well guided, can hope to escape similar
fate if once within the power of this fear
& full current.
From this imperfect description the
reader may obtain some idea of the dang
4 ers and difficulties with which we had to
contend in our frail boat, made Of few
rotten pine boards.
/ On the fourth day Of May, 1862, Standi-
Eferd and his party consisting of ten men
came along in two bateaux. Pinkam,
! keenan, Sanders, Dick Ralston and two
other men followed in another boat aud
arrived about the same time. They we're
all Frazier river men and some ofthe old
/ est miners in the country. Danger in any
form had no terrors for them, and being
pseu provided with money and provisions
they were likely to find the new gold fields
1 if anything human could reach them by
way of this terrible river.
The party was greatly surprised to meet
US, as they supposed they were the sole
H possessors of the secret Of newly discover
/ ed wealth. We informed them of the ex-
4 tent of our information and our determina-
1 ton to 30 with them. A meeting was
! held and after considerable argument ON
both sides, Standiferd and his friends
agreed to let US do what they could not
prevent-to follow them.
The morning Of the 9th Of May found
us cordelling our boat up the stream, the
current being too strong to pole against it.
For the first few days, in spite Of our hard
work, we enjoyed the change from the mo.
notouy of a mining camp to the more ex-
hilarating life Of river boating. but within
a very short time our struggles with the
wild river began to tell upon us, and we
heartily wished ourselves back again to our
mining claim in the mountains. It was
nothing but cross and recross from one
side of the river to the other in search Of
foothold along the high and perpendicu
lar banks. Portage after portage was
made around the most dangerous rapids,
many Of which could be more properly
termed falls, and even when the river was
comparatively smooth and free from the
whirlpools and rocks, The bends were so
so short and sudden and the current so
swift that we could make little or no head
way against it by the use of our poles
alone. The other party, notwithstanding.
their greater experience and superior