Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1897-06-18
Death Awaits Them.
Weiser Signal.

W elser signal.
A Boise man is building boat
p feet long by eight feet broad
into which he proposes to load his
wife and children household effects,
etc and float down the Snake and
Columbia to the ocean, so we learn
from Boise papers. If that is true,
the man is preparing a watery
grave for his family-deliberately
setting about their murder. The
Norma, with powerful engines,
could barely save herself from de-
struction in the great Snake cam
yon, and had great holes torn in
her from stem to stern. No small
boat controlled only by the weak
hand of man can stem the sucking.
seething and roaring maclstroms
Of that awful chasm. No small
boat ever went through unframed.
L. A. Clark, formerly U. p. engi-
neer, now engaged on the Seven
Devils railroad survey, tackled it
once and lost his boat and three
men. Copper creek falls and Box
canyon hold death in their shad-
ows, and whirlpools and the weird
echoes of that wild place can change
in a momeut to the requiem of too
venturesome humans. One of the
places to be passee is thus describ-
ed by a man who was on that
eventful trip of the Norma:
The river here runs through a
channel which at present is about
100 feet wide, the Oregon point
being large bouiders and the Idaho
side perpendicular cliff about sc
feet high. A large boulder or reef,
about 20 feet across and about
eight feet under water, stands at
the brink of the fall or run, about
one-third of the way across the
river from the Oregon shore, max
ing q broken drop and throwing
the current againts the cliffs on
the Idaho side. When the captain
told the crew that it would be nee.
essary to strik the cliff some un-
easiness was manifested. Captain
Gray called his men forward and
said, Il bave made preparations
to strike her starboard bow on the
lower cliff, but do not think she
will strike hard. Do not get ex-
cited; obey orders, and don't jump
overheard under any circumstances
as that is certain death. Stick to
the ship"
a few minutes later we dropped
out into midstrcam, shot through
a swift rapid that anywhere else
would be regarded as impossible,
out into comparatively clear water
and n moment later we entered
the draw of the falls about ID feet
from the Idaho cliff. Everyone on
board was laboring under the most
intense excitement. AS she broke
over the falls her timbers creaked
and groanea. As she took the fl
nal plunge to captain said: Star.
board" and under the weight Of
himself and his brother, Captain
A. w. Gray, who was with him al
the wheel, the spokes fairly flew.
The engines were backed, and
when the. cliff was reached she
struch ii with her starboard guard
and seemed to hang for IA moment
while the waves broke over her
deck. The surf flying back from
the cliff drenched us in the wheel
house. Her nosing was smashed
for about two feet. Three deck
beams were raised a few inches
from the hull, and she bounded
away to midchannel like hand
ball. The engines were then STOP
ped and she drifted down the river
with the crew yelling like demons,
the happiest men in two states,
and with an experience that will
last them lifetime.
''Thus, the second time since the
beginning OF time, aud no doubt
the last time for many generations
to come had steamboat passed
over Copper creek falls. and we
had witnessed a piece of steam
boat handling that is not seen once