The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-06-16
The FreakiSh Rio Grande.
Two Illustrations in one Day of the
Queer Things 1t Can DO.


Two Illustrations in one Day of the
Queer Things 1T Can Do.
s'To give YOU some idea Of what sort Of
river the Rio Grande is I'll tell an ex-
perience that | had in getting across it
with Derrick said a mining man from
New Mexico. eff after that you don't
agree with me that it is freakish river
you re easy to suit | was contractor
in rock work in those days and was taking
my derrick from the east side of the river
to the Magdalenas, where | had con
tract to sink shaft. The derrick was on
four wagon wheels, and four mules were
hauling it. | had my two helpers along,
and one of them a man named Mccartney,
drove the mules. He was an old timer,
which was lucky, for | was new to the
country, and if | had trusted to my own
judgment | might have made mistake
that would have cost me my mules and
derrick, if not my life.
"We came to the Rio Grande an hour
before shutdown, and | saw wide river
bed, but no water-only dry sand from
one bank to the other. That was new
kind of river to me, but Mccartney said
that it was all right; that it was way the
Rio Grande had of doing in places for five
or six months in the year. The water
was there, only it was flowing through
the sand under the channel instead of in
it. l, being tender foot, was for camp
ing on the nearer bank where the grass
was good, but Mccartney said that would
never do unless was willing to take my
chances of staying there week or two;
that water sometimes came down the
channel good deal Of it, and it would
| be well to get across while we were sure
we could.
| "We started across over the dry sands
and was thinking what an easy way it was
OF fordlng river when of a sudden the two
lead mules were houndeTing in a quick
sand and the whole outfit came near being
| drawn in We got the two leaders clear
of the harness and then the other two
mules drew them out one at q time. We
hitched them up again and by making a
long circuit got past the quicksand and to
the other bank BY that time it was 10
O clock and the moon had risen. The
mules had Just began to climb the bank,
when we heard a roaring noise up the
channel. 1t came from a wall Of water
that stretched from bank to bank, and
was travelling toward Us fast 1t looked
in the moonlight to be four feet high, and
| there was higher water behind sending it
/
mules. They heard what was coming and
clawed up the bank like cats. We got
ont all right, derrick and all-and there
were not three minutes to spare Before
we had finished our supper the river bed
was full, bank high, with a current that
eddied and roared as it rushed past our
camping place AS if it had been sorry to
miss us and would like to get up where
we We're. There WASH q cloud in the
| sky, or sign Of rain anywhere, and the
| food may have como from d cloudbursr in
Colorado 200 miles away. But it came
near getting us. / lad learned one lesson,
and that was il travelling by wagon,
always to camp on the further side of a
stream. And | had learned to put no
trust in the Rio Grande
This is a common experience with Texas
rivers, and the custom in that State has
always been to cross river before camp
ing-providing you can do so. Twice in
the writer experience it happened that
the rivers were ''up'' before they were
reached, and in one case. where there had
usually been dry bed there was not less
than 30 feet Of water, going down stream
with resistless force. Ed. Journal.