Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-10-12

A THRILLING RIDE.
women's Adventurous Voyage in the
Angry Waters of the KIondike.

Miss Laura Evans of Oswego has
performed the feat Of riding the terri
BILE White Horse Rapids, between
Dawson City and Bennett, in the
Klondike country. She is In Portland,
and in speaking of her perilous trip,
said:
1.-THE day before / shot the rapids
eight boats had been wrecked, and in
a number of these cases it had been
blamed on the women, because they
got excited. made the men nervous
who were rowing, so that they
lost control of the boat. Col. Steele,
head of the mounted police, therefore
made a rule tina. no more women or
children should go through. They must
go around by land, as most of the peo-
pie had been doing right straight along
on account of the great peril of the
trip.
This new rule was made the day
arrived there on my trip to Dawson
from Bennett. When / heard of it l
told the Indian pilot to bring the boat
down and land where there was a big
eddy, this side of Miles Canon. He
tied the boat there, as / had directed
him to do, agd I watched my chance
from the brush. When there was no
one looking I jumped into the boat,
and, though the Canadian police are
mighty clever, they are not clever
enough to stop boat after it is once
started to go over the falls. Besides
myself there were two men to row
and the Indian pilot
ut would be long story to tell Of
my sensations during the next fifteen
or twenty minutes" said Miss Evans
and her black eyes twinkled with
laughter at the remembrance. "After
the boat was united 1t fioated along
smoothly; then all at once 1t was
snatched from thar eddy as though it
had been shot from a cannon. The
water seemed to be going up and the
sky seemed to be coming down. We
were dashed from one side to the other
against the rocks. This was Miles Can
on, and II took us two or three min
utes to go through 1t, distance of a
mile.
AFTER another smooth eddy, we
were again snatched up in the same
way as before, the pilot working over
his oars like snake. This is what
made one nervous, for IL looked as
though he had lost control of his boat.
Then, after passing this second
canon, we struck the Queerest place,
bobbing up and down and rolling over
sideways, until 1t seemed as though we
would all turn a somersault. This was
Squaw Rapids. the most dangerous
place in the White Horse, for there
were loose boulders on the bottom,
which keep turning over, so that IL
they are safe one day they are not the
next The pilot never knows whether
he is going to get through alive or not.
When we passed these rapids the
pilot told US to look at the White
Horse Sure enough, there seemed to
be ahead of us whole herd OF white
horses, their tales and names all flying
As we started to go through them the
boat tossed and tumbled every way,
the waves washed over US, we were
drenched, the boat half filled with wa
ter. SUDDENLY the Indian threw down
his oars and shouted: Look out
THE men rowing, when they heard
this, threw down their oars and gave
up completely. One of them crawled
under the seat.
But this, 1t seems, was only a Joke
on the part Of the Indian. who, like all
Indians, had queer idea of humor.
He knew that IL the boat was once
started all right over the rapids 1t
would come through safely. He takes
pride in telling that sat perfectly still.
The fact is, | was wondering Just
when the wreck would take place."