Arizona republican., 1903-07-13
SALT RIVER CANYON
Best Place in the World to Develop
 Appetite for Canned Veal.


 Hotel Adams and John Bradley of New York. both of whom have been em- ployed for sc:ne time at Mir Olbergs camp of the geological survey, arrived here yesterday morning after an event ful trip through the Salt River canyon in the accomplishment of which they l have added their names to the short . list of adventurers who have made that perilous journey. Now that they are here and in good condition, with soul and body still cooperating. they are glad they made the venture, but there were times, in fact. after the first day that time was continuous, when they l believed the celestial engineer who : drew the plans for that canyon had worked a bunco game on the human race and that the persons who had 1 told them about it could not be friend ! ly toward mankind in general. They | believe, too. that six cans of veal loaf and a small supply of soda crackers is a short ration for two men on the | march for five days, and that while Salt river water may be good to irrigate with il becomes monotonous as a con- tinuous beverage for summer weather. !.
 Both gentlemen severed their con nection with the survey last Monday and wanted to come to Phoenix. From here MT. Bradley, who has been at work in the reservoir basin since last November, expects to return to his home in New York. They were told that it was only about twenty miles through the canyon, and as the river was low they thought it would be the chance of their lives to get in close touch with nature and possibly win a rnlll1 save railroad fare and that amounted to more than wages for the twenty four hours they expected to be out. About S3O Tuesday morning they left the Tonto dam site lightly attired and with about twenty pounds each of per sonal effects and the provisions men toned above on their backs. They knew | from others that the trip could only be made on foot and not even pack ani- nal could be taken through the canyon on account of the quicksand. In about an hour they reached the Christmas mine, three miles away. and began to | fear they were travelling SO fast the ! journey would not be long enough. In | mid-afternoon they reached the Coffin | ranch above the canyon and decided to | stay all night, there entering the box early the next morning. At o'clock | Wednesday morning they moved down 1 the river. full of ambition and canned veal Their ambition, however, wore ! away even faster than the day did. l They figured they were making two or three miles per hour at least, and when , they ate some more veal and crackers for dinner they thought they surely must be nearing the mouth of the Verde river and the gauge station of the geological survey, for surely they had traveled at least thirty miles from the dam site.
 About dark they came up with a ! bunch of wild cattle that were afraid to pass back by the men. who were de- termined to go forward. So they drove the cattle ahead of them, using them for trailfinders. Wherever the cattle crossed the river they followed them. thus avoiding no doubt many beds of Tuicksand. At 9:30 that night the cat
 tie began to show signs of mutiny. and
 In the event of its actual occurrence
 they felt that the narrow gorge was bad place to make a stand. They were then on little sandbank at one
 side of the river, surrounded by red ants and still more of Salt rivers fam
 ous box canyon. but they decided that
 poor camping place was an improve
 m@nt on none at all, so they stopped
 Tor supper. It might be remarked here !. that their supper consisted of crackers
 ana canned veal. Then they lay down lo rest their running gear and fight red ants till daybreak.
 Thursday morning they breakfasted r on veal loaf and crackers, and worst of all didn't have enough tobacco for q cigarette. By Thursday noon they f reached Mormon flat, the lower end of | inc upper box, which they are satisfied IS twenty-two miles long if it is a foot Here they ate a sumptuous meal con- slsting of crackers and veal loaf. They , called 1t sumptuous for the reason that
 lhey ate all there was left of it, and
 pefore the next day was finished they
 were prepared to consider anything edlbIe as sumptuous. Continuing their
 Journey, by : o'clock Thursday night 1 they had finished the lower canyon. ar
 irving at Butch Jones ranch. which
 was deserted. In an ash heap near the , house, however, they made rova,
 lind consisting of a part of a dried UT
 and weather beaten loaf of bread. Thf
 bread was covered with red ants wher
 they found it, but they brushed off tn, g thlckest of them and put the bread un-
 der their belts. That ranch seemed de.
 HOteu eHIlFely to ant culture, but they :. had to make a pretensc at sleeping our
 of respect for their legs. so they Ia,
 down on gunny sack and mixed thing. Y with the ants till o'clock FridaS
 morning. As there was no hotel il
 sight they decided not to wait fol p breakfast. They felt as rich as mil : iOnaires to think they. had d road tc
 walk on from that point on, especial,
 as their mountain shoes had already ' been discarded and their places SUD
 piled by lighter footwear from thei a packs It should be stated also tha
 these twenty-pound packs had grcwi n in weight to at least 15O pounds each f They strolled along till II o'clock f. thinking mostly how good canned yea : had tasted earlier in life when the, a had some. At that hour they finaIl, F came to what proved to be Mcntcya' . camp.
 n It looked like a palace to them fo s they saw a Mexican woman in tn @ doorway and reasoned naturally tha T they would at least be able to get som n chile con carne. which after all migh