Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1906-04-07

Then we would unload our cargo and
pack it below to smoother water, let
ting the boat down with long rope;
but most of the hair raisers were in box
canons, and il, was either. the boat or
flying machine
"Well, we scratched through some
way for several days, making short
runs. Luck seemed to be with us, for
although we struck rocks time and
again they were always glancing blows.
Then we'd got good boat, well made,
strong and easy to handle. -
| Zone afternoon we plunked into
rapid at the. head of big box canon.
1t didn't look SO very fierce as we came
to it, but it certainly was fright. We
just shaved between two big rocks and
bang we took smaller one that was
sticking up just even with the sE4ace
of the water. n
1.-The shock knocked us both down
into the bottom of the boat and itswas
a good thing too, for she rchangS ends
like flash and was off down sstream
Ike streak. In minute we were
far below and out of the worst of it,
and then we noticed that the boat was
leaking like a sieve.
/ On the right side of thee river there
Twas little ledgeaof broken rocks stick
ing out of the water at the. base of the
perpendicular wall. l yelled to Lew,
to pull, for that 1t was our only hope.
We could heariS.the roar of another
twister just below and there was no
telling how long the canonswas. /.
I'VE worked until we were ready to
drop and could. see thatgwe'd never
make it,. we were already below the
place that we were striving to reach.
The water was just simply pouring in,
so l grabbed a camp kettle and COM
menced bailing, shrieking to Lew that
it was, all up with us. When all at
once the boat jerked around, almost
throwing me into the river, and started
back up stream. =.
1--WE had struck an eddy and were
now running up the river almost as
rapidly as we had been going down.
"The eddy was formed by big jog
in the canon wall. and up in cove so
formed we saw a better landing place
than the first pile of rocks.
1--WE lost no time and soon beached
our craft and quickly unloaded our out
fit, piling the things as high on the
rocks as possible for fear of further
rise in the river.
eve pulled the boat up on the rocks
and fell to hunting material for fire.
We hadn't had anything to eat since
morning and were more or less wet.
'Thece was some driftwood scattered
along the rocks, but it was wet. Here
and there in the crevices of the rock q
] scrubby mountain mahogany was grow
ing with an, occasional dead limb.
Lew, clambering along further into
the cove in search of dry twigs, lett
a yell and motioned for me to come
/ ! picked up my rifle and scrambled
t along to where he was. 4
"Well sir, if there wasn't cleft il
, that wall fully fifty feet:wide running
right back into the mountain. A
shaped point of rock projected from
2 down stream side completely hiding i
! from the river, and even from on,
: landing place it looked like a continu
2 GUS wall
5 1--WE went back and got supper ant
r fixed up camp as we'll as we could. l
wasn't much of a camping place. Jus
' pile of broken rock. Of course w
' kept talking about the hole in the wall
as Lew called it, and the explorini
e microbes got into our Blood.
Before we went tolsleep thqt nigh
e we had decided to calk up theboat i
S the morning and make voyage of dis
s covery. X
Neither one of us expected the clef
n to go Tar, but we needed rest fror
: that river and were glad of an, excuse
r 1--WE were up bright and early tn
d next tmorning and after breakfas
e patched up the boat. We left the Out
fit, and taking the boat light, pulle
It into the narrow gorge. The water wa
a deep here and dead and the chasm wa
J, so narrow and the walls so high that
n gave fellow crick in his neck to Sc
n the sky.
81 was rowing. and Lew used tn
e steering oar. An at once he criet
r Look, there, Bobp and pointed aheae