Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-11-19
DARING TRIP
TWO PLucE<Y YANKEE " LADS
CROSS THE CONTINENT in "A
BOAT OF THEIR OWN MAKE.

BOAT OF THEIR OWN MAKE.
A representative of the Tribune
ran across couple of young men at
the Palace hotel whose experiences
during the past three months, if writ,
-tsn in full, would fill small vol
ume with interesting and instructive
reading. s.
Though the young fellows had been
here since the 18th inst, they kept
out of sight of the newspapers till
they went to the Northern Pacific
depot last night to await the arrival
of train No. 2 to take them to Min
neapolis. Dressed in brown duck
suits they lay fat on the cement floor
asleep close to the radiators Being
awakened by some noise they were
approached and requested to give a
sketch of themselves, it having previ-
ously been ascertained that the same
would be very interesting. The young
men are both good takers and bright.
Their story as told was in sub
stance as follows: Joe Giddings, aged
twenty-one, lived at home in Pasa-
dena, Cal, and for the past three
years was student in college there,
taking course in electrical engin-
eering. Walter J.. Corwin, aged 49,.
lived in Detroit, Mich, and worked in
the shops of the Automorine Co. until
several months ago, when he went to
Pasadena and fell in with Joe. The
acquaintance ripened into strong
friendship, their thoughts bent alike
on mechanics. Together they planned
a trip by boat from the Pacific to the
.Atlantic-from Pasadena to New Or
leans---a trip which has been tried
by hundreds, Sbut which no one, ever
succeeded in making. Together they
built a 16-foot gasoline Racine stock
canoe. The engine was a A 1-2 H. p,
2 cycles, 2 cyclinders, its total
in weight being only 446 pounds. With
one rifle, one six shooter, a number
of their personal trappings and
stock of twelve gallons of gasoline,
they put all on board steamer Aug.
18th and shipped to the mouth OF the
Columbia river Launching their
boat on the Columbia they steamed
from early morning till late at evening
bucking a powerful current. Their
experiences were often very discou.-
aging Often they would run out of
gasoline and none was to be obtained
along the way. In all they were
obliged to portage about 400 miles.
They had several very narrow escapes
from death. During the three month
trip they slept only three times in
bed. 1t took them about a month on
the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.
Asked If they did not consider the
latter a crooked river, they replied
1t was nothing like the Yellowstone.
Often, after going ten miles they,
could look over their shoulders and
see a short distance away where they
had been sometime before. The
weather grew colder day by day. till
their clothes would be stiff and frozen
The river froze ahead of them till
they were obliged to chop the boat out
of the ice. Finally they reached Elk
pansion, n. D., and were obliged to
abandon the river altogether. Shipping
their boat, etc, to Bismarck they
boarded a train and arrived in the
city Nov. 18TH Chagrined at not be-
ing able to go ON to New Orleans and
discouraged they scarce knew what
to do. They finally decided to GO on
to Minneapolis and there they viii
separate, each going to his own.
home. s5@s;E Z e <. 4,
n They feel, however, that their trip
has been successful in a measure in
SO much has it has proved to them
that what they planned can be done,
If one starts out in the right season,
properly equipped and knows the map
of the country. They are making
notes of this trip and some day the
story may appear in full.