The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-05-23
DOWN THE OkANOGAN IN CANoE

DOWN THE OkANOGAN IN CAME
To the Gazette:
At Oroville the Okanogan river mas
the reputation of being calm, peace
full and sluggish river but my Trip
down this beautiful water course 10
Omak yesterday taught me that So
serene a countenance as the okanosah
wears can be ruffled into angry, Joss
ing. swirling and thrill-producing cur
rents of really dangerous nature.
From Oroville almost to Tonasket
the surface of the river retains It's
placid quiet manner and its only &C.
centric feature is its extreme tend
ency to be crooked. Truly, rail-
fence is a straight mark on the land
scape in comparison to the river dur
ing this first stretch. As it approach
es Tonasket it begins to straighten
out, the current fresnens up ana can
oeing becomes an inspiration.
While the upper river is decidedly
stem winder in shape the beauties
of it's thickly wooded shores with It's
myriads of wild fowl breaks the other
wise monotonous windings. AS my
canoe slipped from bend to bend, new
views of the hills and woods were
seen, the call of the cock quail, the
drumming of the male pheasant, the
morning song of the meadow lark, the
hOarse croaking of the magples and
crows, the flight of ducks and above
all the shrill cries OF the fish hawk
and silently soaring buzzard kept my
interest always at a high pitch.
The trip to Tonasket took me just
four hours and called for more muscle
force than all the rest Of the journey
An hours stop at this place for lunch
with Miss Donald put me in fine fettle
for the balance of the trip. The horse
stage crossed the bridge at Tonasket
just as my canoe passed under that
structure
From my knowledge of McLaugh-
Inns canyon, gathered from various
sources, it was firmly fixed in my
mind that there was one strip of bad
water at the mouth of the canyon and
if this could be navigated the balance
was easy. With this supposed infor-
nation uppermost in my mind nc
snake ever slipped up on an innocent
bird more carefully or quietly than
did upon the mouth of that canyon
To my utter surprise the rushing
waters were only a trifle worse than
the outlet to OsoyOos lake, so | en-
tered boldly and fearlessly into the
trap and like the snake charmed bird
padded thOughtlessly and cheerfully
into the very jaws of real danger. Had
it not been for the keen senses of my
faithful companion, the dog Highland
Bob, the little canoe, "U-and-I" mi sht
now be piled up broken and shattered
upon rapids No. 2 of Mclaughlin s
canyon. My peaceful frame of mind
was suddenly attracted by the alert
questioning attitude of the dog just
as l was rounding the inside bend of
a sharp rocky turn of the river. The
dogs keen sensesahad caught the
sound Of rushing waters before ri 7
had and by the time l caught the
sound either turning back or landing
was out of the question. The canoe
was already in the grasp of the on
rushing flood and all l could do was
to beat it for the outside bend of
the stream in an effort to see as much
OF the fall as possible before we went
over. My sore muscles frightened up
for the trying moments and more by
sheer good luck than anything else
we came through right side up with
care never shipping drop of water
This was cheering but you may bet
your last dollar that from then on I
was all alertness and slipped along
That canyon very carefully and kent
my eye on Bob for danger signs. The
rush OF fall No. 3 reached me in time
to make a successful landing to re-
connoiter and it is extremely fortu-
nate that l did as there were two
channels over this fall and my canoe
was headed for the wrong one. BY
walking down stream about quarter
OF a mile good view of the fall and
rapids was obtained and on the return
trip to the canoe my entire time was
taken up with the winding up of my
nerve to the sticking point. All sur
plus clothing was removed and every.
thing except the dog and myself Sc
curely dashed to the boat. Looking
back over the experience now the
only mistake made at this point was
my failure to take off my heavy boots.
They We're thought of at the time but
l have always had small bows des-
perado idea that should my soul take
hight 1t would be nicer for my BODY
to be found with it's boots in nlace
This is pure bunk l know and of the
great and only T. R. variety, but be-
tween us don't you think we all have
little streak of romance of this
Kind in our systems and that is WHY
Teddy makes such a hit with his can
ltal | club? This was surely a trying
session for a few moments, but it was
all over so quickly, Bob proved to be
such a good sailor and as we only
shipped about half gallon of water
my courage rose high but my caution
still held true Ranids No brol.o