Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-05
COLLEGE MEN END
PER|LOUS JOURNEY
Leader of Trip Through Colo
RADIO Rapids Describes
Final Hazards.
BY CLYDE L. EDDY.

After the perilous and involuntary
passage OF rapids No. by one of
our boats, which / described in the
preceding installment of my account
of my Colorado River expedition with
group of college boy volunteers this
Summer, we attempted our first let
down"
In these "let- downs" we skirted
stretches of impossible water. not
navigating the boats, but jockeying
them down along the shore with
ropes attached. In this first let
down" the Dellenbaugh was the boat
to suffer
At. each end of the Dellenbaugh
there was a rope three quarters of
an inch thick and 100 feet long. With
three or four men on the tow rope
and two at the stern we began letting
the boat down, stern first, keeping it
as close to shore as possible.
The method sounds perfectly SIM
pie, but in practice is extremely diff
fcult. The shore is lined with great
bouiders, over which. and against
which, the water pours and rushes
with tremendous velocity. In many
places it is necessary to push the
boat out into the current to get
around a rock, and once there the
boat may either be swept out into
the main channel or against the rock
and capSiZed
Men can wade out into the water
and guide the boat, but the swift
current sweeps them off their feet'
or batters their legs against the rocks
If they get out far enough to be OIL
much help
In lining the Dellenbaugh around
that first bad rapids the boat struck
cd
hroadside. filled with water and sank.
Fortunately we were able to drag
her ashore and haul her out on the
rocky beach. We found an enormous
hole in her side. which we spent
good part of the afternoon repairing.
Expedition Scattered.
That night the expedition was scat
tered for a mile up and down the
river The Powell. the boat which
had been swept into the rapids ana
had run them involuntarily, was be-
low them; the Dellenbaugh was hauled
m high and dry at the rapids, ana
the Coronado was in sheltered cove
above waiting her turn to be hnec
down.
One of the boys killed rattlesnake
I'm camp just before dark. BY 9:3O
the next morning we had let both OF
the boats DOWN SUCCESSFULLY anu Iau
resumed our voyage.
Those first days are fair examples
of all the days in Cataract. At one
point, where the river drops "a feet
q mile for four miles, we spent two
days lining one rapids-but thai
rapids was more than mile long. 1t
rained steadily all day on the Fourth
of July, and the morale of the expe'
dition was never at so low an ebb.
We went to bed one night on mar
row sandbar, only to be awakened
shortly afterward by the rising water
washing the sandbar away and
threatening to take us with it. 1t
was only by hauling our boats high
up the steep banks that we prevented
their being washed away-and with
out the boats there would have been
no escape.
In lining Dark Canyon Rapids the
Coronado was snatched away from
the men who had the line and, with
Scager .clinging precariously to her
gunwale, was swept out into the cur
rent, whereupon Marshall swan to
the boat, caught the bow line and
brought it ashore. Virtually every-l
thing happened to US that can happen
&c a Colorado River expedition, in
spite of which, somewhat battered but