The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-08-15

re a crowd of well-wishers to
came in.
sional cut bank OF low bar. That
usually means there win be enough
water TO float us.
Sand Very Hard
Angling from bar to bar, we can
sometimes paddle our way out, but
mostly II Is just a matter of taxi
ing off shoes and socks and drag
ging the canoe through the shallow
water. That brings on the thought
OF quicksands. but there Is no
worry there SO long as the water
is moving.
The sand floor of these chutes
is almost as hard as cement, pro-
vided one keeps moving. IL you
stand still. the current will imme-
diately start washing the sand
from under your feet and you will
slowly sink. Quicksands and the
sucking mud Is found only in the
back waters and bayous, and 1t is
well to test each foot carefully be-
fore stepping in such places.
We were hardly out Of sight of
Yankton before the pretty little
college town of Vermillion showed
up in front OF us. And for five
hours that town stayed right there
in front of us, almost within reach,
yet we never seemed to get near it.
The river started on a wild series
of bends that must have taken us
l5 miles to make two, and IL was
nearly time for dinner when we
finally came even with II, only to
find it was several miles off the
river.
Town "Recedes"
When the town had started II
had been right on the river bank,
but during the intervening years
the river had built up bar after bar
until today there is four miles of
bottomland and no landing. There
was a friend of ours from Column
bia University camp in Pierre there
we had half promised to see on our
way down, so we decided to paddle
up vermillion river to the town
but there was no water in the river.
There was still big bag of vege-
tables in the boat that the William
sons had given us far upriver, so.
with no good camp spots in sight.
we made a landing below the little
dry river and hiked to the nearest
farm house with the idea of trading
the vegetables for two dinners.
Decline TO Stop
Luckily, we happened to strike
one of the most prosperous farms
in the vicinity and, though they
hadn't heard our broadcast, they
knew all about us from the Sioux
City papers. They were more than
willing to make the trade, and we
enjoyed one Of the incest hot
dinners we had had along
the river. In fact, we enjoyed our
stay SO much that 1t was nearly
shutdown before we showed off.
They invited US to spend the
night with them, but we were un-
satisfied with the days run and
felt we could add several good miles
before darkness set In. Then, with
fair weather predictions, we would
make our beds out on some dry
sandbar.
Decide TO Go On
But there was a full moon In the
sky and neither OF us were very
sleepy, so we decided to run awhile
after darkness had set in. With
that moon 1t would be easy TO pick
out some nice dry sandbar when
we got tired. They showed up white
at night, anyway.
And that, our dear readers. is the
last time Bob and Louise Lynd ever
operate canoe on the Missouri
river after dark as long as we
live. Yes, we said that once before,
but we had had a pilot then and
1t hadn't seemed so bad. This time
we mean 1t, and advise everyone
else against 1t. It is about the
silliest thing anyone in a small
boat can do.