The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-09-29

aE.fnff The walls - thsY weFs cat
- shs ~aY ahsn no, In ase.
Lean. Bss. .as
Ths t~o boys there ~srs spend
ing ere last week eutdooFn before
gong haes 10 school and. being
brosr. they were having a little
trsahls getting enough 10 eat They
~sfe Just managing 10 get b. BY
fishing during the day and frog
hunting a. night They we're just
leaving on one Of their nightly
expeditions when Ne came In.
!, didn't seem a. bother them
that Ne we're strangers. for the
house Was tali Of things that could
have been carried away By anyon.
% inclined. In return for their
confidence Bob loaned one Of them
his rife for the night hunting,
which. by the way. Is very fool
lsh thing 10 do. IL turned out
alright. Of course. bat Il Is the first
and last time Bob ever loans gun
10 anyone. II Is bad business.
We we're up early the next morn
ing. anxious TO finish the long. hard.
but intensely interesting. task Of
haektraeklng Lewis and Clark. 81.
Louis was only l7-mile run down.
river and ordinarily tina, would be
just a launt. but with the Missis-
sippi SO slow Il meant = half day
OF good. hard work. on top OF that,
the wind had shifted No that IL was
blowing up the river. and right
there We noticed quite a difference
In the wind action on the two rivers.
1T. Louis sighted
ON the Missouri IL takes quite a
strong. steady wind to blow up any
kind OF sea. But. on the Mississippi.
the river kicks up even under what
would ordinarily be elaSsed as
light breeze. However. despite the
rather heavy seas. the breeze didn't
hold US hack. though. with the slow
current, We seemed barely to creep
along.
Just below the Chain-of- Rocks
bridge We could see the main wa
terfront of ST. Louis far ahead. but
the river swung off to the right in
a great bend that finally swung
back TO the main levee. In the
spring. during high water. we prob
ably could have saved several miles
by cutting through that now dry
chute. At the present stage OF
water even the main channel was
shallow in spots.
Just as we swung wide TO avoid a
long coal tow the leading barges
climbed up on an underwater sand
bar and stuck fast. Another tow.
following close behind. was uncer-
tain as to whether TO pass or not,
with the result that there was
nearly collision in midstream be-
fore the latter fell back.
Razor Blade Ruined
We noted that the boat that had
run aground was just outside the
line of buoys marking the channel.
Evidently. as they sometimes are
forced to do by the changing bot
tom of the river. the pilot had
thought the bar had come up in the
main channel and had swung into
what he thought was deep water in
order to avoid it. We would have
liked TO tarry and witness the pro-
cess of washing through, but time
was pressing.
Rounding the long bend into the
last reach that ran along the main
levee we put in in the shallow
waters of a long surface bar and
spent an hour lolling in the warm
waters close to the shore. Bob,
with several days growth of whis-
kers. shaved with river water and,
as usual. regretted the necessity. I
That sandy water just raises the .
dickens with razor blades. Chang /.
ing to our town" clothes, we
showed off for the last few miles
to the big town.
Arrive At ST. Louis
Boats of all descriptions were
everywhere on the river. Besides .
the big tows going both ways,