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Show Record 5293 In going up the river we follow the eddies along the shore and of course might strike a sand bar there, but when we followed the main channel there was no trouble with sand bars. I have never been bothered with a sand bar in the channel of the river; 5294 I might strike one and swing right off and go on. There was always plenty of channel, although we hunted as still water as we could find in poling upstream. I recall going on a trapping expedition from the mouth of the Dolores River down to Moab. the first time I took that trip was about a year ago and I brought my furs down with me in my boat to Moab. I always trapped for the money there was in it. I went on a trapping expedition from Westwater down to Moab and brought a 5295 load of furs in my boat with me; also my camp outfit. On the trip I have just mentioned I had my two grandchildren with me, one sixteen years old and the other twenty- one or twenty- two. I have rafted logs on the Colorado River from about eight miles above the Moab Bridge down, using the timbers for abutments and stringers. 5296 I worked for the Moab Garage Company on the barge for about six weeks when they first started to operate. Of course we got on some sand bars, which we expect on any river, and had a little trouble because you can't go through smooth all the time; sometimes we might be held up half an hour, sometimes a little longer, but we were never detained very much or so that we would not make the round trip in two days. On some occasions we took twenty tons down, unloaded and returned, all in one day, thus covering forty miles. We got on sand bars because there wasn't an experienced man running the boat; he is a good practical man in every other 5297 way but never had any experience on water, which a man has to know. Virgil Baldwin was in charge of the boat and the is a good, handy 5298 man with machinery. The only work done in improving the navigabil-ity of the Colorado River, so far as I know, was on one occasion |