OCR Text |
Show there and went down the river 11 , taking some supplies to a placer mine below Bluff . There were three people in this party and they carried with them food and lumber to make sluice boxes . ( R . 385 , Vol . 3 . ) ( I 1 ) saw that boat about thirty years ago , and the second boat I recall was about five years ago , when two or three men went down to the placer mines in a boat . They came from Colorado down the river , taking with them lumber , tools and provisions . I was never much interested in mining and just happened to be at Bluff when the two boat parties I have mentioned went through ; they came to our store for supplies while I was in the store . ( R . 386-7 , Vol . 3 . ) ( I 1 ) have never lived right close to the San Juan River and my home has been in Blanding for about ten years . Before that I lived in Bluff for a little over forty years . ( R . 381-2 , Vol . 3 . ) John ( Adams Adains ) testified : I am in the sheep business and since 1882 , have been in the San Juan country ; have lived at Blanding for about fifteen years . ( R . 421 , Vol . 3 ) ( I 1 ) have been along the north banks of the San Juan between Bluff and the mouth of the river . Right at Bluff , the river is very quicksandy , with gravel across in places ; but down below Bluff the river cuts through a limestone formation . The stretch of river where you find the quicksandy condition and unstable channel is for a distance of fifteen or twenty miles below Bluff ; there the river enters the limestone ( for for- for ) mation . ( R . 423-4 , Vol . 3 . ) ( I 1 ) have seen the river dry twice . ( R . 427 , Vol . 3 . ) One of these occasions was when I could see the rocks clear across the river at Clay Hill Crossing , which is ( always -always always ) a shallow point ( R . 429-30 , Vol . 3 ) ; this was in wintertime , when only about four or five rods of the river was not frozen over and the water of that unfrozen portion only came to the ankles or a little above the ankles of my horse . ( R . 431-2 , Vol . 3 . ) There were perhaps two or three rods of frozen ice on each side of the open water and I ( couldn't couldnt ) see any part of the stream that was under the ice . ( R . 433 , Vol . 3 . ) When we first came to Bluff the channel of the river , which is now a half mile across and shifts as I have stated , was a narrow channel . ( R . 426 , Vol . 3 . ) Jens Nielsen testified : I have lived near Blanding since 1880 , and am a farmer and stock raiser and have freighted . ( R . 440-1 , Vol . 3 . ) There was never any line of boats ( oper oper- oper ) ¬ ating on the San Juan River , the only boats being those used |