OCR Text |
Show ( don't dont ) remember whether we 48 made a portage each time we went over those reefs . ( R . 2034-5 , Vol . 11 . ) Otto J . Zahn testified : I first went to the San Juan river in May , 1904 , where I was placer mining at ( Zahn's Zahns ) Camp , indicated on page 15 , of Exhibit 10 . ( R . 2037-9 , Vol . 11 . ) At that time the river ( was -was was ) ( shallow-"Rather shallowRather ) shallow , I consider , about not over waist deep . " Its channel was about 200 feet wide and it was about waist deep in the main ( cur- cur ) rent , which would be located 100 or maybe 125 feet off shore . ( R . 2041 , Vol . 11 . ) In 1905 ( I 1 ) was again on the river and took a sluicing hopper weighing about 250 pounds on a 14 by 6 foot raft constructed by me from a point 15 or 18 miles above my camp . I had to wait for the water to ( sub- sub ) side because it was too deep to take any chances going ( dbwn dd-NM ddNM ) the canyon with the raft . I got stuck many times during the day in shallow water ; it was difficult for one person to try to watch where the main current was and keep the raft afloat . I started downstream at about 10 ( o'clock oclock ) and ( ar- ar ) rived a my camp at sundown ; I think this was in July . I rode the raft myself , except when it got stuck , when I would get off and steer it clear of the rocks and climb on ( again -again again ) . ( R . 2045-8 , Vol . 11 . ) On one occasion I diverted the entire river to our pumps during a period lasting about 10 days . As I recall this was in 1904 . ( R . 2049-50 , Vol . 11 . ) ( I 1 ) was there for about five months in 1905 . At that time there were no other people operating placers there . Since then I have been back to the river at all seasons quite a number of times . On these occasions I have seen other placer mines in operation on the river near our place . As far as I know they ( didn't didnt ) use boats to bring in supplies and our supplies came overland . ( R . 2051-3 , Vol . 11 . ) Our camp was wrecked by the big flood of 1911 when our rock house and tool house were flooded and only the top of the roof , which was 10 feet high , protruded . I should judge the top of the tool house was 16 feet above the low water level of the river . ( R . 2054-7 , Vol . 11 . ) ( I 1 ) have seen sand waves many times , and in 1904 the water was so thick with sand that it would choke the fish in the river The main current would shift from one side to the other ; sometimes it would stay pretty well in the center , but many times would ( sway -sway sway ) to the other side . I have seen the water get so low during the low water season that there was not much trouble in wading across the river . ( R . 2058-9 , Vol . 11 . ) - I mean that the ( water -water water ) was not over waist deep at those times . ( R . 2060 , Vol . 11 . ) The occasion |