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Show 89 distance of about 24 miles , and I believe it took us two days to make that trip because we stopped one afternoon to explore some old ruins . At Bull Frog Rapids we built a raft 20 by 10 feet , in two sections , and took it down empty to Rincon . At one place below Lake Canyon Rapid the raft got stuck on a rock and I got out and waded clear across and found a miximum depth of two feet . I made a trip to ( Hall's Halls ) Crossing , towing , poling and rowing our boat upstream . We left Rincon after lunch one day and arrived at ( Hall's Halls ) Crossing at ten ( o'clock oclock ) next morning . I waded most of the distance . ( R . 3148-52 , Vol . 17 . ) Frank Bennett testified : I am 64 years old and my occupation has been principally mining . I first went to the Colorado River about December 1 , 1897 , and worked at the Good Hope and California bars for the Good Hope Mining Company for two or three years . They had a ( flat-bottomed flatbottomed ) boat 22 or 24 feet long with a beam of four or five feet . In July , 1898 , 1 went by boat from the California bar down to the Good Hope bar . We encountered no trouble in going downstream on that trip . ( R . 3171-6 , Vol . 17 . ) In addition to the period when I was working for the company , I spent four or five years at the California bar , spending the ( win- win ) ters there . I bought an interest in the bar from Mike Ryan , and we had a ( 28-foot 28foot ) boat and another light skiff that we used . ( R . 3179-80 , Vol . 17 . ) In our operations we took out gold and would either take it out ourselves or send it by registered mail . Once in a while we would make trips between the Olympia and California bars . Aside from using a sail and oars as a method of taking boats upstream , I have had , three ( differ- differ ) ent motor boats on the river , but that was after I quit working the California bar . We also towed boats , which was an easier method than rowing . The first motor boat I had was in 1902 and I used one of the first automobile engines built , in that boat . It had been used by an oil company ; they had tried to construct it as an automobile engine . I tried to get up the Good ( Hope Rope ) rapid with that boat ; got it up to the top of the rapids but it ( didn't didnt ) have power to go any farther . I tried the stern and the side wheel on that boat and the stern wheel was most effective . ( R . 3180-3 , Vol . 17 . ) In 1905 or 1906 1 used a propeller motor boat , with which I ran up and down the river . Sometimes I was able to run this boat from Olympia bar up as far as Good Hope |