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Show by prospectors ( R . 443 , Vol . 3 12 ) ; they would come down from Farmington to Bluff in their boats , load them and proceed on down the river , taking with them their supplies . ( R . 442 , Vol . 3 . ) 1 have only seen the San Juan dry on one occasion . ( R . 445 , Vol . 3 . ) ( I 1 ) have crossed the river at Bluff when it was only a foot deep . ( R . 446 , Vol . 3 . ) ( I 1 ) have also crossed at Chinle Creek in the summer months when the water was only about two or three feet deep at that point , but I have seen it at that point when it was only about a foot deep . ( R . 446-7 , Vol . 3 . ) From Chinle Creek on down , the channel is confined and it is a very different situation than above Chinle Creek . ( R . 450 , Vol . 3 . ) The ( lowest 'lowest lowest ) that I ever saw the San Juan River when I crossed it was on one occasion when it was about a foot deep at Bluff , and when I saw it a foot deep it was extremely low water . ( R . 451 , Vol . 3 . ) The times at Bluff and at Chinle Creek when , as I recall , it was only about a foot deep at those crossings were during the lowest water seasons during my entire observation of the river from the year 1880 , to date , and I have never observed any similar depths at any other points on the river . Even at low water the depth at Chinle Creek during every day of the year would be two or three feet . ( R . 452 , Vol . 3 . ) A . L . Raplee testified : I have been placer mining and engaged in drilling for oil on the San Juan since 1893 , and have been on the river in boats quite a lot . ( R . 461-2 , Vol . 3 . ) The placer miners , including myself , required the usual food ( supplies -supplies supplies ) , picks , drills , lumber , also some machinery . ( R . 472 , Vol . 3 . ) For about three years there were something like one hundred and fifty miners working down the river . Supplies would be brought by wagon to Bluff and thence down the river on boats . I had probably eight or ten ( em- em ) ployes . ( R . 473 , Vol . 3 . ) All told a considerable tonnage was needed to keep us all going and there was a great deal of traffic . Another outfit that was down the river about 75 miles had a wheel similar to that used by me in my mining operations . All the other outfits working on the river had boats similar to mine . These boats were built at Bluff and during those three years there were probably fifteen or twenty boats plying on that river . ( R . 474 , Vol . 3 . ) In supplying my own operations there , I made something like ( twenty-four twentyfour ) boat trips a year , carrying on each trip about 1000 pounds , so that the freight I carried for my own |