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Show Record are worse below the mouth of the San Juan than above, according to my experience. I like an intermediate stage of water best; that is, 3206 where it is four or five feet above extreme low water. During the extremely high water the current is pretty swift and in high water you can't go up very well because you have to go in the river so far and can't get up the current. In low water here are too many shallow places with more or less rocks sticking up; they may be sticking up just enough to catch your boat, but have plenty of water around them, and you have an awful time getting off if you get stuck, In 1901 I recall taking some lumber down the river 3207 from Hite to Olympia Bar, about thirty- five miles below Hite. It was all overland with teams to Hite, where we made three rafts, each fourteen feet square, and we fastened the three together by cables. I loaded on to the raft a twenty horsepower gasoline engine and two fly wheels weighing twelve hundred and fifty pounds apiece. I estimated that the complete engine that we loaded on to the raft weighed five thousand pounds. Then we loaded all our supplies on to the raft and with eight men started down the river in June when the water was high. In going through Trachyte Rapid we got into 3208 the big waves but go through all right. Just above Good Hope there was a big rock point running out. The Good Hope people had built a race- way and put in a wheel and a dam below the head of the race- way. We did not want to go over the dam and so we ran close to the other side and got in a big swirl, where we touched the 3209 rocks but not hard enough to hurt anything. We got through there without any damage and that was the last place we had any trouble and landed our freight at the Olympia Bar. At Olympia Bar most of my supplies came down Hanson Creek and were brought up the river from Hanson Creek about five miles. Once in a while I would also bring some supplies down in my boat from Hite. 3210 At one time I moved a keystone drilling outfit from the California bar up to Good Hope Bar and then a few years later I took |
