| OCR Text |
Record gravity. In the first forty or fifty miles there is nothing that 2583 one would call a rapid except by a stretch of imagination. The nearest thing that by any interpretation would be called a rapid was at Aztec Canyon. We encountered more difficulty there because a tremendous storm broke that night, resulting in a rise of several feet on the river. The engines in my boat and in Jones boat were out of commission, and my boat was lashed ahead of Mr. Wimmer's and Jones' boat was lashed ahead of the other boat that 2584 still had a working motor. Thus with two boats fastened together, having an entire length of thirty- six feet, we went upstream, aiding each of the two motors by rowing with the oars. We had less sand bar trouble on our upstream trip than in coming back when the river was lower. Going upstream there was too much current against the banks and occasionally we would get out and lift the boat off a sand bar if we got stuck, as we did a great many times. In response to questions propounded by the Special Master, Mr. Freeman testified as follows: 2585 The two boats in which we still operated motors and which pushed the other two boats ahead began thus operating when we were near the Utah- Arizona line - about our third day going up-stream. With the two boats tied together, it was unwieldy, but we obtained fairly good results. We had three men in each unit working together. Continuing his direct examination Mr. Freeman testified: I cannot estimate the number of times the boat got stuck between Warm Creek and Hall's Crossing; sometimes our trouble was with sand bars, other times from rocks and current. On one occasion my boat ran on a submerged rock, and when I stopped out to lift it off found myself in water over my head; this was before the boats were lashed together and while I was operating my boat 2587 alone. I think at the time I was there the Colorado was flowing about ten or twelve thousand second feet. |
