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Show Record crossed the river and visited us. I saw the wrecks of a few boats, 1267 most of them small. In addition there were the remains of a dredge way up the river from Lees Ferry. Having practical navigability in mind, the Glen Canyon section is very much less navigable than the section above the junction for such boats as were in actual use in the Moab to the Cataract canyon section. Turning back to the Moab section I did not see any other boats in operation on that stretch of the river. I completed my trip to Lees Ferry on September 4th and went by automobile to Salt Lake City. 1271 Elliott J. Dent testified on cross examination as follows: My first interest was directed to the Colorado River between Moab and the mouth of the Green River and my next trip was from North wash to Lees Ferry. I was instructed by the War Depart-ment to report to the Department of Justice to assist them in a case now in hearing and to make the journey over the rivers and be pre- 1272 pared to testify to what I saw. I left Moab on August 25, 1929, made the trip for the purpose of studying the characteristics of the river, including the bed and any sand bars or other diffi-culties of navigation that might be present. I understood that the case involved the question of the title to certain portions of the beds of the Green, Colorado and San Juan rivers, and I under-stood that it was the theory of the Department of Justice and of the Government in the case that the matter of title depended upon whether or not the rivers were navigable streams. With that thought 1275 in mind I made my investigations and observations on those trips. With the matters in mind to which I have just referred, I endeavored in my journeys over these rivers to investigate, ob-serve and make a note of impediments to navigation, and all those things that might embarrass one in navigating the streams, in so far as such impediments might show the limit of practical navigation - 168- 1284 |
