| OCR Text |
Show A 3197 Dent- D 1223 left bank of river may extend only a short distance, or possibly no distance at all above the bend. In such an instance we have a long shoal, depending upon the length of the straight reach, and the channel may be most anywhere in that area. The problem in navigation is that wherever the river changes curvature, it is necessary to change the course of the boat from one bank to the other, and in making that change it is necessary to, in general, cross a high stage bar which has been more or less cut out during the falling stages, and which may or may not have a good channel across it. Q Now, what you have just said applies to the Colorado river as you saw it? A Yes. Q As I understand you, Colonel, you do not always have the channel in the same place on these crossing bars at the same volume of water? A Decidedly not. Q Does every change in the stage of the river cause a rearrangement of these bars? A Ordinarily, yes; and in addition to that the river is seldom at one stage long enough to acquire a permanent channel. In other words, it is constantly changed, even though the stage is not changed, but that change is ordinarily comparatively slow in the lower stages of the river. |
