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Show 57 them thence down into the canyon . There were six in our party and we sluiced and rocked the dirt for gold until about May 1 , 1895 . In August , 1894 , when the river was very low , I made a trip down the river with two companions . . In 1894 and 1895 , we went down past the Indian Farms to the mouth of Copper Canyon and back in a ( 16-foot 16foot ) row boat , , with our bedding and grub . There were three men at the mouth of Slickhorn Canyon who had boats and we got our boat from them and made this trip in August . I remember that the river was so shallow we ( couldn't couldnt ) ride the boat at Indian Farms and had to drag it along . The stream was probably 300 feet wide there but there was no channel that would float a boat and there were places where we actually had to drag it . We went to a point 60 miles below Honaker trail . We encountered rapids at one place and had to take our boat out of the river and work it around the rapid . We encountered no more rapids below there , ( although althougrh ) there were several rapids above and a little rapid below at the mouth of Moonlight . When we ran on to a bar we would hunt a deeper channel if we could . ( R . 2306-14 , Vol . 12 . ) The largest sand waves I ever saw in my life were above ( Menden- Menden ) hall cabin about February , 1895 . There had been an ice gorge that had stopped the flow of the river just above there and - when it broke the water carried my placer outfit away . . On our ( 60-mile 60mile ) boat trip down the river we ( didn't didnt ) encounter any sand waves to amount to anything ; the water was too low . We towed our boat upstream . Indian Farms , otherwise called Piute Farms , is located about 77 miles below Chinle Creek and 50 miles up from the mouth of the San Juan . That is a different place from Piute Creek , which is only 21 miles from ( the'mouth themouth ) of the river . When I left the San Juan in 1895 , 1 went to Bluff on horseback . During my stay there in 1894 and 1895 , we loaded two ( 16-foot 16foot 1.6-foot 16foot ) row boats with provisions for five men at Bluff and with these boats and supplies went down the river to Johns Canyon . We took this trip when the river was ( "awful awful "aw-ful awful ) low , awful low , and it must have been in July or August . " From Bluff to Chinle Creek it was just a case of walk , but below Chinle Creek we had good stretches and could ride a little ways , but with two men in one boat with a lot of provisions and three men in the other boat we ( didn't didnt ) have enough water to do very much boating . We ran the Soda Basin Rapid but lined our boats at Gypsum Creek , using caution not to lose anything . . The Soda Basin Rapid is a bad rapid at certain stages of |