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Show 4567 Freeman- D 2586 of the unit. A larger boat is normally much more unwieldly, of course, crossing a current. The lashed boats would swing with us, occasionally take us back down the river; that happened in a good many instances. Three men working together rather than the bit and miss thing we were doing previously. BY MR. BLACKMAR: Q Are you able to give any estimate of the number of times the boat stuck between Warm creek and Hall's Crossing? A No sir. That would be like estimating the number of automobiles I passed coming from the hotel; from one thing and another we were stuck or stopped a great many times. It might have been from sandbars, from rocks , or from the current. In my own case, once, navigating alone, I stuck on pinnacle of rock Q That was before or after? A That was when I was navigating alone, before they were lashed together. This is illustrative of the difficulty of reading the water of the Colorado, on account of its complete opacity. There was nothing to indicate the rock beneath the water. I ran middle of the boat on to the obstruction. I stepped out to lift it off, and found myself in water over my head; when I tried to lift it, I was swimming. |
