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Show 3887 Edwards- D 1908 A Well, we came out the other end -- we started in at the upper and with eight men and two boats, and came out at the lower end with eight men and one boat. In No. 13 rapid -- the rapids of Cataract canyon are rock rapids, caused by the wash from the side canyons that comes in and washed the boulders and rocks out into the river, forming dams, what we call dams; then that backs the water up, makes a smooth place above, then you have your fall, then your heavy waves at the bottom -- in No. 13 rapid, No. 13, which we reached on the second day from the first camp we made on the Colorado -- We generally got out when we would get to there rapids, to examine them and try to pick out the best channel we could pick; with the style of boats we had, we couldn't go down the river backwards; we had to get out in the current and get the boats to go faster than the water, in order to get steerage way, which you would have to do with any large boat, if you wanted to go through a place like that. We would get out, the oarsmen would pull as hard as they could to get the boat going faster than the water; then we had a chance to dodge these rocks or these bad places in the river, and get through. The first boat started out, got about half way down this rapid, and saw they weren't going to get in the channel, tried to pull ashore; they lost control of the boat and ran against one of these big boulders in the river, and the boat |