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Show 1090 " Q. Wherein did the silt affect your motor? " A. Mourning. I was warned of that in advance. With the three Evinrude motors, Mr. Wimmer's experience told him a plunger pump was entirely useless, didn't even attempt to erect pumps. " The previous year I had used on the Missouri a motor of this same type that I was now using. I found in spite of silt I could make a pump last two or three days without scouring out. I didn't realize the Colorado had a sharper silt than the Missouri. I figured by getting a spare set of pumps -- I think I had eight or ten of then -- that the thing would carry through. Mr. Wimmer showed me the practical way out of the difficulty. As in most things about the river, he was right.[ R. 2581] " Towards noon a little steam began to rise from my cylinders; the motor stalled down; I allowed it to cool, and started it again; in a few minutes the motor stopped; repetition of over- heating all afternoon, and finally went out completely. I had to line my own boat up a rapid to reach camp. " That night we examined it. That plunger pump of either brass or bronze was completely scoured through at one point, with the rent of the walls so thin I could crush it between my fingers. I took Mr. Wimmer's advice, and did as he had done, rigged a five- gallon oil can on the stern with a rubber pipe which he had provided for such an emergency to the cylinders; then as we navigated |