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Show Record 1569 In my investigation of historical data with reference to the old Spanish trail, I do not find that the Spaniards or people working with them used either the San Juan, Green or 1570 Colorado Rivers for navigation purposes. There was extensive fur trapping in and about the Green River, commencing about 1835 or 1840, and the furs were moved out of that country by 1571 pack train to St. Louis. The only instance I found of use of the Colorado River by fur traders was by one Ashley, who went down as far as the Uintah on one expedition. So far as I know the trappers never used the Green or that part of the Colorado formerly known as the Grant River. Frederick S. Dellenbaugh testified on cross examination as follows: With furs, as with other commodities, the seller goes to 1572 the place where be finds a market. When I passed the mouth of the San Juan about the middle of October, 1871, the stage of water was quite low. When I wrote my book " A Canyon Voyage" ( Exhibit No. 14), I had leisure and ample opportunity to consider the facts there recited, and of course I would not match my present memory against 1573- 1574 the book because I was very careful to make the book accurate. In October, 1871, we did not stop at the mouth of the San Juan or go up it at all, and saw no part of that river except its mouth. On my other trip down the Colorado, the state of water was high and the San Juan was then a large stream, as was also the Colorado. On both trips we camped at a point about two miles below the mouth of the San Juan. The statement in my book " A Canyon Voyage" that when we passed the San Juan in October, 1871, that stream was shallow and " some eight rods wide" is a more accurate statement of the width of the stream than my statement on direct examination that the San Juan was then twenty or thirty feet wide. My statement that the San Juan was then eight rods or one hundred and thirty- two feet wide was only an estimate and I did not get out and 1575 measure the stream with a tape. The statement contained in my book |
