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Show Record I next left the River in 1914, going overland to the town of Green River, Utah, where I met Mr. Russell who had been my companion 2374 on the 1907 trip. I started on another river trip with Russell, leaving Green River in July, 1914, when the river was pretty well up. We had a terrible trip; there was between fifteen or eighteen thousand second feet more water in 1914 than there was on the 1907 trip; rapids that were mild in 1907 were ragers in 1914; and other rapids that were bad in 1907 had entirely disappeared in 1914. I am referring to the river through 2375 Cataract Canyon. On this 1914 trip with Russell we had two steel boats, which we tried to deck over but couldn't make them water tight. That was the source of our trouble. These boats had a draft of probably seven inches and were not very deep, which was 2376 also one of the troubles. They were keel boats. From the town of Green River to the mouth of the San Rafael we had no trouble at that stage of water and made good time and encountered no difficulty in negotiating the rapid water. Through Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons we also had very little trouble - no trouble in Stillwater. We ran on to a bar or two in Labyrinth Canyon but had no trouble to amount to anything. The stage of water became higher if anything after we left Green River. There were days when there was a lot of drift on the river, which makes it pretty 2377 bad in boating rapids and other places. After we entered Cataract Canyon we were mistaken in assuming that we knew the river. I really believe that at Rapid No. 4 the waves were twenty feet high. Right below there where we expected trouble there was no rapid at 2378 all. Russell got in the habit of cutting across and getting into the five foot waves, which smothered his boat because of the short distance between waves, whereas your boat will ride the larger waves without taking any water; and in going through the twenty foot waves at No. 4 Rapid I did not take a quart of water. Russell's boat was logged because he was afraid of the big waves and because of his poor judgment we lost five thousand feet of picture films |
