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Show Record of the river divides up so much there that it may have caused us some trouble, but we didn't pay much attention to that. It was the ordinary routine of our work. In response to questions propounded by the Special Master Mr. Mendenhall testified: We went through that section of the river in the water and we did not have to portage or anything like that. Resuming his direct examination Mr. Mendenhall testified: 3473 I don't remember that it was necessary for us to get out of our boats in going through that stretch of river. If we got on sand we had poles, generally used them, and would get over such a point. I know that we used poles at other places and suppose we did there. We encountered a rapid at the mouth of Copper Canyon and one at the mouth of Nokai Canyon and then had some swift water; but we had comparatively clear water until we got to the mouth of Piute Canyon. By clear water I mean smooth water, with no obstructions in it. I don't mean that the water in the river was clear because I have never seen the San Juan water clear. On the section of the San Juan River below the mouth of Nugget Creek, there was one very bad rapid located about ten miles below the mouth of Piute Creek. There were two rapids at Piute Creek, one at its mouth and another where the mass of material brought down by that creek had crossed 3474 over and filled another place, causing a pretty bad rapid. Eight or ten miles below there, at a creek that runs off Navajo Mountain, there is a very bad, long rapid, with a heavy fall; it is located about eight or ten miles above the mouth of the San Juan River. At the mouth of the San Juan River we had a little trouble getting across a sand bar and had to get out and pull our boat across and had a little difficulty in finding a channel big enough for the boat. The lighter boats went pretty well, but the big boat bothered us quite a bit. We were only a short time getting through all right and became pretty expert in handling oars around through the |