OCR Text |
Show Record the river was too rough. Another time I went down the river in a boat with a very little load on it and grounded at numerous places. I towed the boat up stream and grounded the boat up stream. The place I grounded was at Piute Farms. We camped at Piute Farms four to six days. Apparently at that time Bert Loper and I had made a boat journey down the river past Piute Farms and then we towed the boat up through that particular portion of the river. We went down stream for about half a day, staring near Clay Hill Crossing, rowing a most of the places, but the boat would ground at some places. That night we camped a short distance north of the mouth 3764 of Nokai Creek. The distance traveled was about 11 miles. We towed the boat back up stream the entire distance. We made observations on depth only when grounded. We grounded numerous times in the stretch in Piute Farms, about two miles below the mouth of Clay Gulch. The boat we had with the load did not draw over six or seven inches. 3765 At Spencer Camp the current would shift its position from the middle of the channel to the bank. I would say that the channel was there 300 or 400 feet in width. As to the stage of the water, if there were any floods, they were very small at that time. Even between floods caused by rains, it appeared to me that the 3766 discharge of the river might change, due to other conditions. In the day time when the wind would be blowing and the sun shining; the river would fall several inches, and at night would rise a corresponding amount. We did not measure the water but noted the changed on the bank and the depths when we were out in there with boats. 3767 Bert Loper and I made a trip from the mouth of Piute Can yon to Spencer Camp, a distance of about 17 miles, for supplies, at low stage of water. We towed the boat up the entire distance. I think it took us altogether 14 hours to tow the boat up stream. 3768 In finding the deeper channel going up stream, sometimes we would have to let the boat go back down stream a ways and then move it over to one side. These shallow places were in what you might call " crossing bars". The river is crooked, and the main current would |