tom the river turned sharply to the
left and the waters were piled against the foot of the cliff in an
alarming manner. An effort was made to land, but as they had shortly
before broken one oar and lost another, the two remaining were not
sufficient to propel the boat with force enough to reach the desired
point. At the same time, a huge wave striking the boat turned it
instantly upside down and cast Powell some distance away. He succeeded
in reaching her side, and there found Sumner and Dunn clinging. When
quiet water was again entered they attempted to right the craft, and
in doing this Dunn lost his hold and went under, though at the critical
moment, as he came up, Sumner succeeded in grasping him and drawing
him to the boat. By this time, they had drifted a long way down and saw
another rapid approaching. By swimming desperately, they avoided being
carried into this in their awkward plight, and, towing the boat after
them, landed none too soon on a pile of driftwood on the bank. A gun,
some barometers, and other articles that were in the open compartment,
were lost, though one roll of blankets had been caught and saved by
Powell as it drifted by. Building a large fire on the shore, they
dried their clothing, while out of one of the logs they manufactured
much-needed oars.

Fortified by these, they ran several bad rapids the following day. In
one, Bradley was knocked overboard, but, his foot catching under the
seat, he was dragged head down through the water till the worst of the
fall was passed, when one of the other men managed to haul him in. Just
below this, they emerged again into an expansion of the walls, leaving
the ninety-seven miles of Desolation behind. But another mile brought
the rocks back once more, and the thirty-six miles of Gray Canyon must
be passed before they came to Gunnison Valley. Beyond this, walls of
sandstone about one thousand feet high hemmed the river in for some
sixty miles, but the stream was not dangerous and the party moved
on quickly, though the absence of rapids and swift water made rowing
obligatory. At the foot of this gorge, called from its winding
character, Labyrinth Canyon, there was a brief expansion before the next
walls closed upon them. These were closer than any seen above, but the
river, though swift, had no dangerous element, so that progress was safe
and easy, and in a trifle over forty miles they came to the mouth of a
river almost as large as the Green, flowing in a