ion. They had followed
Powell on his former trip, declaring that if he could go down the river
so could they, but they learned their mistake and paid dearly for the
experience. The leader, whose bones lie in these splendid depths of Red
Canyon, was said to have been the first mayor of Cheyenne. Many more
rapids we ran with a current of from six to twelve or fifteen miles per
hour, and we made many "let-downs," which means working a boat along
the edge of a rapid by the aid of lines, without removing the cargo.
We called this process, when we removed the cargo, a "line portage," as
distinguished from a complete portage where the boats were taken out of
the water.

Shortly after dinner one day we heard a deep roaring, which implied that
we were approaching a violent fall, and hugging the left-hand bank,
we drifted slowly down to within a rod or two of the drop and easily
landed. It was Ashley Falls. In the centre of the river protruded an
immense rock, twenty-five feet square, and the river rushed by on each
side making a sudden descent of about eight feet. It would have been
nothing to run had it been free from rocks; but it was in reality the
rocks which formed it. They had fallen from the left-hand wall within
some comparatively recent time, and acted as a dam. Many more were piled
up against the left-hand cliff. The river, averaging about two hundred
and fifty feet wide, had been narrowed by about one-third and a rapid
had thus been changed into a fall. We made a portage here with the
first and third boats. The second we allowed to run through with lines
attached, but as she got several severe knocks we deemed it unsafe to
risk the other. Our camp was on a small level place among some pine
trees, almost over the fall, and I think I never saw a more romantic
spot. The moon shone down into the canyon with surpassing brilliancy,
and this, in contrast to our lavish camp-fire and extremely comfortable
surroundings, made a combination ever to be remembered. See pages 113
and 112.

It was on one of the huge rocks above the river on the left that
Ashley wrote his name. This was in black letters, sheltered by a slight
projection of the rock which acted as a cornice. Thus it had remained
distinct, except one figure of the date, for forty-six years, having
been done in 1825. The portage around Ashley Falls was laborious as we
were obliged to climb with everything about fifty feet above the river,
but labour is better than disa