o or three times,
usually clears the muddiest water. We also dug holes in the sand at
the side of the river. The water, filtering through the sand, was
often clear enough to develop the tests we made with our films.
Jimmy continued to feel downhearted; and this afternoon he told us his
story. Our surmise about his being homesick was correct, but it was a
little more than that. He had an invalid mother, it seemed, and, aided
by an older brother, he had always looked after the needs of the
family. When the proposition of making the river trip came up, serious
objections were raised by the family; but when the transportation
arrived he had determined to go, in spite of their objections. Now he
feared that his mother would not live, or that we would be wrecked,
and he would not know where to turn, or what to do. No wonder he felt
blue!
All we could do was to promise to help him leave the river at the very
first opportunity. This would quite likely be at Jensen, Utah, still
fifty miles farther downstream.
It continued to rain by spells that night and the next morning. About
11 A.M. we resumed our work on the river. A short distance below our
camp we saw the land-slide which we heard the night before--tons of
earth and shattered rock wrapped about the split and stripped trunks
of a half-dozen pines. The slide was started by the dislodged section
of a sheer wall close to the top of the 2700-foot cliff. We also saw a
boat of crude construction, pulled above the high-water mark;
evidently abandoned a great while before. Any person who had to climb
the walls at that place had a hard job to tackle, although we could
pick out breaks where it looked feasible; there were a few places
behind us where it would be next to impossible. We had only gone over
a few rapids when we found a long pool, with driftwood eddying
upstream, and knew that our run for the day was over--the Triplet
Rapids were ahead of us. We found this rapid to be about a fourth of a
mile long, divided into three sections as its name indicated, and
filled with great boulders at the base of a sheer cliff on the
right--another unrunnable rapid.
Taking the camp material from the boats, we carried it down and
pitched our tent first of all, then, while Emery prepared supper,
Jimmy and I carried the remaining duffle down to camp. One of the
boats was lined down also. Then after supper we enjoyed the first rest
we had taken for some time.
Camp Ideal we called it,
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