dens was passed in the afternoon.
The Indians were not at home when the Major called. His party felt
they were justified in helping themselves to some pumpkins or squash,
for their supplies were very low, and they could not go out to a
settlement--as we expected to do in a day or two--and replenish them.

We found the fish would not bite, just as our friend, the miner, had
said, but we did succeed in landing a fourteen-pound salmon, in one of
the deep pools not many miles from this point, and it was served up in
steaks the next day. If our method of securing the salmon was
unsportsmanlike, we excused ourselves for the methods used, just as
Major Powell justified his appropriation of the Indians' squash. If
that fish was ever needed, it was then, and it was a most welcome
addition to our rapidly disappearing stock of provisions. We were only
sorry we had not taken more "bait."

The next day we did see a camp-fire, and on climbing the shore, found
a little old prospector, clad in tattered garments, sitting in a
little dugout about five feet square which he had shovelled out of the
sand. He had roofed it with mesquite and an old blanket. A rapid, just
below, made so much noise that he did not hear us until we were before
his door. He looked at the rubber coats and the life-preservers, then
said, with a matter-of-fact drawl, "Well, you fellows must have come
by the river!" After talking awhile he asked: "What do you call
yourselves?" This question would identify him as an old-time Westerner
if we did not already know it. At one time it was not considered
discreet to ask any one in these parts what their name was, or where
they were from. He gave us a great deal of information about the
country, and said that Diamond Creek was about six miles below. He had
come across from Diamond Creek by a trail over a thousand foot ridge,
with a burro and a pack mule, a month before. He had just been out
near the top on the opposite side, doing some assessment work on some
copper claims, crossing the river on a raft, and stated that on a
previous occasion he had been drawn over the rapid, but got out.

When he learned that we had come through Utah, he stated that he
belonged near Vernal, and had once been upset in the upper canyons,
about twenty years before. He proved to be the Snyder of whom we had
heard at Linwood, and also from the Chews, who had given him a horse
so he could get out over the mountains. Yet here was, a thousand mile