ed below a small stream flowing from the
south. The same rapid was described by Major Powell as having a bold,
lava-capped escarpment at the head of the rapid, on the right. We had
not seen any lava since leaving Diamond Creek, and an entry in my
notes reads, "we have gone over Stone's 'big rapid' three times and it
is still ahead of us." The knowledge that there was a big rapid in the
indefinite somewhere that was likely to cause us trouble seemed to
give us more anxious moments than the many unmentioned rapids we were
finding all this time. We wondered how high the escarpment was, and if
we could take our boats over its top. We tried to convince ourselves
that it was behind us, although sure that it could not be. But the
absence of lava puzzled us. After one "bad" rapid and several "good"
rapids we came to a sharp turn in the canyon. Emery was ahead and
called back, "I see a little stream"; Bert joined with "I see the
lava"; and the "Bold Escarpment Rapid," as we had been calling it for
some time, was before us. It was more than a nasty rapid, it was a
cataract!

What a din that water sent up! We had to yell to make ourselves heard.
The air vibrated with the impact of water against rock. The rapid was
nearly half a mile long. There were two sections near its head
staggered with great rocks, forty of them, just above or slightly
submerged under the surface of the water. Our low stage of water
helped us, so that we did not have to line the boats from the ledge,
eighty feet above the water, as others had done. The rapid broke just
below the lower end of the sheer rock, which extended twenty feet
beyond the irregular shore. The _Edith_ went first, headed upstream,
at a slight angle nearly touching the wall, dropping a few inches
between each restraining stroke of the oars. Bert crouched on the bow,
ready to spring with the rope, as soon as Emery passed the wall and
headed her in below the wall. Jumping to the shore, he took a snub
around a boulder and kept her from being dragged into the rapid. Then
they both caught the _Defiance_ as she swung in below the rock, and
half the battle was won before we tackled the rapid.

Our days were short, and we did not take the boats down until the next
day; but we did carry much of the camp material and cargo halfway down
over ledges a hundred feet above the river. For a bad rapid we were
very fortunate in getting past it as easily as we did. Logs were laid
over rocks, the boats were