Their Christmas
Camp, However, Was On A Narrow Strip Of Sand, With A Greater Supply Of
Driftwood At Hand Than They Had Found At Any Point Along The River.
Dangerous Rapids.
Beginning immediately below this camping place, and
continuing for ten miles, the river dashes madly through that stretch of
foaming water called by Stanton the "Sockdologer." To make matters worse,
Russell found it impossible to follow his usual custom of "picking a trail"
through the rapids. Ordinarily the elder man climbed along the precipitous
sides of the Canyon beside each cataract, leaving Monett above the rough
water in charge of the two boats. From his vantage point, Russell could
pick out the most dangerous places, and chart a course through the rapids
accordingly. But throughout these ten miles of granite, the walls are sheer
and smooth for the first fifteen hundred feet of their rise. Russell could
find no foothold, and the men for the first time faced the necessity of
"shooting" unknown waters.
Russell's Method of Shooting Rapids. As always, Russell led the way in his
boat, swinging it into the boiling current stern first - his own method of
taking each cataract making the frail craft respond to his will, when
possible, by a forward pull on one or the other of his oars. For half an
hour the men were hurled down the seemingly neverending length of tossing
waters. After the first minute, the cockpit in which each man sat was
filled to the gunwales with icy water, in which the oarsmen worked, covered
to the armpits.
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