Our Whole Distance This Day Was One Mile And A Quarter.
On the 22nd our route led us amongst many wooded islands which, lying in
long vistas, produced scenes of much beauty.
In the course of the day we
crossed the Upper Portage, surmounted the Devil's Landing Place, and
urged the boat with poles through Groundwater Creek. At the upper end of
this creek, our bowman having given the boat too great a sheer to avoid a
rock, it was caught on the broadside by the current and in defiance of
our utmost exertions hurried down the rapid. Fortunately however it
grounded against a rock high enough to prevent the current from
oversetting it, and the crews of the other boats having come to our
assistance we succeeded after several trials in throwing a rope to them
with which they dragged our almost sinking vessel stern foremost up the
stream and rescued us from our perilous situation. We encamped in the
dusk of evening amidst a heavy thunderstorm, having advanced two miles
and three-quarters.
About ten in the morning of the 23rd we arrived at the Dramstone which is
hailed with pleasure by the boats' crews as marking the termination of
the laborious ascent of Hill River. We complied with the custom from
whence it derives its name and soon after landing upon Sail Island
prepared breakfast. In the meantime our boatmen cut down and rigged a new
mast, the old one having been thrown overboard at the mouth of Steel
River, where it ceased to be useful.
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