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diff --git a/38249.txt b/38249.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01c98cd --- /dev/null +++ b/38249.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10999 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Down the Columbia, by Lewis R. Freeman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Down the Columbia + +Author: Lewis R. Freeman + +Release Date: December 9, 2011 [EBook #38249] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOWN THE COLUMBIA *** + + + + +Produced by Pat McCoy, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +DOWN THE COLUMBIA + + + + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +MT. SIR DONALD, WHICH DRAINS FROM ALL SIDES TO THE COLUMBIA] + + + + + DOWN THE COLUMBIA + + BY + + LEWIS R. FREEMAN + + + AUTHOR OF "IN THE TRACKS OF THE TRADES," + "HELL'S HATCHES," ETC. + + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + FROM PHOTOGRAPHS + + + [Illustration: Publisher's logo] + + + NEW YORK + DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY + 1921 + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1921 + By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC. + + The Quinn & Boden Company + + BOOK MANUFACTURERS + RAHWAY NEW JERSEY + + + + + TO + C. L. CHESTER + + Hoping he will find in these pages some compensation for + the fun he missed in not being along. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The day on which I first conceived the idea of a boat trip down the +Columbia hangs in a frame all its own in the corridors of my memory. It +was a number of years ago--more than a dozen, I should say. Just +previously I had contrived somehow to induce the Superintendent of the +Yellowstone National Park to grant me permission to attempt a winter +journey on ski around this most beautiful of America's great +playgrounds. He had even sent a Government scout along to keep, or help, +me out of trouble. We were a week out from the post at Mammoth Hot +Springs. + +Putting the rainbow revel of the incomparable Canyon behind, we had +crossed Yellowstone Lake on the ice and fared onward and upward until we +came at last to the long climb where the road under its ten feet of snow +wound up to the crest of the Continental Divide. It was so dry and cold +that the powdery snow overlying the crust rustled under our ski like +autumn leaves. The air was diamond clear, so transparent that distant +mountain peaks, juggled in the wizardry of the lens of the light, seemed +fairly to float upon the eyeball. + +At the summit, where we paused for breath, an old Sergeant of the Game +Patrol, letting down a tin can on a string, brought up drinks from an +air-hole which he claimed was teetering giddily upon the very ridge-pole +of North America. + +"If I dip to the left," he said, suiting the action to the word, "it's +the Pacific I'll be robbing of a pint of Rocky Mountain dew; while if I +dip to the right it's the Atlantic that'll have to settle back a notch. +And if I had a string long enough, and a wing strong enough, to cast my +can over there beyond Jackson's Hole," he went on, pointing +southeasterly to the serrated peaks of the Wind River Mountains, "I +could dip from the fount of the Green River and keep it from feeding the +Colorado and the Gulf of California by so much." + +That led me to raise the question of boating by river from the Great +Divide to the sea, and the Scout, who knew something of the Madison, +Jefferson and Gallatin to the east, and of the Salmon, Clearwater and +Snake to the west, said he reckoned the thing could be done in either +direction provided a man had lots of time and no dependent family to +think of and shake his nerve in the pinches. + +The old Sergeant agreed heartily. River boating was good, he said, +because it was not opposed to Nature, like climbing mountains, for +instance, where you were bucking the law of gravity from start to +finish. With a river it was all easy and natural. You just got into your +boat and let it go. Sooner or later, without any especial effort on your +part, you reached your objective. You might not be in a condition to +appreciate the fact, of course, but just the same you got there, and +with a minimum of hard work. Some rivers were better for boating than +others for the reason that you got there quicker. The Snake and the +Missouri were all very well in their way, but for him, he'd take the +Columbia. There was a river that started in mountains and finished in +mountains. It ran in mountains all the way to the sea. No slack water in +all its course. It was going somewhere all the time. He had lived as a +kid on the lower Columbia and had trapped as a man on the upper +Columbia; so he ought to know. _There_ was a "he" river if there ever +was one. If a man really wanted to travel from snowflake to brine and +not be troubled with "on-wee" on the way, there was no stream that ran +one-two-three with the Columbia as a means of doing it. + +That night, where we steamed in the black depths of a snow-submerged +Government "Emergency" cabin, the Sergeant's old Columbia memories +thawed with the hunk of frosted beef he was toasting over the sheet-iron +stove. He told of climbing for sheep and goat in the high Kootenay, of +trailing moose and caribou in the valleys of the Rockies, and finally of +his years of trapping on the creeks and in the canyons that run down to +the Big Bend of the Columbia; of how he used to go down to Kinbasket +Lake in the Fall, portaging or lining the three miles of tumbling +cascades at Surprise Rapids, trap all winter on Sullivan Creek or Middle +River, and then come out in the Spring to Revelstoke, playing +ducks-and-drakes with his life and his scarcely less valuable catch of +marten, mink and beaver running the riffles at Rock Slide, Twelve Mile +and the terrible _Dalles des Morts_. He declared that there were a +hundred miles of the Big Bend of the Columbia that had buffaloed to a +fare-ye-well any equal stretch on any of the great rivers of North +America for fall, rocks and wild rip-rarin' water generally. But the +dread Rapids of Death and the treacherous swirls and eddies of +Revelstoke Canyon were not the last of swift water by a long shot. Just +below the defile of the Arrow Lakes the white caps began to rear their +heads again, and from there right on down through the seven hundred +miles and more to tide-water below the Cascade Locks in Oregon there was +hardly a stretch of ten miles without its tumble of rapids, and mostly +they averaged not more than three or four miles apart. + +"She's sure some 'he' river," the old chap concluded as he began to +unroll his blankets, "going somewhere all the time, tumbling over itself +all the way trying to beat itself to the finish." + +Confusing as the Sergeant was with his "he" and "she" and "it" as to the +gender of the mighty Oregon, there was no question of the fascination of +the pictures conjured up by his descriptions of that so-well-called +"Achilles of Rivers." Before I closed my eyes that night I had promised +myself that I should take the first opportunity to boat the length of +the Columbia, to follow its tumultuous course from its glacial founts to +the salt sea brine, to share with it, to jostle it in its "tumble to get +there first." + +I held by that resolve for more than a dozen years, although, by a +strange run of chance, I was destined to have some experience of almost +every one of the great rivers of the world before I launched a boat upon +the Columbia. My appetite for swift water boating had grown by what it +fed on. I had come more and more to the way of thinking of my +Yellowstone companion who held that boating down rivers was good because +it was not opposed to Nature, "like mountain climbing, for instance, +where you bucked the law of gravity all the way." In odd craft and +various, and of diverse degree of water worthiness, I had trusted to +luck and the law of gravity to land me somewhere to seaward of numerous +up-river points of vantage to which I had attained by means of travel +that ranged all the way from foot and donkey-back to elephant and auto. +The Ichang gorges of the Yangtze I had run in a _sampan_ manned by a +yelling crew of Szechuan coolies, and the Salween and Irawadi below the +Yunnan boundary in weird Burmese canoes whose crews used their legs as +well as their arms in plying their carved paddles. I had floated down +the Tigris from Diarbekir to Mosul on a _kalek_ of inflated sheepskins, +and the Nile below the Nyanzas in a cranky craft of zebra hide, whose +striped sides might have suggested the idea of modern marine camouflage. +On the middle Niger I had used a condemned gunboat's life-raft, and on +the Zambesi a dugout of saffron-tinted wood so heavy that it sank like +iron when capsized. And it had been in native dugouts of various crude +types that I had boated greater or lesser lengths of the swifter upper +stretches of the Orinoco, Amazon and Parana. + +But through it all--whether I was floating in a reed-wrapped _balsa_ on +Titacaca or floundering in a pitch-smeared _gufa_ on the +Euphrates--pictures conjured up by remembered phrases of the old +ex-trapper keep rising at the back of my brain. "The big eddy at the +bend of Surprise Rapids, where you go to look for busted boats and dead +bodies;" "the twenty-one mile of white water rolling all the way from +Kinbasket Lake to Canoe River;" "the double googly intake at the head +of Gordon Rapid;" "the black-mouthed whirlpool waiting like a wild cat +at the foot of _Dalles des Morts_"--how many times had I seen all these +in fancy! And at last the time came when those pictures were to be made +real--galvanized into life. + +It was well along toward the end of last summer that my friend C. L. +Chester, whose work in filming the scenic beauties of out-of-the-way +parts of the world has made the name Chester-Outing Pictures a byword on +both sides of the Atlantic, mentioned that he was sending one of his +cameramen to photograph the sources of the Columbia in the Selkirks and +Rockies of western Canada. Also that he was thinking of taking his own +holiday in that incomparably beautiful region. He supposed I knew that +there were considerable areas here that had barely been explored, to +saying nothing of photographed. This was notably so of the Big Bend +country, where the Columbia had torn its channel between the Rockies and +Selkirks and found a way down to the Arrow Lakes. He was especially +anxious to take some kind of a boat round the hundred and fifty miles of +canyon between Beavermouth and Revelstoke and bring out the first movies +of what he had been assured was the roughest stretch of swift water on +any of the important rivers of the world. Was there, by any chance, a +possibility that my plans and commitments were such that I would be free +to join him in the event that he made the trip personally? + +As a matter of fact there were several things that should have prevented +my breaking away for a trip to the upper Columbia in September, not the +least among which was a somewhat similar trip I had already planned for +the Grand Canyon of the Colorado that very month. But the mention of the +Big Bend was decisive. "I'll go," I said promptly. "When do you start?" + +It was finally arranged that I should go on ahead and engage men and +boats for the Big Bend part of the trip, while Chester would endeavour +to disentangle himself from business in Los Angeles and New York in time +to join his cameraman and myself for a jaunt by packtrain to the Lake of +the Hanging Glaciers. The latter is one of the high glacial sources of +the Columbia in the Selkirks, and Chester, learning that it had never +been photographed, desired especially to visit it in person. Returning +from our visit to the source of the river, we planned to embark on the +boating voyage around the Big Bend. It was not until business finally +intervened to make it impossible for Chester to get away for even a +portion of the trip which he had been at such trouble to plan, that I +decided to attempt the voyage down the Columbia as I had always dreamed +of it--all the way from the eternal snows to tide-water. At Chester's +suggestion, it was arranged that his cameraman should accompany me +during such portion of the journey as the weather was favourable to +moving picture work. + +Our preliminary work and exploration among the sources of the river over +(this was carried on either on foot or by packtrain, or in runs by canoe +over short navigable stretches of the upper river), we pushed off from +Beavermouth, at the head of the Big Bend. For this most arduous part of +the voyage there were four in the party, with a big double-ended boat +specially built for rough water. Further down, for a considerable +stretch, we were three, in a skiff. Then, for a couple of hundred miles, +there were four of us again, manning a raft and a towing launch. After +that we were two--just the cameraman and myself, with the skiff. Him I +finally dropped at the foot of Priest Rapids, fifty miles above Pasco, +and the last two hundred and fifty miles down to Portland I rode alone. +This "solo" run--though a one-man boat crew is kept rather too busy in +swift water to have much time for enjoying the scenery--was far from +proving the least interesting period of the journey. + +So far as I have been able to learn, my arrival in Portland marked the +end of the first complete journey that has been made from the glacial +sources of the Columbia to tide-water. David Thompson, scientist and +explorer for the Northwest Company, racing against the Astor sea +expedition to be first to establish a post at the mouth of the Columbia, +boated down a very large part of the navigable part of the river over a +hundred years ago. I have found no evidence, however, that he penetrated +to the glacial fields in the Selkirks above Windermere and Columbia Lake +from which spring the main feeders of the upper river. Thompson's, and +all of the other voyages of the early days of which there is authentic +record, started from Boat Encampment, where the road from the plains and +Montreal led down to the Columbia by the icy waters of Portage River, +or, as it is now called, Wood River. Thus all of the old Hudson Bay and +Northwest voyageurs ran only the lower seventy-five miles of the Big +Bend, and avoided what is by far its worst water--Surprise Rapids and +the twenty-one miles of cascades below Kinbasket Lake. Ross Cox, +Alexander Ross and Franchiere, whose diaries are the best commentaries +extant upon early Columbia history, had no experience of the river above +Boat Encampment. Lewis and Clark, and Hunt, with the remnants of the +Astor transcontinental party, boated the river only below the Snake, and +this was also true of Whitman and the other early missionaries and +settlers. Fremont made only a few days' journey down the river from the +Dalles. + +Of recent down-river passages, I have been able to learn of no voyageur +who, having rounded the Big Bend, continued his trip down to the lower +Columbia. The most notable voyage of the last three or four decades was +that of Captain F. P. Armstrong and J. P. Forde, District Engineer of +the Department of Public Works of Nelson, British Columbia, who, +starting at the foot of the Lower Arrow Lake in a Peterboro canoe, made +the run to Pasco, just above the mouth of the Snake, in ten days. As +Captain Armstrong already knew the upper Columbia above the Arrow Lakes +from many years of steamboating and prospecting, and as both he and Mr. +Forde, after leaving their canoe at Pasco, continued on to Astoria by +steamer, I am fully convinced that his knowledge of that river from +source to mouth is more comprehensive than that of any one else of the +present generation. This will be, perhaps, a fitting place to +acknowledge my obligation to Captain Armstrong (who accompanied me in +person from the mouth of the Kootenay to the mouth of the Spokane) for +advice and encouragement which were very considerable factors in the +ultimate success of my venture. To Mr. Forde I am scarcely less indebted +for his courtesy in putting at my disposal a copy of his invaluable +report to the Canadian Government on the proposal to open the Columbia +to through navigation to the Pacific Ocean. + +Compared to the arduous journeys of the old Astorian and Hudson Bay +voyageurs on the Columbia, my own trip--even though a considerably +greater length of river was covered than by any of my predecessors--was +negligible as an achievement. Only in rounding the Big Bend in Canada +does the voyageur of to-day encounter conditions comparable to those +faced by those of a hundred, or even fifty years ago who set out to +travel on any part of the Columbia. For a hundred miles or more of the +Bend, now just as much as in years long gone by, an upset with the loss +of an outfit is more likely than not to spell disaster and probably +tragedy. But in my own passage of the Big Bend I can claim no personal +credit that those miles of tumbling water were run successfully. I was +entirely in the hands of a pair of seasoned old river hands, and merely +pulled an oar in the boat and did a few other things when I was told. + +But it is on the thousand miles of swiftly flowing water between the +lower end of the Big Bend and the Pacific that conditions have changed +the most in favour of the latter day voyageur. The rapids are, to be +sure, much as they must have appeared to Thompson, Ross, Franchiere and +their Indian contemporaries. The few rocks blasted here and there on the +lower river in an attempt to improve steamer navigation have not greatly +simplified the problems of the man in a rowboat or canoe. Nor is an +upset in any part of the Columbia an experience lightly to be courted +even to-day. Even below the Big Bend there are a score of places I could +name offhand where the coolest kind of an old river hand, once in the +water, would not have one chance in ten of swimming out. In half a +hundred others he might reckon on an even break of crawling out alive. +But if luck were with him and he _did_ reach the bank with the breath in +his body, then his troubles would be pretty well behind him. Below the +Canadian border there is hardly ten miles of the river without a farm, a +village, or even a town of fair size. Food, shelter and even medical +attention are not, therefore, ever more than a few hours away, so that +the man who survives the loss of his boat and outfit is rarely in +serious straits. + +But in the case of the pioneers, their troubles in like instance were +only begun. What between hostile Indians and the loss of their only +means of travel, the chances were all against their ever pulling out +with their lives. The story of how the vicious cascade of the _Dalles +des Morts_ won its grisly name, which I will set down in its proper +place, furnishes a telling instance in point. + +It is a callous traveller who, in strange lands and seas, does not +render heart homage to the better men that have gone before him. Just as +you cannot sail the Pacific for long without fancying that Cook and +Drake and Anson are sharing your night watches, so on the Columbia it is +Thompson and Cox and Lewis and Clark who come to be your guiding +spirits. At the head of every one of the major rapids you land just as +you know they must have landed, and it is as through their eyes that you +survey the work ahead. And when, rather against your better judgment, +you decide to attempt to run a winding gorge where the sides are too +steep to permit lining and where a portage would mean the loss of a +day--you know that the best of the men who preceded you must have +experienced the same hollowness under the belt when they were forced to +the same decision, for were they not always gambling at longer odds than +you are? And when, elate with the thrill of satisfaction and relief that +come from knowing that what had been a menacing roar ahead has changed +to a receding growl astern, you are inclined to credit yourself with +smartness for having run a rapid where Thompson lined or Ross Cox +portaged, that feeling will not persist for long. Sooner or later--and +usually sooner--something or somebody will put you right. A broken oar +and all but a mess-up in an inconsiderable riffle was all that was +needed to quench the glow of pride that I felt over having won through +the roughly tumbling left-hand channel of Rock Island Rapids with only a +short length of lining. And it was a steady-eyed old river captain who +brought me back to earth the night I told him--somewhat boastfully, I +fear--that I had slashed my skiff straight down the middle of the final +pitch of Umatilla Rapids, where Lewis and Clark had felt they had to +portage. + +"But you must not forget," he said gently, with just the shadow of a +smile softening the line of his firm lips, "that Lewis and Clark had +something to lose besides their lives--that they had irreplaceable +records in their care, and much work still to do. It was their duty to +take as few chances as possible. But they never let the risk stop them +when there wasn't any safer way. When you are pulling through Celilo +Canal a few days from now, and being eased down a hundred feet in the +locks, just remember that Lewis and Clark put their whole outfit down +the Tumwater and Five-Mile Rapids of the Dalles, in either of which that +skiff of yours would be sucked under in half a minute." + +Bulking insignificantly as an achievement as does my trip in comparison +with the many Columbia voyages, recorded and unrecorded, of early days, +it still seems to me that the opportunity I had for a comprehensive +survey of this grandest scenically of all the world's great rivers gives +me warrant for attempting to set down something of what I saw and +experienced during those stirring weeks that intervened between that +breathless moment when I let the whole stream of the Columbia trickle +down my back in a glacial ice-cave in the high Selkirks, and that +showery end-of-the-afternoon when I pushed out into tide-water at the +foot of the Cascades. + +It is scant enough justice that the most gifted of pens can do to Nature +in endeavouring to picture in words the grandest of her manifestations, +and my own quill, albeit it glides not untrippingly in writing of +lighter things, is never so inclined to halt and sputter as when I try +to drive it to its task of registering in black scrawls on white paper +something of what the sight of a soaring mountain peak, the depth of a +black gorge with a white stream roaring at the bottom, or the morning +mists rising from a silently flowing river have registered on the +sensitized sheets of my memory. Superlative in grandeur to the last +degree as are the mountains, glaciers, gorges, waterfalls, cascades and +cliffs of the Columbia, it is to my photographs rather than my pen that +I trust to convey something of their real message. + +If I can, however, pass on to my readers some suggestion of the keenness +of my own enjoyment of what I experienced on the Columbia--of the sheer +_joie de vivre_ that is the lot of the man who rides the running road; +it will have not been in vain that I have cramped my fingers and bent my +back above a desk during several weeks of the best part of the +California year. Robert Service has written something about + + "Doing things just for the doing, + Letting babblers tell the story...." + +Shall I need to confess to my readers that the one cloud on the seaward +horizon during all of my voyage down the Columbia was brooding there as +a consequence of the presentiment that, sooner or later, I should have +to do my own babbling? + +PASADENA, July, 1921. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + INTRODUCTION vi + + I PREPARING FOR THE BIG BEND 1 + + II UP HORSE THIEF CREEK 20 + + III AT THE GLACIER 48 + + IV THE LAKE OF THE HANGING GLACIERS 63 + + V CANAL FLATS TO BEAVERMOUTH 77 + + VI THROUGH SURPRISE RAPIDS 92 + + VII KINBASKET LAKE AND RAPIDS 134 + + VIII BOAT ENCAMPMENT TO REVELSTOKE 160 + + IX REVELSTOKE TO THE SPOKANE 192 + + X RAFTING THROUGH HELL GATE 235 + + XI BY LAUNCH THROUGH BOX CANYON 267 + + XII CHELAN TO PASCO 286 + + XIII PASCO TO THE DALLES 323 + + XIV THE HOME STRETCH 360 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Mt. Sir Donald, which drains from all sides to the Columbia + _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + + Mt. Assiniboine, near the headwaters of the Columbia 10 + + Twin Falls, Takakaw Falls, two great cataracts of the + Columbia watershed 11 + + The "turning-in" scene shot in silhouette 38 + + "Reverse" of the "going-to-bed" shot 38 + + On the Horse Thief Trail 39 + + A dead-fall on the trail 39 + + Looking toward the entrance of the ice cave 52 + + Where the Hanging Glacier is about to fall 53 + + My shower bath in an ice cave 58 + + Warming up after my glacial shower bath 58 + + Ross and Harmon. Dragon moraine in distance 59 + + The horses in the mouth of the ice cave 59 + + Looking across the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers 66 + + The Lake of the Hanging Glaciers, taken from the ice + walls, looking north 67 + + The face of the Hanging Glacier 72 + + Where my party foregathered with Harmon's on the shore + of the Lake of the Hanging Glacier 73 + + Old Hudson Bay cart at Beavermouth 80 + + My first push-off at the head of canoe navigation on the + Columbia 80 + + Opening scene of the "Farmer" picture 81 + + Old stern wheelers at Golden 81 + + A quiet stretch of the Columbia near Golden 81 + + Arrival of our boat at Beavermouth 96 + + Our first camp at Beavermouth 96 + + The remains of a sunken forest 96 + + Trapper's cabin where we found shelter for the night 97 + + Where we landed above Surprise Rapids 97 + + Where we tied up at "Eight mile" 97 + + "Shooting" the first bit of lining at Surprise Rapids 122 + + The camp where the roar of the rapids deafened us 122 + + Where Steinhof was drowned 122 + + Where Andy just missed drowning in Surprise Rapids 123 + + Looking through the pines at Surprise Rapids 123 + + Head of second fall of Surprise Rapids 123 + + Blackmore and the ling that refused to "register" 142 + + The winter, with pike-pole just before lining Death Rapids 142 + + Andy and I pulling down Kinbasket Lake 143 + + Our wettest camp, at Kinbasket Lake 156 + + The old ferry tower above Canoe River 156 + + Where we tied up at Kinbasket Lake 157 + + The bridge which the Columbia carried a hundred miles and + placed across another stream 157 + + Lining down to the head of Death Rapids 157 + + Trapper's cabin being undermined by stream 168 + + The camp above Twelve-Mile 168 + + Landing at sunset above Canoe River 169 + + Andy and Blackmore swinging the boat into the head of + Rock Slide Rapids 169 + + The big rollers, from 15 to 20 feet from hollow to crest, at + head of Death Rapids 169 + + Looking across to Boat Encampment 180 + + "Wood smoke at twilight" above Twelve-Mile 180 + + Lining down Rock Slide Rapids 181 + + When the Columbia took half of my riding breeches 181 + + Bonnington Falls of the Kootenay 198 + + Plastered log cabin in the Doukhobor village 198 + + Trucking the skiff through Kettle Falls 199 + + Twilight in the gorge at Kettle Falls 199 + + Waiting for the fog to lift above Bishop's Rapids 210 + + Ross and Armstrong registering "gloom" 210 + + The "intake" at the Little Dalles 211 + + Where we started to line the Little Dalles 211 + + Map of the Upper Columbia 236 + + A "close-up" of Ike building his raft 237 + + My fifty pound salmon 237 + + Ike riding a log 256 + + Ike on the mooring line of the raft 256 + + Raft in tow of launch near mouth of San Poil 257 + + Ike at the sweep below Hell Gate 257 + + The suspension bridge at Chelan Falls 270 + + Old River veterans on the landing at Potaris. (Capt. McDermid + on left, Ike Emerson on right) 270 + + Night was falling as we headed into Box Canyon 271 + + The Columbia above Box Canyon 271 + + A rocky cliff near head of Lake Chelan 288 + + Rainbow Falls, 350 feet high, above head of Lake Chelan 288 + + Wenatchee under the dust cloud of its speeding autos 289 + + Head of Rock Island Rapids 289 + + The picture that cost me a wetting 310 + + The wreck of the "Douglas" 310 + + We cooked our breakfast in the galley of the wreck of the + "Douglas" 311 + + A rocky cliff above Beverly 311 + + Lifted drawbridge on Celilo Canal 354 + + Tumwater Gorge of the Grand Dalles 354 + + "Imshallah" in the lock at Five-Mile 355 + + "Imshallah" half way through the Celilo Canal 355 + + Palisade Rock, lower Columbia River 362 + + Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Highway, near Portland 363 + + City of Portland with Mt. Hood in the distance 370 + + Bridge on Columbia Highway near Portland, Oregon 371 + + + + +DOWN THE COLUMBIA + + + + +DOWN THE COLUMBIA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PREPARING FOR THE BIG BEND + + +The itinerary of our Columbia trip as originally planned in Los Angeles +called, first, for an expedition to the source of the river, next, a +voyage by boat around the Big Bend from Beavermouth to Revelstoke, and, +finally, if there was time and good weather held, a voyage of indefinite +length on toward the sea. As the trip to the glaciers was largely a +matter of engaging a good packer well in advance, while there was no +certainty of getting any one who would undertake the passage of the Big +Bend, it was to the latter that we first directed our attention. Chester +wired the Publicity Department of the Canadian Pacific and I wrote +friends in various parts of British Columbia. The C. P. R. replied that +they had requested their Sub-Divisional Superintendent at Revelstoke to +institute inquiries for boatmen in our behalf. The only one of my +friends who contributed anything tangible stated that "while the +Columbia above Golden and below Revelstoke was admirably suited to +pleasure boating, any attempt to run the Big Bend between those points +would result in almost certain disaster." + +As this appeared to be about the extent of what we were likely to learn +from a distance, I decided to start north at once to see what could be +arranged on the ground. Victoria yielded little save some large scale +maps, and even these, they assured me in the Geographic Department of +the B. C. Government where I secured them, were very inaccurate as to +detail. The Big Bend region, it appeared, had never been surveyed north +of the comparatively narrow zone of the C. P. R. grant. Several old +hunting friends whom I met at the Club, although they had ranged the +wildernesses of the Northwest from the Barren Lands to Alaska, spoke of +the Big Bend as a veritable _terra incognita_. + +"It's said to be a great country for grizzly," one of them volunteered, +"but too hard to get at. Only way to get in and out is the Columbia, and +that is more likely to land you in Kingdom Come than back in +Civilization. Best forget about the Big Bend and go after sheep and goat +and moose in the Kootenays." + +At Kamloops I was told of an Indian who had gone round the Big Bend the +previous May, before the Spring rise, and come out not only with his own +skin, but with those of seven grizzlies. I was unable to locate the +Indian, but did find a white man who had made the trip with him. This +chap spent half an hour apparently endeavouring to persuade me to give +up the trip on account of the prohibitive risk (my experience on other +rivers, he declared, would be worse than useless in such water as was to +be encountered at Surprise, Kinbasket and Death Rapids) and about an +equal amount of time trying to convince me that my life would be +perfectly safe if only I would engage him and his Indian and confide it +to their care. As the consideration suggested in return for this +immunity figured out at between two and three times the rate we had been +expecting to pay for boatmen, I had to decline to take advantage of it. + +Finally, in Revelstoke, through the efforts of T. C. McNab of the +Canadian Pacific, who had been at considerable trouble to line up +possible candidates for a Big Bend trip, I met Bob Blackmore. After that +things began moving toward a definite end. + +"You won't find old Bob Blackmore an active church-worker," I was told +in Revelstoke, "and at one time he had the reputation of being the +smoothest thing in the way of a boot-legger in this part of B. C. But he +drinks little himself, is a past-master of woodcraft, a dead shot, and +has twice the experience of swift-water boating of any man on the upper +Columbia. In spite of the fact that he has undergone no end of hardship +in his thirty years of packing, hunting, prospecting, trapping and +boating all over the West, he's as hard to-day at fifty odd as most men +are at thirty. Because he dished a boatload of freight last year +somewhere up river, there are a few who are saying that old Bob +Blackmore is losing his grip. Don't believe it. He was never better in +his life than he is right now, and if you can persuade him to run your +show round the Big Bend you're in luck. Once you start, you'll come +right on round to Revelstoke all right. No fear on that score. But if +you have old Bob Blackmore you'll stand a jolly lot better chance of +arriving on top of the water." + +I found Bob Blackmore at his river-side home in the old town--what had +been the metropolitan centre of Revelstoke in the days when it was the +head of navigation of steamers from below the Arrow Lakes, and before +the railway had come to drag settlement a mile northeastward and away +from the Columbia. He was picking apples with one hand and slapping +mosquitoes with the other--a grey-haired, grey-eyed man of middle +height, with a muscular torso, a steady stare, and a grip that I had to +meet half way to save my fingers. He might have passed for a well-to-do +Middle Western farmer except for his iron-grey moustaches, which were +long and drooping, like those affected by cowboy-town sheriffs in the +movies. + +I knew at once that this was the man I wanted, and my only doubt was as +to whether or not he felt the same way about me. They had told me in +town that Blackmore, having some means and being more or less +independent, never went out with a man or an outfit he did not like. I +felt that it was I who was on approval, not he. I need not have worried, +however. In this instance, at least, Bob Blackmore's mind was made up in +advance. It was the movies that had done it. + +"The C. P. R. people wrote me that you might be wanting me for the +Bend," he said genially after I had introduced myself, "and on the +chance that we would be hitching up I have put my big boat in the water +to give her a good soaking. I've figured that she's the only boat on the +upper river that will do for what you want. I reckon I know them all. +She'll carry three or four times as much as the biggest Peterboro. +Besides, if you tried to go round in canoes, you'd be portaging or +lining in a dozen places where I would drive this one straight through. +With any luck, and if the water doesn't go down too fast, I'd figure on +going the whole way without taking her out of the river at more'n one +place, and maybe not there." + +"So you're willing to go ahead and see us through," I exclaimed +delightedly. "They told me in the town that you'd probably need a lot of +persuading, especially as you've been saying for the last two or three +years that you were through with the Bend for good and all." + +Blackmore grinned broadly and somewhat sheepishly. "So I have," he said. +"Fact is, I've never yet been round the Bend that I didn't tell myself +and everybody else that I'd never try it again. I really meant it the +last time, which was three or four years ago. And I've really meant it +every time I said it right up to a few days back, when I heard that you +wanted to take a movie machine in there and try and get some pictures. +If that was so, I said to myself, it was sure up to me to do what I +could to help, for there's scenery in there that is more worth picturing +than any I've come across in thirty years of knocking around all over +the mountain country of the West. So I'm your man if you want me. Of +course you know something of what you're going up against in bucking the +Bend?" + +"Yes," I replied a bit wearily. "I've been hearing very little else for +the last week. Let's talk about the scenery." + +"So they've been trying to frighten you out of it," he said with a +sympathetic smile. "They always do that with strangers who come here to +tackle the Bend. And mostly they succeed. There was one chap they +couldn't stop, though. He was a professor of some kind from +Philadelphia. Fact is, he wasn't enough frightened. That's a bad thing +with the Columbia, which isn't to be taken liberties with. I buried him +near the head of Kinbasket Lake. We'll see his grave when we come down +from Surprise Rapids. I'll want to stop off for a bit and see if the +cross I put up is still standing. He was...." + +"_Et tu Brute_," I muttered under my breath. Then, aloud: "Let's look at +the boat." + +Already this penchant of the natives for turning the pages of the Big +Bend's gruesome record of death and disaster was getting onto my nerves, +and it was rather a shock to find even the quiet-spoken, steady-eyed +Blackmore addicted to the habit. Afterwards, when I got used to it, I +ceased to mind. As a matter of fact, the good souls could no more help +expatiating on what the Big Bend had done to people who had taken +liberties with it than an aviator who is about to take you for a flight +can help leading you round back of the hangar and showing you the +wreckage of his latest crash. It seems to be one of the inevitable +promptings of the human animal to warn his brother animal of troubles +ahead. This is doubtless the outgrowth of the bogies and the "don'ts" +which are calculated to check the child's explorative and investigative +instincts in his nursery days. From the source to the mouth of the +Columbia it was never (according to the solicitous volunteer advisers +along the way) the really dangerous rapids that I had put behind me. +These were always somewhere ahead--usually just around the next bend, +where I would run into them the first thing in the morning. Luckily, I +learned to discount these warnings very early in the game, and so saved +much sleep which it would have been a real loss to be deprived of. + +Blackmore led the way back through his apple orchard and down a stairway +that descended the steeply-sloping river bank to his boat-house. The +Columbia, a quarter of a mile wide and with just a shade of grey +clouding its lucent greenness to reveal its glacial origin, slid swiftly +but smoothly by with a purposeful current of six or seven miles an hour. +A wing-dam of concrete, evidently built to protect the works of a +sawmill a bit farther down stream, jutted out into the current just +above, and the boat-house, set on a raft of huge logs, floated in the +eddy below. + +There were two boats in sight, both in the water. Blackmore indicated +the larger one of the pair--a double-ender of about thirty feet in +length and generous beam--as the craft recommended for the Big Bend +trip. "I built her for the Bend more than fifteen years ago," he said, +tapping the heavy gunwale with the toe of his boot. "She's the only boat +I know that has been all the way round more than once, so you might say +she knows the road. She's had many a hard bump, but--with any luck--she +ought to stand one or two more. Not that I'm asking for any more than +can be helped, though. There's no boat ever built that will stand a +head-on crash 'gainst a rock in any such current as is driving it down +Surprise or Kinbasket or Death Rapids, or a dozen other runs of swift +water on the Bend. Of course, you're going to hit once in a while, spite +of all you can do; but, if you're lucky, you'll probably kiss off +without staving in a side. If you're not--well, if you're not lucky, you +have no business fooling with the Bend at all. + +"Now what I like about this big boat of mine," he continued, taking up +the scope of the painter to bring her in out of the tug of the current, +"is that she's a lucky boat. Never lost a man out of her--that is, +directly--and only one load of freight. Now with that one (indicating +the smaller craft, a canoe-like double-ender of about twenty feet) it's +just the other way. If there's trouble around she'll have her nose into +it. She's as good a built boat as any on the river, easy to handle up +stream and down--but unlucky. Why, only a few weeks ago a lad from the +town borrowed her to have a bit of a lark running the ripple over that +dam there. It's covered at high water, and just enough of a pitch to +give the youngsters a little excitement in dropping over. Safe enough +stunt with any luck at all. But that boat's not lucky. She drifted on +sidewise, caught her keel and capsized. The lad and the two girls with +him were all drowned. They found his body a week or two later. All his +pockets were turned wrong-side-out and empty. The Columbia current most +always plays that trick on a man--picks his pockets clean. The bodies of +the girls never did show up. Probably the sand got into their clothes +and held them down. That's another little trick of the Columbia. She's +as full of tricks as a box of monkeys, that old stream there, and you've +got to keep an eye lifting for 'em all the time if you're going to +steer clear of trouble." + +"It won't be the first time I've had my pockets picked," I broke in +somewhat testily. "Besides, if you're going to charge me at the rate +that Indian I heard of in Kamloops demanded, there won't be anything +left for the Columbia to extract." + +That brought us down to business, and I had no complaint to make of the +terms Blackmore suggested--twelve dollars a day for himself and boat, I +to buy the provisions and make my own arrangements with any additional +boatmen. I already had sensed enough of the character of the work ahead +to know that a good boatman would be cheap at any price, and a poor one +dear if working only for his grub. Blackmore was to get the big boat in +shape and have it ready to ship by rail to Beavermouth (at the head of +the Bend and the most convenient point to get a craft into the river) +when I returned from the source of the Columbia above Windermere. + +Going on to Golden by train from Revelstoke, I looked up Captain F. P. +Armstrong, with whom I had already been in communication by wire. The +Captain had navigated steamers between Golden and Windermere for many +years, they told me at C. P. R. headquarters in Revelstoke, and had also +some experience of the Bend. He would be unable to join me for the trip +himself, but had spoken to one or two men who might be induced to do so. +In any event his advice would be invaluable. + +I shall have so much to say of Captain Armstrong in the account of a +later part of my down-river voyage that the briefest introduction to a +man who has been one of the most picturesque personalities in the +pioneering history of British Columbia will suffice here. Short, +compactly but cleanly built, with iron-grey hair, square, determined jaw +and piercing black eyes, he has been well characterized as "the biggest +little man on the upper Columbia." Although he confessed to sixty-three +years, he might well have passed for fifty, a circumstance which +doubtless had much to do with the fact that he saw three years of active +service in the transport service on the Tigris and Nile during the late +war. Indeed, as became apparent later, he generally had as much reserve +energy at the end of a long day's paddling as another man I could +mention who is rather loath to admit forty. + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +MT. ASSINIBOINE, NEAR THE HEADWATERS OF THE COLUMBIA] + +[Illustration: TWIN FALLS] + +[Illustration: TAKAKAW FALLS + +TWO GREAT CATARACTS OF THE COLUMBIA WATERSHED] + +Captain Armstrong explained that he was about to close the sale of one +of his mines on a tributary of the upper Columbia, and for that reason +would be unable to join us for the Big Bend trip, as much as he would +have enjoyed doing so. In the event that I decided to continue on down +the Columbia after circling the Bend, it was just possible he would be +clear to go along for a way. He spoke highly of Blackmore's ability as a +river man, and mentioned one or two others in Golden whom he thought +might be secured. Ten dollars a day was the customary pay for a boatman +going all the way round the Bend. That was about twice the ordinary wage +prevailing at the time in the sawmills and lumber camps. The extra five +was partly insurance, and partly because the work was hard and really +good river men very scarce. It was fair pay for an experienced hand. +A poor boatman was worse than none at all, that is, in a pinch, while a +good one might easily mean the difference between success and disaster. +And of course I knew that disaster on the Bend--with perhaps fifty miles +of trackless mountains between a wet man on the bank and the nearest +human habitation--was spelt with a big D. + +So far as I can remember, Captain Armstrong was the only one with whom I +talked in Golden who did not try to dramatize the dangers and +difficulties of the Big Bend. Seemingly taking it for granted that I +knew all about them, or in any case would hear enough of them from the +others, he turned his attention to forwarding practical plans for the +trip. He even contributed a touch of romance to a venture that the rest +seemed a unit in trying to make me believe was a sort of a cross between +going over Niagara in barrel and a flight to one of the Poles. + +"There was a deal of boot-legging on the river between Golden and Boat +Encampment during the years the Grand Trunk was being built," he said as +we pored over an outspread map of the Big Bend, "for that was the first +leg of the run into the western construction camps, where the sale of +liquor was forbidden by law. Many and many a boatload of the stuff went +wrong in the rapids. This would have been inevitable in any case, just +in the ordinary course of working in such difficult water. But what made +the losses worse was the fact that a good many of the bootleggers always +started off with a load under their belts as well as in their boats. Few +of the bodies were ever found, but with the casks of whisky it was +different, doubtless because the latter would float longer and resist +buffeting better. Cask after cask has kept turning up through the years, +even down to the present, when B. C. is a comparative desert. They are +found in the most unexpected places, and it's very rare for a party to +go all the way round the Bend without stumbling onto one. So bear well +in mind you are not to go by anything that looks like a small barrel +without looking to see if it has a head in both ends. If you have time, +it will pay you to clamber for a few hours over the great patch of drift +just below Middle River on Kinbasket Lake. That's the one great +catch-all for everything floatable that gets into the river below +Golden. I've found just about everything there from a canary bird cage +to a railway bridge. Failing there (which will only be because you don't +search long enough), dig sixteen paces northwest by compass from the +foundation of the west tower of the abandoned cable ferry just above +Boat Encampment." + +"How's that again!" I exclaimed incredulously. "Sure you aren't +confusing the Big Bend with the Spanish Main?" + +"If you follow my directions," replied the Captain with a grin, "you'll +uncover more treasure for five minutes' scratching than you'd be likely +to find in turning over the Dry Tortugas for five years. You see, it was +this way," he went on, smiling the smile of a man who speaks of +something which has strongly stirred his imagination. "It was only a few +weeks after Walter Steinhoff was lost in Surprise Rapids that I made +the trip round the Bend in a Peterboro to examine some silver-lead +prospects I had word of. I had with me Pete Bergenham (a first-class +river man; one you will do well to get yourself if you can) and another +chap. This fellow was good enough with the paddle, but--though I didn't +know it when I engaged him--badly addicted to drink. That's a fatal +weakness for a man who is going to work in swift water, and especially +such water as you strike at Surprise and the long run of Kinbasket +Rapids. The wreckage of Steinhoff's disaster (Blackmore will spin you +the straightest yarn about that) was scattered all the way from the big +whirlpool in Surprise Rapids down to Middle River, where they finally +found his body. We might easily have picked up more than the one +ten-gallon cask we bumped into, floating just submerged, in the shallows +of the mud island at the head of Kinbasket Lake. + +"I didn't feel quite right about having so much whisky along; but the +stuff had its value even in those days, and I would have felt still +worse about leaving it to fall into the hands of some one who would be +less moderate in its use than would I. I knew Pete Bergenham was all +right, and counted on being able to keep an eye on the other man. That +was just where I fell down. I should have taken the cask to bed with me +instead of leaving it in the canoe. + +"When the fellow got to the whisky I never knew, but it was probably +well along toward morning. He was already up when I awoke, and displayed +unwonted energy in getting breakfast and breaking camp. If I had known +how heavily he had been tippling I would have given him another drink +before pushing off to steady his nerve. That might have held him all +right. As it was, reaction in mind and body set in just as we headed +into that first sharp dip below the lake--the beginning of the +twenty-one miles of Kinbasket Rapids. At the place where the bottom has +dropped out from under and left the channel blocked by jagged rocks with +no place to run through, he collapsed as if kicked in the stomach, and +slithered down into the bottom of the canoe, blubbering like a baby. We +just did manage to make our landing above the cascade. With a less +skilful man than Bergenham at the stern paddle we would have failed, and +that would have meant that we should probably not have stopped for good +before we settled into the mud at the bottom of the Arrow Lakes. + +"Even after that I could not find it in my heart to dish for good and +all so much prime whisky. So I compromised by burying it that night, +after we had come through the rapids without further mishap, at the spot +I have told you of. That it was the best thing to do under the +circumstances I am quite convinced. The mere thought that it was still +in the world has cheered me in many a thirsty interval--yes, even out on +the Tigris and the Nile, when there was no certainty I would ever come +back to get it again. + +"And now I'm going to tell you how to find it, for there's no knowing if +I shall ever have a chance to go for it myself. If you bring it out to +Revelstoke safely, we'll split it fifty-fifty, as they say on your side +of the line. All I shall want to know is who your other boatmen are +going to be. Blackmore is all right, but if any one of the men whom he +takes with him is a real drinker, you'd best forget the whole thing. If +it's an 'all-sober' crew, I'll give you a map, marked so plainly that +you can't go wrong. It will be a grand haul, for it was Number One +Scotch even when we planted it there, and since then it has been ageing +in wood for something like ten years. I suppose you'll be keen to +smuggle your dividend right on down into the 'The Great American +Desert'?" he concluded with a grin. + +"Trust me for that," I replied with a knowing shake of my head. "I +didn't spend six months writing up opium smuggling on the China Coast +for nothing." Then I told him the story of the Eurasian lady who was fat +in Amoy and thin in Hongkong, and who finally confessed to having +smuggled forty pounds of opium, three times a week for five years, in +oiled silk hip- and bust-pads. + +"You must have a lot of prime ideas," said the Captain admiringly. "You +ought to make it easy, especially if you cross the line by boat. How +would a false bottom ... but perhaps it would be safer to float it down +submerged, with an old shingle-bolt for a buoy, and pick it up +afterwards." + +"Or inside my pneumatic mattress," I suggested. "But perhaps it would +taste from the rubber." By midnight we had evolved a plan which could +not fail, and which was almost without risk. "The stuff's as good as in +California," I told myself before I went to sleep--"and enough to pay +all the expenses of my trip in case I should care to bootleg it, which +I won't." + +Captain Armstrong's mention of the Steinhoff disaster was not the first +I had heard of it. The chap with whom I had talked in Kamloops had +shown me a photograph of a rude cross that he and his Indian companion +had erected over Steinhoff's grave, and in Revelstoke nearly every one +who spoke of the Bend made some reference to the tragic affair. But here +in Golden, which had been his home, the spectacularity of his passing +seemed to have had an even more profound effect. As with everything else +connected with the Big Bend, however, there was a very evident tendency +to dramatize, to "play up," the incident. I heard many different +versions of the story, but there was one part, the tragic finale, in +which they all were in practical agreement. When his canoe broke loose +from its line, they said, and shot down toward the big whirlpool at the +foot of the second cataract of Surprise Rapids, Steinhoff, realizing +that there was no chance of the light craft surviving the maelstrom, +coolly turned round, waved farewell to his companions on the bank, and, +folding his arms, went down to his death. Canoe and man were sucked +completely out of sight, never to be seen again until the fragments of +the one and the battered body of the other were cast up, weeks later, +many miles below. + +It was an extremely effective story, especially as told by the local +member in the B. C. Provincial Assembly, who had real histrionic talent. +But somehow I couldn't quite reconcile the Nirvanic resignation implied +by the farewell wave and the folded arms with the never-say-die, +cat-with-nine-lives spirit I had come to associate with your true +swift-water boatman the world over. I was quite ready to grant that the +big sockdolager of a whirlpool below the second pitch of Surprise +Rapids was a real all-day and all-night sucker, but the old river hand +who gave up to it like the Kentucky coons at the sight of Davy +Crockett's squirrel-gun wasn't quite convincing. That, and the iterated +statement that Steinhoff's canoe-mate, who was thrown into the water at +the same time, won his way to the bank by walking along the bottom +_beneath_ the surface, had a decidedly steadying effect on the erratic +flights to which my fancy had been launched by Big Bend yarns generally. +There had been something strangely familiar in them all, and finally it +came to me--Chinese _feng-shui_ generally, and particularly the legends +of the sampan men of the portage villages along the Ichang gorges of the +Yangtze. The things the giant dragon lurking in the whirlpools at the +foot of the rapids would do to the luckless ones he got his back-curving +teeth into were just a slightly different way of telling what the good +folk of Golden claimed the Big Bend would do to the hapless wights who +ventured down its darksome depths. + +Now that I thought of it in this clarifying light, there had been +"dragon stuff" bobbing up about almost every stretch of rough water I +had boated. Mostly it was native superstition, but partly it was small +town pride--pride in the things their "Dragon" had done, and would do. +Human nature--yes, and river rapids, too--are very much the same the +world over, whether on the Yangtze, Brahmaputra or upper Columbia. + +That brought the Big Bend into its proper perspective. I realized that +it was only water running down hill after all. Possibly it was faster +than anything I had boated previously, and certainly--excepting the +Yukon perhaps--colder. A great many men had been drowned in trying to +run it; but so had men been drowned in duck-ponds. But many men had gone +round without disaster, and that would I do, _Imshallah_. I always liked +that pious Arab qualification when speaking of futurities. Later I +applied the name--in fancy--to the skiff in which I made the voyage down +the lower river. + +Yes, undoubtedly the most of the yarns and the warnings were "dragon +stuff" pure and simple, but Romance remained. A hundred miles of river +with possible treasure lurking in every eddy, and one place where it +_had_ to be! I felt as I did the first time I read "Treasure Island," +only more so. For that I had only _read_, and now I was going to search +for myself--yes, and I was going to find, too. It was a golden sunset in +more ways than one the evening before I was to leave for the upper +river. Barred and spangled and fluted with liquid, lucent gold was the +sky above hills that were themselves golden with the tints of early +autumn. And in the Northwest there was a flush of rose, old rose that +deepened and glowed in lambent crimson where a notch between the +Selkirks and Rockies marked the approximate location of historic Boat +Encampment. "Great things have happened at Boat Encampment," I told +myself, "and its history is not all written." Then: "Sixteen paces +northwest by compass from the foundation of the west tower of the +abandoned cable ferry...." Several times during dinner that evening I +had to check myself from humming an ancient song. "What's that about, +'_Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum_'?" queried the mackinaw drummer from +Winnipeg who sat next me. "I thought you were from the States. I don't +quite see the point." + +"It's just as well you don't," I replied, and was content to let it go +at that. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +UP HORSE THIEF CREEK + + +When I started north from Los Angeles toward the end of August Chester, +held up for the moment by business, was hoping to be able to shake free +so as to arrive on the upper Columbia by the time I had arrangements for +the Big Bend voyage complete. We would then go together to the Lake of +the Hanging Glaciers before embarking on the Bend venture. Luck was not +with him, however. The day I was ready to start on up river from Golden +I received a wire stating that he was still indefinitely delayed, and +that the best that there was now any chance of his doing would be to +join me for the Bend. He had ordered his cameraman to Windermere, where +full directions for the trip to the glaciers awaited him. He hoped I +would see fit to go along and help with the picture, as some "central +figure" besides the guides and packers would be needed to give the +"story" continuity. I replied that I would be glad to do the best I +could, and left for Lake Windermere by the next train. Few movie stars +have ever been called to twinkle upon shorter notice. + +One is usually told that the source of the Columbia is in Canal Flats, a +hundred and fifty miles above Golden, and immediately south of a +wonderfully lovely mountain-begirt lake that bears the same name as the +river. This is true in a sense, although, strictly speaking, the real +source of the river--the one rising at the point the greatest distance +from its mouth--would be the longest of the many mountain creeks which +converge upon Columbia Lake from the encompassing amphitheatre of the +Rockies and Selkirks. This is probably Dutch Creek, which rises in the +perpetual snow of the Selkirks and sends down a roaring torrent of +grey-green glacier water into the western side of Columbia Lake. +Scarcely less distant from the mouth of the Columbia are the heads of +Toby and Horse Thief creeks, both of which bring splendid volumes of +water to the mother river just below Lake Windermere. + +It was the presence of the almost totally unknown Lake of the Hanging +Glaciers near the head of the Horse Thief Creek watershed that was +responsible for Chester's determination to carry his preliminary +explorations up to the latter source of the Columbia rather than to one +slightly more remote above the upper lake. We had assurance that a +trail, upon which work had been in progress all summer, would be +completed by the middle of September, so that it would then be possible +for the first time to take pack-horses and a full moving-picture outfit +to one of the rarest scenic gems on the North American continent, the +Lake of the Hanging Glaciers. To get the first movies of what is claimed +to be the only lake in the world outside of the polar regions that has +icebergs perpetually floating upon its surface was the principal object +of Chester in directing his outfit up Horse Thief Creek. My own object +was to reach one of the several points where the Columbia took its rise +in the glacial ice, there to do a right-about and start upon my +long-dreamed-of journey from snowflake to brine. + +It is a dozen years or more since one could travel the hundred miles of +the Columbia between Golden and Lake Windermere by steamer. The +comparatively sparse population in this rich but thinly settled region +was not sufficient to support both rail and river transport, and with +the coming of the former the latter could not long be maintained. Two or +three rotting hulks on the mud by the old landing at Golden are all that +remain of one of the most picturesque steamer services ever run, for +those old stern-wheelers used to flounder up the Columbia to Windermere, +on through Mud and Columbia Lakes to Canal Flats, through a log-built +lock to the Kootenay watershed, and then down the winding canyons and +tumbling rapids of that tempestuous stream to Jennings, Montana. Those +were the bonanza days of the upper Columbia and Kootenay--such days as +they have never seen since nor will ever see again. I was to hear much +of them later from Captain Armstrong when we voyaged a stretch of the +lower river together. + +There is a train between Golden and Windermere only three times a week. +It is an amiable, ambling "jerk-water," whose conductor does everything +from dandling babies to unloading lumber. At one station he held over +for five minutes to let me run down to a point where I could get the +best light on a "reflection" picture in the river, and at another he ran +the whole train back to pick up a basket of eggs which had been +overlooked in the rush of departure. The Canadian Pacific has the happy +faculty of being all things to all men. Its main line has always +impressed me as being the best-run road I have ever travelled on in any +part of the world, including the United States. One would hardly +characterize its little country feeders in the same words, but even +these latter, as the instances I have noted will bear out, come about as +near to being run for the accommodation of the travelling public as +anything one will ever find. There is not the least need of hurrying +this Golden-Windermere express. It stops over night at Invermere anyway, +before continuing its leisurely progress southward the next morning. + +Chester's cameraman met me with a car at the station, and we rode a mile +to the hotel at Invermere, on the heights above the lake. His name was +Roos, he said--Len H. Roos of N. Y. C. It was his misfortune to have +been born in Canada, he explained, but he had always had a great +admiration for Americans, and had taken out his first papers for +citizenship. He could manage to get on with Canadians in a pinch, he +averred further; but as for Britishers--no "Lime-juicers" for him, with +their "G'bly'me's" and afternoon teas. I saw that this was going to be a +difficult companion, and took the occasion to point out that, since he +was going to be in Canada for some weeks, it might be just as well to +bottle up his rancour against the land of his birth until he was back on +the other side of the line and had completed the honour he intended to +do Uncle Sam by becoming an American citizen. Maybe I was right, he +admitted thoughtfully; but it would be a hard thing for him to do, as +he was naturally very frank and outspoken and a great believer in +saying just what he thought of people and things. + +He was right about being outspoken. He had also rather a glittering line +of dogma on the finer things of life. Jazz was the highest form of music +(he ought to know, for had he not played both jazz and grand opera when +he was head drummer of the Galt, Ontario, town band?); the Mack Sennett +bathing comedy was his _belle ideal_ of kinematic art; and the +newspapers of William Hearst were the supreme development of journalism. +This latter he knew, because he had done camera work for a Hearst +syndicate himself. I could manage to make a few degrees of allowance for +jazz and the Mack Sennett knockabouts under the circumstances, but the +deification of Hearst created an unbridgeable gulf. I foresaw that +"director" and "star" were going to have bumpy sledding, but also +perceived the possibility of comedy elements which promised to go a long +way toward redeeming the enforced partnership from irksomeness, that is, +if the latter were not too prolonged. That it could run to six or seven +weeks and the passage of near to a thousand miles of the Columbia +without turning both "director" and "star" into actual assassins, I +would never have believed. Indeed, I am not able to figure out even now +how it could have worked out that way. I can't explain it. I merely +state the fact. + +Walter Nixon, the packer who was to take us "up Horse Thief," had been +engaged by wire a week previously. His outfit had been ready for several +days, and he called at the hotel the evening of my arrival to go over +the grub list and make definite plans. As there were only two of us, he +reckoned that ten horses and two packers would be sufficient to see us +through. The horses would cost us two dollars a day a head, and the +packers five dollars apiece. The provisions he would buy himself and +endeavour to board us at a dollar and a half apiece a man. This footed +up to between thirty-five and forty dollars a day for the outfit, +exclusive of the movie end. It seemed a bit stiff offhand, but was +really very reasonable considering present costs of doing that kind of a +thing and the thoroughly first-class service Nixon gave us from +beginning to end. + +Nixon himself I was extremely well impressed with. He was a fine +up-standing fellow of six feet or more, black-haired, black-eyed, +broad-shouldered and a swell of biceps and thigh that even his +loose-fitting mackinaws could not entirely conceal. I liked +particularly his simple rig-out, in its pleasing contrast to the +cross-between-a-movie-cowboy-and-a-Tyrolean-yodeler garb that has come +to be so much affected by the so-called guides at Banff and Lake Louise. +Like the best of his kind, Nixon was quiet-spoken and leisurely of +movement, but with a suggestion of powerful reserves of both vocabulary +and activity. I felt sure at first sight that he was the sort of a man +who could be depended upon to see a thing through whatever the +difficulties, and I never had reason to change my opinion on that score. + +It was arranged that night that Nixon should get away with the pack +outfit by noon of the next day, and make an easy stage of it to the +Starbird Ranch, at the end of the wagon-road, nineteen miles out from +Invermere. The following morning Roos and I would come out by motor and +be ready to start by the time the horses were up and the packs on. That +gave us an extra day for exploring Windermere and the more imminent +sources of the Columbia. + +Roos' instructions from Chester called for a "Windermere Picture," in +which should be shown the scenic, camping, fishing and hunting life of +that region. The scenic and camping shots he had already made; the fish +and the game had eluded him. I arrived just in time to take part in the +final scurry to complete the picture. The fish to be shown were trout, +and the game mountain sheep and goat, or at least that was the way Roos +planned it at breakfast time. When inquiry revealed that it would take a +day to reach a trout stream, and three days to penetrate to the haunts +of the sheep and goats, he modified the campaign somewhat to conform +with the limited time at our disposal. Close at hand in the lake there +was a fish called the squaw-fish, which, floundering at the end of a +line, would photograph almost like a trout, or so the hotel proprietor +thought. And the best of it was that any one could catch them. Indeed, +at times one had to manoeuvre to keep them from taking the bait that +was meant for the more gamy and edible, but also far more elusive, ling +or fresh-water cod. As for the game picture, said Roos, he would save +time by having a deer rounded up and driven into the lake, where he +would pursue it with a motor boat and shoot the required hunting +pictures. He would like to have me dress like a tourist and do the +hunting and fishing. That would break me in to adopting an easy and +pleasing manner before the camera, so that a minimum of film would be +spoiled when he got down to our regular work on the Hanging Glacier +picture. It wouldn't take long. That was the advantage of "news" +training for a cameraman. You could do things in a rush when you had to. + +Mr. Clelland, secretary of the Windermere Company, courteously found us +tackle and drove us down to the outlet of the lake to catch the +squaw-fish. Three hours later he drove us back to the hotel for lunch +without one single fragment of our succulent salt-pork bait having been +nuzzled on its hook. I lost my "easy and pleasing manner" at the end of +the first hour, and Roos--who was under rather greater tension in +standing by to crank--somewhat sooner. He said many unkind things about +fish in general and squaw-fish in particular before we gave up the fight +at noon, and I didn't improve matters at all by suggesting that I cut +out the picture on a salmon can label, fasten it to my hook, and have +him shoot me catching that. There was no sense whatever in the idea, he +said. You had to have studio lighting to get away with that sort of +thing. He couldn't see how I could advance such a thing seriously. As I +had some doubts on that score myself, I didn't start an argument. + +In the afternoon no better success attended our effort to make the +hunting picture,--this because no one seemed to know where a deer could +be rounded up and driven into the lake. Again I discovered a way to +save this situation. On the veranda of the country club there was a fine +mounted specimen of _Ovis Canadensis_, the Canadian mountain sheep. By +proper ballasting, I pointed out to Roos, this fine animal could be made +to submerge to a natural swimming depth--say with the head and shoulders +just above the water. Then a little Evinrude engine could be clamped to +its hind quarters and set going. Forthwith the whole thing must start +off ploughing across the lake just like a live mountain sheep. By a +little manoeuvring it ought to be possible to shoot at an angle that +would interpose the body of the sheep between the eye and the pushing +engine. If this proved to be impossible, perhaps it could be explained +in a sub-title that the extraneous machinery was a fragment of +mowing-machine or something of the kind that the sheep had collided with +and picked up in his flight. Roos, while admitting that this showed a +considerable advance over my salmon-label suggestion of the morning, +said that there were a number of limiting considerations which would +render it impracticable. I forget what all of these were, but one of +them was that our quarry couldn't be made to roll his eyes and register +"consternation" and "mute reproach" in the close-ups. I began to see +that there was a lot more to the movie game than I had ever dreamed. But +what a stimulator of the imagination it was! + +As there was nothing more to be done about the hunting and fishing shots +for the present, we turned our attention to final preparations for what +we had begun to call the "Hanging Glacier Picture." Roos said it would +be necessary to sketch a rough sort of scenario in advance--nothing +elaborate like "Broken Blossoms" or "The Perils of Pauline" (we hadn't +the company for that kind of thing), but just the thread of a story to +make the "continuity" ripple continuously. It would be enough, he +thought, if I would enact the role of a gentleman-sportsman and allow +the guides and packers to be just their normal selves. Then with these +circulating in the foreground, he would film the various scenic features +of the trip as they unrolled. All the lot of us would have to do would +be to act naturally and stand or lounge gracefully in those parts of the +picture where the presence of human beings would be best calculated to +balance effectively and harmoniously the composition. I agreed +cheerfully to the sportsman part of my role, but demurred as to +"gentleman." I might manage it for a scene, but for a sustained effort +it was out of the question. A compromise along this line was finally +effected. I engaged to act as much like a gentleman as I could for the +opening shot, after which I was to be allowed to lapse into the seeming +of a simple sportsman who loved scenery-gazing more than the pursuit and +slaying of goat, sheep and bear. Roos observed shrewdly that it would be +better to have the sportsman be more interested in scenery than game +because, judging from our experience at Windermere, we would find more +of the former than the latter. He was also encouragingly sympathetic +about my transient appearance as a gentleman. "I only want about fifty +feet of that," he said as he gave me a propitiating pat on the back; +"besides, it's all a matter of clothes anyhow." + +Before we turned in that night it transpired that Chester's hope of +being the first to show moving pictures of the Lake of the Hanging +Glaciers to the world was probably doomed to disappointment, or, at the +best, that this honour would have to be shared with an equally ambitious +rival. Byron Harmon, of Banff, formerly official photographer for the +Canadian Pacific, arrived at Invermere and announced that he was +planning to go "up Horse Thief" and endeavour to film a number of the +remarkable scenic features which he had hitherto tried to picture in +vain. His schedule was temporarily upset by the fact that we had already +engaged the best packtrain and guides available. Seasoned mountaineer +that he was, however, this was of small moment. A few hours' scurrying +about had provided him with a light but ample outfit, consisting of four +horses and two men, with which he planned to get away in the morning. He +was not in the least perturbed by the fact that Roos had practically a +day's start of him. "There's room for a hundred cameramen to work up +there," he told me genially; "and the more the world is shown of the +wonders of the Rockies and the Selkirks, the more it will want to see. +It will be good to have your company, and each of us ought to be of help +to the other." + +I had some difficulty in bringing Roos to a similarly philosophical +viewpoint. His "Hearst" training impelled him to brook no rivalry, to +beat out the other man by any means that offered. He had the better +packtrain, he said, to say nothing of a day's start. Also, he had the +only dynamite and caps available that side of Golden, so that he would +have the inside track for starting avalanches and creating artificial +icebergs in the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers. I would like to think that +it was my argument that, since it was not a "news" picture he was after, +the man who took the most time to his work would be the one to get the +best results, was what brought him round finally. I greatly fear, +however, it was the knowledge that the generous Harmon had a number of +flares that did the trick. He had neglected to provide flares himself, +and without them work in the ice caves--second only in interest to the +Lake of the Hanging Glaciers itself--would be greatly circumscribed. At +any rate, he finally agreed to a truce, and we took Harmon out to the +end of the road in our car the following morning. Of the latter's really +notable work in picturing the mountains of western Canada I shall write +later. + +The horses were waiting, saddled and packed, as we drove up to the +rendezvous. The packer was a powerfully built fellow, with his straight +black hair and high cheek bones betokening a considerable mixture of +Indian blood. His name was Buckman--Jim Buckman. He was the village +blacksmith of Athalmere, Nixon explained. He was making plenty of money +in his trade, but was willing to come along at a packer's wage for the +sake of the experience as an actor. The lure of the movies was also +responsible for the presence of Nixon's fourteen-year-old son, Gordon, +who had threatened to run away from home if he wasn't allowed to come +along. He proved a useful acquisition--more than sufficiently so, it +seemed to me, to compensate for what he did to the jam and honey. + +Roos called us around him and gave instructions for the "business" of +the opening shot. Nixon and Jim were to be "picked up" taking the last +of the slack out of a "diamond hitch," Gordon frolicking in the +background with his dog. When the car drove up, Nixon was to take my +saddle horse by the bridle, walk up and shake hands with me. Then, to +make the transition from Civilization to the Primitive (movie people +never miss a chance to use that word) with a click, I was to step +directly from the car into my stirrups. "Get me!" admonished Roos; +"straight from the running board to the saddle. Don't touch the ground +at all. Make it snappy, all of you. I don't want any of you to grow into +'foot-lice.'" + +My saddle horse turned out to be a stockily-built grey of over 1200 +pounds. He looked hard as nails and to have no end of endurance. But his +shifty eye and back-laid ears indicated temperamentality, so that +Nixon's warning that he "warn't exactly a lady's hawss" was a bit +superfluous. "When you told me you tipped the beam at two-forty," he +said, "I know'd 'Grayback' was the only hawss that'd carry you up these +trails. So I brung him in, and stuffed him up with oats, and here he is. +He may dance a leetle on his toes jest now, but he'll gentle down a lot +by the end of a week." + +Whether "Grayback" mastered all of the "business" of that shot or not is +probably open to doubt, but that he took the "Make it snappy!" part to +heart there was no question. He came alongside like a lamb, but the +instant I started to make my transition from "Civilization to the +Primitive with a click" he started climbing into the car. The only click +I heard was when my ear hit the ground. Roos couldn't have spoiled any +more film than I did cuticle, but, being a "Director," he made a good +deal more noise about it. After barking his hocks on the fender, +"Grayback" refused to be enticed within mounting distance of the car +again, so finally, with a comparatively un-clicky transition from +Civilization to the Primitive, I got aboard by the usual route from the +ground. + +The next shot was a quarter of a mile farther up the trail. Here Roos +found a natural sylvan frame through which to shoot the whole outfit as +it came stringing along. Unfortunately, the "Director" failed to tell +the actors not to look at the camera--that, once and for all, the +clicking box must be reckoned as a thing non-existent--and it all had to +be done over again. The next time it was better, but the actors still +had a wooden expression on their faces. They didn't look at the camera, +but the expression on their faces showed that they were conscious of it. +Roos then instructed me to talk to my companions, or sing, or do +anything that would take their minds off the camera and make them appear +relaxed and natural. That time we did it famously. As each, in turn, +cantered by the sylvan bower with its clicking camera he was up to his +neck "doing something." Nixon was declaiming Lincoln's Gettysburg speech +as he had learned it from his phonograph, Gordon was calling his dog, +Jim was larruping a straggling pinto and cursing it in fluent local +idiom, and I was singing "Onward, Christian Soldiers!" We never had any +trouble about "being natural" after that; but I hope no lip reader ever +sees the pictures. + +After picking up Roos and his camera we made our real start. One +pack-horse was reserved for the camera and tripod, and to prevent him +from ranging from the trail and bumping the valuable apparatus against +trees or rocks, his halter was tied to the tail of Nixon's saddle +animal. Except that the latter's spinal column must have suffered some +pretty severe snakings when the camera-carrier went through corduroy +bridges or lost his footings in fords, the arrangement worked most +successfully. The delicate instrument was not in the least injured in +all of the many miles it was jogged over some of the roughest trails I +have ever travelled. + +The sunshine by which the last of the trail shots was made proved the +parting glimmer of what had been a month or more of practically unbroken +fair weather. Indeed, the weather had been rather too fine, for, toward +the end of the summer, lack of rain in western Canada invariably means +forest fires. As these had been raging intermittently for several weeks +all over British Columbia, the air had become thick with smoke, and at +many places it was impossible to see for more than a mile or two in any +direction. Both Roos and Harmon had been greatly hampered in their work +about Banff and Lake Louise by the smoke, and both were, therefore, +exceedingly anxious for early and copious rains to clear the air. +Otherwise, they said, there was no hope of a picture of the Lake of the +Hanging Glaciers that would be worth the film it was printed on. They +must have rain. Their prayer was about to be answered, in full measure, +pressed down and running over--and then some. + +We had been encountering contending currents of hot and cold air all the +way up the wagon-road from Invermere and the lower valley. Now, as we +entered the mountains, these became more pronounced, taking the form of +scurrying "dust-devils" that attacked from flank and van without method +or premonitory signal. The narrowing gorge ahead was packed solid with a +sullen phalanx of augmenting clouds, sombre-hued and sagging with +moisture, and frequently illumined with forked lightning flashes +discharged from their murky depths. Nixon, anxious to make camp before +the storm broke, jogged the horses steadily all through the darkening +afternoon. It was a point called "Sixteen-mile" he was driving for, the +first place we would reach where there was room for the tent and feed +for the horses. We were still four miles short of our destination when +the first spatter of ranging drops opened up, and from there on the +batteries of the storm concentrated on us all the way. + +We made camp in a rain driving solidly enough to deflect the stroke of +an axe. I shall not enlarge upon the acute discomfort of it. Those who +have done it will understand; those who have not would never be able to. +It was especially trying on the first day out, before the outfit had +become shaken down and one had learned where to look for things. Nixon's +consummate woodcraftsmanship was put to a severe test, but emerged +triumphant. So, too, Jim, who proved himself as impervious to rain as to +ill-temper. The fir boughs for the tent floor came in dripping, of +course, but there were enough dry tarpaulins and blankets to blot up the +heaviest of the moisture, and the glowing little sheet-iron stove licked +up the rest. A piping hot dinner drove out the last of the chill, and we +spent a snug, comfy evening listening to Nixon yarn about his +mountaineering exploits and of the queer birds from New York and London +whom he had nursed through strange and various intervals of moose and +sheep-hunting in the Kootenays and Rockies. We slept dry but rather +cold, especially Roos, who ended up by curling round the stove and +stoking between shivers. Nixon and Jim drew generously on their own +blanket rolls to help the both of us confine our ebbing animal heat, and +yet appeared to find not the least difficulty in sleeping comfortably +under half the weight of cover that left us shaking. It was all a matter +of what one was used to, of course, and in a few days we began to +harden. + +It was September tenth that we had started from Invermere, hoping at the +time to be able to accomplish what we had set out to do in from four to +six days. The rain which had come to break the long dry spell put a very +different face on things, however. The eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth +we were held in our first camp by an almost continuous downpour, which +turned the mountain streams into torrents and raised Horse Thief till it +lapped over the rim of the flat upon which our tent was pitched. The +night of the thirteenth, with a sharp drop of the temperature, the rain +turned to snow, and we crawled out on the fourteenth to find the valley +under a light blanket of white. Then the clouds broke away and the +sunshine and shadows began playing tag over the scarps and buttresses of +the encompassing amphitheatre of mountains. For the first time there was +a chance for a glimpse of the new world into which we had come. The +transition from the cultivation and the gentle wooded slopes of +Windermere was startling. Under the mask of the storm clouds we had +penetrated from a smooth, rounded, pleasant country to one that was +cliffy and pinnacled and bare--a country that was all on end, a land +whose bones showed through. A towering Matterhorn reared its head six or +eight thousand feet above us, and so near that slabs of rock cracked +away from its scarred summit were lying just across the trail from the +tent. The peaks walling in Horse Thief to the north were not so high but +no less precipitous and barren, while to the west a jumble of splintered +pinnacles whose bases barred the way were still lost in the witch-dance +of the clouds. A tourist folder would have called it a "Land of Titans," +but Jim, leaning on his axe after nicking off a fresh back-log for the +camp fire, merely opined it was "some skookum goat country. But not a +patch," he added, "to what we'll be hittin' to-night if we get them +_geesly_ hawsses rounded up in time fer a start 'fore noon." + +It appeared that the horses, with their grazing spoiled by the snow, had +become restless, broken through the barrier Nixon had erected at a +bridge just below camp, and started on the back trail for Invermere. As +their tracks showed that they had broken into a trot immediately beyond +the bridge, it looked like a long stern-chase, and Nixon did not reckon +on being able to hit the trail for several hours. Roos grasped the +occasion to make a couple of "camp life" shots his fertile brain had +conceived the idea of during the long storm-bound days of enforced +inaction. In one of these the "sportsman" was to go to bed in silhouette +by candlelight. Ostensibly this was to be the shadow of a man crawling +into his blankets _inside_ of the tent, and taken from the outside. In +reality, however, Roos set up his camera _inside_ of the tent and shot +the antics of the shadow the sunlight threw on the canvas when I went +through the motions of turning in close against the _outside_ of the +wall. This went off smartly and snappily; but I would have given much +for a translation of the voluble comments of a passing Indian who pulled +up to watch the agile action of the retiring "sportsman." + +It was while Roos was rehearsing me for this shot that Gordon must have +heard him iterating his invariable injunction that I should not be a +"foot-hog," meaning, I shall hardly need to explain, that I should be +quick in my movements so as not to force him to use an undue footage of +film. A little later I overheard the boy asking Jim what a "foot-hog" +was. "I don't quite _kumtrux_ myself," the sturdy blacksmith-packer +replied, scratching his head. "It sounds as if it might be suthin like +pig's feet, but they want actin' as if they wuz ready to eat anythin', +'less it was each other." Now that I think of it, I can see how the +clash of the artistic temperaments of "Director" and "Star" over just +about every one of the shots they made might have given Jim that +impression. + +[Illustration: THE "TURNING-IN" SCENE SHOT IN SILHOUETTE (_above_)] + +[Illustration: "REVERSE" OF THE "GOING-TO-BED" SHOT (_below_)] + +[Illustration: ON THE HORSE THIEF TRAIL] + +[Illustration: A DEAD-FALL ON THE TRAIL] + +The other shot we made that morning was one which Roos had labelled as +"Berry Picking and Eating" in his tentative scenario. The "sportsman" +was to fare forth, gather a bowlful of raspberries, bring them back to +camp, put sugar and condensed milk on them, and finally eat them, all +before the camera. I objected to appearing in this for two reasons: for +one, because berry-picking was not a recognized out-door sport, and, for +another, because I didn't like raspberries. Roos admitted that +berry-picking was not a sport, but insisted he had to have the scene to +preserve his continuity. "Gathering and eating these products of +Nature," he explained, "shows how far the gentleman you were in the +first scene has descended toward the Primitive. You will be getting more +and more Primitive right along, but we must register each step on the +film, see?" As for my distaste for raspberries, Roos was quite willing +that, after displaying the berries heaped in the bowl in a close-up, I +should do the real eating with strawberry jam. It was that last which +overcame my spell of "temperament." Both Roos and Gordon already had me +several pots down in the matter of jam consumption, and I was glad of +the chance to climb back a notch. + +We found raspberry bushes by the acre but, thanks to the late storm, +almost no berries. This didn't matter seriously in the picking shot, for +which I managed to convey a very realistic effect in pantomime, but for +the heaped-high close-up of the bowl it was another matter. One scant +handful was the best that the four of us, foraging for half an hour, +could bring in. But I soon figured a way to make these do. Opening a +couple of tins of strawberry jam into the bowl, I rounded over smoothly +the bright succulent mass and then made a close-set raspberry mosaic of +one side of it. That did famously for the close-up. As I settled back +for the berry-eating shot Roos cut in sharply with his usual: "Snappy +now! Don't be a foot-hog!" Gordon, who had been digging his toe into the +mud for some minutes, evidently under considerable mental stress, lifted +his head at the word. "Hadn't you better say 'jam-hog', Mr. Roos?" he +queried plaintively. + +"I'm afraid it wouldn't be any use," was the dejected reply. Roos was +right. At the word "Action!" I dug in with my spoon on the unpaved side +of the bowl of jam, and several turns before the crank ceased revolving +there was nothing left but a few daubed raspberries and several broad +red smears radiating from my mouth. Roos tossed the two empty jam tins +into the murky torrent of Horse Thief Creek and watched them bob away +down stream. "You're getting too darn primitive," he said peevishly. + +It was nearly eleven o'clock before Nixon came with the horses; but we +had camp struck and the packs made, so there was little delay in taking +the trail. The bottom of the valley continued fairly open for a few +miles, with the swollen stream serpentining across it, turned hither and +thither by huge logjams and fortress-like rock islands. Where the North +Fork came tumbling into the main creek in a fine run of cascades there +was a flat several acres in extent and good camping ground. Immediately +above the valley narrowed to a steep-sided canyon, and continued so all +the way up to the snow and glacier-line. The trail from now on was badly +torn and washed and frequently blocked with dead-falls. Or rather it had +been so blocked up to a day or two previously. Now I understood the +reason for Nixon's complaisance when Harmon's outfit, travelling in the +rain, had passed our camp a couple of days before. "Don't worry, sonny," +he had said in comforting the impetuous Roos; "we won't lose any time, +and we will save a lot of chopping." And so it had worked out. Harmon's +men had cut the dead-falls out of the whole twelve miles of trail +between North Fork and the Dragon-Tail Glacier. + +Even so it was a beastly stretch of trail. The stream, completely +filling the bottom of the gorge, kept the path always far up the side of +the mountain. There were few dangerous precipices, but one had always to +be on the lookout to keep his head from banging on dead-falls just high +enough to clear a pack, and which, therefore, no one would take the +trouble to cut away. The close-growing shrubbery was dripping with +moisture, and even riding second to Nixon, who must have got all the +worst of it, I found myself drenched at the end of the first half mile. +Riding through wet underbrush can wet a man as no rain ever could. No +waterproof ever devised offers the least protection against it; nothing +less than a safe deposit vault on wheels could do so. + +Streams, swollen by the now rapidly melting snow, came tumbling +down--half cataract, half cascade--all along the way. At the worst +crossings these had been roughly bridged, as little footing for men or +horses was afforded by the clean-swept rock. Only one crossing of the +main stream was necessary. It was a good natural ford at low water, but +quite out of the question to attempt at high. We found it about +medium--a little more than belly deep and something like an eight-mile +current. With a foot more water it would have commenced to get +troublesome; with another two feet, really dangerous. That prospect, +with the rapidly rising water, was reserved for our return trip. + +Such a road was, of course, wonderfully picturesque and colourful, and +Roos, with a quick eye for an effective composition, made the most of +his opportunities for "trail shots." A picture of this kind, simple +enough to look at on the screen, often took half an hour or more to +make. The finding of a picturesque spot on the trail was only the +beginning. This was useless unless the light was right and a +satisfactory place to set up the tripod was available. When this latter +was found, more often than not a tree or two had to be felled to open up +the view to the trail. Then--as the party photographed had to be +complete each time, and with nothing to suggest the presence of the +movie camera or its operator--Roos' saddle horse and the animal carrying +his outfit had to be shuttled along out of line and tied up where they +would not get in the picture. This was always a ticklish operation on +the narrow trails, and once or twice the sheer impossibility of +segregating the superfluous animals caused Roos to forego extremely +effective shots. + +The mountains became higher and higher, and steeper and steeper, the +farther we fared. And the greater the inclines, the more and more +precarious was the hold of the winter's snow upon the mountainsides. At +last we climbed into a veritable zone of avalanches--a stretch where, +for a number of miles, the deep-gouged troughs of the snow-slides +followed each other like the gullies in a rain-washed mudbank. +Slide-time was in the Spring, of course, so the only trouble we +encountered was in passing over the terribly violated mountainsides. If +the trail came to the track of an avalanche far up on the mountainside, +it meant descending a cut-bank to the scoured bedrock, click-clacking +along over this with the shod hooves of the horses striking sparks at +every step for a hundred yards or more, and then climbing out again. If +the path of the destroyer was encountered low down, near the river, the +way onward led over a fifty-feet-high pile of upended trees, boulders +and sand. In nearly every instance one could see where the slides had +dammed the stream a hundred feet high or more, and here and there were +visible swaths cut in the timber of the further side, where the buffer +of the opposite mountain had served to check the onrush. + +The going for the horses was hard at all times, but worst perhaps where +the dam of a slide had checked the natural drainage and formed a +bottomless bog too large for the trail to avoid. Here the hard-blown +animals floundered belly deep in mud and rotten wood, as did also their +riders when they had to slide from the saddles to give their mounts a +chance to reach a solid footing. The polished granite of the runways of +the slide was almost as bad, for here the horses were repeatedly down +from slipping. My air-treading, toe-dancing "Grayback" of the morning +was gone in the back and legs long before we reached the end. My weight +and the pace (Nixon was driving hard to reach a camping place before a +fresh gathering of storm clouds were ready to break) had proved too much +for him. The fighting light was gone from his eye, his head was between +his legs, and his breath was expelled with a force that seemed to be +scouring the lining from his bleeding nostrils. Dropping back to slacken +his girths and breathe him a moment before leading him up the last long +run of zigzags, I heard the sobbing _diminuendo_ of the packtrain die +out in the sombre depths above. It was like the shudder of sounds that +rise through a blow-hole where the sea waves are pounding hard on the +mouth of a subterranean grotto. + +I had developed a warm and inclusive sympathy for "Grayback" before I +reached the crest of that final shoulder of mountain we had to surmount, +but lost most of it on the slide back to the valley when, in lieu of +anything else to hand as he found himself slipping, he started to canter +up my spine. I found Nixon and Jim throwing off packs on a narrow strip +of moss-covered bottom between the drop-curtain of the fir-covered +mountainside and the bank of the creek. It was practically the only +place for a camp anywhere in the closely-walled valley. Slide-wreckage +claimed all the rest of it. An upward trickle of lilac smoke a half mile +above told where Harmon's outfit had effected some sort of lodgment, but +it was on a _geesly_ slither of wet side-hill, Nixon said, and badly +exposed to the wind that was always sucking down from the glacier. + +The moss underfoot was saturated with water, but with an hour of +daylight and pines close at hand this was a matter of small moment. We +were well under cover by the time the snuffer of the darkness clapped +sharply down, and with a good day's supply of wood for stove and +camp-fire piled up outside the tent. Not having stopped for lunch on the +trail, we were all rather "peckish" (to use Nixon's expression) by the +time dinner was ready. After that there was nothing much to bother +about. Nixon told goat hunting stories all evening, putting a fresh edge +on his axe the while with a little round pocket whetstone. A Canadian +guide is as cranky about his private and personal axe as a Chicago +clothing drummer is about his razors. So it was only to be expected that +Nixon took it a bit hard when Roos had employed his keenly whetted +implement to crack open a hunk of quartz with. That was the reason, +doubtless, why most of his stories had to do with the fool escapades of +various of the _geesly_ (that was Nixon's favourite term of contempt, +and a very expressive one it was) tenderfeet he had guided. But one of +his yarns (and I think a true one) was of a time that he was caught by a +storm at ten thousand feet in the Rockies and had to spend the night on +the rocks a mile above the timber-line. Lightly dressed and without a +blanket, the only protection he had from a temperature many degrees +below freezing was from the carcasses of the two freshly-shot goats that +had lured him there. Splitting these down the middle with his hunting +knife, he had covered himself with them, entrails and all, in the hope +that the remaining animal heat would keep him alive till daylight. Man +and goat were frozen to one stiff mass by morning, but the man had still +enough vitality to crack himself loose and descend to his camp. The +exposure and hardship some of these northwest mountaineers have survived +is almost beyond belief. + +I went to sleep with the sizzle of snowflakes on the dying embers of the +camp-fire in my ears, and awoke to find the tent roof sagging down on my +ear under the weight of a heavy night's fall. The storm was over for the +moment, but the clouds were still lurking ominously above the glacier, +and there was little light for pictures. Harmon, crossing the several +channels of the creek on fallen logs, came over later in the day. He had +been storm-bound ever since his arrival, he said, and had done nothing at +all in taking either stills or movies yet. But fires and smoke were +finished for the year now, he added philosophically, and it was his +intention to remain until he got what he was after. Before he left he +told me something of his work. "Stills," it appeared, were the main +thing with him; his movie work was carried on merely as a side-line to +pay the expenses of trips he could not otherwise afford. He had been +photographing in the Selkirks and Rockies for a dozen years, and he +would not be content to rest until the sets of negatives--as nearly +perfect as they could be made--of every notable peak and valley of +western Canada. Then he was going to hold a grand exhibition of mountain +photographs at Banff and retire. The Lake of the Hanging Glaciers was +one of the very few great scenic features he had never photographed, and +he only hoped he would be able to do it justice. The fine reverence of +Harmon's attitude toward the mountains that he loved was completely +beyond Roos' ken. "I never worries about not doing 'em justice--not for +a minute. What does worry me is whether or not these cracked up lakes +and glaciers are going to turn out worth my coming in to do justice to. +Get me?" "Yes, I think so," replied the veteran with a very patient +smile. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AT THE GLACIER + + +Snow flurries kept us close to camp all that day. The next one, the +sixteenth, was better, though still quite hopeless for movie work. After +lunch we set out on foot for the big glacier, a mile above, from which +the creek took its life. The clouds still hung too low to allow anything +of the mountains to be seen, but one had the feeling of moving in a long +narrow tunnel through which a cold jet of air was constantly being +forced. A few hundred yards above our camp was a frightful zone of riven +trees mixed with gravel and boulders. It was one of the strangest, one +of the savagest spots I ever saw. It was the battle ground of two rival +avalanches, Nixon explained, two great slides which, with the impetus of +six or eight thousand feet of run driving uncounted millions of tons of +snow and earth, met there every spring in primeval combat. No man had +ever seen the fantastic onslaught (for no man could reach that point in +the springtime), but it was certain that the remains of it made a mighty +dam all the way across the valley. Then the creek would be backed up +half way to the glacier, when it would accumulate enough power to sweep +the obstruction away and scatter it down to the Columbia. + +Straight down the respective paths of the rival slides, and almost +exactly opposite each other, tumbled two splendid cascades. The hovering +storm clouds cut off further view of them a few hundred feet above the +valley, but Nixon said that they came plunging like that for thousands +of feet, from far up into the belt of perpetual snow. The one to the +east (which at the moment seemed to be leaping straight out of the heart +of a sinister slaty-purple patch of cumulonimbus) drained the Lake of +the Hanging Glaciers; that to the west a desolate rock and ice-walled +valley which was rimmed by some of the highest summits in the Selkirks. +Our road to the lake would be wet with the spray of the former for a +good part of the distance. + +We were scrambling through a land of snow-slides all the way to the +glacier. For the first half mile patches of stunted fir survived here +and there, due to being located in the lee of some cliff or other rocky +outcrop which served to deflect the springtime onslaughts from above; +then all vegetation ceased and nothing but snow-churned and ice-ground +rock fragments remained. All along the last quarter of a mile the +successive stages of the glacier's retreat were marked by great heaps of +pulverized rock, like the tailings at the mouth of a mine. Only the face +of the glacier and the yawning ice caves were visible under the +cloud-pall. The queerly humped uplift of the "dragon" moraine could be +dimly guessed in the shifting mists that whirled and eddied in the icy +draughts from the caves. + +Our principal object in going up to the grottoes on so inclement a day +was to experiment with our dynamite on the ice, with a view to turning +our knowledge to practical use in making artificial icebergs for the +movies in the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers. Selecting what looked like +a favourable spot at the base of what seemed a "fracturable" pinnacle of +grey-green ice, we dug a three-feet-deep hole with a long-handled +chisel, pushed in two sticks of sixty per cent. dynamite, tamped it hard +with snow after attaching a lengthy fuse, touched a match to the latter +and retired to a safe distance. The result, to put it in Roos' latest +imported slang, was an "oil can," which connotes about the same thing as +fizzle, I took it. There's a deal of kick in two sticks of "sixty per" +set off in rock, but here it was simply an exuberant "whouf" after the +manner of a blowing porpoise. A jet of soft snow and ice shot up some +distance, but the pinnacle never trembled. And the hole opened up was +smooth-sided and clean, as if melted out with hot water. Not the +beginning of a crack radiated from it. Jim opined that a slower burning +powder might crack ice, but there was certainly no hope of "sixty per" +doing the trick. It was evident that we would have to find some other +way of making artificial icebergs. We did. We made them of rock. But I +won't anticipate. + +It snowed again in the night, snowed itself out for a while. The +following morning it was warm and brilliantly clear, and for the first +time there was a chance to see what sort of a place it was to which we +had entered. For a space the height and abruptness of the encompassing +walls seemed almost appalling; it was more like looking up out of an +immeasurably vast crater than from a valley. All around there were +thousands of feet of sheer rocky cliff upon which no snow could effect a +lodgment; and above these more thousands of feet solid with the +glittering green of glacial ice and the polished marble of eternal +snow. The jagged patch of sky was a vivid imperial blue, bright and +solid-looking like a fragment of rich old porcelain. The morning sun, +cutting through the sharp notches between the southeastern peaks, was +dappling the snow fields of the western walls in gay splashes of flaming +rose and saffron, interspersed with mottled shadows of indigo and deep +purple. Reflected back to the still shadowed slopes of the eastern +walls, these bolder colours became a blended iridescence of amethyst, +lemon and pale misty lavender. The creek flowed steely cold, with fluffs +of grey-wool on the riffles. The tree patches were black, dead funereal +black, throwing back no ray of light from their down-swooping branches. +The air was so clear that it seemed almost to have assumed a palpability +of its own. One imagined things floating in it; even that it might +tinkle to the snip of a finger nail, like a crystal rim. + +In movies as in hay-making, one has to step lively while the sun shines. +This was the first good shooting light we had had, and no time was lost +in taking advantage of it. Long before the sun had reached the bottom of +the valley we were picking our way up toward the foot of the glacier, +this time on horseback. Early as we had started, the enterprising Harmon +had been still earlier. He was finishing his shots of the face of the +glacier and the mouth of the ice caves as we came up. He would now leave +the field clear for Roos for an hour, he said, while he climbed to the +cliffs above the glacier to make a goat-hunting picture. That finished, +he would return and, by the light of his flares both parties could +shoot the interior of the ice caves. Before starting on his long climb, +Harmon briefly outlined the scenario of his "goat" picture, part of +which had already been shot. Two prospectors--impersonated by his guide +and packer--having been in the mountains for many weeks without a change +of diet, had become terribly sick of bacon. Finally, when one of them +had disgustedly thrown his plate of it on the ground, even the camp dog, +after a contemptuous sniff, had turned his back. He had had no trouble +in getting the men to register "disgust," Harmon explained, but that +"contemptuous sniff" business with the dog was more difficult. After +their voracious Airedale pup had wolfed three plates of bacon without +paying the least heed to the director's attempts to frighten him off at +the psychological moment, they had tried thin strips of birch-bark, +trimmed to represent curling rashers. Even these the hungry canine had +persisted in licking, probably because they came from a greasy plate. +Finally Harmon hit upon the expedient of anointing the birch-bark +rashers with some of the iodine carried as an antiseptic in the event of +cuts and scratches. "If the pup ate it, of course it would die," he +explained; "but that would be no more than he deserved in such a case." +But the plan worked perfectly. After his first eager lick, the outraged +canine had "sniffed contemptuously" at the pungent fumes of the iodine, +and then backed out of the picture with a wolfish snarl on his lifted +lip. + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +LOOKING TOWARD THE ENTRANCE OF THE ICE CAVE] + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +WHERE THE HANGING GLACIER IS ABOUT TO FALL] + +Then the packer registered "fresh meat hunger" ("cut-in" of a butcher +shop to be made later), immediately after which the guide pointed to the +cliffs above the camp where some wild goats were frisking. By the aid +of his long-distance lens, Harmon had shot the goats as they would +appear through the binoculars the guide and packers excitedly passed +back and forth between them. And now they were going forth to shoot the +goats. Or rather they were going forth to "shoot" the goats, for these +had already been shot with a rifle. In order to avoid loss of time in +packing his cumbersome apparatus about over the cliffs, Harmon had sent +out Conrad, his Swiss guide, the previous afternoon, with orders to +shoot a goat--as fine a specimen as possible--and leave it in some +picturesque spot where a re-shooting could be "shot" with the camera +when the clouds lifted. The keen-eyed Tyrolese had experienced little +difficulty in bringing down two goats. One of these--a huge "Billy"--he +had left at the brink of a cliff a couple of thousand feet above the big +glacier, and the other--a half-grown kid--he had brought into camp to +cut up for the "meat-guzzling" shots with which guide, packer and canine +were to indulge in as a finale. It was a cleverly conceived "nature" +picture, one with a distinct "educational" value; or at least it was +such when viewed from "behind the camera." Roos was plainly jealous over +it, but, as he had no goats of his own, and as Harmon's goat was hardly +likely to be "borrowable" after bouncing on rock pinnacles for a +thousand feet, there was nothing to do about it. He would have to make +up by putting it over Harmon on his "glacier stuff," he said +philosophically. And he did; though it was only through the virtuosity +of his chief actor. + +Harmon had confined his glacier shots to one of his party riding up +over the rocks, and another of it grouped at the entrance of the largest +cave and looking in. Being an old mountaineer, he was disinclined to +take any unnecessary chances in stirring up a racket under hanging ice. +Roos was new to the mountains, so didn't labour under any such handicap. +His idea was to bring the whole outfit right up the middle of the stream +and on into the cave. The approach and the entrance into the mouth of +the cave were to be shot first from the outside, and then, in +silhouette, from the inside. + +Nixon, pointing out that the roof of the cave had settled two or three +feet since we were there yesterday and that the heat seemed to be +honeycombing all the lower end of the glacier pretty badly, said that he +didn't like the idea of taking horses inside, but would do so if it +would make a better picture that way. He was quite willing to take +chances if there was any reason for it. But what he did object to was +trying to take the horses up the middle of the stream over big boulders +when it would be perfectly plain to any one who saw the picture that +there was comparatively smooth going on either side. "You can easy break +a hawss' leg in one of them _geesly_ holes," he complained; "but the +loss of a hawss isn't a patch to what I'd feel to have some guy that +I've worked with see the pictur' and think I picked that sluiceway as +the best way up." + +Roos replied with a rush of technical argument in which there was much +about "continuity" and "back-lighting," and something about using the +"trick crank so that the action can be speeded up when it's run." Not +knowing the answer to any of this, Nixon finally shrugged his shoulders +helplessly and signalled for Jim to bring up the horses. There was no +need of a "trick crank" to speed up the action in the stream, for that +glacial torrent, a veritable cascade, had carried away everything in its +course save boulders four or five feet high. Nixon, in a bit of a +temper, hit the ditch as though he were riding a steeplechase. So did +Jim and Gordon. All three of them floundered through without mishap. +"Grayback" tried to climb up on the tip of a submerged boulder, slipped +with all four feet at once and went over sidewise. I kicked out my +stirrups, but hit the water head first, getting considerably rolled and +more than considerably wet. To Roos' great indignation, this occurred +just outside the picture, but he had the delicacy not to ask me to do it +over again. + +Taking the horses inside the cave was a distinctly ticklish performance, +though there could be no question of its effectiveness as a picture. +Roos set up a hundred feet in from the fifty-feet-wide, twenty-feet-high +mouth and directed us to ride forward until a broad splashing jet of +water from the roof blocked our way, and then swing round and beat it +out. "Beat it out snappy!" he repeated. "Get me?" "Yep, _I_ got you," +muttered Nixon; "you're in luck if nothin' else does." + +The ice that arched above the entrance looked to me like the salt-eaten +packing round an ice-cream can as we pushed up and under it. The horses +could hardly have noticed this, and it must have been their +instincts--their good sound horse-sense--that warned them that a dark +hole full of hollow crackings and groanings and the roar of falling +water was no place for self-respecting equines to venture. It took a +deal of spurring and swearing to force them inside, and most of the +linear distance gained was covered in circles on their hind legs. It was +old "Grayback" whose nerves gave way first; he that started the stampede +back to light and sunshine. There was no question but what we "beat it +snappy." + +Roos came out rubbing his hands gleefully. "That photographed like a +million dollars," he cried with enthusiasm. "Now just one thing +more...." And forthwith he revealed what had been in his heart ever +since he chanced onto that "natural shower bath" in the cave the +previous afternoon. No one could deny that it was a natural shower bath. +And since it _was_ a natural shower bath, what could be more natural +than for some one to take a shower under it? How would Nixon feel about +trying it? Or Jim? He admitted that it might be something of a shock, +but he was willing to make that all right. Would ten dollars be fair? Or +say twenty? Or why not twenty-five? He knew Mr. Chester didn't reckon +cost when it was a question of getting a high class, he might say a +unique, picture. Now which should it be? Nixon, a bit snappily, said his +rheumatism put him out of the running, and Jim was equally decided. +Money wouldn't tempt him to go even into the Columbia at Windermere, let +alone a liquid icicle under a glacier. + +And right then and there I did a thing which Roos maintained to the end +of our partnership repaid him for all the grief and worry I had caused +him to date, and much that was still to accrue. "Since I've got to take +a bath and dry these wet togs out sooner or later," I said with a great +assumption of nonchalance, "perhaps the ice cave will do as well as +anywhere else. Just promise me you won't spring a flare on the scene, +and build a fire to dry my clothes by...." Roos was gathering wood for a +fire before I finished speaking. As for the flares, Harmon had not given +him any yet. It was only a silhouette he wanted--but that would show up +like a million dollars in the spray and ice. There never had been such a +picture; perhaps would never be again. I wasn't joking, was I? And +primitive.... + +"Go on and set up," I cut in with. "I'll be there by the time you're +ready to shoot. And don't ever let me hear you say primitive again. Oh, +yes--and you needn't remind me to 'Be snappy!' There won't be any +trouble on that score. Just make sure your lens is fast enough to catch +the action." + +I've had many a plunge overboard off the California coast that shocked +me more than that "natural shower bath" did, but never a one with so +exhilarant a reaction. Stripping off my wet clothes by the fire, I +slipped into my big hooded "lammy" coat and hippity-hopped into the +cave. Roos, set up ten yards inside the splashing jet from the roof, was +already standing by to shoot. At his call of "Action!" I jumped out of +my coat and into the black, unsparkling column of water. There was a +sharp sting to the impact, but it imparted nothing of the numbing ache +that accompanies immersion in water a number of degrees less cold than +this--a feeling which I came later to know only too well on the +Columbia. Nixon had warned me against tempting Providence again by +making any unnecessary racket in the cave, but it was no use. No one +could have the fun that I was having and not holler. It was against +nature. Whooping like a Comanche, I continued my hydro-terpsichorean +revel until a muffled "Nuff" from Roos called a halt. He had come to the +end of his roll. I have been in more of a shiver coming out of the +Adriatic at the Lido in August than I was when I ambled back to dry off +by the fire and the sunshine. Glowing with warmth, I even loafed along +with my dressing, as one does at Waikiki. + +"You'd make a fortune pulling the rough stuff in the movies," Roos +exclaimed, patting me on the back. "You've got everything the real +gripping cave-man _has_ to have--size, beef, a suggestion of brutal, +elemental force, primitive...." I chucked a burning brand at him and +went over to borrow Nixon's glass. A shot from far up the cliffs told +that Harmon's "goat-hunt" was in full cry. The real thrill of the day +was about to come off; rather more of a thrill, indeed, than any one was +prepared for, Harmon included. + +[Illustration: MY SHOWER BATH IN AN ICE CAVE] + +[Illustration: WARMING UP AFTER MY GLACIAL SHOWER BATH] + +[Illustration: ROSS AND HARMON. DRAGON MORAINE IN DISTANCE (_above_)] + +[Illustration: THE HORSES IN THE MOUTH OF THE ICE CAVE (_below_)] + +While we had been filming our "cave stuff" Harmon had finished setting +the stage for his picture. He had two shots to make--one of his packers +firing at the goat at the top of the cliff, and the other of the body of +the goat falling to the glacier. Conrad, the Tyrolean, climbing like a +fly, had scaled the face of the cliff and was standing by for the signal +to start the goat "falling." The shot which had attracted my +attention had been the packer discharging his rifle at the goat, which +had been propped up in a life-like position, as though peering down onto +the glacier. Harmon was still cranking when I got him in focus, while +the packer had jumped to his feet and was executing a _pas seul_ +evidently intended to convey the impression he had made a hit. A curl of +blue smoke from his rifle was still floating in the air. They had +contrived that effective little touch by dribbling a bit of melted +butter down the barrel before firing. Smokeless powder is hardly +"tell-tale" enough for movie work. + +Harmon now moved over and set up at the foot of the cliff, apparently to +get as near as possible to the point where the goat was going to hit. As +the sequel proves, he judged his position to a hair. Now he made his +signal. I saw the flutter of his handkerchief. The goat gave a +convulsive leap, and then shot straight out over the brink of the cliff. +From where we stood I could plainly see the useful Conrad "pulling the +strings," but from where Harmon was set up this would hardly show. He +was too careful to overlook a point like that in a "nature picture." The +white body caromed sharply off a couple of projecting ledges, and then, +gathering momentum, began to describe a great parabola which promised to +carry it right to the foot of the cliff. + +I had kept my eyes glued to the glass from the start, but it was Nixon's +unaided vision which was first to catch the drift of what was impending. +"You couldn't drive a six-hawss team 'tween the side o' Mista Ha'mon's +head and the trail in the air that _geesly_ goat's going to make +passing by," he said with a calculating drawl. "Not so su' you could +squeeze a pack-hawss through." Then, a couple of seconds later: "No' +ev'n a big dawg." And almost immediately: "By Gawd, it's going to get +him!" + +And that surely was what it looked like, to every one at least but the +calmly cranking Harmon. He went on humping his back above the finder, +and I could see the even rise and fall of his elbow against the snow. +The dot of white had become a streak of grey, and it was the swift +augmentation of this in his finder which finally (as he told me later) +caused Harmon suddenly to duck. To me it looked as if the flying streak +had passed right through him, but he was still there at the foot of his +tripod after the Bolt of Wrath, striking the surface of the glacier with +a resounding impact, threw up a fountain of pulverized snow and laid +still. He was never quite sure whether it was the almost solid cushion +of air or a side-swipe from a hoof or horn that joggled the tripod out +of true. It was a near squeeze, for the flying body, which must have +weighed all of two hundred pounds, was frozen hard as a rock. Conrad +came staggering down with the remnants of the battered trunk over his +shoulders. Only the heart and liver were fit to eat. The rest was a +sausage of churned meat and bone splinters. There was no question about +its fall having limbered it up. + +The illumination of the cave by the calcium flares was beautiful beyond +words to describe, or at least so I was told. The first one was a +failure, through the outward draught of air carrying the smoke back +onto the cameras. I had set this off in a side gallery, about a hundred +yards in from the mouth, with the idea of throwing a sort of concealed +back light. Foolishly opening my eyes while the calcium was burning, I +was completely blinded by the intense glare and did not regain my sight +for several minutes. Harmon's packer, who held the next flare set +off--this time to the leeward of the cameras--had still worse luck. A +flake of the sputtering calcium kicked back up his sleeve and inflicted +a raw, round burn with half the colours of the spectrum showing in its +concentric rings of singed cuticle. The chap displayed astonishing nerve +in refusing to relinquish his grip on the handle of the flare and thus +ruin the picture. I most certainly would never have done so myself. Roos +described the glittering ice walls as a "veritable Aladdin's Cave of +jewels," and only regretted that he couldn't have had that lighting on +my shower-bath. + +That night we tried a camp-fire scene by flare. Roos set up on the +further bank of the side channel of the creek which flowed past the +tent. Between the door of the tent and the water a hole was dug in such +a way that light from it would shine on a group in front of the tent but +not on the lens of the camera. The glow from a flare burning in this +hole represented the camp-fire. I was supposed to stroll up and tell a +jovial story to Nixon, Jim and Gordon, who were to be "picked up" +already seated around the fire. I made my entrance very snappily, but, +unluckily, the blanket roll upon which I sat down spread out and let me +back against the corner of the glowing sheet-iron stove, which was set +up just inside the tent opening. Seeing I had not rolled out of the +picture, Roos shouted for me to carry on, as it was the last flare. So, +with the reek of burning wool rising behind me, I did carry on, making +plausible gestures intended to convey the idea that the bit of comedy +was just a humorous piece of by-play of my own. I carried on for +something over half a minute. The only circumstance that prevented my +carrying on my back the print of the corner of the stove for the rest of +my days was the fact that the combined thicknesses of my duffle coat, +lumberman's shirt, sweater and heavy woollen undershirt were interposed +to absorb the heat. The duffle coat was the worst sufferer, coming out +with a bar-sinister branded most of the way through its half inch of +pressed brown wool. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE LAKE OF THE HANGING GLACIERS + + +It was now neck-or-nothing with the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers +picture. Having already been out much longer than we had expected to be, +there were left only provisions for two days. Nixon had suggested making +a hurried trip out and bringing in fresh supplies, but as the time set +by Chester for his arrival for the Big Bend trip was already past, I did +not feel warranted in prolonging the present jaunt any further. If the +morrow was fair all would be well; if not, the main object of our trip +would be defeated. + +By great good luck the clear weather held. There was not a cloud +hovering above the mountains at daybreak the following morning, and we +got away for an early start to make the most of our opportunity. Nixon +himself had run and cut out the trail to the Lake earlier in the summer, +but horses had never been taken over it. Though it was extremely steep +in pitches, our maiden passage was marked with few difficulties. Much to +Nixon's surprise and satisfaction, only one big dead-fall had been thrown +down to block the way, and our enforced halt here gave Roos the +opportunity for a very effective "trail shot." He also got some striking +"back-lighting stuff" at spots along the interminable cascade that was +tumbling and bounding beside the trail. The elevation of our camp on the +creek was something like six thousand feet, and that of the Lake of the +Hanging Glaciers a bit under eight thousand. The trail is between three +and four miles long, and we were rather over two hours in making the +climb. There were several halts out of this; steady plugging would do it +much quicker. + +Timber-line was passed half a mile below the lake, the last of the trees +being left behind in a wonderful little mountain park studded with +gnarled pines and still bright with late wild flowers. The autumn +colouring here was a marvellous chromatic revel in dull golds and soft, +subdued browns--the shedding tamaracks and the dying meadow grasses. + +Clambering on foot up a steep-sided hillock that appeared to be an +ancient glacial moraine augmented by many slides, we suddenly found +ourselves on the edge of the high-water level of the lake. The +transition from the flower-strewn meadow to a region of almost Arctic +frigidity was practically instantaneous--the matter of a half dozen +steps. One moment we were climbing in a cliff-walled valley, with rocky +buttresses and pinnacles soaring for thousands of feet on either side, +and with brown-black gravel and thinning brown-grey bunch grass under +foot and ahead; the next, as we gained the crest of the old terminal +moraine, the landscape opened up with a blinding flash and we were +gazing at a sparkling emerald lake clipped in the embrace of an +amphitheatre of glaciers and eternal snow, and floating full of icebergs +and marble-mottled shadows. The "Hanging Glacier"--perhaps a mile wide +across its face, and rearing a solid wall of ice a couple of hundred +feet in the sheer--closed the further or southeastern end of the lake. +Behind the glacier was a cliff of two thousand feet or more in height. +It appeared to be almost solid ice and snow, but must have been heavily +underlaid with native rock to maintain its abruptness as it did. Higher +still a snow-cap, bright and smooth as polished marble, extended to the +crest of the range and formed a glittering line against the cobalt of +the sky. Of all the scenic gems of the North American continent, I +recall none which is so well entitled to the characterization of +"unique" as this white-flaming little jewel of the high Selkirks. + +The lake was now rapidly receding to its winter low-water level, and to +reach its brink we had to press on across three hundred yards of black +boulders which were evidently covered in the time of the late spring +floods. Ordinarily one would have expected the worst kind of rough and +slippery walking here, but, to my great surprise, the great rocks were +set as solid and as level as a pavement of mosaic. The reason for this +became plain when we approached the water, where a flotilla of small +icebergs, rising and falling to the waves kicked up by the brisk breeze +drawing down the lake, were steadily thump-thumping the bottom with dull +heavy blows which could be felt underfoot a hundred yards away. This +natural tamping, going on incessantly during the months of high-water, +was responsible for the surprising smoothness of the rocky waste +uncovered by the winter recession. The great boulders had literally been +hammered flat. + +The icebergs, which were formed by the cracking off of the face of the +great glacier filled half of the lake. They varied in size from almost +totally submerged chunks a few feet in diameter to huge floating islands +of several hundred. They were of the most fantastic shapes, especially +those which had been longest adrift and therefore most exposed to the +capricious action of the sun. By and large, the effect was that of a +Gargantuan bowl sprinkled with puffy white popcorn. But if one took his +time and searched carefully enough there were very few things of heaven +or earth that were not represented in the amazing collection. One berg, +floating on another, had been reduced by the sun to the seeming of a +gigantic view camera--box, bellows and lens. A number of famous groups +of statuary were there, but of course very much in the rough. "The +Thinker" was perhaps the best of these, but even Rodin would have wanted +to do a bit more "finishing" on the glacial cave-man humped up on his +icy green pedestal. Roos, who had never heard of Rodin, said it reminded +him of me drying out after my shower-bath in the ice-cave. His facile +imagination also discovered something else. He had once seen a picture +of "Lohengrin's Farewell" in a Victrola record price-list, and there was +a much sun-licked hunk of ice, very near the shore, which suggested the +barge to him, swans and all. I saw the barge all right, but the Pegasus +of my imagination had to have some spurring before he would take the +"swan" hurdle. + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +LOOKING ACROSS THE LAKE OF THE HANGING GLACIERS] + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +THE LAKE OF THE HANGING GLACIERS, TAKEN FROM THE ICE WALLS, LOOKING +NORTH] + +It was Roos' idea that I should swim off, clamber over the side of the +barge, lassoo the "near" swan with a piece of pack-rope to represent +reins, and let him shoot me as "Lohengrin." It wouldn't exactly run +into the "continuity" of the "sportsman" picture, he admitted; but he +thought that Chester might use it, with a lot of other odds and ends, +under some such title as "Queer People in Queer Places." The idea +appealed to me strongly. "Lohengrin's Farewell" had always moved me +strangely; and here was a chance actually to appear in the classic role! +"You bet I'll do it," I assented readily. "What shall I wear?" The +"Shining Armour," which we both seemed to connect with "Lohengrin," +happened to be one of the things not brought up in our saddle-bags that +morning. We were in a hot discussion as to the best manner of +improvising a helmet and cuirass out of condensed milk and sardine tins, +when Nixon, asking if we knew that the sun only shone about three hours +a day in that "_geesly_ crack in the hills," dryly opined that we should +take our pictures of the lake while there was plenty of light. That +sounded sensible, and we started feverishly to hurry through with the +routine grind so as to be free to do proper justice to "Lohengrin." As +Fate would have it, however, that which was presently revealed to me of +the ways of fresh-water icebergs quenched effectually my desire to swim +off and take liberties with the capricious things at close quarters. + +After making a number of scenic shots, Roos announced that he was ready +to go ahead with the "falling iceberg" stuff. As it was quite out of the +question making our way along the base of the cliffs on either side of +the lake to the face of the glacier in the limited time at our disposal, +and, moreover, as we had already demonstrated the impossibility of +making artificial icebergs with "sixty per" dynamite, it became +necessary to improvise something closer at hand. It was Roos' idea that +a piece of cliff cracked off into the lake might produce the effect +desired, especially if "cut" with discrimination. "Here's the way it +goes," he explained. "The cracked off rock plunks down into the lake +right into the middle of a bunch of floating icebergs. I starts cranking +at the splash, and with the bergs all rolling about and bumping into +each other no one can tell but what it was one of them that really +started it. Then I'll pick you up hopping up and down on the bank and +registering 'surprise' and 'consternation'; and then follow with a +close-up of you standing on that high rock, looking down on the quieting +waves with folded arms. Now you register 'relief' and finally a sort of +'awed wonder.' Then you take a big breath and raise your eyes to the +face of the glacier. You keep right on registering 'awed wonder' (only +more intense) and as I fade you out you shake your head slowly as if the +mighty mysteries of Nature were beyond your understanding. Get me? They +ought to colour the film for that dark blue in the laboratory (I could +tell 'em just the solution to make that ice look cold), and the +sub-title ought to be 'The Birth of an Iceberg,' and...." + +"Jim's the midwife, is he?" I cut in. "Yes, I get you. Tell him to +uncork some of that 'sixty per' 'Twilight Sleep' of his and I'll stand +by for the christening." + +After a careful technical examination of the terrain, Jim, chief "Powder +Monkey," located what he thought was a favourable spot for operations +and started to enlarge a thin crack in the cliff to make it take five +sticks of dynamite. That was more than half of our remaining stock; but +Roos was insisting on a big iceberg, and plenty of powder was the best +way to insure success. It must have been the tamping that was at the +bottom of the trouble, for moss and damp earth are hardly solid enough +to deflect the kick of the dynamite in the desired direction. At any +rate, although there was a roaring detonation, the mighty force released +was expended outward rather than inward. The face of the cliff hardly +shivered, and only an inconsiderable trickle of broken rocks and sand +slid down into the lake. Too sore to take more than hostile notice of +Nixon's somewhat rough and ready little _mot_ about the "'Birth o' the +Iceberg' turning out a _geesly_ miscarriage," Roos clapped the cap over +his lens, unscrewed the crank and began taking his camera off its +tripod. That rather hasty action was responsible for his missing by a +hair what I am certain was the greatest opportunity ever presented to a +moving picture operator to film one of the most stupendous of Nature's +manifestations. + +The roar of the detonating dynamite reverberated for half a minute or +more among the cliffs and peaks, and it was just after the last roll had +died out that a renewed rumble caused me to direct a searching gaze to +the great wall of ice and snow that towered above the farther end of the +lake. For an instant I could not believe my eyes. It could not be +possible that the whole mountainside was toppling over! And yet that was +decidedly the effect at a first glance. From the rim of the snow-cap +down to the back of the glacier--a mile wide and two thousand feet +high--there was one solid, unbroken Niagara of glittering, coruscant ice +and snow. Like a curtain strung with diamonds and pearls and opals it +streamed, while the shower of flaming colours was reflected in the +quivering waters of the lake in fluttering scarves of sun-shot scarlet, +in tenuous ribbons of lavender, jade and primrose. It was only when the +last shreds of this marvellous banner had ceased to stream (at the end +of thirty or forty seconds perhaps) that I saw what it was that had +caused it. The whole hair-poised brink of the great snow-cap--sharply +jolted, doubtless, by the explosion of the dynamite--had cracked away +and precipitated itself to the glacier level, nearly half a mile below. +The shock to the latter appeared to have had the effect of jarring it +sufficiently to crack down great blocks all along its face. The glacier +had, in fact, been shocked into giving birth to a whole litter of real +icebergs where, nearer at hand, we had failed dismally in our efforts to +incubate even an artificial one. As glacial obstetricians it appeared +that we still had much to learn. + +Roos made a great effort to get his camera set up again in time to make +it record something of the wonderful spectacle. He was just too late, +however. Only a few thin trickles of snow were streaking the face of the +cliff when he finally swung his powerful tele-photo lens upon it, and +even these had ceased before he had found his focus. It was no end of a +pity. I saw several of the great _valangas_ started by the Austrian and +Italian artillery in the Dolomites, and, previous to that, what I had +thought were very considerable slides on Aconcagua and Chimborazi, in +the Andes, and on Kinchinjunga and among the hanging ice-fields above +the Zoji-la in the Himalayas. But any half dozen of the greatest of +these would have been lost in that mighty avalanche of ice and snow that +we saw descend above the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers. Nixon, with a +lifetime spent in the Selkirks and Rockies, said he had never seen +anything to compare with it. + +Jim, reporting that he still had three sticks of dynamite in hand, said +he reckoned there might be a better chance of starting an "iceberg" on +the southern side of the lake than on the northern one, where we had +failed to accomplish anything. The southern slope was even more +precipitous than the northern, he pointed out, and he had his eye on a +rock which looked as if a charge might turn it over and start it +rolling. "You never can tell what you may be startin' among a bunch o' +tiltin' rocks like them 'uns," he said hopefully. Nixon's muttered "That +ain't no _geesly_ hooch dream" might have meant several things; but I +took it that he intended to imply that there was too much "unstable +equilibrium" along that southern shore to make it the sort of a place +that a neurasthenic would seek out for a rest cure. I felt the same way +about it, only more so; but Roos' disappointment over what he had +already missed was so keen that neither of us had the heart to interpose +any objections when he told Jim to go ahead and see what he could do. As +two sticks of dynamite were already promised to Harmon, the trick, if it +came off, would have to be pulled with one. Spitting tobacco juice on +the taffy-like cylinder for luck, Jim clambered off up the cliff and +planted it under his "likely rock," Roos meantime setting up in a +favourable position below. + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +THE FACE OF THE HANGING GLACIER] + +[Illustration: Courtesy of Byron Harmon, Banff + +WHERE MY PARTY FOREGATHERED WITH HARMON'S ON THE SHORE OF THE LAKE OF +THE HANGING GLACIER] + +Whether Jim's "tobaccanalian libation" had anything to do with it or +not, this time luck was with us. The sharp blast kicked Jim's rock up on +one ear, where it teetered for a second or two indecisively before +rolling over sidewise and coming down kerplump on a huge twenty-ton cube +of basalt that no one would have thought of moving with a barrel of +giant. It wasn't so much what the little rock did as the way it did it. +The big block gave a sort of a quiver, much as a man awakening from a +doze would stretch his arms and yawn, and when it quivered a lot of +loose stuff slipped away from beneath and just let it go. It lumbered +along at an easy roll for a bit, and then increased its speed and +started jumping. Its first jump was no more than a nervous little hop +that served to hurdle it clear of a length of flat ledge that reached +out to stop its downward progress. A second later it had hit its stride, +so that when it struck the water there had been nothing but rarefied air +trying to stop it for two hundred feet. Down it went, pushing a column +of compressed _aqua pura_ ahead of it and sucking a big black hole along +in its wake. It was when that column of compressed water spouted up +again and tried to chase its tail down the hole it had come out of that +things began to happen, for it found something like a dozen fat icebergs +crowding in and trying to insinuate their translucent bulks into the +same opening. And of course they made a tremendous fuss about it. When +an iceberg found that it couldn't get in standing up, it forthwith +lay down on its side, or even rolled over on its back; which didn't help +it in the least after all, for the very good reason that all the other +icebergs were adopting the same tactics. And so Roos, who was cranking +steadily all the time, got his "Birth of an Iceberg" picture after all. + +When the bergs ceased butting their heads off against each other Roos +shot me in the scenes where I registered "consternation," "relief" and +"awed wonder," and our hard-striven-for Lake of the Hanging Glaciers +picture was complete. There was just a bit of a hitch at the "awed +wonder" fade-out, though, but that was Roos' fault in trying to +introduce a "human touch" by trying to make Gordon's dog perch up beside +me on the crest of a hatchet-edged rock. The pup sat quietly wagging his +tail until the moment came for me to lift up mine eyes unto the hills +and increase the tenseness of my "awed wonder" registration. Then the +altitude began to affect his nerves and he started doing figure "8's" +back and forth between my precariously planted feet. As a natural +consequence, when Roos started in on his "fade-out" I was seesawing my +arms wildly to maintain my balance, talking volubly, and +registering--well, what would a temperamental movie star be registering +while in the act of telling a dog and a man what he thought of them for +their joint responsibility in all but pitching him off a +twenty-foot-high rock into a vortex of tumbling icebergs? Again (unless +this part of the film has been discreetly cut in the studio before +exhibition) I beg the indulgence of lip-readers. + +The lake was deeply shadowed before we were finally at liberty to take +up again the sartorics of "Lohengrin"; but it was not that fact, nor yet +the not entirely prohibitive difficulty of making shining armour out of +tin cans, that nipped that classic conception in the bud. Rather it was +the astonishing unstable-mindedness displayed by the bergs when impinged +upon from without. Of the hundred or more hunks of floating ice within a +five-hundred-yard radius of the point where our artificial berg had hit +the water, only a half dozen or so of the broadest and flattest +continued to expose the same profiles they had presented before the big +splash. Most of the others had turned over and over repeatedly, and one, +which seemed to "hang" in almost perfect balance, continued slowly +revolving like a patent churn. "Lohengrin's Barge," half a mile distant +from the heart of the "birth splash" and lapped by but the lightest of +expiring waves, was rolling drunkenly to port and starboard as though in +the trough of the seas of a typhoon. It looked ready to turn turtle at a +touch, and there were too many angular projections on it--especially +about the "swans"--to make even a man who aspired to grand opera care to +court lightly the experience of tangling himself up in the wreck. + +Descending to the timber-line meadow where the horses had been left, we +found Harmon had brought up his outfit and pitched his tent midway of an +enchanting vista framed in green-black pines and golden tamaracks, and +with a wonderful background for "camp shots" both up and down the +valley. There he was going to make his base, he said, until he found +just the light he wanted on the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers. Then he +hoped to get at least a negative or two that would do something +approaching justice to so inspiring a subject. And there, working and +waiting patiently through an almost unbroken succession of storms that +raged in the high Selkirks for many days, he held on until he got what +he wanted. It was in that quiet persistent way that he had been +photographing the mountains of the Canadian West for many years, and it +will be in that way that he will continue until he shall have attained +somewhere near to the high goal he has set for his life's work--a +complete photographic record of the Rockies and Selkirks. It is a +privilege to have met an artist who works with so fine a spirit, who has +set himself so high an ideal. A number of Harmon's scenic pictures of +the mountains where the Columbia takes its rise are so much better than +the best of my own of the same subjects, that I am giving them place in +a work which it was my original intention to illustrate entirely myself. + +We returned to our camp at the head of Horse Thief Creek that night, and +set out on our return to Windermere the following morning. Save for a +rather sloppy passage of the main ford, the journey was without +incident. With light packs, we pushed right through to the head of the +wagon-road--something over thirty miles--the first day. The seventeen +miles to Invermere we covered in a leisurely fashion, reaching the hotel +at three in the afternoon of the following day, Sunday, the twentieth of +September. Here I found a wire from Chester, stating that it had +finally proved impossible for him to get away from business, and asking +me to go ahead and see the Big Bend trip through without him. In the +event I decided to continue on down the river he would be glad to have +his cameraman accompany me as long as the weather and light were +favourable for his work. A letter with full instructions covering the +two pictures he desired made had already been dispatched. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CANAL FLATS TO BEAVERMOUTH + + +Chester's instructions respecting the two new pictures he wanted us to +work on came through to Roos the day following our return to Windermere. +One of these was to be confined entirely to the Big Bend voyage. +Essaying again my role of "gentleman-cum-sportsman," I was to get off +the train at Beavermouth, meet my boatman, launch the boat and start off +down the river. The various things seen and done _en voyage_ were to +make up the picture. + +In the other picture I was to play the part of a young rancher who was +farming his hard-won clearing on the banks of the Columbia near its +source. With the last of his crops in, he is assailed one day with a +great longing to see the ocean. Suddenly it occurs to him that the river +flowing right by his door runs all the way to the sea, and the sight of +a prospector friend, about to push off with a sack of samples for the +smelter many hundreds of miles below, suggests a means of making the +journey. And so the two of them start off down the Columbia. What +happened to them on their way was to be told in the picture. The +introductory scenes of this picture were to be made somewhere in the +vicinity of Windermere, but the thread of the story was to be picked up +below the Arrow Lakes after the Big Bend voyage was over. + +Hunting "location" and rainy weather kept us four or five days in +Windermere and vicinity, giving an opportunity we otherwise would have +missed to meet and become acquainted with the always kindly and +hospitable and often highly distinguished people of this beautiful and +interesting community. From the time of David Thompson, the great +astronomer and explorer of the Northwest Company who wintered there in +1810, down to the present Windermere seems always to have attracted the +right sort of people. The predominant class is what one might call the +gentleman-farmer, with the stress perhaps on "gentleman." I mean to say, +that is, that while a number of them have failed of outstanding +achievement as farmers, there was none that I met who would not have +qualified as a gentleman, and in the very best sense of the word. +Sportsmen and lovers of the out-of-doors, there was this fine bond of +fellowship between all of them. Nowhere have I encountered a fresher, +more wholesome social atmosphere than that of this fine community of the +upper Columbia. + +That genial and big-hearted old Scot, Randolph Bruce, I recall with +especial affection, as must every one of the many who has known the +hospitality of his great log lodge on a bay of the lake below Invermere. +An Edinburgh engineer, Bruce was one of the builders of the Canadian +Pacific, and as such an associate and intimate of Van Horne, +O'Shaughnessy and the rest of those sturdy pioneers who pushed to +accomplishment the most notable piece of railway construction the world +has ever known. In love with the West by the time the railway was +finished, he built him a home in the most beautiful spot he knew--such +a spot as few even among the Scottish lochs could rival--and associated +himself with various projects for the advancement of the country. At the +present time he is the owner of the Paradise mine, one of the richest +silver-lead properties in British Columbia, and the head of an +enterprise which purposes to bring the Windermere region to its own +among the grandest of the playgrounds of North America. + +We made the preliminary scenes for the "farmer" picture at a gem of a +little mountain ranch in a clearing to the west of Lake Windermere. +Shooting through one of his favourite "sylvan frames," Roos picked me up +violently shocking hay at the end of a long narrow field which the +labour of a young Scotch immigrant had reclaimed from the encompassing +forest. (As a matter of fact the hay was already in shocks when we +arrived, and I had to unshock a few shocks so as to shock them up again +before the camera and thus give the impression that this was the last of +my season's crop.) Then I threw up a couple of shocks for him set up at +closer range, with more attention to "technique." (This latter came easy +for me, as I had been pitching hay for a fortnight on my California +ranch earlier in the summer.) Finally I stopped work, leaned on my fork +and gazed into the distance with visioning eyes. (I was supposed to be +thinking of the sea, Roos explained, and in the finished picture there +would be a "cut-in" of breakers at this point.) Then I registered +"impatience" and "restlessness," hardening to "firm resolve." At this +juncture I threw down my fork and strode purposefully out of the right +side of the picture. (The cabin to which I was supposed to be striding +was really on my left, but Roos explained that some sort of a movie +Median law made it imperative always to exit to right.) Then we went +over to make the cabin shots. + +[Illustration: OLD HUDSON BAY CART AT BEAVERMOUTH (_above_)] + +[Illustration: MY FIRST PUSH-OFF AT THE HEAD OF CANOE NAVIGATION ON THE +COLUMBIA (_below_)] + +[Illustration: OPENING SCENE OF THE "FARMER" PICTURE] + +[Illustration: OLD STERN WHEELERS AT GOLDEN (_above_)] + +[Illustration: A QUIET STRETCH OF THE COLUMBIA NEAR GOLDEN (_below_)] + +The owner of the cabin was away at the moment, but his young Scotch +wife--a bonnie bit of a lass who might have been the inspiration for +"Annie Laurie"--was on hand and mightily interested. She asked if I was +Bill Hart, and Roos made the tactical error of guffawing, as though the +idea was absurd. She was a good deal disappointed at that, but still +very ready to help with anything calculated to immortalize her wee home +by emblazoning it on the imperishable celluloid. First I strode into the +cabin, but almost immediately to emerge unfolding a map. Going over to a +convenient stump, I sat down and disposed of a considerable footage of +"intent study." Then we made a close-up of the map--the Pacific +Northwest--with my index finger starting at Windermere and tracing the +course of the Columbia on its long winding way to the sea. That proved +that there was water transit all the way to that previous cut-in of +breakers which my visioning eyes had conjured up just before I threw +down my fork. I stood up and gazed at the nearby river (which was really +Lake Windermere, a mile distant), and presently stiffened to my full +height, registering "discovery." What I was supposed to see was a +prospector tinkering with his boat. As this latter scene could not be +made until we had bought a boat and signed up a "prospector," all that +was left to do here was to shoot me striding away from the cabin on the +way to discuss ways and means with my mythical companion, and then +striding back, getting my roll of blankets and exiting in a final +fade-out. As we had neglected to provide a roll of blankets for this +shot, we had to improvise one from such material as was available. I +forget all that went to make up that fearful and wonderful package; but +it is just as well the precariously-roped bundle didn't resolve into its +component parts until the fade-out was pretty nearly complete. + +Roos tried hard to introduce "human interest" and "heart appeal" by +staging a farewell scene with "wife and child," both of which were ready +to hand. I was adamant, however, even when he agreed to compromise by +leaving out the child. He was rather stubborn about it, refusing to +admit the validity of my argument to the effect that a would-be screen +hero who deserted so fair a wife would alienate the sympathies of the +crowd at the outset. Finally it was decided for us. "It's too late noo," +cooed a wee voice in which I thought I detected both reproach and +relief; "while ye're talkin', yon cooms Jock." + +It _was_ too late all right; even Roos was ready to grant that. Jock was +about six-feet-three, and built in proportion. Also a wee bitty dour, I +thought. At least he glowered redly under his bushy brows when he +discovered that I had wrapped up his own and another _nicht-goon_ in my +hastily assembled blanket-roll. If that bothered him, I hate to think +what might have happened had he surprised that farewell scene, +especially as Roos--with his Mack Sennett training and D. W. Griffith +ideals--would have tried to stage it. + +Roos was young and inexperienced, and lacking in both finesse and +subtlety. I granted that this wouldn't have cramped his style much in +doing "old home town stuff;" but farther afield it was electric with +dangerous possibilities. Driving back to the hotel I quoted to him what +Kipling's hero in "The Man Who Would Be King" said on the subject, +paraphrasing it slightly so he would understand. "A man has no business +shooting farewell scenes with borrowed brides in foreign parts be he +three times a crowned movie director," was the way I put it. + +It was my original intention to start the boating part of my Columbia +trip from Golden, at the head of the Big Bend, the point at which the +calm open reaches of the upper river give way to really swift water. The +decision to make the push-off from Beavermouth, twenty-nine miles +farther down, was come to merely because it was much easier to get the +boat into the water at the latter point. There was little swift-water +boating worthy of the name above Beavermouth. Donald Canyon was about +the only rough water, and even that, I was assured, was not to be +mentioned in the same breath with scores of rapids farther down the +Bend. In the ninety miles between the foot of Lake Windermere and Golden +there were but twenty-five feet of fall, so that the winding river was +hardly more than a series of lagoon-like reaches, with a current of from +one to four miles an hour. Between Columbia Lake--practically the head +of the main channel of the river--and Mud Lake, and between the latter +and the head of Lake Windermere, there was a stream of fairly swift +current, but at this time of year not carrying enough water to permit +the passage of even a canoe without much lining and portaging. + +From the practical aspect, therefore, I was quite content with the plan +to start my voyage from Beavermouth. For the sake of sentiment, however, +I _did_ want to make some kind of a push-off from the very highest point +that offered sufficient water to float a boat at the end of September. +This, I was assured in Invermere, would be Canal Flats, just above the +head of Columbia Lake and immediately below the abandoned locks which at +one time made navigation possible between the Kootenay and the Columbia. +Although these crude log-built locks have never been restored since they +were damaged by a great freshet in the nineties, and although the +traffic they passed in the few years of their operation was almost +negligible, it may be of interest to give a brief description of the +remarkable terrain that made their construction possible by the simplest +of engineering work, and to tell how the removal of a few shovelfuls of +earth effected the practical insulation of the whole great range of the +Selkirks. + +As a consequence of recent geological study, it has been definitely +established that the divide between the Columbia and Kootenay rivers, +now at Canal Flats, was originally a hundred and fifty miles farther +north, or approximately where Donald Canyon occurs. That is to say, a +great wall of rock at the latter point backed up a long, narrow lake +between the Rockies on the east and the Selkirks on the west. This lake, +unable to find outlet to the north, had risen until its waters were +sufficiently above the lower southern barriers to give it drainage in +that direction. At that time it was doubtless the main source of the +Kootenay River, and its waters did not reach the Columbia until after a +long and devious southerly course into what is now Montana, thence +northward into Kootenay Lake, and finally, by a dizzy westerly plunge, +into a much-extended Arrow Lake. An upheaval which carried away the dyke +at Donald provided a northward drainage for the lake, and the divide was +ultimately established at what is now called Canal Flats. It was a +shifting and precarious division, however, for the Kootenay--which rises +some distance to the northward in the Rockies and is here a sizable +stream--discharged a considerable overflow to the Columbia basin at high +water. It was this latter fact which called attention to the comparative +ease with which navigation could be established between the two rivers +by means of a canal. For an account of how this canal came to be built I +am indebted to E. M. Sandilands, Esq., Mining Recorder for the British +Columbia Government at Wilmer, who has the distinction of being, to use +his own language, "the person who made the Selkirk Mts. an Island by +connecting the Columbia and Kootenay rivers." + +Mr. Sandilands, in a recent letter, tells how an ex-big-game hunter by +the name of Baillie-Grohman obtained, in 1886, a concession from the +Provincial Government of British Columbia for 35,000 acres of land along +the Kootenay River. In return for this he was to construct at his own +expense a canal connecting the Columbia and Kootenay. This cut was for +the ostensible purpose of opening up navigation between the two streams, +but as nothing was stipulated in respect of dredging approaches the +obligation of the concessionaire was limited to the construction of the +canal and locks. "For this reason," writes Mr. Sandilands, who was +working on the job at the time, "our 'Grand Canal' was practically +useless. Nevertheless, in 1888, it was opened with due form and pomp, +engineer, contractor and concessionaire paddling up to the lock in a +canoe well laden with the 'good cheer' demanded by such an occasion. I +was driving a team attached to a 'slush-scraper,' and together with a +jovial Irish spirit who rejoiced in the name of Thomas Haggerty, was +ordered by the foreman to scrape out the false dam holding the Kootenay +back from the canal. This we did as long as we dared. Then I was +deputed, with gum-boots and shovel, to dig a hole through what was left +of the false dam, and allow the Kootenay into the canal and the +Columbia. This being done, the fact was wired to the Provincial +Government at Victoria ..., and the promised concession of land was +asked for and granted. I little thought at the time," Mr. Sandilands +concludes, "how distinguished a part I was playing, that I was making +the Selkirk Mountains an 'Island,' a fact which few people realize to +this day." + +Later a little dredging was done, so that finally, by dint of much +"capstaning," a shallow-draught stern-wheeler was worked up to and +through the lock and canal, and on down the Kootenay to Jennings, +Montana. It was Captain F. P. Armstrong who performed this remarkable +feat, only to lose the historic little craft later in one of the +treacherous canyons of the Kootenay. His also was the distinction, after +maintaining an intermittent service between the Columbia and Kootenay +for a number of years, of being the captain and owner of the last boat +to make that amazing passage. + +We reached Canal Flats at the end of a forty-mile auto-ride from +Invermere. Traces of the old dredged channel were still visible running +up from the head of Columbia Lake and coming to an abrupt end against a +caving wall of logs which must at one time have been a gate of the +inter-river lock. Out of the tangle of maiden hair fern which draped the +rotting logs came a clear trickle of water, seeping through from the +other side of the divide. This was what was popularly called the source +of the Columbia. I could just manage to scoop the river dry with a quick +sweep of my cupped palm. + +A hundred yards below the source the old channel opened out into a quiet +currentless pool, and here I found a half-filled Peterboro belonging to +a neighbouring farmer, which I had engaged for the first leg of my +voyage down the Columbia. It leaked rather faster than I could bail, but +even at that it floated as long as there was water to float it. Fifty +yards farther down a broad mudbank blocked the channel all the way +across, and in attempting to drag the old canoe out for the portage, I +pulled it in two amidships. I had made my start from almost +chock-a-block against the source, however. Sentiment was satisfied. I +was now ready for the Bend. Groping my way back to the car through an +almost impenetrable pall of mosquitoes, I rejoined Roos and we returned +to Invermere. + +A wire from Blackmore stating that it would still be several days before +his boat was ready for the Bend offered us a chance to make the journey +to Golden by river if we so desired. There was nothing in it on the +boating side, but Roos thought there might be a chance for some +effective scenic shots. I, also, was rather inclined to favour the trip, +for the chance it would give of hardening up my hands and pulling +muscles before tackling the Bend. An unpropitious coincidence in the +matter of an Indian name defeated the plan. Roos and I were trying out +on Lake Windermere a sweet little skiff which Randolph Bruce had kindly +volunteered to let us have for the quiet run down to Golden. "By hard +pulling," I said, "we ought just about to make Spillimacheen at the end +of the first day." "Spill a what?" ejaculated Roos anxiously; "you +didn't say 'machine,' did you?" "Yes; Spillimacheen," I replied. "It's +the name of a river that flows down to the Columbia from the Selkirks." +"Then that settles it for me," he said decisively. "I don't want to +spill my machine. It cost fifteen hundred dollars. I'm not +superstitious; but, just the same, starting out for a place with a name +like that is too much like asking for trouble to suit yours truly." And +so we went down to Golden by train and put in the extra time outfitting +for the Bend. + +Golden, superbly situated where the Kicking Horse comes tumbling down to +join the Columbia, is a typical Western mining and lumbering town. Save +for their penchant for dramatizing the perils of the Big Bend, the +people are delightful. It is true that the hospitable spirit of one +Goldenite _did_ get me in rather bad; but perhaps the fault was more +mine than his. Meeting him on the railway platform just as he was about +to leave for Vancouver, he spoke with great enthusiasm of his garden, +and said that he feared some of his fine strawberries might be going to +waste in his absence for lack of some one to eat them. I gulped with +eagerness at that, and then told him bluntly--and truthfully--that I +would willingly steal to get strawberries and cream, provided, of +course, that they couldn't be acquired in some more conventional way. He +hastened to reassure me, saying that it wouldn't be necessary to go +outside the law in this case. "The first chance you get," he said with a +twinkle in his eye, "just slip over and make love to my housekeeper, and +tell her I said to give you your fill of berries and cream, and I have +no doubt she'll provide for you." + +If his Vancouver-bound train had not started to pull out just then, +perhaps he would have explained that that accursed "love stuff" formula +was a figure of speech. Or perhaps he felt sure that I would understand +it that way, if not at once, at least when the time came. And I would +have, ordinarily. But my strawberry-and-cream appetite is so +overpowering that, like the lions at feeding time, my finer +psychological instincts are blunted where satiation is in sight. That +was why I blurted out my hospitable friend's directions almost verbatim +when I saw that the door of his home (to which I had rushed at my first +opportunity) had been opened by a female. It was only after I had +spoken that I saw that she was lean, angular, gimlet-eyed, and had +hatred of all malekind indelibly stamped upon her dour visage. She drew +in her breath whistlingly; then controlled herself with an effort. "I +suppose I must give you the berries and cream," she said slowly and +deliberately, the clearly enunciated words falling icily like the drip +from the glacial grottoes at the head of the Columbia; "but the--the +other matter you would find a little difficult." + +"Ye-es, ma'am," I quavered shiveringly, "I would. If you'll please send +the strawberries and cream to the hotel I am quite content to have it a +cash transaction." + +Considering the way that rapier-thrust punctured me through and through, +I felt that I deserved no little credit for sticking to my guns in the +matter of the strawberries and cream. For the rest, I was floored. The +next time any one tries to send me into the Hesperides after free fruit +I am going to know who is guarding the apples; and I am _not_ going to +approach the delectable garden by the love-path. + +I had taken especial pains to warn Roos what he would have to expect +from Golden in the matter of warnings about the Big Bend, but in spite +of all, that garrulous social centre, the town pool-room, did manage to +slip one rather good one over on him before we got away. "How long does +it take to go round the Bend?" he had asked of a circle of trappers and +lumber-jacks who were busily engaged in their favourite winter +indoor-sport of decorating the pool-room stove with a frieze of tobacco +juice. "Figger it fer yerself, sonny," replied a corpulent woodsman +with a bandaged jaw. "If yer gets inter yer boat an' lets it go in that +ten-twent'-thirt' mile current, it's a simpl' problum of 'rithmatick. If +yer ain't dished in a souse-hole, yer _has_ ter make Revelstoke insider +one day. As yer has ter do sum linin' to keep right side up, it's sum +slower. Best time any of us makes it in is two days. But we never rushes +it even like that 'nless we're hurryin' the cor'ner down ter sit on sum +drownded body." + +As the whole court had nodded solemn acquiescence to this, and as none +had cracked anything remotely resembling a smile, Roos was considerably +impressed--not to say depressed. (So had I been the first time I heard +that coroner yarn.) Nor did he find great comfort in the hotel +proprietor's really well-meant attempt at reassurance. "Don't let that +story bother you, my boy," the genial McConnell had said; "they _never_ +did take the coroner round the Big Bend. Fact is, there _never_ was a +coroner here that had the guts to tackle it!" + +We met Blackmore at Beavermouth the afternoon of the twenty-eighth of +September. He reported that his boat had been shipped from Revelstoke by +that morning's way freight, and should arrive the following day. As I +had been unable to engage a boatman in Golden, and as Blackmore had +found only one in Revelstoke to suit him, it was decided to give me an +oar and a pike-pole and make out the best we could without another man. +I had brought provisions for a fortnight with me from Golden, and +Blackmore had tents and canvases. Through the efforts of influential +friends in Golden I had also been able to secure two bottles of prime +Demerara rum. Knowing that I was going to pick up at least one cask of +Scotch on the way, and perhaps two or three, I had not been very keen +about bothering with the rum. But on the assurance that it might well be +two or three days before any whisky was found, and that getting wet in +the Columbia without something to restore the circulation was as good as +suicide, I allowed myself to be persuaded. It was wonderful +stuff--thirty per cent. over-proof; which means that it could be diluted +with four parts of water and still retain enough potency to make an +ordinary man blink if he tried to bolt it. We did find one man--but he +was not ordinary by any means; far from it. I will tell about "Wild +Bill" in the proper place. + +There was a wonderful _aurora borealis_ that night--quite the finest +display of the kind I recall ever having seen in either the northern or +southern hemispheres. Blackmore--weather-wise from long +experience--regarded the marvellous display of lambently licking light +streamers with mixed feelings. "Yes, it's a fine show," he said, +following the opalescent glimmer of the fluttering pennants with a +dubious eye; "but I'm afraid we'll have to pay through the nose for it. +It means that in a couple of days more the rain will be streaming down +as fast as those lights are streaming up. Just about the time we get +well into Surprise Rapids there will be about as much water in the air +as in the river. However, it won't matter much," he concluded +philosophically, "for we'll be soaked anyway, whether we're running or +lining, and rain water's ten degrees warmer than river water." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +I. RUNNING THE BEND + +_Through Surprise Rapids_ + + +We pushed off from Beavermouth at three o'clock of the afternoon of +September twenty-ninth. We had hoped for an early start, but the +erratically running local freight, six or eight hours behind time, did +not arrive with our boat until noon. The introductory shots had already +been made. Made up momentarily as a gentleman--wearing an ankle length +polished waterproof and a clean cap, that is,--I jumped the westbound +Limited as it slowed down on entering the yard, dropping off presently +at the platform with a "here-I-am" expression when Roos signalled that +the focus was right. Then I shook hands with the waiting Blackmore, and +together we strode to the door of the station and met the +previously-rehearsed agent. (Roos had wanted me to shake hands with the +agent as well as with Blackmore, but I overruled him by pointing out +that I was a "gentleman-sportsman" not a "gentleman-politician," and +served notice on him that pump-handling must henceforth be reduced to a +minimum.) We tried to perfect the agent in a sweeping gesture that would +say as plainly as words "The train with your boat is just around that +next bend, sir," but somehow we couldn't prevent his trying to elevate +his lowly part. His lips mumbled the words we had put on them all +right, but the gesture was a grandiose thing such as a Chesterfieldian +footman might have employed in announcing "My Lord, the carriage waits." + +Roos, in all innocence, narrowly missed provoking a fight with a +hot-tempered half-breed while he was setting up to shoot the incoming +freight. He had an ingenious method of determining, without bending over +his finder, just what his lens was going to "pick-up." This consisted of +holding his arms at full length, with his thumbs placed tip to tip and +the forefingers standing straight up. The right-angling digits then +framed for his eye an approximation of his picture. To one not used to +it this esoteric performance looked distinctly queer, especially if he +chanced to be standing somewhere near the arch priest's line of vision. +And that, as it happened, was exactly the place from which it was +revealed to the choleric near-Shuswap section hand. I didn't need the +breed's subsequent contrite explanation to know that, from where he had +been standing, those twiddling thumbs and fingers, through the great +fore-shortening of the arms, looked to be right on the end of the nose +of the grimacing little man by the camera. Not even a self-respecting +white man would have stood for what that twiddling connoted, let alone a +man in whose veins flowed blood that must have been something like +fifteen-sixteenths of the proudest of Canadian strains. Luckily, both +Blackmore and his burly boatman were men of action. Even so, it was a +near squeeze for both camera and cameraman. Roos emerged unscarred in +anything but temperament. And, of course, as every one even on the +fringes of the movies knows, the temperaments of both stars and +directors are things that require frequent harrowing to keep them in +good working order. + +Roos' filming of the unloading of the boat was the best thing he did on +the trip. Every available man in Beavermouth was requisitioned. This +must have been something like twenty-five or thirty. A half dozen, with +skids and rollers, could have taken the boat off without exerting +themselves seriously, but could hardly have "made it snappy." And action +was what the scene demanded. There was no time for a rehearsal. The +agent simply told us where the car would be shunted to, Blackmore +figured out the best line from there over the embankment and through the +woods to the river, and Roos undertook to keep up with the procession +with his camera. Blackmore was to superintend the technical operation +and I was ordered to see that the men "acted natural." And thus we went +to it. The big boat, which must have weighed close to half a ton, came +off its flat car like a paper shallop, but the resounding thwack with +which her bows hit a switch-frog awakened Blackmore's concern. "Easy! +Easy! Don't bust her bottom," he began shouting; while I, on the other +side, took up my refrain of "Don't look at the camera!--make it snappy." +The consequence of these diametrically opposed orders was that the dozen +or more men on my side did most of the work. But even so it was +"snappy"--very. + +Down the embankment we rushed like a speeding centipede, straight at the +fine hog-proof wire fence of the C. P. R. right-of-way. That fence may +have been hog-proof, but it was certainly not proof against the charge +of a thirty-foot boat coming down a fifty per cent. grade pushed by +twenty-five men. We had intended lifting over it, but our momentum was +too great, especially after I had failed to desist from shouting "Make +it snappy!" soon enough. The barrier gave way in two or three places, so +that we were shedding trailing lengths of wire all the way to the river. +On through the woods we juggernauted, Roos following in full cry. His +city "news stuff" training was standing him in good stead, and he showed +no less cleverness than agility in making successive "set-ups" without +staying our progress. Only in the last fifty yards, where the going over +the moss and pine needles was (comparatively speaking) lightning fast, +did we distance him. Here, as there was plenty of time, he cut a hole in +the trees and shot the launching through one of his favourite "sylvan +frames." For the push-off shot he provided his customary heart throb by +bringing down the station agent's three-year-old infant to wave +farewell. That he didn't try to feature the mother prominently seemed to +indicate that what I had said at Windermere on the subject had had some +effect. + +After the "farewell" had been filmed, we landed at the fire ranger's +cabin to pick up Roos and his camera. The ranger told us that a couple +of trappers who had been for some weeks engaged in portaging their +winter supplies round Surprise Rapids would be waiting for us at the +head of the first fall in the expectation of getting the job of packing +our stuff down to the foot. "Nothing doing," Blackmore replied +decisively; "going straight through." The ranger grinned and shook his +grizzled head. "You're the man to do it," he said; "but jest the same, +I'm glad it's you and not me that has the job." + +The station agent came down with Roos, evidently with the cheering +purpose of showing us the place where his predecessor and a couple of +other men had been drowned in attempting to cross the river some months +previously. "Only man in the boat to be picked up alive was a one-armed +chap," he concluded impressively. "Too late now for operations on any of +this crew," laughed Blackmore, pushing off with a pike-pole. "Besides, +every man jack of us is going to have a two-arm job all the way." To the +parting cheers of the mackinawed mob on the bank, he eased out into the +current and headed her down the Bend. + +[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF OUR BOAT AT BEAVERMOUTH (_above_)] + +[Illustration: OUR FIRST CAMP AT BEAVERMOUTH (_centre_)] + +[Illustration: THE REMAINS OF A SUNKEN FOREST (_below_)] + +[Illustration: TRAPPER'S CABIN WHERE WE FOUND SHELTER FOR THE NIGHT +(_above_)] + +[Illustration: WHERE WE LANDED ABOVE SURPRISE RAPIDS (_centre_)] + +[Illustration: WHERE WE TIED UP AT "EIGHT MILE" (_below_)] + +Roos stationed himself in the bow, with camera set up on its shortened +tripod, waiting to surprise any scenery caught lurking along the way. +Blackmore steered from the stern with his seven-feet-long birch paddle. +Andy Kitson and I, pulling starboard and port oars respectively, rubbed +shoulders on the broad 'midship's thwart. Our outfit--a comparatively +light load for so large a boat--was stowed pretty well aft. I saw +Blackmore lean out to "con ship" as we got under way. "Good trim," he +pronounced finally, with an approving nod. "Just load enough to steady +her, and yet leave plenty of freeboard for the sloppy water. This ought +to be a dryer run than some the old girl's had." I chuckled to myself +over that "dryer." I hadn't told Blackmore yet what was hidden down +Canoe River way. I had promised Captain Armstrong not to do so until I +had ascertained that we had a teetotal crew--or one comparatively so. + +Andy Kitson was a big husky North-of-Irelander, who had spent twenty +years trapping, packing, hunting, lumbering and boating in western +Canada. Like the best of his kind, he was deliberate and sparing of +speech most of the time, but with a fine reserve vocabulary for +emergency use. He was careful and cautious, as all good river boatmen +should be, but decidedly "all there" in a pinch. He pulled a good +round-armed thumping stroke with his big oar, and took to the water (as +has to be done so frequently on a bad stretch of "lining down") like a +beaver. Best of all, he had a temper which nothing from a leak in the +tent dribbling down his neck to a half hour up to his waist in ice-cold +water seemed equal to ruffling. I liked Andy the moment I set eyes on +his shining red gill, and I liked him better and better every day I +worked and camped with him. + +As it was three-thirty when we finally pushed off, Blackmore announced +that he would not try to make farther than "Eight-Mile" that afternoon. +With comparatively good water all the way to the head of Surprise +Rapids, we could have run right on through, he said; but that would +force us to make camp after dark, and he disliked doing that unless he +had to. In a current varying from three to eight miles an hour, we slid +along down stream between banks golden-gay with the turning leaves of +poplar, cottonwood and birch, the bright colours of which were +strikingly accentuated by the sombre background of thick-growing +spruce, hemlock, balsam and fir. Yellow, in a score of shades, was the +prevailing colour, but here and there was a splash of glowing crimson +from a patch of _chin-chinick_ or Indian tobacco, or a mass of dull +maroon where a wild rose clambered over the thicket. Closely confined +between the Rockies to the right and the Selkirks to the west, the river +held undeviatingly to its general northwesterly course, with only the +patchiest of flats on either side. And this was the openest part of the +Bend, Blackmore volunteered; from the head of Surprise Rapids to the +foot of Priest Rapids the Columbia was so steeply walled that we would +not find room for a clearing large enough to support a single cow. "It's +a dismal hole, and no mistake," he said. + +We took about an hour to run to "Eight Mile," Andy and I pulling +steadily all the way in the deep, smoothly-running current. We tied up +in a quiet lagoon opening out to the west--evidently the mouth of a +high-water channel. There was a magnificent stand of fir and spruce on a +low bench running back from the river, not of great size on account of +growing so thickly, but amazing lofty and straight. We camped in the +shelter of the timber without pitching a tent, Andy and Blackmore +sleeping in the open and Roos and I in a tumble-down trapper's cabin. Or +rather we spread our blankets in the infernal hole. As the place was +both damp and rat-infested, we did not sleep. Roos spent the night +chopping wood and feeding the rust-eaten--and therefore +smoky--sheet-iron stove. I divided my time between growling at Roos for +enticing me into keeping him company in the cabin against Blackmore's +advice, and throwing things at the prowling rodents. It did not make for +increased cheerfulness when I hit him on the ear with a hob-nailed boot +that I had intended for a pair of eyes gleaming vitreously on a line +about six inches back of his gloomily bowed head. He argued--and with +some reason I must admit--that I had no call to draw so fine a bead +until I was surer of my aim. Largely as a point of repartee, I told him +not to be too certain I was not sure of my aim. But I really had been +trying to hit the rat.... + +I took the temperature of the air and the river water in the morning, +finding the former to register thirty-eight degrees and the latter +forty-one. There was a heavy mist resting on the river for a couple of +hours after daybreak, but it was lifting by the time we were ready to +push off. In running swift water good visibility is even more imperative +than at sea, but as there was nothing immediately ahead to bother +Blackmore did not wait for it to clear completely. The sun was shining +brightly by nine-thirty, and Roos made several shots from the boat and +one or two from the bank. One of the most remarkable sights unfolded to +us was that of "Snag Town." Just what was responsible for this queer +maze of upended trees it would be hard to say. It seems probable, +however, that a series of heavy spring floods undermined a considerable +flat at the bend of the river, carrying away the earth and leaving the +trees still partially rooted. The broadening of the channel must have +slowed down the current a good deal, and it appears never to have been +strong enough to scour out below the tenaciously clinging roots. The +former lords of the forest are all dead, of course, but still they keep +their places, inclining down-stream perhaps twenty-degrees from their +former proud perpendicular, and firmly anchored. It takes careful +steering to thread the maze even in a small boat, but the current is +hardly fast enough to make a collision of serious moment. + +The current quickened for a while beyond "Snag Town" and then began +slowing again, the river broadening and deepening meanwhile. I thought I +read the signs aright and asked Blackmore. "Yes," he replied with a +confirmatory nod; "it's the river backing up for its big jump. Stop +pulling a minute and you can probably hear the rapid growling even +here." Andy and I lay on our oars and listened. There it was surely +enough, deep and distant but unmistakable--the old familiar drum-roll of +a big river beating for the charge. It was tremendous music--heavy, +air-quivering, earth-shaking; more the diapason of a great cataract than +an ordinary rapid, it seemed to me. I was right. Surprise is anything +but an ordinary rapid. + +We pulled for a half hour or more down a broad stretch of slackening +water that was more like a lake than a river. Out of the looming shadows +of the banks for a space, mountain heights that had been cut off leaped +boldly into view, and to left and right lifted a lofty sky-line notched +with snowy peaks rising from corrugated fields of bottle-green glacier +ice. Mt. Sanford, loftiest of the Selkirks, closed the end of the bosky +perspective of Gold Creek, and the coldly chiselled pyramids of Lyell, +Bryce and Columbia pricked out the high points on the Continental +Divide of the Rockies. We held the vivid double panorama--or quadruple, +really, for both ranges were reflected in the quiet water--for as long +as it took us to pull to a beach at the narrowing lower end of the long +lake-like stretch above the rapids, finally to lose it as suddenly as it +had been opened to us behind the imminently-rearing river walls. + +The two trappers of whom the fire-ranger at Beavermouth had spoken were +waiting for us on the bank. They had permits for trapping on a couple of +the creeks below Kinbasket Lake, and were getting down early in order to +lay out their lines by the time the season opened a month or so hence. +They had been packing their stuff over the three-mile portage to the +foot of the rapids during the last three weeks, and now, with nothing +left to go but their canoes, were free to give us a hand if we wanted +them. Blackmore replied that he could save time and labour by running +and lining the rapids. "Besides," he added with a grin, "I take it these +movie people have come out to get pictures of a river trip, not an +overland journey." The trappers took the dig in good part, but one of +them riposted neatly. Since he was out for furs, he said, and was not +taking pictures or boot-legging, time was not much of an object. The +main thing with him was to reach his destination with his winter's +outfit. If all the river was like Surprise Rapids he would be quite +content to go overland all the way. Neither of them made any comments on +the stage of the water or offered any suggestions in connection with the +job we had ahead. That was one comfort of travelling with Blackmore. In +all matters pertaining to river work his judgment appeared to be beyond +criticism. If he was tackling a stunt with a considerable element of +risk in it, that was his own business. No one else knew the dangers, and +how to avoid them, so well as he. + +Blackmore looked to the trim of the boat carefully before shoving off, +putting her down a bit more by the stern it seemed to me. He cautioned +me on only one point as we pulled across the quarter of mile to where +the banks ran close together and the quiet water ended. "Don't never dip +deep in the white water, and 'specially in the swirls," he said, +stressing each word. "If you do, a whirlpool is more'n likely to carry +your oar-blade under the boat and tear out half the side 'fore you can +clear your oar-lock. That's the way that patched gunnel next you came to +get smashed." As we were about at the point where it is well to confine +all the talking done in the boat to one man, I refrained from replying +that I had been told the same thing in a dozen or so languages, on four +different continents, and by "skippers" with black, yellow and copper as +well as white skins, at fairly frequent intervals during the last +fifteen years. There were enough slips I might make, but that of dipping +deep in rough water was hardly likely to be one of them. + +The rumble of the rapid grew heavier as we proceeded, but only a single +flickering white "eyelash" revealed the imminent ambush lurking beyond +the black rocks. The current accelerated rapidly as the walls closed in, +but ran easily, effortlessly, unripplingly, and with an almost uncanny +absence of swirls and eddies. "Have plenty way on her 'fore she hits +the suds," cautioned Blackmore, and Andy and I grunted in unison as we +leaned a few more pounds of beef onto our bending spruces. That started +our inside elbows to bumping, but without a word each of us sidled along +an inch or two toward his gunwale to get well set while yet there was +time. + +With an easy bob--quick like a rowboat rides the bow wave of a steamer, +but smoother, easier in its lift--we ran into the head of the rapid. +There was a swift V-shaped chute of smooth jade-green water; then we +slapped right into the "suds." High-headed waves slammed against the +bows and threw spray all over the boat and far astern of it. But they +lacked jolt. They had too much froth and not enough green water to make +them really formidable. We were in rough but not really bad water. I +tried to grin at Blackmore to show him I understood the situation and +was enjoying it highly; but his eyes, pin-points of concentration under +bent brows, were directed over my head and far in advance. Plainly, he +was thinking as well as looking well ahead. + +Reassured by the smart way we were slashing through that first riffle, I +ventured to steal a look over my shoulder. In the immediate foreground +Roos, with his waterproof buttoned close around his neck, was shaking +the spray out of his hair and watching for a chance to snap with his +kodak. Ahead there was perhaps another hundred yards of about the same +sort of water as that in which we were running; then a yeasty welter of +white where the river disappeared round a black cliff into what seemed a +narrow gorge. Opposite the cliff the river wall sloped slightly and was +thickly covered with a dense growth of evergreen. The heavy roar we had +been hearing for hours was still muffled. Evidently the main disturbance +was somewhere beyond the bend at the cliff. + +The thunder of falling water grew louder as we headed down toward the +white smother in the embrasure of the bend, and it was from Blackmore's +lips rather than from any words I heard that I gathered that he was +calling for "More way!" Still keeping fairly good stroke, Andy and I +quickly had her going enough faster than the current to give the big +paddle all the steerage "grip" Blackmore could ask for. Swinging her +sharply to the right, he headed her past the out-reaching rock claws at +the foot of the cliff, and, with a sudden blaze of light and an +ear-shattering rush of sound we were into the first and worst fall of +Surprise Rapids. + +That dual onslaught of light and sound had something of the paralyzing +suddenness of that which occurs when a furnace door is thrown wide and +eye and ear are assailed at the same instant with the glare and the roar +from within. One moment we were running in a shadowed gorge with a heavy +but deadened and apparently distant rumble sounding somewhere ahead; the +next we were in the heart of a roar that fairly scoured our ear-drums, +and blinking in a fluttering white light that seemed to sear the +eyeballs. The one hurried glance that I threw behind me as I began +floundering on the end of my kicking oar photographed an intensely vivid +picture on my memory. + +What had been merely a swiftly-flowing river with a streak of silver +riffles down the middle had changed to a tumultuous tumble of cascades +that gleamed in solid white from bank to bank like the churned snow of a +freshly descended avalanche. There was no green water whatever; not even +a streak that was tinged with green. All that relieved the coruscating, +sun-silvered tumble of whiteness were the black tips of jutting +bedrock, sticking up through the foam they had churned. The deeply +shadowed western wall, hanging above the river like a dusky pall, served +only to accentuate by contrast the intense white light that danced above +the cascade. It was as though the golden yellow had been filtered out of +the sunlight in the depths, and only the pure blue-white of calcium +reflected back into the atmosphere. + +Heavy as was the fall of the river over the stretch we had now entered, +I could just make out a point perhaps a half mile farther down where it +dropped out of sight entirely. That, I told myself, must be the place +where there was an unbroken reef of bedrock all the way across the +stream, and where there was an abrupt drop of eight or ten feet. A great +throbbing rumble cutting into the slightly higher-keyed roar that +already engulfed us also seemed to indicate that the steepest pitch had +not yet been reached. I had, of course, seen worse water than this, but +certainly had never (as appeared to be the case now) been irretrievably +committed to running it. I had heard that it was quite unrunnable in any +kind of a boat, it certainly looked unrunnable, and I seemed to have the +impression that Blackmore had said he was not intending to run it. Yet +here we were into it, and without (so far as I could see) anything to do +but drive ahead. However, that was Blackmore's affair.... + +The rather smart team-work which Andy and I had maintained for a while +dissolved like the morning mists as we banged in among the walloping +rollers at the head of the real cascade. Both of us were in +difficulties, but his round-armed thumping stroke seemed rather more +true to form than the shattered remnants of my fine straight-armed +slide-and-recover, with its dainty surface-skimming "feather." Nothing +but the sharpest of dabs with the tip of an oar can get any hold in a +current of fifteen to twenty miles an hour, and the short, wristy pull +(which is all there is time for) doesn't impart a lot of impulse to a +thirty-foot boat. That, and the staggering buffets on the bows, for it +was solid, lumpy water that was coming over us now, quickly reduced our +headway. (Headway _through_ the current, I mean; our headway floating +_in_ the current was terrific.) This was, of course, a serious handicap +to Blackmore, as it deprived him of much of the steerage-way upon which +he was dependent for quick handling of the boat. The difficulty of +maintaining steerage-way in rough water with oars makes a bow as well as +a stern paddle very desirable in running bad rapids. The bow paddler can +keep a very sharp lookout for rocks immediately ahead, and, in a pinch, +can jerk the boat bodily to one side or the other, where oarsmen have to +_swing_ it. However, Blackmore knew just what he was going up against, +and had made the best disposition possible of his available crew. + +I was too busy keeping myself from being bucked off the thwart by my +floundering oar to steal more than that first hurried look over my +shoulder. It was not my concern what was ahead anyway. All I had to do +was to take a slap at the top of a wave every time I saw a chance, and +be ready to back, or throw my weight into a heavy stroke, when Blackmore +needed help to turn her this way or that. My signal--a jerk of the +steersman's head to the left--came sooner than I expected. It looked a +sheer impossibility to drive through the maze of rocks to the bank, yet +that--after a long, anxious look ahead--was evidently what he had +decided to attempt. As it was my oar he called on, I knew it was the +right or east bank, a sharply sloping reach of black bedrock littered +with water-scoured boulders. + +By the way Blackmore was leaning onto his paddle I knew that he needed +all the pull I could give him to bring her round. Swinging back hard, I +threw every pound I had onto my oar. For an instant the lack of +resistance as the blade tore through foam nearly sent me reeling +backwards; then it bit into solid water, and, under impulse of oar and +paddle, the boat pivoted through more than half a quadrant and shot +straight for the bank. Right in where the black rock tips were scattered +like the raisins in a pudding he headed her. There was no room to use +the oars now, but she still carried more than enough way to send her to +the bank. Or rather, it would have carried her through if the course +had been clear. Missing two or three rocks by inches, she rasped half +her length along another, and onto a fourth--lurking submerged by a +foot--she jammed full tilt. It was her port bow that struck, and from +the crash it seemed impossible that she could have escaped holing. Andy +went over the side so suddenly that, until I saw him balancing on a rock +and trying to keep the boat from backing off into the current, I thought +he had been thrown overboard by the impact. Thumping her bow with his +boot, he reported her leaking slightly but not much damaged. Then, +swinging her round into an eddy, he jumped off into the waist-deep water +and led her unresistingly up against the bank. It was astonishing to see +so wild a creature so suddenly become tame. + +We would have to "line down" from here to the foot of the first fall, +Blackmore said. While Roos was setting up his camera the veteran +explained that he could have run four or five hundred yards farther +down, right to the brink of the "tip off," but that he preferred getting +in out of the wet where he had a good landing. I agreed with him +heartily--without putting it in words. But if that was his idea of a +"good landing place," I hoped he would continue to avoid bad ones. + +The basic principles of "lining down" are the same on all rivers. Where +water is too rough to run, it is the last resort before portaging. As +generally practised, one man, walking along the bank, lets the boat down +with a line, while another--or as many others as are available--keeps it +off the rocks with poles. "Lining" can be effected more rapidly and with +much less effort if one man remains in the boat and fends off with his +pole from there. This is much the better method where the fall is not +too great and the water comparatively warm. On the upper Columbia, where +the breaking away of a boat from a line means its almost inevitable loss +with all on board, it is resorted to only when absolutely necessary, and +when a man of great experience is handling the line. It takes a natural +aptitude and years of experience for a man to master all the intricacies +of "lining." I shall not endeavour to enumerate even the few that I am +familiar with; but the one thing beyond all others to avoid is letting +the bow of the boat swing outwards when the stern is held up by a rock. +This brings the full current of the river against its up-stream side, +exerting a force that a dozen men could not hold against, let alone one +or two. As Blackmore was noted for his mastery of the "lining" game, +however, we had no apprehension of trouble in this department. + +Nothing of the outfit save the moving picture camera was removed from +the boat at this juncture. Coiling his line--something over a hundred +feet of half-inch Manila hemp--over his left arm, Blackmore signalled +Andy to shove off. Paying out the line through his right hand, he let +the eddy carry the boat out into the drag of the current. Armed with +long pike-poles, Andy and I ran on ahead to keep it clear of the banks +as it swung in. This was easy enough as long as we had only the bank to +contend with. But almost immediately the trouble which makes Surprise +Rapids one of the nastiest stretches on any river in the world to line +began to develop. This came from the submerged rocks which crop up all +along between the banks and the deeper water of mid-channel. + +Pulling her up and releasing her with a hand that reminded me of that of +a consummate natural horseman, Blackmore nursed the boat along and +managed to avoid most of these obstructions. But every now and then she +would wedge between a close-set pair of boulders and resist the force of +the current to drive her on. At such times it was up to Andy and me to +wade in and try to dislodge her with our poles. Failing this, we had to +wade out still farther and lift her through. Andy always took the lead +in this lifting business, claiming that it required a lot of experience +to know just the instant to stop shoving at the boat as she began to +move, and start bracing against the current to keep from getting carried +away. I have no doubt he was right. In any event he would never let me +come out until he had tugged and hauled for several minutes trying to +budge her alone, and even then--notwithstanding his four or five inches +less of height--he always took his station in the deepest hole. Two or +three times, shaking himself like a Newfoundland, he came out wet to the +armpits with the icy water. As the sun was beating hotly upon the rocks, +however, neither of us felt the cold much that afternoon. A few days +later it was another story. + +We made something like eight or nine hundred yards before we +stopped--right to the head of the roaring chute that ran down to the +sheer drop-off. Roos--always at his best when there was plenty of +unpremeditated action going on, so that "directorial" worries sat +lightly on him--followed us closely all the way. It was hard enough +keeping one's footing on those ice-slippery boulders at all; how he +managed it with something like a hundred pounds of camera and tripod +over his shoulder and a bulky case in one hand is more than I can +figure. But he did it, keeping close enough so that he got just about +everything without having to ask us to do it over again. This latter was +a good deal of a comfort, especially in those waist-deep-in-the-Columbia +lifting stunts. I had always hated "lining down," even in the tropics, +and I already saw that what we had ahead wasn't going to modify my +feelings for the better. + +At the head of that rough-and-tumble cascade leading to the fall, +Blackmore decided that we would have to unload the boat completely +before trying to let her down. It was always bad business there at the +best, he said, and the present stage of water made the rocks quite a bit +worse than when either higher or lower. If we hustled, there ought to be +time to get through before dark, and then a half mile run would take us +to a good camping place near the head of the second fall. Here Roos +intervened to point out that the sun was already behind the western +wall, and asking if it wouldn't be possible to camp where we were. He +wanted to keep the "continuity" of this particular piece of "lining" +unbroken, and would need good light to finish it in. Blackmore said he +could manage the camp if we thought our ear-drums would stand the roar. + +So we unloaded the boat, and Blackmore leading her into the quietest +pool he could find, moored her for the night. As there was a couple of +feet of "lop" even there, this was rather a nice operation. With lines +to stern and bow, and held off from the rocks on either side by lashed +pike-poles, she looked for all the world like some fractious horse that +had been secured to prevent its banging itself up against the sides of +its stall. It was a beastly job, carrying the fifteen or twenty heavy +parcels of the outfit a hundred yards over those huge polished boulders +to the bit of sand-bar where camp was to be pitched. My old +ankles--endlessly sprained during my football days--protested every step +of my several round trips, and I congratulated myself that I had had the +foresight to bring leather braces to stiffen them. Reeking with +perspiration after I had thrown down my last load, I decided to use the +river for a bath that I would have to take anyway on shifting from my +wet clothes. The half-glacial water was not a lot above freezing, of +course; but that is of small moment when one has plenty of animal heat +stored up to react against it. My worst difficulty was from the +bumpiness of my rocky bathing pool, which also had a rather troublesome +undercurrent pulling out toward the racing chute of the main channel. +Blackmore, pop-eyed with astonishment, came down to watch the show. It +was the first time he had ever seen a man take a voluntary bath in +Surprise Rapids, he said. And all the others--the involuntary +bathers--they had picked up later in Kinbasket Lake. + +That was about the most restricted space I can recall ever having camped +in. The great boulders of the high-water channel extended right up to +the foot of the mountain wall and neither the one nor the other afforded +enough level space to set a doll's house. A four-by-six patch of sand +was the most extensive area that seemed to offer, and, doubling this in +size by cutting away a rotting spruce stump and a section of fallen +birch, there was just enough room for the little shed-tent. It was a +snug and comfortable camp, though, and highly picturesque, perched as it +was almost in the spray of the cascade. The noise was the worst thing, +and we would have had to stay there even longer than we did to become +quite used to it. All of us were shouting in each other's ears for days +afterwards, and even trying to converse in signs in the idyllic quietude +of Kinbasket Lake. + +The storm which Blackmore's seer-like vision had descried in the +blue-green auroral flutters of a couple of nights previously arrived +quite on schedule. Although the western sky had glowed for half an hour +after sunset with that supposedly optimistic tinge of primrose and +terra-cotta, it was pouring before midnight, and the next morning there +was truly almost as much water in the air as in the river. Pictures were +out of the question, so there was nothing to do but hang on until the +weather cleared. Leaving Roos whittling and Andy struggling to divert a +swelling young river that was trying to sluice away the sand on which +the tent was pitched, Blackmore and I pulled on our waterproofs and +clambered a mile through the woods to a camp of C. P. R. engineers. +Blackmore wanted to get an extra axe; I to get some further data on the +fall of the river. We found a crude cable-ferry thrown across just below +the foot of the big fall, and a rough, boggy path from the eastern end +of it took us to the camp of three or four comfortable cabins. + +The Canadian Pacific, I learned--both on account of the high and +increasing cost of its oil fuel and because of the trouble experienced +in clearing their tunnels from smoke--was contemplating the +electrification of all of its mountain divisions. There were numerous +high falls along the line where power could be economically developed, +but it was not considered desirable that the scenic beauty of these +should be marred by diversion. Besides the Columbia, in a hundred miles +of the Big Bend, offered the opportunity for developing more +hydro-electric energy than all the west of Canada could use in the next +twenty years. The Surprise Rapids project alone would provide far more +power than the Canadian Pacific could use for traction, and it was +expected that there would be a large surplus for municipal and +industrial uses along the line. "All this, of course," the engineer at +the camp explained, "in the event the company decides to go ahead with +the development. Raising the money will probably be the greatest +difficulty, and in the present state of the financial market it is hard +to see how much can be done for two or three years. In the meantime we +are measuring the flow of the river every day, and will have accurate +data to go by when the time for construction comes." + +I learned that the total length of Surprise Rapids was three and a third +miles, in which distance there was a fall of nearly one hundred feet. +The greatest drop was in that stretch which we were waiting to "line," +where there was a fall of twenty-one feet in seven hundred and fifty. At +the second cascade there was a fall of fifteen feet in twelve hundred, +and at the third, twenty-five feet in twenty-five hundred. It was +planned to build the dam across the very narrow canyon near the foot of +the lower fall, making it of such a height that a lake would be backed +up as far as Beavermouth, incidentally, of course, wiping out the whole +of Surprise Rapids. "They can't wipe it out any too soon to suit me," +Blackmore commented on hearing this. "It'd have saved me a lot of work +and many a wetting if they'd wiped it out twenty year ago. And that's +saying nothing of the men drownded there. It was that big whirlpool down +through the trees there that did for Walter Steinhoff." + +We had left the camp now and were picking our way down the narrow trail +to the foot of the second fall. I had been waiting to hear Blackmore +speak of Steinhoff for two reasons: first, because I was curious to know +how much truth there was in those dramatic versions of his death I had +heard in Golden, and also because the subject would lead up naturally to +that of the buried whisky. This latter was rather too delicate a matter +to broach offhand, and I had therefore been carefully watching for a +favourable opening. Now that it had come, I was quick to take advantage +of it. + +"Tell me about Steinhoff," I said. "He was on some kind of a +boot-legging stunt, wasn't he?" I was just a bit diffident about +bringing up that drink-running business, for although I had been told +that Blackmore was a smooth hand at the game himself, I had a sort of +sneaking idea that it was the kind of a thing a man ought to be +sensitive about, like having had smallpox or a sister in the movies. I +need not have worried, however. "You bet he was boot-legging," Blackmore +replied; "and so was I. Both outfits heading for _Tete Jaune Cache_ on +the Grand Trunk, and racing to get there first. That was what got him +into trouble--trying to catch up with me after I had passed him by +running and lining the first fall (the one we are doing the same way +now) while he had portaged. I reckon it was his first intention to +portage all the way to the foot of the second fall, but when he saw me +slip by in the water he put in his canoes at the foot of the first fall +and came after me." + +We had come out above the river now, and I saw a savage stretch of +foam-white water falling in a roaring cascade to a mighty whirlpool that +filled all of the bottom of the steeply-walled amphitheatre formed by a +right-angling bend of the Columbia. Thirty feet or more above the +present level of the whirlpool were the marks of its swirling scour at +mid-summer high-water. Awesome enough now (and it was not any the less +so to me since we still had to take the boat through it), I could see at +once that, with the power of the floods driving it round and round at +turbine speed, it must indeed be a veritable thing of terror. It was +into this whirlpool, as well as others at Revelstoke Canyon and Death +Rapids, that whole uprooted pines were said to be sucked in flood-time, +to reappear only as battered logs many miles below. There seemed hardly +enough water there at the present to make this possible; but the story +was at least credible to me now, which was more than it had been +previously. + +"So this is your 'All Day Sucker,'" I remarked carelessly, in a studied +attempt to keep Blackmore from noting how greatly the savage maelstrom +had impressed me. Seeing through the bluff, he grinned indulgently and +resumed his story of Steinhoff as soon as we had moved far enough round +the whirlpool to make his voice comfortably heard above the roar of the +cascade. A line had parted--sawed through in working round a rocky point +a few hundred yards above--and Steinhoff's big Peterboro was swept out +into the current. Striking a rock, it turned over and threw him into the +water. He made a brave effort to swim out, keeping his head above water +most of the way down the cascade. The whirlpool had been too much for +him, however. He was fighting hard to keep up when he was carried into +the vortex and sucked under. Blackmore took no stock in the story of the +dramatic gesture of farewell. "A man don't pull that grand opry stuff +with the cold of the Columbia biting into his spine," was the way he put +it. + +Then I told him about the whisky--spoke to him as a son to his father. +And he, meeting me point for point in all seriousness of spirit, +answered as father to son. He thought there was little chance of finding +anything along the river. He had not done so himself for a number of +years--and he hadn't been overlooking any bets, either. There was, of +course, still much good stuff buried in the drift below Middle River, +but it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find +it. But the cache above Canoe River--ah, that was another matter! +Captain Armstrong could be absolutely depended upon in a matter of that +kind, and the directions sounded right as rain. Yes, he quite understood +that I should want to take it all to California with me. He would want +to do the same thing if he were in my place. It would be easy as picking +pippins getting it over the line. He could tell me three different ways, +all of them dead sure. He would not think of taking any of it for +himself. The rum we had would be ample for the trip, except in extreme +emergency. That "thirty over-proof" went a long way. And I need not +worry in the least about Andy. He wasn't a teetotaler exactly, but he +never took too much under any provocation. Yes, I could depend upon the +both of them to nose out that stuff at the old ferry. Put it there! We +looked each other square in the eye, and shook hands solemnly there +above the big whirlpool which was originally responsible for the good +fortune that had come to us--or rather to me. Men have clasped hands and +sworn to stand by each other in lesser things. At least that was the way +it seemed to me at the moment. I could have embraced the fine old +woodsman for his loyalty and generosity of spirit. I always called him +Bob after that. + +The rain thinned down and became a light Scotch mist as we picked our +way back to camp. That struck me as being a good omen--it's being +"Scotch," I mean. Later it cleared up entirely, and there was a glorious +fairweather sunset of glowing saffron and flaming poppy red. To the +northwest--Canoe River-ward--there poured a wonderful light of pale +liquescent amber. I had never seen such a light on land or sea, I told +myself; or anywhere else, for that matter--except when holding a glass +of Scotch up against the sun. That was another good omen. Funny thing, +but I can still recall the date offhand, so indelibly had the promise of +that day impressed itself on my mind. It was the first of October. + +Although it snowed an inch or two during the night, the following +morning fulfilled the promise of the sunset by breaking bright and +cloudless. We were to line the boat down empty for a couple of hundred +yards, and then load up again and line about an equal distance of +slightly better water. This would take us to the brink of the abrupt +fall, where both outfit and boat had to be portaged over the rocks for a +short distance. That would leave us clear for the short, swift run to +the head of the second fall. + +Cutting himself a "sylvan frame" through the pines on a point a hundred +yards below the camp, Roos set up to shoot the first piece of lining. It +was a mean looking job, for the river was tumbling in a half-cataract +all the way, turning and squirming like a wounded dragon. I could see +Blackmore was a bit worried over it, and, as the sequel proved, with +good reason. I never quite understood his explanation of the cause of +what happened, but I believe he claimed it was due to his obeying +(against his better judgment) Roos' signal to keep the boat in fairly +close to the bank so that she would not pass "out of the +picture"--beyond the range of his lens, that is. At any rate, the boat +had hardly started before she swung broadside to the current and, +clapping like a limpet upon a big round boulder, hung there immovable. +Heeled till her starboard side showed like the belly of a sharply +sheering shark, her port gunwale dipped deep into the swirling current. +In a wink she had taken all the water she would hold with the half-heel +that was on her--enough, perhaps, to fill her half full when on an even +keel. + +It was a case for instant action--a case where the nearest available man +had to follow his first hunch without thinking it over or counting the +cost. A few seconds more on that rock, and one of two things must happen +to the boat: either she would settle a few inches farther, fill +completely and sink, or else the force of the current would tear her to +pieces where she was. Blackmore was tugging at his line and shouting +directions, but the roar stopped the words at his lips. Andy did not +need to be told what was needed, however. For myself, I was not quite +sure of what to do, and less so of how to do it. Also, I doubted my +ability to keep my footing in the current. In short, I found myself +thinking and weighing chances in one of those emergencies where a man to +be worth his salt has no business to do either. + +There was only one place where a man could get at the boat, and Andy +beat me to it by a mile. (I would have seen to that even had he moved a +lot slower than he did.) He was rather more than waist deep, but quite +safe as long as the boat stuck where she was. Unfortunately, getting her +off was the very thing he was there for. It was a good deal like a man's +having to saw off the branch on which he sat. But Andy never +hesitated--probably because there was not time to think and reckon the +consequences. Setting his heavy shoulders under her bilge, he gave a +mighty upward heave. She shuddered through her long red length, and +then, as the kick of the current got under her submerged gunwale, shot +up and off as though discharged from a catapult. The job had been well +done, too, for she came off with her stern down stream, which made it +comparatively easy for Blackmore to check her way with his line, even +half-filled as she was. + +Whether he failed to recover as the boat was swept away, or whether he +lost his balance in avoiding entanglement in the line, Andy was not +quite sure. His first recollection after releasing the boat, he said, +was of floundering in the water and of finding that his first kick or +two did not strike bottom. The thing that is always possible when a man +has lifted off a boat in a swift current had happened: he had lost his +footing, and in just about the one worst place in the whole Columbia. + +Blackmore, dragged down the bank after his floundering boat, was not in +a position where he could throw the end of his line to any purpose. I +waded in and reached out my pike-pole, but Andy's back was to it the +only time he came within grabbing distance. The only thing that saved +him was luck--the fact that the current at the point he lost his footing +did not swirl directly into the main chute, but did a little +double-shuffle of its own along the side of an eddy before taking the +big leap. Hooking into the solid green water of that eddy, Andy found +himself a toehold, and presently clambered out. He had not swallowed +any water, and did not seem much chilled or winded. A violent sickness +of the stomach, where the cold had arrested digestive operations, was +about the only ill effect. What seemed to annoy him most was the fact +that all of his pockets were turned wrong-side-out, with all of their +contents--save only his watch, which had been secured by a +thong--missing. Blackmore nodded grimly to me as he came up after +securing the boat. "_Now_ perhaps you'll believe what I told you about +the old Columbia picking pockets," he said dryly. + +Roos came down complaining that he had been too far away to pick up any +details of the show even with his "six-inch" lens and cursing his luck +for not having been set up closer at hand. Considering what he had +missed, I thought he showed unwonted delicacy in not asking Blackmore +and Andy to stage it over again for him. + +Bailing out the boat, we found one oar missing, but this we subsequently +recovered from an eddy below. That left our net loss for the mishap only +the contents of Andy's pockets and the picture Roos did not get. Some +might have figured in the extra ration of rum Andy drew to straighten +out the kinks of his outraged stomach; but that seemed hardly the +sporting way to look at it, especially with our prospects in the drink +line being what they were. + +[Illustration: "SHOOTING" THE FIRST BIT OF LINING AT SURPRISE RAPIDS +(_above_)] + +[Illustration: THE CAMP WHERE THE ROAR OF THE RAPIDS DEAFENED US +(_centre_)] + +[Illustration: WHERE STEINHOF WAS DROWNED (_below_)] + +[Illustration: WHERE ANDY JUST MISSED DROWNING IN SURPRISE RAPIDS +(_above_)] + +[Illustration: LOOKING THROUGH THE PINES AT SURPRISE RAPIDS (_centre_)] + +[Illustration: HEAD OF SECOND FALL OF SURPRISE RAPIDS (_below_)] + +The portage at the fall proved a mighty stiff bit of hard labour. It was +one thing to skid the boat along on the pine needles at Beavermouth with +a couple of dozen men pushing it, and quite another for three men to +take it out of the water, lift it over forty or fifty feet of boulders, +and put it back into the river again. By the free use of rollers--cut +from young firs--we managed, however, Roos cranking his camera through +all of the operation and telling us to "Make it snappy!" and not to be +"foot-hogs." Almost worse than portaging the boat was the unspeakably +toil-some task of packing the outfit over the boulders for a couple of +hundred yards to where there was a quiet spot to load again. Every step +had to be balanced for, and even then one was down on his knees half the +time. With my numerous bad joints--there are but three from shoulder to +heel that had not been sprained or dislocated from two to a dozen +times--this boulder clambering work was the only thing in connection +with the whole voyage that I failed to enjoy. + +A half mile run with an eight-mile current took us to the head of the +second fall, all but the first hundred yards of which had to be lined. +Landing this time on the west bank, we worked the boat down without much +difficulty past the jutting point where the line of Steinhoff's boat had +parted. Blackmore had hoped to line her all the way down without +unloading, but the last fifty yards before the cascade tumbled into the +big whirlpool were so thickly studded with rocks along the bank that he +finally decided not to risk it. As there were thirty or forty feet of +deep pools and eddies between the rocks on which she was stuck and the +nearest stretch of unsubmerged boulders, unloading was a particularly +awkward piece of work. Finally everything was shifted out onto a +flat-topped rock, and Roos and I were left to get this ashore while +Andy and Blackmore completed lining down. It was an especially nice job, +taking the boat down that last steep pitch into the big whirlpool and +then working her round a huge square-faced rock to a quiet eddy, and I +should greatly like to have seen it. Unluckily, what with stumbling over +hidden boulders and being down with my nose in the water half of the +time, and the thin blue mist that hovered round me the rest of the time +from what I said as a consequence of stumbling, I could only guess at +the finesse and highly technical skill with which the difficult +operation was accomplished. The worst part appeared to be getting her +down the fall. Once clear of the submerged rocks, Blackmore seemed to +make the whirlpool do his work for him. Poised on a projecting log of +the jam packed on top of the jutting rock, he paid out a hundred feet of +line and let the racing swirl of the spinning pool carry the boat far +out beyond all obstructions. Then, gently and delicately as if playing a +salmon on a trout rod, he nursed her into an eddy and simply coiled his +line and let the back-setting current carry her in to the bit of sandy +beach where he wanted to tie her up for the night. It takes a lifetime +of swift-water experience to master the intricacies of an operation like +that. + +It was still early in the afternoon, but with a thick mist falling +Blackmore thought best to stop where we were. The next available camping +place was below the half-mile-long third cascade, and no old river man +likes to go into a rapid when the visibility is poor. We pitched the +tent in a hole cut out of the thick-growing woods on a low bench at the +inner angle of the bend. Everything was soaking wet, but it was well +back from the falls, and for the first time in two days we were able to +talk to each other without shouting. Not that we did so, however; from +sheer force of habit we continued roaring into each other's ears for a +week or more yet. + +The great pile of logs on top of the flat-topped rock above the +whirlpool had fascinated me from the first. Over a hundred feet square, +forty feet high, and packed as though by a titanic hydraulic press, it +must have contained thousands and thousands of cords of wood. On +Blackmore's positive assurance as a timberman that there was nothing in +the pile of any value for lumber, even in the improbable contingency +that a flood would ever carry it beyond the big drifts of Kinbasket +Lake, I decided to make a bonfire of it. Never had I had such an +opportunity, both on the score of the sheer quantity of combustible and +the spectacular setting for illumination. + +The whirlpool was _whouf-whoufing_ greedily as it wolfed the whole +cascade when I clambered up just before dark to touch off my beacon. It +was fairly dry at the base, and a pile of crisp shavings off a slab from +some distant up-river sawmill caught quickly. From a spark of red +flickering dimly through the mist when we sat down to supper, this had +grown to a roaring furnace by the time we had relaxed to pipes and +cigarettes. An hour later the flames had eaten a clear chimney up +through the jam and the red light from their leaping tips was beginning +to drive back the encompassing darkness. Roos, who had read about India, +thought it would have been fine if we only had a few widows to cast +themselves on the flaming pyre and commit _suttee_. Andy and Blackmore, +both sentimental bachelors, were a unit in maintaining that it would be +a shame to waste good widows that way, especially on the practically +widowless Big Bend. All three were arguing the point rather heatedly +when they crawled into their blankets. For myself, with a vision of the +wonder about to unroll impinging on my brain, I could not think of +turning in for hours yet. + +By ten o'clock the pile was well alight underneath, but it was not until +nearly midnight, when the mist had turned to snow and a strong wind had +sprung up, that it was blazing full strength. I hardly know what would +have been the direction of the wind in the upper air, but, cupped in the +embrasure of the bend, it was sucking round and round, like the big +whirlpool, only more fitfully and with an upward rather than a downward +pull. Now it would drag the leaping flame-column a hundred feet in the +air, twisting it into lambent coils and fining the tip down to a sharp +point, like that of the Avenging Angel's Sword of Fire in the old +Biblical prints, now sweep it out in a shivering sheet above the +whirlpool, now swing it evenly round and round as though the flame, +arrow-pointed and attenuated, were the radium-coated hand of a +Gargantuan clock being swiftly revolved in the dark. + +But the wonder of wonders was less the fire itself than the marvellous +transformations wrought by the light it threw. And the staggering +contrasts! The illuminated snow clouds drifting along the frosted-pink +curtain of the tree-clad mountain walls made a roseate fairyland; even +the foam covered sweep of the cascade, its roar drowned in the sharp +crackle of the flames, was softened and smoothened until it seemed to +billow like the sunset-flushed canvas of a ship becalmed: but the +whirlpool, its sinister character only accentuated by the conflict of +cross-shadows and reflections, was a veritable Pit of Damnation, choking +and coughing as it swirled and rolled in streaky coils of ox-blood, in +fire-stabbed welters of fluid coal-tar. + +Wrapped in my hooded duffle coat, I paced the snow-covered moss and +exulted in the awesome spectacle until long after midnight. I have never +envied Nero very poignantly since. Given a fiddle and a few Christians, +I would have had all that was his on the greatest night of his life--and +then some. Father Tiber never had a whirlpool like mine, even on the day +Horatius swam it "heavy with his armour and spent with changing blows." + +The next morning, though too heavily overcast for pictures, was still +clear enough to travel. The head riffles of the third fall of Surprise +Rapids began a little below our camp, so that we started lining almost +immediately. Three or four times we pulled across the river, running +short stretches and lining now down one side and now the other. There +was not so great a rate of drop as at the first and second falls, but +the whole stream was choked with barely submerged rocks and lining was +difficult on account of the frequent cliffs. + +It was about half way down that I all but messed things up by failing to +get into action quickly enough at a crossing. The fault, in a way, was +Blackmore's, because of his failure to tell me in advance what was +expected, and then--when the order had to be passed instantly--for +standing rather too much on ceremony in the manner of passing it. We +were about to pull to the opposite side to line down past a riffle which +Blackmore reckoned too rough to risk running. There was about a ten-mile +current, and it would have required the smartest kind of a get-away and +the hardest kind of pulling to make the other bank without being carried +down onto the riffle. The boat was headed up-stream, and, as Blackmore +had not told me he intended to cross, I took it for granted he was going +to run. So, when Roos shoved off and jumped in, I rested on my oar in +order that Andy could bring the boat sharply round and head it down +stream. Blackmore's excited yell was the first intimation I had that +anything was wrong. "Pull like hell! You!... Mister Freeman!" + +That "Mister," and his momentary pause before uttering it, defeated the +purpose of the order. I pulled all right, and so hard that my oar-blade +picked up a very sizable hunk of river and flung it in Blackmore's face. +That upset my balance, and I could not recover quickly enough to keep +the boat's head to the current. With characteristic presence of mind, +Blackmore changed tactics instantly. "Got to chance it now!" he shouted, +and threw such a pull onto his steering paddle that the handle bent to +more than half a right angle where he laid it over the gunwale. There +was one jutting rock at the head of the riffle that _had_ to be missed; +the rest was all a matter of whether or not the next couple of hundred +yards of submerged boulders were deeply enough covered to let us pass +_over_ them. There was no way of avoiding them, no chance to lay a +course _between_ them. + +Blackmore was a bit wilder about the eyes than I had seen him before; +but he had stopped swearing and his mouth was set in a hard, determined +line. Andy, with chesty grunts, was fairly flailing the water with +swift, short-arm strokes. I did not need to be told to refrain from +pulling in order that the others could swing her head as far toward the +west bank as possible before the rock was reached. Instead, I held ready +for the one quick backing stroke that would be called for in the event a +collision seemed imminent at the last moment. It was the wave thrown off +by the rock itself that helped us most when the showdown came. Shooting +by the jagged barrier so close that Andy could have fended with his +hand, the boat plunged over a short, sharp pitch and hit the white water +with a bang. + +That was by long odds the roughest stuff we had been into so far. The +waves were curling up well above our heads, and every one we hit left a +foot or two of its top with us--solid green water, most of it, that +began accumulating rather alarmingly in the bottom of the boat. There +was no regularity in the way they ran, either. One would come +mushrooming fairly over the bows, another would flop aboard over the +beam, and every now and then a wild side-winder, missing its spring at +the forward part of the boat, would dash a shower of spray over the +quarter. From the bank she must have been pretty well out of sight most +of the time, for I often saw spray thrown ten or fifteen feet to either +side and twice as far astern. All hands were drenched from the moment we +struck the first comber, of course, which was doubtless why a wail from +Roos that the water was going down his neck seemed to strike Blackmore +as a bit superfluous. "Inside or outside your neck?" he roared back, +adding that if it was the former the flow could be checked by the simple +and natural expedient of keeping the mouth shut. Very properly, our +"skipper" had the feeling that, in a really tight place, all the talking +necessary for navigation should be done from the "bridge," and that +"extraneous" comment should be held over to smooth water. + +Before we had run a hundred yards the anxious look on Blackmore's face +had given way to one of relief and exultation. "There's more water over +the rocks than I reckoned," he shouted. "Going to run right through." +And run we did, all of the last mile or more of Surprise Rapids and +right on through the still swift but comparatively quiet water below. +Here we drifted with the current for a ways, while all hands turned to +and bailed. I took this, the first occasion that had offered, to assure +Blackmore that he needn't go to the length of calling me "Mister" in the +future when he had urgent orders to give, and incidentally apologized +for getting off on the wrong foot at the head of the first rapid. "Since +that worked out to save us half a mile of darn dirty lining and two or +three hours of time," he replied with a grin, "I guess we won't worry +about it this crack, Mister--I mean, Freeman. Mebbe I better get used to +saying it that way 'gainst when I'll need to spit it out quick." + +It was a pleasant run from the foot of Surprise Rapids down to Kinbasket +Lake, or at least it was pleasant until the rain set in again. There is +a fall of sixty-four feet in the sixteen miles--most of it in the first +ten. It was a fine swift current, with a number of riffles but no bad +water at any point. It was good to be free for a while from the tension +which is never absent when working in really rough water, and I have no +doubt that Blackmore felt better about it than any of the rest of us. +Surprise was his especial _bete noir_, and he assured me that he had +never come safely through it without swearing never to tackle it again. +Roos, drying out in the bow like a tabby licking her wet coat smooth +after being rained on, sang "Green River" all the way, and I tried to +train Andy to pull in time to the rhythm and join in the chorus. As the +chorus had much about drink in it, it seemed only fitting--considering +what was waiting for us at Canoe River--that we _should_ sing it. And we +did. "Floating Down the Old Green River" became the "official song" of +that particular part of the voyage. Later ... but why anticipate? + +We landed for lunch about where the water began to slacken above the +lake. The water of the little stream at the mouth of which we tied up +the boat was of a bright transparent amber in colour. Andy, sapient of +the woods, thought it must flow from a lake impounded behind a +beaver-dam in the high mountains, and that the stain was that of rotting +wood. Beaver signs were certainly much in evidence all over the little +bench where we lunched. Several large cottonwood trunks--one of them all +of two feet in diameter--had been felled by the tireless little +engineers, and we found a pile of tooth-torn chips large enough to +kindle our fire with. While tea was boiling Blackmore pulled a couple of +three-pound Dolly Varden out of the mouth of the creek, only to lose his +hooks and line when a still larger one connected up with them. Roos, who +was under orders to get an effective fishing picture, was unable to go +into action with his camera on account of the poor light. + +It had begun to rain hard by the time we had shoved back into the river +after lunch. There were still five miles to go to reach the camping +ground Blackmore had decided upon, half way down the east side of +Kinbasket Lake, just below Middle River--slack water all the way. Andy +and I pulled it in a slushy half-snow-half-rain that was a lot wetter +and unpleasanter than the straight article of either variety. Of a lake +which is one of the loveliest in all the world in the sunlight, nothing +was to be seen save a stretch of grey-white, wind-whipped waters beating +upon grey-brown rocky shores. That the wind and waves headed us did not +make the pulling any lighter, for the boat's considerable freeboard gave +both a lot of surface to play upon. The exertion of rowing kept Andy and +me warm, however, which gave us at least that advantage over Roos and +Blackmore. The latter had to face it out at his paddle, but Roos, a +bedraggled lump of sodden despair, finally gave up and crawled under the +tarpaulin with the bags of beans and bacon, remaining there until we +reached port. + +All in all, I think that was the most miserable camp I ever helped to +pitch. The snow, refusing persistently either to harden or to soften, +adhered clingingly to everything it touched. We were two hours clearing +a space for the tent, setting it up and collecting enough boughs to +cushion the floor. By that time pretty nearly everything not +hermetically sealed was wet, including the blankets and the "dry" +clothes. No one but Andy could have started a camp-fire under such +conditions, and no one but Blackmore could have cooked a piping hot +dinner on it. I forget whether it was Roos or myself who contributed +further to save the day. Anyhow, it was one of the two of us that +suggested cooking a can of plum-pudding in about its own bulk of "thirty +per over-proof" rum. That lent the saving touch. In spite of a leaking +tent and wet blankets, the whole four of us turned in singing "End of a +Perfect Day" and "Old Green River." The latter was prophetic. A +miniature one--coming through the roof of the tent--had the range of the +back of my neck for most of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +II. RUNNING THE BEND + +_Kinbasket Lake and Rapids_ + + +It continued slushing all night and most of the next day, keeping us +pretty close to camp. Andy, like the good housewife he was, kept +snugging up every time he got a chance, so that things assumed a +homelier and cheerier aspect as the day wore on. I clambered for a +couple of miles down the rocky eastern bank of the lake in the forenoon. +The low-hanging clouds still obscured the mountains, but underfoot I +found unending interest in the astonishing variety of drift corralled by +this remarkable catch-all of the upper Columbia. The main accumulation +of flotsam and jetsam was above our camp, but even among the rocks I +chanced onto almost everything one can imagine, from a steel rail--with +the ties that had served to float it down still spiked to it--to a +fragment of a vacuum-cleaner. What Roos called "the human touch" was +furnished by an enormous uprooted spruce, on which some amorous +lumber-jack had been pouring out his love through the blade of his axe. +This had taken the form of a two-feet-in-diameter "bleeding heart" +pierced by an arrow. Inside the roughly hewn "pericardium" were the +initials "K. N." and "P. R.," with the date "July 4, 1910." One couldn't +be quite sure whether the arrow stood for a heart quake or a heart +break. Andy, who was sentimental and inclined to put woman in the +abstract on a pedestal, thought it was merely a heart quake; but +Blackmore, who had been something of a gallant in his day, and therefore +inclined to cynicism as he neared the sear and yellow leaf, was sure it +was heart break--that the honest lumber-jack had hacked in the arrow and +the drops of blood after he had been jilted by some jade. Roos wanted to +make a movie of this simple fragment of rustic art, with me standing by +and registering "pensive memories," or something of the kind; but I +managed to discourage him by the highly technical argument that it would +impair the "continuity" of the "sportsmanship" which was the prime +_motif_ of the present picture. + +Blackmore piloted me up to the main area of drift in the afternoon. It +occupied a hundred acres or more of sand and mud flats which constituted +the lower part of the extensive delta deposited on the edge of the lake +by the waters of the good-sized stream of Middle River. At a first +glance it seemed nothing more than a great wilderness of tree +trunks--prostrate, upended, woven and packed together--extending for +hundreds of yards below high-water-mark. It was between these logs that +the smaller things had lodged. There were a number of boats, not greatly +damaged, and fragments enough to have reconstructed a dozen more. I am +convinced that a half day's search would have discovered the material +for building and furnishing a house, though carpets and wall paper would +hardly have been all one could desire. I even found a curling +iron--closely clasped by the bent nail upon which it had been hung on +the log of a cabin--and a corset. The latter seemed hardly worth +salving, as it appeared--according to Blackmore--to be a "military +model" of a decade or so back, and the steel-work was badly rusted. + +However, it was not gewgaws or house-furnishing we were after. One could +hardly be expected to slither about in soft slush for second-hand things +of that kind. I gave a great glad whoop at my first sight of a +silt-submerged cask, only to find the head missing and nothing but mud +in it. So, too, my second and third. Then it was Blackmore who gave the +"View Halloo," and my heart gave a mighty leap. _His_ treasure trove had +the head intact, and even the bung _in situ_. But alas! the latter had +become slightly started, and although the contents had both smell and +colour they were so heavily impregnated with river mud that they would +hardly have been deemed fit for consumption except in New York and +California, and not worth the risk of smuggling even there. That cask +was the high-water-mark of our luck. Several others had the old familiar +smell, and that was all. But there is no doubt in the world that there +is whisky in that drift pile--hundreds of gallons of it, and some very +old. Blackmore swears to that, and I never knew him to lie--about +serious matters, I mean. In hunting and trapping yarns a man is expected +to draw a long bead. I pass on this undeniably valuable information to +any one that cares to profit by it. There are no strings attached. But +of course ... in the event of success ... Pasadena always finds me!... + +We did have one find, though, that was so remarkable as to be worth all +the trouble and disappointment of our otherwise futile search. This was +a road-bridge, with _instinct_. The manner in which this had been +displayed was so astonishing as to be almost beyond belief; indeed, I +would hesitate about setting down the facts had I not a photograph to +prove them. This bridge was perhaps sixty feet in length, and had +doubtless been carried away by a freshet from some tributary of the +upper river which it had spanned. This was probably somewhere between +Golden and Windermere, so that it had run a hundred miles or more of +swift water, including the falls of Surprise Rapids, without losing more +than a few planks. This in itself was remarkable enough, but nothing at +all to the fact that, when it finally decided it had come far enough, +the sagacious structure had gone and planked itself down squarely across +another stream. It was still a bridge in fact as well as in form. It had +actually saved my feet from getting wet when I rushed to Blackmore's aid +in up-ending the cask of mud-diluted whisky. My photograph plainly shows +Blackmore standing on the bridge, with the water flowing directly +beneath him. It would have been a more comprehensive and convincing +picture if there had been light enough for a snapshot. As it was, I had +to set up on a stump, and in a position which showed less of both stream +and bridge than I might have had from a better place. I swear (and so +does Blackmore) that we didn't place the bridge where it was. It was +much too large for that. Roos wanted to shoot the whole three of us +standing on it and registering "unbounded wonderment," but the light +was never right for it up to the morning of our departure, and then +there wasn't time. + +It rained and snowed all that night and most of the following day. +During the afternoon of the latter the clouds broke up twice or thrice, +and through rifts in the drifting wracks we had transient glimpses of +the peaks and glaciers of the Selkirks gleaming above the precipitous +western walls of the lake. The most conspicuous feature of the sky-line +was the three-peaked "Trident," rising almost perpendicularly from a +glittering field of glacial ice and impaling great masses of pendant +_cumulo-nimbi_ on its splintered prongs. Strings of lofty glacier-set +summits marked the line of the back-bone of the Selkirks to southeast and +northwest, each of them sending down rain-swollen torrents to tumble +into the lake in cataracts and cascades. Behind, or east of us, we knew +the Rockies reared a similar barrier of snow and ice, but this was cut +off from our vision by the more imminent lake-wall under which we were +camped. If Kinbasket Lake is ever made accessible to the tourist its +fame will reach to the end of the earth. This is a consummation which +may be effected in the event the Canadian Pacific wipes out Surprise +Rapids with its hydro-electric project dam and backs up a lake to +Beavermouth. The journey to this spot of incomparable beauty could then +be made soft enough to suit all but the most effete. + +A torrential rain, following a warm southerly breeze which sprang up in +the middle of the afternoon, lowered the dense cloud-curtain again, and +shortly, from somewhere behind the scenes, came the raucous rumble and +roar of a great avalanche. Blackmore's practised ear led him to +pronounce it a slide of both earth and snow, and to locate it somewhere +on Trident Creek, straight across the lake from our camp. He proved to +be right on both counts. When the clouds lifted again at sunset, a long +yellow scar gashed the shoulder of the mountain half way up Trident +Creek to the glacier, and the clear stream from the latter had +completely disappeared. Blackmore said it had been dammed up by the +slide, and that there would be all hell popping when it broke through. + +Scouting around for more boughs to soften his bed, Roos, just before +supper, chanced upon Steinhoff's grave. It was under a small pine, not +fifty feet from our tent, but so hidden by the dense undergrowth that it +had escaped our notice for two days. It was marked only by a fragment +split from the stern of a white-painted boat nailed horizontally on the +pine trunk and with the single word "STEINHOFF" carved in rude capitals. +At one corner, in pencil, was an inscription stating that the board had +been put up in May, 1920, by Joe French and Leo Tennis. With the golden +sunset light streaming through the trees, Roos, always strong for +"pathetic human touches" to serve as a sombre background for his Mack +Sennett stuff, could not resist the opportunity for a picture. Andy and +Blackmore and I were to come climbing up to the grave from the lake, +read the inscription, and then look at each other and shake our heads +ominously, as though it was simply a matter of time until we, too, +should fall prey to the implacable river. I refused straightaway, on +the ground that I had signed up to act the part of a light comedy +sportsman and not a heavy mourner. Blackmore and Andy were more +amenable. In rehearsal, however, the expressions on their honest faces +were so wooden and embarrassed that Roos finally called me up to stand +out of range and "say something to make 'em look natural." I refrain +from recording what I said; but I still maintain that shot was an +interruption of the "continuity" of my "gentleman-sportsman" picture. I +have not yet heard if it survived the studio surgery. + +Shortly before dark, Andy, going down to look at his set-line, found a +three-foot ling or fresh-water cod floundering on the end of it. Roos +persuaded him to keep it over night so that the elusive "fishing +picture" might be made the following morning in case the light was good. +As there were five or six inches of water in the bottom of the boat, +Andy threw the ling in there for the night in preference to picketing +him out on a line. There was plenty of water to have given the husky +shovel-nose ample room to circulate with comfort if only he had been +content to take it easy and not wax temperamental. Doubtless it was his +imminent movie engagement that brought on his attack of flightiness. At +any rate, he tried to burrow under a collapsible sheet-iron stove +(which, preferring to do with a camp-fire, we had left in the boat) and +got stuck. The forward five pounds of him had water enough to keep alive +in, but in the night--when it cleared off and turned cold--his tail, +which was bent up sharply under a thwart, froze stiff at almost right +angles. But I am getting ahead of my story. + +The next morning, the sixth of October, broke brilliantly clear, with +the sun gilding the prongs of the "Trident" and throwing the whole snowy +line of the Selkirks in dazzling relief against a deep turquoise sky. +Blackmore, keen for an early start, so as not to be rushed in working +down through the dreaded "Twenty-One-Mile" Rapids to Canoe River, rooted +us out at daybreak and began breaking camp before breakfast. He had +reckoned without the "fishing picture," however. Roos wanted bright +sunlight for it, claiming he was under special instructions to make +something sparkling and snappy. All through breakfast he coached me on +the intricate details of the action. "Make him put up a stiff fight," he +admonished through a mouthful of flapjack. "Of course he won't fight, +'cause he ain't that kind; but if you jerk and wiggle your pole just +right it'll make it look like he was. That's what a real actor's +for--making things look like they is when they ain't. Got me?" Then we +went down and discovered that poor half-frozen fish with the eight-point +alteration of the continuity of his back-bone. + +The ling or fresh-water cod has an underhung, somewhat shark-like mouth, +not unsuggestive of the new moon with its points turned downward. Roos' +mouth took on a similarly dejected droop when he found the condition the +principal animal actor in his fish picture was in. But it was too late +to give up now. Never might we have so husky a fighting fish ready to +hand, and with a bright sun shining on it. Roos tried osteopathy, +applied chiropractics and Christian Science without much effect. Our +"lead" continued as rigid and unrelaxing as the bushman's boomerang, +whose shape he so nearly approximated. Then Andy wrought the miracle +with a simple "laying on of hands." What he really did was to thaw out +the frozen rear end of the fish by holding it between his big, warm red +Celtic paws; but the effect was as magical as a cure at Lourdes. The big +ling was shortly flopping vigorously, and when Andy dropped him into a +bit of a boulder-locked pool he went charging back and forth at the +rocky barriers like a bull at a gate. Roos almost wept in his +thankfulness, and forthwith promised the restorer an extra rum ration +that night. Andy grinned his thanks, but reminded him that we ought to +be at the old ferry by night, where something even better than "thirty +per over-proof" rum would be on tap. It was indeed the morning of our +great day. Stimulated by that inspiring thought, I prepared to outdo +myself in the "fish picture," the "set" for which was now ready. + +[Illustration: BLACKMORE AND THE LING THAT REFUSED TO "REGISTER"] + +[Illustration: THE WRITER, WITH PIKE-POLE JUST BEFORE LINING DEATH +RAPIDS] + +[Illustration: ANDY AND I PULLING DOWN KINBASKET LAKE] + +Standing on the stern of the beached boat, I made a long cast, +registering "concentrated eagerness." Then Roos stopped cranking, and +Andy brought the ling out and fastened it to the end of my line with a +snug but comfortable hitch through the gills. (We were careful not to +hurt him, for Chester's directions had admonished especially against +"showing brutality".) When I had nursed him out to about where my +opening cast had landed, Roos called "Action!" and started cranking +again. Back and forth in wide sweeps he dashed, while I registered +blended "eagerness" and "determination," with frequent interpolations of +"consternation" as carefully timed tugs (by myself) bent my shivering +pole down to the water. When Roos had enough footage of "fighting," I +brought my catch in close to the boat and leered down at him, +registering "near triumph." Then I towed him ashore and Andy and +Blackmore rushed in to help me land him. After much struggling (by +ourselves) we brought him out on the beach. At this juncture I was +supposed to grab the ling by the gills and hold him proudly aloft, +registering "full triumph" the while. Andy and Blackmore were to crowd +in, pat me on the back and beam congratulations. Blackmore was then to +assume an expression intended to convey the impression that this was the +hardest fighting ling he had ever seen caught. All three of us were +action perfect in our parts; but that miserable turn-tail of a ling--who +had nothing to do but flop and register "indignant protest"--spoiled it +all at the last. As I flung my prize on high, a shrill scream of +"Rotten!" from Roos froze the action where it was. Then I noticed that +what was supposed to be a gamy denizen of the swift-flowing Columbia was +hanging from my hand as rigid as a coupling-pin--a bent coupling-pin at +that, for he had resumed his former cold-storage curl. + +"Rotten!" shrieked Roos in a frenzy; "do it again!" But that was not to +be. For the "chief actor" the curtain had rung down for good. "You must +have played him too fierce," said Andy sympathetically. Blackmore was +inclined to be frivolous. "P'raps he was trying to register 'Big Bend,'" +said he. + +Just after we had pushed off there came a heavy and increasing roar from +across the lake. Presently the cascade of Trident Creek sprang into +life again, but now a squirt of yellow ochre where before it was a +flutter of white satin. Rapidly augmenting, it spread from wall to wall +of the rocky gorge, discharging to the bosky depths of the delta with a +prodigious rumbling that reverberated up and down the lake like heavy +thunder. A moment later the flood had reached the shore, and out across +the lucent green waters of the lake spread a broadening fan of +yellow-brown. "I told you hell would be popping after that big slide," +said Blackmore, resting on his paddle. "That's the backed-up stream +breaking through." + +Kinbasket Lake is a broadening and slackening of the Columbia, backed up +behind the obstructions which cause the long series of rapids between +its outlet and the mouth of Canoe River. It is six or seven miles long, +according to the stage of water, and from one to two miles wide. Its +downward set of current is slight but perceptible. The outlet, as we +approached it after a three-mile pull from our camp at Middle River, +appeared strikingly similar to the head of Surprise Rapids. Here, +however, the transition from quiet to swift water was even more abrupt. + +The surface of the lake was a-dance with the ripples kicked up by the +crisp morning breeze, and blindingly bright where the facets of the tiny +wavelets reflected the sunlight like shaken diamonds. The shadowed +depths of the narrow gorge ahead was Stygian by contrast. Blackmore +called my attention to the way the crests of the pines rimming the river +a few hundred yards inside the gorge appeared just about on the level +with the surface of the lake. "When you see the tree-tops fall away +like that," he said, standing up to take his final bearings for the +opening run, "look out. It means there's water running down hill right +ahead faster'n any boat wants to put its nose in." The roar rolling up +to us was not quite so deep-toned or thunderous as the challenging +bellow of the first fall of Surprise; but it was more "permeative," as +though the sources from which it came ran on without end. And that was +just about the situation. We were sliding down to the intake of +Kinbasket or "The Twenty-One-Mile" Rapids, one of the longest, if not +_the_ longest, succession of practically unbroken riffles on any of the +great rivers of the world. + +From the outlet of Kinbasket Lake to the mouth of Canoe River is +twenty-one miles. For the sixteen miles the tail of one rapid generally +runs right into the head of the next, and there is a fall of two hundred +and sixty feet, or more than sixteen feet to the mile. For the last five +miles there is less white water, but the current runs from eight to +twelve miles an hour, with many swirls and whirlpools. The river is +closely canyoned all the way. This compels one to make the whole run +through in a single day, as there is no camping place at any point. +Cliffs and sharply-sloping boulder banks greatly complicate lining down +and compel frequent crossings at points where a failure to land just +right is pretty likely to leave things in a good deal of a mess. + +Blackmore ran us down through a couple of hundred yards of slap-banging +white water, before coming to bank above a steep pitch where the river +tore itself to rags and tatters across a patch of rocks that seemed to +block the whole channel. From Captain Armstrong's description, this was +the exact point where the trouble with his tipsy bow-paddler had +occurred, the little difficulty which had been the cause of his leaving +the salvaged cask of Scotch at his next camp. Like pious pilgrims +approaching the gateway of some long-laboured-toward shrine, therefore, +we looked at the place with much interest, not to say reverence. +Blackmore was perhaps the least sentimental of us. "I wouldn't try to +run that next fall for all the whisky ever lost in the old Columbia," he +said decisively, beginning to re-coil his long line. Then we turned to +on lining down the most accursed stretch of river boulders I ever had to +do with. + +Barely submerged rocks crowding the bank compelled us to wade in and +lift the boat ahead even oftener than in Surprise Rapids. Andy always +took the lead in this, but time after time my help was necessary to +throw her clear. For the first time since I had boated in Alaska a good +many years previously, I began to know the numbing effects of icy water. +The heavy exertion did a lot to keep the blood moving, but three or four +minutes standing with the water up to mid-thigh sent the chill right in +to the marrow of the bones, even when sweat was running off the face in +streams. That started a sort of dull ache in the leg bones that kept +creeping higher and higher the longer one remained in the water. That +ache was the worst part of it; the flesh became dead to sensation very +quickly, but that penetrating inward pain had more hurt in it every +minute it was prolonged. It was bad enough in the legs, but when, +submerged to the waist, as happened every now and then, the chill began +to penetrate to the back-bone and stab the digestive organs, it became +pretty trying. One realized then what really short shrift a man would +have trying to swim for more than four or five minutes even in calm +water of this temperature. That was about the limit for heart action to +continue with the cold striking in and numbing the veins and arteries, a +doctor had told Blackmore, and this seemed reasonable. Andy was +repeatedly sick at the stomach after he had been wet for long above the +waist. My own qualms were rather less severe (doubtless because I was +exposed rather less), but I found myself very weak and unsteady after +every immersion. A liberal use of rum would undoubtedly have been of +some help for a while, but Blackmore was adamant against starting in on +it as long as there was any bad water ahead. And as there was nothing +but bad water ahead, this meant that--in one sense at least--we were a +"dry ship." + +I shall not endeavour to trace in detail our painful progress down +"Twenty-One-Mile." Indeed, I could not do so even if I wanted, for the +very good reason that my hands were so full helping with the boat all +the way that I had no time to make notes, and even my mental +record--usually fairly dependable--is hopelessly jumbled. Even Blackmore +became considerably mixed at times. At the first four or five riffles +below the lake he called the turn correctly, landing, lining, crossing +and running just where he should have done so. Then his mind-map became +less clear. Twice he lined riffles which it presently became plain we +could have run, and then he all but failed to land above one where a +well-masked "souse-hole" would have gulped the boat in one mouthful. + +It was at this juncture that I asked him why he had never taken the +trouble of making a rough chart of this portion of the river, so that he +could be quite sure what was ahead. He said that the idea was a good +one, and that it had often occurred to him. There were several reasons +why he had never carried it out. One was, that he was always so mad when +he was going down "Twenty-One-Mile" that he couldn't see straight, let +alone write and draw straight. This meant that the chart would be of no +use to him, even if some one else made it--unless, of course, he brought +the maker along to interpret it. The main deterrent, however, had been +the fact that he had always sworn each passage should be his last, so +that (according to his frame of mind of the moment) there would be no +use for the chart even if he could have seen straight enough to make it, +and to read it after it had been made. + +The scenery--so far as I recall it--was grand beyond words to describe. +Cliff fronted cliff, with a jagged ribbon of violet-purple sky between. +Every few hundred yards creeks broke through the mountain walls and came +cascading into the river over their spreading boulder "fans." Framed in +the narrow notches from which they sprang appeared transient visions of +sun-dazzled peaks and glaciers towering above wedge-shaped valleys +swimming full of lilac mist. I saw these things, floating by like double +strips of movie film, only when we were running in the current; when +lining I was aware of little beyond the red line of the gunwale which I +grasped, the imminent loom of Andy's grey-shirted shoulder next me, and +the foam-flecked swirl of liquefied glacier enfolding my legs and +swiftly converting them to stumpy icicles. + +There was one comfort, though. The farther down river we worked away +from the lake, the shorter became the stretches of lining and the longer +the rapids that were runnable. That accelerated our progress materially, +but even so Blackmore did not reckon that there was time to stop for +pictures, or even for lunch. We were still well up to schedule, but he +was anxious to work on a good margin in the event of the +always-to-be-expected "unexpected." It was along toward three in the +afternoon that, after completing a particularly nasty bit of lining a +mile or two above the mouth of Yellow Creek, he came over and slapped me +on the back. "That finishes it for the day, young man," he cried gaily. +"We can turn loose and run the rest of it now, and we'll do it hell +sizzling fast. It may also rejoice you to know that all the lining left +for the whole trip is a couple of hundred yards at 'Rock Slide' and +Death Rapids. All aboard for the Ferry!" + +All of a sudden life had become a blessed thing again. For the first +time I became aware that there were birds singing in the trees, flowers +blooming in the protected shelves above high-water-mark, and maiden-hair +ferns festooning the dripping grottoes of the cliffs. Dumping the water +from our boots, Andy and I resumed our oars and swung the boat right out +into the middle of the current. The first rapid we hit was a vicious +side-winder, shaped like a letter "S," with overhanging cliffs playing +battledore-and-shuttlecock with the river at the bends. Blackmore said +he would have lined it if the water had been two feet lower; as it was +now we would get wetter trying to worry a boat round the cliffs than in +slashing through. We got quite wet enough as it was. The rocks were not +hard to avoid, but banging almost side-on into the great back-curving +combers thrown off by the cliffs was just a bit terrifying. Slammed back +and forth at express-train speed, with nothing but those roaring +open-faced waves buffeting against the cliffs, was somewhat suggestive +of the sensation you get from a quick double-bank in a big biplane. Only +it was wetter--much wetter. It took Blackmore ten minutes of hard +bailing to get rid of the splashage. + +The succeeding rapids, though no less swift, were straighter, and +easier--and dryer. Roos, perched up in the bow, announced that all was +over but the digging, and started to sing "Old Green River." Andy and I +joined in lustily, and even Blackmore (though a lip-reader would have +sworn he was mumbling over a rosary) claimed to be singing. Exultant as +we all were over the prize so nearly within our grasp, we must have put +a world of feeling into that heart-stirring chorus. + + "I was drifting down the old Green River + On the good ship _Rock-and-Rye_-- + I drifted too far; + I got stuck on the bar; + I was out there alone, + Wishing that I were home-- + + The Captain was lost, with all of the crew, + So that there was nothing left to do; + And I had to drink the whole Green River dry-igh + To get back ho-ohm to you-oo-ou!" + +Smoother and smoother became the going, and then--rather unexpectedly, +it seemed to me--the water began to slacken its dizzy speed. Blackmore +appeared considerably puzzled over it, I thought. Roos, turning +sentimental, had started singing a song that he had learned from a +phonograph, and in which, therefore, appeared numerous hiati. + + "Now I know da-da-da-da-da-- + Now I know the reason why-- + Da-da-da-da----da-da-da-daah-- + Now I know, yes, now I know! + Da-da-da, my heart...." + +Blackmore frowned more deeply as the treble wail floated back to him, +and then broke into the next "da-da" with a sudden growl. "I say, young +feller," he roared, slapping sharply into the quieting water with his +paddle blade; "if you know so _geesly_ much, I'm wondering if you'd mind +loosening up on one or two things that have got _me_ buffaloed. First +place, do I look like a man that had took a shot of hop?" "Not at all, +sir," quavered Roos, who seemed rather fearful of an impending +call-down. "I don't, huh?" went on the growl. "Then please tell me why +what I knows is a ten-mile-an-hour current looks to me like slack water, +and why I think I hear a roar coming round the next bend." "But the +water _is_ slack," protested Roos, "and I've heard that roar for five +minutes _myself_. Just another rapid, isn't it? The water always...." + +"Rot!" roared the veteran. "There ain't no fall with a rip-raring +thunder like that 'tween Yellow Creek and Death Rapids. Rot, I tell you! +I must ha' been doped after all." + +Nevertheless, when that ground-shaking rumble assailed us in a raw, +rough wave of savage sound as we pulled round the bend, Blackmore was +not sufficiently confident of his "dope theory" to care to get any +nearer to it without a preliminary reconnaissance. Landing a hundred +yards above where a white "eyelash" of up-flipped water showed above a +line of big rocks, we clambered down along the right bank on foot. +Presently all that had occurred was written clear for one who knew the +way of a slide with a river, and the way of a river with a slide, to +read as on the page of a book. + +"A new rapid, and a whale at that!" gasped Blackmore in astonishment; +"the first one that's ever formed on the Columbia in my time!" + +The amazing thing that had happened was this: Sometime in the spring, a +landslide of enormous size, doubtless started by an avalanche of snow +far up in the Selkirks, had ripped the whole side of a mountain out and +come down all the way across the river. As the pines were hurled +_backward_ for a couple of hundred feet above the river on the right or +Rocky Mountain bank, it seemed reasonable to believe that the dam formed +had averaged considerably more than that in height. As this would have +backed up the river for at least ten or twelve miles, it is probable +that the lake formed must have been rising for a number of days before +it flowed over the top of the barrier and began to sluice it away. On an +incalculably larger scale, it was just the sort of thing we had heard +and seen happening on Trident Creek, opposite our Kinbasket Lake camp. +Not the least remarkable thing in connection with the stupendous +convulsion was the fact that a large creek was flowing directly down the +great gash torn out by the slide and emptying right into the rapid which +was left when the dam had been washed away. Blackmore was quite positive +that there had been no creek at this point the last time he was there. +It seemed reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the slide, in removing +a considerable section of mountain wall, had opened a new line of +drainage for some little valley in the high Selkirks. + +It was the great, rough fragments of cliff and native rock left after +the earth had been sluiced out of the dam that remained to form the +unexpected rapid which now confronted us. They had not yet been worn +smooth like the rest of the river boulders, and it was this fact, +doubtless, that gave the cascade tumbling through and over them such a +raw, raucous roar. + +The solution of the mystery of the appearance of the rapid was only an +incident compared with the problem of how to pass it. There was a +comparatively straight channel, but there was no possibility that the +boat could live in the huge rollers that billowed down the middle of it. +Just to the right of the middle there was a smoother chute which looked +better--provided the boat could be kept to it. Blackmore said that it +looked like too much of a risk, and decided to try to line down the +right bank--the one on which we had landed. As the river walls were too +steep and broken to allow any of the outfit to be portaged, the boat +would have to go through loaded. + +A big uprooted pine tree, extending out fifty feet over the river and +with its under limbs swept by the water, seemed likely to prove our +worst difficulty, and I am inclined to believe it would have held us up +in the end, even after we reached it. As things turned out, however, it +troubled us not a whit, for the boat never got down that far. Right at +the head of the rapid her bows jammed between two submerged boulders +about ten feet from the bank, and there she stuck. As it was quickly +evident that it was out of the question to lift her on through, it now +became a problem of working her back up-stream out of the jaws that held +her. But with the full force of the current driving her tighter between +the rocks, she now refused to budge even in the direction from which she +had come. + +As I look back on it now, the fifteen minutes Andy and I, mid-waist deep +in the icy water, spent trying to work that hulking red boat loose so +that Blackmore could haul her back into quiet water for a fresh start +takes pride of place as the most miserable interval of the whole trip. +After Andy's experience in Surprise Rapids, neither of us was inclined +to throw his whole weight into a lift that might leave him overbalanced +when the boat was swept out of his reach. And so we pulled and hauled +and cursed (I should hate to have to record all we said about the +ancestry of the river, the boat, and the two rocks that held the boat), +while the tentacles of the cold clutched deeper with every passing +minute. Roos, sitting on a pine stump and whittling, furnished no help +but some slight diversion. When he started singing "Old Green River" +just after I had slipped and soused my head in the current, I stopped +tugging at the boat for long enough to wade out and shy a stone at him. +"Green River"[1] was all right in its place, but its place was swirling +against the _inside_ of the ribs, not the _outside_. Roos had the cheek +to pick the rock up out of his lap and heave it back at me--but with an +aim less certain than my own. A few minutes later he called out to +Blackmore to ask if this new rapid had a name, adding that if it had +not, he would like to do his employer, Mr. Chester, the honour of naming +it after him. Blackmore relaxed his strain on the line for a moment to +roar back that no rapid was ever named after a man unless he had been +"drownded" in it. "We'll name this one after you if you'll do the +needful," he growled as an afterthought, throwing his weight again onto +his line. That tickled Andy and me so mightily that we gave a prodigious +heave in all recklessness of consequences, and off she came. Gaining the +bank with little trouble, we joined Blackmore and helped him haul her up +by line into slower water. + + [1] For the benefit of those who have forgotten, or may never + have known, I will state that "Green River" was the name of a + brand of whisky consumed by ancient Americans with + considerable gusto. L. R. F. + +"No good lining," the "Skipper" announced decidedly, as we sat down to +rest for a spell; "I'm going to drive her straight through." Chilled, +weary and dead-beat generally, I was in a state of mind that would have +welcomed jumping into the rapid with a stone tied to my neck rather than +go back to the half-submerged wading and lifting. Roos said he hated to +risk his camera, and so would try to crawl with it over the cliff and +rejoin us below the rapid. Andy said he was quite game to pull his oar +for a run if we had to, but that he would first like to try lining down +the opposite bank. He thought we could make it _there_, and he had just +a bit of a doubt about what might happen in mid-river. That was +reasonable enough, and Blackmore readily consented to try the other +side. + +[Illustration: OUR WETTEST CAMP AT KINBASKET LAKE (_above_)] + +[Illustration: THE OLD FERRY TOWER ABOVE CANOE RIVER (_below_)] + +[Illustration: WHERE WE TIED UP AT KINBASKET LAKE (_above_)] + +[Illustration: THE BRIDGE WHICH THE COLUMBIA CARRIED A HUNDRED MILES AND +PLACED ACROSS ANOTHER STREAM (_center_)] + +[Illustration: LINING DOWN TO THE HEAD OF DEATH RAPIDS (_below_)] + +Almost at once it appeared that we had landed in the same trouble as on +the right bank. Directly off the mouth of the stream that came down from +the slide the bow of the boat was caught and held between two submerged +rocks, defying our every attempt to lift it over. Blackmore was becoming +impatient again, and was just ready to give up and run, when Andy, with +the aid of a young tree-trunk used as a lever, rolled one of the +boulders aside and cleared the way. Five minutes later we had completed +lining down and were pushing off for the final run to the Ferry. No more +"mystery rapids" cropped up to disturb our voyage, and, pulling in deep, +swift water, we made the next five miles in twenty-five minutes. A part +of the distance was through the rocky-walled Red Canyon, one of the +grandest scenic bits of the Bend. At one point Blackmore showed us a +sheer-sided rock island, on which he said he had once found the +graves of two white men, with an inscription so worn as to be +indecipherable. He thought they were probably those of miners lost +during the Cariboo gold-field excitement of the middle of the last +century, or perhaps even those of Hudson Bay _voyageurs_ of a century or +more back. There were many unidentified graves all the way round the +Bend, he said. + +The river walls fell back a bit on both sides as we neared our +destination, and the low-hanging western sun had found a gap in the +Selkirks through which it was pouring its level rays to flood with a +rich amber light the low wooded benches at the abandoned crossing. The +old Ferry-tower reared itself upward like the Statue of Liberty, bathing +its head in the golden light of the expiring day. Steering for it as to +a beacon, Blackmore beached the boat on a gravel bar flanking an eddy +almost directly under the rusting cable. We would cross later to spend +the night in a trapper's cabin on the opposite bank, he said; as there +was sure to be a shovel or two in the old ferry shacks, he had come +there at once so as to get down to business without delay. + +Right then and there, before we left the boat, I did a thing which I +have been greatly gratified that I did do--right then and there. I drew +my companions close to me and assured them that I had made up my mind to +divide the spoils with them. Blackmore and Andy should have a gallon +apiece, and Roos a quart. (I scaled down the latter's share sharply, +partly because he had thrown that stone back at me, and the nerve of it +rankled, and partly--I must confess--out of "professional jealousy." +"Stars" and "Directors" never do hit off.) The rest I would retain and +divide with Captain Armstrong as agreed. I did not tell them that I had +high hopes that Armstrong would soften in the end and let me keep it all +to take home. After all of them (including Roos) had wrung my hand with +gratitude, we set to work, each in his own way. + +The spot was readily located the moment we took the compass bearing. +Pacing off was quite unnecessary. It was in the angle of a V-shaped +outcrop of bedrock, where a man who knew about what was there could feel +his way and claw up the treasure in the dark. It was an "inevitable" +hiding place, just as Gibraltar is an inevitable fortress and Manhattan +an inevitable metropolis. Yes, we each went to work in our own way. +Blackmore and Andy found a couple of rusty shovels and went to digging; +Roos climbed up into the old ferry basket to take a picture of them +digging; I climbed up on the old shack to take a picture of Roos taking +a picture of them digging. Nothing was omitted calculated to preserve +historical accuracy. I had been in Baalbek just before the war when a +German archaeological mission had inaugurated excavation for Phoenician +antiquities, and so was sapient in all that an occasion of the kind +required. + +The picture cycle complete, I strolled over to where Andy and Blackmore +were making the dirt fly like a pair of Airedales digging out a badger. +The ground was soft, they said, leaning on their shovels; it ought to be +only the matter of minutes now. The "showings" were good. They had +already unearthed a glove, a tin cup and a fragment of barrel iron. +"Gorgeous stroke of luck for us that chap, K----, hit the stuff so hard +up at Kinbasket," I murmured ecstatically. Blackmore started and +straightened up like a man hit with a steel bullet. "What was that name +again?" he gasped. "K----," I replied wonderingly; "some kind of a +Swede, I believe Armstrong said. But what difference does his name make +as long as...." + +Blackmore tossed his shovel out of the hole and climbed stiffly up after +it before he replied. When he spoke it was in a voice thin and trailing, +as though draggled by the Weariness of the Ages. "Difference, boy! All +the difference between hell and happiness. About two years ago K---- +dropped out of sight from Revelstoke, and it was only known he had gone +somewhere on the Bend. A week after he returned he died in the hospital +of the 'D. T's.'" + +Roos (perhaps because he had the least to lose by the disaster) was the +only one who had the strength to speak. It seemed that he had studied +Latin in the high school. "_Sic transit gloria spiritum frumenti_," was +what he said. Never in all the voyage did he speak so much to the point. + +Blackmore frowned at him gloomily as the mystic words were solemnly +pronounced. "Young feller," he growled, "I don't savvy what the last +part of that drug-store lingo you're spitting means; but you're dead +right about the first part. _Sick_ is sure the word." + +We spent the night in an empty trapper's cabin across the river. Charity +forbids that I lift the curtain of the house of mourning. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +III. RUNNING THE BEND + +_Boat Encampment to Revelstoke_ + + +We were now close to the historic Boat Encampment, where at last our +course would join with that followed by the early _voyageurs_ and +explorers. No point in the whole length of the Columbia, not even +Astoria, has associations more calculated to stir the imagination than +this tiny patch of silt-covered overflow flat which has been formed by +the erosive action of three torrential rivers tearing at the hearts of +three great mountain ranges. Sand and soil of the Rockies, Selkirks and +the Gold Range, carried by the Columbia, Canoe and Wood rivers, meet and +mingle to form the remarkable halting place, where the east and +westbound pioneering traffic of a century stopped to gather breath for +the next stage of its journey. + +Before pushing off from the Ferry on the morning of October seventh I +dug out from my luggage a copy of a report written in 1881 by Lieutenant +Thomas W. Symons, U. S. A., on the navigation of the Upper Columbia. +This was chiefly concerned with that part of the river between the +International Boundary and the mouth of the Snake, but Lieutenant Symons +had made a long and exhaustive study of the whole Columbia Basin, and +his geographical description of the three rivers which unite at Boat +Encampment is so succinct and yet so comprehensive that I am impelled +to make a liberal quotation from it here. Of the great assistance I had +from Lieutenant Symons' invaluable report when I came to the passage of +that part of the river covered by his remarkable voyage of forty years +ago I shall write later. + + "Amid the universal gloom and midnight silence of the north, a + little above the fifty-second parallel of latitude, seemingly + surrounded on all sides by cloud-piercing snow-clad mountains, + and nestled down among the lower and nearer cedar-mantled hills, + there lies a narrow valley where three streams meet and blend + their waters, one coming from the southeast, one from the + northwest, and one from the east. The principal one of these + streams is the one from the southeast ... and is the headwater + stream, and bears the name of the Columbia. + + "The northwestern stream is the extreme northern branch of the + Columbia, rising beyond the fifty-third parallel of latitude, and + is known among the traders and _voyageurs_ as Canoe River, from + the excellence of the barks obtained on its banks for canoe + building. This is a small river, forty yards wide at its mouth, + flowing through a densely timbered valley in which the trees + overhang the stream to such an extent as almost to shut it out + from the light of heaven.... + + "Portage River, the third of the trio of streams, the smallest + and the most remarkable of them, is the one which enters from the + east. It has its source in the very heart of the Rocky Mountains + and flows through a tremendous cleft in the main range between + two of its loftiest peaks, Mounts Brown and Hooker. Just + underneath these giant mountains, on the divide known as 'The + Height of Land,' lie two small lakes, each about thirty yards in + diameter, and which are only a few yards from each other. One has + its outlet to the west, Portage River, flowing to the Columbia; + the other has its outlet to the east, Whirlpool River, a branch + of the Athabaska, which joins the Mackenzie and flows to the + Arctic Ocean. + + "The elevated valley in which these lakes are situated is called + 'The Committee's Punchbowl,' and the nabobs of the fur trade + always treated their companions to a bucket of punch when this + point was reached, if they had the ingredients from which to make + it, and they usually had. + + "The pass across the mountains by the Portage River, 'The + Committee's Punchbowl' and Whirlpool River, known as the + Athabaska Pass, was for many years the route of the British fur + traders in going from one side of the Rocky Mountains to the + other. This route is far from being an easy one, and a + description of the difficulties, dangers and discomforts of a + trip over it will certainly deter any one from making the journey + for pleasure. A great part of the way the traveller has to wade + up to his middle in the icy waters of Portage River. The journey + had to be made in the spring before the summer thaws and rains + set in, or in the autumn after severe cold weather had locked up + the mountain drainage. During the summer the stream becomes an + impetuous impassable mountain torrent." + +Considering that Lieutenant Symons had never traversed the Big Bend nor +the Athabaska Pass, this description (which must have been written from +his careful readings of the diaries of the old _voyageurs_) is a +remarkable one. It is not only accurate topographically and +geographically, but it has an "atmosphere" which one who _does_ know +this region at first hand will be quick to appreciate. How and when the +stream which he and the men before him called Portage River came to +have its name changed to Wood, I have not been able to learn. + +A mile below the Ferry Blackmore called my attention to a sharp wedge of +brown-black mountain which appeared to form the left wall of the river a +short way ahead. That lofty out-thrust of rock, he said, was the extreme +northern end of the Selkirk Range. The Columbia, after receiving the +waters of Wood and Canoe rivers, looped right round this cape and +started flowing south, but with the _massif_ of the Selkirks still +forming its left bank. But the Rockies, which had formed its right bank +all the way from its source, were now left behind, and their place was +taken by the almost equally lofty Gold Range, which drained east to the +Columbia and west to the Thompson. + +The Columbia doubles back from north to south at an astonishingly sharp +angle,--as river bends go, that is. Picture mentally Madison Square, New +York. Now suppose the Columbia to flow north on Broadway, bend round the +Flatiron Building (which represents the Selkirks), and then flow south +down Fifth Avenue. Then East Twenty-Third Street would represent Wood +River, and North Broadway, Canoe River. Now forget all the other streets +and imagine the buildings of Madison Square as ten to twelve +thousand-feet-high mountains. And there you have a model of the apex of +the Big Bend of the Columbia. + +A milky grey-green flood--straight glacier water if there ever was +such--staining the clear stream of the Columbia marked the mouth of Wood +River, and we pulled in for a brief glimpse in passing of what had once +been Boat Encampment. I had broken my thermometer at Kinbasket Lake, so +I could not take the temperatures here; but Wood River was beyond all +doubt the coldest stream I had ever dabbled a finger-tip in. What the +ascent to Athabaska Pass must have been may be judged from this +description by Alexander Ross--one of the original Astoria +party--written over a hundred years ago. + + "Picture in the mind a dark, narrow defile, skirted on one side + by a chain of inaccessible mountains rising to a great height, + covered with snow, and slippery with ice from their tops down to + the water's edge; and on the other a beach comparatively low, but + studded in an irregular manner with standing and fallen trees, + rocks and ice, and full of driftwood, over which the torrent + everywhere rushes with such irresistible impetuosity that very + few would dare to adventure themselves in the stream. Let him + again imagine a rapid river descending from some great height, + filling up the whole channel between the rocky precipices on the + south, and the no less dangerous barrier on the north; and, + lastly, let him suppose that we were obliged to make our way on + foot against such a torrent, by crossing and recrossing it in all + its turns and windings, from morning till night, up to the middle + in water, and he will understand the difficulties to be overcome + in crossing the Rocky Mountains." + +I have been able to learn nothing of records which would indicate that +any of the early explorers or _voyageurs_ traversed that portion of the +Columbia down which we had just come. David Thompson, who is credited +with being the first man to travel the Columbia to the sea, although he +spent one winter at the foot of Lake Windermere, appears to have made +his down-river push-off from Boat Encampment. Mr. Basil G. Hamilton, of +Invermere, sends me an authoritative note on this point, based on +Thompson's own journal. From this it appears that the great +astronomer-explorer crossed the Rockies by Athabaska Pass and came down +to what has since been known by the name of Boat Encampment in March, +1811. Having built himself a hut, he made preparation for a trip down +the Columbia, by which he hoped to reach the mouth in advance of either +of the Astor parties, and thus be able to lay claim to the whole region +traversed in the name of the Northwest Company. He writes: "We first +tried to get birch rind wherewith to make our trip to the Pacific Ocean, +but without finding any even thick enough to make a dish. So we split +out thin boards of cedar wood, about six inches in breadth, and built a +canoe twenty-five feet in length and fifty inches in breadth, of the +same form as a common canoe. As we had no nails we sewed the boards to +each other round the timbers, making use of the fine roots of the pine +which we split." + +This ingeniously constructed but precarious craft was finished on the +sixteenth of April, and Thompson's party embarked in it on the +seventeenth. Mr. Hamilton doubts if this was the same craft in which +they finally reached Astoria. From my own knowledge of what lies between +I am very much inclined to agree with him. Certainly no boat of the +construction described could have lasted even to the Arrow Lakes without +much patching, and if a boat seeming on the lines of the original really +reached the Pacific, it must have been many times renewed in the course +of the voyage. I shall hardly need to add that Thompson's remarkable +journey, so far as its original object was concerned, was a failure. He +reached the mouth of the Columbia well in advance of Astor's land party, +but only to find the New Yorker fur-trader's expedition by way of Cape +Horn and Hawaii already in occupation. + +Boat Encampment of to-day is neither picturesque nor interesting; +indeed, there are several camp-sites at the Bend that one would choose +in preference to that rather damp patch of brush-covered, treeless +clearing. All that I found in the way of relics of the past were some +huge cedar stumps, almost covered with silt, and the remains of a +demolished _batteau_. I salved a crude oar-lock from the latter to carry +as a mascot for my down-river trip. As a mascot it served me very well, +everything considered; though it _did_ get me in rather bad once when I +tried to use it for an oar-lock. + +Before the sparkling jade-green stream of the Columbia had entirely +quenched the milky flow of Wood River, the chocolate-brown torrent of +Canoe River came pouring in to mess things up anew. The swift northern +affluent, greatly swelled by the recent rains, was in flood, and at the +moment appeared to be discharging a flow almost if not quite equal to +that of the main river. For a considerable distance the waters of the +right side of the augmented river retained their rich cinnamon tint, and +it was not until a brisk stretch of rapid a mile below the Bend got in +its cocktail-shaker action that the two streams became thoroughly +blended. Then the former crystalline clearness of the Columbia was a +thing of the past. It was still far from being a muddy river. There was +still more of green than of brown in its waters, but they were dully +translucent where they had been brilliantly transparent. Not until the +hundred-mile-long settling-basin of the Arrow Lakes allowed the sediment +to deposit did the old emerald-bright sparkle come back again. + +A couple of quick rifle shots from the left bank set the echoes ringing +just after we had passed Canoe River, and Blackmore turned in to where a +man and dog were standing in front of an extremely picturesquely located +log cabin. It proved to be a French-Canadian half-breed trapper called +Alphonse Edmunds. His interest in us was purely social, and after a five +minutes' yarn we pulled on. Blackmore said the chap lived in Golden, and +that to avoid the dreaded run down through Surprise and Kinbasket +rapids, he was in the habit of going a couple of hundred miles by the C. +P. R. to Kamloops, thence north for a hundred miles or more by the +Canadian Northern, thence by packtrain a considerable distance over the +divide to the head of Canoe River, and finally down the latter by boat +to the Bend, where he did his winter trapping. This was about four times +the distance as by the direct route down the Columbia, and probably at +least quadrupled time and expense. It threw an illuminative side-light +on the way some of the natives regarded the upper half of the Big Bend. + +The river was deeper now, but still plugged along at near to the +ten-miles-an-hour it had averaged from the foot of Kinbasket Rapids. As +the western slopes of the Selkirks were considerably more extensive +than the eastern, the drainage to the Columbia from that side was +proportionately greater. Cascades and cataracts came tumbling in every +few hundred yards, and every mile or two, from one side or the other, a +considerable creek would pour down over its spreading boulder "fan." We +landed at twelve-thirty and cooked our lunch on the stove of a perfect +beauty of a trapper's cabin near the mouth of Mica Creek. The trapper +had already begun getting in his winter grub, but was away at the +moment. The whole place was as clean as a Dutch kitchen. A recent shift +of channel by the fickle-minded Mica Creek had undermined almost to the +door of this snug little home, and Andy reckoned it would go down river +on the next spring rise. + +[Illustration: TRAPPER'S CABIN BEING UNDERMINED BY STREAM] + +[Illustration: THE CAMP ABOVE TWELVE-MILE] + +[Illustration: LANDING AT SUNSET ABOVE CANOE RIVER (_above_)] + +[Illustration: ANDY AND BLACKMORE SWINGING THE BOAT INTO THE HEAD OF +ROCK SLIDE RAPIDS (_centre_)] + +[Illustration: THE BIG ROLLERS, FROM 15 TO 20 FEET FROM HOLLOW TO CREST, +AT HEAD OF DEATH RAPIDS (_below_)] + +We ran the next eighteen miles in less than two hours, tying up for the +night at a well-built Government cabin three miles below Big Mouth +Creek. It was occupied for the winter by a Swede trapper named Johnston. +He was out running his trap-lines when we arrived, but came back in time +to be our guest for dinner. He made one rather important contribution to +the menu--a "mulligan," the _piece de resistance_ of which, so he +claimed, was a mud-hen he had winged with his revolver that morning. +There were six or seven ingredients in that confounded Irish stew +already, and--much to the disgust of Roos and myself, who didn't fancy +eating mud-hen--Andy dumped into it just about everything he had been +cooking except the prunes. That's the proper caper with "mulligans," and +they are very good, too, unless some one of the makings chances to be +out of your line. And such most decidedly was mud-hen--fish-eating +mud-hen! As we were sort of company, Roos and I put on the best faces we +could and filled up on prunes and marmalade. It was only after the other +three had cleaned out the "mulligan" can that Andy chanced to mention +that "mud-hen" was the popularly accepted euphemism for grouse shot out +of season! + +Andy and Blackmore and Johnston talked "trapper stuff" all +evening--tricks for tempting marten, how to prevent the pesky wolverine +from robbing traps, "stink-baits," prices, and the prospects for beaver +when it again became lawful to take them. Johnston was a typical Swede, +with little apparent regard for his physical strength if money could be +made by drawing upon it. The previous season he had had to sleep out in +his blankets many nights while covering his lines, and he counted +himself lucky that this year he had two or three rough cabins for +shelter. He was a terrific worker and ate sparingly of the grub that +cost him twenty cents a pound to bring in. He was already looking a bit +drawn, and Blackmore said the next morning that he would be more or less +of a physical wreck by spring, just as he had been the previous season. +The hardships these trappers endure is something quite beyond the +comprehension of any one who has not been with them. A city man, a +farmer, even a sailor, knows nothing to compare with it. + +We were a mile down stream the next morning before Blackmore discovered +that his rifle had been left in Johnston's cabin, and it took him an +hour of hard breaking through the wet underbrush to recover it. The +river was still rising from the rains, and the current swift with +occasional rapids. Blackmore approached the head of Gordon Rapids +(named, of course, from a man of that name who had lost his life there) +with considerable caution. He intended to run them, he said, but the +convergence of currents threw a nasty cross-riffle that was not to be +taken liberties with. He appeared considerably relieved when he found +that the high water made it possible to avoid the main rapid by a swift +but comparatively clear back-channel. We had a good view of the riffle +from below when we swung back into the main channel. It was certainly a +vicious tumble of wild white water, and even with our considerable +freeboard it would have been a sloppy run. I should have been very +reluctant to go into it all with a smaller boat. + +Still deeply canyoned between lofty mountains, the scenery in this part +of the Bend was quite equal to the finest through which we had passed +above Canoe River. The steady drizzle which had now set in, however, +made pictures out of the question. This did not deter Roos from looking +for "location." He was under special instructions to make some effective +camp shots, and had been on the lookout for a suitable place ever since +we started. This day he found what he wanted. Shooting down a swift, +rough rapid shortly after noon, we rounded a sharp bend and shot past +the mouth of a deep black gorge with the white shimmer of a big +waterfall just discernible in its dusky depths. Almost immediately +opposite a rocky point jutted out into the eddy. It was thickly +carpeted with moss and grass, and bright with the reds and yellows of +patches of late flowers. At its base was an almost perfect circle of +towering cedars and sugar pines, their dark green foliage standing out +in fret-work against the pale purple mists filling the depths of a +wedge-shaped bit of mountain valley behind. There were glaciers and +peaks hanging giddily above, but these were obscured by the rain clouds. + +In response to Roos' glad "Eureka!" Blackmore threw the boat's head +sharply toward the left bank, and hard pulling just won us the edge of +the eddy. Missing that, we would have run on into the rough-and-tumble +of Twelve-Mile Rapids, where (as we found the next day) there was no +landing for another half mile. The place looked even lovelier at close +range than from the river, and Roos announced decisively that we were +not going to stir from there until the sun came to give him light for +his camp shots. Fortunately, this befell the next morning. After that, +to the best of my recollection, we did not see the sun again until we +crossed over to the U. S. A. many days later. + +Roos took a lot of trouble with his camp picture, and I have since heard +that it was most favourably reported upon from the studio. Setting up on +the end of the point, he made his opening shot as the boat ran down the +rapid (we had had to line back above for this, of course) and floundered +through the swirls and whirlpools past the mouth of the gloomy gorge and +its half-guessed waterfall. After landing and packing our outfit up the +bank, trees were felled, boughs cut and spread and the tent set up. +Finally, we fried bacon, tossed flapjacks and baked bannocks. I could +tell by his expression that Roos dearly wanted to lend a Mack Sennett +"custard-pie" touch by having some one smear some one else in the face +with a mushy half-baked bannock, but discretion prevailed. Qualified +"smearers" there were in plenty--Andy and Blackmore were wood-choppers +and I was an ex-pitcher and shot-putter,--but the designation of a +"smear-ee" was quite another matter. Roos did well to stop where he did. + +Pushing off about noon, we dropped down to near the head of +"Twelve-Mile," and put Roos ashore on the right bank for a shot as we +ran through. We had expected to land to pick him up at the foot of the +rapid, but Blackmore, in order to make the picture as spectacular as +possible, threw the boat right into the midst of the white stuff. There +was a good deal of soft fluff flying in the air, but nothing with much +weight in it. We ran through easily, but got so far over toward the left +bank that it was impossible to pull into the eddy we had hoped to make. +Andy and I pulled our heads off for five minutes before we could reach +slack water near the left bank, and by then we were a quarter of a mile +below the foot of the rapid. Andy had to go back to help Roos down over +the boulders with his machine and tripod. Another mile in fast water +brought us to the head of Rock Slide Rapids, and we landed on the right +bank for our last stretch of lining on the Big Bend. + +The Rock Slide is the narrowest point on the whole Columbia between Lake +Windermere and the Pacific. An almost perpendicular mountainside has +been encroaching on the river here for many years, possibly damming it +all the way across at times. From the Slide to the precipitous left bank +there is an average channel seventy feet in width, through which the +river rushes with tremendous velocity over and between enormous +sharp-edged boulders. This pours into a cauldron-like eddy at a +right-angled bend, and over the lower end of that swirling maelstrom the +river spills into another narrow chute to form the _Dalles des Morts_ of +accursed memory. I know of no place on the upper half of the Bend where +the river is less than a hundred feet wide. The Little Dalles, just +below the American line, are about a hundred and forty feet across in +their narrowest part, and the Great Dalles below Celilo Falls are +slightly wider. Kettle Falls, Hell-Gate and Rock Island Rapids have side +channels of less than a hundred feet, but the main channels are much +broader. Save only the _Dalles des Morts_ (which are really its +continuation) the Rock Slide has no near rival anywhere on the river. + +It has struck me as quite probable that the Rock Slide, and the +consequent constriction of the river at that point, are of comparatively +recent occurrence, almost certainly of the last hundred years. In the +diaries of Ross, Cox and Franchiere, on which most of the earlier +Columbian history is based, I can find no mention of anything of the +kind at this point, a location readily identifiable because of its +proximity to the _Dalles des Morts_, which they all mention. But in +Ross' record I _do_ find this significant passage: + + "A little after starting (_from the Dalles des Morts_) we backed + our paddles and stood still for some minutes admiring a striking + curiosity. The water of a cataract creek, after shooting over the + brink of a bold precipice, falls in a white sheet onto a broad, + flat rock, smooth as glass, which forms the first step; then upon + a second, some ten feet lower down, and lastly, on a third, + somewhat lower. It then enters a subterranean vault, formed at + the mouth like a funnel, and after passing through this funnel it + again issues forth with a noise like distant thunder. After + falling over another step it meets the front of a bold rock, + which repulses back the water with such violence as to keep it + whirling around in a large basin. Opposite to this rises the wing + of a shelving cliff, which overhangs the basin and forces back + the rising spray, refracting in the sunshine all the colours of + the rainbow. The creek then enters the Columbia." + +On the left bank, immediately above the _Dalles des Morts_, an extremely +beautiful little waterfall leaps into the river from the cliffs, but +neither this (as will readily be seen from my photograph of it) nor any +other similar fall I saw in the whole length of the Columbia, bears the +least suggestion of a resemblance to the remarkable cataract Ross so +strikingly describes. But I _did_ see a very sizable stream of water +cascading right down the middle of the great rock slide, and at a point +which might very well coincide with that at which Ross saw his +"stairway-and-tunnel" phenomenon. Does it not seem quite possible that +the latter should have undermined the cliff over and through which it +was tumbling, precipitating it into the river and forming the Rock Slide +of the present day? + +The middle of the channel at Rock Slide was a rough, smashing cascade +that looked quite capable of grinding a boat to kindling wood in a +hundred feet; but to the right of it the water was considerably better. +Blackmore said the chances would be all in favour of running it safely, +_but_, if anything at all went wrong (such as the unshipping of an oar, +for instance), it might make it hard to get into the eddy at the bend; +and if we missed the eddy--Death Rapids! He didn't seem to think any +further elucidation was necessary. It would be best to line the whole +way down, he said. + +On account of the considerable depth of water right up to the banks, the +boat struck on the rocks rather less than usual; but the clamber over +the jagged, fresh-fallen granite was the worst thing of the kind we +encountered. I _did_ get a bit of a duck here, though, but it was not +near to being anything serious, and the sequel was rather amusing. +Losing my footing for a moment on the only occasion I had to give Andy a +lift with the boat, I floundered for a few strokes, kicked into an eddy +and climbed out. + +Ever since Andy had his souse and came out with empty pockets, I had +taken the precaution of buttoning mine securely down before starting in +to line. The buttons had resisted the best efforts of the kleptomaniacal +river current, and I came out with the contents of my pocket wet but +intact. But there was a trifling casualty even thus. A leg of my riding +breeches was missing from the knee down. It was an ancient pair of East +Indian _jodpurs_ I was wearing (without leggings, of course), and age +and rough usage had opened a slit at the knee. Possibly I caught this +somewhere on the boat without noting it in my excitement; or it is even +possible the current _did_ tear it off. There was nothing especially +remarkable about it in any case. All the same, Blackmore and Andy always +solemnly declared that the _geesly_ river, baulked by my buttons of its +designs on the contents of my pockets, had tried to get away with my +whole pair of pants! If that was so, it had its way in the end. Before I +set out on the second leg of my voyage from the foot of the Arrow Lakes, +I threw the river god all that was left of that bedraggled pair of +_jodpurs_ as a propitiatory offering. + +The deeper rumble of Death Rapids became audible above the higher-keyed +grind of Rock Slide as we worked down toward the head of the intervening +eddy. Of all the cataracts and cascades with sinister records on the +Columbia this Dalles of the Dead has undoubtedly been the one to draw to +itself the greatest share of execration. The terrific toll of lives they +have claimed is unquestionably traceable to the fact that this swift, +narrow chute of round-topped rollers is many times worse than it looks, +especially to a comparatively inexperienced river man, and there have +been many such numbered among its victims. There are two or three places +in Surprise Rapids, and one or two even in Kinbasket, that the veriest +greenhorn would know better than to try to run; Death Rapids it is +conceivable that a novice might try, just as many of them have, and to +their cost. However, it is probable that the greatest number that have +died here were comparatively experienced men who were sucked into the +death-chute in spite of themselves. Of such was made up the party whose +tragic fate gave the rapid its sinister name. Ross Cox, of the original +Astorians, tells the story, and the account of it I am setting down here +is slightly abridged from his original narrative. + + On the sixteenth of April, 1817, Ross Cox's party of twenty-three + left Fort George (originally and subsequently Astoria) to ascend + the Columbia and cross the Rockies by the Athabaska Pass, en + route Montreal. On the twenty-seventh of May they arrived at Boat + Encampment after the most severe labours in dragging their boats + up the rapids and making their way along the rocky shores. Seven + men of the party were so weak, sick and worn out that they were + unable to proceed across the mountains, so they were given the + best of the canoes and provisions, and were to attempt to return + down river to Spokane House, a Hudson Bay post near the mouth of + the river of that name. They reached the place which has since + borne the name of _Dalles des Morts_ without trouble. There, in + passing their canoe down over the rapids with a light cod line, + it was caught in a whirlpool. The line snapped, and the canoe, + with all the provisions and blankets, was lost. + + The men found themselves utterly destitute, and at a time of year + when it was impossible to procure any wild fruit or roots. The + continual rising of the water completely inundated the beach, + which compelled them to force their way through a dense forest, + rendered almost impervious by a thick growth of prickly + underbrush. Their only nourishment was water. On the third day a + man named Macon died, and his surviving comrades, though + unconscious of how soon they might be called on to follow him, + divided his remains into equal parts, on which they subsisted for + several days. From the sore and swollen state of their feet, + their daily progress did not exceed two or three miles. A tailor + named Holmes was the next to die, and the others subsisted for + some days on his emaciated remains. In a little while, of the + seven men, only two remained alive--Dubois and La Pierre. La + Pierre was subsequently found on the upper Arrow Lake by two + Indians who were coasting it in a canoe. They took him to Kettle + Falls, from where he was carried to Spokane House. + + He stated that after the death of the fifth man of the party, + Dubois and he remained for some days at the spot, living on the + remains. When they felt strong enough to continue, they loaded + themselves with as much of the flesh as they could carry; that + with this they succeeded in reaching the Upper Lake, around the + shores of which they wandered for some time in search of Indians; + that their food at length became exhausted, and they were again + reduced to the prospects of starvation. On the second night after + their last meal La Pierre observed something suspicious in the + conduct of Dubois, which induced him to be on his guard; and that + shortly after they had lain down for the night, and while he + feigned sleep, he observed Dubois cautiously opening his + clasp-knife, with which he sprang at La Pierre, inflicting on the + hand the blow evidently intended for the neck. A silent and + desperate conflict followed, in which, after severe struggling, + La Pierre succeeded in wresting the knife from his antagonist, + and, having no other resource left, was finally obliged to cut + Dubois' throat. It was several days after this that he was + discovered by the Indians. + +This was one of the earliest, and certainly the most terrible, of all +the tragedies originating at the _Dalles des Morts_. There are a number +of graves in the vicinity, but more numerous still are the inscriptions +on the cliffs in memory of the victims whose bodies were never recovered +for burial. + +Compared to what we had been having, lining down Death Rapids was +comparatively simple. It was only when one got right down beside them +that the terrible power of the great rolling waves became evident. From +crest to trough they must have been from twelve to fifteen feet high, +with the water--on account of the steep declivity and the lack of +resistance from rocks--running at race-horse speed. We had become so +used to expecting big boulders to underlie heavy waves that it was +difficult to realize that there was all of a hundred feet of green water +between these giant rollers and the great reefs of bedrock which were +responsible for them. + +For a quarter of a mile below where the rolling waves ceased to comb +there was a green-white chaos of whirlpools and the great geyser-like +up-boils where the sucked-down water was ejected again to the surface. +This was another of the places where the river was said to "eat up" +whole pine trees at high water, and it was not hard to believe. Even now +the voracious vortices were wolfing very considerable pieces of +driftwood, and one had to keep a very sharp lookout to see the +spewed-forth fragments reappear at all. This was no water for a small +boat or canoe. It would, for instance, have engulfed the sixteen-foot +skiff which I used on the lower river as an elephant gulps a tossed +peanut. But our big double-ended thirty-footer was more of a mouthful. +Blackmore pushed off without hesitation as soon as we had lined below +the rollers, but _not_ without reiterating the old warning about not +dipping too deep, and being quick about throwing the oar free from its +oar-lock if a whirlpool started to drag down the blade. We had a lively +five minutes of it, what with the whirlpools trying to suck her stern +under and the geysers trying to toss her bow on high; but they never had +us in serious trouble. They did spin her all the way round, though, in +spite of all the three of us could do to hold her, and as for our +course--a chart of it would make the track of an earthquake on a +seismograph look as if drawn with a straight-edge! + +Another mile took us to the head of Priest Rapids, so named because two +French-Canadian priests had been drowned there. This was to be our great +rapid-running picture. Bad light had prevented our getting anything of +the kind in Surprise and Kinbasket rapids, and "Twelve-Mile," though +white and fast, was hardly the real thing. But Priest Rapids was reputed +the fastest on the whole river--certainly over twenty miles an hour, +Blackmore reckoned. It had almost as much of a pitch as the upper part +of the first drop of Surprise Rapids down to the abrupt fall. But, being +straight as a city street and with plenty of water over the rocks, +running it was simply a matter of having a large enough boat and being +willing to take the soaking. Blackmore had the boat, and, for the sake +of a real rip-snorting picture, he said he was willing to take the +soaking. So were Andy and I. + +[Illustration: LOOKING ACROSS TO BOAT ENCAMPMENT (_above_)] + +[Illustration: "WOOD SMOKE AT TWILIGHT" ABOVE TWELVE-MILE (_below_)] + +[Illustration: LINING DOWN ROCK SLIDE RAPIDS (_above_)] + +[Illustration: WHEN THE COLUMBIA TOOK HALF OF MY RIDING BREECHES +(_below_)] + +We dropped Roos at the head of the rumbling "intake," and while Andy +went down to help him set up in a favourable position, Blackmore and +I lined back up-stream a hundred yards so as to have a good jump on when +we started. Andy joined us presently, to report that Roos appraised the +"back-lighting" effect across the white caps as "cheap at a million +dollars." He was going to make the shot of his life. Pushing off we laid +on our oars, floating down until we caught Roos' signal to come on. Then +Andy and I swung into it with all of the something like four hundred and +fifty pounds of beef we scaled between us. Blackmore headed her straight +down the "V" into the swiftest and roughest part of the rapid. It was a +bit less tempestuous toward the right bank, but a quiet passage was not +what he was looking for this trip. + +The boat must have had half her length out of water when she hurdled off +the top of that first wave. I couldn't see, of course, but I judged it +must have been that way from the manner in which she slapped down and +buried her nose under the next comber. That brought over the water in a +solid green flood. Andy and I only caught it on our hunched backs, but +Blackmore, on his feet and facing forward, had to withstand a full +frontal attack. My one recollection of him during that mad run is that +of a freshly emerged Neptune shaking his grizzly locks and trying to +blink the water out of his eyes. + +Our team-work, as usual, went to sixes-and-sevens the moment we hit the +rough water, but neither Andy nor I stopped pulling on that account. +Yelling like a couple of _locoed_ Apaches, we kept slapping out with our +oar-blades into every hump of water within reach, and I have an idea +that we managed to keep a considerable way even over the speeding +current right to the finish. It was quite the wettest river run I ever +made. A number of times during the war I was in a destroyer when +something turned up to send it driving with all the speed it had--or all +its plates would stand, rather--into a head sea. That meant that it made +most of the run tunnelling under water. And that was the way it seemed +going down Priest Rapids, only not so bad, of course. We were only about +a quarter full of water when we finally pulled up to the bank in an eddy +to wait for the movie man. + +I could see that something had upset Roos by the droop of his shoulders, +even when he was a long way off; the droop of his mouth confirmed the +first impression on closer view. "You couldn't do that again, could +you?" he asked Blackmore, with a furtive look in his eyes. The "Skipper" +stopped bailing with a snort. "Sure I'll do it again," he growled +sarcastically. "Just line the boat back where she was and I'll bring her +down again--only not to-night. I'll want to get dried out first. But +what's the matter anyhow? Didn't we run fast enough to suit you?" + +"Guess _you_ ran fast enough," was the reply; "but the film didn't. +Buckled in camera. Oil-can! Washout! Out of luck!" Engulfed in a deep +purple aura of gloom, Roos climbed back into the boat and asked how far +it was to camp and dinner. + +For a couple of miles we had a fast current with us, but by the time we +reached the mouth of Downie Creek--the centre of a great gold rush half +a century ago--the river was broadening and deepening and slowing down. +A half hour more of sharp pulling brought us to Keystone Creek and +Boyd's Ranch, where we tied up for the night. This place had the +distinction of being the only ranch on the Big Bend, but it was really +little more than a clearing with a house and barn. Boyd had given his +name to a rapid at the head of Revelstoke Canyon--drowned while trying +to line by at high water, Blackmore said--and the present owner was an +American Civil War Pensioner named Wilcox. He was wintering in +California for his health, but Andy, being a friend of his, knew where +to look for the key. Hardly had the frying bacon started its sizzling +prelude than there came a joyous yowl at the door, and as it was opened +an enormous tiger-striped tomcat bounded into the kitchen. Straight for +Andy's shoulder he leaped, and the trapper's happy howl of recognition +must have met him somewhere in the air. Andy hugged the ecstatically +purring bundle to his breast as if it were a long-lost child, telling us +between nuzzles into the arched furry back that this was "Tommy" (that +was his name, of course), with whom he had spent two winters alone in +his trapper's cabin. It was hard to tell which was the more delighted +over this unexpected reunion, man or cat. + +He had little difficulty in accounting for "Tommy's" presence at Boyd's. +He had given the cat to Wilcox a season or two back, and Wilcox, when he +left for California, had given him to "Wild Bill," who had a cabin ten +miles farther down the river. "Bill" already had a brother of "Tommy," +but a cat of much less character. As "Bill" was much given to periodic +sprees, Andy was satisfied that "Tommy," who was a great sizer-up of +personality, had left him in disgust and returned to his former deserted +home to shift for himself. As he would pull down rabbits as readily as +an ordinary cat caught mice, this was an easy matter as long as the snow +did not get too deep. Of what might happen after that Andy did not like +to think. He would have to make some provision for his pet before full +winter set in. + +That evening we sat around the kitchen fire, telling all the cat stories +we knew and quarrelling over whose turn it was to hold "Tommy" and put +him through his tricks. The latter were of considerable variety. There +was all the usual "sit-up," "jump-through" and "roll-over" stuff, but +with such "variations" as only a trapper, snow-bound for days with +nothing else to do, would have the time to conceive and perfect. For +instance, if you only waved your hand in an airy spiral, "Tommy" would +respond with no more than the conventional "once-over;" but a gentle +tweak of the tail following the spiral, brought a roll to the left, +while two tweaks directed him to the right. Similarly with his "front" +and "back" somersaults, which took their inspiration from a slightly +modified form of aerial spiral. Of course only Andy could get the fine +work out of him, but the ordinary "jump-through" stuff he would do for +any of us. + +I am afraid the cat stories we told awakened, temporarily at least, a +good deal of mutual distrust. Roos didn't figure greatly, but Andy and +Blackmore and I were glowering back and forth at each other with +"I-suppose-you-don't-believe-_that_" expressions all evening. The two +woodsmen, "hunting in couples" for the occasion, displayed considerable +team-work. One of their best was of a trapper of their acquaintance--name +and present address mentioned with scrupulous particularity--who had +broken his leg one winter on Maloney Creek, just as he was at the end of +his provisions. Dragging himself to his cabin, he lay down to die of +starvation. The next morning his cat jumped in through the window with a +rabbit in his mouth. Then the trapper had his great idea. Leaving the +cat just enough to keep him alive, he took the rest for himself. That +made the cat go on hunting, and each morning he came back with a rabbit. +And so it went on until springtime brought in his partner and relief. I +asked them why, if the cat was so hungry, he didn't eat the rabbit up in +the woods; but they said that wasn't the way of a cat, or at least of +this particular cat. + +Then I told them of a night, not long before the war, that I spent with +the German archaeologists excavating at Babylon. Hearing a scratching on +my door, I got up and found a tabby cat there. Entering the room, she +nosed about under my mosquito netting for a few moments with +ingratiating mewings and purrings, finally to trot out through the open +door with an "I'll-see-you-again-in-a-moment" air. Presently she +returned with a new-born kitten in her mouth. Nuzzling under the net and +coverlets, she deposited the mewing atom in my bed, and then trotted off +after another. When the whole litter of five was there, she crawled in +herself and started nursing them. I spent the night on the couch, and +without a net. + +According to the best of my judgment, that story of mine was the only +true one told that night. And yet--confound them--they wouldn't believe +it--any more than I would theirs! + +Considerable feeling arose along toward bed-time as to who was going to +have "Tommy" to sleep with. Roos--who hadn't cut much ice in the +story-telling--came strong at this juncture by adopting cave-man tactics +and simply picking "Tommy" up and walking off with him. Waiting until +Roos was asleep, I crept over and, gently extricating the furry pillow +from under his downy cheek, carried it off to snuggle against my own +ear. Whether Andy adopted the same Sabine methods himself, I never quite +made sure. Anyhow, it was out of his blankets that "Tommy" came crawling +in the morning. + +As we made ready to pack off, Andy was in considerable doubt as to +whether it would be best to leave his pet where he was or to take him +down to "Wild Bill" again. "Tommy" cut the Gordian Knot himself by +following us down to the boat like a dog and leaping aboard. He was +horribly upset for a while when he saw the bank slide away from him and +felt the motion of the boat, but Roos, muffling the dismal yowls under +his coat, kept him fairly quiet until "Wild Bill's" landing was reached. +Here he became his old self again, following us with his quick little +canine trot up to the cabin. Outside the door he met his twin brother, +and the two, after a swift sniff of identification, slipped away across +the clearing to stalk rabbits. + +"Wild Bill," as Andy had anticipated, was still in bed, but got up and +welcomed us warmly as soon as he found who it was. He was a small +man--much to my surprise, and looked more like a French-Canadian +gentleman in reduced circumstances than the most tumultuous +booze-fighter on the upper Columbia. I had heard scores of stories of +his escapades in the days when Golden and Revelstoke were wide-open +frontier towns and life was really worth living. But most of them just +miss being "drawing-room," however, and I refrain from setting them +down. There was one comparatively polite one, though, of the time he +started the biggest free-for-all fight Revelstoke ever knew by using the +white, woolly, cheek-cuddling poodle of a dance-hall girl to wipe the +mud off his boots with. And another--but no, that one wouldn't quite +pass censor. + +"Bill" had shot a number of bear in the spring, and now asked Andy to +take the unusually fine skins to Revelstoke and sell them for him. He +also asked if we could let him have any spare provisions, as he was +running very short. He was jubilant when I told him he could take +everything we had left for what it had cost in Golden. That was like +finding money, he said, for packing in his stuff cost him close to ten +cents a pound. But it wasn't the few dollars he saved on the grub that +etched a silver--nay, a roseate--lining on the sodden rain clouds for +"Wild Bill" that day; rather it was the sequel to the consequences of a +kindly thought I had when he came down to the boat to see us off. + +"'Bill,'" I said, as he started to wring our hands in parting, "they +tell me you've become a comparative teetotaler these last few years. But +we have a little 'thirty per over-proof' left--just a swallow. +Perhaps--for the sake of the old days...." + +That quick, chesty cough, rumbling right from the diaphragm, was the one +deepest sound of emotion I ever heard--and I've heard a fair amount of +"emoting," too. "Don't mind--if I do," he mumbled brokenly, with a long +intake of breath that was almost a sob. I handed him a mug--a hulking +big half-pint coffee mug, it was--and uncorked the bottle. "Say +when...." + +"Thanks--won't trouble you," he muttered, snatching the bottle from me +with a hand whose fingers crooked like claws. Then he inhaled another +deep breath, took out his handkerchief, brushed off a place on one of +the thwarts, sat down, and, pouring very deliberately, emptied the +contents of the bottle to the last drop into the big mug. The bottle--a +British Imperial quart--had been a little less than a quarter full; the +mug was just short of brimming. "Earzow!" he mumbled, with a sweepingly +comprehensive gesture with the mug. Then, crooking his elbow, he dumped +the whole half pint down his throat. Diluted four-to-one, that liquid +fire would have made an ordinary man wince; and "Wild Bill" downed it +without a blink. Then he wiped his lips with his sleeve, set mug and +bottle carefully down on the thwart, bowed low to each of us, and +stepped ashore with dignified tread. Blackmore, checking Roos' +hysterical giggle with a prod of his paddle handle, pushed off into the +current. "Wait!" he admonished, eyeing the still figure on the bank with +the fascinated glance of a man watching a short length of fuse sputter +down toward the end of a stick of dynamite. + +We had not long to wait. The detonation of the dynamite was almost +instantaneous. The mounting fumes of that "thirty per" fired the +slumbering volcano of the old trapper as a dash of kerosene fires a bed +of dormant coals. And so "Wild Bill" went wild. Dancing and whooping +like an Indian, he shouted for us to come back--that he would give us +his furs, his cabin, the Columbia, the Selkirks, Canada.... What he was +going to offer next we never learned, for just then a very sobering +thing occurred--"Tommy" and his twin brother, attracted by the noise, +came trotting down the path from the cabin to learn what it was all +about. + +Andy swore that he had told "Bill" that we had brought "Tommy" back, and +that "Bill" had heard him, and replied that he hoped the cat would stay +this time. But even if this was true, it no longer signified. "Bill" had +forgotten all about it, and _knew_ that there ought to be only one +tiger-striped tomcat about the place, whereas his eyes told him there +were two. So he kept counting them, and stopping every now and then to +hold up two fingers at us in pathetic puzzlement. Finally he began to +chase them--or rather "it"--now one of "it" and now the other. The last +we saw of him, as the current swept the boat round a point, he had +caught "Tommy's" twin brother and was still trying to enumerate +"Tommy." Very likely by that time there were two of him in fancy as well +as in fact--possibly mauve and pink ones. + +Blackmore took a last whiff at the neck of the rum bottle and then +tossed it gloomily into the river. "The next time you ask a man to take +a 'swallow,'" he said, "probably you'll know enough to find out how big +his 'swallow' is in advance." + +We pulled hard against a head wind all morning, and with not much help +from the current. The latter began to speed up at Rocky Point Rapids, +and from there the going was lively right on through Revelstoke Canyon. +Sand Slide Rapid, a fast-rolling serpentine cascade near the head of the +Canyon, gave us a good wetting as Blackmore slashed down the middle of +it, and he was still bailing when we ran in between the sides of the +great red-and-black-walled gorge. Between cliffs not over a hundred feet +apart for a considerable distance, the river rushes with great velocity, +throwing itself in a roaring wave now against one side, now against the +other. As the depth is very great (Blackmore said he had failed to get +bottom with a hundred-and-fifty-foot line), the only things to watch out +for were the cliffs and the whirlpools. Neither was a serious menace to +a boat of our size at that stage of water, but the swirls would have +made the run very dangerous for a skiff or canoe at any time. +Unfortunately, the drizzling rain and lowering clouds made pictures of +what is one of the very finest scenic stretches of the Big Bend quite +out of the question. If it had been the matter of a day or two, we would +gladly have gone into camp and waited for the light; but Blackmore was +inclined to think the spell of bad weather that had now set in was the +beginning of an early winter, in which event we might stand-by for weeks +without seeing the sky. It was just as well we did not wait. As I have +already mentioned, we did not feel the touch of sunlight again until we +were on the American side of the border. + +From the foot of the Canyon to Blackmore's boat-house was four miles. +Pulling down a broadening and slackening river flanked by ever receding +mountains, we passed under the big C. P. R. bridge and tied up at four +o'clock. In spite of taking it easy all the time, the last twenty miles +had been run in quite a bit under two hours. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +REVELSTOKE TO THE SPOKANE + + +The voyage round the Big Bend, in spite of the atrocious weather, had +gone so well that I had just about made up my mind to continue on down +river by the time we reached Revelstoke. A letter which awaited me at +the hotel there from Captain Armstrong, stating that he would be free to +join me for my first week or ten days south from the foot of the lakes, +was all that was needed to bring me to a decision. I wired him that I +would pick him up in Nelson as soon as I had cleaned up a pile of +correspondence which had pursued me in spite of all directions to the +contrary, and in the meantime for him to endeavour to find a suitable +boat. Nelson, as the metropolis of western British Columbia, appeared to +be the only place where we would have a chance of finding what was +needed in the boat line on short notice. While I wrote letters, Roos got +his exposed film off to Los Angeles, laid in a new stock, and received +additional instructions from Chester in connection with the new +picture--the one for which the opening shots had already been made at +Windermere, and which we called "The Farmer Who Would See the Sea." + +As there was no swift water whatever between Revelstoke and Kootenay +Rapids, I had no hesitation in deciding to make the voyage down the +Arrow Lakes by steamer. Both on the score of water-stage and weather, it +was now a good month to six weeks later than the most favourable time +for a through down-river voyage. Any time saved now, therefore, might be +the means of avoiding so many days of winter further along. I was hoping +that, with decreasing altitude and a less humid region ahead, I would at +least be keeping ahead of the snows nearly if not quite all the way to +Portland. I may mention here that, all in all, I played in very good +luck on the score of weather. There were to be, however, a few _geesly_ +cold days on the river along about Wenatchee, and two or three mighty +blustery blows in the Cascades. + +The Arrow Lakes are merely enlargements of the Columbia, keeping +throughout their lengths the same general north-to-south direction of +this part of the river. The upper lake is thirty-three miles in length, +and has an average width of about three miles. Sixteen miles of +comparatively swift river runs from the upper to the lower lake. The +latter, which is forty-two miles long and two and a half wide, is +somewhat less precipitously walled than the upper lake, and there are +considerable patches of cultivation here and there along its +banks--mostly apple orchards. There is a steamer channel all the way up +the Columbia to Revelstoke, but the present service, maintained by the +Canadian Pacific at its usual high standard, starts at the head of the +upper lake and finishes at West Robson, some miles down the Columbia +from the foot of the lower lake. This is one of the very finest lake +trips anywhere in the world; I found it an unending source of delight, +even after a fortnight of the superlative scenery of the Big Bend. + +There is a stock story they tell of the Arrow Lakes, and which appears +intended to convey to the simple tourist a graphic idea of the +precipitousness of their rocky walls. The skipper of my steamer told it +while we were ploughing down the upper lake. Seeing a man struggling in +the water near the bank one day, he ran some distance off his course to +throw the chap a line. Disdaining all aid, the fellow kept right on +swimming toward the shore. "Don't worry about me," he shouted back; +"this is only the third time I've fallen off my ranch to-day." + +I told the Captain that the story sounded all right to me except in one +particular--that even my glass failed to reveal any ranches for a man to +fall off of. "Oh, that's all right," was the unperturbed reply; "there +_was_ one when that yarn was started, but I guess it fell into the lake +too. But mebbe I _had_ ought to keep it for the lower lake, though," he +added; "there is still some un-slid ranches down there." + +Nelson is a fine little city that hangs to a rocky mountainside right at +the point where Kootenay Lake spills over and discharges its surplus +water into a wild, white torrent that seems to be trying to atone at the +last for its long delay in making up its mind to join the Columbia. +Nelson was made by the rich silver-lead mines of the Kootenay district, +but it was so well made that, even now with the first fine frenzy of the +mining excitement over, it is still able to carry on strongly as a +commercial distributing and fruit shipping centre. It is peopled by the +same fine, out-door loving folk that one finds through all of western +Canada, and is especially noted for its aquatic sports. I am only sorry +that I was not able to see more of both Nelson and its people. + +As soon as I saw Captain Armstrong I made a clean breast to him about my +failure to unearth the treasure at the Bend. He was a good sport and +bore up better than one would expect a man to under the circumstances. +"I wish that matter of K---- and his D. T.'s had come up before you +left," was his only comment. + +"Why?" I asked. "I can't see what difference that would have made. We +didn't waste a lot of time digging." + +"That's just it," said the Captain with a wry grin. "Wouldn't you have +gone right on digging if you had known that the spell of jim-jams that +finished K---- came from some stuff he got from a section-hand at +Beavermouth? Now I suppose I'll have to watch my chance and run down and +salvage that keg of old Scotch myself." It shows the stuff that +Armstrong was made of when I say that, even after the way I had betrayed +the trust he had reposed in me, he was still game to go on with the +Columbia trip. That's the sort of man he was. + +Boats of anywhere near the design we would need for the river were +scarce, the Captain reported, but there was one which he thought might +do. This proved to be a sixteen-foot, clinker-built skiff that had been +constructed especially to carry an out-board motor. She had ample beam, +a fair freeboard and a considerable sheer. The principal thing against +her was the square stern, and that was of less moment running down +river than if we had been working up. It _did_ seem just a bit like +asking for trouble, tackling the Columbia in a boat built entirely for +lake use; but Captain Armstrong's approval of her was quite good enough +for me. Save for her amiable weakness of yielding somewhat overreadily +to the seductive embraces of whirlpools--a trait common to all +square-sterned craft of inconsiderable length--she proved more than +equal to the task set for her. We paid fifty-five dollars for her--about +half what she had cost--and there was a charge of ten dollars for +expressing her to West Robson, on the Columbia. + +We left Nelson by train for Castlegar, on the Columbia just below West +Robson, the afternoon of October nineteenth. The track runs in sight of +the Kootenay practically all of the way. There is a drop of three +hundred and fifty feet in the twenty-eight miles of river between the +outlet of the lake and the Columbia, with no considerable stretch that +it would be safe to run with a boat. A large part of the drop occurs in +two fine cataracts called Bonnington Falls, where there is an important +hydro-electric plant, serving Nelson and Trail with power; but most of +the rest of the way the river is one continuous series of foam-white +cascades with short quiet stretches between. The last two or three miles +to the river the railway runs through the remarkable colony of Russian +Doukobours, with a station at Brilliant, where their big co-operative +jam factory and administrative offices are located. We had a more +intimate glimpse of this interesting colony from the river the +following day. + +We found the express car with the boat on the siding at West Robson, and +the three of us--Armstrong, Roos and myself--had little difficulty in +sliding her down the quay and launching her in the Columbia. Pulling a +mile down the quiet current, we tied her up for the night at the +Castlegar Ferry. Then we cut across the bend through the woods for a +look at Kootenay Rapids, the first stretch of fast water we were to +encounter. After the rough-and-rowdy rapids of the Big Bend, this +quarter-mile of white riffle looked like comparatively easy running. It +was a very different sort of a craft we had now, however, and Armstrong +took the occasion to give the channel a careful study. There were a lot +of big black rocks cropping up all the way across, but he thought that, +by keeping well in toward the right bank, we could make it without much +trouble. + +On the way back to the hotel at Castlegar, the Captain was hailed from +the doorway of a cabin set in the midst of a fresh bit of clearing. It +turned out to be a boatman who had accompanied him and Mr. Forde, of the +Canadian Department of Public Works, on a part of their voyage down the +Columbia in 1915. They reminisced for half an hour in the gathering +twilight, talking mostly of the occasion when a whirlpool had stood +their Peterboro on end in the Little Dalles. I found this just a bit +disturbing, for Armstrong had already confided to me that he intended +running the Little Dalles. + +The boat trimmed well when we came to stow the load the next morning, +but when the three of us took our places she was rather lower in the +water than we had expected she was going to be. She seemed very small +after Blackmore's big thirty-footer, and the water uncomfortably close +at hand. She was buoyant enough out in the current, however, and +responded very smartly to paddle and oars when Armstrong and I tried a +few practice manoeuvres. The Captain sat on his bedding roll in the +stern, plying his long paddle, and I pulled a pair of oars from the +forward thwart. Roos sat on the after thwart, facing Armstrong, with his +tripod, camera and most of the luggage stowed between them. She was +loaded to ride high by the head, as it was white water rather than +whirlpools that was in immediate prospect. With a small boat and a +consequent comparatively small margin of safety, one has to make his +trim a sort of a compromise. For rough, sloppy rapids it is well to have +the bows just about as high in the air as you can get them. On the other +hand, it is likely to be fatal to get into a bad whirlpool with her too +much down by the stern. As the one succeeds the other as a general rule, +about the best you can do is to strike a comfortable mean based on what +you know of the water ahead. + +[Illustration: BONNINGTON FALLS OF THE KOOTENAY (_above_)] + +[Illustration: PLASTERED LOG CABIN IN THE DOUKHOBOR VILLAGE (_below_)] + +[Illustration: TRUCKING THE SKIFF THROUGH KETTLE FALLS] + +[Illustration: TWILIGHT IN THE GORGE AT KETTLE FALLS] + +I found it very awkward for a while pulling with two oars after having +worked for so long with one, and this difficulty--especially in bad +water--I never quite overcame. In a really rough rapid one oar is all a +man can handle properly, and he does well if he manages that. Your +stroke is largely determined by the sort of stuff the blade is going +into, and--as on the verge of an eddy--with the water to port running in +one direction, and that to starboard running another, it is obviously +impossible for a man handling two oars to do full justice to the +situation. He simply has to do the best he can and leave the rest to the +man with the paddle in the stern. When the latter is an expert with the +experience of Captain Armstrong there is little likelihood of serious +trouble. + +The matter of keeping a lookout is also much more difficult in a small +boat. In a craft with only a few inches of freeboard it is obviously out +of the question for a steersman to keep his feet through a rapid, as he +may do without risk in a _batteau_ or canoe large enough to give him a +chance to brace his knees against the sides. Armstrong effected the best +compromise possible by standing and getting a good "look-see" while he +could, and then settling back into a securer position when the boat +struck the rough water. The three or four feet less of vantage from +which to con the channel imposes a good deal of a handicap, but there is +no help for it. + +We ran both pitches of Kootenay Rapids easily and smartly. Her bows +slapped down pretty hard when she tumbled off the tops of some of the +bigger rollers, but into not the softest of the souse-holes would she +put her high-held head. We took in plenty of spray, but nothing +green--nothing that couldn't be bailed without stopping. It was a lot +better performance than one was entitled to expect of a lake boat +running her maiden rapid. + +"She'll do!" chuckled the Captain with a satisfied grin, resting on his +paddle as we slid easily out of the final run of swirls; "you ought to +take her right through without a lot of trouble." "_Imshallah!_" I +interjected piously, anxious not to offend the River God with a display +of overmuch confidence. I began to call her "_Imshallah_" in my mind +from that time on, and "_Imshallah_"--"God willing"--she remained until +I tied her up for her well-earned rest in a Portland boat-house. It was +in the course of the next day or two that I made a propitiatory offering +to the River God in the form of the remnants of the _jodpurs_ he had +tried so hard to snatch from me at Rock Slide Rapids. I've always had a +sneaking feeling offerings of that kind are "good medicine;" that the +old Greeks knew what they were doing when they squared things with the +Gods in advance on venturing forth into unknown waters. + +Big and Little Tin Cup Rapids, which are due to the obstruction caused +by boulders washed down by the torrential Kootenay River, gave us little +trouble. There is a channel of good depth right down the middle of both, +and we splashed through this without getting into much besides flying +foam. Just below we pulled up to the left bank and landed for a look at +one of the Doukobour villages. + +The Doukobours are a strange Russian religious sect, with beliefs and +observances quite at variance with those of the Greek Church. Indeed, it +was the persecutions of the Orthodox Russians that were responsible for +driving considerable numbers of them to Canada. They are best known in +America, not for their indefatigable industry and many other good +traits, but for their highly original form of protesting when they have +fancied that certain of their rights were being restricted by Canadian +law. On repeated occasions of this kind whole colonies of them--men, +women and children--have thrown aside their every rag of clothing and +started off marching about the country. Perhaps it is not strange that +more has been written about these strange pilgrimages than of the fact +that the Doukobours have cleared and brought to a high state of +productivity many square miles of land that, but for their unflagging +energy, would still be worthless. In spite of their somewhat +unconventional habits, these simple people have been an incalculably +valuable economic asset to western Canada. + +On the off chance that there might be an incipient "protest" brewing, +Roos took his movie outfit ashore with him. He met with no luck. Indeed, +we found the women of the astonishingly clean little village of +plastered and whitewashed cabins extremely shy of even our hand cameras. +The Captain thought that this was probably due to the fact that they had +been a good deal pestered by kodak fiends while Godivaing round the +country on some of their protest marches. "The people were very +indignant about it," he said; "but I never heard of any one pulling down +their blinds." Coventry was really very "Victorian" in its attitude +toward Lady Godiva's "protest." + +There was good swift water all the way from Castlegar to Trail, and we +averaged close to nine miles an hour during the time we were on the +river. At China Bar the river was a good deal spread out, running in +channels between low gravel islands. Any one of these was runnable for a +small boat, and we did not need to keep to the main channel that had +once been maintained for steamers. Sixteen miles below Castlegar, and +about half a mile below the mouth of Sullivan Creek, there was a long +black reef of basaltic rock stretching a third of the way across the +river. We shot past it without difficulty by keeping near the left bank. +The sulphurous fumes of the big smelter blotching the southern sky with +saffron and coppery red clouds indicated that we were nearing Trail. The +stacks, with the town below and beyond, came into view just as we hit +the head of a fast-running riffle. We ran the last half mile at a swift +clip, pulling up into about the only place that looked like an eddy on +the Trail side of the river. That this proved to be the slack water +behind the crumbling city dump could not be helped. He who rides the +running road cannot be too particular about his landing places. + +We reached Trail before noon, and, so far as time was concerned, could +just as well have run right on across the American line to Northport +that afternoon. However, October twenty-first turned out to be a date of +considerable importance to British Columbians, for it was the day of the +election to determine whether that province should continue dry or, as +the proponents of wetness euphemized it, return to "moderation." As +there was a special provision by which voters absent from their place of +registration could cast their ballots wherever they chanced to be, +Captain Armstrong was anxious to stop over and do his bit for +"moderation." Indeed, I was a bit worried at first for fear, by way of +compensating in a measure for the injury we had done him in failing to +come through with the treasure from the Big Bend, he would expect Roos +and me to put in a few absentee ballots for "moderation." There was a +rumour about that a vote for "moderation" would be later redeemable--in +case "moderation" carried, of course--in the voter's weight of the old +familiar juice. I never got further than a pencilled computation on the +"temperance" bar of the Crown Point Hotel that two hundred and +thirty-five pounds (I was down to that by now) would work out to +something like one hundred seventeen and a half quarts. This on the rule +that "A pint's a pound, the world round." That was as far as I got, I +say, for there seemed rather too much of a chance of international +complications sooner or later. But I am still wondering just what _is_ +the law covering the case of a man who sells his vote in a foreign +country--and for his weight in whisky that he would probably never have +delivered to him. I doubt very much if there is any precedent to go by. + +Between votes--or rather before Captain Armstrong voted--we took the +occasion to go over the smelter of the Consolidated Mining and Smelting +Company. It is one of the most modern plants of its kind in the world, +and treats ore from all over western Canada. We were greatly interested +in the recently installed zinc-leaching plant for the handling of an +especially refractory ore from the company's own mine in the Kootenays. +This ore had resisted for years every attempt to extract its zinc at a +profit, and the perfection of the intricate process through which it is +now put at Trail has made a mine, which would otherwise have remained +practically valueless, worth untold millions. The two thousand and more +employes of the smelter are the main factor in the prosperity of this +live and by no means unattractive little town. + +We had two very emphatic warnings before leaving Trail the next +morning--one was on no account to attempt to take any drinkables across +the line by the river, and the other was to keep a weather eye lifting +in running the rapids at the Rock Islands, two miles below town. As we +reached the latter before we did the International Boundary Line, we +started 'wareing the rapids first. This was by no means as empty a +warning as many I was to have later. The islands proved to be two +enormous granite rocks, between which the river rushed with great +velocity. The Captain headed the boat into the deep, swift channel to +the right, avoiding by a couple of yards a walloping whale of a +whirlpool that came spinning right past the bow. I didn't see it, of +course, until it passed astern; but it looked to me then as though its +whirling centre was depressed a good three feet below the surface of the +river, and with a black, bottomless funnel opening out of that. I was +just about to register "nonchalance" by getting off my "all-day-sucker" +joke, when I suddenly felt the thwart beneath me begin to push upwards +like the floor of a jerkily-started elevator, only with a rotary action. +Fanning empty air with both oars, I was saved from falling backwards by +the forty-five degree up-tilt of the boat. Way beneath me--down below +the surface of the river--Armstrong, pop-eyed, was leaning sharply +forward to keep from being dumped out over the stern. Roos, with a +death-grip on either gunwale, was trying to keep from falling into the +Captain's lap. Round we went like a prancing horse, and just as the boat +had completed the hundred and eighty degrees that headed her momentarily +up-river, something seemed to drop away beneath her bottom, and as she +sunk into the hole there came a great snorting "ku-whouf!" and about a +barrel of water came pouring its solid green flood over the stern and, +incidentally, the Captain. A couple of seconds later the boat had +completed her round and settled back on a comparatively even keel as +hard-plied oars and paddle wrenched her out of the grip of the Thing +that had held her in its clutch. I saw it plainly as it did its dervish +dance of disappointment as we drew away. It looked to me not over half +as large as that first one which the Captain had so cleverly avoided. + +"That was about the way we got caught in the Little Dalles," observed +Armstrong when we were in quieter water again. "Only it was a worse +whirlpool than that one that did it. This square stern gives the water +more of a grip than it can get on a canoe. We'll have to watch out for +it." + +Save over a broad, shallow bar across the current at the mouth of the +Salmon, there was deep, swift water all the way to Waneta, the Canadian +Customs station. Here we landed Roos to await the morning train from +Nelson to Spokane and go through to Northport to arrange the American +Customs formalities. At a final conference we decided to heed the +warning about not attempting to carry any drinkables openly into the +United States. Stowing what little there was left where not the most +lynx-eyed or ferret-nosed Customs Officer could ever get at it, we +pushed off. + +There is a fairly fast current all the way to Northport, but from the +fact that we made the eleven miles in about three-quarters of an hour, +it seems likely that, between paddle and oars, the boat was driven +somewhat faster than the Columbia. Just below Waneta and immediately +above the International Boundary Line, the Pend d'Oreille or Clark's +Fork flows, or rather falls into the Columbia. This really magnificent +stream comes tumbling down a sheer-walled gorge in fall after fall, +several of which can be seen in narrowing perspective from the Columbia +itself. Its final leap is over a ten-feet-high ledge which extends all +the way across its two-hundred-feet-wide mouth. Above this fine cataract +it is the Pend d'Oreille, below it, the Columbia. I know of no place +where two such rivers come together with such fine spectacular effect, +in a way so fitting to the character of each. + +The Pend d'Oreille is generally rated as the principal tributary of the +upper Columbia. Although the Kootenay--because it flows through a region +of considerably greater annual rainfall--carries rather the more water +of the two, the Pend d'Oreille is longer and drains a far more extensive +watershed--that lying between the main chain of the Rockies and the +Bitter Root and Coeur d'Alene ranges. Great as is the combined +discharge of these two fine rivers, their effect on the Columbia is not +apparent to the eye. If anything, the latter looks a bigger stream where +it flows out of the lower Arrow Lake, above the Kootenay, than it does +where it crosses the American Line below the Pend d'Oreille. As a matter +of fact, its flow must be nearly doubled at the latter point, but the +swifter current reduces its apparent volume. Nothing but the most +careful computations, based on speed of current and area of +cross-section, will give anything approximating the real discharge of a +river. + +I was a good deal interested in the Pend d'Oreille, because it was on +one of its upper tributaries, the Flathead in Montana, that I had made +my first timid effort at rapid-running a good many years previously. It +hadn't been a brilliant success--for two logs tied together with ropes +hardly make the ideal of a raft; but the glamour of the hare-brained +stunt had survived the wetting. I should dearly have loved to explore +that wonderful black-walled canyon, with its unending succession of +cataracts and cascades, but lack of time forbade. The drizzling rain +made it impossible even to get a good photograph of the fine frenzy of +that final mad leap into the Columbia. + +It was funny the way that rain acted. For something like a month now +there had been only two or three days of reasonably fair weather, and +for the last fortnight the sun had hardly been glimpsed at all. Pulling +up to Waneta in a clammy drizzle, Captain Armstrong remarked, as he drew +the collar of his waterproof closer to decrease the drainage down the +back of his neck, that he reckoned they wouldn't stand for weather of +that kind over in "God's Country." As there was nothing but sodden +clouds to the southward, I didn't feel like giving him any definite +assurance on the point at the moment. However, when we crossed the Line +an hour later the rain had ceased. A couple of miles farther down the +clouds were breaking up, and at Northport the sun was shining. I did not +have another rainy day, nor even one more than slightly overcast, until +I was almost at the Cascades. I trust my good Canadian friend was as +deeply impressed as he claimed to be. + +Beyond a sharp riffle between jagged rock islands above Deadman's Eddy, +and one or two shallow boulder bars where the channels were a bit +obscure, it was good open-and-above-board water all the way to +Northport. The "Eddy" is a whirling back-sweep of water at a bend of the +river, and is supposed to hold up for inspection everything floatable +that the Columbia brings down from Canada. "Funny they never thought of +calling it 'Customs Eddy,'" Armstrong said. From the condition of its +littered banks, it looked to be almost as prolific of "pickings" as the +great drift pile of Kinbasket Lake. Being near a town, however, it is +doubtless much more thoroughly gone over. + +We tied up below the Ferry at Northport, which was the rendezvous to +which Roos was to bring the Customs Inspector. The ferry-man, who had +once seen Captain Armstrong run the rapids of the upper Kootenay with +one of his steamers, was greatly elated over having such a notable +walking the quarterdeck of his own humble craft. Armstrong, in turn, +was scarcely less excited over an automatic pumping contrivance which +the ferry-man had rigged up to keep his pontoons dry. After waiting for +an hour, we took our bags and walked up to the hotel on the main street +at the top of the bluff. We found Roos in the office reading a last +year's haberdashery catalogue. He said he had not expected us for a +couple of hours yet, and that he had arranged for inspection at three +o'clock. That gave us time for a bath and lunch ourselves. As our bags +were now well beyond the tentacles of the Customs, we did a little +figuring on the table-cloth between courses. By this we proved that, had +we had the nerve to disregard the warnings of well-meaning friends in +Trail and filled our hand-bags with Scotch instead of personal effects, +Armstrong would now have had fourteen quarts up in his room, and I +eighteen quarts. Then the waitress gave us current local quotations, and +we started to figure values. I shall never know whether or not there +would have been room on the corner of that gravy and egg broidered +napery for my stupendous total. Just as I was beginning to run over the +edge, the Inspector came in and asked if we would mind letting him see +those two suit-cases we had brought to the hotel with us! Many and +various are the joys of virtue, but none of the others comparable to +that one which sets you aglow as you say "Search me!" when, by the +special intervention of the providence which watches over fools and +drunks, you haven't got goods. + +The inspection, both at the hotel and at the ferry, was _fairly_ +perfunctory, though I did notice that the Customs man assumed a rather +springy step when he trod the light inner bottom of the skiff. Roos +filmed the operation as a part of the picture, I acting as much as I +could like I thought a farmer would act at his first Customs inspection. +Roos, complaining that I didn't "do it natural," wanted to shoot over +again. The Customs man was willing, but Armstrong and I, trudging +purposefully off up the road, refused to return. Roos followed us to the +hotel in considerable dudgeon. "Why wouldn't you let me make that shot +over?" he asked. "It was an 'oil-can'--rotten!" "Because," I replied +evenly, looking him straight in the eye, "I was afraid the Inspector +might try that jig-a-jig step of his on the false bottom in the bow if +we put him through the show a second time. I don't believe in tempting +providence. We can get a street-car conductor and make that Inspection +shot again in Portland. This isn't...." "You're right," cut in Roos, +with a dawning grin of comprehension. "I beg your pardon. You're a +deeper bird than I gave you credit for. Or perhaps it was the +Captain...." + +[Illustration: WAITING FOR THE FOG TO LIFT ABOVE BISHOP'S RAPIDS] + +[Illustration: ROSS AND ARMSTRONG REGISTERING "GLOOM"] + +[Illustration: THE "INTAKE" AT THE LITTLE DALLES (_above_)] + +[Illustration: WHERE WE STARTED TO LINE THE LITTLE DALLES (_below_)] + +A heavy fog filled the river gorge from bank to bank when we pushed off +the following morning, and we had to nose down carefully to avoid the +piers of the bridge of the Great Northern branch line to Rossland. A +quarter of a mile farther down the river began shoaling over gravel +bars, and out of the mist ahead came the rumble of water tumbling over +boulders. This was an inconsiderable riffle called Bishop's Rapid, but +the Captain was too old a river man to care to go into it without light +to choose his channel. A half hour's wait on a gravel bar in mid-stream +brought a lifting of the fog, and we ran through by the right hand of +the two shallow channels without difficulty. In brilliant sunshine we +pulled down a broad stretch of deep and rapidly slackening water to the +gleaming white lime-stone barrier at the head of the Little Dalles. + +All of Northport had been a unit in warning us not to attempt to run the +Little Dalles. Nearly every one, as far as I could judge, had lost some +relative there, and one man gave a very circumstantial description of +how he had seen a big _batteau_, with six Swede lumbermen, sucked out of +sight there, never to reappear. On cross-questioning, he admitted that +this was at high water, and that there was nothing like so much "suck" +in the whirlpools at the present stage. The Captain, however, having +just received telephonic word from Nelson that "moderation" had carried +in B. C. by a decisive majority, felt that nothing short of running the +Little Dalles would be adequate celebration. He had managed to come +through right-side-up in a Peterboro once, and he thought our skiff +ought to be equal to the stunt. He held that opinion just long enough +for him to climb to the top of the cliff that forms the left wall of +river at the gorge and take one good, long, comprehensive look into the +depths. + +"Nothing doing," he said, with a decisive shake of his broad-brimmed +Stetson. "The river's four or five feet higher than when we ran through +here in 'fifteen, and that makes all the difference. It was touch-and-go +for a minute then, and now it's out of the question for a small boat. If +we can't line, we'll have to find some way to portage." + +The Little Dalles are formed by a great reef of lime-stone which, at one +time, probably made a dam all the way across the river. The narrow +channel which the Columbia has worn through the stone is less than two +hundred feet in width for a considerable distance, and has lofty +perpendicular walls. The river is divided by a small rock island into +two channels at the head, the main one, to the right, being about two +hundred feet in width, and the narrow left-hand one not over forty feet. +The depth of the main channel is very great--probably much greater than +its narrowest width; so that here, as also at Tumwater and "Five-Mile" +in the Great Dalles, it may be truly said that the Columbia "has to turn +on its side to wriggle through." + +It is that little rock island at the head of the gorge, extending, as it +does, almost longitudinally _across_ the current that makes all the +trouble. It starts one set of whirlpools running down the right-hand +channel and another set down the left-hand. Every one of the vortices in +this dual series of spinning "suckers" is more than one would care to +take any liberties with if it could be avoided; and either line of +whirlpools, taken alone, probably _could_ be avoided. The impassable +barrage comes a hundred feet below the point where the left-hand torrent +precipitates itself at right-angles into the current of the right-hand +one, and the two lines of whirlpools converge in a "V" and form one big +walloping sockdolager. Him there would still be room to run by if he +were "whouf-ing" there alone; but his satellites won't have it. Their +accursed team-work is such that the spreading "V" above catches +everything that comes down stream and feeds it into the maw of the big +whirlpool as into a hopper. Logs, ties, shingle-bolts, fence-posts--all +the refuse of sawmills and the flotsam and jetsam of farms and +towns--are gulped with a "whouf!" and when they reappear again, a mile +or two down river, they are all scoured smooth and round-cornered by +their passage through the monster's alimentary canal. + +"I'm sorry not to celebrate the victory of 'moderation,'" said the +Captain finally, with another regretful shake of his head; "but +'moderation' begins at home. It would be immoderately foolish to put the +skiff into that line of whirlpools, the way they're running now." Roos +was the only one who was inclined to dispute that decision, and as his +part would have been to stand out on the brink of the cliff and turn the +crank, it was only natural that he should take the "artistic" rather +than the "humanitarian" view. + +As a last resort before portaging, we tried lining down, starting at the +head of the narrow left-hand channel. We gave it up at the end of a +hundred feet. A monkey at one end of the line and a log of wood at the +other would have made the only combination calculated to get by that +way. It was no job for a shaky-kneed man and a sinkable boat. There was +nothing to do but look up a team or truck. What appeared to be the +remains of the ancient portage road ran down from an abandoned farm to +the river, and it seemed likely some kind of vehicle could be brought +over it. + +As the highway ran along the bench, four or five hundred feet above the +river, I set off by the railroad track, which was comparatively close +at hand. At the end of a couple of miles I reached a small station +called Marble, the shipping point for a large apple orchard project +financed by the J. G. White Company of New York. Mr. Reed, the resident +manager, immediately ordered a powerful team and wagon placed at my +disposal, and with that I returned northward over the highway. We had a +rough time getting down through brush and dead-falls to the river, but +finally made it without an upset. Roos having finished what pictures he +wanted--including one of the Captain standing on the brink of the cliff +and registering "surprise-cum-disappointment-cum-disgust,"--we loaded +the skiff and our outfit onto the wagon and started the long climb up to +the top of the bench. The discovery of an overgrown but still passable +road offered a better route than that followed in coming down, and we +made the highway, and on to the village, in good time. Mr. Reed dangled +the bait of a French _chef_ and rooms in the company's hotel as an +inducement to spend the night with him, but we had not the time to +accept the kind invitation. His ready courtesy was of the kind which I +learned later I could expect as a matter of course all along the river. +Never did I have trouble in getting help when I needed it, and when it +was charged for, it was almost invariably an under rather than an +over-charge. The running road is the one place left where the people +have not been spoiled as have those on the highways frequented by motor +tourists. + +Launching the boat from the Marble Ferry at four o'clock, we pulled off +in a good current in the hope of reaching Bossburg before dark. Between +the windings of the river and several considerable stretches of slack +water, however, our progress was less than anticipated. Shut in by high +hills on both sides, night descended early upon the river, and at +five-thirty I found myself pulling in Stygian blackness. Knowing there +was no really bad water ahead, the Captain let her slide through a +couple of easy riffles, the white-topped waves barely guessed as they +flagged us with ghostly signals. But a deepening growl, borne on the +wings of the slight up-river night-breeze, demanded more consideration. +No one but a lunatic goes into a strange rapid in a poor light, to say +nothing of complete darkness. Pulling into an eddy by the left bank, we +stopped and listened. The roar, though distant, was unmistakable. Water +was tumbling among rocks at a fairly good rate, certainly too fast to +warrant going into it in the dark. + +While we were debating what to do, a black figure silhouetted itself +against the star-gleams at the top of the low bank. "Hello, there!" +hailed the Captain. "Can you tell us how far it is to Bossburg?" "_This_ +is Bossburg," was the surprising but gratifying response. "You're +there--that is, you're here." It proved to be the local ferry-man, and +Columbia ferry-men are always obliging and always intelligent, at least +in matters relating to the river. Tying up the boat, we left our stuff +in his nearby house and sought the hotel with our hand-bags. It was not +a promising looking hotel when we found it, for Bossburg was that +saddest of living things, an all-but-extinguished boom-town; but the +very kindly old couple who lived there and catered to the occasional +wayfarer bustled about and got us a corking good meal--fried chicken and +biscuits as light as the whipped cream we had on the candied +peaches--and our beds were clean and comfortable. + +As we were now but a few miles above Kettle Falls, the most complete +obstruction in the whole length of the Columbia, I took the occasion to +telephone ahead for a truck with which to make the very considerable +portage. There would be two or three miles at the falls in any case, +Captain Armstrong said, and he was also inclined to think it would be +advisable to extend the portage to the foot of Grand Rapids, and thus +save a day's hard lining. It was arranged that the truck should meet us +at the ruins of the old Hudson Bay post, on the east bank some distance +above the upper fall. + +We pushed off from Bossburg at eight o'clock on the morning of October +twenty-third. The water was slack for several hundred yards, which was +found to be due to a reef extending all of the way across the river and +forming the rapid which we had heard growling in the dark. This was +called "Six Mile," and while it would have been an uncomfortable place +to tangle up with in the night, it was simple running with the light of +day. "Five Mile," a bit farther down, was studded with big black rocks, +but none of them hard to avoid. As we were running rather ahead of the +time of our rendezvous with the truck, we stretched our legs the length +and back of the main street of Marcus, a growing little town which is +the junction point for the Boundary Branch of the Great Northern. We +passed the mouth of the Kettle River shortly after running under the +railway bridge, and a pull across a big eddy carried us to the lake-like +stretch of water backed up by the rocky obstructions responsible for +Kettle Falls. The roar of the latter filled the air as we headed into a +shallow, mud-bottomed lagoon widening riverward from the mouth of a +small creek and beached the skiff under a yellowing fringe of willows. +The site of the historic post was in an extremely aged apple orchard +immediately above. It was one of those "inevitable" spots, where the +_voyageurs_ of all time passing up or down the river must have begun or +ended their portages. I was trying to conjure up pictures of a few of +these in my mind, when the chug-chugging of an engine somewhere among +the pines of the distant hillside recalled me to a realization of the +fact that it was time to get ready for my own portage. Before we had our +stuff out of the boat the truck had come to a throbbing standstill +beyond the fringe of the willows. It promised to be an easier portage +than some of our predecessors had had, in any event. + +To maintain his "continuity," Roos filmed the skiff being taken out of +the water and loaded upon the truck, the truck passing down the main +street of the town of Kettle Falls, and a final launching in the river +seven miles below. Half way into town we passed an old Indian mission +that must have been about contemporaneous with Hudson Bay operations. +Although no nails had been used in its construction, the ancient +building, with its high-pitched roof, still survived in a comparatively +good state of preservation. The town is some little distance below the +Falls, and quite out of sight of the river, which flows here between +very high banks. We stopped at the hotel for lunch before completing the +portage. + +After talking the situation over with Captain Armstrong, I decided to +fall in with his suggestion to pass Grand Rapids as well as Kettle Falls +in the portage. There were only about five miles of boatable water +between the foot of the latter and the head of the former, and then an +arduous three-quarters of a mile of lining that would have entailed the +loss of another day. There is a drop of twelve feet in about twelve +hundred yards in Grand Rapids, with nothing approaching a clear channel +among the huge black basaltic rocks that have been scattered about +through them as from a big pepper shaker. As far as I could learn, there +is no record of any kind of a man-propelled craft of whatever size ever +having run through and survived, but a small stern-wheeler, the +_Shoshone_, was run down several years ago at high water. She reached +the foot a good deal of a hulk, but still right side up. This is rated +as one of the maddest things ever done with a steamer on the Columbia, +and the fact that it did not end in complete disaster is reckoned by old +river men as having been due in about equal parts to the inflexible +nerve of her skipper and the intervention of the special providence that +makes a point of watching over mortals who do things like that. I met +Captain McDermid a fortnight later in Potaris. He told me then, what I +hadn't heard before, that he took his wife and children with him. +"Nellie thought a lot of both me and the little old _Shoshone_," he +said with a wistful smile, "and she reckoned that, if we went, she +wouldn't exactly like to be left here alone. And so--I never could +refuse Nellie anything--I took her along. And now she and the _Shoshone_ +are both gone." He was a wonderful chap--McDermid. All old Columbia +River skippers are. They wouldn't have survived if they hadn't been. + +There was a low bench on the left bank, about a mile below the foot of +Grand Rapids, which could be reached by a rough road, and from which the +boat could be slid down over the rocks to the river. Running to this +point with the truck, we left our heavier outfit at a road camp and +dropped the boat at the water's edge, ready for launching the following +morning. Returning to the town, we were driven up to the Falls by Dr. +Baldwin, a prominent member of this live and attractive little +community, where Roos made a number of shots. The upper or main fall has +a vertical drop of fifteen feet at low water, while the lower fall is +really a rough tumbling cascade with a drop of ten feet in a quarter of +a mile. The river is divided at the head of the Falls by an arrow-shaped +rock island, the main channel being the one to the right. The left-hand +channel loops in a broad "V" around the island and, running between +precipitous walls, accomplishes in a beautiful rapid the same drop that +the main channel does by the upper fall. A rocky peninsula, extending +squarely across the course of the left-hand channel, forces the rolling +current of the latter practically to turn a somersault before accepting +the dictum that it must double back northward for five or six hundred +feet before uniting with the main river. It was the savage swirling of +water in that rock-walled elbow where the "somersault" takes place that +prompted the imaginative French-Canadian _voyageurs_ to apply the +appropriately descriptive name of _Chaudiere_ to the boiling maelstrom. + +Up to the present the development of the enormous power running to waste +over Kettle Falls has gone little further than the dreams of the brave +community of optimists who have been attracted there in the belief that +a material asset of such incalculable value cannot always be ignored in +a growing country like our own. And they are right, of course, but a few +years ahead of time. It is only the children and grandchildren of the +living pioneers of the Columbia who will see more than the beginning of +its untold millions of horse-power broken to harness. And in the +meantime the optimists of Kettle Falls are turning their attention to +agriculture and horticulture. Never have I seen finer apple orchards +than those through which we drove on the way to resume our down-river +voyage. + +The point from which we pushed off at ten o'clock on the morning of +October twenty-fourth must have been only a little below that at which +Lieutenant Symons launched the _batteau_ for his historic voyage to the +mouth of the Snake in 1881. Forty years have gone by since that +memorable undertaking, yet Symons' report is to-day not only the most +accurate description of an upper Columbia voyage that has ever been +written, but also the most readable. During the time I was running the +three hundred and fifty miles of river surveyed by Lieutenant Symons, I +found his admirable report only less fascinating on the human side than +it was of material assistance on the practical. + +Of his preparations for the voyage Lieutenant Symons writes: + + "I was fortunate enough to procure from John Rickey, a settler + and trader, who lives at the Grand Rapids, a strongly built + _batteau_, and had his assistance in selecting a crew of Indians + for the journey. The _batteau_ was about thirty feet long, four + feet wide at the gunwales, and two feet deep, and is as small a + boat as the voyage should ever be attempted in, if it is + contemplated to go through all the rapids. My first lookout had + been to secure the services of 'Old Pierre Agare' as steersman, + and I had to carry on negotiations with him for several days + before he finally consented to go. Old Pierre is the only one of + the old Hudson Bay _voyageurs_ now left who knows the river + thoroughly at all stages of water, from Colville to its mouth.... + The old man is seventy years of age, and hale and hearty, + although his eyesight is somewhat defective.... The other Indians + engaged were Pen-waw, Big Pierre, Little Pierre, and Joseph. They + had never made the trip all the way down the river, and their + minds were full of the dangers and terrors of the great rapids + below, and it was a long time before we could prevail upon them + to go, by promising them a high price and stipulating for their + return by rail and stage. Old Pierre and John Rickey laboured and + talked with them long and faithfully, to gain their consent, and + I am sure that they started off with as many misgivings about + getting safely through as we did who had to trust our lives to + their skill, confidence and obedience." + +Lieutenant Symons does not state whether any confusion ever arose as a +consequence of the fact that three of his five Indians bore the +inevitable French-Canadian name of "Pierre." Of the method of work +followed by himself and his topographical assistant, Downing, throughout +the voyage, he writes: + + "Mr. Downing and myself worked independently in getting as + thorough knowledge of the river as possible, he taking the + courses with a prismatic compass, and estimating distances by the + eye, and sketching in the topographical features of the + surrounding country, while I estimated also the distances to + marked points, and paid particular attention to the bed of the + river, sounding wherever there were any indications of + shallowness. Each evening we compared notes as to distances, and + we found them to come out very well together, the greatest + difference being six and three-fourths miles in a day's run of + sixty-four miles. Some days they were identical. The total + distance from our starting point ... to the mouth of the Snake + River was estimated by Mr. Downing to be three hundred and + sixty-three miles, and by myself to be three hundred and fifty. + His distances were obtained by estimating how far it was to some + marked point ahead, and correcting it when the point was reached; + mine by the time required to pass over the distances, in which + the elements considered were the swiftness of the current and the + labour of the oarsmen." + +I may state that it was only rarely that we found the distances arrived +at by Lieutenant Symons and Mr. Downing to be greatly at variance with +those established by later surveys. In the matter of bars, rapids, +currents, channels and similar things, there appeared to have been +astonishingly little change in the four decades that had elapsed since +he had made his observations. Where he advised, for instance, taking the +right-hand in preference to the middle or left-hand channels, it was not +often that we went far wrong in heeding the direction. Bars of gravel, +of course, shift from season to season, but reefs and projections of the +native rock are rarely altered by more than a negligible erosion. The +prominent topographical features--cliffs, headlands, _coulees_, +mountains--are immutable, and for mile after mile, bend after bend, we +picked them up just as Symons reported them. + +The river is broad and slow for a few miles below Grand Rapids (they are +called Rickey's Rapids locally), with steep-sided benches rising on +either hand, and the green of apple orchards showing in bright fringes +along their brinks. There had been the usual warnings in Kettle Falls of +a bad rapid to be encountered "somewhere below," but the data available +on this part of the river made us practically certain that nothing worse +than minor riffles existed until the swift run of Spokane Rapids was +reached. Seven miles below Grand Rapids several islands of black basalt +contracted the river considerably, but any one of two or three channels +offered an easy way through them. The highest of them had a driftwood +crown that was not less than fifty feet above the present stage of the +river, showing graphically the great rise and fall at this point. + +At the shallow San Poil bar we saw some Indians from the Colville +Reservation fishing for salmon--the crooked-nosed "dogs" of the final +run. If they were of the tribe from which the bar must have been named, +civilization had brought them its blessing in the form of hair-restorer. +They were as hirsute a lot of ruffians as one could expect to find out +of Bolshevia--and as dirty. + +Turtle Rapid was the worst looking place we found during the day, but +the menace was more apparent than real. The riffle took its name from a +number of turtle-backed outcroppings of bedrock pushing up all the way +across the river. The current was swift and deep, making it just the +sort of place one would have expected to encounter bad swirls. These +were, indeed, making a good deal of a stir at the foot of several of the +narrow side runs, but by the broader middle channel which we followed +the going was comparatively smooth. We finished an easy day by tying up +at four o'clock where the road to the Colville Reservation comes down to +the boulder-bordered bank at Hunter's Ferry. + +Columbia River ferry-men are always kindly and hospitable, and this one +invited us to sleep on his hay and cook our meals in his kitchen. He was +an amiable "cracker" from Kentucky, with a delectable drawl, a +tired-looking wife and a houseful of children. Ferry-men's wives always +have many children. This one was still pretty, though, and her +droop--for a few years yet--would be rather appealing than otherwise. I +couldn't be quite sure--from a remark she made--whether she had a sense +of humor, or whether she had not. Seeing her sitting by the kitchen +stove with a baby crooked into her left arm, a two-year-old on her lap, +and a three-year-old riding her foot, the while she was trying to fry +eggs, bake biscuit and boil potatoes, I observed, by way of bringing a +brighter atmosphere with my presence, that it was a pity that the human +race hadn't been crossed with octopi, so that young mothers would have +enough arms to do their work with. She nodded approvingly at first, +brightening visibly at the emancipative vision conjured up in her tired +brain, but after five minutes of serious cogitation relapsed into gloom. +"I reckon it wouldn't be any use, mistah," she said finally; "them +octupusses would only give the young 'uns mo' ahms to find troubl' +with." Now _did_ she have a sense of humour, or did she not? + +We had a distinctly bad night of it hitting the hay. The mow was built +with a horseshoe-shaped manger running round three sides of it, into +which the hay was supposed to descend by gravity as the cows devoured +what was below. As a labour-saving device it had a good deal to +recommend it, but as a place to sleep--well, it might not have been so +bad if each of the dozen cows had not been belled, and if the weight of +our tired bodies on the hay had not kept pressing it into the manger all +night, and so made a continuous performance of feeding and that bovine +bell-chorus. I dozed off for a spell along toward morning, awakening +from a Chinese-gong nightmare to find my bed tilted down at an angle of +forty-five degrees and a rough tongue lapping my face. With most of my +mattress eaten up, I was all but in the manger myself. Turning out at +daybreak, we pushed off at an early hour. + +A run of nine miles, made in about an hour, took us to Gerome, where +another ferry crossed to the west or Colville Reservation bank. A couple +of swift, shallow rapids above and below Roger's Bar was the only rough +water encountered. We were looking for a point from which Spokane could +be reached by car, as Captain Armstrong, who had originally planned to +go with us only to Kettle Falls, was now quite at the end of the time he +was free to remain away from Nelson and business. There were two reasons +for our making a temporary halt at Gerome Ferry. One was the fact that +Spokane could be reached as readily from there as from any point lower +down, and the other was Ike Emerson. I shall have so much to say of Ike +a bit further along that I shall no more than introduce him for the +moment. + +As much of the worst water on the American course of the Columbia occurs +in the two hundred and thirty miles between the head of Spokane Rapids +and the foot of Priest Rapids,[2] I was considerably concerned about +finding a good river man to take Captain Armstrong's place and help me +with the boat. Roos made no pretensions to river usefulness, and I was +reluctant to go into some of the rapids that I knew were ahead of us +without a dependable man to handle the steering paddle and to help with +lining. Men of this kind were scarce, it appeared--even more so than on +the Big Bend, in Canada, where there was a certain amount of logging and +trapping going on. Two or three ferry-men had shaken their heads when I +brought the matter up. There was nothing they would like better if they +were free, they said, but, as ferries couldn't be expected to run by +themselves, that was out of the question on such short notice. + + [2] Not be confused with the rapids of the same name we had + run on the Big Bend in Canada. L. R. F. + +It was that genial "cracker" at Hunter's Ferry who was the first to +mention Ike Emerson. Ike would be just my man, he said, with that +unmistakable grin that a man grins when the person he speaks of is some +kind of a "character." Or, leastways, Ike would be just my man--_if I +could find him_. "And where shall I be likely to find him?" I asked. He +wasn't quite sure about that, but probably "daun rivah sumwhah." There +was no telling about Ike, it appeared. Once he had been seen to sink +when his raft had gone to pieces in Hell Gate, and he had been mourned +as dead for a fortnight. At the end of that time he had turned up in +Kettle Falls, but quite unable--or else unwilling--to tell why the river +had carried him eighty-five miles _up_ stream instead of down to the +Pacific. A keg of moonshine which had been Ike's fellow passenger on the +ill-fated raft _may_ have had something to do both with the wreck and +that long up-stream swim after the wreck. At any rate, it had never been +explained. However, Gerome was Ike's headquarters--if any place might be +called that for a man who lived on or in the river most of the time--and +that would be the place to inquire for him. + +When I asked the ferry-man at Gerome if Ike Emerson had been seen +thereabouts recently, he grinned the same sort of grin his colleague at +Hunter's had grinned when the same subject was under discussion. Yes, he +had seen Ike only the night before. He was a real old river rat; just +the man I wanted--_if I could find him_. He was as hard as a flea to put +your hand on when you _did_ want him, though. Well, it took us four +hours to run our man down, but luck was with us in the end. Every +lumber-jack, farmer and Indian that we asked about Ike, grinned that same +grin, dropped whatever he was doing and joined in the search. There were +a score of us when the "View Halloo" was finally sounded, and we looked +more like a lynching party on vengeance bent than anything else I can +think of. Ike, who was digging potatoes (of all the things in the world +for a river rat to be doing), glowered suspiciously as we debouched from +a _coulee_ and streamed down toward him, but his brow cleared instantly +when I hastily told him what we had come for. + +You bet, he would go with us. But, wait a moment! Why should we not go +with him? He was overdue with a raft of logs and cordwood he had +contracted to take down below Hell Gate, and was just about to get to +work building it. We could just throw our boat aboard, and off we would +go together. If he could get enough help, he could have the raft ready +in two or three days, and, once started, it would not be a lot slower +than the skiff, especially if we took a fast motor-boat he knew of for +towing purposes and to "put her into the rapids right." It would make a +lot more of a show for the movies, and he had always dreamed of having +himself filmed on a big raft running Hell Gate and Box Canyon. Just let +us leave it to him, and he would turn out something that would be the +real thing. + +All of this sounded distinctly good to me, but I turned to Roos and +Captain Armstrong for confirmation before venturing a decision. Roos +said it would be "the cat's ears" (late slang meaning _au fait_, or +something like that, in English); that a raft would photograph like a +million dollars. Armstrong's face was beaming. "It will be the chance of +a lifetime," he said warmly. "Go by all means. I'm only sorry I can't be +with you." So we gave Ike _carte blanche_ and told him to go ahead; we +would arrange the financial end when he knew more about what he would be +spending. I was glad of the wait for one reason; it would give us a +chance to speed the Captain on his way as far as Spokane. + +Running over a Spokane paper in the post office and general store at +Gerome, the program of the Chamber of Commerce luncheon for the morrow, +October the twenty-sixth, recalled to me that I had a conditional +engagement to perform at that function. Major Laird, the Publicity +Secretary of the Chamber, had phoned me before we left Nelson, asking if +I would run up to Spokane from some convenient point on the river and +give them a bit of a yarn about our voyage at the next Tuesday luncheon. +I had replied that, as it was quite out of the question keeping to any +definite schedule in river travel, I could give him no positive +assurance of turning up in time, but suggested that if he would sign up +some one else for _piece de resistance_, he could be free to use me for +soup or nuts in the event I put in an appearance. As it now appeared +that we had arrived within a few hours of Spokane, I phoned Major Laird, +and he said he would start a car off at once to take us there. + +We spent the afternoon helping Roos patch up the continuity of his +"farmer" picture. Although Captain Armstrong had appeared in all the +scenes shot since we started with the skiff, he had never made his +official entry into the picture. Properly, this should have been done in +one of the introductory scenes shot at the source of the river, near +Lake Windermere. It will be remembered that, when I leaned on my +hay-fork and gazed pensively off toward the river, I was supposed to see +a prospector tinkering with his boat. I had walked out of two scenes on +my way to join that prospector: the first time to ask if he would take +me with him, and the second time, with a blanket-roll on my shoulder +(the improvised one with the two "nicht-goons" and other foreign +knick-knacks in it), to jump into the boat and push off. Obviously, as +we had neither prospector nor boat at the time, these shots could not be +made until later. Now, with the "prospector" about to leave us, it was +imperative to continuity that we should get him into the picture before +we could go ahead getting him out of it. + +"Location" was our first care, and in this fortune favoured us. The +mouth of a small creek flowing in just below Gerome furnished a "source +of the Columbia" background that would have defied an expert to tell +from an original. In fact, it looked more like the popular idea of a +"source" than did the real one; and that is an important point with the +movies. Here we made the "tinkering" and the "first push-off" shots. Of +course, I had a different blanket-roll on my shoulder this time, but I +took great care to make it as close an imitation as possible of the one +I had so hastily flung together out of "Jock's" bedding. A close +imitation externally, I mean--there were no "frou-frous" in it. + +Now that we had the "prospector" properly into the picture, we were +ready for the "farewell" shot--the getting him out of it. For this the +Captain and I were "picked up" on a picturesque rocky point, regarding +with interest something far off down-river. Presently he registers +"dawning comprehension," and tells me in fluent French-Canadian +pantomime that it is a raft--a whale of a big one. That will offer a way +for me to continue my voyage now that he has to leave me. Then we go +down to the boat, which he presents to me with a comprehensive +"it-is-all-yours" gesture, before shouldering his sack of ore (one of +our bags of canned stuff answered very well for this) and climbing off +up the bank toward the "smelter." (We had intended to make a real +smelter scene at Trail or Northport, but the light was poor at both +places.) Finally I pushed off alone, pulling down and across the current +to throw in my fortunes with the "raft." That left the thread of +"continuity" dangling free, to be spliced up as soon as Ike had the raft +completed. That worthy was losing no time. All afternoon we heard the +rumble of logs rolling over boulders, and every now and then a +fan-shaped splash of spray would flash up with a spangle of iridescence +in the light of the declining sun. + +The car arrived for us at seven-thirty that evening. It was driven by +Commissioner Howard, of the Spokane County Board, who had courteously +volunteered to come for us when it appeared there would be some delay in +getting a hired car off for the hundred and sixty-mile round trip. He +was accompanied by his son, a high-school youngster. As they had eaten +lunch on the way, they announced themselves ready to start on the return +trip at once. The road turned out to be a rough mountain track, and +rather muddy. Ten miles out from Gerome a suspicious clicking set in +somewhere under the rear seat, and at twenty miles the differential had +gone. Mr. Howard finally induced an empty truck to take us in tow, and +behind that lumbering vehicle we did the last sixty miles. The tow-chain +parted on an average of once a mile while we were still in the +mountains, but did better as the roads improved. The temperature fell as +the altitude increased, and it must have been well under twenty before +daylight--and a mean, marrow-searching cold at that. Mr. Howard, +refusing every offer of relief, stuck it out at the wheel all the way +in--a remarkable example of nerve and endurance, considering that he had +only recently come out of a hospital. Armstrong, as always, was +indomitable, singing French-Canadian boating songs of blood-stirring +_tempo_ most of the way. I shall ever associate his + + "_Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant, + En roulant, ma boule roulant!_" + +rather with the chug-chugging of a motor truck than with the creak of +oars from which it derived its inspiration. + +We struck the paved state highway at Davenport about four o'clock, and +in the very grey dawn of the morning after came rumbling into Spokane. +Somewhere in the dim shadowy outskirts we stopped rumbling. The truck +driver reported he had run out of gas. Assiduous milking of the Cole's +tank yielded just enough to carry us on to the hotel. The Davenport of +Spokane is one of the very finest hotels in all the world, but if it had +been just a cabin with a stove, it would still have seemed a rose-sweet +paradise after those last two nights we had put in--one on the hay with +belled cows eating up the beds beneath our backs, and the other jerked +over a frosty road in the wake of a skidding truck. Soaking for an hour +in a steaming bath, I rolled in between soft sheets, leaving orders not +to be called until noon. + +Spokane is one of the finest, cleanest and most beautiful cities of the +West, and I have never left it after a visit without regret. This time, +brief as our stay had to be, was no exception. It was an unusually keen +looking lot of business and professional men that turned out for the +Chamber luncheon, among whom I found not a few old college friends and +others I had not seen for a number of years. Notable of these were +Herbert Moore and Samuel Stern, with whom I had spent six weeks on a +commercial mission in China in 1910. I was also greatly interested to +meet Mr. Turner, the field engineer of the great project for reclaiming +a million and three-quarters acres of land in the Columbia Basin of +eastern Washington by diverting to it water from the Pend d'Oreille. The +incalculable possibilities, as well as the great need of this daring +project I was to see much of at firsthand during that part of my voyage +on which I was about to embark. + +Captain Armstrong left by train for Nelson the evening of the 27th, and +the following morning Major Laird drove Roos and me back to Gerome. For +a considerable part of the distance we followed the highly picturesque +route along the Spokane River, stopping for lunch at the hydro-electric +plant of the Washington Power Company at Long Lake. This enterprising +corporation has power installations already in operation on the Spokane +which must make that stream pretty nearly the most completely harnessed +river of its size in America. The lofty concrete barrier which backs up +Long Lake has the distinction of being the highest spillway dam in the +world. The "Spokane interval" proved a highly enjoyable spell of +relaxation before tackling the rough stretch of river ahead. I knew I +was going to miss greatly the guiding hand and mind of Captain +Armstrong, but had high hopes of Ike Emerson. I was not to be +disappointed. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +RAFTING THROUGH HELL GATE + + +Ike had been working at high speed during our absence, but his +imagination appeared rather to have run ahead of his powers of +execution. The hundred-feet-long, thirty-feet-wide raft he had set +himself to construct (so as to have something that would "stack up big +in the movie") took another two days to complete, and even then was not +quite all that critical artist wanted to make it. After filling in the +raft proper with solid logs of spruce and cedar, he began heaping +cordwood upon it. He was trying to make something that would loom up +above the water, he explained; "somethin' tu make a showin' in the +pictur'." He had three or four teams hauling, and as many men piling, +for two days. We stopped him at fifty cords in order to get under way +the second day after our return. There was some division of opinion +among the 'long shore loafers as to whether or not this was the +_largest_ raft that had ever started down this part of the Columbia, but +they were a unit in agreeing that it was the _highest_. Never was there +a raft with so much "freeboard." The trouble was that every foot of that +"freeboard" was cordwood, and then some; for the huge stacks of +four-foot firewood had weighted down the logs under them until those +great lengths of spruce and cedar were completely submerged. When you +walked about "on deck" you saw the river flowing right along through +the loosely stacked cordwood beneath. Roos was exultant over the way +that mighty mass of rough wood charging down a rock-walled canyon was +going to photograph, and Ike was proud as a peacock over the Thing he +had brought into being. But Roos was going to be cranking on the cliff +when we went through Hell Gate, and Ike didn't care a fig what happened +to him anyhow. And I _did_ care. There were a lot of things that could +happen to a crazy contraption of that kind, _if ever it hit anything +solid_; and I knew that the walls of Hell Gate and Box Canyon must be +solid or they wouldn't have stood as long as they had. And as for +hitting ... that raft must be pretty nearly as long as Hell Gate was +wide, and if ever it got to swinging.... It's funny the things a man +will think of the night before he is going to try out a fool stunt that +he doesn't know much about. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE UPPER COLUMBIA] + +[Illustration: A "CLOSE-UP" OF IKE BUILDING HIS RAFT] + +[Illustration: MY FIFTY POUND SALMON] + +A fine motherly old girl called Mrs. Miller had put us up in her big, +comfortable farm-house during our wait while Ike completed his +ship-building operations. She must have known all of seven different +ways of frying chicken, and maybe twice that number of putting up apple +preserves. We had just about all of them for breakfast the morning we +started. Jess, the ferry-man, treated us to vanilla extract cordials and +told us the story of a raft that had struck and broken up just above his +father's ranch near Hawk Creek. Only guy they fished out was always +nutty afterward. Cracked on the head with a length of cordwood while +swimming. Good swimmer, too; but a guy had no chance in a swish-swashing +bunch of broke-loose logs. Thus Jess, and thus--or in similar +vein--about a dozen others who came down to see us off from the ferry +landing. They all told stories of _raft_ disasters, just as they would +have enlarged on _boat_ disasters if it had been a boat in which we were +starting to run Hell Gate and Box Canyon. + +I pulled across and landed Roos at the raft to make an introductory shot +or two of Ike before picking up the thread of his "continuity" with my +(pictorial) advent. A corner of the raft had been left unfinished for +this purpose. Ike was discovered boring a log with a huge auger, after +which he notched and laid a stringer, finishing the operation by pegging +the latter down with a twisted hazel withe. The old river rat seemed to +know instinctively just what was wanted of him, going through the action +so snappily that Roos clapped him on the back and pronounced him "the +cat's ears" as an actor. + +Ike showed real quality in the next scene; also the single-minded +concentration that marks the true artist. Looking up from his boring, he +sees a boat paddling toward him from up-river. The nearing craft was +_Imshallah_, with the "farmer" at the oars, just as he had started (for +the still unbuilt raft) when the "prospector" gave him the boat before +disappearing up the bank to the "smelter" with his sack of "ore" over +his shoulder. Thus "continuity" was served. + +The "farmer" pulls smartly alongside, tosses Ike the painter and +clambers aboard the raft. An animated colloquy ensues, in which the +"farmer" asks about the river ahead, and Ike tells him, with dramatic +gestures, that it will be death to tackle it in so frail a skiff. A +raft is the only safe way to make the passage and--here Ike spreads out +his hands with the manner of a butler announcing that "dinner is +served!"--the raft is at the "farmer's" disposal. That suits the +"farmer" to a "T;" so the skiff is lifted aboard and they are ready to +cast off. + +Where Ike displayed the concentration of a true artist was in the +skiff-lifting shot. Just as the green bow of _Imshallah_ came over the +side, a boy who had been stacking cordwood, in rushing forward to clear +the fouled painter, stepped on an unsecured log and went through into +the river. By this time, of course, I knew better than to spoil a shot +by suspending or changing action in the middle of it, but that Ike +should be thus esoterically sapient was rather too much to expect. Yet +the sequel proved how much more consummate an artist of the two of us +that untutored (even by Roos) old river rat was. When we had finished +"Yo-heave-ho-ing" as the skiff settled into place, I (dropping my +histrionics like a wet bathing suit) shouted to Ike to come and help me +fish that kid out. "What kid?" he drawled in a sort of languid surprise. +Then, after a kind of dazed once-over of the raft, fore-and-aft: "By +cripes, the kid _is_ gone!" Now has that ever been beaten for artistic +concentration? + +The lad, after bumping down along the bottom to the lower end of the +raft, had come to the surface no whit the worse for his ducking. He was +clambering up over the logs like a wet cat before either Ike or I, +teetering across the crooked, wobbly cordwood, had stumbled half the +distance to the "stern." "It must be a right sma't betta goin' daun +unda than up heah," was Ike's only comment. + +The motor-boat which Ike had engaged to tow the raft was already on +hand. It had been built by a Spokane mining magnate for use at his +summer home on Lake Coeur d'Alene, and was one of the prettiest little +craft of the kind I ever saw. With its lines streaming gracefully back +from its sharp, beautifully-flared bow, it showed speed from every +angle. Hardwood and brass were in bad shape, but the engines were +resplendent; and the engines were the finest thing about it. They had +been built to drive it twenty-five miles an hour when she was new, the +chap running it said, and were probably good for all of twenty-two yet +when he opened up. Except that its hull wasn't rugged enough to stand +the banging, it was an ideal river boat, though not necessarily for +towing rafts. However, it was mighty handy even at that ignominious +work. + +I couldn't quite make up my mind about the engineer of the motor +boat--not until he settled down to work, that is. His eye was quite +satisfactory, but his habit of hesitating before answering a question, +and then usually saying "I dunno," conveyed rather the impression of +torpid mentality if not actual dulness. Nothing could have been further +from the truth, as I realized instantly the moment he started swinging +the raft into the current. He merely said "I dunno" because he really +didn't know, where an ordinary man would have felt impelled to make half +an answer, or at least to say something about the weather or the stage +of the river. Earl (I never learned his last name) was sparing with his +tongue because he was unsparing with his brain. His mind was always +ready to act--and to react. There were to arise several situations well +calculated to test the mettle of him, and he was always "there." I have +never known so thoroughly useful and dependable a man for working a +launch in swift water. + +While Ike was completing his final "snugging down" operations, I chanced +to observe a long steel-blue and slightly reddish-tinged body working up +the bottom toward the stern of the raft. It looked like a salmon, except +that it was larger than any member of that family I had ever seen. A +blunt-pointed pike-pole is about the last thing one would use for a +fish-spear, but, with nothing better ready to hand, I tried it. My first +thrust was a bad miss, but, rather strangely, I thought--failed to +deflect the loggily nosing monster more than a foot or two from his +course. The next thrust went home, but where I was half expecting to +have the pole torn from my hands by a wild rush, there was only a +sluggish, unresentful sort of a wriggle. As there was no hook or barb to +the pike, the best I could do was to worry my prize along the bottom to +the bank, where a couple of Indians lifted it out for me. It was a +salmon after all--a vicious looking "dog," with a wicked mouthful of +curving teeth--but of extraordinary size. It must have weighed between +fifty and sixty pounds, for the pike-pole all but snapped when I tried +to lift the monster with it. Indeed, its great bulk was undoubtedly +responsible for the fact that it was already half-dead from battering on +the rocks before I speared it. As the flesh was too soft even for the +Indians, I gave it to a German farmer from a nearby clearing to feed to +his hogs. Or rather, I traded it. The German had a dog which, for the +sake of "human interest," Roos very much wanted to borrow. (Why, seeing +it was a dog, he should not have called it "canine interest," I never +quite understood; but it was the "heart touch" he wanted, at any rate). +So Ike proposed to the "Dutchman" that we give him fifty pounds of dead +"dog" for half that weight of live dog, the latter to be returned when +we were through with him. That was Ike's _proposition_. As soon as we +were under way, however, he confided to me that he never was going to +give that good collie back to a Dutchman. A people that had done what +the "Dutchmen" did to Belgium had no right to have a collie anyhow. If +they must have dogs, let them keep dachshunds--or pigs. And he forthwith +began to alienate that particular collie's affection by feeding him milk +chocolate. Poor old Ike! Being only a fresh-water sailor, I fear he did +not have a wife in every port, so that there was an empty place in his +heart that craved affection. + +We cast off at ten o'clock, Earl swung the raft's head out by a steady +pull with the launch, and the current completed the operation of +turning. Once in mid-stream she made good time, the motor-boat +maintaining just enough of a tug to keep the towing-line taut and give +her a mile an hour or so of way over the current. That gave Earl a +margin to work with, and, pulling sharply now to one side, now to the +other, he kept the great pile of logs headed where the current was +swiftest and the channel clearest. It was all in using his power at the +right time and in the right way. A hundred-ton tugboat would have been +helpless in stopping the raft once it started to go in the wrong +direction. The trick was to start it right and not let it go wrong, Ike +explained--just like raising pups or kids. It was certainly no job for a +novice, and I found constant reassurance in the consummate +"raftsmanship" our taciturn engineer was displaying. + +The hills on both sides of the river grew loftier and more rugged as we +ran to the south, and the trees became patchier and scrubbier. The bunch +grass on the diminishing benches at the bends was withered and brown. It +was evident from every sign that we were nearing the arid belt of +eastern Washington, the great semi-desert plateau that is looped in the +bend of the Columbia between the mouth of the Spokane and the mouth of +the Snake. The towering split crest of Mitre Rock marked the approach to +the slack stretch of water backed up by the boulder barrage over which +tumbles Spokane Rapids. The run through the latter was to be our real +baptism; a short rapid passed a few miles above proving only rough +enough to set the raft rolling in fluent undulations and throw a few +light gobs of spray over her "bows." We were now going up against +something pretty closely approximating the real thing. It wasn't Hell +Gate or Box Canyon by a long way, Ike said, but at the same time it +wasn't any place to risk any slip-up. + +Save for two or three of the major riffles on the Big Bend of Canada, +Spokane Rapids has a stretch of water that must go down hill just about +as fast as any on all the Columbia. The channel--although running +between boulders--was narrow in the first place, and the deepest part of +it was still further restricted by an attempt to clear a way through for +steamer navigation in the years when a through service up and down the +Columbia was still dreamed of. The channel was deepened considerably, +but the effect of this was to divert a still greater flow into it and +form a sort of a chute down which the water rushed as through a flume. +Being straight, this channel is not very risky to run, even with a small +boat--provided one keeps to it. A wild tumble of rollers just to the +left of the head must be avoided, however, even by a raft. That was why +we had the motor-boat--to be sure of "hitting the intake right," as Ike +put it. And the motor-boat ought to be able to handle the job without +help. He had been working hard ever since we started on a gigantic +stern-sweep, but that was for Hell Gate and Box Canyon. Here, with her +nose once in right, she should do it on her own. + +Mooring the raft against the right bank in the quiet water a couple of +hundred yards above the "intake," Earl ran us down to the mouth of the +Spokane River in the launch. We were purchasing gasoline and provisions +in the little village of Lincoln, just below the Spokane, and Ike +thought that the lower end of the rapid would be the best place for Roos +to set up to command the raft coming through. It was indeed terrifically +fast water, but--because the launch had the power to pick the very best +of the channel--the run down just missed the thrill that would have +accompanied it had it been up to one's oars to keep his boat out of +trouble. Earl shut off almost completely as he slipped into the "V," +keeping a bare steerage-way over the current. Twenty miles an hour was +quite fast enough to be going in the event she _did_ swerve from the +channel and hit a rock; there was no point in adding to the potential +force of the impact with the engine. As there was a heavy wash from the +rapids in even the quietest eddy he could find opposite the town, Earl +stayed with the launch, keeping her off the rocks with a pole while Ike, +Roos and myself went foraging. Ike spilled gasoline over his back in +packing a leaking can down over the boulders, causing burns from which +he suffered considerable pain and annoyance when he came to man the +sweep the following day. + +After dropping Roos on the right bank to set up for the picture, Earl +drove the launch back up the rapid to the raft. I hardly know which was +the more impressive, the power of the wildly racing rapid or the power +of the engine of the launch. It was a ding-dong fight all the way. +Although he nosed at times to within a few inches of the overhanging +rocks of the bank in seeking the quietest water, the launch was brought +repeatedly to a standstill. There she would hang quivering, until the +accelerating engine would impart just the few added revolutions to the +propellers that would give her the upper hand again. The final struggle +at the "intake" was the bitterest of all, and Earl only won out there by +sheering to the right across the "V"--at imminent risk of being swung +round, it seemed to me--and reaching less impetuous water. + +Throwing off her mooring lines, Earl towed the raft out into the +sluggish current. There was plenty of time and plenty of room to +manoeuvre her into the proper position. All he had to do was to bring +her into the "intake" well clear of the rocks and rollers to the left, +and then keep towing hard enough to hold her head down-stream. It was a +simple operation--compared, for instance, with what he would have on the +morrow at Hell Gate--but still one that had to be carried out just so if +an awful mess-up was to be avoided. Novice as I was with that sort of a +raft, I could readily see what would happen if she once got to swinging +and turned broadside to the rapid. + +That was about the first major rapid I ever recall running when I didn't +have something to do, and it was rather a relief to be able to watch the +wheels go round and feel that there was nothing to stand-by for. Even +Ike, with no sweep to swing, was foot-loose, or rather hand-free. +Knowing Earl's complete capability, he prepared to cast aside +navigational worries for the nonce. He had picked up his axe and was +about to turn to hewing at the blade of his big steering-oar, when I +reminded him that he was still an actor and that he had been ordered to +run up and down the raft and register "great anxiety" while within range +of the camera. + +Perhaps the outstanding sensation of that wild run was the feeling of +surprise that swept over me at the almost uncanny speed with which that +huge unwieldy mass of half submerged wood gathered way. In still water +it would have taken a powerful tug many minutes to start it moving; here +it picked up and leapt ahead like a motor-boat. One moment it was +drifting along at three miles an hour; five seconds later, having slid +over the "intake," it was doing more than twenty. The actual slope of +that first short pitch must have been all of one-in-ten, so that I found +myself bracing against the incline of the raft, as when standing in a +wagon that starts over the brow of a hill. Then the pitch eased and she +hit the rollers, grinding right through them like a floating Juggernaut. +The very worst of them--haughty-headed combers that would have sent the +skiff sky-rocketing--simply dissolved against the logs and died in +hissing anguish in the tangle of cordwood. The motion had nothing of the +jerkiness of even so large a craft as the launch, and one noticed it +less under his feet than when he looked back and saw the wallowing +undulations of the "deck." + +But best of all was the contemptuous might with which the raft stamped +out, obliterated, abolished the accursed whirlpools. Spokane was not +deep and steep-sided enough to be a dangerous whirlpool rapid, like the +Dalles or Hell Gate, but there were still a lot of mighty mean-mouthed +"suckers" lying in ambush where the rollers began to flatten. There was +no question of their arrogance and courage. The raft might have been the +dainty _Imshallah_, with her annoying feminine weakness for clinging +embraces, for all the hesitancy they displayed in attacking it. But, oh, +what a difference! Where the susceptible _Imshallah_ had edged off in +coy dalliance and ended by all but surrendering, the raft simply +thundered ahead. The siren "whouf!" of the lurking brigand was forced +back down its black throat as it was literally effaced, smeared from +the face of the water. Gad, how I loved to see them die, after all +_Imshallah_ and I had had to endure at their foul hands! _Imshallah_, +perched safely aloft on a stack of cordwood, took it all with the rather +languid interest one would expect from a lady of her quality; but +I--well, I fear very much that I was leaning out over the "bows," at an +angle not wholly safe under the circumstances, and registering "ghoulish +glee" at the exact point where Roos had told me three times that I must +be running up and down in the wake of Ike and registering "great +anxiety." + +As there was no stopping the raft within a mile or two of the foot of +the rapid, it had been arranged that we should launch the skiff as soon +as we were through the worst water, and pull in to the first favourable +eddy to await Roos and his camera. It was Ike bellowing to me to come +and lend him a hand with the skiff that compelled me to relinquish my +position at the "bow," where, "thumbs down" at every clash, I had been +egging on the raft to slaughter whirlpools. The current was still very +swift, so that Ike was carried down a considerable distance before +making a landing. As it was slow going for Roos, laden with camera and +tripod, over the boulders, ten or fifteen minutes elapsed before they +pushed off in pursuit of the raft. The latter, in the meantime, had run +a couple of miles farther down river before Earl found a stretch +sufficiently quiet to swing her round and check her way by towing up +against the current. + +In running down to this point the raft had splashed through a slashing +bit of riffle, which I afterwards learned was called Middle Rapid +locally. There was a short stretch of good rough white water. Offhand, +it looked to me rather sloppier than anything we had put the skiff into +so far; but, as it appeared there would be no difficulty in steering a +course in fairly smooth water to the left of the rollers, I was not +greatly concerned over it. Presently Ike came pulling round the bend at +a great rate, and the next thing I knew _Imshallah_ was floundering +right down the middle of the frosty-headed combers. Twice or thrice I +saw the "V" of her bow shoot skyward, silhouetting like a black wedge +against a fan of sun-shot spray. Then she began riding more evenly, and +shortly was in smoother water. It was distinctly the kind of thing she +did best, and she had come through with flying colours. Roos was +grinning when he climbed aboard, but still showed a tinge of green about +the gills. "Why didn't you head her into that smooth stretch on the +left?" I asked. "_You_ had the steering paddle." "I tried to hard +enough," he replied, still grinning, "but Ike wouldn't have it. Said he +kinda suspected she'd go through that white stuff all right, and wanted +to see if his suspicions were correct." And that was old Ike Emerson to +a "T." + +We wallowed on through French Rapids and Hawk Creek Rapids in the next +hour, and past the little village of Peach, nestling on a broad bench in +the autumnal red and gold of its clustering orchards. Ike, pacing the +"bridge" with me, said that they used to make prime peach brandy at +Peach, and reckoned that p'raps.... "No," I cut in decisively; "_I_ +have no desire to return to Kettle Falls." I had jumped at the chance +to draw Ike on that remarkable up-river journey of his after the +disaster in Hell Gate, but he sheered off at once. I have grave doubts +as to whether that strange phenomenon ever will be explained. + +We were now threading a great canyon, the rocky walls of which reared +higher and higher in fantastic pinnacles, spires and weird castellations +the deeper we penetrated its glooming depths. There had been painters at +work, too, and with colourings brighter and more varied than any I had +believed to exist outside of the canyons of the Colorado and the +Yellowstone. Saffron melting to fawn and dun was there, and vivid +streaks that were almost scarlet where fractures were fresh, but had +changed to maroon and terra cotta under the action of the weather. A +fluted cliff-face, touched by the air-brush of the declining sun, +flushed a pink so delicate that one seemed to be looking at it through a +rosy mist. There were intenser blocks and masses of colours showing in +vivid lumps on a buttressed cliff ahead, but they were quenched before +we reached them in a flood of indigo and mauve shadows that drenched the +chasm as the sun dropped out of sight. From the heights it must have +been a brilliant sunset, flaming with intense reds and yellows as desert +sunsets always are; but looking out through the purple mists of the +great gorge there was only a flutter of bright pennons--crimson, gold, +polished bronze and dusky olive green--streaming across an ever widening +and narrowing notch of jagged rock, black and opaque like splintered +ebony. For a quarter of an hour we seemed to be steering for those +shimmering pennons as for a harbor beacon; then a sudden up-thrust of +black wall cut them off like a sliding door. By the time we were headed +west again the dark pall of fallen night had smothered all life out of +the flame-drenched sky, leaving it a pure transparent black, pricked +with the twinkle of kindling stars. Only by the absence of stars below +could one trace the blank opacity of the blacker black of the towering +cliffs. + +No one had said anything to me about an all-day-and-all-night schedule +for the raft, and, as a matter of fact, running in the night had not +entered into the original itinerary at all. The reason we were bumping +along in the dark now was that Ike, who had no more idea of time than an +Oriental, had pushed off from Gerome an hour late, wasted another +unnecessary hour in Lincoln yarning across the sugar barrel at the +general store, and, as a consequence, had been overtaken by night ten +miles above the point he wanted to make. As there was no fast water +intervening, and as Earl had shown no signs of dissent, Ike had simply +gone right on ahead regardless. When I asked him if it wasn't a bit +risky, he said he thought not very; adding comfortingly that he had +floated down on rafts a lot of times before, and hadn't "allus bumped." +If he could see to tighten up stringer pegs, he reckoned Earl ought to +be able to see rocks, "'cose rocks was a sight bigger'n pegs." + +It was not long after Ike had nullified the effect of his reassuring +philosophy by smearing the end of his thumb with a mallet that Earl's +night-owl eyes played him false to the extent of overlooking a rock. It +may well have been a very small rock, and it was doubtless submerged a +foot or more; so there was no use expecting a man to see the ripple +above it when there wasn't light enough to indicate the passage of his +hand before his eyes. It was no fault of Earl's at all, and even the +optimistic Ike had claimed no more than that he hadn't "allus bumped." +Nor was it a very serious matter at the worst. The raft merely hesitated +a few seconds, swung part way round, slipped free again and, her head +brought back at the pull of the launch, resumed her way. The jar of +striking was not enough to throw a well-braced man off his feet. (The +only reason Roos fell and pulped his ear was because he had failed to +set himself at the right angle when the shock came.) The worst thing +that happened was the loss of a dozen or so cords of wood which, being +unsecurely stacked, toppled over when she struck. Luckily, the boat was +parked on the opposite side, as was also Roos. It would have been hard +to pick up either before morning, and Roos would hardly have lasted. The +wood was a total loss to Ike, of course; but he was less concerned about +that than he was over the fact that it reduced her "freeboard" on that +quarter by three feet, so that she wouldn't make so much of a "showin' +in the picters." He _did_ raise a howl the next morning, though. That +was when he found that his old denim jacket had gone over with the +cordwood. It wasn't the "wamus" itself he minded so much, he said, but +the fact that in one of that garment's pockets had been stored the milk +chocolate which he was using to alienate the affections of the +Dutchman's collie. "It's all in gettin' a jump on a pup's feelin's at +the fust offsta't," he philosophied bitterly; "an' naow I'll be losin' +mah jump." Rather keen on the psychology of alienation, that observation +of old Ike, it struck me. + +It was along toward nine o'clock, and shortly after the abrupt walls of +the canyon began to fall away somewhat, that a light appeared on the +left bank. Making a wide circle just above what had now become a glowing +window-square, Earl brought the raft's head up-stream and swung her in +against the bank. The place was marked Creston on the maps, but appeared +to be spoken of locally as Halberson's Ferry. We spent the night with +the hospitable Halbersons, who ran the ferry across to the Colville +Reservation side and operated a small sawmill when logs were available. +Earl slept at his ranch, a few miles away on the _mesa_. + +The night was intensely cold, and I was not surprised to find icicles +over a foot long on the flume behind the house in the morning. The +frozen ground returned a metallic clank to the tread of my hob-nailed +boots as I stepped outside the door. Then I gave a gasp of amazement, +for what did I see but Ike running--with a light, springing step--right +along the surface of the river? At my exclamation one of the Halbersons +left off toweling and came over to join me. "What's wrong?" he asked, +swinging his arms to keep warm. "Wrong!" I ejaculated; "look at that! I +know this isn't Galilee; but you don't mean to tell me the Columbia has +frozen over during the night!" "Hardly that," was the laughing answer. +"Ike's not running on either the ice or the water; he's just riding a +water-soaked log to save walking. It's an old trick of his. Not many can +do it like he can." And that was all there was to it. Ike had spotted a +drift-log stranded a short distance up-river, and was simply bringing it +down the easiest way so as to lash it to the raft and take it to market. +But I should have hated to have seen a thing like that "water-walking" +effect in those long ago days on the Canadian Big Bend, when we used to +prime our breakfast coffee with a couple of fingers of "thirty per +over-proof." + +We cast off at nine-thirty, after Ike had laid in some more "component +parts" of his mighty sweep at the little sawmill. Although less deeply +encanyoned than through the stretch down which we passed the previous +night, there were still enormously high cliffs on both sides of the +river. Trees and brush were scarcer and scrubbier than above, and the +general aspect was becoming more and more like the semi-arid parts of +the Colorado Desert. The colouring was somewhat less vivid than the riot +in the canyon above, but was almost equally varied. The colour-effect +was diversified along this part of the river by the appearance of great +patches of rock-growing lichen, shading through half a dozen reds and +browns to the most delicate amethyst and sage-green. At places it was +impossible to tell from the river where the mineral pigments left off +and the vegetable coating began. + +The river was broad and widening, with a comparatively slow current and +only occasional stretches of white water. I took the occasion to launch +the skiff and paddle about for an hour, trying to get some line on the +speed at which the raft was towing. In smooth water I found I had the +legs of her about three-to-one, and in rapids of about two-to-one. From +this I figured that she did not derive more than from a mile and a half +to two miles an hour of her speed from the launch. I only raced her +through one bit of rapid, and she was such a poor sport about the course +that I refused to repeat the stunt. Just as I began to spurt past her +down through the jumping white caps she did a sort of a side-slip and +crowded me out of the channel and into a rather messy souse-hole. The +outraged _Imshallah_ gulped a big mouthful, but floundered through +right-side up, as she always seemed able to do in that sort of stuff. +But I pulled into an eddy and let the hulking old wood-pile have the +right-of-way, declining Earl's tooted challenge for a brush in the +riffle immediately following. A monster that could eat whirlpools alive +wasn't anything for a skiff to monkey with the business end of. I +boarded her respectfully by the stern and pulled _Imshallah_ up after +me. + +The great bald dome of White Rock, towering a thousand feet above the +left bank of the river, signalled our approach to Hell Gate. Towing +across a broad reach of quiet water, Earl laid the raft against the left +bank about half a mile above where a pair of black rock jaws, +froth-flecked and savage, seemed closing together in an attempt to bite +the river in two. That was as close as it was safe to stop the raft, +Earl explained as we made fast the mooring lines, for the current began +to accelerate rapidly almost immediately below. There were some shacks +and an ancient apple orchard on the bench above, and Ike came over to +whisper that they used to make some mighty kicky cider there once upon a +time, and perhaps.... I did not need the prompting of Earl's admonitory +head-shake. "Get a jump on you with the sweep," I said, "while Earl and +I go down and help Roos set up. There'll be time enough to talk about +cider below Hell Gate." I saw a somewhat (to judge from a distance) +Bacchantic ciderette picking her way down the bench bank to the raft as +the launch sped off down stream, but if Ike realized dividends from the +visit there was never anything to indicate it. + +Although Hell Gate is a long ways from being the worst rapid on the +Columbia, it comes pretty near to qualifying as the _worst looking_ +rapid. A long black reef, jutting out from the left bank, chokes the +river into a narrow channel and forces it over against the rocky wall on +the right. It shoots between these obstructions with great velocity, +only to split itself in two against a big rock island a hundred yards +farther down. The more direct channel is to the right, but it is too +narrow to be of use. The main river, writhing like a wounded snake after +being bounced off the sheer wall of the island, zigzags on through the +black basaltic barrier in a course shaped a good deal like an elongated +letter "Z." Hell Gate is very much like either the Great or Little +Dalles would be if a jog were put into it by an earthquake--a rapid +shaped like a flash of lightning, and with just as much kick in it. + +After much climbing and scrambling over rocks, Roos found a place about +half way down the left side of the jagged gorge from which he could +command the raft rounding the first leg of the "Z" and running part of +the second leg. It would have taken a half dozen machines to cover the +whole run through, but the place he had chosen was the one which would +show the most one camera could be expected to get. It would miss +entirely the main thing--the fight to keep the raft from bumping the +rock island and splitting in two like the river did. That could not be +helped, however. A set up in a place to catch that would have caught +very little else, and we desired to show something of the general +character of the gorge and rapid. Roos, solacing himself with the remark +to the effect that, if the raft _did_ break up, probably the biggest +part of the wreck would come down his side, was cutting himself a +"sylvan frame" through the branches of a gnarled old screw pine as we +left him to go to the launch. + +[Illustration: IKE RIDING A LOG] + +[Illustration: IKE ON THE MOORING LINE OF THE RAFT] + +[Illustration: RAFT IN TOW OF LAUNCH NEAR MOUTH OF SAN POIL (_above_)] + +[Illustration: IKE AT THE SWEEP BELOW HELL GATE (_below_)] + +Ike was sitting on the bank talking with a couple of men from the +farm-house when we got back to the raft. He had completed the sweep, he +said, but as he had forgotten to provide any "pin" to hang it on he +didn't quite know what to do. Perhaps we had better go up to the +farm-house and have dinner first, and then maybe he would think of +something. The thought of keeping Roos--whom I had seen on the verge of +apoplexy over a half minute delay once he was ready for +action--standing with crooked elbow at his crank, waiting an hour or +more for the raft to shoot round the bend the next second, struck me as +so ludicrous that I had to sit down myself to laugh without risk of +rolling into the river. When I finally got my breath and sight back, I +found Earl's ready mind had hit upon the idea of using the hickory +adze-handle as a pivot for the sweep and that he and Ike were already +rigging it. Ten minutes later the launch had swung the raft out into the +current and we were headed for Hell Gate. + +The sweep, clumsy as it looked, was most ingeniously constructed. Its +handle was a four-inch-in-diameter fir trunk, about twenty feet in +length. One end of it had been hewn down to give hand-grip on it, and +the other split to receive the blade. The latter was a twelve-foot +plank, a foot and a half in width and three inches in thickness, roughly +rounded and hewn to the shape of the flat of an oar. It was set at a +slight upward tilt from the fir-trunk handle. Ike had contrived to +centre the weight of the whole sweep so nicely that you could swing it +on its adze-handle pivot with one hand. Swing it in the air, I mean; +submerged, five or six men would have been none too few to force that +colossal blade through the water. Ike admitted that himself, but +reckoned that the two of us ought to be 'better'n nothin' 'tall.' + +As we swung out into the quickening current, I mentioned to Ike that, as +I had never even seen a sweep of that kind in operation, much less +worked at it myself, it might now be in order for him to give me some +idea of what he hoped to do with it, and how. "Ye're right," he +assented, after ejecting the inevitable squirt of tobacco and parking +the residuary quid out of the way of his tongue as a squirrel stows a +nut; "ye're right; five minutes fer eloosidashun an' r'h'rsal." As +usual, Ike overestimated the time at his disposal; nevertheless, his +intensive method of training was so much to the point that I picked up a +"right smart bit o' sweep dope" before we began to cram into the crooked +craw of Hell Gate. + +This was the biggest raft he had ever tried to take through, Ike +explained, but he'd never had so powerful a motor launch; and Earl was +the best man in his line on the Columbia. He reckoned that the launch +would be able to swing the head of the raft clear of the rock island +where the river split "agin" it; but swinging _out_ the head would have +the effect of swinging in the stern. We were to man the sweep for the +purpose of keeping the raft from striking amidships. We would only have +to stroke one way, but we'd sure have to "jump into it billy hell!" +"That being so," I suggested, "perhaps we better try a practice stroke +or two to perfect our team-work." That struck Ike as reasonable, and so +we went at it, he on the extreme end of the handle, I one "grip" farther +along. + +Pressing the handle almost to our feet in order to elevate the blade, we +dipped the latter with a swinging upward lift and jumped into the +stroke. In order to keep the blade well submerged, it was necessary to +exert almost as much force upward as forward. The compression on the +spine was rather awful--especially as I was two or three inches taller +than Ike, and on top of that, had the "inside" berth, where the handle +was somewhat nearer the deck. But the blade moved through the water when +we both straightened into it; slowly at first, and more rapidly toward +the end of the stroke. Then we lifted the blade out of the water, and +Ike swung it back through the air alone. I had only to "crab-step" back +along the runway--a couple of planks laid over the cordwood--and be +ready for the next stroke. Twice we went through that operation, +without--so far as I could see--having any effect whatever upon the +raft; but that was only because I was expecting "skiff-action" from a +hundred tons of logs. We really must have altered the course +considerably, for presently a howl came back from Earl to "do it t'other +way," as we were throwing her out of the channel. By the time we had +"corrected" with a couple of strokes in the opposite direction the +launch was dipping over the crest of the "intake." Straightening up but +not relinquishing the handle, Ike said to "let 'er ride fer a minnit," +but to stand-by ready. + +That swift opening run through the outer portal of Hell Gate offered +about the only chance I had for a "look-see." My recollections of the +interval that followed at the sweep are a good deal blurred. I noted +that the water of the black-walled chasm down which we were racing was +swift and deep, but not--right there at least--too rough for the skiff +to ride. I noted how the sharp point of the rock island ahead threw off +two unequal back-curving waves, as a battleship will do when turning at +full speed. I remember thinking that, if I were in the skiff, I would +try to avoid the island by sheering over to the right-hand channel. It +looked too hard a pull to make the main one to the left; and the latter +would have the worst whirlpools, too. I noted how confoundedly in the +way of the river that sharp-nosed island was; and not only of the river, +but of anything coming down the river. With that up-stabbing point out +of the stream, how easy it would be! But since.... + +"Stan'-by!" came in a growl from Ike. "'Memba naow--'billy hell' when I +says 'jump!'" By the fact that he spat forth the whole of his +freshly-bitten quid I had a feeling that the emergency was considerably +beyond the ordinary. My last clear recollection was of Earl's sharply +altering his course just before he nosed into the roaring back-curving +wave thrown off by the island and beginning to tow to the left with his +line at half of a right-angle to the raft. The staccato of his +accelerating engine cut like the rattle of a machine-gun through the +heavy rumble of the rapid, and I knew that he had thrown it wide open +even before the foam-geyser kicked up by the propellers began to tumble +over onto the stern of the launch. On a reduced scale, it was the same +sort of in-tumbling jet that a destroyer throws up when, at the +appearance of an ominous blur in the fog, she goes from +quarter-speed-ahead to full-speed-astern. A jet like that means that the +spinning screws are meeting almost solid resistance in the water. + +Ike's shoulder cut off my view ahead now, and I knew that the bow was +swinging out only from the way the stern was swinging in. At his grunted +"Now!" we did our curtsey-and-bow to the sweep-handle, just as we had +practised it, then dipped the blade and drove it hard to the right. +Four or five times we repeated that stroke, and right smartly, too, it +seemed to me. The stern stopped swinging just at the right time, +shooting by the foam-whitened fang of the black point by a good ten +feet. The back-curving wave crashed down in solid green on the starboard +quarter--but harmlessly. There was water enough to have swamped a +_batteau_, but against a raft the comber had knocked its head off for +nothing. + +Under Ike's assurance that the battle would all be over but the shouting +in half a minute, I had put about everything I had into those half dozen +mighty pushes with the sweep. I started to back off leisurely and resume +my survey of the scenery as we cleared the point, but Ike's mumbled +"Nother one!" brought me back to the sweep again. Evidently there had +been some kind of a slip-up. "Wha' 'smatter?" I gurgled, as we swayed +onto the kicking handle, and "Engin's on blink," rumbled the chesty +reply. "Gotta keep'er off wi' sweep." + +It had been the motor-boat's role, after keeping the head of the raft +clear of the point of the island by a strong side pull, to tow out +straight ahead again as soon as the menace of collision was past. Earl +was trying to do this now (I glimpsed as I crab-stepped back), but with +two or three cylinders missing was not able to do much more than +straighten out the tow-line. As the raft was already angling to the +channel, the fact the current was swifter against the side of the island +had the tendency to throw her stern in that direction. It was up to the +sweep to keep her from striking, just as it had been at the point. What +made it worse now was that the possible points of impact were scattered +all the way along for two or three hundred yards, while the launch was +giving very little help. + +A man ought to be able to lean onto a sweep all day long without getting +more than a good comfortable weariness, and so I _could_ have done had I +been properly broken in. But I was in the wrong place on the sweep, and, +on top of that, had allowed my infantile enthusiasm to lead me into +trying to scoop half the Columbia out of its channel at every stroke. +And so it was that when we came to a real showdown, I found myself +pretty hard put to come through with what was needed. Ike's relentless +"'Nother one!" at the end of each soul-and-body wracking stroke was all +that was said, but the 'tween-teethed grimness of its utterance was more +potent as a verbal scourge than a steady stream of sulphurous curses. +Ike was saving his breath, and I didn't have any left to pour out my +feelings with. + +We were close to the ragged black wall all the way, and I have an idea +that the back-waves thrown off by the projecting points had about as +much to do with keeping us from striking as had the sweep. Such waves +will often buffer off a canoe or _batteau_, and they must have helped +some with the raft. There is no doubt, however, that, if the raft had +once been allowed to swing broadside, either she or the rock island +would have had to change shape or else hold up the million or so +horse-power driving the Columbia. That could have only resulted in a +one-two-three climax, with the island, Columbia and raft finishing in +the order named. Or, to express it in more accurate race-track +vernacular; "Island," first; "Columbia," second; "Raft," nowhere! + +My spine was a bar of red-hot iron rasping up and down along the exposed +ends of all its connecting nerves, when a throaty "Aw right!" from Ike +signalled that the worst was past. Hanging over the end of the trailing +sweep-handle, I saw that the raft had swung into a big eddy at the foot +of the island, and that the launch, with its engine still spraying +scattered pops, was trying to help the back-current carry her in to the +right bank. Middle and Lower Rapids of Hell Gate were still below us, +but Earl had evidently determined not to run them until his engine was +hitting on all fours again. It was characteristic of him that he didn't +offer any explanation as to what had gone wrong, or why; but the trouble +must have been a consequence of the terrific strain put on the engine in +towing the head of the raft clear of the upper point of the island. At +the end of a quarter hour's tinkering Earl reckoned that the engine +would go "purty good" now; leastways, he hoped so, for there was nothing +more he could do outside of a machine-shop. To save tying up again +below, he ran across and picked up Roos and the camera before casting +off. + +Middle and Lower Rapids were just straight, fast, white water, and we +ran them without trouble. Roos set up on the raft and shot a panorama of +the reeling rollers and the flying black curtains of the rocky walls as +they slid past. Then he made a close-up of the weird, undulating +Chinese-Dragon-wiggle of the "deck" of the raft, and finally, when we +had recovered a bit of breath, of Ike and me toiling at the sweep. To +save time, we had lunch on the raft, taking Earl's portion up to him in +the skiff. + +Ike, announcing that he would need a crew of four or five men to handle +the raft in Box Canyon, was scouting for hands all afternoon. Whenever a +farm or a ferry appeared in the distance, we would pull ahead in the +skiff and he would dash ashore and pursue intensive recruiting until the +raft had come up and gone on down river. Then we would push off and +chase it, repeating the performance as soon as another apple orchard or +ferry tower crept out beyond a bend. For all our zeal, there was not a +man to show when we finally pulled the skiff aboard as darkness was +falling on the river. Most of the men Ike talked to took one look at the +nearing raft and cut him off with a "Good-night" gesture, the +significance of which was not lost on me even in the distant skiff. The +nearest we came to landing any one was at Plum, where the half-breed +ferry-man said he would have gone if it hadn't been for the fact that +his wife was about to become a mother. It wasn't that he was worried on +the woman's account (she did that sort of thing quite regularly without +trouble), but he had bet a horse with the blacksmith that it was going +to be a boy, and he kind of wanted to be on hand to be sure they didn't +put anything over on him. + +At Clark's Ferry an old pal of Ike's, whom he had confidently counted on +getting, not only refused to go when he saw the raft, but even took the +old river rat aside and talked to him long and earnestly, after the +manner of a brother. Ike was rather depressed after that, and spent the +next hour slouching back and forth across the stern runway, nursing the +handle of the gently-swung sweep against his cheek like a pet kitten. He +was deeply introspective, and seemed to be brooding over something. It +was not until the next morning that he admitted that the raft had not +proved quite as handy as he had calculated. + +Again we ran well into the dark, but this time in a somewhat opener +canyon than the black gorge we had threaded the night before. It was +Spring Canyon we were making for, where Ike had left his last raft. No +one was living there, he said, but it was a convenient place for the +ranchers from up on the plateau to come and get the wood. Earl found the +place and made the landing with not even a window-light to guide. We +moored to the lower logs of the cedar raft, most of which was now lying +high and dry on the rocks, left by the falling river. We cooked supper +on the bank and--after Roos had deftly picked the lock with a bent +wire--slept on the floor of an abandoned farm-house on the bench above. + +Ike had complained a good deal of his gasoline-burned back during the +day, and was evidently suffering not a little discomfort from the +chafing of his woollen undershirt. He was restless during the night, and +when he got up at daybreak I saw him pick up and shake out an old white +table-cloth that had been thrown in one corner. When I went down to the +raft a little later, I found the old rat stripped to the waist and Earl +engaged in swathing the burned back in the folds of the white +table-cloth. As the resultant bundle was rather too bulky to allow a +shirt to be drawn over it, Ike went around for a couple of hours just as +he was, for all the world like "the noblest Roman of them all"--from +neck to the waist, that is. The long, drooping, tobacco-stained +moustaches, no less than the sagging overalls, would have had rather a +"foreign" look on the _Forum Romanum_. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BY LAUNCH THROUGH BOX CANYON + + +There was plainly something on Ike's mind all through breakfast, but +what it was didn't transpire until I asked him what time he would be +ready to push off. Then, like a man who blurts out an unpalatable truth, +he gave the free end of his "toga" a fling back over his shoulder and +announced that he had come to the conclusion that the raft was too big +and too loosely constructed to run Box Canyon; in fact, we could count +ourselves lucky that we got through Hell Gate without smashing up. What +he proposed to do was to take the biggest and straightest logs from both +the rafts and make a small, solid one that would stand any amount of +banging from the rocks. He never gave a thought to his life when working +on the river, he declared, but it would be a shame to run an almost +certain risk of losing so big a lot of logs and cordwood. The wreckage +would be sure to be salvaged by farmers who would otherwise have to buy +wood from him, so he would be a double loser in case the raft went to +pieces. I told him that I quite appreciated his feelings (about the wood +and logs, I mean), and asked how long he figured it would take to get +the logs out of the old rafts and build a new one. He reckoned it could +be done in two or three days, if we hustled. As I had already learned +that any of Ike's estimates of time had to be multiplied by at least +two to approximate accuracy, I realized at once that our rafting voyage +was at an end. We already had some very good raft pictures, and as a few +hundred yards of the run through Box Canyon would be all that could be +added to these, it did not seem worth anything like the delay building +the new raft would impose. As far as the sale of the wood and logs was +concerned, Ike said he would rather have the stuff where it was than in +Bridgeport. + +So, quite unexpectedly but in all good feeling, we prepared to abandon +the raft and have the motor-boat take the skiff in tow as far as Chelan. +This would make up a part of the time we had lost in waiting for the +raft in the first place, and also save the portage round Box Canyon. It +was quite out of the question venturing into that gorge in our small +boat, Earl said, but he had made it before with his launch, and reckoned +he could do it again. We settled with Ike on a basis of twenty dollars a +day for his time, out of which he would pay for the launch. As his big +raft of logs and firewood was brought to its destination for nothing by +this arrangement, he was that much ahead. For the further use of the +launch, we were to pay Earl ten dollars a day and buy the gasoline. + +We helped Ike get the raft securely moored, had an early lunch on the +rocks, and pushed off at a little after noon, the skiff in tow of the +launch on a short painter. A few miles along Ike pointed out a +depression, high above the river on the left side, which he said was the +mouth of the Grand Coulee, the ancient bed of the Columbia. I have +already mentioned a project which contemplates bringing water from the +Pend d'Oreille to irrigate nearly two million acres of semi-arid land of +the Columbia basin. A project that some engineers consider will bring +water to the same land more directly and at a much less cost per acre is +to build a dam all the way across the Columbia below the mouth of the +Grand Coulee, and use the power thus available to pump sixteen thousand +second-feet into the old channel of that river. Mr. James O'Sullivan, a +contractor of Port Huron, Michigan, who has made an exhaustive study of +this latter project, writes me as follows: + + "A dam at this point could be built 300 feet high above low + water, and it would form a lake 150 miles long all the way to the + Canadian boundary. It is estimated that one million dollars would + pay all the flooding damages. A dam 300 feet high would be 4,300 + feet long on the crest, and would require about 5,000,000 cubic + yards of concrete. It would cost, assuming bedrock not to exceed + 100 feet below water, about forty million dollars. It is + estimated that the power-house, direct connected pumps, turbines + and discharge pipes would cost fifteen million dollars.... From + the Columbia River to the arid lands, a distance of less than + forty miles, there is a natural channel less than one mile wide, + flanked by rock walls on both sides, so that the cost of getting + water to the land would be primarily confined to the dam and + power. Such a dam would require about five years to build, and it + would create out of a worthless desert a national estate of four + hundred and fifty million dollars, and the land would produce + annually in crops two hundred and seventy-five million.... An + irrigation district is now being formed in Central Washington, + and it is proposed to proceed at once with the core drilling of + the dam-site, to determine the nature and depth of bedrock, + which seems to be the only question left unsettled which affects + the feasibility of the project. The Northwestern states are all + in a league for securing the reclamation of this vast area, and + there is no doubt that, if bedrock conditions prove to be + favourable, that in the near future the money will be raised to + construct this great project, which will reclaim an area equal to + the combined irrigation projects undertaken by the U. S. + Government to-day.... It is considered now that where power is + free, a pumping lift as high as 300 feet is perfectly feasible." + +Which of these two great projects for the reclamation of the desert of +the Columbia Basin has the most to recommend is not a question upon +which a mere river _voyageur_, who is not an engineer, can offer an +intelligent opinion. That the possibilities of such reclamation, if it +can be economically effected, are incalculably immense, however, has +been amply demonstrated. From source to mouth, the Columbia to-day is +almost useless for power, irrigation and even transportation. The +experience of those who, lured on by abnormal rainfalls of a decade or +more ago, tried dry farming in this region border closely on the tragic. +And the tragedy has been all the more poignant from the fact that the +disaster of drought has overtaken them year after year with the Columbia +running half a million second-feet of water to waste right before their +eyes. I subsequently met a rancher in Wenatchee who said the only good +the Columbia ever was to a man who tried to farm along it in the dry +belt was as a place to drown himself in when he went broke. + +[Illustration: THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE AT CHELAN FALLS (_above_)] + +[Illustration: OLD RIVER VETERANS ON THE LANDING AT POTARIS. (CAPT. +McDERMID ON LEFT, IKE EMERSON ON RIGHT) (_below_)] + +[Illustration: NIGHT WAS FALLING AS WE HEADED INTO BOX CANYON (_above_)] + +[Illustration: THE COLUMBIA ABOVE BOX CANYON (_below_)] + +The rock-littered channel of Moneghan's or Buckley's Rapids was easily +threaded by the launch, and Equilibrium or "Jumbo" Rapids, three miles +lower down, did not prove a serious obstruction. The official name is +the former, and was given the riffle by Symons on account of a +round-topped rock which rolled back and forth in the current because of +its unstable equilibrium. The local name of "Jumbo" derives from the +fact that this same rolling rock has something of the appearance of an +elephant, when viewed from a certain angle. Ten miles more of deep, +evenly-flowing water brought us to Mah-kin Rapids and the head of +Nespilem Canyon. The next twenty-four miles, terminating at the foot of +what is officially called Kalichen Falls and Whirlpool (Box Canyon in +local nomenclature), is the fastest stretch of equal length on the +Columbia except on the Big Bend in Canada. It is one continuous +succession of rapids, eddies and whirlpools all the way, and the much +feared Box Canyon is a fitting finale. I was distinctly glad to be +running through in a motor-boat rather than the skiff. As to the raft, I +never have been able to make up my mind as to just how she would have +fared. + +The roar of the savage half-mile tumble of Mah-kin Rapids was a fitting +overture to the main performance. The river narrows down sharply between +precipitous banks, and most of the rocks from the surrounding hills seem +to have rolled into the middle of the channel. There was an awful mess +of churned water even where the river was deepest, and I wouldn't have +been quite comfortable heading into it even in the launch. Earl seemed +rather of the same mind, too, for he kept edging out to the right every +time one of the big combers lurched over at him. With the engine running +like a top, he kept her in comparatively good water all the way through. +It was a striking lesson in the value of power in running a rapid--as +long as the power doesn't fail you. + +Rock-peppered rapids followed each other every mile or two from the foot +of Mah-kin, but--thanks to Earl's nose for the best channel--we were not +taking more than an occasional shower of spray over the bows where the +water was whitest. It was not too rough for reading, and, anxious to +prepare Roos for what he was about to experience at Kalichen Falls and +Collision Rock, I dug out Symons' report and ran rapidly through the +dramatic description of how his party fared in running the sinister +gorge ahead. It seems to me rather a classic of its kind, and I am +setting it down in full, just as I read it to Roos and Ike that +afternoon in the cockpit of the launch. I only wish I could complete the +effect with the diorama of the flying canyon walls, the swirling waters +of the river, and the obligato in duet by the roaring rapids and the +sharply hitting engine. + + "The shores of Nespilem Canyon are strewn with huge masses of + black basaltic rock of all sizes and shapes, and this continues + for several miles, forming a characteristic picture of Columbia + River scenery. The complete ... lifelessness of the scene makes + it seem exceedingly wild, almost unearthly. And so we plunge + along swiftly through the rolling water, with huge rocks looming + up, now on one side and now on the other. Every stroke of the oar + is bearing us onward, nearer and nearer, to that portion of our + voyage most dreaded, the terrible Kalichen Falls and Whirlpool + Rapids. We hear the low rumbling of the water, and see the tops + of the huge half-sunken rocks and the white foam of the tumbling + waters. For a few moments the rowing ceases, while brave old + Pierre gives his orders to the Indians in their own tongue. He + knows that everything depends upon his steering and their rowing + or backing at the right moment, with all the strength they + possess. Years ago he was in a Hudson Bay Company _batteau_ which + capsized in these very rapids, and out of a crew of sixteen men + eight perished in the water or on the rocks. + + "The Indians make their preparations for the struggle by + stripping off all their superfluous clothing, removing their + gloves, and each ties a bright-coloured handkerchief tightly + about his head; poles and extra oars are laid ready in convenient + places to reach should they become necessary, and then with a + shout the Indians seize their oars and commence laying to them + with all their strength. We are rushing forward at a fearful + rate, owing to the combined exertions of the Indians and the + racing current, and we shudder at the thought of striking any of + the huge black rocks near which we glide. Now we are fairly in + the rapids, and our boat is rushing madly through the foam and + billows; the Indians are shouting at every stroke in their wild, + savage glee; it is infectious; we shout too, and feel the wild + exultation which comes to men in moments of great excitement and + danger. Ugly masses of rocks show their heads above the troubled + waters on every side, and sunken rocks are discernible by the + action of the surf. Great billows strike us fore and aft, some + falling squarely over the bows and drenching us to the waist. + This is bad enough, but the worst is yet to come as we draw near + with great velocity to a huge rock which appears dead ahead. + + "Has old Pierre seen it? The water looks terribly cold as we + think of his failing eyesight. Then an order, a shout, backing on + one side and pulling on the other, and a quick stroke of the + steering oar, and the rock appears on our right hand. Another + command, and answering shout, and the oars bend like willows as + the Indians struggle to get the boat out of the strong eddy into + which Pierre had thrown her. Finally she shoots ahead and passes + the rock like a flash, within less than an oar's length of it, + and we shout for joy and breathe freely again.... + + "For half a mile the river is comparatively good, and our staunch + crew rest on their oars preparatory to the next struggle, which + soon comes, as some more rocky, foamy rapids are reached. Here + the swells are very high and grand, and our boat at one time + seems to stand almost perpendicularly." ("Them's Eagle Rapids," + Ike interrupted; "sloppier 'n 'ell, but straight.") + + "For about nine miles further the river continues studded with + rocks and swift, with ripples every mile or so, until we reach + Foster Creek Rapids. Here the rocks become thicker ... and the + water fierce and wild. For a mile more we plunge and toss through + the foaming, roaring water, amid wild yells from our Indian + friends, and we emerge from Foster Creek Rapids, which appear to + be as rough and dangerous a place as any we have yet encountered. + We are now out of Nespilem Canyon and through all the Nespilem + Rapids, and we certainly feel greatly relieved...." + +Ike, renewing his quid, observed that they didn't call it Nespilem +Canyon any more, for the reason that that sounded too much like "Let's +spill 'em!" and there was enough chance of that without asking for it. +Roos, in bravado, asked Ike if he was going to strip down like Symons' +Indians did. The old Roman replied by pulling on a heavy mackinaw over +his "toga," saying that he'd rather have warmth than action once he was +out in the "Columby." That led me to ask him--with a touch of bravado on +my own account--how long it would take him to "submarine" from Box +Canyon to Kettle Falls. He grinned a bit sourly at that, and started +slacking the lashings on the sweeps and pike-poles. Roos was just tying +a red handkerchief round his head when Earl beckoned him forward to take +the wheel while he gave the engine a final hurried tuning. Ike, saying +that we would be hitting "White Cap" just round the next bend, gave me +brief but pointed instructions in the use of sweep and pike-pole in case +the engine went wrong. He had spat forth his quid again, just as at Hell +Gate, and his unmuffled voice had a strange and penetrating _timbre_. + +White Cap Rapids are well named. Two rocky points converge at the head +and force all the conflicting currents of the river into a straight, +steep channel, heavily littered with boulders and fanged with +outcropping bedrock. In that currents from opposite sides of the river +are thrown together in one mad tumble of wallowing waters, it is much +like Gordon Rapids, on the Big Bend. If anything, it is the rougher of +the two, making up in volume what it lacks in drop. It is a rapid that +would be particularly mean for a small boat, from the fact that there +would be no way of keeping out of the middle of it, and that is a wet +place--very. The launch had the power to hold a course just on the outer +right edge of the rough water, and so made a fairly comfortable passage +of it. + +With the "intake" above Kalichen Falls full in view a half mile distant, +Earl went back to his engine as we shot out at the foot of "White Cap" +and gave it a few little "jiggering" caresses--much as a rider pats the +neck of his hunter as he comes to a jump--before the final test. Then he +covered it carefully with a double canvas and went back to the wheel. +Roos he kept forward, standing-by to take the wheel or tinker the engine +in case of emergency. The lad, though quite without "river sense," was a +first-class mechanic and fairly dependable at the steering wheel +providing he was told what to do. + +The sounding board of the rocky walls gave a deep pulsating resonance to +the heavy roar ahead, but it was not until we dipped over the "intake" +that the full volume of it assailed us. Then it came with a rush, a +palpable avalanche of sound that impacted on the ear-drums with the raw, +grinding roar of a passing freight train. It was not from the huge +rollers the launch was skirting so smartly that this tearing, rending +roar came, but from an enormous black rock almost dead ahead. It was +trying to do the same thing that big island in the middle of Hell Gate +had tried to do, and was succeeding rather better. The latter had been +able to do no more than split the river down the middle; this one was +forcing the whole stream to do a side-step, and pretty nearly a +somersault--hence Kalichen Falls and Whirlpool. Collision Rock was +distinctly impressive, even from a launch. + +The sun was just dipping behind the southern wall of Box Canyon (how +funky I became later, when I was alone, about going into a rapid in that +slanting, deceptive evening light!) as the launch hit the rough water. +There was dancing iridescence in the flung foam-spurts above the +combers, and at the right of Collision Bock the beginning of a rainbow +which I knew would grow almost to a full circle when we looked back from +below the fall. I snapped once with my kodak into the reeling tops of +the waves that raced beside us, and then started to wind up to have a +fresh film for the rock and the crowning rainbow. That highly artistic +exposure was never made. + +Earl, instead of shutting off his engine as he did in running Spokane +Rapids, opened up all the wider as he neared the barrier and its +refluent wave. This was because the danger of striking submerged rocks +was less than that of butting into that one outcrop of ragged reef that +was coming so near to throwing the river over on its back. If the launch +was to avoid telescoping on Collision Rock as the Columbia was doing, it +must get enough way on to shoot across the current into the eddy on the +left. That was what Earl was preparing for when he opened up the engine. +With both boat and current doing well over twenty miles an hour, we were +literally rushing down at the rocky barrier with the speed of an express +train when Earl spun the wheel hard over and drove her sharply to the +left. That was when I stopped kodaking. + +In spite of the rough water, the launch had been remarkably dry until +her course was altered. Then she made up for lost time. The next ten or +fifteen seconds was an unbroken deluge. With a great up-toss of wake, +she heeled all of forty-five degrees to starboard at the turn, seeing +which, the river forthwith began piling over her port or up-stream side +and making an astonishingly single-minded attempt to push her on the +rest of the way under. Failing in that (for her draught was too great +and her engine set too low to make her easily capsizable), the river +tried to accomplish the same end by swamping her. Fore and aft the water +came pouring over in a solid green flood, and kept right on pouring +until Earl, having driven through to the point he wanted, turned her +head down stream again and let her right herself. + +The water was swishing about my knees for a few moments in the cockpit, +and it must have been worse than that forward. Then it drained down into +the bilge without, apparently, greatly affecting her buoyancy. The +higher-keyed staccato of the engine cut sharply through the heavier roar +of the falls. It was still popping like a machine-gun, without a break. +Reassured by that welcome sound, Earl orientated quickly as he shook the +water from his eyes, and then put her full at the head of the falls. +Just how much of a pitch there was at this stage of water I couldn't +quite make out. Nothing in comparison with the cataract there at high +water (when the river rushes right over the top of Collision Rock) +certainly; and yet it was a dizzy bit of a drop, with rather too +deliberate a recovery to leave one quite comfortable. For a few seconds +the launch's head was deeply buried in the soft stuff of the souse-hole +into which she took her header; the next her bows were high in the air +as the up-boil caught her. Then her propellers began striking into +something solider than air-charged suds, and she shot jerkily away in a +current so torn with swirls that it looked like a great length of +twisted green-and-white rope. We had missed Collision Rock by thirty +feet, and given the dreaded whirlpool behind it an even wider berth. + +The next thirteen miles we did at a rate that Ike figured must have been +about the fastest travelling ever done on the Columbia. The current runs +at from ten to twenty miles an hour all the way from the head of Box +Canyon to Bridgeport, and Earl, racing to reach Foster Creek Rapids +before it was dark, ran just about wide open nearly the whole distance. +It was real train speed at which we sped down the darkening +gorge--possibly over forty miles an hour at times. Earl knew the channel +like a book, and said there was nothing to bother about in the way of +rocks as long as he could see. We were out of the closely-walled part of +the canyon at Eagle Rapids, and the sunset glow was bright upon the +water ahead. There is a series of short, steep riffles here, extending +for a mile and a half, and Earl slammed right down the lot of them on +the high. Ike was right about their being sloppy, but the beacon of the +afterglow gave the bearing straight through. Two miles further on the +river appeared suddenly to be filled with swimming hippos--round-topped +black rocks just showing above the water; but each one was silhouetted +against a surface that glinted rose and gold, and so was as easy to miss +as in broad daylight. + +It was all but full night as the roar of Foster Creek Rapids began to +drown the rattle of the engine, with only a luminous lilac mist +floating above the south-western mountains to mark where the sun had +set; but it was enough--just enough--to throw a glow of pale amethyst on +the frothy tops of the white-caps, leaving the untorn water to roll on +in fluid anthracite. Earl barely eased her at the head, and then plunged +her down a path of polished ebony, with the blank blur of rocks looming +close on the right and an apparitional line of half-guessed rollers +booming boisterously to the left. For three-quarters of a mile we raced +that ghostly Ku-Klux-Klan procession, and Roos, who was timing with his +radium-faced watch, announced that we had made the distance in something +like seventy seconds. Then there was quieter water, and presently the +lights of Bridgeport. Earl put us off opposite the town, and ran down a +quarter of a mile farther to get out of the still swiftly-running +current and berth the launch in a quiet eddy below the sawmill. + +Bridgeport, for a town a score of miles from the railway, proved +unexpectedly metropolitan, with electric lights, banks, movie theatres, +and a sign at the main crossing prohibiting "Left Hand Turns." The +people, for a country town, showed very diverting evidences of +sophistication. At the movies that night (where we went to get the +election returns), they continually laughed at the villain and snickered +at the heroine's platitudinous sub-titles; and finally, when word came +that it was Harding beyond all doubt, they forgot the picture completely +and gave their undivided attention to joshing the town's only avowed +Democrat. The victim bore up fairly well as long as his baiters stuck +to "straight politics," but when they accused him of wearing an +imitation leather coat made of brown oil-cloth, the shaft got under his +armour. With a ruddy blush that was the plainest kind of a confession of +guilt, he pushed out to the aisle and beat a disorderly retreat. + +A prosperous apple farmer sitting next me (he had been telling me what +his crop would bring the while the naturally vamp-faced heroine was +trying to register pup-innocence and "gold-cannot-buy-me" as the villain +was choking her) sniffed contemptuously as the discomfited Democrat +disappeared through the swinging doors. "Seems to feel worse about being +caught with an imitation coat than about being an imitation politician. +Better send him to Congress!" Now _wasn't_ that good for a small town +that didn't even have a railroad? I've known men of cities of all of a +hundred thousand, with street cars, municipal baths, Carnegie libraries +and women's clubs, who hadn't the measure of Congress as accurately as +that. I wish there had been time to see more of Bridgeport. + +It was down to twelve above when we turned out in the morning, with the +clear air tingling with frost particles and incipient ice-fringes around +the eddies. Fortunately, Earl had bailed both boats the night before and +drained his engine. Just below Bridgeport the river, which had been +running almost due west from the mouth of the Spokane River, turned off +to the north. In a slackening current we approached the small patch of +open country at the mouth of the Okinagan. The latter, which heads above +the lake of the same name in British Columbia, appears an insignificant +stream as viewed from the Columbia, and one would never suspect that it +is navigable for good-sized stern-wheelers for a considerable distance +above its mouth. On the right bank of the Columbia, just above the mouth +of the Okinagan, is the site of what was perhaps the most important of +the original Astor posts of the interior. As a sequel to the war of 1812 +it was turned over to the Northwest Company, and ultimately passed under +the control of Hudson Bay. I could see nothing but a barren flat at this +point where so much history was made, but a splendid apple orchard +occupies most of the fertile bench in the loop of the bend on the +opposite bank. + +The mouth of the Okinagan marks the most northerly point of the +Washington Big Bend of the Columbia. From there it flows southwesterly +for a few miles to the mouth of the Methow, before turning almost +directly south. We passed Brewster without landing, but pulled up +alongside a big stern-wheeler moored against the bank at Potaris, just +above the swift-running Methow Rapids. It was the _Bridgeport_, and Ike +had spoken of her skipper, whom he called "Old Cap," many times and with +the greatest affection. "Old Cap" proved to be the Captain McDermid, who +had run the _Shoshone_ down through Grand Rapids, and who was rated as +the nerviest steamer skipper left on the Columbia. + +Captain McDermid was waiting on the bow of his steamer to give us a hand +aboard. He had read of our voyage in the Spokane papers, he said, and +had been on the lookout for several days. At first he had watched for a +skiff, but later, when he had heard that we had pushed off with Ike on +a raft, it was logs he had been keeping a weather eye lifting for. When +Ike described the raft to him, he wagged his head significantly, and +said he reckoned it was just as well we had changed to the launch for +Box Canyon. "It isn't everybody that can navigate under water like this +old rat here," he added, giving Ike a playful prod in the ribs. + +As we were planning to go on through to the mouth of the Chelan River, +in the hope of getting up to the lake that afternoon, an hour was the +most I could stop over on the _Bridgeport_ for a yarn with Captain +McDermid, where I would have been glad of a week. He told me, very +simply but graphically, of the run down Grand Rapids, and a little of +his work with stern or side-wheelers in other parts of the world, which +included a year on the upper Amazon and about the same time as skipper +of a ferry running from the Battery to Staten Island. Then he spoke, +with a shade of sadness, of the _Bridgeport_ and his plans for the +future. In all the thousand miles of the Columbia between the Dalles and +its source, she had been the last steamer to maintain a regular service. +(This was not reckoning the Arrow Lakes, of course). But the close of +the present apple season had marked the end. Between the increasing +competition of railways and trucks, the game was no longer worth the +candle. He, and his partners in the _Bridgeport_, had decided to try to +take her to Portland and offer her for sale. She was very powerfully +engined and would undoubtedly bring a good price--once they got her +there. But getting her to Portland was the rub. There were locks at the +Cascades and the Dalles, but Rock Island, Cabinet, Priest and Umatilla, +to say nothing of a number of lesser rapids would have to be run. It was +a big gamble, insurance, of course, being out of the question on any +terms. The _Douglas_, half the size of the _Bridgeport_, had tried it a +couple of months ago, and--well, we would see the consequences on the +rocks below Cabinet Rapids. Got through Rock Island all right, and then +went wrong in Cabinet, which wasn't half as bad. Overconfidence, +probably, "Old Cap" thought. But he felt sure that _he_ would have +better luck, especially if he went down first and made a good study of +Rock Island and Priest; and that was one of the things that he had +wanted to see me about. If there was room for him in the skiff, he would +like to run through with us as far as Pasco, and brush up on the channel +as we went along. If things were so he could get away, he would join us +at Wenatchee on our return from Chelan. I jumped at the chance without +hesitation, for it would give us the benefit of the experience and help +of the very best man on that part of the Columbia in getting through the +worst of the rapids that remained to be run. I had been a good deal +concerned about how the sinister cascade of Rock Island was to be +negotiated, to say nothing of the long series of riffles called Priest +Rapids, which had even a worse record. I parted with Captain McDermid +with the understanding that we would get in touch by phone a day or two +later, when I knew definitely when we would return to the river from +Chelan, and make the final arrangements. + +Leaving Ike on the _Bridgeport_ for a yarn with his old friend, we +pushed off in the launch for Chelan. Methow Rapids, just below the river +of that name, was the only fast water encountered, and that was a good, +straight run in a fairly clear channel. We landed half a mile below the +mouth of the Chelan River, where the remains of a road led down through +the boulders to the tower of an abandoned ferry. Earl put about at once +and headed back up-stream, expecting to pick up Ike at Potaris and push +on through to Bridgeport that evening. + +We parted from both Earl and Ike in all good feeling and with much +regret. Each in his line was one of the best men I have ever had to do +with. Ike--in spite of the extent to which his movements were dominated +by the maxim that "time is made for slaves," or, more likely, for that +very reason--was a most priceless character. I only hope I shall be able +to recruit him for another river voyage in the not-too-distant future. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CHELAN TO PASCO + + +For two reasons I am writing but briefly of our visit to Lake Chelan: +first, because it was entirely incidental to the Columbia voyage, and, +second, because one who has only made the run up and down this loveliest +of mountain lakes has no call to write of it. Chelan is well named +"Beautiful Water." Sixty miles long and from one to four miles wide, +cliff-walled and backed by snowy mountains and glaciers, it has much in +common with the Arrow Lakes of the upper Columbia, and, by the same +tokens, Kootenay Lake. Among the large mountain lakes of the world it +has few peers. + +The Chelan River falls three hundred and eighty-five feet in the four +miles from the outlet of the lake to where it tumbles into the Columbia. +It is a foam-white torrent all the way, with a wonderful "Horse-shoe" +gorge near the lower end which has few rivals for savage grandeur. One +may reach the lake from the Columbia by roads starting either north or +south of the draining river. We went by the latter, as it was the more +conveniently reached from the ferry-man's house where we had left our +outfit after landing. The town of Chelan, at the lower end of the lake, +is a lovely little village, with clean streets, bright shops, and a very +comfortable hotel. I have forgotten the name of the hotel, but not the +fact that it serves a big pitcher of thick, yellow cream with every +breakfast. So far as my own experience goes, it is the only hotel in +America or Europe which has perpetuated that now all but extinct +ante-bellum custom. In case there may be any interested to know--even +actually to enjoy--what our forefathers had with their coffee and mush, +I will state that three transcontinental railways pass within a hundred +miles to the southward of Chelan. It will prove well worth the +stop-over; and there is the lake besides. + +The lower end of Lake Chelan is surrounded by rolling hills, whose +fertile soil is admirably adapted to apples, now an important industry +in that region; the upper end is closely walled with mountains and high +cliffs--really an extremely deep gorge half filled with water. Indeed, +the distinction of being the "deepest furrow Time has wrought on the +face of the Western Hemisphere" is claimed for upper Chelan Lake--this +because there are cliffs which rise almost vertically for six thousand +feet from the water's edge, and at a point where the sounding lead has +needed nearly a third of that length of line to bring it back from a +rocky bottom which is indented far below the level of the sea. + +The head of Chelan is far back in the heart of the Cascades, in the +glaciers of which its feeding streams take their rise. The main +tributaries are Railroad Creek, which flows in from the south about +two-thirds of the way up, and Stehekin River, which comes in at the +head. These two streams are credited with some of the finest waterfalls, +gorges and cliff and glacier-begirt mountain valleys to be found in +North America, and it is possible to see the best of both in the course +of a single "circular" trip by packtrain. To my great regret, it was not +practicable to get an outfit together in the limited time at our +disposal. The best we could do so late in the season was a hurried run +up to Rainbow Falls, a most striking cataract, three hundred and fifty +feet in height, descending over the cliffs of the Stehekin River four +miles above the head of the lake. Roos made a number of scenic shots +here, but on a roll which--whether in the camera or the laboratory it +was impossible to determine--was badly light-struck. Similar misfortune +attended a number of other shots he made (through the courtesy of the +Captain of the mail launch in running near the cliffs) of waterfalls +tumbling directly into the lake. There are many slips between the cup +and the lip--the camera and the screen, I should say--in scenic movie +work. + +[Illustration: A ROCKY CLIFF NEAR HEAD OF LAKE CHELAN] + +[Illustration: RAINBOW FALLS, 350 FEET HIGH, ABOVE HEAD OF LAKE CHELAN] + +[Illustration: WENATCHEE UNDER THE DUST CLOUD OF ITS SPEEDING AUTOS +(_above_)] + +[Illustration: HEAD OF ROCK ISLAND RAPIDS (_below_)] + +We arrived back at the town of Chelan in time for lunch on the sixth of +November, and a couple of hours later were down at the Columbia ready to +push off again. I had been unable to get in touch with Captain McDermid +by phone, but was confident that he would turn up in good time at +Wenatchee. As there was nothing between that point and the mouth of the +Chelan in the way of really bad water, I had no hesitation in making the +run without a "pilot." Launching _Imshallah_ below the old ferry-tower +at two o'clock, we reached the little town of Entiat, just above the +river and rapids of that name, at five. The skiff rode higher with +Captain Armstrong and his luggage out, her increased buoyancy +compensating in a measure for the less intelligent handling she had. +Roos took the steering paddle in the stern, and I continued rowing from +the forward thwart. All of the luggage was shifted well aft. The current +was fairly swift all the way, but the two or three rapids encountered +were not difficult to pass. Ribbon Cliff, two thousand feet high and +streaked with strata of yellow, grey and black clays, was the most +striking physical feature seen in the course of this easy afternoon's +run. + +Entiat is a prosperous little apple-growing centre, and, with the +packing season at its height, was jammed to the roof with workers. Rooms +at the hotel were out of the question. Roos slept on a couch in the +parlour, which room was also occupied by three drummers and two truck +drivers. I had a shakedown on a canvased-in porch, on which were six +beds and four cots. My room-mates kept me awake a good part of the night +growling because their wages had just been cut to seven dollars a day, +now that the rush was over. I would have been the more surprised that +any one should complain about a wage like that had not a trio of +farmettes--or rather packettes--at the big family dinner table been +comparing notes of their takings. One twinkling-fingered blonde +confessed to having averaged thirteen dollars a day for the last week +packing apples, while a brown-bloomered brunette had done a bit better +than twelve. The third one--attenuated, stoop-shouldered and +spectacled--was in the dumps because sore fingers had scaled her average +down to ten-fifty--"hardly worth coming out from Spokane for," she +sniffed. Roos tried to engage them in conversation, and started out +auspiciously with a description of running Box Canyon. But the +gimlet-eyed thin one asked him what he got for doing a thing like that, +and promptly their interest faded. And why _should_ they have cared to +waste time over a mere seventy-five-dollar-a-week cameraman? But it was +something even to have eaten pumpkin pie with the plutocracy. + +The swift-flowing Entiat River has dumped a good many thousand tons of +boulders into the Columbia, and most of these have lodged to form a +broad, shallow bar a short distance below the mouth of the former. The +Columbia hasn't been able quite to make up its mind the best way to go +here, and so has hit on a sort of a compromise by using three or four +channels. Roos found himself in a good deal the same sort of dilemma +when we came rolling along there on the morning of the seventh, but as a +boat--if it is going to preserve its entity as such--cannot run down +more than one channel at a time, _Imshallah_ found the attempt at a +compromise to which she was committed only ended in butting her head +against a low gravel island. It was impossible to make the main middle +channel from there, but we poled off without much difficulty and went +bumping off down a shallow channel to the extreme right. She kissed off +a boulder once or twice before winning through to deeper water, but not +hard enough to do her much harm. It was a distinctly messy piece of +work, though, and I was glad that Ike or Captain Armstrong was not there +to see their teachings put into practice. + +The river cliffs became lower as we ran south, and after passing a +commanding point on the right bank we came suddenly upon the open +valley of the Wenatchee, the nearest thing to a plain we had seen in all +the hundreds of miles from the source of the Columbia. There are not +over twenty to thirty square miles of land that is even comparatively +level here, but to eyes which had been wont for two months to seek +sky-line with a forty-five degree upward slant of gaze it was like +coming out of an Andean pass upon the boundless Pampas of Argentina. +Wenatchee was in sight for several miles before we reached it, an +impressive water-front of mills, warehouses and tall buildings. Over all +floated a dark pall, such as one sees above Pittsburgh, Birmingham, +Essen or any other great factory city, but we looked in vain for the +forest of chimneys it would have taken to produce that bituminous +blanket. As we drew nearer we discovered that what we had taken to be +smoke was a mighty dust-cloud. It was a Sunday at the height of the +apple-packing season, and all the plutocratic packettes were joy-riding. +There were, it is true, more Fords than Rolls-Royces in the solid double +procession of cars that jammed the main street for a mile, but that was +doubtless because the supply of the former had held out better. I can't +believe that the consideration of price had anything to do with it. + +The hotel, of course, was full, even with the dining-room set thick with +cots, but by admiring a haberdashery drummer's line of neck-ties for an +hour, I managed to get him to "will" me his room and bath when he +departed that afternoon. Roos employed similar strategy with a jazz +movie orchestra fiddler, but his train didn't pull out until four-thirty +in the morning. A young reporter from the local paper called for an +interview in the afternoon, and told us the story of the _Douglas_, the +steamer which Captain McDermid had mentioned as having been lost in +trying to take her to Portland. Selig had gone along to write the story +of the run through Rock Island Rapids, the first to be reached and the +place which was reckoned as the most dangerous she would have to pass. +When she had come out of that sinister gorge without mishap, he had them +land him at the first convenient place in the quiet water below, from +where he made his way to the railway and hurried back to Wenatchee with +his story. That he had seen all the best of the excitement, he had no +doubt. A quarter of an hour after Selig left her, the _Douglas_ was a +total wreck on the rocks below Cabinet Rapids. He didn't know just how +it had happened, but said we would find what was left of her still where +she had struck. + +Wenatchee is the liveliest kind of a town, and claims to be the largest +apple-shipping point in the United States. It also has a daily paper +which claims to be the largest in the world in a city of under ten +thousand population. I can easily believe this is true. I have seen many +papers in cities of fifty or a hundred thousand that were not to be +compared with it for both telegraphic and local news. Banks are on +almost every corner for a half dozen blocks of the main street of +Wenatchee, and every one seems to have a bank account. I saw stacks of +check-books by the cashiers' desks in restaurants and shops, and in one +of the ice cream parlours I saw a young packette paying for her nut +sundae with a check. + +No word came from Captain McDermid during the day, and after +endeavouring to reach him by phone all of the following forenoon, I +reluctantly decided to push on without him. This was a good deal of a +disappointment, not only because I felt that I was going to need his +help mighty badly, but also because I was anxious to see more of him +personally. A man who will take a steamer containing his wife and +children down Rickey's Rapids of the Columbia isn't to be met with every +day. Roos was anxious to get a picture of the "Farmer Who Would See the +Sea" working his way down Rock Island Rapids, and as his machine was +about the most valuable thing there was to lose in getting down there, +it seemed up to me to do what I could. But for the first time since we +pushed off to run the Big Bend, I unpacked and kept out my inflatable +"Gieve" life-preserver waistcoat, which I had worn in the North Sea +during the war, and which I had brought along on the "off chance." Selig +came down with his Graflex to get a photo of our departure for the +_World_, but declined an invitation for another run through Rock Island +Rapids. + +There is a long and lofty highway bridge spanning the Columbia half a +mile below Wenatchee, which fine structure also appears to be used on +occasion as a city dump. That it was functioning in this capacity at the +very moment we were about to pass under it between the two mid-stream +piers did not become apparent until the swift current had carried us so +close that it was not safe to try to alter course either to left or +right. There was nothing to do but run the gauntlet of the swervily +swooping dust-tailed comets whose heads appeared to run the whole gamut +of discard of a rather extravagant town of eight thousand people, all +disdainful of "used" things. It would have been a rare chance to renew +our outfit, only most of the contributions were speeding too rapidly at +the end of their hundred-foot drop to make them entirely acceptable. +"Low bridge!" I shouted to Roos, and swung hard onto my oars, yelling a +lung-full at every stroke in the hope that the busy dumpers might stay +their murderous hands at the last moment. Vain hope! My final frightened +upward glance told me that the nauseous cataclysm was augmenting rather +than lessening. + +I put _Imshallah_ into some mighty nasty looking rapids with a lot less +apprehension than I drove her into that reeking second-hand barrage, that +Niagara of things that people didn't want. Doubtless it was the fact +that _I_ wanted the stuff still less than they did that lent power to my +arms and gave me a strength far transcending that of ordinary endeavour. +Roos swore afterward that I lifted her right out of the water, just as a +speeding hydroplane lifts at the top of its jump. This may have been so; +but if it was, Roos sensed it rather than saw it, for his humped +shoulders were folded tightly over his ducked head, like the wings of a +newly hatched chicken. Anyhow, the little lady drove through safely, +just as she always had. But where she had always emerged dewy-fresh and +dancing jauntily on the tips of her toes from the roughest of rapids, +here she oozed out upon an oil-slicked stream with the "Mark of the +Beast" on her fore and aft. I mean that literally. That accursed little +"White Wings" that sat up aloft to take toll of the life of poor Jack, +must have had some kind of a slaughter-house dumping contract--and +_Imshallah_ got a smothering smear of the proceeds. Also a trailing +length of burlap and a bag of cinders. As the latter burst when it +kissed off my shoulder, Roos' joke about my wearing sack-cloth-and-ashes +was not entirely without point. The only article of value accruing was +the shaving-brush which fell in Roos' lap. He felt sure it must have +been thrown away by mistake, for it had real camel's-hair bristles, and +he liked it better than his own--after the ashes had worked out of it. +And yet it might have been a lot worse. I only _heard_ the splash of the +wash-boiler that must have hit just ahead of her, but the sewing machine +that grazed her stern jazzed right across my line of vision. + +Up to that time Surprise Rapids of the Big Bend of Canada had stood as +the superlative in the way of a really nasty hole to go through; from +then on "Surprise Rapids of Wenatchee Bridge" claimed pride of place in +this respect. + +Swabbing down decks as best we could without landing, we pushed ahead. I +was anxious to get down to Rock Island Rapids in time to look over the +channels, if not to start through, before dark. We should have known +better than to treat a dainty lady like _Imshallah_ in that way. It was +bad enough to have subjected her to the indignity of running the garbage +barrage; not to give her a proper bath after it was unpardonable. At +least that was the way she seemed to look at it, and so I never felt +inclined to blame her for taking matters into her own hands. Wallowing +through a sharp bit of rapid a mile below the bridge washed the outside +of her bright and clean as ever, but it was the stain of that +slaughter-house stuff on the inside that rankled. She was restive and +cranky in the swirls and eddies all down a long stretch of slack water +running between black basalt islands, and as the river narrowed and +began to tumble over a boisterous rapid above the Great Northern Railway +bridge, she began jumping about nervously, like a spirited horse +watching his chance for a bolt. + +It was Roos' business, of course, to watch where she was going, but he +made no claim of being a qualified steersman; so that there was really +no excuse for my failing to watch our capricious lady's symptoms and +keep a steadying hand on her. Probably I _should_ have done so had not a +freight train run out on the bridge just as we neared the head of the +rapid, throwing out so striking a smoke-smudge against a background of +sun-silvered clouds that I needs must try for a hurried snapshot. That +done, we were close to the "V" of the drop-off, and I had just time to +see that there were three or four rather terrifying rollers tumbling +right in the heart of the riffle, evidently thrown up by a jagged +outcrop of bedrock very close to the surface. I would never have +chanced putting even a big _batteau_ directly into so wild a welter, +but, with fairly good water to the left, there was no need of our +passing within ten feet of the centre of disturbance. The course was so +plain that I do not recall even calling any warning to Roos as I sat +down and resumed my oars. Each of us claimed the other was responsible +for what followed, but I think the real truth of it was that _Imshallah_ +had made up her mind to have a bath without further delay, and couldn't +have been stopped anyhow. + +I never did see just what hit us, nor how we were hit; for it all came +with the suddenness of a sand-bagging. Roos was stroking away +confidently, and appeared to be singing, from the movement of his lips. +The words, if any, were drowned in the roar. All at once his eyes became +wild and he lashed out with a frenzied paddle-pull that was evidently +intended to throw her head to the left. The next instant the crash +came--sudden, shattering, savage. I remember distinctly wondering why +Roos' eyes were shifted apprehensively upward, like those of a man who +fancies he is backing away from a bombing airplane. And I think I recall +spray dashing two or three lengths astern of us, before the solid +battering ram of the water hit me on the back, and Roos in the face. And +all _Imshallah_ did was to stand straight up on her hind legs and let +little demi-semi-quivers run up and down her back like a real lady +exulting in the tickle of a shower-bath. Then she lay down and let the +river run over her; then reared up on her hind legs again. Twice or +thrice she repeated that routine, when, apparently satisfied that her +ablutions were complete, she settled down and ran the rest of the rapid +sedately and soberly, and, I am afraid, without much help from either +oars or paddle. I have always thought Roos was particularly happy in +his description of how it looked for'ard just after that first big wave +hit us. "The top of that comber was ten feet above your head," he said, +"and it came curving over you just like the 'canopy' of a +'Jack-in-the-Pulpit.'" + +With _Imshallah_ rather more than half full of water, and consequently +not a lot more freeboard for the moment than a good thick plank, it was +just as well that no more rapids appeared before we found a patch of +bank flat enough to allow us to land and dump her. Fresh as a daisy +inside and out, she was as sweet and reasonable when we launched her +again as any other lady of quality after she has had her own way. Not +far below the bridge we tied up near the supply-pipe of a railway +pumping station on the left bank. With the black gorge of Rock Island +Rapids three-quarters of a mile below sending up an ominous growl, this +appeared to be the proper place to stop and ask the way. + +The engineer of the pumping-station said that he knew very little about +the big rapid, as he had only been on his present job for a week. He had +only seen the left-hand channel, and, as an old sailor, he was dead +certain no open boat ever launched could live to run the lower end of +it. He said he thought the safest way would be to put the skiff on his +push-car, run it down the tracks a couple of miles, and launch it below +the worst of the rapids. I told him we might be very glad to do this as +a last resort, but, as it would involve a lot of time and labour, I +would like to look at the rapid first. He told us to make free of his +bunk-house in case we spent the night there, and suggested we call in +at a farm house a couple of hundred yards down the track and talk with +an old man there, who would probably know all about the rapid. + +That proved to be a good tip. The farmer turned out to be an old-time +stern-wheeler captain, who had navigated the upper Columbia for many +years in the early days. He was greatly interested in our trip, and said +that we ought to have no great trouble with the rapids ahead, that is, +as long as we didn't try to take undue liberties with them. The safest +way to get through would be to land at the head of the big island that +divided the channels and line right down the left side of it. It would +be pretty hard work, but we ought not to get in wrong if we took our +time. He was sorry he couldn't go down and look the place over with us, +but it happened that his youngest daughter was being married that +evening, and things were sort of crowding for the rest of the day. +_That_ explained why the yard was full of flivvers, and the numerous +dressed-up men lounging around the porches. We decided that the groom +was the lad, with an aggressively fresh-shaven gill, who was being made +the butt of a joke every time he sauntered up to a new group, and that +the bride was the buxom miss having her chestnut hair combed at a +window, with at least half a dozen other girls looking on. + +Roos was very keen to have the wedding postponed to the following morning, +and changed to an _al fresco_ affair which he could shoot with good light. +With a little study, he said, he was sure he could work it into his +"continuity." Perhaps, for instance, the "Farmer-Who-Would-See-the-Sea" +might start them off on their honeymoon by taking them a few miles down +river in his boat. That would lend "heart interest and...." I throttled +that scheme in the bud before my impetuous companion could broach it to +the principals. I wasn't going to tempt the providence that had saved me +whole from the wrath of Jock o' Windermere by taking a chance with any +more "bride stuff." + +The black-walled gorge of Rock Island is one of the grimmest-looking +holes on the Columbia, and of all hours of the day sunset, when the deep +shadows are banking thick above the roaring waters, is the least cheery +time to pay it a visit. Somewhat as at Hell Gate, the river splits upon +a long, rocky island, the broader, shallower channel being to the right, +and the narrower, deeper one to the left. The upper end of the +right-hand channel was quiet and straight; indeed, it was the one I +would have been prompted to take had not the old river captain at the +farm-house inclined to the opinion that the lining on the other would be +easier. The former had been the course Symons had taken, and he +mentioned that the lower end was very crooked and rocky. I decided, +therefore, to brave the difficulties that I could see something of in +advance rather than to blunder into those I knew not of. Although the +left channel began to speed up right from the head, I saw enough of it +to be sure that we could run at least the upper two-thirds of it without +much risk, and that there was then a good eddy from which to land on the +side next to the railroad. This was the head of the main fall--an +extremely rough cascade having a drop of ten feet in four hundred yards. +Down that we would have to line. I was quite in agreement with the +pump-station man that no open boat would live in those wildly rolling +waters. Fearful of complications, I restrained Roos from accepting an +invitation to the wedding, and we turned in early for a good night's +sleep at the pump-station bunk-house. + +The game old octogenarian had asked me especially to hail him from the +river in the morning, so that he could go down and help us through the +rapids. I should have been glad indeed of his advice in what I knew +would be a mighty awkward operation, but had not the heart to disturb +him when I saw there was no curl of smoke from the kitchen chimney when +we drifted by at eight o'clock. The roar of fast and furious revelry had +vied with the roar of the rapids pretty well all night, culminating with +a crescendo leading up to the old shoe barrage at about daybreak. It +didn't seem quite human to keep the old boy lining down river all +morning after lining up against that big barrel of "sweet cider" all +night.... (No, I hadn't missed that little detail; that was one of the +reasons I had kept Roos away). So we drifted on down toward the big +noise alone. The pump-man promised he would come down to help as soon as +his tank was filled, but that wouldn't be for an hour or more. + +Rock Island Rapids are in a gorge within a gorge. The black +water-scoured canyon with the foam-white river at the bottom of it is +not over fifty feet deep in the sheer. Back of high-water mark there is +a narrow strip of bench on either side, above which rises a thousand +feet or more of brown bluff. The eastern wall still cast its shadow on +the river, but the reflection of the straw-yellow band of broadening +light creeping down the western bluff filled the gorge with a diffused +golden glow that threw every rock and riffle into sharp relief. It was a +dozen times better to see by than the blinding brilliance of direct +light, and, knowing just what to expect for the next quarter-mile, I ran +confidently into the head of the rapid. Early morning is the hour of +confidence and optimism on the flowing road; evening the hour of doubt, +indecision and apprehension. + +A submerged rock at the entrance to the left channel, which I had marked +mentally from the high bank the night before as an obstacle to be +avoided, proved rather harder to locate from water level; but Roos +spotted it in time to give it a comfortable berth in shooting by. Then +the abrupt black walls closed in, and we ran for three hundred yards in +fast but not dangerous water. The current took us straight into the eddy +I had picked for a landing place, and the skiff slid quietly into a +gentle swirling loop of back-water, with nothing but a huge jutting rock +intervening between that secure haven and the brink of the fall. So far +all had gone exactly as planned. Now we were to see how it looked for +lining. + +Roos set up on a shelf and cranked while I lined round the projecting +rock, an operation which proved unexpectedly simple once it was started +right. At my first attempt I failed to swing the boat out of the eddy, +and as a consequence she was brought back against the rock and given +rather a stiff bump. The next time I launched her higher up, and paying +out plenty of scope, let her go right out into the main current and +over the "intake" of the fall. It took brisk following up to keep the +line from fouling, and after that was cleared I didn't have quite as +much time as I needed to take in slack and brace myself for the coming +jerk. The result was _Imshallah_ got such a way on in her hundred feet +of run that, like a _locoed_ broncho pulling up and galloping off with +its picket-pin, she took me right along over and off the big rock and +into the water below. To my great surprise, where I was expecting to go +straight into the whirlpool one usually finds behind a projecting rock, +I landed in water that was both slack and comparatively shallow. +Recovering quickly from my stumble, I braced against the easy current +and checked the runaway with little trouble. Roos, who had missed the +last part of the action, wanted me to do that jump and stumble over +again, but the ten foot flop down onto the not very deeply submerged +boulders was a bit too much a shake-up to sustain for art's sake. + +Now that it was too late to line back, I saw why it was the old captain +had advised working down the side of the island. The left bank of the +cascade (which latter was tumbling close beside me now), was all but +sheer. Only here and there were there footings close to the water, so +that the man with the line would have to make his way for the most part +along the top of the rocky wall. _He_ could get along all right, but +there was no place where a man could follow the boat and keep it off +with a pole. It might have been managed with a man poling-off from the +boat itself, but I hardly felt like urging Roos to take the chance. It +was out of the question trying to line back up the "intake" of the +fall, but there _was_ one loop-hole which looked worth exploring before +risking an almost certain mess-up in trying to work down the side of the +cascade. + +I have mentioned that I had expected to find a whirlpool under the big +jutting rock. The only reason there wasn't one was because what at high +water must have been a very considerable back channel took out at this +point and acted as a sort of safety-valve. There was still a stream a +few inches deep flowing out here, running off to the left into a dark +cavernous-looking crack in the bedrock. That water had to come back to +the river somewhere below, and there was just a chance that the boat +could be squeezed through the same way. At any rate, there was not +enough of a weight of water to do any harm, and it ought not to be hard +to "back up" in the event it proved impossible to push on through. +Leaving Roos to set up and shoot a particularly villainous whirlpool he +had discovered, I dragged the skiff through the shallow opening and +launched it into a deep black pool beyond. + +Poling from pool to pool, I entered a miniature gorge where I was +presently so walled in by the rock that the raw roar of the cascade was +muffled to a heavy, earth-shaking rumble. This tiny canyonette opened up +at the end of a hundred yards to a sheer-walled rock-bound pool, +evidently scoured out by the action of a high-water whirlpool. This +turned out to be an enormous "pot-hole," for I had to avoid the +water-spun boulder, which had been the tool of the sculpturing River +God, in pushing into the outlet crack. The latter was so narrow and +overhanging that I had to lie down and work the skiff along with my +up-raised hands. Twenty yards of that brought me out to a winding little +lake, less steeply walled than the gorge above, but apparently closed +all the way round, even at the lower end. I was in a complete _cul de +sac_. A gurgling whirlpool showed where the water escaped by a +subterranean passage, but that was plainly no place to take a lady, +especially a lady of quality like _Imshallah_. + +Tying _Imshallah_ up to a boulder to prevent her amiable weakness for +rushing to the embraces of whirlpools getting the better of her, I +climbed up a steeply-sloping pitch of bedrock and looked down to the +head of a long narrow arm of quiet water. The gay little waterfall +breaking forth from the rock beneath my feet was leaping directly into +the main stream of the Columbia--and below the cascade. A stiff thirty +or forty-foot portage, and we were through. We might have to wait for +the pump-man to help us lift the boat up that first pitch, but he ought +to be along almost any time now. + +Taking a short-cut back across the water-washed rock, I found Roos just +completing his shots of the cascade. The sun was on the latter now, and +its dazzling whiteness threw it into striking relief against the +sinister walls between which it tumbled. Save the first two falls of +Surprise Rapids, there is not a savager rush of water on the upper +Columbia than this final three hundred yards of the left-hand channel of +Rock Island. Roos was delighted with the way it showed up in his finder, +and even more pleased when he learned that we were not going to have to +line the boat down it. Then he had one of his confounded inspirations. +That portage over the reef of bedrock, with the little waterfall in the +background, would photograph like a million dollars, he declared; but to +get the full effect of it, and to preserve "continuity," the "farmer" +ought to do it alone. It wouldn't do to include the pump-man in the +picture, now that the "farmer" was supposed to be travelling alone. If I +_had_ to have his help, all right; only it wouldn't do to shoot while +the other man was in the picture. But it _would_ really be the "Cat's +ears" if the "farmer" could make it on his own. He wouldn't have to make +that big pull-up without stopping; he could jerk the boat along a foot +or two at a time, and then get his breath like the pursued villain did +in the processional finales of knockabout comedies. Then he showed me +how, by resuming the same grip on the boat and the same facial +expression at each renewed attack, the action could be made to appear +practically continuous. + +Well, I fell for it. Tom Sawyer was not more adroit in getting out of +white-washing his fence than was Roos in getting out of that portage +job. He wanted to preserve "continuity" by starting back at the head of +the cascade, but we compromised by making it the "pot-hole." Emerging to +the lakelet, I registered "extreme dejection" at finding my progress +blocked, and "dull gloom" as I landed and climbed up for a look-see. But +when I reached the top of the reef and discovered the quiet water below, +like sunlight breaking through a cloud, I assumed as nearly as I knew +how an exact imitation of an expression I had seen on the face of Balboa +in a picture called "First Sight of the Pacific." "That's the 'Cat's +ears,'" encouraged Roos; "now snake the boat over--and make it snappy!" + +I made it snappy, all right; but it was my spine that did most of the +snapping. And it wasn't a foot at a time that I snaked the boat over. +(Roos had been too optimistic on that score); it was by inches. Roos +took infinite pains in coaching me as to "resuming grip and expression;" +but even so, I am afraid the finished film will display considerable +jerkiness in its "continuous action." I gained some solace by calling +Roos names all the time, and so must again beg "lip-readers" who see the +picture to consider the provocation and not judge too harshly. Once +tilted over the crest of the reef, the boat took more holding than +hauling. Being pretty well gone in the back and knees, she got away from +me and slid the last ten feet, giving her bottom a bumping that it never +did entirely recover from. I was caulking incipient leaks all the way to +Portland as a consequence of that confounded "one man" portage. + +Just as we had loaded up and were ready to push off, the pump-man +breezed along and asked us to give him a passage as far as Columbia +River station, two or three miles below. He wanted to take an oar, but +as the distance was short and the current swift, I told him it was not +worth bothering with. So he laid the oar he had taken out along the +starboard gunwale, and knelt just aft the after thwart, facing forward. +Roos always claimed that it was the loom of the pump-man's back cutting +off his view ahead that was responsible for the little diversion that +followed. A good part of the blame was doubtless my own for not keeping +a sharper watch over my shoulder, as I certainly should have done had I +been alone. In any event, _Imshallah's alibi_ was complete. She behaved +through it all like a real thoroughbred. + +There was a sinuous tangle of swirls where the right-hand and left-hand +cascades flew at each other's throats at the lower end of the rock +island, and then a gay stretch of sun-dazzled froth where the teeth of a +long reef menaced all the way across the channel; then a stretch of +lazily-coiling green-black water, flowing between lofty brown cliffs and +broken here and there with the loom of house-like rocks of shattered +basalt. The roar of Rock Island died down in muffled _diminuendo_, and +it seemed mighty good to have that diapason muttering in bafflement +astern rather than growling in anticipation ahead. There was only one +little rapid between here and the siding, the pump-man said, and it +wouldn't bother us much as there was plenty of room to get by. He was +right--for the most part. + +I took a good look at the riffle as we headed down to it. It was a short +stretch of rough, noisy water, but nothing that would have had to be +avoided except for a single big roller in the middle of it. As this was +throwing a great dash of spray high in the air every now and then, I +felt sure the rock responsible for it was very slightly +submerged--perhaps not more than a few inches. As this was so obviously +an obstacle to steer well clear of, it never occurred to me to give +Roos any especial warning about it, especially as he continued standing +and sizing up the situation for half a minute after I had resumed my +oars. The main current ran straight across the riffle, but with fifty +feet of clear water to the left there was no need of getting into any of +the worst of it, let alone trying to hurdle that foam-throwing rock. + +Leaning hard on my oars, I had good steerage-way on the skiff by the +time she dipped over into the fast-running water. Roos was cuffing +jauntily at the wave crests, and singing. Because of the sequel, I +remember particularly it was "Dardanella" that was claiming his +attention. Two or three times he had maintained that he was a "lucky +fella" before I saw what seemed to me to be mingled dissent and +perturbation gathering in the pump-man's steel-grey eyes. Then, all of a +sudden, he gave vocal expression to his doubts. "You won't think you're +a 'lucky fella' if you put her onta that rock," he yelled over his +shoulder. Turning at the finish of my stroke, I saw that big +spray-flipping comber about two lengths away, and _dead ahead_, looking +savager than ever. Trailing my right oar, I pulled every ounce I could +bring to bear upon my left, trying to throw her head toward the better +water. The next instant I was all but falling over backwards as the oar +snapped cleanly off in the oar-lock. I recall perfectly the gleam of the +long copper nails which had weakened it, and the fresh fracture of the +broken spruce. + +The weight I put onto my right oar in saving myself from tumbling +backward had the effect of throwing her head in just the opposite +direction I had intended. Since she could hardly have avoided hitting +the big roller anyhow, once she was so near, it is probably better that +she hit it squarely than sidling. The crash was solid, almost shattering +in its intensity, and yet I am not sure that she hit the rock at all. If +she did, it was a glancing blow, for she could not possibly have +survived anything heavier. + +The pump-man, true to his sailor instincts, kept his head perfectly in +the face of the deluge that had engulfed him. The spare oar was lying +ready to hand, and he had it waiting for me in the oar-lock by the time +I was on an even keel again. The second wave, which she rode on her own, +threw _Imshallah's_ head off a bit, but by the time she was rising to +the third I was helping her again with the oars. Seeing how well she was +taking it, I did not try to pull out of the riffle now, but let her run +right down through it to the end. Only the first wave put much green +water into her, but even that had not filled her anywhere nearly so deep +as she had been the evening before. When we beached her below Columbia +River station we found her starboard bow heavily dented, but even that +did not convince me that we had hit the big rock. I am rather inclined +to think that denting was done when I did my lone-hand portage at Rock +Island. I was dead sorry I couldn't persuade that pump-man to throw up +his job and come along with us. He had the real stuff in him. + +[Illustration: THE PICTURE THAT COST ME A WETTING (_above_)] + +[Illustration: THE WRECK OF THE "DOUGLAS" (_below_)] + +[Illustration: WE COOKED OUR BREAKFAST IN THE GALLEY OF THE WRECK OF THE +"DOUGLAS"] + +[Illustration: A ROCKY CLIFF ABOVE BEVERLY] + +After having lunch in the railway men's eating house at Columbia River, +we went down to push off again. Finding the local ferry-man examining +the skiff, I asked him if he thought she would do to run Cabinet +Rapids, which we could hear rumbling a mile below. "Not if you try to +push them out of the river the way you did that riffle above here a +while ago," he replied with a grin. He said he had been watching us +through his glass, and that the boat had disappeared from sight for +three or four seconds when she hit the big roller. He offered to bet his +ferry-boat against the skiff that we couldn't do it again and come +through right-side-up. No takers. Speaking seriously, he said that, by +keeping well to the left, we could run Cabinet all right--if nothing +went wrong. "But better not make a practice of breaking an oar just +where you're going to need it most," he added with another grin; +"there's nothing on the river that would live through the big riffle +over against the right bank. You'll see what she did to the _Douglas_." + +Landing from the slack water above a rocky point which juts out into the +river at the head of Cabinet Rapids, we climbed a couple of hundred +yards over water-scoured boulders to the brink of the gorge. It was a +decidedly rough-looking rapid, but by no means so hopeless for running +with a small boat as Rock Island. In that the main riffle was thrown +against a sheer bank of the river, it reminded me a good deal of Death +Rapids on the Big Bend. But this riffle, while appearing fully as rough +as that of the dreaded _Dalles des Morts_, was not, like the latter, +unavoidable. The chance of passing it in only fairly broken water to the +left looked quite good enough to try. The wreck of the _Douglas_, +standing out white and stark against the black boulders a mile below, +was a good warning against taking any unnecessary chances. I looked +well to the oars and the trim of the boat before shoving off. + +Once out into the river, I could see that the rapid was white from bank +to bank, but still nothing that ought to trouble us seriously. I stood +for a minute or two looking ahead from the vantage of one of the +thwarts, and it was just as I was taking up my oars again in the +quickening current that the corner of my eye glimpsed the narrow opening +of a deep back-channel winding off between splintered walls of columnar +basalt to the left. I wasn't looking for any more one-man portages, but +this opening looked good enough to explore. It might lead through by an +easy way, and there was hardly enough water to do much harm if it +didn't. It took hard pulling to sheer off from the "intake" now we had +drifted so close, but we finally made it and entered the dark +back-channel. Narrowing and broadening, just as the other had done, it +led on for a couple of hundred yards, finally to discharge over a +six-foot fall into a deeply indented pool that opened out to the river +about half way down the rapid. The wedge-shaped crack at the head of the +little fall was narrower than the skiff at water-line, but by dint of a +little lifting and tugging we worked her through and lowered her into +the pool below. Pulling out through the opening, we headed her +confidently into the current. There was a quarter-mile of white water +yet, but we were far enough down now so that the loss of an oar or any +other mishap wouldn't leave the skiff to run into those wallowing +rollers over against the further cliff. A sharp, slashing run carried us +through to the foot of Cabinet Rapids, and a few minutes later we had +hauled up into an eddy under the left bank opposite the wreck of the +_Douglas_. + +The little stern-wheeler had come to grief at high-water, so that we had +to clamber all of three hundred yards over big, smooth, round boulders +to reach the point where the wreck was lying. The latter was by no means +in so bad a shape as I had expected to find it. The principal damage +appeared to have been done to the wheel, which was clamped down tight +over a huge boulder, and to the starboard bow, which was stove in. The +rest of her hull and her upper works were intact; also the engines, +though terribly rusty. There was not much from which one could +reconstruct the story of the disaster; in fact, I have not learned to +this day any authentic details. The chances are, however, that the wheel +struck a rock somewhere in Cabinet Rapids, and, after that, drifting out +of control, she had come in for the rest of the mauling. If her captain +is like the rest of the Columbia River skippers I met, I have no doubt +that she will be patched up again before next high-water and started off +for Portland. + +With towering cliffs on both sides and the great black boulders +scattered all around, Roos felt that both subject and setting were +highly favourable for an effective movie, and started to think out a way +to work the wreck of the _Douglas_ into his "continuity." After some +minutes of brown study, he declared that the best way to work it would +be for the "farmer" to land, come clambering across the boulders +registering "puzzled wonderment," and then to stand in silent +contemplation of the wreck, registering "thankfulness." "Thankfulness +for what?" I demanded; "it doesn't strike me as Christian to gloat over +the wreck of a ship." "You don't get me at all," he expostulated. "I +don't mean for him to show thankfulness because of the wreck of the +steamer, but because his own boat has so far escaped a similar fate. He +just stands here with his arms folded, casts his eyes upward, moves his +lips as if...." + +"Nothing doing," I cut in decisively. "If you'd been raising beans and +hay and apricots as long as I have, you'd know that a farmer never +registers thankfulness about anything but a rise in the market, and +there ain't no such thing any more." While we were arguing that moot +point, the sun dipped behind the loftily looming wall of brown-black +cliff across the river and the trouble settled itself automatically. +Because there was no longer light, Roos thought it would be a good stunt +to camp where we were until morning, and as a camp was always +"continuity"--there we were! + +There was plenty of cordwood left, and the galley stove was in good +condition. As we had no candles, dinner was cooked by the mingled red +and green gleams of the port and starboard lights, transferred to the +galley for that purpose. I slept in the cook's cabin and Roos--with his +bed made up on the wire springs from the Captain's cabin--on the deck of +the galley. With water freezing half an inch thick in the coffee-pot on +the galley stove, we had an insufferably cold night of it--one of the +worst we spent on the river. In the morning Roos made his "camp shots," +which consisted principally of the farmer chopping cordwood on the main +deck, building a fire in the galley stove and cooking breakfast. Out of +deference to my esoteric knowledge of the way farmers feel about things, +he consented to omit the "thankfulness stuff." + +Shoving off into a steady six-mile current at nine-thirty, a few minutes +brought us in sight of a striking basaltic island, which Symons had +characterized as "one of the most perfect profile rocks in existence." +"Approaching it from the north," he wrote, "it presents a striking +likeness to the profile of Queen Victoria.... Coming nearer to it and +passing it on the west, the profile changes and merges into a more +Grecian and Sphinx-like face, whose placid immobility takes one's mind +involuntarily to far-off Egypt. It rises from the surface of the water +about a hundred feet, and a pair of eagles have selected it as their +home, and upon its extreme top have built a nest, giving, as it were, a +crown to this goddess of the Columbia." + +Roos declared himself strong for that "Sphinx stuff," and had his camera +set up in the bow ready for a close-up of every change of expression. He +was doomed to disappointment. The first thing we discovered missing was +the crowning eagles' nest, and then Victoria's nose, mouth and chin. Her +brow and hair were there, but both considerably eroded and inroad-ed by +the weather. The "Grecian-and-Sphinx-like face" we never did locate, +although I pulled around the island twice in search of them. Roos +declared her an "oil can," and packed up his camera in supreme disgust. +That was, I believe, the last time he had it set up on the Columbia. + +As Lieutenant Symons had proved so invariably accurate in all of his +topographical descriptions, I am strongly inclined to the belief that +floods and the elements had conspired to wreak much havoc with +"Victoria's" features in the forty years that had elapsed since he +limned them so strikingly with pen and pencil. I have known fairly +stonily-featured ladies to change almost as much in a good deal less +than forty years. + +Cabinet Rapids is the beginning of a somewhat irregular series of +columnar basaltic cliffs which wall in the Columbia closely for the next +thirty miles. They range in height from fifteen hundred to three +thousand feet, and in colour from a rich blend of saffron-cinnamon, +through all the shades of brown, to a dull black. The prevailing +formation is that of upended cordwood, but there are endless weird +stratifications and lamiations, with here and there queer nuclei that +suggest sulphur crystallizations. Imbedded in the face of one of these +cliffs not far from the tumultuous run of Gualquil Rapids, is a landmark +that has been famous among Columbia _voyageurs_ for over a hundred +years. This is huge log, barkless and weather-whitened, standing on end +in the native basalt. Over a thousand feet above the river and almost an +equal distance from the brink of the sheer wall of rock, there is no +possible question of its having been set there by man. The descriptions +written of it a hundred years ago might have been written to-day. +Whether it is petrified or not, there is no way of knowing. The only +possible explanation of its presence is that it was lodged where it is +at a time when the Columbia flowed a thousand feet higher than it does +to-day, probably before it tore its great gorge through the Cascades and +much of what is now eastern Washington was a vast lake. + +On the suggestion of the ferry-man at Trinidad, we avoided the upper +half of Gualquil Rapids by taking a straight, narrow channel to the +right, which would probably have been dry in another week. There is a +half mile of fast, white water here, ending with some heavy swirls +against a sheer cliff, but nothing seriously to menace any well-handled +open boat. The water was slack for a number of miles from the foot of +Gualquil, but began quickening where the river spread out between long +gravel bars below Vantage Ferry. They were shunting sheep across at the +latter point, and the Portuguese herders crowded eagerly round our boat, +making strange "high signs" and voicing cryptic utterances, evidently +having something to do with a local bootleggers' code. At our failure to +respond in kind, they became suspicious (doubtless the fact that Roos +was wearing a second-hand Canadian officer's uniform he had bought in +Revelstoke had something to do with it) that we were prohibition +enforcement officials, and they were muttering darkly to each other and +shaking their heads as we pushed off again. + +The cliffs ran out not long after we left Vantage Ferry, and as we +neared the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Bridge at Beverly rough +patches of sandy desert began opening up on either side. Deprived of the +shelter of the high river walls, we were at once exposed to a heavy +easterly wind that had evidently been blowing all day on the desert. The +sun dulled to a luminous blur behind the pall of the sand-filled air, +and the wind, which headed us every now and then, about neutralized the +impulse of the accelerating current. There was a forty-miles-an-hour +sand-storm blowing when we beached the boat under the railway bridge at +four-thirty. The brilliantly golden-yellow cars of the C. M. & St. P. +Limited rumbling across above behind their electric locomotive seemed +strangely out-of-place in the desolate landscape. + +The one sidewalk of the town's fragment of street was ankle-deep in sand +as we buffetted our way to the hotel. "Have you ever been in Beverly +before?" asked the sandy-haired (literally) girl who responded to the +jangle of the cowbell on the counter. "But I should know better than +that," she apologized with a blush as she blew off the grit on the +register; "'cause if you had been here once, you'd sure never be here +again. What's the game, anyhow? You haven't...?" A knowing twitch of a +dusty eyelash finished the question. + +"No, we haven't," growled Roos irritably. Somehow he was never able to +extract half the amusement that I did over being taken for a +boot-legger. + +It was the sand-storm that broke Roos' heart, I think. He was +non-committal at supper that night when I started to talk about Priest +Rapids, and the next morning, after describing his shave as like rubbing +his face with a brick, he announced that he was through with the +Columbia for good. As there was a good deal to be said for his +contention that, between the shortening days and the high cliffs walling +in the river, there were only two or three hours of good shooting light +even when the sun was out, I did not feel justified in urging him to go +on unless he wanted to. In any event, light for filming the running and +lining of Priest Rapids, now that the sand-storm was at its height, was +out of the question for a day or two at least. And below Priest Rapids +there would be nothing worth filming until the mouth of the Snake was +passed. I suggested, therefore, that he should go on to Pasco by train +and await me there, finding out in the meantime by wire whether Chester +cared to have him continue the "farmer" picture in the face of the +adverse light conditions. + +By this time I had fairly complete data on Priest Rapids. These, +beginning at the end of a stretch of slack water several miles below +Beverly, continue for eleven miles. In this distance there are seven +major riffles, with considerable intervals of fairly quiet water +between. It seemed probable that all of these, with the exception of the +second and seventh, and possibly the sixth, could be run. The lining of +the others, while not difficult, would require the help of another man. +All that morning I inhaled sand as I went over Beverly with a +fine-toothed comb in a very earnest effort to find some one willing to +give me a hand through Priest Rapids. The nearest I came to success was +an ex-brakeman, who said he would go with me after the storm was over, +provided a job hadn't turned up in the meantime. The only real river-man +I found was an old chap who opined that the middle of November was too +late in the year to be getting his feet--if nothing else--wet in the +"Columby." He offered to haul the boat to the foot of the rapids by the +road for twenty dollars, but as the down-river branch of the Milwaukee +presented an opportunity to accomplish the same end in less time and +discomfort, I decided to portage by the latter. As there was an +auto-stage service from Hanford to Pasco, Roos accompanied me to the +former point by train, and helped get the boat down to the river and +into the water in the morning. Hanford was not the point on the line +closest to the foot of Priest Rapids, but I took the boat through to +there because the station was nearer the river than at White Bluffs, and +launching, therefore, a simpler matter. + +The stretch of seventy miles between the foot of Priest Rapids and the +mouth of the Snake has the slowest current of any part of the Columbia +above the Dalles. Mindful of the time we had been losing by stops for +lunch, I now began putting into practice a plan which I followed right +on to the end of my voyage. Taking a package of biscuit and a couple of +bars of milk chocolate in my pocket, I kept the river right straight on +through to my destination. Munching and resting for an hour at noon, I +at least had the benefit of the current for this period. Eating a much +lighter lunch, I also gained the advantage of no longer being troubled +with that comfortable _siesta_-time drowsiness that inevitably follows a +hearty meal and disinclines one strongly to heavy exertion for an hour +or more. + +For a dozen miles or more below Hanford the river, flanked on either +side by rolling desert sand-dunes, winds in broad shallow reaches +through a region desolate in the extreme. The only signs of life I saw +for many miles were coyotes slinking through the hungry sage-brush and +occasional flocks of geese, the latter forerunners of the countless +myriads that were to keep me company below the Snake. At Richfield the +results of irrigation became evident in young apple orchards and green +fields of alfalfa, and these multiplied all the way down to Pasco. The +country seemed very flat and monotonous after so many weeks among cliffs +and mountains, but there was no question of its richness and +productivity once water was brought to it. The low overflow flats about +the mouth of the Yakima, which flows into the Columbia from the west a +few miles above Pasco, gave little indication of the beauty of the +famous apple country which owes so much to the waters diverted from that +little river. + +After pulling for an hour with the long Northern Pacific bridge in view, +I landed just below the Pasco-Kennewick ferry at three o'clock. As I was +beaching the boat and getting out the luggage to leave in the +ferry-man's house-boat, a hail from the river attracted my attention. It +was from Roos, in the front seat of an auto, on the approaching +ferry-boat. His stage had been behind time in leaving Hanford, and as a +consequence I had beaten him to the Pasco landing by ten minutes. After +the speed with which we had moved on the upper river, however, mine had +been rather a slow run. In spite of my steady pulling, it had taken me +just under six hours to do the thirty-five miles. + +After the exchange of a wire or two, Roos obtained permission from +Chester to suspend the "farmer" picture, and was ordered on to New York +to report. We were both a good deal disappointed not to have a pictorial +record of the "farmer" actually seeing the sea; in fact, we did some +hours of "location" scouting in the hope of finding a substitute Pacific +in the vicinity of Pasco. If that Beverly sand-storm had only made +itself felt seventy-five miles farther down river I honestly believe we +would have accomplished our worthy end. There was a pretty bit of white +beach below the N. P. bridge. _If_ the sand had been blowing thick +enough to obscure the farther shore, and _if_ the wind had blown in the +right direction to throw up a line or two of surf, I could have stood +with one foot on that beach, the other on _Imshallah's_ bow, elbow on +knee, chin in hand, and registered "fulfilment," and none could have +told it from the real Pacific. Indeed, that bit of backwash from Pasco's +outfall sewer, with the sand-barrage and surf I have postulated, would +have "shot" _more_ like the Pacific than many spots I can think of +looking off to the Columbia bar. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PASCO TO THE DALLES + + +The only lone-hand river voyage I had ever taken previous to the one on +which I was about to embark was down the lower Colorado River, from +Needles to the head of the Gulf of California. This had been in +comparatively quiet water all the way, with nothing much to look out for +save the tidal bore at the lower end. As I had never been above the +Dalles on the lower Columbia, I had very little idea of what I would +encounter in the way of rapids. I knew that there were locks by which +the Dalles and Cascades could be passed, but as the combined fall at +these points accounted for only about a quarter of that between the +Snake and tide-water, it was certain there must still be some very swift +rapids to run. That there had at times been a steamer service maintained +from the Snake down meant that there must be some sort of a rock-free +channel through all of the riffles; but it did not necessarily mean that +these were runnable in a small boat. A properly handled stern-wheeler +can be drifted down and (by means of line and capstan) hauled up rapids +where not even a high-powered launch can live. I had a list of about a +score of the principal rapids between the Snake and Celilo Falls, with +their distances from the Canadian Boundary by river. This would enable +me to know approximately _where_ I was going to find them. That was +all. Information on fall, channel and the best means of running them I +would have to pick up as I went along. + +I shoved off from Pasco Ferry at nine o'clock in the morning of Sunday, +November fourteenth. With Roos and his blanket-roll, camera and tripod +out of the stern, I found that the skiff trimmed better when I rowed +from the after thwart. She pulled easier and handled a lot more smartly +now. It was evident, however, that her increased freeboard was going to +make her harder to hold to her course with head winds, but these I hoped +to have little trouble with until I reached the gorge of the Cascades. +The ferry-man assured me that I would encounter no really bad water +until I came to the last pitch of Umatilla Rapids, about thirty-five +miles below. He advised me to take a good look at that before putting +into it, as an unbroken reef ran almost directly across the current and +the channel was not easy to locate. It was the most troublesome bar to +navigation on the lower Columbia, and steamers were repeatedly getting +in trouble there. I would see the latest wreck a couple of miles below +the foot of the rapids. + +I passed the mouth of the Snake about three miles below the ferry. Here +was no such spectacular meeting of waters as occurs when the Pend +d'Oreille and Columbia spring together, for the country is low and +level, and the mouth of the Snake broad and shallow. The discharge was +through two channels, and the water greenish-grey in colour; but where +that blend in the swift tributaries of the upper river suggests the +intense coldness of glacial origin, here the picture conjured up was of +desert and alkali plains. Its mouth is the least interesting part of +the Snake. It has some magnificent canyons in its upper and middle +waters--as have also its two fine tributaries, the Salmon and +Clearwater,--and its Shoshone Falls are second only to Niagara on the +North American continent. + +Lieutenant Symons, who concluded his exploration of the upper Columbia +at the Snake, characterizes the region as a "bleak, dreary waste, in +which for many miles around sage-brush and sand predominate ... one of +the most abominable places in the country to live in." Alexander Ross, +on the other hand, writing seventy years earlier, describes it as one of +the loveliest lands imaginable. The fact that the one reached the Snake +in the fall and the other in the spring may have had something to do +with these diametrically opposed impressions. Irrigation and cultivation +have gone far to redeem this land from the desert Symons found it, but +it is still far from being quite the Paradise Ross seemed to think it +was. As the only considerable plain touching the Columbia at any point +in its course, this region of the Snake can never make the scenic appeal +of the hundreds of miles of cliff-walled gorges above and below; but it +is a land of great potential richness. With water and power available +from the two greatest rivers of the West, there can be no question of +its future, both agriculturally and industrially. Pasco will yet more +than fulfil the promises made for that mushroom town in its early boom +days. "KEEP YOUR EYE ON PASCO!" was a byword from one end of the country +to the other in the nineties, and this hustling rail and agricultural +centre at the junction of the Columbia and the Snake should not be lost +sight of even to-day. + +The lighter-hued water of the Snake was pretty well churned into the +flood of the Columbia at the end of a mile, leaving a faint suggestion +of cloudiness in the transparent green that the latter had preserved all +the way from the Arrow Lakes. The long bridge of the Spokane, Portland +and Seattle Railway spanned the Columbia just below the Snake, and from +there on paralleled the river closely right down to the Willamette. +After the Oregon-Washington Railway and Navigation Company tracks +appeared on the south bank below the Walla Walla, it was only at rare +intervals that I was out of sight of a grade, or out of sound of a +train, for the remainder of my voyage. In a day or two the trainmen, +running back and forth between divisional points, came to recognize the +bright green skiff plugging on down the dark green river (mighty small +she must have looked to them from the banks) and never failed to give +her a hail or a wave in passing. On a certain memorable occasion one of +them (doubtless in direct defiance of rules) ventured even further in +the way of a warning ... but I will tell of that in its place. + +Homley Rapids, seven miles below Pasco ferry, are formed by a rough reef +of bedrock running half way across the river from the right bank. +Approached from the right side of the long gravel island that divides +the river just above them, one might get badly tangled up before he got +through; by the left-hand channel the going is easy if one keeps an eye +on the shallowing water at the bars. A sky-line of brown mountains, +with a double-turreted butte as their most conspicuous feature, marks +the point where the Columbia finally turns west for its assault on the +Cascades and its plunge to the Pacific. That bend is the boundary of the +fertile plains extending from the Yakima to the Walla Walla, and the +beginning of a new series of gorges, in some respects the grandest of +all. The matchless panorama of the Cascade gorges is a fitting finale to +the stupendous scenic pageant that has been staged all the way from the +glacial sources of the Columbia. + +A low sandy beach just above the mouth of the rather insignificant Walla +Walla comes pretty near to being the most historically important point +on the Columbia. Here Lewis and Clark first came to the waters of the +long-struggled-toward Oregon; here came Fremont, the "Pathfinder;" here +Thompson planted his pious proclamation claiming all of the valley of +the Columbia for the Northwest Company; and by here, sooner or later, +passed and repassed practically every one of the trappers, missionaries, +settlers and other pioneers who were finally to bring Oregon permanently +under the Stars and Stripes. + +The double-topped butte, an outstanding landmark for _voyageurs_ for a +hundred years, has long been called "The Two Virgins." The story is told +locally of a Catholic priest who saved his life by taking refuge in a +cave between the castellated turrets during an Indian massacre, but who +got in rather serious trouble with the Church afterwards as a +consequence of sending words of his deliverance by a French-Canadian +half-breed _voyageur_. The latter got the salient details of the story +straight, but neglected to explain that the two virgins were mountains. +The result was that the unlucky priest narrowly missed excommunication +for saving his life at the expense of breaking his vows. I got no +affidavit with the story; but local "stock" yarns are always worth +preserving on account of their colour. + +There were a number of big black rocks where the river began its bend to +the west, but the channel to the right was not hard to follow. Neither +did Bull Run Rapids, a few miles farther down, offer any difficulties. I +followed the steamer channel as having the swiftest current, but could +have passed without trouble on either side of it in much quieter water. +Brown and terra-cotta-tinged cliffs reared higher and higher to left and +right, encroaching closely on the river. There was little room for +cultivation at any point, and often the railways had had to resort to +heavy cutting and tunnelling to find a way through some jutting rock +buttress. There were no trees, and the general aspect of the country was +desolate in the extreme. + +It was toward the end of a grey afternoon that I headed _Imshallah_ into +the first pitch of Umatilla Rapids. The sun had dissolved into a slowly +thickening mist about three o'clock, and from then on the whole +landscape had been gradually neutralizing itself by taking on shade +after shade of dull, inconspicuous grey. From the grey-white mistiness +of the sky to the grey-green murkiness of the river there was nothing +that contrasted with anything else; every object was blended, dissolved, +all but quenched. The foam-ruffles above even the sharpest of the +riffles blurred like the streaking of clouded marble at a hundred feet, +and it took the livest kind of a lookout to avoid the ones with teeth in +them. Neither the first nor the second riffle had any very bad water, +but my neck was stiff from watching over my shoulder even as they were. +I had rather intended avoiding this trouble by drifting down anything +that looked very threatening stern first, but that would have involved +retrimming the boat and greatly reducing her speed. If I was going to +make Umatilla by dark, there was no time to lose. + +From the head of the first riffle of Umatilla Rapids to the head of the +third or main one is a mile and a half. There was a slight up-river +breeze blowing in the mist, and the heavy rumble of the big fall came to +my ears some distance above the opening riffle. The distant roar +augmented steadily after that, and the sharper grind of the more +imminent riffles was never loud enough to drown it out entirely. The +fact that it had a certain "all pervasive" quality, seeming to fill the +whole of the gorge with its heavy beat, told me that it was an unusually +long rapid, as well as an unusually rough one. That, it seemed, was +about all I was going to be able to find out. No one was in sight on the +left bank, which I was skirting, and the right bank was masked with +mist. With none to seek information from, and with not enough light to +see for myself, the alternatives were very simple: I could either land, +line as far as I could while light lasted and then seek Umatilla on foot +for the night, or I could take my chance at running through. It was the +delay and uncertainty sure to be attendant upon lining that was the +principal factor in deciding me to try the latter course. Also, I knew +that there was an open channel all the way through, and that the rapid +was a comparatively broad and shallow one, rather than constricted and +deep. This meant that it would be straight white water--a succession of +broken waves--I was going into, rather than heavy swirls and whirlpools; +just the water in which the skiff had already proved she was at her +best. These points seemed to minimize the risk of going wrong to a point +where the chance of running was worth taking for the time and trouble it +would save. If I had not known these things in advance, I should never, +of course, have risked going into so strong a rapid under such +conditions of light. + +I shall always have a very grateful feeling toward that Pasco ferry-man +for those few words he dropped about the run of the reef and the set of +the current at Umatilla Rapid. This is one of the few great rapids I +have ever known on any river where the main drift of the current will +not carry a boat to the deepest channel. This is due to the fact that +the great reef of native rock which causes the rapid is sufficiently +submerged even at middle water to permit a considerable flow directly +across it. The consequence of this is that a boat, large or small, which +follows the current and does not start soon enough working over toward +the point where a channel has been blasted through the reef, is almost +certain to be carried directly upon the latter. This has happened to a +good many steamers, the latest having been wrecked not long before my +voyage. + +With a rough idea of the lay of things in my mind, I had edged a good +deal farther out across the current than would have been the case had I +been trusting to my own judgment of the way the rapid _ought_ to develop +in the light of my past experience. The smooth but swiftly-flowing water +to the left looked almost empty of threat, and it was not until I was +within a hundred feet of the barrier that I saw it was flowing directly +over the latter and went tumbling down the farther side in an almost +straight fall. At the same instant I saw that I was still heading forty +or fifty feet to the left of where the "intake" dipped through the break +in the reef. Realizing that I could never make it by heading straight, I +swung the skiff round and pulled quartering to the current with her head +up-stream. Even then it was a nearer squeak than I like to think of. I +missed the middle of the "V" by ten feet as I swung her head down-stream +again, and as the racing current carried her up against the back-wave +thrown off the end of the break in the reef she heeled heavily to +starboard, like an auto turning on a steeply-banked track. Then she shot +out into the big white combers in mid-channel and started slap-banging +down through them. It looked beastly rough ahead, but in any event it +was better than hanging up on the reef at the outset. We were going to +have a run for our money whatever happened. + +The only precautions there had been time to take were slipping into my +"Gieve" and throwing all my luggage aft. Half-inflated, the +rubber-lined jacket was no handicap in rowing, and the tube hung ready +to receive more air if necessity arose. As for the trim, it had been my +snap judgment at the last moment that it would be better to give the +skiff her head in the rollers that I _knew_ were coming, and let her +take her chance in being down by the stern in whirlpools that might +never materialize. I still think that was the best thing to have done +under the circumstances. + +Not until I was right down into that wild wallow of rock-churned foam +was there a chance to get an idea of the rather remarkable bedrock +formation which is responsible for making Umatilla Rapids the worrisome +problem they have always been for river skippers. After piercing the +black basaltic barrier of the reef, the channel shoots to the left and +runs for a quarter of a mile or more (I was too busy to judge distances +accurately) right along the foot of it. With a considerable stream of +water cascading over the reef at almost right angles to the channel, a +queer sort of side-kick is thrown into the waves of the latter which +make it one of the most "unrhythmic" rapids I ever ran. _Imshallah_ +pounded horribly, but gave not the savagest of the twisting combers a +chance to put anything solid over her high held head. My erratic pecking +strokes did not find green water often enough to give her much way over +the current, but she responded instantly every time I dug deep to throw +her head back after she had been buffeted sideways by an arrogant +ruffian of a roller. + +As soon as I saw the way she was riding the roughest of the water, I +realized that the only chance of a bad mess-up would come through my +failure to keep her head to the enemy. Knowing this wasn't likely to +happen unless I broke an oar, I eased a bit on my pulling and gave just +a quick short-arm jerk now and then to hold her steady. She was never +near to broaching-to, and I'm mighty glad she wasn't. Umatilla is the +sort of a rapid that hasn't quite the teeth to get the best of a +carefully handled boat that is running in good luck, but which has the +power, with a mile to spare, to grind to match-wood any craft that gets +into trouble on its own account. It was an eerie run that--with the +snarling cascade of the reef on one side, the ghostly dance of the +rollers on the other, and the impenetrable grey curtain of the mist +blanking everything beyond a radius of a hundred feet; but _Imshallah_ +went through it with her head in the air and came waltzing out into the +swirls below as cocky as a partridge. Indeed, that was just the trouble. +The pair of us were just a bit _too_ cocky over the way we had gone it +blind and come through so smartly. It remained for a couple of lesser +rapids to reduce both of us to a proper humility of spirit. + +I had been prepared to make a quick shift to the forward thwart in case +there was a bad run of whirlpools following the rapid, and so bring her +up by the stern. This did not prove necessary, however, as the rapidly +broadening river was too shallow for dangerous under-currents. A short +run in slackening water brought me to the town of Umatilla just as the +lights were beginning to twinkle in the windows. Landing in the quiet +water below a short stone jetty, I left my stuff in a nearby shack and +sought the hotel. The pool-room "stove-decorators" refused to believe I +had come through the rapid until I described it to them. Then they said +it was better to be a lucky darnfool on the Columbia than an unlucky +school-teacher. "School-teacher," it appeared, was the local apotheosis +of Wisdom, and stood at the opposite pole from "darnfool." It seems that +there had been two male school-teachers drowned in Umatilla that summer +and only one darnfool, and they were rather put out at me for having +failed to even up the score. Then they tried to spoil my evening by +telling me all the things that had happened to people in Devil's Run +Rapids, which I would go into just below the mouth of the river the +first thing in the morning. They had me rather fussed for a while, +too--until they told one about a farmer who, after having had his launch +upset on his way home from his wedding, swam out with his bride in his +arms. I told them I'd try to get that lusty swimmer to tow me through +Devil's Run in the morning, and turned in for a good sleep. + +Umatilla is a decrepit little old town that knew its best days away back +in the last century, when it was the head of steamer navigation on the +Columbia and the terminus of the freighting route to Idaho and eastern +Washington. There are rich irrigated lands farther up the Umatilla +River, but the development of these seems to have done little for the +stagnating old settlement by the Columbia, which has little left but its +historic memories. It was by the Umatilla that the rugged Hunt and the +remnants of the Astor overland party came to the Columbia, after what +was perhaps the most terrible journey ever made across the continent. +And all through the time of the _voyageurs_, the trappers and the +pioneers, Umatilla was only less important as a halting and portage +point than the Cascades and the Dalles. + +I pulled away from the jetty of Umatilla at eight o'clock in the morning +of November fifteenth. The sky was clear and there was no trace of the +mist of the previous evening. There was brilliant, diamond-bright +visibility on the river, with the usual early morning mirage effects, +due to the chill stratum of air lying close to the water. This +exaggerated considerably the height of distant riffles, lifting them up +into eye-scope much sooner than they would have been picked up +ordinarily. I put on my "Gieve" and blew it up in anticipation of a +stiff fight at Devil's Run, only to find just enough rocks and riffles +there to make me certain of locating them. I could see, however, that +the formation was such that there might have been very troublesome water +there at higher, and possibly lower, stages. Out of charity for the +tellers of a good many awesome tales I had to listen to in respect of +rapids I subsequently found to be comparatively innocuous, I am inclined +to believe that a number of them were substantially straight accounts of +disasters which had actually occurred in flood season, or at times when +other water levels than those I encountered made the riffles in question +much more troublesome. + +I had an easy day of it for rapids, but, as a consequence of the +comparatively slow water, rather a hard one for pulling. Canoe +Encampment Rapids, twenty miles below Devil's Run, gave me a good lift +for a mile or more, but not enough to make much of a respite from the +oars if I was going to make the fifty miles I had set for my day's run. +I was still ten miles short of that at four o'clock when a drizzling +rain setting in from the south-west decided me to land for shelter at +Hepburn Junction, on the left bank. That was the first rain I had +encountered since passing the Canadian Boundary, after a month of +practically continuous storms. There was nothing but a railway station +at the Junction, but a nearby road-camp offered the chance of food and +shelter. The young contractor--he was doing the concrete work on a State +Highway bridge at that point--eyed my bedraggled figure somewhat +disapprovingly at first, at a loss, apparently, as to whether I was a +straight hobo or merely a disguised boot-legger. An instant later we had +recognized each other as football opponents of Los Angeles-Pasadena +school-days. His name was Walter Rees, of a family prominent among early +Southern California pioneers. With the rain pattering on the tent roof, +we talked each other to sleep lamenting the good old days of the "flying +wedge" and massed play in football. + +It was clear again the following morning, but with a mistiness to the +west masking Mount Hood and the Cascades, to which I was now coming very +near. The cliffs had been rearing up higher and higher at every mile, +great walls of red-brown and black rock strongly suggestive, in their +rugged barrenness, of the buttressed, turreted and columned formation +through which the river runs below the mouth of the Spokane. Owyhee, +Blalock and Four O'clock rapids were easy running, but the sustained +roar which the slight up-river breeze brought to my ears as the black, +right-angling gorge of Rock Creek came in sight was fair warning that +there was really rough water ahead. Although I had been able to gather +very little information along the way, the fact that I had so far +descended but a small part of the two hundred feet of drop between +Umatilla and Celilo Falls meant that the several rapids immediately +ahead would have to make up for the loafing the Columbia had been guilty +of for the last sixty miles. + +Taking advantage of the quiet stretch of water below Four O'clock +Rapids, I went all over the skiff as she drifted in the easy current, +tuning her up for the slap-banging she could not fail to receive in the +long succession of sharp riffles which began at Rock Creek. In +tightening up the brass screws along the gunwale, I removed and threw +into the bottom of the boat both of my oar-locks. When I started to +restore them to place as the roar of the nearing rapid grew louder, I +found that one of them--the left--had been kicked out of reach under the +bottom-boards. Rather than go to the trouble of tearing up the latter +just then, I replaced the missing lock with one from my duffle-bag, a +roughly-smithed piece of iron that I had carried away as a mascot from +an old _batteau_ at Boat Encampment. It proved quite a bit too snug for +its socket, besides being a deal wider than it should have been for the +shaft of my light oar. There was a spoon oar, with a ring lock, under +the thwarts, but I was somewhat chary of using it since its mate had +snapped with me below Rock Island Rapids. + +The river narrowed sharply above Rock Creek, and, standing on a thwart +as the skiff drifted down, I saw that the rapid dropped away in a solid +stretch of white foam tumbling between black basaltic walls. There was a +good, stiff fall, but it was reassuring that I could see right away to +the end of the white water, which did not appear to continue around the +ninety-degree bend at the foot. It was just the sort of water +_Imshallah_ was at her best in running, so I decided it was simply a +matter of choosing the clearest channel and letting her go. A white +cross-barred post on the mountainside at the angle of the bend gave me +the bearing for the channel a minute or two before I made out the dip of +the "intake." Stowing everything well aft, as I had done at Umatilla, I +took up my oars and put her straight over the jade-green tip of the "V." + +That was rough-and-rowdy water, and no mistake. Every roller meant a +slam, and every slam meant a shower-bath; but withal, it was mostly +spray that came over her bows--nothing really to bother about. And so +_Imshallah_ would have run it right through--had not a sharp dig I gave +with my left oar jerked the latter out of that "open-faced" Boat +Encampment mascot lock and sent me keeling over backwards. The next +moment she was wallowing, beam-on, into the troughs and over the crests +of the combers, dipping green water at every roll. + +Recovering my seat as quickly as possible, I tried to bring her head up +again by backing with the right oar. She swung obediently enough, but I +could not hold her bow down-stream once she was headed right. + +Rather than chance that "mascot" oar-lock again, I tumbled aft and did +what I could with the paddle. Down as she was by the stern, that brought +her head right out of the water and made it rather hopeless getting any +way on her. She tumbled on through to the foot of the rapid without +putting a gunwale under again, however, a circumstance for which I was +highly thankful. She already had five or six inches of water in her, as +I found as soon as I began to bail. It is just as well the trouble +didn't occur at the head of the rapid. We were half way down when I +ceased to function, and _Imshallah_ had about all she wanted to navigate +the remainder. I was also duly thankful that there was nothing more than +a few bad swirls at the foot of the rapid. Standing on her tail as she +was after I plumped down in the stern with the paddle, a good strong +whirlpool, such as must form at that sharp bend at high-water, would +have made not more than one comfortable mouthful of her. + +From the foot of Rock Creek Rapids to the head of Squally Hook Rapids is +something less than four miles of not very swift water. It took me about +all the time the boat was drifting that distance to get her bailed out +enough to retrieve my lost oar-lock from under the bottom-boards. +Squally Hook, I could see, was much the same sort of a short, sharp, +savage rapid as Rock Creek. There was the same restricted "intake," and +the same abrupt bend just beyond the foot; only below Squally Hook the +river turned to the left, where at Rock Creek it had turned to the +right. + +The sheer two-thousand-foot cliff on the inside of the bend that gives +its name to the rapid is well called Squally Hook. What had been a +gentle ten-miles-an-hour breeze on the river above began resolving +itself into a succession of fitful gusts of twenty or thirty as I +approached the rock-walled bend. Even a steady head-wind makes steering +awkward in going into a rapid; a gusty one is a distinct nuisance. To +avoid the necessity of any sharp change of course after I was once among +the white-caps, I resolved to use every care in heading into the rapid +at exactly the right place. That was why, when I became aware that two +girls from a farm-house on a bench above the right bank were motioning +me imperiously in that direction, I swerved sharply from the course I +had decided upon in an endeavour to locate the channel into which I was +sure they were trying to tell me to head. Just what those confounded +half-breed Loreli were _really_ driving at I never did learn. Perhaps +they had apples to sell, or some sweet cider; or perhaps they thought I +had some cider that was not sweet. Perhaps it was pure sociability--the +desire of a bit of a "talky-talk" with the green-boated _voyageur_. At +any rate, they were certainly _not_ trying to pilot me into a clear +channel. That fact walloped me right between the eyes the instant I +discovered that I had pulled beyond the entrance of a perfectly straight +channel and that there was a barely submerged barrier of rock blocking +the river all the way on to the right bank. + +That, of course, left me no alternative but to pull back for all that +was in me to wait the "intake." It was a very similar predicament to the +one in which the mist had tricked me at the head of Umatilla; only +there I had room to make the channel and here I didn't. The current, +running now like a mill-race, carried me onto the reef sixty feet to the +right of the smooth green chute of the "fairway." + +If it had taken half an hour instead of half a second to shoot out +across the shoaling shelf of that froth-hidden reef there might have +been time for a goodly bit of worrying anent the outcome. As it was, +there was just the sudden thrill of seeing the bottom of the river +leaping up to hit the bottom of the boat, the instant of suspense as she +touched and dragged at the brink, and then the dizzy nose-dive of two or +three feet down into deeper water. It was done so quickly that a stroke +checked by the rock of the reef was finished in the up-boil below the +little cascade. With an inch or two less of water she might have hung at +the brink and swung beam-on to the current, which, of course, would have +meant an instant capsize. The way it was, she made a straight clean jump +of it, and only buried her nose in the souse-hole for the briefest part +of a second when she struck. The rest was merely the matter of three +hundred yards of rough running down a rock-clear channel. + +The authors of my near-mess-up came capering down the bank in pursuit as +I swung out into the smoothening swirls, but I only shook my fist at +them and resumed my oars. Darn women, anyway!--when a man's running +rapids, I mean. + +Now one would have thought that those two performances were enough for +one afternoon, especially as both were very largely due to my own +carelessness; but I suppose the "trilogy of trouble" had to be rounded +out complete. From the foot of Squally Hook Rapids to the head of Indian +Rapids is about three miles. The water became ominously slack as I +neared what appeared to be a number of great rock islands almost +completely barring the river. It was not until I was almost even with +the first of them that a channel, very narrow and very straight, opened +up along the left bank. Various other channels led off among the +islands, but with nothing to indicate how or where they emerged. That +flume-like chute down the left bank was plainly the way the steamers +went, and certainly the quickest and most direct course on down the +river. Peering through the rocky vista, I could see a rain storm racing +up the Columbia, with the grey face of it just blotting out a +wedge-shaped gorge through the southern cliffs which I knew must be the +mouth of the John Day. That storm was another reason why I should choose +the shortest and swiftest channel. There ought to be some kind of +shelter where this important southern tributary met the Columbia. + +Of course, I knew all about still water running deep (which was of no +concern to me) and "twisty" (which was of considerable concern). I +should certainly have given more thought to the matter of trimming for +what was sure to be waiting to snap up _Imshallah_ at the foot of that +speeding chute of green-black water had not an old friend of mine +breezed along just then. He was the engineer of the way freight on the +"South-bank" line. We had been exchanging signals in passing for three +days now--twice on his down run and once on his up. This was the first +opportunity I had had to show him how a rapid should be run, and I noted +with gratification that he appeared to be slowing down so as to miss +none of the fine points. On my part, dispensing with my wonted +preliminary "look-see," I swung hard on the oars in an effort to get +into the swiftest water before the spectators were out of sight. + +As the engine drew up even with me, I balanced my oars with my right +hand for a moment and waved the engineer greetings with my left; he, in +turn, ran the locomotive with his left hand and waved with his right. +Then I saw that the fireman was also waving, and, farther back, the +brakeman, from the top of a car, and the conductor from the "lookout" of +the caboose. The occupants of the "dirigible grandstand" at the +Poughkeepsie regattas had nothing on the crew of that way freight. And +the latter, moreover, were treated to a burst of speed such as no +man-propelled boat in still water ever came close to. I was not pulling +over four or five miles an hour myself, but that smooth, steep, +unobstructed chute must have been spilling through its current at close +to twenty. In a couple of hundred yards I pulled up three or four +car-lengths on the comparatively slow-moving train, and I was still +gaining when a sudden "_toot-a-too-toot!_" made me stop rowing and look +around. I had recognized instantly the familiar danger signal, and was +rather expecting to see a cow grazing with true bovine nonchalance on +the weeds between the ties. Instead, it was the engineer's wildly +gesticulating arm that caught my back-cast eye. He was pointing just +ahead of me, and down--evidently at something in the water. + +Then I saw it too--a big black funnel-shaped hole down which a wide +ribbon of river seemed to be taking a sort of a spiral tumble. It was +that entirely well-meant _toot-a-toot_, which was intended to prod me, +not a cow, into activity, that was primarily responsible for what +followed. Had I not ceased rowing on hearing it, it is probable that the +skiff would have had enough way when she did strike that whirlpool to +carry her right on through. As it was _Imshallah_ simply did an undulant +glide into the watery tentacles of the lurking octopus, snuggled into +his breast and prepared to spend the night reeling in a dervish dance +with him. I must do the jade the justice of admitting that she had no +intention of outraging the proprieties by going any further than a +nocturnal terpsichorean revel. Going home for the night with him never +entered her mind; so that when he tried to pull the "Cave-Man stuff" and +drag her down to his under-water grottoes, she put up the most virtuous +kind of resistance. The trouble was that I didn't want to go even as far +as she did. Dancing was the last thing I cared for, with that rain-storm +and night coming on. Yet--at least as far as my friends on the way +freight ever knew--an all-night _Danse d'Apache_ looked very much like +what we were up against; for I recall distinctly that when the train was +disappearing round the next bend _Imshallah_, her head thrown +ecstatically skyward, was still spinning in circles, while I continued +to fan the air with my oars like an animated Dutch windmill. + +It was a mighty sizeable whirlpool, that black-mouthed maelstrom into +which _Imshallah's_ susceptibility had betrayed both of us. I should say +that it was twice the diameter of the one which had given us such a +severe shaking just above the Canadian Boundary, and with a "suck" in +proportion. What helped the situation now, however, was the fact that +the skiff carried rather less than half the weight she did then. At the +rate she was taking water over the stern during that first attack, she +could not have survived for more than half a minute; now she was riding +so much more buoyantly that she was only dipping half a bucket or so +once in every two or three rounds. When I saw that she could probably go +on dancing for an hour or two without taking in enough water to put her +under, something of the ludicrousness of the situation began to dawn on +me. Missing the water completely with half of my strokes, and only +dealing it futile slaps with the rest, I was making no more linear +progress than if I had been riding a merry-go-round. I didn't dare to +put the stern any lower by sliding down there and trying to paddle where +there was water to be reached. Crowding her head down by working my +weight forward finally struck me as the only thing to do. + +With the forward thwart almost above my head this was not an easy +consummation to effect, especially with an oar in either hand. Luckily, +I was now using the "ring" oar-locks, so that they came along on the +oars when I unshipped the latter. Standing up was, of course, out of +the question. I simply slid off backwards on to the bottom and wriggled +forward in a sitting position until I felt my spine against the thwart. +That brought her nose out of the clouds, and she settled down still +farther when, after getting my elbows over the seat behind me, I worked +up into a rowing position. + +The whirlpool was spinning from right to left, and one quick stroke with +my left oar--against the current of the "spin," that is--was enough to +shoot her clear. Bad swirls and two or three smaller "twisters" made her +course a devious one for the next hundred yards, but she never swung in +a complete revolution again. I pulled into smooth water just as the +first drops of the storm began to patter on the back of my neck. + +The first riffle of John Day Rapids sent its warning growl on the +up-river wind before I was a quarter of a mile below the whirlpool, and +ahead loomed a barrier of rock islands, rising out of the white foam +churned up as the Columbia raced between them. I had to run the first +riffle--an easy one--to make the mouth of the John Day, but that was as +far as I went. I reckoned there had been quite enough excitement for one +afternoon without poking into any more rough water against a rain and +head wind. Dropping below the gravel bar off the mouth of the Day, I +pulled fifty yards up-stream in a quiet current and moored _Imshallah_ +under the railway bridge. I camped for the night with a couple of motor +tourists in a shack near the upper end of the bridge. My hosts were two +genial souls, father and son, enjoying an indefinite spell of fishing, +hunting and trapping on a stake the former had made in the sale of one +of his "prospects" in southern Oregon. They were bluff, big-hearted, +genuine chaps, both of them, and we had a highly delightful evening of +yarning. + +It was clear again the next morning, but with the barometer of my +confidence jolted down several notches by what had occurred the previous +afternoon. I pulled across the river and sought a quieter way through +the second riffle of John Day Rapids than that promised by the +boisterous steamer channel. By devious ways and sinuous, I wound this +way and that among the black rock islands, until a shallow channel along +the right bank let me out of the maze at the lower end. This waste of +time and effort was largely due to funkiness on my part, and there was +no necessity for it. The steamer channel is white and rough, with +something of a whirlpool on the left side at the lower end, but nothing +that there is any real excuse for avoiding. The third riffle was nothing +to bother about; nor did Schofield's Rapids, two miles below, offer any +difficulties. As a matter of fact, Adventure, having had its innings, +was taking a day off, leaving me to follow the Golden Trail of Romance. +To-day was "Ladies' Day" on the Columbia. + +Romance first showed her bright eyes at a little farm on the right bank, +three miles below Schofield's Rapids. Landing here to ask about the +channel through a rather noisy rapid beginning to boom ahead, I found a +delectable apple-cheeked miss of about twelve in charge, her father and +mother having gone across to Biggs for the day. She was in sore trouble +at the moment of my advent because her newly-born brindle bull calf--her +really-truly very own--wouldn't take nourishment properly. Now as luck +would have it, teaching a calf table-manners chanced to be one of the +few things I knew about stock-farming. So I showed her how to start in +by letting _Cultus_ (that was merely a temporary name, she said, because +he was so bad) munch her own finger for a spell, from which, by slow +degrees, the lacteal liaison with "Old Mooley" was established. It took +us half an hour to get _Cultus_ functioning on all fours, and rather +longer than that to teach her collie, tabby cat, and the latter's three +kittens to sit in a row and have their mouths milked into. It didn't +take us long to exhaust "Old Mooley's" milk supply at that game, and +when I finally climbed over the barnyard fence on the way down to my +boat, poor _Cultus_ was left butting captiously at an empty udder. +"Apple Cheek" rather wanted me to stay until her father came back, +saying that he had gone to Biggs to get a 'breed for a hired man, and +that, if he didn't get the 'breed, maybe I would do. She almost burst +into tears with shame when I told her I was a moving picture actor +seeking rest and local colour on the Columbia. "You a actor, and I made +you milk 'Old Mooley!'" she sobbed; and it took all my lunch ration of +milk chocolate to bring back her smile. Then, like the Scotch bride at +Windermere, she asked me if I was Bill Hart. Somehow, I wasn't quite +base enough to tell her a concrete lie like that; so I compromised with +a comparative abstraction. I was a rising star in the movie firmament, I +said; an eclectic, taking the best of all the risen stars, of whom much +would be heard later. She was still pondering "_eclectic_" when I pushed +off into the current. Bless your heart, little "Apple Cheek," I hope you +didn't get a spanking for wasting all of _Cultus'_ dinner on the dogs +and cats and the side of the barn! You were about the first person I met +on the Columbia who didn't accuse me of being a boot-legger, and the +only one who believed me hot off the bat when I said I was a movie star. + +The rapid ahead became noisier as I drew nearer, and when I saw it came +from a reef which reached four-fifths of the way across the river from +the left bank, I pulled in and landed at Biggs to inquire about the +channel. The first man I spoke to called a second, and the latter a +third, and so on _ad infinitum_. Pretty near to half the town must have +been gathered at the railway station giving me advice at the end of a +quarter of an hour. Each of them had a different suggestion to make, +ranging from dragging through a half-empty back channel just below the +town to taking the boat out and running it down the track on a +push-cart. As they all were agreed that the steamers used to go down the +opposite side, I finally decided that would be the best way through. Not +to run too much risk of being carried down onto the reef in pulling +across, I lined and poled a half mile up-stream before pushing off. Once +over near the right bank, I found a channel broad and deep enough to +have run at night. + +A couple of miles below Biggs the Columbia is divided by a long narrow +rocky island. The deep, direct channel is that to the right, and is +called Hell Gate--the third gorge of that hackneyed name I had +encountered since pushing off from Beavermouth. Possibly it was because +I was fed-up with the name and all it connoted that I avoided this +channel; more likely it was because Romance was at the tow-line. At any +rate, I headed into the broad shallow channel that flows by the mouth of +the River Des Chutes. It was up this tumultuous stream that Fremont, +after camping at the Dalles and making a short boat voyage below, +started south over the mountains in search of the mythical river that +was supposed to drain from the Utah basin to the Pacific in the vicinity +of San Francisco--one of the indomitable "Pathfinder's" hardest +journeys. + +Just beyond where the River of the Falls, true to name to the last, came +cascading into the Columbia, Romance again raised her golden head--this +time out of the steam rising above an Indian "Turkish-bath." The first +time I had found her in the guise of a twelve-year-old; this time it was +more like a hundred and twelve. One can't make certain within a year or +two about a lady in a Turkish-bath; it wouldn't be seemly even to _try_ +to do so. Pulling in close to the left bank to look at some queer +mud-plastered Indian wickiups, a rush of steam suddenly burst from the +side of the nearest one, and out of that spreading white cloud, rising +like Aphrodite from the sea-foam, emerged the head and shoulders of an +ancient squaw. She was horribly old--literally at the sans eyes, sans +hair, sans teeth, sans everything (including clothes) stage. Cackling +and gesticulating in the rolling steam, she was the _belle ideal_ of +the witch of one's fancy, muttering incantations above her boiling +cauldron. + +Fremont, in somewhat humorous vein, tells of visiting an Indian camp in +this vicinity on the Columbia, and of how one of the squaws who had +rushed forth in complete _deshabille_ on hearing the voices of +strangers, "properized" herself at the last moment by using her +papoose--as far as it would go--as a shield. But this old "Aphrodite" I +had flushed from cover was so old that, if her youngest child had been +ready to hand, and that latter had had one of her own children within +reach, and this third one had had a child available, I am certain that +still another generation or two would have had to be descended before a +papoose sufficiently young enough to make "properization" proper would +have been found. I trust I make that clear. And when you _have_ +visualized it, isn't it a funny pyramid? + +With two or three more "Aphrodites" beginning to bubble up through the +steam, it is just possible that some such an ocular barrage actually was +in process of formation; but I think not. My hard-plied oars had hardly +lengthened my interval to much over fifty yards, when the whole lot of +them trooped down to the river--steaming amazingly they were at the +touch of the sharp early winter air--and plunged into the icy water. I +learned later that this "sweat-bath" treatment is the favourite cure-all +with the Indians of that part of the Columbia Basin. + +Where the left-hand channel returned to the main Columbia a mile or more +below the mouth of the River Des Chutes I encountered an extensive +series of rock-reefs which, until I drew near them, seemed to block the +way completely. It was a sinuous course I wound in threading my way +through the ugly basaltic outcroppings, but the comparatively slow +water robbed it of any menace. Once clear of the rocks, I found myself +at the head of the long, lake-like stretch of water backed up above +Celilo Falls. The low rumble of the greatest cataract of the lower +Columbia was already pulsing in the air, while a floating cloud of +"water-smoke," white against the encroaching cliffs, marked its +approximate location. I was at last approaching the famous "long +portage" of the old _voyageurs_, a place noted (in those days) for the +worst water and the most treacherous Indians on the river. Now, however, +the Indians no longer blocked the way and exacted toll, while the +portage had been bridged by a Government canal. I caught the loom of the +head-gate of the latter about the same time that the bridge of the +"North-Bank" branch line, which spans the gorge below the falls, began +rearing its blurred fret-work above the mists. Then, once again, +Romance. "Ladies' Day" was not yet over. As I pulled in toward the +entrance to the canal, at the left of the head of the falls, I observed +a very gaily-blanketed dame dancing up and down on the bank and +gesticulating toward the opposite side of the river. As I landed and +started to pull the skiff up on the gravelly beach, she came trotting +down to entreat, in her best "Anglo-Chinook," that I ferry her to the +opposite bank, where her home was, and, where, apparently, she was long +overdue. She wasn't a beggar, she assured me, but--jingling her beaded +bag under my nose--was quite willing to pay me "_hiyu chickamon_" for +my services. Nor was she unduly persistent. No sooner had I told her +that I was in a "_hiyu rush_" and hadn't the time just then to be a +squire of dames, than she bowed her head in stoical acquiescence and +went back to her waving and croaking. It was that futile old croak (with +not enough power behind it to send it a hundred yards across a mile-wide +river) that caved my resolution. Shoving _Imshallah_ back into the +water, I told her to pile in. + +And so Romance drew near to me again, this time perched up in the +long-empty stern-sheets of my boat. This one was neither an infant nor a +centurienne, but rather a fair compromise between the two. Nor was she +especially fair nor especially compromising (one couldn't expect that of +a sixty-year-old squaw); but she was the most trusting soul I ever met, +and that's something. The falls were thundering not fifty yards +below--near enough to wet us with their up-blown spray,--and yet not one +word of warning did she utter about giving the brink a wide birth in +pulling across. Not that I needed such a warning, for the first thing I +did was to start pulling up-stream in the slack water; but, all the +same, it was a distinct compliment to have it omitted. As it turned out, +there was nothing to bother about, for the current was scarcely swifter +in mid-stream than along the banks. It was an easy pull. Romance beamed +on me all the way, and once, when one of her stubby old toes came afoul +of my hob-nailed boot, she bent over and gave a few propitiary rubs +to--the boot ... as if _that_ had lost any cuticle. And at parting, +when I waved her money-bag aside and told her to keep her _chickamon_ to +spend on the movies, she came and patted me affectionately on the +shoulder, repeating over and over "_Close tum-tum mika!_" And that, in +Chinook, means: "You're very much all right!" As far as I can remember, +that is the only unqualified praise I ever had from a lady--one of that +age, I mean. Squiring squaws--especially dear old souls like that +one--is a lot better fun than a man would think. + +[Illustration: LIFTED DRAWBRIDGE ON CELILO CANAL (_above_)] + +[Illustration: TUMWATER GORGE OF THE GRAND DALLES (_below_)] + +[Illustration: "IMSHALLAH" IN THE LOCK AT FIVE-MILE] + +[Illustration: "IMSHALLAH" HALF WAY THROUGH THE CELILO CANAL] + +It was four o'clock when I turned up at the lock-master's house at +Celilo, and then to find that that worthy had just taken his gun and +gone off up on the cliffs to try and bag a goose. As it would probably +be dark before he returned, his wife reckoned I had better put up with +them for the night and make an early start through the Canal the +following morning. The lock-master, a genial Texan, came down with his +goose too late it get it ready for supper, but not to get it picked that +night. Indeed, we made rather a gala occasion of it. "Mistah" Sides got +out his fiddle and played "The Arkansaw Traveller" and "Turkey in the +Straw," the while his very comely young wife accompanied on the piano +and their two children, the village school-marm and myself collaborated +on the goose. It was a large bird, but many hands make light work; that +is, as far as getting the feathers off the goose was concerned. Cleaning +up the kitchen was another matter. As it was the giddy young +school-teacher who _started_ the trouble by putting feathers down my +neck, I hope "Missus" Sides made that demure-eyed minx swab down decks +in the morning before she went to teach the young idea how to shoot. + +There is no lock at the head of the Celilo Canal, but a gate is +maintained for the purpose of regulating flow and keeping out drift. +Sides, silhouetted against the early morning clouds, worked the gates +and let me through into the narrow, concrete-walled canal, down which I +pulled with the thunder of the falls on one side and on the other the +roar of a passing freight. The earth-shaking rumbles died down +presently, and beyond the bend below the railway bridge I found myself +rowing quietly through the shadow of the great wall of red-black cliffs +that dominate the Dalles from the south. + +Celilo Falls is a replica on a reduced scale of the Horse-shoe cataract +at Niagara. At middle and low-water there is a drop of twenty feet here, +but at the flood-stage of early summer the fall is almost wiped out in +the lake backed up from the head of the Tumwater gorge of the Dalles. +The Dalles then form one practically continuous rapid, eight or nine +miles in length, with many terrific swirls and whirlpools, but with all +rocks so deeply submerged that it is _possible_ for a well-handled +steamer to run through in safety--provided she is lucky. With the +completion of the Canal this wildest of all steamer runs was no longer +necessary, but in the old days it was attempted a number of times when +it was desired to take some craft that had been constructed on the upper +river down to Portland. The first steamer was run through successfully +in May, 1866, by Captain T. J. Stump, but the man who became famous for +his success in getting away with this dare-devil stunt was Captain +James Troup, perhaps the greatest of all Columbia skippers. Professor W. +D. Lyman gives the following graphic account of a run through the Dalles +with Captain Troup, on the _D. S. Baker_, in 1888. + + "At that strange point in the river, the whole vast volume is + compressed into a channel but one hundred and sixty feet wide at + low water and much deeper than wide. Like a huge mill-race the + current continues nearly straight for two miles, when it is + hurled with frightful force against a massive bluff. Deflected + from the bluff, it turns at a sharp angle to be split asunder by + a low reef of rock. When the _Baker_ was drawn into the suck of + the current at the head of the 'chute' she swept down the + channel, which was almost black, with streaks of foam, to the + bluff, two miles in four minutes. There feeling the tremendous + refluent wave, she went careening over toward the sunken reef. + The skilled captain had her perfectly in hand, and precisely at + the right moment rang the signal bell, 'Ahead, full speed,' and + ahead she went, just barely scratching her side on the rock. Thus + close was it necessary to calculate distance. If the steamer had + struck the tooth-like point of the reef broadside on, she would + have been broken in two and carried in fragments on either side. + Having passed this danger point, she glided into the beautiful + calm bay below and the feat was accomplished." + +There is a fall of eighty-one feet in the twelve miles from the head of +Celilo Falls to the foot of the Dalles. This is the most considerable +rate of descent in the whole course of the Columbia in the United +States, though hardly more than a third of that over stretches of the +Big Bend in Canada. It appeared to be customary for the old _voyageurs_ +to make an eight or ten miles portage here, whether going up or down +stream, though there were doubtless times when their big _batteaux_ were +equal to running the Dalles below Celilo. I climbed out and took hurried +surveys of both Tumwater and Five-Mile (sometimes called "The Big +Chute") in passing, and while they appeared to be such that I would +never have considered taking a chance with a skiff in either of them, it +did look as though a big double-ender, with an experienced crew of +oarsmen and paddlers, would have been able to make the run. That was a +snap judgment, formed after the briefest kind of a "look-see," and it +may well be that I was over optimistic. + +The Celilo Canal, which was completed by the Government about five years +ago, is eight and a half miles long, has a bottom width of sixty-five +feet, and a depth of eight feet. It has a total lift of eighty feet, of +which seventy are taken by two locks in flight at the lower end. That +this canal has failed of its object--that of opening up through +navigation between tide-water and the upper Columbia--is due to no +defect of its own from an engineering standpoint, but rather to the fact +that, first the railway, and now the truck, have made it impossible for +river steamers to pay adequate returns in the face of costly operation +and the almost prohibitive risks of running day after day through +rock-beset rapids. There is not a steamer running regularly on the +Columbia above the Dalles to-day. The best service, perhaps, which the +Celilo Canal rendered was the indirect one of forcing a very +considerable reduction of railway freight rates. That alone is said to +have saved the shippers of eastern Oregon and Washington many times the +cost of this highly expensive undertaking. + +I pulled at a leisurely gait down the Canal, stopping, as I have said, +at Tumwater and Five-Mile, and at the latter giving the lock-master a +hand in dropping _Imshallah_ down a step to the next level. Rowing past +a weird "fleet" of laid-up salmon-wheels in the Big Eddy Basin, I +sheered over to the left bank in response to a jovial hail, and found +myself shaking hands with Captain Stewart Winslow, in command of the +Government dredge, _Umatilla_, and one of the most experienced skippers +on the upper river. He said that he had been following the progress of +my voyage by the papers with a good deal of interest, and had been on +the lookout to hold me over for a yarn. As I was anxious to make the +Dalles that night, so as to get away for an early start on the following +morning, he readily agreed to join me for the run and dinner at the +hotel. + +While Captain Winslow was making a hurried shift of togs for the river, +I had a brief but highly interesting visit with Captain and Mrs. +Saunders. Captain Saunders, who is of the engineering branch of the +army, has been in charge of the Celilo Canal for a number of years. Mrs. +Saunders has a very large and valuable collection of Indian relics and +curios, and at the moment of my arrival was following with great +interest the progress of a State Highway cut immediately in front of her +door, which was uncovering, evidently in an old graveyard, some stone +mortars of unusual size and considerable antiquity. When Captain Winslow +was ready, we went down to the skiff, and pulled along to the first +lock. With Captain Saunders and a single helper working the machinery, +passing us down to the second lock and on out into the river was but the +matter of a few minutes. + +Big Eddy must be rather a fearsome hole at high water, but below middle +stage there is not enough power behind its slow-heaving swirls to make +them troublesome. It was a great relief to have a competent river-man at +the paddle again, and my rather over-craned neck was not the least +beneficiary by the change. The narrows at Two-Mile were interesting +rather for what they might be than what they were. Beyond a lively +snaking about in the conflicting currents, it was an easy passage +through to the smooth water of the broadening river below. One or two +late salmon-wheels plashed eerily in the twilight as we ran past the +black cliffs, but fishing for the season was practically over weeks +before. We landed just above the steamer dock well before dark, beached +the skiff, stowed my outfit in the warehouse, and reached the hotel in +time to avoid an early evening shower. Captain Winslow had to dine early +in order to catch his train back to Big Eddy, but we had a mighty good +yarn withal. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HOME STRETCH + + +The Dalles was the largest town I touched on the Columbia, and one of +the most attractive. Long one of the largest wool-shipping centres of +the United States, it has recently attained to considerable importance +as a fruit market. It will not, however, enter into anything approaching +the full enjoyment of its birthright until the incalculably enormous +power possibilities of Celilo Falls and the Dalles have been developed. +So far, as at every other point along the Columbia with the exception of +a small plant at Priest Rapids, nothing has been done along this line. +When it is, The Dalles will be in the way of becoming one of the most +important industrial centres of the West. + +In the days of the _voyageurs_ The Dalles was notorious for the +unspeakably treacherous Indians who congregated there to intimidate and +plunder all who passed that unavoidable portage. They were lying, +thieving scoundrels for the most part, easily intimidated by a show of +force and far less prone to stage a real fight than their more warlike +brethren who disputed the passage at the Cascades. That this +"plunderbund" tradition is one which the present-day Dalles is making a +great point of living down, I had conclusive evidence of through an +incident that arose in connection with my hotel bill. I had found my +room extremely comfortable and well appointed, so that the bill +presented for it at my departure, far from striking me as unduly high, +seemed extremely reasonable. I think I may even have said something to +that effect; yet, two days later in Portland, I received a letter +containing an express order for one dollar, and a note saying that this +was the amount of an unintentional over-charge for my room. That was +characteristic of the treatment I received from first to last in +connection with my small financial transactions along the way. I never +dreamed that there were still so many people in the world above +profiteering at the expense of the passing tourist until I made my +Columbia voyage. + +I had intended, by making an early start from The Dalles, to endeavour +to cover the forty odd miles to the head of the Cascades before dark of +the same day. Two things conspired to defeat this ambitious plan: first, +some unexpected mail which had to be answered, and, second, my equally +unexpected booking of a passenger--a way passenger who had to be landed +well short of the Cascades. Just as I was cleaning up the last of my +letters, the hotel clerk introduced me to the "Society Editor" of The +Dalles _Chronicle_, who wanted an interview. I told her that I was +already two hours behind schedule, but that if she cared to ride the +running road with me for a while, she could have the interview, with +lunch thrown in, on the river. She accepted with alacrity, but begged +for half an hour to clean up her desk at the _Chronicle_ office and +change to out-door togs. Well within that limit, she was back again at +the hotel, flushed, pant-ing and pant-ed, and announced that she was +ready. Picking up a few odds and ends of food at the nearest grocery, we +went down to the dock, where I launched and loaded up _Imshallah_ in +time to push off at ten o'clock. I had, of course, given up all idea of +making the Cascades that day, and reckoned that Hood River, about +twenty-five miles, would be a comfortable and convenient halting place +for the night. And so it would have been.... + +[Illustration: PALISADE ROCK, LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER] + +[Illustration: MULTNOMAH FALLS COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY, NEAR PORTLAND] + +I don't remember whether or not we ever got very far with the +"interview," but I do recall that Miss S---- talked very interestingly +of Johan Bojer and his work, and that she was in the midst of a keenly +analytical review of "The Great Hunger" when a sudden darkening of what +up to then had been only a slightly overcast sky reminded me that I had +been extremely remiss in the matter of keeping an eye on the weather. +Indeed, up to that moment the menace of storms on the river had been of +such small moment as compared to that of rapids that I had come to rate +it as no more than negligible. Now, however, heading into the heart of +the Cascades, I was approaching a series of gorges long notorious among +river _voyageurs_ as a veritable "wind factory"--a "storm-breeder" of +the worst description. After all that I had read of the way in which the +early pioneers had been held up for weeks by head winds between the +Dalles and the Cascades, there was no excuse for my failure to keep a +weather eye lifting at so treacherous a point. The only _alibi_ I can +think of is Adam's: "The woman did it." Nor is there any ungallantry in +that plea. Quite the contrary, in fact; for I am quite ready to +confess that I should probably fail to watch the clouds again under +similar circumstances. + +There were a few stray mavericks of sunshine shafts trying to struggle +down to the inky pit of the river as I turned to give the weather a +once-over, but they were quenched by the sinister cloud-pall even as I +looked. The whole gorge of the river-riven Cascades was heaped full of +wallowing nimbus which, driven by a fierce wind, was rolling up over the +water like an advancing smoke-barrage. The forefront of the wind was +marked by a wild welter of foam-white water, while a half mile behind a +streaming curtain of gray-black indicated the position of the advancing +wall of the rain. It would have been a vile-looking squall even in the +open sea; here the sinister threat of it was considerably accentuated by +the towering cliffs and the imminent outcrops of black rock studding the +surface of the river. I had no serious doubt that _Imshallah_, after all +the experience she had had in rough water, would find any great +difficulty in riding out the blow where she was, but since it hardly +seemed hospitable to subject my lady guest to any more of a wetting than +could be avoided, I turned and headed for the lee shore. Miss S---- was +only about half muffled in the rubber saddle _poncho_ and the light +"shed" tent I tossed to her before resuming my oars when the wall of the +wind--hard and solid as the side of a flying barn--struck us full on the +starboard beam. It was rather careless of me, not heading up to meet +that squall before it struck; but the fact was that I simply couldn't +take seriously anything that it seemed possible _could_ happen on such a +deep, quiet stretch of river. The consequence of taking that buffet on +the beam was quite a merry bit of a mix-up. The shower-bath of blown +spray and the dipping under of the lee rail were rather the least of my +troubles. What did have me guessing for a minute, though, was the result +of the fact that that confounded fifty-miles-an-hour zephyr got under +the corners of the tent and, billowing it monstrously, carried about +half of it overboard; also a somewhat lesser amount of Miss S----, who +was just wrapping herself in it. I had to drop my oars to effect +adequate salvage operations, and so leave the skiff with her port +gunwale pretty nearly hove under. As soon as I got around to swing her +head up into the teeth of the wind things eased off a bit. + +The river was about a mile wide at this point--ten miles below The +Dalles and about opposite the station of Rowena--and, save for +occasional outcroppings of black bedrock, fairly deep. The north shore +was rocky all the way along, but that to the south (which was also the +more protected on account of a jutting point ahead) was a broad sandy +beach. That beach seemed to offer a comparatively good landing, and, as +it extended up-stream for half a mile, it appeared that I ought to have +no great difficulty in fetching it. The first intimation I had that this +might not be as easy as I had reckoned came when, in spite of the fact +that I was pulling down-stream in a three or four-mile current, the wind +backed the skiff up-stream past a long rock island at a rate of five or +six miles an hour. That was one of the queerest sensations I experienced +on the whole voyage--having to avoid bumping the _lower_ end of a rock +the while I could see the riffle where a strong current was flowing +around the _upper_ end. + +I settled down to pulling in good earnest after that rather startling +revelation, trying to hold the head of the skiff just enough to the left +of the eye of the wind to give her a good shoot across the current. +Luckily, I had been pretty well over toward the south bank when the wind +struck. There was only about a quarter of a mile to go, but I was blown +back just about the whole length of that half mile of sandy beach in +making it. The last hundred yards I was rowing "all out," and it was +touch-and-go as to whether the skiff was going to nose into soft sand or +the lower end of a long stretch of half-submerged rocks. I was a good +deal relieved when it proved to be the beach--by about twenty feet. We +would have made some kind of a landing on the rocks without doubt, but +hardly without giving the bottom of the boat an awful banging. + +The sand proved unexpectedly soft when I jumped out upon it, but I +struck firm bottom before I had sunk more than an inch or two above my +boot tops and managed to drag the skiff up far enough to escape the +heaviest of the wash of the waves. It was rather a sodden bundle of wet +canvas that I carried out and deposited under a pine tree beyond +high-water mark, but the core of it displayed considerable life after it +had been extracted and set up to dry before the fire of pitchy cones +that I finally succeeded in teasing into a blaze. To show Miss S---- +that the storm hadn't affected my equanimity, I asked her to go on with +her review of "The Great Hunger;" but she replied her own was more +insistent, and reminded me that I hadn't served lunch yet. Well, +rain-soaked biscuit and milk chocolate are rather difficult to take +without a spoon; but a pound of California seedless raisins, if munched +slowly, go quite a way with two people. + +The worst of the squall was over in half an hour, and, anxious to make +hay while the sun shone, I pushed off again in an endeavor to get on as +far as I could before the next broadside opened up. Miss S---- and I +landed at the Rowena Ferry, to catch the afternoon train back to The +Dalles. She was a good ship-mate, and I greatly regret she had the bad +luck to be my passenger on the only day I encountered a really hard blow +in all of my voyage. + +There was another threatening turret of black cloud beginning to train +its guns as I pulled out into the stream beyond Rowena, and it opened +with all the big stuff it had before I had gone a mile. While it lasted, +the bombardment was as fierce as the first one. Fortunately, its +ammunition ran out sooner. I kept the middle of the current this time, +pulling as hard as I could against the wind. I got a thorough raking, +fore-and-aft, for my temerity, but, except at the height of the wind, I +managed to avoid the ignominy of being forced back against the stream. + +The third squall, which opened up about three-thirty, was a better +organized assault, and gave me a pretty splashy session of it. When that +blow got the range of me I was just pulling along to the left of a +desolate tongue of black basalt called Memaloose Island. For many +centuries this rocky isle was used by the Klickatats as a burial place, +which fact induced a certain Indian-loving pioneer of The Dalles, Victor +Trevett by name, to order his own grave dug there. A tall marble shaft +near the lower end of the island marks the spot. Now I have no objection +to marble shafts in general, nor even to this one in particular--as a +shaft. I just got tired of seeing it, that was all. If any skipper on +the Columbia ever passed Vic Trevett's monument as many times in a year +as I did in an hour, I should like to know what run he was on. + +Swathed in oilskins, my potential speed was cut down both by the +resistance my augmented bulk offered to the wind and the increased +difficulty of pulling with so much on. Down past the monument I would go +in the lulls, and up past the monument I would go before the gusts. +There, relentless as the _Flying Dutchman_, that white shaft hung for +the best part of an hour. I only hope what I said to the wind didn't +disturb old Vic Trevett's sleep. Finally, a quarter of an hour's easing +of the blow let me double the next point; and then it turned loose with +all its guns again. Quite gone in the back and legs, I gave up the +unequal fight and started to shoot off quartering toward the shore. +Glancing over my shoulder in an endeavour to get some kind of an idea of +where, and against what, I might count on striking, an astounding sight +met my eyes, a picture so weird and infernal that I had to pause +(mentally) and assure myself that those raisins I had for lunch had not +been "processed." + +Of all the sinister landscapes I ever saw--including the lava fields of +a good many volcanoes and a number of the world's most repulsive "bad +lands"--that which opened up to me as I tried to head in beyond that +hard-striven-for point stands alone in my memory for sheer awesomeness. +The early winter twilight had already begun to settle upon the gloomy +gorge, the duskiness greatly accentuating the all-pervading murk cast +upon the river by the pall of the sooty clouds. All round loomed walls +of black basalt, reflecting darkly in water whose green had been +completely quenched by the brooding purple shadows. The very pines on +the cliffs merged in the solid opacity behind their scraggly forms, and +even the fringe of willows above high-water-mark looped round the +crescent of beach below like a fragment of mourning band. And that +stretch of silver sand--the one thing in the whole infernal landscape +whose whiteness the gloom alone could not drown: how shall I describe +the jolt it gave me when I discovered that six or seven black devils +were engaged in systematically spraying it with an inky liquid that left +it as dark and dead to the eye as a Stygian strand of anthracite? It was +a lucky thing those raisins had _not_ been "processed;" else I might not +have remembered readily what I had heard of the way the "South-Bank" +railway had been keeping the sand from drifting over its tracks by +spraying with crude oil the bars uncovered at low water. + +With that infernal mystery cleared up, my mind was free to note and take +advantage of a rather remarkable incidental phenomenon. The effect of +oil on troubled waters was no new thing to me, for on a number of +occasions I had helped to rig a bag of kerosene-soaked oakum over the +bows of a schooner hove-to in a gale; but to find a stretch of water +already oiled for me at just the time and place I was in the sorest need +of it--well, I couldn't see where those manna-fed Children of Israel +wandering in the desert found their advance arrangements looked to any +better than that. The savage wind-whipped white-caps that were buffeting +me in mid-stream dissolved into foam-streaked ripples the moment they +impinged upon the broadening oil-sleeked belt where the petroleum had +seeped riverward from the sprayed beach. A solid jetty of stone could +not have broken the rollers more effectually. On one side was a wild +wallow of tossing water; on the other--as far as the surface of the +river was concerned--an almost complete calm. + +It was a horrible indignity to heap upon _Imshallah_ (and, after the way +she had displayed her resentment following her garbage shower under the +Wenatchee bridge, I knew that spirited lady would make me pay dear for +it if ever she had the chance); still--dead beat as I was--there was +nothing else to do but to head into that oleaginous belt of calm and +make the best of it. The wind still took a deal of bucking, but with the +banging of the waves at an end my progress was greatly accelerated. +Hailing the black devils on the bank, I asked where the nearest village +was concealed, to learn that Moosier was a couple of miles below, but +well back from the river. They rather doubted that I could find my way +to the town across the mudflats, but thought it might be worth trying +in preference to pushing on in the dark to Hood River. + +Those imps of darkness were right about the difficulty of reaching +Moosier after nightfall. A small river coming in at that point seemed to +have deposited a huge bar of quicksand all along the left bank, and I +would never have been able to make a landing at all had not a belated +duck-hunter given me a hand. After tying up to an oar, he very +courteously undertook to pilot me to the town through the +half-overflowed willow and alder flats. As a consequence of taking the +lead, it was the native rather than the visitor who went off the caving +path into the waist-deep little river. Coming out of the woods, a +hundred-yards of slushing across a flooded potato-patch brought us to +the railway embankment, and from there it was comparatively good going +to the hotel. Luckily, the latter had a new porcelain tub and running +hot water, luxuries one cannot always be sure of in the smaller Columbia +River towns. + +[Illustration: CITY OF PORTLAND WITH MT. HOOD IN THE DISTANCE] + +It was just at the close of the local apple season, and I found the +hotel brimming over with departing packers. Most of the latter were +girls from Southern California orange-packing houses, imported for the +season. Several of them came from Anaheim, and assured me that they had +packed Valencias from a small grove of mine in that district. They were +a good deal puzzled to account for the fact that a man with a Valencia +grove should be "hobo-ing" round the country like I was, and seemed +hardly to take me seriously when I assured them it was only a matter of +a year or two before all farmers would be hobos. It's funny how +apple-packing seems to bring out all the innate snobbery in a lady +engaging in that lucrative calling; they didn't seem to think tramping +was quite respectable. I slept on the parlour couch until three in the +morning, when I "inherited" the room occupied by a couple of packettes +departing by the Portland train. As they seem to have been addicted to +"_attar of edelweiss_," or something of the kind, and there hadn't been +time for fumigation, I rather regretted making the shift. + +[Illustration: BRIDGE ON COLUMBIA HIGHWAY NEAR PORTLAND, OREGON] + +When I had splashed back to the river in the morning, I found that +_Imshallah_ anxious to hide the shame of that oil-bath, had spent the +night trying to bury herself in the quicksand. Dumping her was out of +the question, and I sank mid-thigh deep two or three times myself before +I could persuade the sulking minx even to take the water. I knew she +would take the first chance that offered to rid herself of the filth, +just as she had before; but, with no swift water above the Cascades, +there seemed small likelihood of her getting out-of-hand. Knowing that +she was quite equal to making a bolt over the top of that terrible +cataract if she hadn't managed to effect some sort of purification +before reaching there, I made an honest attempt at conciliation by +landing at the first solid beach I came to and giving her oily sides a +good swabbing down with a piece of carpet. That seemed to mollify the +temperamental lady a good deal, but just the same I knew her too well to +take any chances. + +Of all the great rivers in the world, there are only two that have had +the audacity to gouge a course straight through a major range of +mountains. These are the Brahmaputra, which clove a way through the +Himalaya in reaching the Bay of Bengal from Tibet, and the Columbia, +which tore the Cascades asunder in making its way to the Pacific. But +the slow process of the ages by which the great Asian river won its way +to the sea broke its heart and left it a lifeless thing. It emerges from +the mountains with barely strength enough to crawl across the most +dismal of deltas to lose its identity in the brackish estuaries at its +many insignificant mouths. The swift stroke by which the Cascades were +parted for the Columbia left "The Achilles of Rivers" unimpaired in +vigour. It rolls out of the mountains with a force which endless aeons +have not weakened to a point where it was incapable of carrying the silt +torn down by its erosive actions far out into the sea. It is the one +great river that does not run for scores, perhaps hundreds, of miles +through a flat, monotonous delta; the one great stream that meets the +ocean strength for strength. The Nile, the Niger, the Amazon, the +Yangtse, the Mississippi--all of the other great rivers--find their way +to the sea through miasmic swamps; only the Columbia finishes in a +setting worthy of that in which it takes its rise. Nay, more than that. +Superlative to the last degree as is the scenery along the Columbia, +from its highest glacial sources in the Rockies and Selkirks right down +to the Cascades, there is not a gorge, a vista, a panorama, a cascade of +which I cannot truthfully say: "That reminds me of something I have seen +before." The list would include the names of most of the scenic wonders +that the world has come to know as the ultimate expression of the grand +and the sublime; but in time my record of comparisons would be complete. +But for the distinctive grandeur of that fifty miles of cliff-walled +gorge where the Columbia rolls through its Titan-torn rift in the +Cascades, I fail completely to find a comparison. It is unique; without +a near-rival of its kind. + +Because so many attempts--all of them more or less futile--have been +made to describe the Cascade Gorge of the Columbia, I shall not rush in +here with word pictures where even railway pamphleteers have failed. The +fact that several of the points I attained in the high Selkirks are +scarcely more than explored, and that many stretches I traversed of the +upper river are very rarely visited, must be the excuse for such essays +at descriptions as I have now and then been tempted into in the +foregoing chapters. That excuse is not valid in connection with the +Cascade Gorge, and, frankly, I am mighty glad of the chance to side-step +the job. I must beg leave, however, to make brief record of an +interesting "scenic coincidence" that was impressed on my mind the +afternoon that I pulled through the great chasm of the Cascades. + +It was a day of sunshine and showers, with the clouds now revealing, now +concealing the towering mountain walls on either hand. The almost +continuous rains of the last four days had greatly augmented the flow of +the streams, and there was one time, along toward evening, that I +counted seven distinct waterfalls tumbling over a stretch of tapestried +cliff on the Oregon side not over two miles in length. And while these +shimmering ribbons of fluttering satin were still within eye-scope, a +sudden shifting of the clouds uncovered in quick succession three +wonderful old volcanic cones--Hood, to the south, Adams, to the north, +and a peak which I think must have been St. Helens to the west. +Instantly the lines of Tennyson's _Lotos Eaters_ came to my mind. + + "A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke, + Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go; + And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke, + Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below. + They saw the gleaming river seaward flow + From the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops, + Three silent pinnacles of aged snow, + Stood sunset-flushed; and, dew'd with showery drops, + Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse." + +Tennyson, of course, was writing of some tropic land thirty or forty +degrees south of Oregon, for in the next verse he speaks of palms and +brings the "mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters" swimming about the keel; +and yet there is his description, perfect to the last, least word, of +what any one may see in a not-too-cloudy day from the right point on the +lower Columbia. + +The Hood and the White Salmon flow into the Columbia almost opposite +each other, the former from Mount Hood, to the south, and the latter +from Mount Adams, to the north. White Salmon, perched on the mountains +of the Washington side, is, so far as I can recall, the "Swiss-iest" +looking village in America. At close range it would doubtless lose much +of its picturesqueness, but from the river it is a perfect bit of the +Tyrol or the Bernese-Oberland. The Hood River Valley is one of the very +richest in all the West, running neck-and-neck with Yakima and Wenatchee +for the Blue Ribbon honours of Northwestern apple production. It is +also becoming a dairying centre of considerable importance. I was +genuinely sorry that my "through" schedule made it impossible to visit a +valley of which I had heard so much and so favourably. + +Nearing the Cascades, I headed over close to the Oregon bank for a +glimpse of the famous "sunken forest." This is one of the strangest +sights on the lower river. For a considerable distance I pulled along +the stumps of what had once been large forest trees, the stubby boles +showing plainly through the clear water to a very considerable depth. +There is some division of opinion as to whether these trees were +submerged following the damming up of the river by the slide which +formed the Cascades, or whether they have slid in from the mountainside +at a later date. As there is still enough of a riverward earth-movement +to necessitate a realignment of the rails on the south bank of the +Cascades, it is probable that the latter is the correct theory. The +self-preservative character of Oregon pine is proverbial, but it hardly +seems reasonable to believe that it would last through the very +considerable geologic epoch that must have elapsed since the Cascades +were formed. + +Hugging the Oregon shore closely, I pulled down toward the head of the +Cascades canal. The water continued almost lake-like in its slackness +even after the heavy rumble of the fall began to beat upon the air. I +was taking no chances of a last-minute bolt from the still restive +_Imshallah_, however, and skirted the sandy bank so closely that twice I +found myself mixed up in the remains of the past season's salmon-traps. +Passing a big sawmill, I entered the canal and kept rowing until I came +plump up against the lofty red gates. An astonishingly pretty girl who +peered down from above said she didn't know what a lock-master was +(being only a passenger waiting for the steamer herself), but thought a +man hammering on the other side of the gate looked like he might be +something of that kind. She was right. The lock-master said he would +gladly put me through, but would be greatly obliged if I would wait +until he locked down the steamer, as he was pretty busy at the moment. +That would give me half an hour to go down and size up the tail of the +Cascades, which I would have to run immediately on coming out at the +foot of the lock. + +There is a fall of twenty-five feet at the Cascades, most of it in the +short, sharp pitch at the head. It is this latter stretch that is +avoided by the canal and locks, the total length of which is about half +a mile. The two lock chambers are identical in dimensions, each being +ninety feet by four hundred and sixty-five in the clear. They were +opened to navigation in 1896, and were much used during the early years +of the present century. With the extension of the railways, (especially +with the building of the "North-bank" line), and the improvement of the +roads, with the incidental increase of truck-freighting, it became more +and more difficult for the steamers to operate profitably even on the +lower river. One after another they had been taken off their runs, until +the _J. N. Teal_, for which I was now waiting, was the last steamer +operating in a regular service on the Columbia above Portland. + +Opening the great curving gates a crack, the lock-master admitted +_Imshallah_ to the chamber, from where--in the absence of a ladder--I +climbed up fifty feet to the top on the beams of the steel-work. That +was a pretty stiff job for a fat man, or rather one who had so recently +been fat. I was down to a fairly compact two hundred and twenty by now, +but even that required the expenditure of several foot-tons of energy to +lift it out of that confounded hole. The main fall of the Cascades was +roaring immediately on my right, just beyond the narrow island that had +been formed when the locks and canal were constructed. It was indeed a +viciously-running chute, suggesting to me the final pitch of the +left-hand channel of Rock Island Rapids rather than Grand Rapids, to +which it is often compared. I had heard that on rare occasions steamers +had been run down here at high water; at the present stage it looked to +me that neither a large nor a small boat would have one chance in a +hundred of avoiding disaster. + +The canal and locks avoided that first heavy fall of the Cascades +completely, but the swift tumble of waters below was quite rough enough +to make a preliminary survey well worth while. The steamer channel was +on the Washington side, so that it was necessary for a boat to head +directly across the current immediately on emerging from the lower lock +chamber. The Oregon side of the river was thick with rocks right away +round the bend, with not enough clear water to permit the passage of +even a skiff. My course, therefore, would have to be the same as that of +the steamer--just as sharply across to the opposite side as oars would +take me. I had put _Imshallah_ through worse water than that a score of +times, and, while it wasn't the sort of a place where one would want to +break an oar or even catch a "crab," there was no reason to believe that +we should have the least trouble in pulling across the hard-running +swirls. Of course, if _Imshallah_ really was still smarting under the +indignity of that oil-bath.... But no--I honestly think there was nothing +of distrust of my well-tried little skiff behind my sudden change of +plans. Rather, I should say, it was due to the fact that a remark of the +lock-master had brought me to a sudden realization that I now arrived at +what I had always reckoned as my ultimate objective--tide-water. + +I had been planning to run on four miles farther to Bonneville that +afternoon, in the hope of being able to pull through the forty miles of +slackening water to Vancouver the following day. There I would get a tug +to take the skiff up the Willamette to Portland, where I intended to +leave her. As some of the finest scenery on the Columbia is passed in +the twenty miles below the Cascades, this promised me another memorable +day on the river--provided that there was only an occasional decent +interval between showers. It was the lock-master's forecast of another +rainy day, together with his assurance that the foot of the locks was +generally rated as the head of tide-water, that prompted me to change +my mind a few moments before I was due to pull out again to the river, +and book through to Portland on the _Teal_. + +With the idea of avoiding the wash of the steamer, I pulled down to the +extreme lower end of the locks before she entered, taking advantage of +the interval of waiting to trim carefully and look to my oars for the +pull across the foot of the Cascades. I was intending to let the _Teal_ +lock out ahead of me, and then pull as closely as possible in her wake, +so as to have her below me to pick up the pieces in case anything went +wrong. It was close to twilight now, with the sodden west darkening +early under the blank grey cloud-mass of another storm blowing up-river +from the sea. If that impetuous squall could have curbed its impatience +and held off a couple of minutes longer, it might have had the +satisfaction of treating me to a good soaking, if nothing more. As it +was, I flung up my hands and _kamerad-ed_ at the opening pelt of the big +rain-drops. Speaking as one Columbia River skipper to another, I hailed +the Captain of the _J. N. Teal_ and asked him if he would take me and my +boat aboard. + +"Where bound?" he bawled back. + +"Portland," I replied. + +"Aw right. Pull up sta'bo'd bow lively--'fore gate open!" + +A dozen husky roustabouts, urged on by an impatient Mate, scrambled to +catch the painter and give us a hand-up. I swung over the side all +right, but _Imshallah_, hanging back a bit, came in for some pretty +rough pulling and hauling before they got her on deck. The two or three +of her planks that were started in the melee constituted about the worst +injury the little lady received on the whole voyage. + +And so _Imshallah_ and I came aboard the _J. N. Teal_ to make the last +leg of our voyage as passengers. The gates were turning back before I +had reached the upper deck, and a few minutes later the +powerfully-engined old stern-wheeler went floundering across the +foam-streaked tail of the Cascades and off down the river. Castle +Rock--nine hundred feet high and sheer-walled all around--was no more +than a ghostly blur in the darkness as we slipped by in the still +rapidly moving current. Multnomah's majesty was blanked behind the +curtain of night and a driving rain, and only a distant roar on the port +beam told where one of the loveliest of American waterfalls took its +six-hundred-foot leap from the brink of the southern wall of the river. +Cape Horn and Rooster Rock were swathed to their foundations in +streaming clouds. + +Once the _Teal_ was out on the comparatively open waters of the lower +river, the Captain came down for a yarn with me--as one Columbia skipper +to another. He had spent most of his life on the Snake and lower +Columbia, but he seemed to know the rapids and canyons below the +Canadian line almost reef by reef, and all of the old skippers I had met +by reputation. He said that he had never heard of any one's ever having +deliberately attempted to run the Cascades in anything smaller than a +steamer, although an endless lot of craft had come to grief by getting +in there by accident. The only time a man ever went through in a small +boat and came out alive was about ten years ago. That lucky navigator, +after drinking most of a Saturday night in the town, came down to the +river in the dim grey dawn of a Sunday, got into his boat and pushed +off. It was along toward church-time that a ferry-man, thirty miles or +more down river, picked up a half filled skiff. Quietly sleeping in the +stern-sheets, with nothing but his nose above water, was the only man +that ever came through the Cascades in a small boat. + +The Captain looked at me with a queer smile after he told that story. "I +don't suppose you were heeled to tackle the Cascades just like that?" he +asked finally. + +And so, for the last time, I was taken for a boot-legger. But no--not +quite the last. I believe it was the porter at Hotel Portland who asked +me if--ahem!--if I had got away with anything from Canada. And for all +of that incessant trail of smoke, no fire--or practically none. + +The day of my arrival in Portland I delivered _Imshallah_ up to the +kindest-faced boat-house proprietor on the Willamette and told him to +take his time about finding her a home with some sport-loving Oregonian +who knew how to treat a lady right and wouldn't give her any kind of +menial work to do. I told him I didn't want to have her work for a +living under any conditions, as I felt she had earned a rest; and to +impress upon whoever bought her that she was high-spirited and not to be +taken liberties with, such as subjecting her to garbage shower-baths and +similar indignities. He asked me if she had a name, and I told him that +she hadn't--any more; that the one she had been carrying had ceased to +be in point now her voyage was over. It had been a very appropriate name +for a boat on the Columbia, though, I assured him, and I was going to +keep it to use if I ever made the voyage again. + +Portland, although it is not directly upon the Columbia, has always made +that river distinctively its own. I had realized that in a vague way for +many years, but it came home to me again with renewed force now that I +had arrived in Portland after having had some glimpse of every town and +village from the Selkirks to the sea. (Astoria and the lower river I had +known from many steamer voyages in the past.) Of all the thousands +living on or near the Columbia, those of Portland still struck me as +being the ones who held this most strikingly individual of all the +world's rivers at most nearly its true value. With Portlanders, I should +perhaps include all of those living on the river from Astoria to The +Dalles. These, too, take a mighty pride in their great river, and regard +it with little of that distrustful reproach one remarks so often on the +upper Columbia, where the settlers see it bearing past their parched +fields the water and the power that would mean the difference to them +between success and disaster. When this stigma has been wiped out by +reclamation (as it soon will be), without a doubt the plucky pioneers of +the upper Columbia will see in their river many beauties that escape +their troubled eyes to-day. + +The early Romans made some attempt to give expression to their love of +the Tiber in monuments and bridges. It would be hard indeed to conceive +of anything in marble or bronze, or yet in soaring spans of steel, that +would give adequate expression to the pride of the people of the lower +Columbia in their river; and so it is a matter of felicitation that they +have sought to pay their tribute in another way. There was inspiration +behind the conception of the idea of the Columbia Highway, just as there +was genius and rare imagination in the carrying out of that idea. I have +said that the Cascade Gorge of the Columbia is a scenic wonder apart +from all others; that it stands without a rival of its kind. Perhaps the +greatest compliment that I can pay to the Columbia Highway is to say +that it is worthy of the river by which it runs. + + +(THE END) + + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER NOTES: + + + Alternate spellings and archaic words have been retained. + + page 82: "experienced" changed to "inexperienced" (Roos was young + and inexperienced). + + page 96: added closing quotation mark which was missing in the + original ("... than some the old girl's had."). + + page 147: "rifflles" changed to "riffles" (four or five riffles + below). + + page 160: "Lientenant" changed to "Lieutenant" (Lieutenant Thomas + W. Symons). + + page 163: "avenue" changed to "Avenue" (Fifth Avenue). + + page 300: "spilts" changed to "splits" (the river splits upon). + + page 315: "goddes" changed to "goddess" (this goddess of the + Columbia). + + page 320: "staight" changed to "straight" (straight on through + to). + + page 331: "a" added to sentence for continuity (We were going to + have a run for our money). + + page 366: added "and" (Miss S---- and I). + + page 380: "of" changed to "or" (The two or three of her planks). + + page 380: "melee" changed to "melee" (that were started in the + melee). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Down the Columbia, by Lewis R. 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