Exploring the great YukonAn adventurous expedition down the great Yukon River, from its source in the British North-west Territory, to its mouth in the territory of Alaska . f saw-yers on the MississipiDi and Missouri, and are so muchdreaded by the navigators of those waters. Sand, mud and gravel bars were by far the worstobstruction we had to contend with, and I think I havegiven them in the order of their general perversity in raftnavigation, sand being certainly the worst and gravelthe slightest. Sand bars and spits were particularly aggravating, andwhen the great gridiron of logs ran up on
Exploring the great YukonAn adventurous expedition down the great Yukon River, from its source in the British North-west Territory, to its mouth in the territory of Alaska . f saw-yers on the MississipiDi and Missouri, and are so muchdreaded by the navigators of those waters. Sand, mud and gravel bars were by far the worstobstruction we had to contend with, and I think I havegiven them in the order of their general perversity in raftnavigation, sand being certainly the worst and gravelthe slightest. Sand bars and spits were particularly aggravating, andwhen the great gridiron of logs ran up on one cf them ina swift current there was fun ahead, to use a westernexpression of negation. Sometimes the mere jumpingoverboard of all the crew would lighten the craft so thatshe would float forward a few yards, and in lucky instan-ces might clear the obstruction ; but this was not oftenthe case, and those who made preparations for hard workwere seldom disappointed. In a swift current the run-ning water would sweep out the sand around the logs ofthe raft until its buoyancy would prevent its sinking anydeeper, and out of this rut the great bulky thing would I Ell1 111. A CHAPTER ABOUT RAFTING. 147 have to be lifted before it would budge an inch in alateral direction, and when this was accomplished, and,completely fagged out, we would stop to take a breathor two, we would often be gratified by seeing our noblecraft sink down again, necessitating a repetition of theprocess. The simplest way to get off a sand bar was tofind (by sounding with a stick or simply wading around),the point nearest to a deep navigable channel and then toswing the raft, end for end, up stream, even against theswiftest current that might come boiling over the upperlogs, until that channel was reached. There was no morehappy moment in a days history than when, after anhour or so had been spent in prying the vessel inch byinch against the current, we could finally see the currentcatch it on the same side upon
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Keywords: ., bookauthorschwatka, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1890
