Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/378



338 FRED LOCKLEY

"When we got to the Palouse rapids I sent the raft into the center of the rapids. The current was so swift it shot us into the eddy. The forward part of the raft went under water and the current from the chute caught the back end of the raft and sent the raft under water. We stayed on the raft until the water was up to our knees. The skiff which he had on the raft started to float off, but I caught the painter and we got aboard the skiff. We brought the skiff over where the raft had been and felt down with the oars but we could not touch the raft.

"We floated down with the current. All I attempted to do was to keep the skiff in its course. Atwood said, 'I knew you couldn't do it. With such rapids as the Palouse it was fool- ish to expect we could.' I felt pretty serious for I was afraid the eddy had broken the fastenings on the raft and we would soon run into the wreckage of floating boards. About half a mile below the rapids our skiff was suddenly lifted out of the water by the reappearance of the raft. Our skiff and the raft had both gone with the current and, oddly enough, it had appeared directly under us, lifting the skiff out of the water. This may sound 'fishy', but it is a fact.

"You never saw a man more surprised or delighted than Atwood, for the raft was uninjured. As a matter of fact, be- fore leaving, I had taken special pains to see that it was strongly fastened, for I knew what kind of treatment it would get in the rapids.

"We went through the Pine Tree rapids without accident, but a little ways below there we struck a wind strongly up- stream, so we had to tie up. Next morning at 3 o'clock, just before daybreak, we started again, arriving at Wallula at 10 o'clock in .the forenoon.

"The steamer Yakima was just pulling in from below. From Wallula to Umatilla was plain sailing, so I left Atwood to go the rest of the way alone and rejoined the Yakima.

"In the past they had tried to manage the raft by side sweeps, while all I had used had been a steering oar at the rear. At- wood paid me $20 for carrying the raft successfully through