Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/392



352 FRED LOCKLEY

custom had been to let the raft go through by itself and take his skiff around by portage. I was steering. Frenchy had the midship oars, big John Hanson had the after oars, the other two men, who were deckhands, were in the bow of the boat. Hanson pulled out into the current, giving Frenchy, who was kneeling in the bottom of the boat praying, a contemptuous look. We passed over the break and I swung the skiff quar- tering into the swell. In a moment we were in the midst of the turmoil of waters. Big John kept at the oars, and I watched like a hawk with my steering oar. For a moment the waves were higher than the boat but we went through safely.

"My experiment proved the boat would carry a line through, so we came down with the line and negotiated the Priest Rapids successfully. As we lined the steamer into the raipds the water poured over the buffalo chocks. Next day we ar- rived at Rock Island Rapids.

"The only point at which Rock Island Rapids is really difficult or dangerous is at Hawksbill Point. It juts into the river at an acute angle from the island, on the left hand side of the island as you go up the river. It required delicate calcu- lation to overcome this difficulty. I put out three lines at the same time. One to line her up and the others to keep her from swinging either way. It took us two hours to pass Hawksbill Point. We had another cluster of reefs near the head of the island to pass. Here the current turns in strongly toward the bluff, 40 feet high, which projects from the mainland on the right hand side at an acute angle. We had no line long enough to fasten to the right point to take us around this bluff. The boat's power was insufficient to hold it in place, let alone mak- ing headway across the current. The current drew the boat in at the head. We bucked the current for over an hour with- out success. I finally decided a desperate remedy must be taken. I threw her head across the current toward the island and swung almost against the island. It was necessary that I should let the stern wheel of the steamer go within four feet of the rocks and directly above them, to get out of the main strength of the current. If the current here was too strong the