USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. V > Part 9
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"Baker had informed his comrades as to the geography of the country, and while floating down they remembered that Callville was at the
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mouth of the canyon, which could not be far off; 'such wonderful walls could not last.' Then hope came with the promise of escape. A few days would take them to Callville; their provi- sions could be made to last for five. So these two men, thus shut in from the world, buried, as it were, in the very bowels of the earth, in the midst of a great unknown desert, began to con- sole themselves, and even to jest at their situ- ation.
"Forty miles below their entrance into the canyon of the Colorado, they reached the mouth of the San Juan River. They attempted to en- ter it, but its swift current cast them back. The perpendicular walls, high as those of the Colo- rado, with the water flowing from bank to bank, forbade their abandoning their raft to attempt escape in that direction. So they floated away. At every bend of the river it seemed as if they were descending deeper into the earth, and that the walls were coming closer together above them, shutting out the narrow belt of sky, thick- ening the black shadows, and redoubling the echoes that went up from the foaming waters.
"Four days had elapsed since they embarked on the frail raft; it was now August 28th. So far they had been constantly wet, but the water was comparatively warm, and the current more regular than they could have expected. Strole had taken it upon himself to steer the raft, and, against the advice of White, he often set one end of the pole against the bank of some oppo- sing rock, and then leaned with the other end against his shoulder, to push the raft away. As yet they had seen no natural bridge spanning
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the chasm above them, nor had fall or cataract prevented their safe advance. About three o'clock on the afternoon of the 28th, they heard the deep roar as of a waterfall in front of them. They felt the raft agitated, then whirled along with frightful rapidity towards a wall that seemed to bar all farther progress. As they approached the cliff, the river made a sharp bend, around which the raft swept, disclosing to them, in a long vista, the water lashed into foam, as it poured through a narrow precipitous gorge, caused by huge masses of rock detached from the main wall. There was no time to think. The logs strained as if they would break their fastenings. The waves dashed around the men, and the raft was buried in the seething waters. White clung to the logs with the grip of death. His comrade stood up for an instant with the pole in his hands, as if to guide the raft from the rocks against which it was plunging; but he had scarcely straightened, before the raft seemed to leap down a chasm, and, amid the deafening roar of water, White heard a shriek that thrilled him to the heart, and looking around he saw, through the mist and spray, the form of his comrade tossed for an instant on the water, then sinking out of sight in the whirlpool.
"White still clung to the logs, and it was only when the raft seemed to be floating smoothly, and the sound of the rapids was left behind, that he dared to look up; then it was to find him- self alone, the provisions lost, and the lengthen- ing shadows warning him of the approaching night. A feeling of despair seized him, and
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clasping his hands he prayed for the death he was fleeing from. He was made cognizant of more immediate danger by the shaking of his raft, the logs were separating; then he worked, and succeeded in effecting a landing near some flat rocks, where he made his raft fast for the night. After this he sat down, to spend the long gloomy hours in contemplating the horror of his situation, and the small chance for com- pleting the adventurous voyage he had under- taken. He blamed himself for not having fought the Indians till he had fallen with Baker. He might have escaped through the San Juan valley and the mountains beyond to the settlements. Had he done so, he would have returned to his home, and rested satisfied with his experience as a prospector. And when he thought of 'home,' it called up the strongest inducements for life, and he resolved, to use his own words, 'to die hard, and like a man.'
"Gradually the dawn, long perceptible in the upper world, began to creep down the black canyon, and gave him light to strengthen his raft, and launch it again into the treacherous river. As he floated down he remembered the sad fate of Strole, and took the precaution to lash himself firmly to the raft so as to preclude the possibility of his being separated from it. This forethought subsequently saved his life. His course through the canyon was now over a succession of rapids, blocked up by masses of rock, over which his frail raft thumped and whirled, at times wholly submerged in the foam- ing water. At one of these rapids, in the dis- tance of about a hundred yards, he thinks the
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river must have fallen between thirty and forty feet. In going over this place the logs compos- ing the raft became separated at the upper end, and, spreading out like a fan, White was thrown into the water. He struggled to the side by means of his rope, and with a desperate strength held the logs together till they floated into calmer water, when he succeeded in refastening them.
"White's trials were not yet at an end, and in relating the following incident, he showed the only sign of emotion exhibited during his long series of answers.
"About four miles below where the raft sepa- rated he reached the mouth of a large stream which he afterwards learned was the Colorado Chiquito. The canyon through which it enters the main river is very much like that of the San Juan, and though it does not discharge so large a body of water, the current is much more rapid, and sweeps across the Great Colorado, causing, in a black chasm on the opposite bank, a large and dangerous whirlpool. White saw this and tried to avoid it, but he was too weak for the task. His raft, borne by the current of the Colorado proper, rushed down with such force, that aided by his paddle, he hoped to pass the waters that appeared to sweep at right angles across his course from the Chiquito. When he reached the mouth of the latter stream the raft suddenly stopped, and swinging round for an instant as if balanced on a point, it yielded to the current of the Chiquito and was swept into the whirlpool.
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"White felt now that all further exertion was useless, and dropping his paddle, he clasped his hands and fell upon the raft. He heard the gurgling waters around him, and every moment he felt that he must be plunged into the boiling vortex. He waited with his eyes closed for some minutes, when, feeling a strange swinging sensation, he opened them and found that he was circling around the whirlpool, sometimes close to the vortex, and at others thrown back by some invisible cause to the outer edge only to whirl again towards the centre. Thus borne by the circling waters he looked up, up, up, through the mighty chasm that seemed bending over him as if about to fall and crush him. He saw in the blue belt of sky which hung above him like an ethereal river the red tinged clouds floating, and knew that the sun was setting in the upper world. Still around the whirlpool the raft swung, like a circular pendulum meas- uring the long moments before expected death. He felt a dizzy sensation, and thinks he must have fainted; he knows he was unconscious for a time, for when again he looked up between the walls, whose rugged summits towered 5,000 feet above him, the red clouds had changed to black, and the heavy shadows of night had crept into the canyon.
"Then, for the first time, he remembered that there was a strength greater than that of man, a power that holds the ocean in the hollow of His hand. 'I fell on my knees,' he said, 'and as the raft swept round in the current. I asked God to aid me. I spoke as if from my very soul, and said, "Oh, God ! if there is a way out of this fear-
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ful place, show it to me; take me to it." Here White's voice became husky, and his some- what heavy features quivered as he continued- 'I was still looking up with my hands clasped when I felt a different movement in the raft, and turning to look at the whirlpool, it was some distance behind, and I was floating down the smoothest current I had yet seen in the canyon.'
"This statement is the only information White volunteered ; all the rest was obtained by close questioning. One of his friends who was present during the examination smiled when White repeated his prayer. He noticed it, and said with some feeling : 'It is true, Bob, and I'm sure God took me out.'
"Below the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito the current was very slow, and White felt what he subsequently found to be the case-viz., that the rapids were past, though he was not equally fortunate in guessing his proximity to Callville. The course of the river below this he describes as exceedingly 'crooked, with short, sharp turns,' the view on every side being shut in by flat precipitous walls of 'white sand rock.' These walls presented white perpendicular sur- faces to the high water level, which had a dis-
tinct mark of about forty feet above the August stage. The highest part of the canyon, White thinks, is between the San Juan and the Colo- rado Chiquito, where the wall appeared to him more than one mile (5,280 feet) in perpen- dicular height, and at a few points even higher. Dr. Newberry states, from barometrical obser- vations, that for a long distance the altitude is nearly 7,000 feet. But we must not begin to
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draw conclusions too soon, much of interest re- mains to be told of this unparalleled adventure.
"The current bore White from the Colorado Chiquito slowly down the main river. His clothing was torn to shreds, and the few rags which clung to his frame were constantly satu- rated with water. Each noon the sun looked into the canyon only to pour his almost vertical rays on the famishing man, and to burn and blister those parts of his body that the scanty rags did not cover. One, two, three, four days dragged slowly past since he tasted food, and still the current bore him through the towering walls of the canyon. The hunger maddened him. He felt it burning into his vitals. His thoughts were of food! food! food! and his sleeping moments were filled with Tantalus-like dreams. Once he raised his arm to open some vein and draw nutriment from his own blood, but its shrivelled, blistered length frightened him. For hours as he floated down he would sit looking into the water, yet lacking courage to make the plunge that would rid him of all earthly pain. On the morning of the fifth day since he had tasted food, he saw a flat bank with some mezquite bushes upon it, and by using all his strength he succeeded in reaching it with his raft. He devoured the few green pods and the leaves of the bushes, but they only increased his desire for more. The journey was resumed, and he remembers that during the last two days of unbroken canyon wall, the rocks became very black, with shining surfaces-probably where igneous took the place of the cretaceous rocks.
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"Six days without food, save the few green leaves, and eleven days since starting, and still the uneven current bore on the raft with its wretched occupant. He saw occasional breaks in the wall, with here and there a bush. Too weak to move his raft, he floated past and felt no pain, for the overwrought nerves refused to convey sensation.
"On the afternoon of this, the sixth day, he was roused by hearing the sound of human voices, and raising himself on one arm, he looked toward the shore, and saw men beckon- ing to him. A momentary strength came to his arms, and, grasping the paddle, he urged the raft to the bank. On reaching it he found him- self surrounded by a band of Yampais Indians (Havasupais), who for many years have lived on a low strip of alluvial land along the bottom of the canyon, the trail to which, from the upper world, is only known to themselves. One of the Indians made fast the raft, while another seized White roughly and dragged him up the bank. He could not remonstrate; his tongue refused to give a sound, so he pointed to his mouth and made signs for food. The fiend that pulled him up the bank, tore from his blistered shoulder the shreds that had once been a shirt, and was proceeding to take off the torn trousers, when, to the credit of the savage be it said, one of the Indians interfered, and pushed back his com- panions. He gave White some meat, and roasted mezquite beans to eat, which the fam- ished man devoured, and after a little rest he. made signs that he wanted to go to the nearest dwellings of the white men. The Indians told
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him he could reach them in 'two suns' by his raft, so he stayed with them all night, and with a revolver that remained fastened to the logs, he purchased some mezquite beans, and the half of a dog.
"Early the next morning he tottered to the bank, and again pushed into the current. The first day out he gave way to the yearnings for food, and, despite his resolution to the contrary, he ate up his entire stock of provisions, which did not, by any means, satisfy his craving. Three long days of hope and dread passed slowly by, and still no signs of friends. Reason tottered, and White stretched himself on the raft; all his energies exhausted, life and death were to him alike indifferent.
"Late in the evening of the third day after leaving the Indians, and fourteen days from the time of starting on this perilous voyage, White again heard voices, accompanied by the rapid dash of oars. He understood the words, but could make no reply. He felt a strong arm thrown around him, and he was lifted into a boat, to see manly bearded faces looking on him with pity. The great objective point, Callville, was reached at last; the battle for a life was won, but with the price of unparalleled suffer- ing. The people of this Mormon settlement had warm, generous hearts, and, like good Samaritans, lavishly bestowed every care on the unfortunate man, so miraculously thrown into their midst from the bowels of the unknown canyon. His constitution, naturally strong, soon recovered its terrible shock, and he told his new found friends his wonderful story, the
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first recital of which led them to doubt his sanity.
"Charles McAllister, at present an assistant in the store of Mr. Todd at Fort Mojave, was one of the three men who went in the boat to White's assistance. He said that he never saw so wretched a looking man as White when he first met him; his feet, legs, and body were liter- ally flayed, from exposure to drenching from water and the scorching rays of the sun. His reason was almost gone, his form stooped, and his eyes were so hollow and dreary, that he looked like an old and imbecile man. Mr. W. H. Hardy, of Hardyville, near Fort Mojave, brought White thither, that we might see and talk with him. Mr. Hardy corroborates the statements of McAllister, and from his knowl- edge of the country above Callville, says that it would be impossible for White to have come for any distance by the river, without travelling through the whole length of the Great Canyon of the Colorado. Mr. Ballard, a mail contrac- tor, in whose employment White is now earn- ing money to take him home, says he believes him to be a sober, truthful man; but, apart from White's statement, Ballard is confident he must have traversed, and in the manner stated, that hitherto unexplored chasm which completes the missing link between the upper and lower course of the Great Colorado.
"Dr. Parry, our geologist, thinks that the subjoined conclusions may be summed up as some of the new additions to our previous geo- graphical knowledge of the hydrography of the
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Colorado of the West, derived from this re- markable voyage.
"1. The actual location of the mouth of the San Juan forty miles below the Green River junction, and its entrance by a canyon continu- ous with that of the Colorado, above and below the point of junction.
"2. From the mouth of the San Juan to the Colorado Chiquito, three days' travel in the swiftest portion of the current allowing four miles per hour for fifteen hours or sixty miles per day, would give an estimated distance of 180 miles, including the most inaccessible por- tion of the canyon.
"3. From the Colorado Chiquito to Callville occupied ten days' travel. As this part of the route was more open, and probably comprised long stretches of comparatively still water, it would not be safe to allow a distance of over thirty miles per day, or 300 miles for this inter- val. Thus the whole distance travelled would be 550 miles, or something over 500 miles from Green River Junction to the head of steamboat navigation at Callville.
"4. The absence of any distinct cataracts, or perpendicular falls, would seem to warrant the conclusion that in time of high water, by proper appliances, in the form of india rubber boats, and provisions secured in waterproof bags, with good resolute oarsmen, the same passage might be safely made, and the actual course of the river mapped out, and its peculiar geological features properly examined.
"5. The construction of bridges by a single span would be rendered difficult of execution,
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on account of the usual flaring shape of the summits. Possibly, however, points might be found where the mesas approach sufficiently near each other for such purpose.
"6. The width of the river, at its narrowest point, was estimated at 100 feet, and the line of high-water mark at forty feet above the average stage in August.
"7. The long continued uniformity of the geological formation (termed 'white sandstone,' probably cretaceous) is remarkable; but under the term may have been comprised some of the later stratified formations. The contrast on reaching the dark igneous rock was so marked that it could not fail to be noticed.
"8. Any prospect for useful navigation up or down the canyon during the season of high water, or the transportation of lumber from the upper pine regions, could not be regarded as feasible, considering the long distance and the inaccessible character of the river banks.
"9. No other satisfactory method of explora- tion, except along the course of the river, could be adopted to determine its actual course and peculiar natural features ; and James White, as the pioneer of this enterprise, will probably long retain the honour of being the only man who has traversed, through its whole course, the Great Canyon of the Colorado, and lived to re- count his observations on so perilous a trip."
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CHAPTER VII.
EXPLORATIONS AND SURVEYS (Continued).
STORY OF WHITE'S TRIP, MADE OFFICIAL U. S. SENATE DOCUMENT-ARTICLE BY THOMAS F. DAWSON-STATEMENT IN ROCKY MOUN- TAIN HERALD-WHITE'S OWN STATEMENT- CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE-WHITE'S AFTER LIFE.
Since the foregoing was written I have re- ceived through the kindness of the Hon. Henry F. Ashurst, a copy of Senate Document No. 42, of the 65th Congress. First Session, which is an article written by Thomas F. Dawson on the Grand Canyon, in which the story of White's adventure is dealt with fully. Here it is shown that Dr. Parry, who was connected with the railroad expedition at that time, wrote the ac- count of White's trip from notes made by Major Calhoun, who says that he obtained the facts from White himself.
The story, as written by Major Calhoun, and printed soon after, is included in a small book entitled "Wonderful Adventures," published by W. B. Evans & Co., of Philadelphia, of which city Major Calhoun was a resident. It is the first of a series of adventures of which the work is composed, and bears the title, "Passage of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado," by A. R. Calhoun.
In this document the story as it deals with White's journey, and as written by Major Cal- houn, is published in full, and differs in no
JAMES WHITE. In his 80th year.
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material point from that given in the foregoing pages, attributed to Dr. Parry. Here is also printed an account of White's voyage published in the Rocky Mountain Herald under date of January 8th, 1869, about five months before Major Powell began his exploration. It was sent from an obscure place in New Mexico and the writer appears to have been under the im- pression that Major Powell had already started on his work. The name of the author is not preserved, but the account differs in some re- spects from the others. Referring to the pros- pective expedition by Major Powell, the writer says :
"I trust Mr. Powell's expedition is progress- ing favorably and that he will be able to fur- nish a satisfactory report to an expectant pub- lic, for I can assure you that should he be entirely successful, he will accomplish a work the magnitude of which-leaving its danger en- tirely out of consideration-will far surpass that of any former exploration on the American continent."
The writer further said that the Canyon had never been traversed before, and in this connec- tion added: "None of the Indian tribes on the river have either remembrance or tradition that the voyage had ever previously been made."
The writer further said that White and his companion, Strole, had little knowledge of the country, and that although they had heard of the Grand Canyon, they had no definite idea either of its locality or its extent. There was but little rough water at first, and for a time all V-10
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went well. They were able to land at night, but having no means of making a fire, went hungry to sleep. The second day the water was smooth until noon, when they encountered rapids, swift and rocky, in descending which they lost their carbines and their little store of flour-their only provisions-while their revolvers were left too wet for use. Below these rapids they found an island on which they spent their second night, eating screw beans to assuage their hunger. The article proceeds as follows:
"Having passed the night on the island, our voyagers set out in the morning with their raft in better condition than before, and with re- newed hope of soon getting to the end of their journey, or at least of reaching a port. From the size and depth of the stream they argued that Callville must be near. After they had floated for a few hours, however, the sound of falling water was borne to their ears, becoming more and more distinct as they proceeded until they were satisfied that they were approaching a cataract. Meanwhile they had gradually and almost unconsciously drifted into a canyon with high precipitous walls which confined the river within a narrower channel than that in which it had coursed above. A hasty reconnaissance convinced them that they could not escape from the gorge by climbing the walls, while the cur- rent was now so swift that it was useless to think of turning back. White took the precau- tion to lash himself to the raft, but Strole re- fused to take this precaution.
" 'I am an old Mississippi boatman and can stick to the raft wherever she goes,' Strole said.
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'It isn't much of a fall, and there is no danger in running it. We had better tie our revolvers, however; they are a little wet now, and a little more won't hurt them.'
"On swept the raft with rapidly increasing speed; the voyagers silent, with stern, com- pressed lips and tense nerves boldly facing the peril which they were now powerless to avoid. One moment they were balanced on the brink of the cataract, the next they were plunged sheer 12 feet into the seething waters beneath.
"Emerging at length, White found himself alone upon the raft, which an eddy had caught in the rim of its vortex and was whirling around. White had been seriously disturbed by the shock of the fall, but when he recovered his self-possession, he looked around for his companion and quickly descried him in mid- channel some 20 feet distant, buffeting the cur- rent with feeble and uncertain stroke. Shout- ing to him some words of encouragement and hastily freeing himself from his lashings, White prepared to make such efforts as he could to assist and save his comrade. But almost imme- diately, poor Strole, half strangled, doubtless, and bewildered by his frightful plunge over the cataract, without a cry or a groan, sank and rose no more.
"The fate of either of his comrades would have been a merciful one to White in com- parison to what befell him. Poor fellow, his troubles had hardly begun, while theirs were ended, at least for this world. The death of Strole fell upon him with crushing weight. Sinking upon the raft, which floated slowly
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