o go above his highest point, but when Wheeler found himself
trapped in the chasm, he was desperate, and, being at the time favoured
by a low stage of water, he finally managed to get through.

Wheeler's boats were built in San Francisco and sent by way of the
mouth of the Colorado to Camp Mohave. No details are given of their
construction, but from Dr. Gilbert I learn that they were flat-bottomed.
They were apparently about eighteen feet long. See page 302. There
were three, and in addition a barge was taken from the quartermaster's
department at Camp Mohave. There were two land parties with supplies,
and the river party, the latter composed of the following persons:
First Lieutenant George M. Wheeler, U. S. Topographical Engineers; G. K.
Gilbert, geologist; W. J. Hoffman, naturalist; P. W. Hamel, topographer;
T. H. O'Sullivan, photographer; E. M. Richardson, assistant topographer
and artist; Frank Hecox, barometrical assistant; Frederick W. Loring,
general assistant; six boatmen, six soldiers (one sergeant and five
privates from Co. G, 12th Infantry, stationed at Mohave) and "Captain"
Asquit, and thirteen other Mohaves--in all thirty-four. It was the fate
of three of these, after escaping from the dangers of the great chasm,
to be killed by an attack of Apaches on the Wickenburg stage. These were
Loring, Hamel, and Salmon. Loring was a brilliant young literary man
from Boston, whose career was thus sadly ended.

The boats appear not to have been regularly named, though two of them,
at least, received titles before long, one, the boat Gilbert was in,
being called the Trilobite, and the other, the photographic boat,
was termed the Picture. Leaving Mohave on September 16th (1871) they
proceeded with little difficulty by towing and rowing, as far as Ives
had taken the Explorer, to the foot of Black Canyon. From here the
work was harder, but by the 18th they had arrived in the heart of this
canyon. The rapids were now more severe, but as Ives had gone up easily,
and also Johnson with his steamboat, and Rodgers with his, there
was nothing to prevent the ascent of this party. On the tenth day,
therefore, they passed Fortification Rock and reached Las Vegas Wash,
the termination of the Ives exploration. From here to the mouth of
the Virgen was the stretch that had, technically, never been explored,
though it had been traversed, at least, several times. There is one
small canyon in the distance, called Boulder. Passing the mou