imself up, and was taken in the back
by a breaker and washed out of the craft altogether into a whirlpool,
and finally shot to the surface fifty feet farther down. He had on his
cork jacket and was saved, though he was ducked again and carried along
swiftly by the tremendous current. The second boat had better luck and
came through in time to pick Stanton up. The damaged boat was gotten off
with a hole in her side ten by eighteen inches, which was closed by
a copper patch, at the first chance, the air chambers having kept the
craft afloat. After this the bad rapids were soon ended, and on the
morning of March 17th (1890) the party emerged into an open country
and upon a peaceful, quiet river. Continuing down through Black and the
other canyons, and through the intervening valleys, they reached, on the
26th of April, the salt tide where Alarcon, three and a half centuries
earlier, had first put a keel upon these turbulent waters, the only
party thus far to make the entire passage from the Junction to the sea.
And as yet no one has made the complete descent from Green River Valley
to the counter-current of the Tidal Bore, so if there is any reader who
desires to distinguish himself here is a feat still open to him. Stanton
deserves much praise for his pluck and determination and good judgment
in carrying this railway survey to a successful issue, especially after
the discouraging disasters of the first attempt. He holds the data and
believes the project will some day be carried out. From the foregoing
pages the reader may judge the probabilities in the case.

Since the Stanton party several descents successful and unsuccessful
have been made. The first was the "Best party," representing the
Colorado Grand Canyon Mining and Improvement Company, with eight men and
two boats similar to those used by Stanton. The expedition left Green
River, Utah, July 10, 1891. The members were James S. Best, Harry
McDonald, John Hislop, William H. Edwards, Elmer Kane, L. H. Jewell, J.
H. Jacobs, A. J. Gregory, and J. A. McCormick. Four of these, Hislop,
McDonald, Kane, and Edwards had been with Mr. Stanton, to whom I
am indebted for this information. The men had cork life-jackets. In
Cataract Canyon one boat was wrecked but no one was lost, and they made
their way to Lee Ferry with the remaining boat and there abandoned the
expedition.

In 1891, a steam launch, the Major Powell, thirty-five feet long, with
two six-horsepower engines drivin