7/11/1869

A short distance below camp we run a rapid, and, in doing so, break an oar, and then lose another, both belonging to the Emma Dean. So the pioneer boat has but two oars.
We see nothing of which oars can be made, so we conclude to run on to some point where it seems possible to climb out to the forests on the plateau, and there we will procure suitable timber from which to make new ones

Bruce Springsteen: Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

We soon
approach another rapid.
Standing on deck,
I think it can be run,
and on we go.
Coming nearer,
I see that at the foot
it has a short turn to the left,
where the waves pile up
against the cliff.
Here we try to land,
but quickly discover that,
being in swift water,
above the fall,
we cannot reach shore,
crippled, as we are,
by the loss of two oars.
So the bow of the boat
is turned downstream.
We shoot by a big rock.
A reflex wave rolls over our little boat and fills her. I see the place is dangerous, and quickly signal to the other boats to land where they can. This is scarcely completed when another wave rolls our boat over, and I am thrown some distance into the water. I soon find that swimming is very easy, and I cannot sink. It is only necessary to ply strokes sufficient to keep my head out of the water, though now and then, when a breaker rolls over me, I close my mouth, and am carried through it. The boat is drifting ahead of me twenty or thirty feet, and when the great waves are passed, I overtake it, and find Sumner and Dunn clinging to her. As soon as we reach quiet water, we all swim to one side, and turn her over. In doing this, Dunn loses his hold and goes under. When he comes up, he is caught by Sumner and pulled to the boat. In the meantime we have drifted downstream some distance, and see another rapid below. How bad it may be we cannot tell, so we swim toward shore, pulling our boat with us with all the vigor possible, but are carried down much faster than distance to shore is gained. At last we reach a huge pile of driftwood. our rolls of blanket, two guns and a barometer were in the open compartment of the boat, and, when it went over, these were thrown out. The guns and barometer are lost, but I succeeded in catching one of the rolls of blankets, as it drifted by, when we were swimming to shore. The other two are lost, and sometimes hereafter we may sleep cold.
A huge fire is built on the bank, our clothing is spread to dry, and then from the drift logs we select one from which we think oars can be made. The remainder of the day is spent in sawing them out.
--John Wesley Powell
journal entry for July 11, 1869

7/12/1869