Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Reminiscences of a trip to Pike’s Peak and down the Rio Grande in the year 1859, at the time of the Pikes Peak gold craze (Peter Westerlund)
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it disappeared ahead of vis. We then suspected that
there was something in what the people told us at
Albuquerque. We went as far as we thought safe,
then landed and walked down the bank to
investigate. We found quite a rapid decline of about 25
degrees and 25 to 30 rods long. We also noticed
that although the river was wide above, the water in
the decline all flowed towards the centre, forming
a narrow stream. There were large rocks sticking
up above the water, but leaving a channel wide
enough for the boats to pass through. We did not
know if there were any invisible rocks in the centre
of the stream, but had to take our chances. We
decided to let one boat go, while the rest of us
watched the fun. Two men with an oar apiece were
to row ahead, one to sit in the stem to guide the
ho at so as to force it to go faster than the current.
In that way the boat kept to the centre of he stream.
This worked well and we did the same with the
other boats. This was our first experience in
shooting rapids. We found eight of these falls or rapids
on our way down to El ’aso. Of all the geese and
ducks we saw on this river! I have never seen the
like of it. it seemed as if the surface in places was
literally covered with them. They would fly up
ahead of us as we floated down. Sometimes they
HU
were so thick that they almost shaded the sun.
Beavers were plentiful too. They would swim ahead
of us and when we got too near, they would dive
under the water and come up again farther ahead.
We could have shot many of them, but we did not
want to attract the attention of the Indians,
although we had not seen any signs of Indians the
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