ell, this happened back around 1939, and if anybody's not interested, why they don't have to listen, I guess. [group laughs] In 1938 I made a trip down the San Juan River with Nevills Expeditions. Elzada Clover was on the trip, who had been down the Grand Canyon that same year also, and she wanted to do a trip down the San Juan, so I was able to get on as a boatman on that trip. There were, I think, five boats on that. One San Juan boat and three Folboats... Anyway, after going through that trip, why, the next year come around and nothing was happening... I wanted to go on Glen Canyon and I told my cousin he ought to go with me. "We could go for a hike across the country... go over to Hite and then we'll just float from there on down to Lee's Ferry on a raft that we'll make." And he didn't know any better, and he said "Yeah, I guess we can do that."

   We spent five days hiking from that Indian Creek Pass there on the top of the Blue Mountain country on westward across Elk Mountain and way down by the natural bridges. We finally got down to Hite after about five days. We started out with a little old pack of food; maybe ten or fifteen pounds of food. He carried that, and I carried a .38 special pistol I could shoot pretty good with, and I knocked off a rabbit and a squirrel with that once in a while. We ate corn meal mush and raisins and that kind of stuff to go along with our rabbits and squirrels. We got over to Hite and made this raft and paddled across the Colorado River then, where White Canyon enters the Colorado, and there was Chaffin Ranch. That's where Art Chaffin lived. So we went and talked to him awhile and he kinda hesitated about us going down there on a raft. He says, "Well, if you boys'll stay here and work for me for a week, why, I'll build you a little boat that'll just fetch you right on down there to Lee's Ferry. Be a lot safer than a raft, and it'll be a lot quicker too. So you won't be losing any time getting there anyway."

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