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<br />C) <br />00 <br />CD <br />.-j <br /> <br />GUNNISOK HIV.ER DIVEHSION PROJECT <br /> <br />11 <br /> <br />water. It is not surpris- <br />ing that Torrence, of <br />the earlier expedition, <br />should hastily make <br />his services available,""' <br />Planning for this <br />trip was influenced <br />t:eavily by the lessons <br />of the last expedition, <br />Instead of woo den <br />boats, Torrence and <br />Fellows decided to use <br />a 4' x 6' rubber air <br />mattress, subdivided <br />in to several air- tigh t <br />compartments. There <br />were attached ropes to <br />lise as lashings and to <br />hang onto, Oil-skin <br />covered notebooks, Ko- <br />daks, film bags, blan- <br />1'ORHl~NCl~ AND l"ELLOWS kets, and provisions <br />were fitted into two <br />sealable rubber pockets, these packs weighing about thirty-five <br />pounds apiece. Two 600-foot silk life lines, life preservers, <br />hunting knives, belts, and wading boots which sealed tight <br />about the legs were included in the equipment. <br /> <br />Departure date was selected as August 6, 1901, by which <br />time in the summer the water temperature should be about <br />as warm as it would ever get and the water level would be <br />down somewhat. On August 12 the two men finally left for the <br />surveyor's camp on Vernal Mesa, The water in the river below <br />was still higher than desirable. <br /> <br />The plan to proceed right over the rim to the Narrows, <br />where the first party had given up, was changed at the last <br />minute, and instead the men took the train up to Cimarron <br />and on to the Gunnison River, like their predecessors. The <br />train tarried, its passengers hoping to see the debarkation, but <br />Fellows and Torrence were in no hurry and waited until the <br />train moved on before they began their river trip. <br /> <br />They started down the river on Monday afternoon, August <br />12, and by Wednesday night had reached "Boat Landing" at <br />the mouth of Nyswonger Gulch, their provisions exhausted, <br /> <br /> <br />~.~ George Creel, "A. Linenln F'eHn\,.'s," .-1 J!lcrican llIoJ}(/.z1ne, Yo1. 72, No. 1 <br />(1 !111 "), G t. <br />