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<br />take them to Delta, and thence they went back to Montrose,
<br />The foregoing account of the men's departure from the
<br />canyon is based upon a story by Will Torrence which appeared
<br />in the Montrose Enterprise for August 29, 1901. The following
<br />account, with variations, appeared in several popular periodi-
<br />cals of the day,"~ was probably edited to increase the excite-
<br />ment, and may have confused the first and second expeditions,
<br />According to this version, several days after getting below the
<br />Narrows. the men found an inviting side canyon. opposite the
<br />mouth of Smith's Fork, northwest of the present western
<br />boundary of the Monument, and decided to forsake the river.
<br />They had gone thirty miles along its bed, swimming it 72 times,
<br />They scrambled 2000 feet up
<br />the Devil's Slide to the rim,
<br />where Fellows encouraged,
<br />"Come along Bill! There's
<br />beefsteak, and bacev, and a
<br />bed at the end of the road,"'"
<br />Off they hiked, fourteen
<br />miles to the ranch house of
<br />the McMillens (or MacMil-
<br />lan) back of the rim, guided
<br />by a light in a window, The
<br />McMillens gave them a hear-
<br />ty meal, bundled them into
<br />a wagon, and that night
<br />drove them to Hotchkiss and
<br />on to Delta, There they
<br />boarded the train to Mont-
<br />rose, where a crowd of 300
<br />people had gathered at the
<br />station to greet them,
<br />It is difficult for one, look-
<br />ing down from the rim. to
<br />visualize the immensity of
<br />the hazards these surveyors encountered, They had many
<br />portages over slippery rocks, bumped down many a rough
<br />rapid, Through this forbidding gorge they had gone, by luck
<br />without any mishaps, half-swimming, half-wading, hanging
<br />onto their raft, sometimes e\'en lashed to it, pushing and
<br />pulling it as the occasion demanded, traveling as little as 20
<br />yards in five hours, At night they would seek out a dry ledge
<br />above the water, sometimes so narrow they had to take turns
<br />
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<br />FELLOW~ :-;WJ:\BlI:>:G \\'l-n;H!';
<br />WALI.:-: cnl'Lfl :-:OT BE: :-:l~AI.E~-'
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<br />199
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