MANY LIVES LOST IN THE RIVER 281

and I made a number of trips both up and down stream
on the steamers, though most of my travelling was by
means of a canoe. Some of these trips were, to say the
least of them, productive of excitement.

Captain Bonser was, without doubt, a most exceptional
river man, and if he could not get his boat to its destination
you may be pretty sure it could-not be done. He may
have been a bit inclined to rashness, but he was so cool-
headed and resourceful that he nearly always managed
to get out of his difficulties without serious trouble, though
once or twice he only did so by the narrowest of margins.
But to run a boat up that river and not be everlastingly
losing time necessitated occasional risks being taken.

The amount of danger depended on the height of the
water. In early spring, when the water was low, the
chief difficulties were met when the boat had to be worked
up over the numerous rapids—or “‘ riffles,” as they used to
be called. At such times the only way to get up was by
means of running out a long steel cable, often four or five
hundred yards of it, and then winding the boat up by
means of the capstan. In the early days the capstans
were worked by hand with bars, though later on they
were fitted up with steam, which not only made the
work far easier but also safer.

As soon as the spring freshets started the rapids became
less troublesome, and then the chief obstacle was Kitselas
Canyon. This canyon was over a mile long and became
utterly impassable when a big freshet was running, and
except at very low water was always a place to beware of.

How many lives that great Kitselas Canyon has taken
will never be known, but numbers of Indians and a good
many white men, too, have met their fate in it. For a
canoe to be drawn into it, after once the water reaches
a certain height, means. death to its occupants, just as
certainly as if they had put guns to their heads and
blown out their brains.

Once when the water was very high I climbed down a
place where it was possible to reach the middle of the
canyon, and the sight gave me the|shudders, From above,