Boats Are Made. Three boats were made, with stout wooden frames, covered with hulls of steel plates. Each boat was decked over, fore and aft, with sheet steel covers, bolted down by means of a row of small bolts along each gunwale. Covers, on decks, reached from each end to the bulkhead placed near the center of the boats, thus leaving an open compartment, three and a half feet long, for the oarsman. All the loads were placed under cover, and securely lashed to prevent shifting. The boats were also provided with air-tight compartments in each end, and under the seat, containing sufficient air to float both boat and load, should all the other compartments be full of water. The boats were named the Arizona, the Utah, and the Nevada. Each was equipped with provisions for three months.

The Start. The start was made down the Green River, September 20. Four days later, the trio had reached the junction of the Green and Grand Rivers, the beginning of the Colorado, having covered a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. From this point to Hite, a small town near the Arizona line, the first bad water was encountered in the forty-one miles of Cataract Canyon. Loper's boat met with disasters here dashing on a rock and tearing a long rent in its side--and giving warning of the inferiority of these thin metal boats to the stout oak craft used by the Powell party. The party managed to reach Hite, however, towing the damaged boat, and there made the necessary repairs.