the ominous name. A discussion in Forest and Stream a few years ago, directed the attention of canoemen to its alleged dangers and extreme rapidity of current.[1]
I had with me also the notes of one of the best canoemen in the country, who had run the Delaware in the spring of last year, to which I referred, and found these words:—
"Great Foul Rift, short distance below Belvidere. Ran down on rafting fresh in May. Length almost a mile and a half from head of Little Foul to foot of Great Foul. Rapidity of water and danger much exaggerated."
"That's all right for a spring fresh," said the teamster, who had heard this note read. "But
- ↑ Two canoemen of East Orange, N. J., who ran the rapids in 1878, and who claimed to be the first to do it, wrote as follows: "After passing through two or three small rifts, we arrived at Great Foul Rift, which is considered the most dangerous one in the river, on account of the number of rocks and the swiftness of the current. How to describe our passage through here, we hardly know; all we can say is, we saw it, we entered it, and we passed it. You can see the big slate rocks on all sides of you, and are unable to tell what minute you will strike them. This rift is two miles long, and we passed through it in three minutes exactly, being carried that fast by the current, without using our paddles." This statement was received with astonishment. Two miles in three minutes, or forty miles an hour, is not the speed of a rapid, but almost that of a waterfall.
Among the critics was Mr. A. H. Siegfried of Louisville, who had also run the Great Foul Rift. He wrote: "We were warned against Foul Rift for two days above it, and came to it
