FISHING FOR SILT

river by means of a 125-foot airplane strand cable with a tensile strength of 1100 pounds, operated by a windlass. The speed of the water is measured by electrical impulses set up by gears incased in the water-tight headphones. These impulses are counted and their frequency, when calibrated, indicates the speed and volume of the water. Readings are taken at two tenths and at eight tenths of the total depth of the water.

The gage which records the water level is automatic and will operate for sixty days without attention.

ional Park. This represents an aston-ishing total of 27,000,000 tons of silt passing the gaging station each 24 hours. Over a period of a year, when translated into acre feet, the normal silt discharge of a million tons daily, if placed as a band around the world at the equator would make a layer 3 ft. deep and approximate-ly fifteen feet wide.

ed and a water speed as fast as sixteen feet per second, the tram cable is stretch-ed like a bow string. By expertly jockey-ing the cage along the cable the debris can usually be dislodged. Not infrequent-ly the gaging line parts, and then the tram springs back like a shot from a catapult. That's when the gager wonders why he didn't take up something safe like parachute jumping or sword swallowing. If the joust with the log is unsuccess-ful and the meter line parts, it means the loss of approximately $200.00 worth of equipment.

Prevent it from leaving the track. With a windstorm blowing, the sensations are not uncommon.

Stuart went into the Canyon in April, 1937. The usual term at the station is fifteen months. But he asked for an extension of time. The reason he got married.

Shortly after going into the Canyon he met Florence Schreimer, an attractive hostess at Phantom Ranch about half a mile from the gaging station. When the busy tourist season was over at the ranch, Miss Schreimer returned to the South Rim. Although the Canyon is a terrific handicap and successfully baffled man for many centuries, love knows no barrier. Stuart soon worked out a system of communicating with his girl-friend on the rim by means of light flashes. Park visitors often were puzzled about the girl who sat alone each evening on the brink of the Canyon, apparently idly flashing on and off a power-ful flashlight. Had the visitors observed more closely they would have seen similar flashes coming from out of the Canyon, answering the messages flashed from the rim. "One hitch in the system," Stuart said, "was the people on the rim who thought the flashes were intended for them. All along the rim drives, parked automobiles blinked their lights in

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