The Launch Nancy Lost Her Engine and Rode the Canyon
A dead gasoline engine put a Newport launch into the current below the canyon. Two miles later, four passengers and a crew were hauled ashore by a man in a rowboat — soaked, shaken, and alive.
Yesterday afternoon, as the launch Nancy was attempting to land a passenger at the mouth of the canyon, the gasoline engine got out of order and stopped. The boat was caught in the eddy and carried through the canyon to a point about two miles below, where it was captured by a man with a rowboat and hauled to shore, where she still remains.
Four passengers and the members of the crew made the perilous trip, and were given a ride the like of which they do not want to try again. The rushing waters of the canyon, at this stage of water, going through narrow confines, caught the boat and swung it from side to side every minute in danger of capsizing, and they were sure their time had come. The boat shipped several barrels of water, and all on board were well ducked, but are now none the worse for their experience.
“The rushing waters caught the boat and swung it from side to side every minute in danger of capsizing, and they were sure their time had come.”
Newport still lives with the Pend Oreille's current — a river that is a playground in calm weather and a chute when machinery quits. A century before life jackets and marine patrols, the margin between a story to tell and a drowning was one man in a rowboat who happened to be watching.
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