[Paddlewise] The Floating Wonder

I just got a chance to sit down and read the premiere issue of "River",
the new magazine for us paddlers. It's nicely done and if you can, you
should check it out if only for this article alone:

It's 1881, in the Montana Territory settlement town of Glendive on the
Yellowstone River, a man named Paul Boyton is wearing an inflated India
rubber suit with a bugle tied to the chest & is carrying a double-bladed
paddle. He blows a charge, clamps a small cigar in his teeth and, feet
first, begins to float 2,250 miles down to the Missouri River and
eventually St. Louis. 


It's quite a tale, told by research historian Dave Walker. You have to
see the etchings, one where he's on his back in this 5-chambered suit,
kayak paddle across his torso, a small mast attached to his ankle and a
sail running up to his waist.

I swear, I'm not making this up.

In another, he is having dinner as the guest of Sitting Bull. In another,
he taking a small waterfall. To amuse himself, he would sometimes blow his
bugle to startle nearby wildlife. Once he had to use it to alert a trapper
who'd taken a shot at him, thinking he was a bear floating on a log.  

As said, it's a good start, the next issue promises a review of touring
kayaks and something about grizzly country paddling. 

The Website is http://www.rivermag.com

No, I don't have an interest in the company, this is just a "heads up" !

~PH~
Burlington, N.J.



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