THROWBACK THURSDAY: the finale to our Spotlight presentation... We hope youve enjoyed this little known story of a true pioneer. Part Vb; the Moulty Fulmer story by Taz Riggs In ’54 dock finally succeeded in bringing Pat and Moulty together. Dock was a careful match-maker. He described Pat as a little reckless, but compared that to Moulty in the TUB on the White River. Then to soften the opinions of the rowers of Cataract boats, he told Moulty that Pat did not see them as the end-all in boat design; once again trying to stir up some collaboration in boat building ideas. Dock didn’t seem to push Moulty’s reputation as much; perhaps he felt that his experience and his boats stood well enough on their own merits. After a letter of introduction from Moulty, they finally arranged for a trip together. Pat was franticly trying to finish his new fiberglass boat, which was basically a double ended Cataract. He replaced the broad square stern, with one that was pointed; centralized storage, decking out most of the wasted and open space of the cockpit,then adding hatches for access. Two main drawbacks compared to the GEM were, it’s mostly flat bottom with only a 9” rise in rocker at the ends. The chines; where the floor met the sides were nearly 90 degrees, where the GEM had its distinct wide flair. Pat’s boat was still not finished when they met at Lee’s Ferry the first week of June, but he felt it was river ready in spite of lacking paint and a few small details still to work out. The problem was the river was not ready. With the peak spring runoff of 34,000 cfs already passed; the river runners agreed that 9,220 cfs was just too low. Moulty then took decided to make a low water Green River run in the company of A.K. Reynolds and Lug Larson, with their Cataract boats. Though the river was rocky, the group had fun and at least fair runs through the rapids. The floor of the GEM had a work-out but stood up to the abuse. The food was varied and delicious: bacon and eggs; burgers fresh vegetables and even strawberry shortcake. The river had its challenges, but by the end of summer, driving turned out to be a bigger hazard; one car involved in the trip had rolled. Then, when the Fulmers extended their vacation, Janice had flipped their car in Kansas and spent 5 days in the hospital as a result. During the winter of ’54-’55 Pat had hand-picked the members for his’55 Grand trip. He also finished his second boat. The first was named the Suzie R., the second the Flavell; for an early Canyoneer who developed the stern first technique of rowing in rough water. The Flavell had ended up a foot shorter. The reason for this was discovered many years later; the same mold was used for both and had to be cut in order to remove the Suzie R. The cut amid-ship needed to be cleaned up, resulting in a shorter boat. They both received brightly colored paint jobs and this tradition continues to this day. Martin Litton was slated to row the Flavell; but due to a fall from a horse he needed to protect a badly injured shoulder. Brick Mortenson was at the oars with Litton and his wife as passengers. The trip launched at Lee’s on 28,800 cfs. Pat set the order, with himself in the lead; Brick running second; with Moulty in the sweep position. Things were going well ‘til Moulty was making a hard pull to shore at the base of Soap Creek Rapid when his oar lock broke and the pin remained jammed in the block. Soon after, Pat broke one of his Pelican oars in two. Then it was Brick’s turn, he also broke an oarlock and soon after discovered a 20” crack in his chine. Over time, Pat spent a lot of time repairing his boats. On the bright side; fiberglass repair is not that difficult and because the edges were square they stood on edge easily. But again, they spent a lot of time on their sides. On the third night Pat was sick at both ends. As soon as Pat was feeling better Moulty had the same problem. Moulty broke another oarlock and the crew managed to fashion a replacement from a metal rod found in a driftwood pile. The next day Moulty flipped, when his makeshift lock jammed in Horn Creek Rapid. In the flip, he lost one of his spare oars, but it returned two days later spotted above Hermit in the current. The group had just pulled to shore for camp. Moulty scrambled and managed to retrieve the oar and return to shore before being swept into the rapid. While waiting below Hance, the Suzie R. took a beating and required another patch session. Lining Lava, the Suzie R. took another beating, and the Flavell needed repair once again. The GEM was sorely man-handled even worse, but on inspection was found to have no leaks. That evening after sunset the Flavell was emptied and set on its side to dry. In the morning the needed repairs were done. The remainder of the trip was comparatively trouble free and they met their tow boat on the lake for the motor out on time. 1955 was a very busy year on the river. Everyone who did trips was on the water that year, some of them multiple times. Georgie was on the river with her big rig with a triple rig along carrying 40 passengers total. There were several motor trips including Dock and Jim and Bob Wright on separate trips. There were also several raft trips that had troubles due to inexperience and faulty gear. Trash and human waste was everywhere and burnt driftwood piles were up and down the shoreline; this tradition was begun by Nevills and was regrettable. All these problems contributed to the Park Service stepping up their control on river travel. Dock noted that there would need to be traffic signals as things would probably get worse before they got better. The following winter Moulty had written to Pat to make plans for a trip in’56. He never received a reply. Martin was already making plans with Pat when he and his wife met Dock by chance at a film showing in San Francisco about a Georgie trip. Dock mentioned that Moulty had not gotten a response from Pat and both felt there must be a misunderstanding. Dock, now the go-between, sent an open letter with copies to all three appealing for reconciliation or at least an explanation. Pat responded in a letter he sent to Dock alone. In the letter he talked of Moultys flip at Horn Creek and his poor run at Upset, blaming both on his over caution and lack of good judgment. He also stated that Moulty was probably not as good as he once was. Apparently there was some sort of compromise and Martin may have been instrumental. Pat would always stall his final launch date ‘til the last minute in an effort to avoid the “Queen”. Pat made it known that he did not like Georgie in the least and would go out of his way to avoid even seeing her on the river. Docks flow predictions for the year had spring run-off probably over 100,000 cfs. He also informed of an angry river in places where there were actually no rapids at all. Although many rapids would likely disappear, extremely powerful cross-currents and tremendous whirlpools would be of great concern. Even the largest rapids could become easy, but the power in the river could swallow whole boats and the risk would be great. There would also be a good bit of debris to deal with. Undaunted the party continued preparation in spite of repeated warnings that the river may top out at 150,000 cfs plus. Pat’s first concern was 19 miles from the launch and that would be Boulder Narrows. What we know today as a two story mid river rock would wreak havoc on the powerful current at that point and he was right. Though Pat had improved the menu somewhat it could not make up for the lack of camping spots along the river. If one spot were covered at the end of a day it would be difficult to predict when the next opportunity to stop would come. Or, if it would be there in the morning, with the group still intact. It would be impossible to determine what drove them on. Was it bravado, did some feel that they had something to prove to the rest. It could have been a silent prayer that the river would fall dramatically, and then be more manageable. Even the flat water was physically exhausting, trying to keep the boat in the center of the river. Passengers were constantly bailing and gaining the shore took herculean effort. Dock’s predictions were fairly accurate, whole trees, root balls and all were seen being swallowed by whirlpools, huge tree trunks would surface vertically, 20’ into the air before falling back to the river and would sometimes come from nowhere. Below Nankoweap, a whirlpool occupied the river from shore to shore and passing this with oars was deemed impossible, so they lined the boats downstream against the powerful current. Redwall cavern was full all the way to the ceiling and climbing. Pat would need to make his usual repeated repairs to the boats. At one point Pat ended up at the oars of the GEM and was truly amazed at its responsiveness and the feel of the Smoker oars. Pat would break one of his pelican oars every years and Moulty was still running all of his originals. After leaving Hance the group knew there would be no stopping before Phantom. Pat was convinced that Moulty would not be able to make the pull in there. Moulty in return was certain that it would not be a problem. They made their run to that point in one hour and eighteen minutes. All the rapids that would normally be of concern were not there at all. At Phantom there were some serious discussions about what should be done at that point. Some felt the safest thing to do was to leave the river regardless of any other decisions made. It was suggested the women could leave the river and the men continue on. This would leave one boat with only an oarsman and was not considered wise. Again, it’s not possible to know what motivated any individual at this time. In spite of a falling river, caution was an underlying current. What lay downstream was unknown and anyone could say that their luck had been good and that was no need to push it. The discussion was decided when they got news from the lake that the debris mat was miles thick and getting trough from either direction might be impossible and that their tow boat refused to try. The discussion to leave the boats upside down and chained for the winter was final. Plans made over the winter were agreed on. They would hike in to Phantom and retrieve the boats and run out before the peak run-off. Moulty and his boating partner from home took along Moulty’s raft and made time for a run on the San Juan. Moulty had made plans to arrive early at phantom and brought along paint and items that he would use for repairs that he knew the GEM could use. After Pat arrived they began readying the boats for the river. Moulty had already completed his needed repairs and was able to assist Pat with whatever he might need to make his boats ready. While they were working, who should happen along but Georgie and her two monster boats. No doubt this made Pat’s skin crawl. The story that Pat tells of this meeting is hilarious; but Pat did his utmost to ignore her. Finding mounds of trash, food and human waste left by her trip downstream only increased his ill feelings. The three little boats pushed off at a rising 64,000 cfs. Many of the rapids were completely washed out. When the group came to Deubendorf it was decided to line the boats. The GEM went first and Pat knew his glass boats would not survive the pounding the way that the GEM had. Pat’s boats had a big run but the Suzzie R. made shore low and landed on rocks that left a hole to be repaired. Four days downstream the river continued to rise. The group left Tapeats creek on 83,500, it was only 1 ½ miles downstream to Granite Narrows, the most narrow spot in all the Canyon. Dock had warned that the current there was especially dangerous. The scout from above reveled that the whole river rose from the left shore and flowed directly into the wall on the right. All the boats had harrowing runs, Pats boats were slammed into the wall one pinned there for an uncomfortable amount of time before being released by a reverse surge. Moulty ran last and the lesson learned while watching the others was not wasted. The next day when the trio of boats left 140 Mile Canyon, Brick got separated from the group. In an effort to catch up he wound up going over a pour over and flipping the boat. The group travelled over four miles in a fruitless effort to save the boat. The attempt to rescue the boat was abandoned as all were too exhausted to continue and the risk to life and limb was too great. All the gear in the boat was lost as well. The next day they arrived at Lava Falls on 85,000 cfs. After making a scout a list of options was made including; running the rapid with all hands on Board attemting a portage on the left or cutting the boats free and hiking out. Pat preferred hiking out as he wanted to make it to Temple bar before Georgie could sound an alarm and cause a panicked rush to mount a rescue operation, while all was well, except for the loss of the boat. Pat was willing to risk the run as his knee was deeply lascerated to the patellar ligament and was in enough pain without the hike. A vote was taken and the option to hike out won. It was also decided to lash the oars down and send the boats into the current with instructions to go to the lake. Georgie found the Flavell and Pat’s group intercepted them. After a few days the Suzie R. was found but the GEM remained lost for seven years. STAY TUNED NEXT MONTH FOR A TALE OF A TRUE LEGEND GONE TOO SOON....
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 23:09:16 +0000
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