In the March 12th 1909 article "Kincaid arrives in Yuma" it is stated: "G. E. Kincaid of Lewiston, Idaho, arrived in Yuma after a trip from Green River, Wyoming, down the entire course of the Colorado River. He is the second man to make this journey and came alone in a small skiff.." General purpose skiff When I read this, I had no knowledge of what a "skiff" was, other than assuming it was a small wooden rowboat of some sort. I couldn't imagine Kincaid shooting the world class extremely rough rapids of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in a small wooden row boat. I thought it would be swallowed up by the rapids. A little research again showed me that it appears that Kincaid chose exactly the correct boat for the purpose. You can see from the quotes below why I came to this conclusion: from: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/canoe/map.htm Pelican Rapids "The Pelican Rapids are one of the most scenic rapids on the Great Slave River. Also called home to many pelicans who have set up nesting sites near the rapid area, it is definitely a must see to those who wish to tour the sites and sounds of the north. Aside from the scenic aspects, these rapids are also very swift and rugged. Surrounded by boreal forest, portaging this set of rapids was time consuming and difficult. Some smaller water vessels like canoes and skiffs may have been able to navigate around these rapid waters, but larger vessels and heavy cargo had to be portaged to keep from losing it to the many huge rocks that lay as a foundation for these swift waters." from: http://www.canoe.ca/che-mun/98winisk2.html "As we approached the first marked rapids, we never remotely considered shooting them. We paddled straight to the portage and began our work. Halfway through our second trip we heard the whine of motors through the trees, and seconds later met two fishermen walking the path. They informed us that the native guides had dropped them off to walk, while they powered up the rapids in their skiffs. From that point on we decided to scout before making the decision to portage." from: http://www.yangtzecruises.com/html/xiling.html "Qintan Shoal, stretched between "Tactics Books and Sword Gorge" and "Ox Liver and Horse's Lung Gorge", including First Shoal, Second Shoal and Third Shoal, runs 1.5 km from west to east, teeming with reefs and convulsed with sweeping, boisterous rapids. Sailors called it "Iron Threshold" to the river. Boats and skiffs used to shoot downstream like flying arrows and flounder upstream as if scaling a ladder, zigzagging their way either up or down." - Jack Andrews copyright 2001 may be only used in it's entirety with this notice clearly visible.