CLINGS TO ROCK THIRTEEN HOURS

     This article appeared in the Spokesman-Review in October of 1933.  My uncle, Clair Seaton, then barely 18 years old, was one of the heroes in this rescue.

Man Is Rescued From Columbia River Perch.

     GRAND COULEE-DAM SITE, Oct. 8.-- After being marooned 13 hours on a small rock in rapids in the Columbia river half a mile south of here, Lee Paul was rescued early today after nearly six hours' effort.
     Paul and Fred Williams were thrown upon the rock yesterday when their lumber-laden raft was smashed in the rapids.  Williams leaped into the river and swam to shore.  For four hours he tried to induce Paul to swim, but Paul, who had an 18-foot pole he had been using to guide the raft, thrust it into the stream and declared it too deep and the water too swift.  It was only a lucky break that Williams had made shore.

          Thought They Were Fishing.

     The government launch from the dam site had passed the men on the rock in the afternoon but men aboard had supposed Paul and Williams to be fishing.
     Williams climbed the steep cliffs, 1000 feet high on either side, and came to the dam site for aid.  Meanwhile, Paul had burned his coat and his cap in an effort to attract attention.  He shouted for three hours and was heard by the rescue party en route, but descent of the precipitous walls was hazardous and slow.

          Balk at Steep Walls.

     Many responded to the call for aid, there being two construction crews here from which men turned out, but at the sight of the steep walls few ventured the descent.  Others climbed down part way only to turn back with giddiness.
     Bill Rath, an old-timer in these parts who knows every nook and crevice along the river ban,, led three others--Clair Seaton, William Gill and Virgil Richardson--to the river bank.  Descent was made only after much use of rope, and once they had to send back for more.

          Heaves Line from Boat.

     Seaton rode upstream in his outboard motorboat past the rocks and tried to let the current carry his boat to the rock, but the stream merely washed it to the side, too far to assist Paul.  A heavier boat was obtained and let downstream at the end of a long rope held by men on shore.
     About 60 feet was as close as the boat could be maneuvered.  Seaton with a mighty heave of a life preserver on a quarter-inch line, succeeded in reaching the marooned man.  Paul was pulled to shore, exhausted from the cold and fright.