During the Learn to Trap event I was involved in this weekend, one or more of us MAY have gotten stuck in some nasty, knee-deep mud.
That reminded me of this little incident:
A story told by William Craig:
Now Craig tells this story: “The waters of the Humbolt river are of a milky cast, not clear, so one
afternoon while camped on the said stream and being the first to strip, I started for the swimming
hole and was just about to plunge in when I got a hunch that things were not as they should be
and I had better investigate before taking a dive. I did so and found the water was about a foot
and a half deep and the mud four, this condition being in the eddy. So I waded to where there was
a current and found the water a little more than waist deep, no mud and good smooth bottom. In
looking towards the camp I espied Joe Walker coming and he was jumping like a buck deer, and
when he arrived at the brink he says to me: ‘How is it?’ ‘Joe,’ I replied ‘it is just splendid.’ With that
he plunged head-first into that four and a half feet of blue mud.
Fearing trouble and not being interested in the subsequent proceedings, I made myself scarce by
hiding in the brush on the opposite side and in so doing I ran into some rose brier bushes and
scratched myself some, but I was so full of laughter I did not mind that. I peeped through the
bushes just in time to see him extricate himself from the mud. He then washed the mud off as well
as he could, returned to the tepee, put on his clothes, shot his rifle off, cleaned it, then reloaded
it and hollered at me and said: ‘Now show yourself and I’ll drop a piece of lead into you,’ which I
failed to do as I did not want to be encumbered with any extra weight especially at that time. I was
compelled to remain in hiding nearly the whole afternoon. Before sundown I was told to come
into camp and get my supper and leave, that I could not travel any further with that party.
