Devil's Jump
by Nicki McManus
Title
Devil's Jump
Artist
Nicki McManus
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Explorers searching for salt brine in 1819, did not know what oil was, and since they were of a religious nature, they were disturbed about a new-found product that came out of the ground. When they saw how this smelly, sticky, black substance burned, they were convinced Martin had drilled into hell, so they called this substance Devil’s Tar.
Samples were collected, to be taken down the river on a raft to find out what this substance was, also to see of what use it could be.
Since they feared they drilled into hell, the raftsman was apprehensive about the trip. He feared the Devil would take an evil attitude because they had removed part of hell.
When the raftsman reached the worst part of the rapids, the raft overturned which spilled the oil into the water. When the raftsman returned back to the crew, however, he told a slightly different story. According to him all went well on his trip until he reached the rapids; that at that point where the river flowed swiftly between large rocks, there the Devil himself leaped from one of the large rocks onto the raft, sank the raft, and grabbed his property and when last seen by the raftsman, the Devil was headed up the west side of the river along a small creek with a cast of his property under each arm.
Since that day, the rapid has been called Devil’s Jump.
Uploaded
November 18th, 2020
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