DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Reuben Gaines' memoir, undated

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Page 29

PAGE 29. Buxton.
the table with three or four others that had already got there ahead of me but the most surprising thing that we noticed was Tommy Gibbons was trying to get somebody to go back and get his crutches. How he ever advanced over 100 feet from that building without crutches was never known.
This day with its warmth and sunshine must have been selected for a ver special Holiday for there was a picnic planned for a gathering in the park nea the old Eveland Bridge that crossed the DesMoines River with an extended highway that lead to Oskaloosa. Everybody that had a team of horses or a hors and buggy and those that did not hired every kind of transportation from the livery stables that were available. The number by noon was well over 400 hundr
After dinner when everybody had eaten, and the ants; bugs and creepers had also feasted the diversion turned to amateur bass ball; fishing and swimmi without any swim suits; but the men took care of that by leaving on their B - V - D's. From the outset I over estimated my swimming ability by trying t swim across the DesMoines River. Up to that time I had never known that a human being could not walk against a lazy current if the water was up to ones neck; but this current was strong and about eight inches below my neck. If I had the endurance I would have had to surface at least a mile father down stream and I knew the water was 20 foot deep over which I would have to swim s at this juncture I knew I had made a lousy decision so I will stop here and rest and make it back to shore from where I started. When I tried to stop it was impossible. The current swept me on; I am now using my bare foot against the sand and rocks but the current tore the sand away and pushed the rocks asi as if they were not there. At this point everything seem hopless and now I am sure this River is trying its level best to drown me with only one chance in a hundred to survive but I had decided that with all the odds against me I was going to fight to the last ounce of my endurance to stay alive. It was no use to yell for help in the middle of the river when no one has a rope or boat. My foot is cut all over the bottom by this time. I am told that just before you die in circumstances such as this your hold life passes in front of your so I saw myself walking on the bottom of No. six pound trying to get from under deep water when I was eight years old and also when I was being swirled around in Bluff Creek channel when it was a quarter mile wide and on the rampage forcing logs and debris in its advance while on the way to DesMoines River. 
It was like shooting the rapids for if there had not been a 90 degree turn a hundred yards father down stream I would never had survived even though I am 18 years old with my home made boat with the frame made of house siding and barrel hoops to curve the bottom and the frame covered with muslin material with several coats of paint. These incidents were just mental flashes and since it had always been said that the third time is a charm but as I have

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PAGE 29. Buxton. the table with three or four others that had already got there ahead of me but the most surprising thing that we noticed was Tommy Gibbons was trying to get somebody to go back and get his crutches. How he ever advanced over 100 feet from that building without crutches was never known. This day with its warmth and sunshine must have been selected for a ver special Holiday for there was a picnic planned for a gathering in the park nea the old Eveland Bridge that crossed the DesMoines River with an extended highway that lead to Oskaloosa. Everybody that had a team of horses or a hors and buggy and those that did not hired every kind of transportation from the livery stables that were available. The number by noon was well over 400 hundr After dinner when everybody had eaten, and the ants; bugs and creepers had also feasted the diversion turned to amateur bass ball; fishing and swimmi without any swim suits; but the men took care of that by leaving on their B - V - D's. From the outset I over estimated my swimming ability by trying t swim across the DesMoines River. Up to that time I had never known that a human being could not walk against a lazy current if the water was up to ones neck; but this current was strong and about eight inches below my neck. If I had the endurance I would have had to surface at least a mile father down stream and I knew the water was 20 foot deep over which I would have to swim s at this juncture I knew I had made a lousy decision so I will stop here and rest and make it back to shore from where I started. When I tried to stop it was impossible. The current swept me on; I am now using my bare foot against the sand and rocks but the current tore the sand away and pushed the rocks asi as if they were not there. At this point everything seem hopless and now I am sure this River is trying its level best to drown me with only one chance in a hundred to survive but I had decided that with all the odds against me I was going to fight to the last ounce of my endurance to stay alive. It was no use to yell for help in the middle of the river when no one has a rope or boat. My foot is cut all over the bottom by this time. I am told that just before you die in circumstances such as this your hold life passes in front of your so I saw myself walking on the bottom of No. six pound trying to get from under deep water when I was eight years old and also when I was being swirled around in Bluff Creek channel when it was a quarter mile wide and on the rampage forcing logs and debris in its advance while on the way to DesMoines River. It was like shooting the rapids for if there had not been a 90 degree turn a hundred yards father down stream I would never had survived even though I am 18 years old with my home made boat with the frame made of house siding and barrel hoops to curve the bottom and the frame covered with muslin material with several coats of paint. These incidents were just mental flashes and since it had always been said that the third time is a charm but as I have