Lincoln, Nebraska 68505
December 11, 1972
I was very glad, indeed, to hear from you.
You ask if the pictures in my book THE RIVER AND I are Chet's. They are, indeed, if you know which one of us is Chet. In the picture entitled "Fresh Meat," on page 167, Chet and I are carrying a deer and Chet is at the head of the deer. There are other pictures which should be readily indentifiable by you. For instance, "Night in Camp" cam Chet is directly ahead of the viewer. The tree is on his right side. In that picture of Captain Marsh on the Steamer Expansion, Chet does not appear, but I do.
As for Chet's age, he must have been born during the summer, for he told me on this trip that he was just turning sixteen. Thus it is clear that he joined me when he was fifteen years and turned sixteen while we were descending the river.
It gives me pleasure to tell you that Chet was one of the bravest boys I ever knew. He was daring to the limit, almost too much so, and I saw him frightened only once at a time when there was no reason to be frightened. We were walking across the bridge at the mouth of the Niobrara and it was around midnight or one o'clock. We were hungry and we hoped to find something over in the town of Niobrara. Chet was frightened by the sight of the rushing water below the railroad bridge although he could not possibly fall through. There were other times when he should have been afraid that he only laughed, as for instance when we went through our first rapids. Far from being afraid he thought it funny that "our life preservers were way down under the cargo." — And he couldn't swim. As a matter of fact, it would have done him no t good to swim in such water.
Dear old Chet. I do love his memory.
John G. Neihardt
