8 Men Charged in Dynamiting of River Rapid

White-water rafters confronting Quartzite Falls on the Salt River could swallow their fear and take the plunge, or get out and carry their boats around it. Eight men, prosecutors say, took a third route: They dynamited it.

As a result, the wildest rapid on the river has been reduced to a mild thrill ride and a federal grand jury on Thursday charged a river guide and seven other men with conspiracy and destruction of federal property by means of an explosive.

“We kind of viewed this as an act of eco-terrorism. It’s irreparable damage,” said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Joyce Hassel.

Prosecutors won’t comment on the motive, but one river runner speculated it may have been frustration over the lines that sometimes form at the portage point, where rafters take their boats out of the water and start hiking. Or worse:

“It’s like these guys were too lazy or too incompetent to run this rapid or go around it,” said Gail Peters, who is Arizona director for the environmental group American Rivers and has rafted the Salt.

Conviction on the conspiracy charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Destruction of property is punishable by 20 years and a $250,000 fine.

The rapid spanned the bottom of the Salt River Canyon in the Tonto National Forest about 100 miles northeast of Phoenix. It was what rafters call a Class 6 rapid, the most challenging. It looks deceptively mild in photos but has claimed at least two lives--rafters who got stuck in the rapid and drowned last year.

The thrill came from the hydraulic effect created by the water’s six-foot drop, explained Peter Weinel, a Forest Service rafting expert. The shape of the bottom turned the flow of the river back on itself in a way that could get a boat stuck in one spot.

It doesn’t look much different now, but the dynamite destroyed the six-foot drop, leaving only a tame four-foot drop above.

According to the indictment, river guide William Stoner, 34, of Phoenix returned with accomplices five times from August through October, 1993, to the remote spot to place and detonate charges.

Indicted with Stoner were Richard M. Scott, 39; Stephen M. Cortright, 39; William C. Kelley, 28; James E. Lewus, 40; Christopher M. Meehl, 34; Mark E. Meehl, 42; and Michael W. Meehl, 38. Kelley is from Glendale, Ariz.; the others are from Phoenix. They were freed without bail.