Drowning in Rivers of America: In June 1973, 18-year-old Bogden Delaurot drowned trying to swim across the "Rivers of America,” an artificial river that surrounds Tom Sawyer’s Island. He and his 10-year-old brother had stayed on the island past closing time, and decided to swim across the river to get back - even though the younger brother did not know how to swim. Bogden attempted to carry his brother on his back and drowned halfway across. Rivers of America claimed another victim on June 4, 1983, when Phillip Straughan drowned while trying to pilot a rubber emergency boat from Tom Sawyer's Island. He and a friend had stolen the raft from a restricted area of the island during Disneyland's annual Grad Nite, and the raft flipped over.