Dear Eddy

By now everyone is probably aware of this season’s gastrointestinal bug that made approximately sixty people pretty miserable back in June. I haven’t confirmed this but I heard from a friend that there have been a few more cases in recent weeks. The health department and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc) are calling it a Norwalk-type virus. These are fairly hardy little germs that are able to survive in varying temperatures from freezing to around 140 degrees fahrenheit and are resistant to relatively high levels of chlorine. You can get it from contaminated food and water and from close contact with an infected person who is shedding the virus. The people who study this sort of thing used to think that a person who has been ill remained contagious for 48–72 hours after recovery but recent studies have detected viral antigen in stool samples for up to two weeks after illness. This is where we need to sit up and pay attention.
About four days before I was supposed to leave on my first river trip I woke up in the middle of the night with what I thought was a case of food poisoning. I’ll spare you the details but I was too sick to do a shuttle drive that morning. I stumbled around in a daze for a couple of days trying to get ready for my trip and by the day of the trip I was back to a hundred percent. I voluntarily submitted a stool sample for analysis at the request of management the day before I was to leave, the results which would not come back for another week. As I was literally pulling out of the driveway to go to the Ferry I received a phone call telling me that a park service bureaucrat had issued a recommendation stating that anyone who has been ill on the river should not go out on another trip for a period of fourteen days following their illness and that I was being pulled off my trip. Needless to say, I was a little dismayed and very pissed off because (1) I hadn’t been on the river yet this season, (2) no test results had returned showing I had this Norwalk-like virus and (3) this was supposed to be only a recommendation. Obviously some pressure was applied to convince the management to keep me from going. If you don’t know this already, you might note that the Parks “recommendation” has metamorphosed into a requirement. This is why I’m writing this article. As it turns out, I tested positive for the Norwalk-type virus and I’m pretty sure I got it when a shit can (that was ready to explode) was opened right next to me and I was exposed to the foulest vapor I have ever experienced. I drive a lot of shuttles when I’m not on the river and there was some speculation that I might have been exposed while in a closed vehicle with recently ill people. At the time I didn’t factor in the shit can episode and I didn’t believe I had a Norwalk-type virus so I took no special precautions to avoid contact with people. It might be interesting to note that out of the dozen or so friends and relatives that I had close contact with starting the day I was bumped off my trip, no one became ill. Not the little kids that I wressled with, not my 71 year old mother who I made dinner for, not the friends I shared beers with—no one.
My point in all of this is that I think the Park’s requirement is unreasonable, unfair and unnecessary. Since the two week shedding period seems to be focused on stool samples, unless you are engaging in some pretty kinky sexual activity or digging thru shitcans there is little evidence to support the notion that you are a hazard to the public welfare. It makes sense to me that someone who knows they might be contagious could easily avoid the kind of contact that might infect others in a river trip setting by staying out of the kitchen, not shaking hands, being diligent in hygiene practices, etc.
I was told by Marlene Gaither that these bugs are so widespread in this country that chances are pretty good that one person on every trip could be a carrier. Do we start screening our passengers? Do we all need to wear full body condoms? Should we hide in a dark quiet room because the world has become too scary or should we approach this problem with the training, experience and common sense that most river guides seem to possess? I’m not suggesting that we treat this lightly. If you’re puking your guts out at the Ferry you should probably stay home. You should also know that Workman’s Compensation denied my claim even after receiving the positive test results. I was fortunate in that the owner of the company I work for payed me for the trip out of his own pocket. How many other outfitters will do that especially if a lot of guides are affected? I can think of a few that I’m pretty sure won’t.
The park service is probably shooting itself in the foot with this requirement. I don’t know but I just have this feeling that guides will stop cooperating with the data collecting if they know that the result will be lost income. If you have back-to-back trips and get sick at any point during one trip—and report it— you’re likely going to get pulled from your next trip.This is the kind of insensitive, overreactive bureaucratic activity that we need to stand up to as a community of guides. Isn’t that why we have a guides association? Certain park service bureaucrats seem to have an aversion to talking to the people whose tax dollars pay their salaries which is why I feel it’s all the more important to let them know how you feel about this issue. Don’t wait, do it today!

Shawn Browning

Regarding Interview with Dan Dierker, bqr 15:1
I did enjoy Lew Steiger’s interview with Dan Dierker included in one of the latest bqrs. It brought back memories of my first ever river trip with Dick McCallum and gcye (Grand Canyon Youth Expeditions) in June 1971. Ah…lunch, “Georgie” style. But Dan forgot to mention the pilot biscuits—seemed to be a staple of every midday meal (at least on our trip).
My trip was a girl scout trip. All of us, ranging in ages from 12–14, attended Flagstaff Junior High School. some of us were on the pom-pom squad. I’ll never forget practicing our routine one late afternoon on a beach somewhere in the lower Canyon. What a sight.
Thanks again for the article. It was great.
Robin Slayton-Martin
Regarding Jack Sumner Looks Back by Don Lago, bqr 15:2
Don Lago is to be congratulated for the exciting discovery of another Jack Sumner letter, written late in life (1906). In addition to repeating much of what he wrote to Stanton (Colorado River Controversies) he adds the suggestion that Walter Powell was afflicted by “petticoat dementia” which Don takes to mean syphilis. My research suggest otherwise: Walter Powell’s military records in the National Archives in Washington D.C. contain a number of affidavits written throughout his life in support of a disability pension for insanity. Not one of them alludes to anything related to venereal disease. Particularly telling is the twice repeated affidavit from a fellow officer, one Lieutenant Xavier Picquet. This is paraphrased in my novel, The River Is Mine in the form of a conversation between George Bradley and John Wesley Powell (pp.115–116). The full text of one of Picquet’s letters follows; his spelling and punctuation have been retained:
Statement in relation to Capt W.H. Powell late of Co 2nd Ill Light Art.
I was well acquainted with him, served with him in the 4th Division 17th A.C. [Artillery Company] during the fall of 1863 and all through the Atlanta Campaign, up to the 22d of July 1864, on which day we were both captured by the enemy, we were in the same prisons, but were at the time that the following events happened, at Camp Sorghum, the name of the prison (illegible) at or near Columbia S.C.
At that place Capt W.H. Powell was taken down sick, and sent to the Hospital so called because it consisted of a tent. We neither saw nor heard any more of him until thanksgiving day, on that day our mess was assembled in our humble cabin speculating on what was probably still in reserve for us, when what was our astonishment he suddenly appeared amongst us, he stood, His tall form dominating all of us, his head towards the heavens, his arms held aloft in supplication as it were, and out of his lips there poured forth an eloquent but solemn and sad prayer, for an instant we stood confounded, and instead of a general and hearty peal of laughter the tears stood in our eyes, we perceived that our comrade was out of his mind.
We gently took him to the Dead line & called the officer of the day to whom we consigned him, we then learned that our comrade in his delirium had escaped from the Hospital and at the peril of his life rushed across the Dead line to see his comrades. That is the last time I saw him. During the time I knew him, that is about a year of army life Capt W.H Powell enjoyed good health. Written with my own hand without dictation. Xavier Picquet
Late 2d Lieut Co K 32d Regt Ill (illegible)
A.A. Ordn officer 4th Div 17th A.C.
While not conclusive, Picquet’s letter offers evidence that there was nothing wrong with Walter Powell until he was subjected to the rigors of incarceration without shelter in rain and sun, suggesting that sunstroke was a more likely cause of his illness. Further evidence lies in his surviving another fifty years to 1915, hardly the longevity of a syphilitic in those days. By contrast, there is no evidence anywhere of “petticoat dementia.” It’s well known that Sumner hated Walter, calling him in a letter to Stanton, “About as worthless a piece of furniture as could be found in a day’s journey.”
In this latest letter Sumner repeats his earlier statement to Stanton that Bradley died of an accident in San Diego, whereas he actually moved back to Massachusetts and died there a few weeks later, in 1885 (see Darrah, Utah Historical Quarterly, 1947).
That Sumner was an important member of the expedition there is no doubt, but his later statements that he took “full command of the expedition and Keep (sic) it to the end” expanding his earlier, “I had undertaken much of the running part of the expedition” is no more credible than Powell’s taking credit himself for everything that happened, except, of course, the accidents and the alienation of the Howlands and Dunn.
Ardian Gill

As many of you are probably aware, this season, there were several river trips on which a significant number of people became ill during or after their trip. These trips were concentrated in the first part of June. There were other trips before and after this period which had an occasional illness reported. The Grand Canyon National Park staff has been working with representatives from the Coconino County Department of Public Health, the Arizona Department of Health Services, the United States Public Health Service (phs), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc) to collect laboratory samples and gather data to research the cause of these illnesses.
Through laboratory analysis, we have been able to positively identify a Norwalk-type virus in a number of samples. These virus are highly contagious and easily transmitted, especially within groups of people under close, confined conditions. In healthy adults the illness is generally of short duration with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea lasting 24–48 hours. However, in the young, elderly, or otherwise compromised, individuals the symptoms may be more severe and may pose a much greater health risk.
There were 58 confirmed cases reported in the period from May 24 to June 8, 2002. This figure may be adjusted as we gather more data from both commercial and private trips. We are currently gathering additional information from interviews and questionnaires and will develop plans for possible environmental sampling.
While this virus can be transmitted in several ways, including person-to-person and through food handling, the necessity of proper water treatment cannot be over emphasized. The proper method of water treatment is as follows:
• Obtain water from free flowing areas of the river or side stream.
• Settle the water to remove suspended solids (use alum to settle fine particles if the water is murky or muddy).
• Filter and disinfect or boil the water to remove pathogens.
• Store the water in clean, sanitized containers.
The filter needs to have a pore size of one micron or less. The disinfectant can be either two drops of chlorine per gallon or five drops of tincture of iodine per gallon of filtered water. Both filtering and disinfection are necessary to make water safe to drink. If you boil the water, it must boil for one minute plus one minute for each 1000 feet above sea level.
If any person becomes ill during or shortly after a river trip, whether it is on a private or a commercial trip, the illness should be reported to the Grand Canyon Illness Reporting Coordinator, Jim Nothnagel, 928-226-0168. This information is crucial to tracking illness on the river so that we may identify what is causing the illness and determine what we can do in the future to help prevent it. I would like to extend a special thanks to all of the guides and private boaters for their help and cooperation in dealing with this latest outbreak.
Jim Northnagel
Gcnp Sanitarian

Regarding Interview with Tom Moody, bqr 15;2—fascinating!

A correction: the Neffs—Everett and Lizzie (Rich and Donny’s dad and mom) ran my grandmother’s (Mae Moe) Nevills Lodge after she had sold it to Utah Wonderland Tours who then sold it to the Riggs. I am not certain if the Neffs or the Ferees bought it from Jack and Shirley Rigg. At any rate they didn’t not know Daddy, maybe of him.
Donny and Rich both ran for Gay and I—Mexican Hat Expeditions and Glen Canyon Boating.Also he did not run the cataract boats down the San Juan and Glen—San Juan boats were used for that purpose. They were sixteen feet long, approximately six feet across at the oarlock, with decked over stern and bow for storage. They too, ran stern first, but were great in the famous sand waves. They carried four passengers, plus the boatman. Donny was, I believe, the youngest to row a cataract boat through the Grand Canyon at probably age 59. Donny was one of the most delightful people—funny, hard working and a great employee.
Joan Nevills Staveley

I’m finally home for a couple of weeks after a hot summer’s worth of commercial trips and I have come home to an action alert from the Flagstaff Activist Network in my mailbox. It says, “Grand Canyon needs your help!” I opened it promptly, expecting to read about some pending environmental threat. Instead I find an urging to attend the Colorado River Management Plan (crmp) scoping meeting and am given “information” to convey. These points include:
• “Tell the park to provide outstanding opportunities for solitude and a primitive recreational experience without the use of motors.”
Boatmen know, given the current allocation, that this is a contradiction. Get rid of motors and solitude will certainly be a thing of the past.
• “The general public, citizens who don’t need the corporate river outfitters, must wait up to twenty years to obtain a permit.”
Boatmen know this is extremely misleading at best. Most private boaters are hardly the “general public” and we keep running into the same ones over and over again. Has anybody ever waited twenty years? The waiting list is a system that encourages hoarding, cheating, and gluttony and is keeping the “general public” out of the Canyon.
• “Motorboats are not as safe as oar-powered craft.”
Boatmen know that this is just untrue and hardly deserves comment.
These quotes are only a sampling of the misinformation that is being spread. Who are these people? I could list the twelve groups in the letterhead but it is probably fair to say that these ideas come from the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association (gcpba)…of course. Look ’em up on their web site and you will be able to distill all the above.
It turns out that many of the Concessionaires are sending out a similar request to past clients and boatmen to get comments into the crmp and to counter the message of the gcpba. This incorporates a full page of “information to include in your comments.” Even though I cannot find any misinformation in these points, I still come away feeling manipulated, the salient issues being conveniently overlooked.
So this is how the management plan will be decided. Everybody dancing around the real issues to protect their particular positions. The private boaters association duking it out with the concessionaires using the same political tools like spin control and “talking points” (the term that was used by Vernon Jordan in an attempt to manipulate Monica Lewinsky’s testimony to a Grand Jury). What a mess.
Let’s speak the truth here, the real questions are simple:
• Do motors hinder a wilderness experience or provide for one by creating less contact between groups?
• Can we consider placing limits on the number of times an individual (private or commercial) boater can access the park? There are no limits now.
• Is it really fair for a commercial company to make millions(?) of dollars, selling access to a National Park? Especially when non-commercial access is so difficult to attain.
Seems like quite a few of us are too afraid to ask these questions. Why? Well, simply put, our jobs depend on a continuation of the status quo.
But here’s what’s really burning me…where are our voices? Why is it that the men and women who may have a monopoly on common sense concerning these issues are silent? Are we really just afraid? Where is our Boatman’s Activist Network? Where is the Grand Canyon River Guides(gcrg) for God’s sake? Has common sense become so unfashionable as not to speak it?
So go to the meetings if you can or send in your comments or go to the computer right now and e-mail your points to grca_crmp@nps.gov. But whatever you do, make the words your own. No matter how tempting it is, I for one, will refrain from telling you what to say.
Dan Hall