Books

In May of 1869, eleven men in Wyoming stood beside four moored boats on the Green River where, weeks earlier, the Union Pacific Railroad had bridged it. These men’s mission, their goal, and their fates hung on their intent to navigate those four boats down the Green River and through the unexplored canyons of the Colorado a thousand miles to, through, and beyond Grand Canyon. As fortune would have it, 98 days later, only six of those eleven men and only two of those four boats would ride the Colorado past the Grand Wash Cliffs at the foot of Grand Canyon. The story of these brave—maybe too brave—men and their harrowing accomplishments forms one of the most astonishing epics in the exploration history of North America. Here for the first time this gripping saga of extreme adventure, optimism, courage, fear, heroism, humor, triumph, and tragedy is told in full by the men themselves via their newly transcribed, unabridged journals and letters written during the expedition.
“Hang on, we’re going for the Big One.” Michael Ghiglieri’s First Through Grand Canyon takes us on a wild run through one of the most exciting explorations of the West, the fateful 1869 expedition down the Colorado River. Accurate transcriptions, long overdue, of the letters and diaries written during the expedition form the core of this book, but it goes well beyond a mere compilation of documents. In it, the crew members emerge from the shadows to tell their stories, often differing from the account published by expedition leader John Wesley Powell. This book also contains a newly-discovered letter by Jack Sumner which casts doubt on the accepted version of how the three men who left the expedition met their fates. In a detailed introduction and series of biographical sketches, Ghiglieri presents a scathing reappraisal of Powell and the historians who have glossed over his failings of 1869. With a feisty, combative style, Ghiglieri lays into Powell, a man often revered by river historians. Powell comes across as an incompetent leader whose desire for self-aggrandizement drove him to fabricate reports of his expedition and to monopolize credit for it to the exclusion of the extraordinary crew who made it possible. Before reading this book, I saw Powell as someone you might enjoy talking with at the Cosmos Club over brandy and cigars—though admittedly not someone you’d want to float with down a dangerous river. He was too driven, autocratic, moody. Now, however, I’d avoid that polite conversation and instead hit him with the hard questions, the ones raised by Ghiglieri again and again.

Those questions need to be asked. While Ghiglieri’s effort to right the record minimizes Powell’s accomplishments after 1869, what’s more important is the accurate and engaging way First Through Grand Canyon reanimates this classic tale of exploration during 1869, bringing it alive for a new generation of river runners and for all those drawn to the history of the West.
First Through Grand Canyon is destined to become the definitive history of this amazing journey. First Through Grand Canyon will be available this March from Puma Press (Box 30998, Flagstaff, az 86003) in a limited, 1,000 copy first edition hardcover printing (isbn: 0-9700973-3-6, $29.95) and a simultaneous trade softcover edition (isbn: 0-9700973-2-8, $19.95)

Scott Thybony

Fretwater Press is publishing a series of historic river journals this spring. The first two volumes of Chronicles of the Colorado will be debuted by their respective editors at Cline Library Auditorium, Northern Arizona University, at 7:30 p.m. on March 26.
Bill Suran will present the first volume: The Brave Ones; The Journals and Letters of the 1911–1912 Expedition Down the Green and Colorado Rivers by Ellsworth L. Kolb and Emery C. Kolb. This volume contains the Kolbs’ complete journals and letters pertaining to the 1911–12 trip, as well as the journal of their stalwart helper, Bert Lauzon.
Brad Dimock will introduce Volume Two: Every Rapid Speaks Plainly: The Salmon, Green, and Colorado River Journals of Buzz Holmstrom. This contains Holmstrom’s journals from his 1936 Salmon trip, his 1937 solo trip down the Green and Colorado, and his repeat of that voyage in 1938. Included are the 1938 accounts of Amos Burg, Philip Lundstrom, and Willis Johnson, who accompanied Holmstrom.
Historic film clips will accompany the talks. Attendance is free and open to the public, although Southwest Rivers will accept donations. If you can’t make it, Dimock will be at the gts that weekend for a similar presentation. The books will be available individually in the softbound edition. For libraries and book fanatics, two hundred boxed hardbound slip-cased signed and numbered sets will be printed as well—they can be purchased at the debut, at the gts, or ahead of time at www.fretwater.com.
An excerpt from each volume, suitable for campfire reading, follows. Remember, you saw it first in the bqr.