Oral History

   Uh-oh. Here we go again. Off on another mission. Same type impetus as the Grand Canyon Protection Act, really. Something important is slipping away and if we don’t catch hold of it now, it’s out of here. So the River Runner’s Oral History Project is up and running. Sort of. It’s a joint endeavor of GCRG and the Special Collections branch of NAU’s Cline Library. We’ve got the equipment and manpower. We have a good long term home for what we collect. The saga is out there.

   What saga?

   Our own. Our best stories. Our worst wrecks. How we got where we are today. What we’ve learned along the way. So far we’ve talked to Georgie and Martin Litton, P.T. Reilly and Don Harris. The following interview with Martin is the first tangible fruit of the project. If we can keep the project rolling, over the next few years we’d like to visit with somewhere between 30 and 90 more people.

   Why? Somebody might appreciate it someday. Our grandkids maybe. (ha!) Ok, whoever they get to do this job after we’re all dead and gone.

   What’s the catch? It costs money. You don’t just do them and put them in the closet. To be accessible, they have to get cleaned up and filed safe in the library. By the time the average 2-hour interview is researched, taped, transcribed, edited, reviewed and archived... somebody has spent between four and five hundred bucks, either in real money or donated hours.

   Since the regular GCRG $ is supposed to be for political ends or works that directly affect the Canyon, we don’t feel it’s right to tap into any of that for this project.

   Bottom line? Fifteen grand (one new car) sent to the GCRG Oral History Fund saves forever the bits and pieces of about 30 people. Of course, we’ll take anything. Five bucks. Five thousand. A quarter. Send it in. Specify Oral History Fund on your donation.

   Thanks.