Ann Zwinger - Downcanyon: A Naturalist Explores the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon

The purpose of these notes is to provide references, historical as well as current,for readers who would like to know more about the river and its natural history.They are not definitive, nor are all my sources cited, but indicate books and articlesthat were especially useful to me. Notes are indexed only if they add informationto the text.

Colorado River Compact: According to Steven Carothers and Bryan T. Brown, 1993, ANaturalHistoryof the Colorado River in Grand Canyon (Tucson: University ofArizonaPress), 23-24,dam operation is subject to the requirement of 8.23 millionacre-feetthat the UpperColorado River Basin is contractually bound to releasetothe Lower River Basin eachyear, as well as the multiple requirements oftheColorado River Compact of 1922,Boulder Canyon Project Act, Upper ColoradoRiverBasin Compact, Water Treaty of 1944with the United Mexican States, ColoradoRiverStorage Project Act, and ColoradoRiver Basin Project. Carothers and Brownprovidethe best all-around reference, recommendedreading before and afterforanyone running the river, written by two knowledgeablebiologists, usefullyandhandsomely illustrated.

Mile markers: Lewis R. Freeman, 1923, The Colorado River: Yesterday, To-day and Tomorrow(New York: Dodd, Mead).

Commercial traffic: R. M. Turner and M. M. Karpiscak, 1980, Recent VegetationChanges along the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead, Arizona (Washington, D.C.: USGS Professional Paper 1132), 43; George H. Billingsleyand Donald Elston, 1989, Geologic Log of the Colorado River from Lees Ferry to Temple Bar, Lake Mead, Arizona, in Geology of Grand Canyon, NorthernArizona, ed. Donald P. Elston, George H. Billingsley, and Richard A. Young (Washington,D.C.: American Geophysical Union), 1. This volume, hereafter Geology of Grand Canyon,includes an excellent river guide with recent papers on the geology of the canyon.

Hamblin: Leland H. Creer, 1958, The Adventures of Jacob Hamblin in the Vicinity ofthe Colorado (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, University of Utah AnthropologicalPapers 33); Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, 1926, A Canyon Voyage (New Haven: Yale UniversityPress), 153, accompanying Powell on his 1871 trip describes his meeting with Hamblin:On landing we were met by a slow-moving, very quiet individual, who said he wasJacob Hamblin. His voice was so low, his manner so simple, his clothing so usual,that I could hardly believe that this was Utahs famous Indian-fighter and manager.

Notable visitors: Silvestre Velz de Escalante, 1776 (1943), Journals, Utah HistoricalQuarterly 11:97-98; Powell: George D. Vanderluis and Charles B. Hauf, 1969, RoadLog: Yaki Point (Top of the Kaibab Trail on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon) toLees Ferry, Arizona, via Cameron, in Geologic and Natural History of the GrandCanyon Region, ed. D.L. Baars (Durango, Colo.: Four Corners Geological Association),211; Stanton: Robert Brewster Stanton, 1965, Down the Colorado, ed. and intro. DwightL. Smith (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press), 108-9, whose Christmas menu listsOxtail, Tomato, or Chicken soup; Colorado River Salmon; Roast Turkey, Beef, OxHeart, and for Entrees: Braised Chicken, Game Pie, Mashed Potatoes, Stewed Onions,Tomatoes, Rice, Potato Salad; Wheat, Corn and Graham Bread; Tea, Coffee, Chocolate,Milk; Plum Pudding, Hard Sauce; Mince and Apple Pie with Apple and Cherry Sauce;Bents Crackers and Utah Cheese; Arizona Apples, fresh Peaches and Pears, Raisinsand Nuts (all grown at Lees Ferry); Havana Cigars,Turkish Cigarettes; Flavell:G.F. Flavell, 1987, The Log of the Panthon: An Account of an 1896 River Voyage fromGreen River, Wyoming, to Yuma, Arizona, through the Grand Canyon, ed. Neil B. Carmonyand David E. Brown (Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing); Woolley: David Lavender,1986, River Runners of the Grand Canyon (Grand Canyon: Grand Canyon Natural HistoryAssociation and University of Arizona Press), 38-40; Stone: Julius S. Stone, 1932,Canyon Country: The Romance of a Drop of Water and a Grain of Sand (New York: PutnamsSons), 83, one of the best of personal river narratives; Kolb: Ellsworth L. Kolb,1914, Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico (New York: Macmillan), 249-50;Edith Kolb, 1923, Diary (Emery Kolb Collection, Cline Library, Northern ArizonaUniversity, Flagstaff), series 2, box 1, subgroup 4, folder 1756, July 2 and August1, 1923; Birdseye: Claude H. Birdseye and Raymond C. Moore, 1924, A Boat Voyagethrough the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, Gecgraphical Review 14(2):177-80; Hatch:Roy Webb, 1990, Riverman: The Story of Bus Hatch (Rock Springs, Wyo.: Labyrinth Publishing),41; Nevills: William Cook, 1987, The Wen, the Botany, and the Mexican Hat: The Adventures of theFirst Women through Grand Canyon, on the Nevills Expedition (Orangevale,Calif.: CallistogaBooks), 63-64; DeColmont Expedition: Roy Webb, 1987, Les Voyageurs sans Trace:The DeColmont-DeSeyne Kayak Party of 1938, Utah Historical Quarterly 55(2):167-69, 179-80.

Lees Ferry name: Nancy Brian, 1992, River to Rim (Flagstaff: Earthquest Press), acarefully researched, reliable guide to Grand Canyon names.

Pearce Ferry: Ibid., 134, often misspelled Pierce, the ferry was named after HarrisonPearce, who ran it.

Beadle: J. H. Beadle, 1873, The Undeveloped West; or, Five years in the Territories:Being a Complete History of that Vast Region between the Mississippi and the Pacific,Its Resources, Climate, Inhabitants, Natural Curiosities, etc., etc., Life and Adventureon Prairies, Mountains, and the Pacific Coast (Philadelphia: National Publishing),633-37, 645-53, 663, quotes, 33, 637, 653.

Emma Dean: Ibid., 634-35; Dellenbaugh, Canyon Voyage, 319, Preparations for ourdescent through the great chasm were immediately begun. The boats had been previouslyoverhauled, and as the Nellie Powell was found unseaworthy from last seasonss knocks,or at least not in condition to be relied on in the Grand Canyon, she was abandoned,and Lee kept her for a ferry-boat.

Emma Lee: Beadle, Undeveloped West, 637, characterizes her as full of harangue,a description that matches that of others who dealt with Lees seventeenth wife,who was tough enough to pull a handcart from Iowa City to Salt Lake City in 1857;however, Dellenbaugh, Canyon Voyage, 210, speaks more kindly of her as a stout,comely young woman of about twenty-five, with two small children, and [who] seemedto be entirely happy in the situation, and praised the fresh fruits and vegetablesshe grew at Lees Ferry; E. O. Beaman, 1874, The Caon of the Colorado, and the MoquiPueblos: A Wild Boat-Ride through the Caon and Rapids, a Visit to the Seven Citiesof the Desert, Glimpses of Mormon Life,