page thirty six THE Waiting List

River Book Reviews

SAN JUAN RIVER GUIDE SAND ISLAND TO CLAY HILLS CROSSING

If you boat the San Juan River in Southeastern Utah, you might want to pick up a copy of thisnew guidebook for your next trip, even if you already have one or more of the other guidebooks

for the San Juan. I have a whole shelf full of guidebooks for various rivers, some of them pretty old and others fairly recent. Over the

years, the quality and diversity of information in river guide books has generally improved. Now Lisa has captured the bestideas of the bunch, and incorporated them all into this fine guidebook which, overall, sets the bar a bit higher for anyonewho want to write a great guidebook for a popular river.

Anyone who has a fewweathered and worn guidebookswon’t find any features theyhaven’t seen somewhere before.But I can’t think of any other riverguide that shows as much atten-tion to detail; this is a beautiful,as well as informative, book.

There are six major sec-tions, as follows: San Juan RiverOverview...including river charac-teristics, weather, and threats tothe S.J. Logistics andSafety...including access points,permits, river safety, and river eti-quette, Human History...prehis-toric and historic Indian cultures,Mormons, miners, river runnersGeology...well illustrated sectionson the River, the Landscape, andthe rocks, written by guide andgeologist Wayne Ranney: inform-ative, but written for the non-sci-entist Biology...including biologi-cal changes, and a brief but excel-lent guide to plants and animalsand a River Map.

There’s a few things about Lisa’s book that make it real-ly special: first of all, the quality of the illustrations. From thespectacular color photo on the cover (Chris Brown), to theexceptionally clear river map at the end, this is a book withlooks to match the scenery. There’s also some fine historic pho-tos, aerial photography by Michael Collier, and a pair of match-ing photos taken 70 years apart, showing vegetation changes atthe mouth of Chinle Creek, courtesy of Bob Webb. The draw-ings illustrating pottery types, rock art styles, plants, animals,and geology are simple, clear, and informative. And the rivermap starts at the end of the book, so the downstream direction

is towards the top of the page, anarrangement that seems both naturaland (now that I’ve seen it) obvious.In addition to mileages, rapids, andtopographic contours, features men-tioned in the text are keyed with ref-erences to the page numbers whereyou can read about them.

Another interesting feature isthe amount of current and timelyinformation that goes beyond whatyou would normally expect to findin a river guidebook. There are con-cise, but clear, sections on such top-ics as permits, the Animas-La PlataProject, silt accumulation on thelower end, river safety and etiquette,and the preservation of archaeologi-cal resources.

It’s spiral bound, printed onwaterproof paper, and sized to fitinto your ammo-box.

If you forget to get a copybefore heading off to the river, youmight be able to find one at

Recapture Lodge in Bluff; but I’d recommend gettingone now, so you have time to read through it before youget to the boat-ramp. You’ll be glad you have a copy onyour next trip down the Juan.

reviewed by Drifter Smith

by Lisa KearsleyWaterproof Edition, 2002 ($17.95 + $2 shipping fromShiva Press) Published by Shiva Press5557 White Horse DriveFlagstaff, AZ 86004www.shivapress.com

Winter 2002 / 2003 page thirty seven

Hell or High Water: James White’s Disputed Passage Through Grand Canyon 1867

by Eilean Adams, 2001, Logan Utah, Utah State University Press— reviewed by Drifter Smith

While you’d have to look far and wide to find an American who’s never heard of John WesleyPowell, the name of James White is not likely to be recognized except perhaps by a relatively

small number of river runners with an interest in the history of, and controversies about, theexploration of the Colorado River.

However, in 1868 - the year before Powell launched his first river expedition at Green River Wyoming - the situationregarding their relative name recognition was reversed. Powell was an unknown college professor from Illinois, a disabled vet-eran of the Civil War with a compulsion to explore the still little known territory of the inter-mountain west in the companyof occasional students and various mountain men he hired as guides to show him the sights.

In contrast, James White was a bit of acelebrity, perhaps even a folk hero, thetopic of numerous conversations, andthe subject of newspaper articles, andscientific reports. Attacked by Indianswhile prospecting, he fled deeper intounknown canyon country until heencountered a large river. Hastily con-structing a primitive raft from a couplelogs, he and a companion escaped downthe river. A few days later, his compan-ion drowned. On September 7, 1867,White was pulled out of the Colorado River at Callville,Nevada, which now lies under Lake Mead a few miles east ofLas Vegas. Entirely by accident, he had apparently floatedfrom somewhere north of the San Juan River through theGrand Canyon, and washed out the lower end, still (barely)alive enough to tell the tale.

Over the course of the next century and a third,Powell’s reputation has waxed while White’s has waned.Before Powell’s expedition, White’s story was widely publi-cized and generally believed. But in August of 1869, viewingHance Rapid at low water, Powell and his men no longerthought there was any truth to White’s tale. Powell publiclydenounced White’s trip as a fiction within a few days of getting off the river, believing that he (and no one else)deserved the credit for conquering the Colorado. Most sub-sequent river runners agreed with Powell: White’s allegedtrip was impossible, so he was either confused, a liar, orboth. In any event, there’s no way he could have survived atrip down the Colorado, without supplies, on a raft madeout of a couple cottonwood logs.

In Hell or High Water Eilean Adams tells severalinterwoven stories that revolve around the strange story ofJames White, his moment of fame, and eventual descentinto relative obscurity. While I doubt Hell or High Water willbe the last word on White and his adventure, it will beessential reading on the subject for years to come.

Adams’ account begins with a sixthgrade history test question more than 60years ago: “Who was the first white man togo through the Grand Canyon?” Her answer,“James White,” rather than the expected“John Wesley Powell,” was marked incorrect.Her teacher was not amused when she insist-ed that White - her grandfather - had beenthrough the Grand Canyon in 1867, twoyears before Powell.

Eilean Adams never met her grandfather,and for years what she knew about him (and the controversysurrounding his adventure) was based on family stories and acopy of a slim volume by Thomas Dawson that had beenpublished by the United States Senate back in 1917. In 1959,however, river historian Dock Marston wrote to her motheras part of his research into the James White story, whichsparked her interest in finding out more, maybe even writingsomething about it eventually. As it turned out, Marston wasmainly interested in finding evidence to discredit White andhis tale.

A decade later, she was contacted by Bob Euler, whowas also interested in the story. Euler - unlike Marston andmost earlier commentators - was curious enough to wonderwhat sense could be made of White’s story. Could White havereally have done what he said he did?

Euler gathered the details of White’s account - mostlywritten down by others, as White was essentially illiterate -and tried to match them with the landscape, in the hope thathe could make sense of the handful of information thatWhite remembered from an adventure he barely survived,now a hundred years in the past. Eventually he came up witha theory about where White started down the river that seemsto fit; but then Euler lost interest in the project.

In the end, Adams realized that if anyone was goingto hear about her grandfather and his adventure, she’d have totell the story herself. And it’s a good thing she did, as one of

Most subsequentriver runners

agreed with Powell:White’s alleged trip

was impossible, so he was either

confused, a liar, or both.

page thirty eight THE Waiting List

the most interesting threads in this narrative has to do withhow her grandfather was treated by earlier investigators -Stanton, in particular - who had their own agenda of estab-lishing that White could not have been the first through theGrand Canyon. Nobody else could have told that part of thestory.

Intermixed with the personal story of the quest tofind out about her grandfather and his encounter with histo-ry (and historians), Adams has included the texts of the vari-ous accounts of White’s story, published over a century ago.Aside from a letter that White wrote to his brother (obvious-ly with some difficulty), the accounts were written by peoplewho interviewed White and then wrote up his story for pub-lication. Overall, there’s not a lot of details about White’strip or what he saw. Considering that he was barely alive atthe end of his adventure, this isn’t very surprising.

But the few details are enough to make one wonder.For example, he described “a stream of water about as largeas my body that was running through the solid rocks of thecanyon about 75 feet above my head, and the clinging mossto the rocks made a beautiful sight. The beauty of it can notbe described.” Vasey’s Paradise? Deer Creek Falls? ... or onegood guess in the middle of a pack of lies?

White also mentioned getting stuck for hours in aneddy at - or near - the mouth of the Little Colorado. EileanAdams doesn’t make anything of this detail (she’s never beendown the canyon), but other river runners who have beenthere when the Little Colorado was in flood stage relative tothe mainstream have described the spot as an enormouswhirlpool...coincidence, or another lucky lie, or first handobservation?

Numerous rapids, hours spent in eddies, gettingwashed off the raft several times a day, a companion whodrowned when he got separated from the raft...it seems tome these are details that are more likely the impressions ofsomeone who washed through the canyon by accident,rather than a mess of imaginative lies. In any event, nobodyis questioning the fact that White was pulled out of theColorado below Grand Canyon, starved, sunburnt, unableto stand up, barely alive - all in all, pretty much in the con-dition you would expect if his story about floating throughthe big canyon was true.

In trying to maintain his position as the secondexplorer of the Colorado River, Robert Brewster Stantonargued that White had hiked overland from the San Juan -several hundred miles across uncharted desert and plateaucountry - then managed to forget that experience while hefloated something like 60 miles down the river from some-where below Grand Wash Cliffs. That’s a hell of a hike, fol-lowed by a pretty trivial float trip: if this were true, Whitewould have still been tough as nails by the time he got toCallville. But the folks who pulled him out of the river said

he couldn’t even stand up. In A River Running West DonaldWooster sums it up nicely: “If (White’s trip) seems improba-ble, all other explanations are more improbable still.”

So what, one might ask. Who cares? After all, it wasPowell who first ran the river intentionally, and made scien-tific observations; later he went on to map the surroundingcanyon country, started the Bureau of Ethnology, and foryears was Director of the Geologic Survey. White droppedpretty much out of sight in Trinidad, Colorado and his earlypublicity notwithstanding, he ended up in relative obscurity.

One consequence of White’s “disputed passagethrough the Grand Canyon” in 1867 is that the publicityabout his adventure must have been a factor in Powell’s deci-sion to explore the Green and Colorado Rivers by boat.

In later years, Powell said that exploring the riverwas his idea; Jack Sumner claimed it was his. Neither both-ered to mention the widely published conclusion of Dr.Parry - who wrote up White’s story -

“The absence of any distinct cataract, or perpendi-cular falls, would seem to warrant the conclusion that intime of high water, by proper appliances in the way of boats,good, resolute oarsmen, and provisions secured in water-proof bags the same passage might be safely made, and theactual course of the river with its peculiar geological featuresproperly determined” (Transactions of the St. LouisAcademy of Natural Science, 1868).

About the time White’s story first appeared in thepapers, Powell was talking about an exploring trip by boatdown the Green River. Others had already ventured downthe Green, but they were fur trappers, not scientists. As ayoung man, Powell had boated a lot on the Mississippi andit’s tributaries. A scientific exploring expedition down theGreen made sense, and - judging from Dr. Parry’s conclu-sions - extending it through the “Great Unknown” did too.

White was mentioned in the journals kept by bothJack Sumner and George Bradley on the first Powell trip.General Palmer mentioned (in a letter to his fiancee) thatWhite said Powell had tried to contact him and invite himalong on his exploring expedition, but that they’d failed tomeet. In any event, Powell certainly knew about White’salleged trip, and took it to be a sign that a well planned andequipped expedition would be likely to meet with success.

Did White beat Powell through the Grand Canyon?You’ll have to read Hell or High Water and draw your ownconclusions.

Much as I liked this book, I have a couple minorcomplaints: (1) I found myself wishing it was longer, and (2) I wish there was an index. Neither should stop you fromgetting a copy and enjoying it ...

Drifter Smithy

Winter 2002 / 2003 page thirty nine

Hot Off the Internet ~ How Hot I s H o t ?

Bob wrote—The hottest day I've ever seen in Canyon country was several years ago when it hit122 degrees in Phoenix. The floor of the GC is at a slightly higher elevation than Phoenix and

I wouldn't expect in the shade temperatures to go above 120. They should be more like 115degrees maximum most years (anyone have any data on this?). Now I'm not saying that is a bittoo hot but I'm not certain anyone could even survive 130 degrees in the shade. That's DeathValley hot (below sea level).

They say you can fry eggs on the pavement in Phoenix in the summer although I've never tried it. One has to bequick on your feet in that summer mid-day sand on a Grand Canyon trip or on the Phoenix streets then.

TOO HOT FOR TEQUILA

Ricard o responded—On that day you are referring to Bob, when it was 122 in Phoenix and the airport had to close, I hadthe unfortunate experience of having to select 8 quarter pine timbers from a stack, outside, in the full sun on the tarmac atSouthwest Hardwoods. to add to the fun experience was the big brown boxcar parked right next to us. We moved quickly.

When we returned to Jerome with the goods, the temperature there had topped 112, 4,000 feet higher in elevationthan Phoenix.

Speaking of moving quickly and more canyon specific, a number of years back I heard the temperature along theriver near Kingman had reached 130. Sometimes I bring a very small radio on trips for my personal use (not a blaster) and Iheard an Arizona weather broadcast confirming that temp.

We were at Whitmore that afternoon, wistfully remembering the cooling waves over the bow in Lava Falls. I wouldsuggest Whitmore to be one of the canyon "hot spots"—with it's long exposure to the afternoon sun.

Everyone was just dogging about, there's little shade there. People just sitting in the water, blasting each other withsquirt guns, tongues hanging out, too hot for celebratory tequila, or to even talk much.

Just below the first big beach, there's a small riffle. Some of us turned to look at the riffle just as a very low flyingeagle flew up river towards us. That eagle fellow apparently spied the boiling humans lining the beach and decided to join us.Enough is enough. He flew right into the middle of the group and sat down on the beach, where upon he sat until the sunhad dropped a bit—remaining with us for about 15 minutes.

Wonder. Silence. What is this all about? Could it be that we creatures shared a commonality of emotion—"it's too hot"?

Or could it be that it was so hot, that like the airplanes on that hot Phoenix day the eagle found himself groundeddue to lack of lift (hot air is thinner and there is less lift)?

Did the eagle chose the path above the river because it was cooler, giving him a bit more lift without the effort ofmoving it's wings on a hot afternoon? Forget fishing—chill out big bird.

When the eagles visit was about to end, he walked the beach amongst the amazed spectators and then lifted off,flying low towards the cliffs on river left.

After sun down, we 16 spent the evening enjoying the tequila, and speculating on our good fortune to have had anafternoon with the eagle, and wondering about our place on this earth.

Some like it hot.

NOT TOO HOT FOR BEER

Drifter commented—115 is a more typical temperature for a hot day in the Grand Canyon, but that doesn't mean highertemperatures are never encountered. Last I heard the official record temperature at Phantom was in the low to mid 120s...butthen it's relatively cool at Phantom compared to other places with less vegetation and running water.

I have a thermometer with a scale that ends at 165 degrees F. I've tried to measure the surface temperatures of stuffin the sun on my rig - black bags, aluminum rowing frame, etc - but on a hot day they're off the top end of the scale. Sandtemperatures in the sun can easily get up around 135-140, way past barefoot walking and a bit much for the feet even withdecent hiking boots.

If Ricardo says it got too hot for tequila, I believe him. But I've never seen it too hot for beer...

from gcpba@yahoogroups.comy

page forty THE Waiting List

Grand Canyon: American Whitewater’s Survey Analysis

American Whitewater collected responses to it’s non-scientific online survey between July 9 andAugust 8, 2002 at www.American Whitewater.org. The purpose in conducting the survey was

to gauge the pulse of our members and the boating public on several issues related to river man-agement in the Grand Canyon. The respondents were self-selecting and elected to go to AmericanWhitewater’s website after receiving email notification of the surveys availability. 872 people com-pleted the survey; 15 of these responses were incomplete and were discarded. 352 of the respon-dents were American Whitewater members (5%of membership). 175 respondents were GrandCanyon Private Boater Association (GCPBA—an AW affiliated organization) members. ThePark Service did not assist with this survey.However, American Whitewater will share theresults of our survey with the Park along withthe comments that we received.

SUMMARY OF AMERICAN WHITEWATERMEMBERSHIP RESPONSES

VISITS

55% of respondents have floated down the Grand Canyon.

Average date of last trip was 1997, median was 1999.

Of those respondents who have been down:

12% have been on motorized raft trips.52% have been on non-motorized raft trips.63% have been in kayaks with raft support.27% have been on commercial trips.

WAIT LIST

97% do not find the Wait List acceptable and 96% want anew permit system.

36% have been registered on the Wait List.

41% plan to get on the GCNP Wait List in the future.

An additional 36% would get on the List if it was shorter.

The primary reason 80% of respondents have not registeredon the List is its length.

The secondary reason 42% is that the $100 registration fee istoo high.

Respondents would prefer to register for private permits viathe web.

Their secondary choice is via email.

Other choices in decreasing preference are: FaxPhoneMail or OperatorIn Person.

Respondents would prefer a reservation registration system.

This is followed closely by a Weighted Lottery, then Lottery,and Wait List.

There was very little interest in a First-Come First-Serve sys-tem.

79% were interested in a hybrid system that provided twoavenues for applying for permits.

62% felt that a 2-3 year wait was reasonable, 26% selected 1year or less, 10% more than 3.

72% felt that they should be able to launch 1 year or lessafter receiving their permit.

MOTORS

87% believe that motors diminish the wilderness characterof the river.

72% believe that motors diminish the paddling experience.

58% would agree to future use of cleaner, quieter motors,38% would not.

70% would compromise on motors in a way that also pro-tects the “wilderness quality experience,” 27% would not.

79% would compromise on motors if the number of privatelaunches increases, 17% would not.

SUMMARY OF ALL RESPONSES

VISITS

56% of respondents have floated down Colorado River inthe Grand Canyon.

Average date of last trip was 1998, median was 1998.