150 YEARS OF RUNNING THE RIVER Celebrating the Sesquicentennial of John Wesley Powell’s Maiden Voyage: 1869-2019 MAY 2019 ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE THE COLORADO Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’ on the River ... Colorado River Grand Canyon National Park Winslow May 2019 Sedona Cottonwood Heber 2 EDITOR’S LETTER 42 WHATEVER BOATS YOU FLOAT In 1869, the fastest and most seaworthy cargo- PHOENIX 3 CONTRIBUTORS hauling boats were called Whitehalls. That’s what John Wesley Powell chose for his legendary voyage. 4 LETTERS Tucson It was a bad choice. Since then, the boats have gone 5 THE JOURNAL from something feared to something revered. Madera Canyon People, places and things from around the state, By Brad Dimock POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS ISSUE including the Race Track Industry Program, the Uni- Photographs by Rudi Petschek versity of Arizona’s link to the Triple Crown; Little Moo’s Gourmet Market in Cottonwood; and the his- 48 THE BALLAD OF BELLE ZABOR tory of the International Harvester proving grounds His verses, he said, were written for the backcountry in Phoenix. and were never intended for the parlor. Appropriately, Vaughn Short’s poetry has become as much a part of 18 IN THE WAKE OF POWELL the river experience as wind, sand and water. An Essay by Craig Childs By Vaughn Short 24 JOURNEY THROUGH THE CENTER 52 SCENIC DRIVE Chevelon Crossing: This scenic route, which winds OF THE EARTH from Winslow to Heber, originally was built in the late On May 24, 1869, John Wesley Powell began an 1800s so Mormon pioneers could get their wagons expedition that would take him from Green River, across a perilous ravine en route to Chevelon Creek. Wyoming, to the 2 billion-year-old depths of the By Annette McGivney Grand Canyon. He was the first to run the Colorado Photographs by Joel Hazelton River, but hardly the last. One hundred fifty years later, thousands of thrill-seekers, including Adam 54 HIKE OF THE MONTH Schallau, make the journey every summer. Bog Springs/Kent Spring Loop: There are several ways A Portfolio by Adam Schallau to explore Madera Canyon, including this scenic loop. On paper, it looks easy. But it’s not. GET MORE ONLINE 32 AN ODYSSEY OF THE GREEN AND COLORADO By Robert Stieve www.arizonahighways.com The intimate journal of three boats and nine people Photographs by Jeff Maltzman on a trip down two rivers. A story originally pub- /azhighways lished in the January 1941 issue of Arizona Highways. 56 WHERE IS THIS? Story and Photographs by Barry M. Goldwater @arizonahighways Rafters relax by a campfire after a long day of rafting the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Adam Schallau CANON 6D, 20 SEC, F/2.8, ISO 800, 14-24 MM LENS FRONT COVER: A river rafter is mirrored by the calm water of the Colorado River beneath the Grand Canyon’s cliffs. Adam Schallau CANON EOS 5D MARK II, 1/50 SEC, F/11, ISO 100, 24 MM LENS BACK COVER: The steep cliffs of the Grand Canyon tower over the confluence of the Colorado River and Bright Angel Creek. Adam Schallau CANON EOS 5D MARK II, 0.4 SEC, F/16, ISO 50, 22 MM LENS 2 OCTOBER 2015 www.arizonahighways.com 1 editor’s LETTER CONTRIBUTORS ARIZONA BRAD DIMOCK course of almost a hundred years, there’s bound HIGHWAYS This wouldn’t be an MAY 2019 VOL. 95 NO. 5 to be some differences. Our choice was to either issue about river update all of the old stories, and apply our cur- 800-543-5432 runners without a rent style, or let them be. We decided to keep our www.arizonahighways.com story from one of hands off. In hindsight, we like the flavor of the GIFT SHOP: 602-712-2200 them, so we turned old style, which features some odd hyphenations to Brad Dimock, who ewis and Clark had Sacagawea in their (“up-draft” and “snow-storm”) and all kinds of PUBLISHER Kelly Mero explores the differ- EDITOR Robert Stieve camp. Neil Armstrong had rocket scientists inconsistent spelling — in the same story, we ences between John SENIOR EDITOR Kelly Vaughn in his headset. John Wesley Powell had no referred to a certain pine tree as a “piñon” and a Wesley Powell’s MANAGING EDITOR Noah Austin one. And no real understanding of what was “pinion.” The style rules for proper nouns were all boats and the dories ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ameema Ahmed ahead. “Barren desolation is stretched out over the place, too. Or maybe there weren’t any of today (see What- L PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Jeff Kida before me,” he wrote. “We have an unknown rules at all. ever Boats You Float, CREATIVE DIRECTOR Barbara Glynn Denney distance yet to run, an unknown river to Another thing we had to think about was page 42). Dimock’s ART DIRECTOR Keith Whitney explore. What falls there are, we know not.” fact-checking. To be clear, there are some errors life has revolved around the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River since he went on a MAP DESIGNER Kevin Kibsey Nonetheless, on May 24, 1869, the intrepid, one-armed frontiersman began in some of the older stories. In some cases, they river trip as a freshman at Prescott College in 1971. “This assignment is perfect for me,” he PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Bianchi an expedition that would make him the first person to run the Colorado were the result of a lack of information at the says. “I’ve spent the past several decades researching these boats and boatmen, building DIRECTOR OF SALES River. One hundred fifty years later, he’s revered, like Lewis and Clark, and time — the age of the Canyon, the length of river AND MARKETING Karen Farugia and running these boats, and trying to understand the context of them as time passed.” the landscape he explored is protected as Grand Canyon National Park — no — and in other cases there may have been a hint WEBMASTER Victoria Snow When it comes to running a rapid, Dimock says the best part is coming out at the far end, more unknowns. This month, we mark the sesquicentennial of Powell’s of hyperbole. Or folklore. Those things we left CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Nicole Bowman when “the joy can flood in unimpeded.” But what’s the best part of building a boat? legendary voyage. It’s a milestone that coincides with the centennial celebra- alone. We didn’t want our book to read like a DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Matthew Bailey “I think the enjoyment comes at the end of each day: looking back at the day’s progress tion of the national park. For that dissertation — the rhythm of the writing would OPERATIONS/ over a beer, and watching a pile of straight, square sticks take on the elegant shape of a occasion, we made a book. It’s a have been thrown off by the interruption of so IT MANAGER Cindy Bormanis dory,” he says. “Every day, there’s a new iteration as we progress toward a finished boat. new book about an old park. GRAND CANYON many footnotes. It’s a series of problem-solving adventures, and it’s so sweet to watch it happen day by Although Arizona Highways is Also, we think it’s interesting to look back and CORPORATE OR day.” Dimock is pictured here running Upset Rapids at Mile 150 in the Grand Canyon. NATIONAL PARK TRADE SALES 602-712-2018 a few years younger, we’ve been consider the level of understanding in the 1920s SPONSORSHIP SALES covering the park for parts of or ’30s or ’40s. Leaving the copy alone allows for REPRESENTATION On Media Publications 10 decades. In all, we’ve published a more interesting trip back in time. And that’s Deidra Viberg 602-323-9701 hundreds of stories about the Grand really what the book is all about. It’s a journey Canyon. For the book, we revisited back to that day in 1919 when President Wood- CRAIG CHILDS every single one, and ultimately LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] Don’t ask Craig row Wilson signed into law a bill establishing 2039 W. Lewis Avenue settled on 28 of our favorite stories. the Grand Canyon as the nation’s 15th national Phoenix, AZ 85009 Childs to name his Stories written by some of the most park. And it’s a storyline of some of the people, favorite experience on the Colorado accomplished writers in our archive: places and things that have made the park one of GOVERNOR Douglas A. Ducey Raymond Carlson, Charles Franklin the crown jewels of the National Park Service. River, where he’s DIRECTOR, Parker, Joyce Rockwood Muench, John Muir once said this about the Grand DEPARTMENT spent plenty of OF TRANSPORTATION John S. Halikowski Frank Waters, Craig Childs, Charles Bowden. Canyon: “It seems a gigantic statement for even time. He won’t do As you might imagine, curating nearly 100 years of content wasn’t easy — nature to make.” In the same way that words and it. More accurately, it was months and months of Sophie’s choice. To help narrow the field, we photographs can never fully capture the grandeur Arizona Highways® (ISSN 0004-1521) is published he can’t do it. “Every monthly by the Arizona Department of Transportation. focused on the stories that occurred after the park’s official birthday on Feb- of the Canyon — a place that can be seen from Subscription price: $24 a year in the U.S., $44 outside moment is magi- ruary 26, 1919. Because of that, you won’t see any stories about Powell’s trip outer space, a place counted as one of the seven the U.S.