'Damming Grand Canyon' is grand adventure

This scholarly book not only focuses on an obscure yet important part of Grand Canyon history but also proves to be a great adventure tale of 84 years ago.

Meticulously footnoted, "Damming the Grand Canyon" reads a little too much like a textbook in the first few dozen pages — but then it takes off with vivid diary excerpts of Claude Birdseye (a distant cousin of Clarence Birdseye of frozen-foods fame) and others leading a U.S. Geological Survey expedition to explore possible places for dams in the canyon.

Bolstered by several dozen black-and-white photographs of the river run, the book proves to be a classic work highlighting Grand Canyon exploration not previously treated.

• In 1890, a hypothetical railroad was surveyed but never built through the Cataract, Glen and Grand canyons.

• As the "American Nile," Colorado River water is reused an average of five times before it reaches the ocean.

• By 1920, the Colorado River's natural flow was considered a menace by much of the public because of periodic flooding.

• Original data of water flow for the Colorado came from an unusually wet period, which is one reason the Colorado historically and today still apportions more water than there really is.

• One diary excerpt explains how treacherous and unimproved the Bright Angel trail was in 1923: "There is no wonder that the trail has never been used by anyone but the Kolbs (owners of the original photo studio on the South Rim), as very few persons would have the courage to use if they knew of its existence, as it is over granite ledges and along precipices several hundred feet above the river where there is no footing except small projections a few inches wide which make the use of both hands and feet necessary in travelling the short cut."

• On Sept. 13, 1923, the expedition received 700 pounds of supplies from the mouth of Havasu Creek. Nineteen Supai Indians carried 40 pounds each seven miles down to the river. One Indian was in his 90s but kept up with the much younger haulers. None of the Indians had ever been to the river before or seen a boat.

• A broken radio meant the dozen men lost contact with the world for a time, and they were clueless about an impending flood, which they survived. When the "gang" finished the boat ride at Needles, Calif., one newspaper headline stated, "Chief of Canyon Explorers once reported killed tells of perils: Risked lives for 450 miles to make maps!"

• The group suggested many dams that were never built. "Should we also flood the Sistine Chapel so tourists can get nearer the ceiling?" was the outcry of one Grand Canyon environmental campaign of decades ago.

E-mail: lynn@desnews.com