Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico

Kolb, E. L.

Science & Math

University of Arizona Press

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

BiblioLife

During the fall and winter of 1911–12, pioneering Grand Canyon photographers Ellsworth and Emery Kolb rowed down the Green and Colorado Rivers through the Grand Canyon. Remarkably, they brought a newfangled motion-picture camera along for the ride and became the first to record the Grand Canyon on film. The resulting movie was shown at the Grand Canyon for some sixty years, and Ellsworth Kolb wrote a vivid account of the adventure in Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico, first published in 1914.\nThis new edition of one of the earliest accounts of running the Green and Colorado Rivers contains the original text and photographs, appearing as they did in the first edition of the book. All of the characters and cataracts are here, as the Kolb brothers persevered through multiple mishaps and fickle weather during their remarkable journey. Their story is one of the classic adventure tales of the American West.

Literature & Fiction

IndyPublish

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Travel

Travel Writing

Walton Pr

Early in September of 1911 my brother Emery and I landed in Green River City, Wyoming, ready for the launching of our boats on our long-planned trip down the Green and Colorado rivers. For ten years previous to this time we had lived at the Grand Canyon of Arizona, following the work of scenic photography. In a general way we had covered much of the country adjacent to our home, following our pack animals over ancient and little-used trails, climbing the walls of tributary canyons, dropping over the ledges with ropes when necessary, always in search of the interesting and unusual. After ten years of such work many of our plans in connection with a pictorial exploration of the Grand Canyon were crowned with success. Yet all the while our real ambition remained unsatisfied. We wanted to make the "Big Trip"—as we called it; in other words, we wanted a pictorial record of the entire series of canyons on the Green and Colorado rivers. The time had come at last, after years of hoping, after long months of active preparation.

Literary

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Early in September of 1911 my brother Emery and I landed in Green River City, Wyoming, ready for the launching of our boats on our long-planned trip down the Green and Colorado rivers. For ten years previous to this time we had lived at the Grand Canyon of Arizona, following the work of scenic photography. In a general way we had covered much of the country adjacent to our home, following our pack animals over ancient and little-used trails, climbing the walls of tributary canyons, dropping over the ledges with ropes when necessary, always in search of the interesting and unusual.

Classics

In 1911, The Kolb brothers, Emery and Ellsworth, young photographers living on the South Rim of Grand Canyon, conceived a preposterous expedition: although neither of them knew much about whitewater, they had two wooden rowboats built, and proposed to row them the entire eleven hundred miles of the Green and Colorado Rivers. The trip was not solely for thrills. They planned to make not just still and stereo photographs, but moving pictures as well. 
In early September they launched from Green River, Wyoming. For the next four and a half months, the brothers rowed, careened, roped, dragged, and carried their boats through and around the rapids, often finding themselves swimming in the freezing river, patching and repatching their boats, and salvaging what film and equipment they could from their flooded hatches. 
Their first assistant left in tears after the first week, but was replaced on the last leg of the journey by stalwart Bert Lauzon, a miner, cowboy, and roustabout. Against all odds, the three men emerged from Grand Canyon in January, 1912, with photographs and movies they would show and sell for the next sixty years. 
Here for the first time are their on-the-spot accounts, transcribed from the journals they penciled late at night along the shore. Theirs is a tale of phenomenal courage, terrific luck, and dogged perseverence. And in spite of unending hardship, the brothers had nearly as much fun doing it back then, as you will have following along nearly a century later.

The Brave Ones: The Journals and Letters of the 1911-12 Expedition Down the Green and Colorado Rivers (Colorado River Chronicles, 1)

Suran, William C.

Kolb, Emery Clifford

Americas

Fretwater Pr

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