Read Down the Great Unknown Online
Authors: Edward Dolnick
McPhee, John.
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The Control of Nature
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McPherson, James M.
Battle Cry of Freedom
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Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War
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For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War
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McWhiney, Grady, and Perry D. Jamieson.
Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage
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North & South
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Meadows, Paul.
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Meloy, Ellen.
Raven's Exile: A Season on the Green River
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Merrill, George P. “John Wesley Powell.”
American Geologist
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The News
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The News
is now
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.)
Morgan, Dale L. “Introduction” to “The Powell Colorado River Expedition of 1869.” Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 15 (1947), pp. 1â8.
Morris, Lindsey Gardner. “John Wesley Powell: Scientist and Educator.”
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Boatman's Quarterly Review
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Nash, Roderick.
The Big Drops: Ten Legendary Rapids of the American West
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Nevins, Allan.
Frémont: Pathmarker of the West
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Frémont: The West's Greatest Adventurer
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Numbers, Ronald L.
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O'Connor, Cameron, and John Lazenby, eds.
First Descents: In Search of Wild Rivers
. Birmingham, Ala.: Menasha Ridge Press, 1989.
O'Reilly, Sean, James O'Reilly, and Larry Habegger.
Grand Canyon: True Tales of Life Below the Rim
. San Francisco: Travelers' Tales, 1999.
Persons, Stow, ed.
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Peterson, Levi S.
Juanita Brooks: Mormon Woman Historian
. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.
Porter, Eliot.
The Place No One Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado
. San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1963.
Powell, J. W. “The Cañons of the Colorado.”
Scribner's Monthly
, v. 9 (1875), pp. 293â310, 394â409, 523â37.
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Science
(Feb. 21, 1896). pp. 426â33.
âââ. “Esthetology, or the Science of Activities Designed to Give Pleasure.”
American Anthropologist
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Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(July, 1890).
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Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries. Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, Under the Direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
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, 1895.)
âââ. “Institutions for the Arid Lands.”
Century
, v. 40 (May 1890), pp. 111â6.
âââ. “The Irrigable Lands of the Arid Region.”
Century
, v. 39 (April 1890), pp. 766â76.
âââ. “The Lessons of Folklore.”
American Anthropologist
, v. 2, no. 1 (Jan. 1900), pp. 1â36.
âââ. “Letters of Major J. W. Powell to the
Chicago Tribune
.” Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 15, pp. 73â88.
âââ. “Major Powell's Journal.” Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 15 (1947), pp. 125â31.
âââ. “Memorial Address for James Dwight Dana.”
Science
(Feb. 7, 1896), pp. 181â5.
âââ. “The Non-Irrigable Lands of the Arid Region.”
Century
, v. 39 (April 1890), pp. 915â22.
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Smithsonian Institution Annual Report, 1895
. Government Printing Office, 1896.
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Report on the Lands of the Arid Lands of the United States.
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Science
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Powell, Walter Clement. “Journal of W. C. Powell.” Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 16 (1949), pp. 257â489.
Powell, Walter Henry. “Letter of W. H. Powell to the
Chicago Evening Journal
,” v. 15 (1947), pp. 90â2.
Preuss, Charles.
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. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958.
Price, L. Greer.
Grand Canyon: The Story Behind the Scenery
. Las Vegas, Nev.: KC Publications, 1991.
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An Introduction to Grand Canyon Geology
. Grand Canyon, Ariz.: Grand Canyon Association, 1999.
Pyne, Stephen J.
How the Canyon Became Grand
. New York: Viking, 1998.
Quammen, David, ed.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. (Anthology includes Anne Fadiman, “Under Water.”)
Rabbitt, Mary C. “John Wesley Powell: Pioneer Statesman of Federal Science.” In
The Colorado River Region and John Wesley Powell
. Geological Survey Professional Paper 669. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1969.
Redfern, Ron.
Corridors of Time: 1,700,000,000 Years of Earth at Grand Canyon
. New York: Times Books, 1980.
Reilly, P. T. “How Deadly Is Big Red?” Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 37, no. 2 (Spring 1969), pp. 244â60.
Reisner, Marc.
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
. New York: Viking, 1986.
Reynolds, Ethan Allen. “In the Whirlpools of the Grand Cañon of the Colorado.”
Cosmopolitan
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Richmond, Patricia Joy.
Trail to Disaster
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Roberts, David.
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,
and the Claiming of the American West
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Ross, John R. “Man Over Nature: Origins of the Conservation Movement.”
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Rusho, W. L.
Powell's Canyon Voyage
. Palmer Lake, Col.: Filter Press, 1969.
Sadler, Christa, ed.
There's This River: Grand Canyon Boatman Stories
. Flagstaff: Red Lake Books, 1994.
Sibley, George. “A Tale of Two Rivers: The Desert Empire and the Mountain.”
High Country News
, Nov. 10, 1997.
Simmons, George C., and David L. Gaskill
. River Runners' Guide to the Canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers With Emphasis on Geologic Features
, v. 3. Flagstaff: Northland Press, 1969.
Smith, Gusse Thomas. “The Unconquerable Colorado.”
Arizona Highways
(Feb. 1947), pp. 34â9.
Smith, Henry Nash. “Rain Follows the Plow: The Notion of Increased Rainfall for the Great Plains, 1844â1880.”
Huntington Library Quarterly
v. 10, no. 2 (Feb., 1947), pp. 169â93.
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Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth
. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950.
Smith, J. Lawrence. “Presidential Address.”
Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(1874), pp. 1â26.
Solomon, Ben.
Kayaking on the Edge
. Birmingham, Ala: Menasha Ridge Press, 1999.
Stanton, Robert B.
Colorado River Controversies
. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1932.
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Down the Colorado
. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.
Staveley, Gaylord.
Broken Waters Sing: Rediscovering Two Great Rivers of the West
. Boston: Little, Brown, 1971.
Stegner, Page.
Grand Canyon: The Great Abyss
. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
Stegner, Wallace. “Jack Sumner and John Wesley Powell.”
Colorado Magazine
, v. 26 (1949), pp. 61â9.
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Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
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Stephens, Robert W. “Survival of the Fastest: Evolution of the Whitehall.”
Wooden Boat
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Stevens, Larry. “A Boatman's Lessons.”
Plateau
, v. 53, no. 3 (1981), pp. 24â8.
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The Colorado River in Grand Canyon: A Guide
. Flagstaff: Red Lake Books, 1983.
âââ. “The 67 Elephant Theory or Learning to Boat Big Water Hydraulics.”
River Runner
(Jan.-Feb. 1985), pp. 24â5.
Stevens, Lawrence E., Thomas M. Myers, and Christopher C. Becker.
Fateful Journey: Injury and Death on Colorado River Trips in Grand Canyon
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Still, Bayrd, ed.
The West: Contemporary Records of America's Expansion Across the Continent, 1607â1890
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Sullivan, Walter.
Landprints
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Sword, Wiley.
Shiloh: Bloody April
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Teal, Louise.
Breaking into the Current: Boatwomen of the Grand Canyon
. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994.
Thybony, Scott.
Official Guide to Hiking the Grand Canyon
. Grand Canyon, Ariz.: Grand Canyon Natural History Association, 1994.
Tikalsky, Frank D. “Historical Controversy, Science and John Wesley Powell.”
Journal of Arizona History
, v. 23 (1982), pp. 407â22.
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A Tenderfoot in Colorado
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Twain, Mark.
Letters from the Earth
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U.S. Geological Survey.
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The Civil War: An Illustrated History.
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Popular Science Monthly
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Watson, Elmo Scott.
The Professor Goes West
. Bloomington, Ill.: Illinois Wesleyan University Press, 1954.
Webb, Robert H.
Grand Canyon, a Century of Change: Rephotography of the 1889â1890 Stanton Expedition
. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1996.
Webb, Roy.
Call of the Colorado
. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1994.
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If We Had a Boat: Green River Explorers Adventurers and Runners
. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1986.
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Harper's
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White, Richard.
It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own: A History of the American West
. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
Wilson, R. J.
Darwinism and the American Intellectual
. Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey, 1967.
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Globe, Arizona.
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A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Zwinger, Ann Haymond.
Downcanyon: A Naturalist Explores the Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon
. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995.
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Run, River, Run: A Naturalist's Journey Down One of the Great Rivers of the American West
. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1975.
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For the past few years, I have spent my working days either burrowing deep in library subbasements or wandering through the grandest vistas on the American continent. Along the way, I have accumulated countless debts. If there is a Grand Canyon boatman I have not pestered with questions, I apologize for the oversight. Thanks to Steiner Beppu, Don Bragg, Regan Dale, Brad Dimock, Ed Hench, Zeke Lauck, Martin Litton, Scott Mosiman, Clair Quist, John Running, Bruce Simballa, Larry Stevens, and Dave Stinson. All of these patient teachers have been disabused of the notion that there is no such thing as a stupid question.
Three boatmen went miles out of their way on my behalf. Drifter Smith, who has put in nearly twenty years on the Colorado and racked up some 150 Grand Canyon trips, is a river runner, a geologist, and a student of all topics even tangentially related to the Grand Canyon. On my desk is a long, continually revised sheet of paper headed “Drifter Questions.” In two years, I never stumped him. Michael Ghiglieri, another veteran boatman and an author, disagreed with my views on Powell, on writing, and on everything in between. He fussed and fretted, and helped, at every stage of this long journey. Ben Solomon is a superb kayaker and a better-than-superb teacher. He labored mightily in an attempt to convey something of how a river looks when seen through a professional's eyes.