The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon (72 page)

Several members of the National Park Service who were either on or near the river in June 1983, all of whom are trained in search-and-rescue, were kind enough to come to my aid by sharing their memories with me. They include Kim
Crumbo, Kim Johnston, Mark Law, Curt Sauer, Stan Steck, and Tom Workman. I am especially appreciative of John Thomas, who walked me through a highly detailed account of his activities on June 25. I would like to thank Mathieu and Kirsten Brown, Mike McGinnis, and Ken Philips, all of whom know the canyon deeply and were helpful to me in important ways. Leah McGinnis, chief of staff at Grand Canyon National Park, and Maurine Oltrogge in the park’s public affairs office were both unstintingly helpful and kind. And I want to include a special note of appreciation to Kim Besam at the park’s Museum Collection, who pulled off the astonishing feat of locating Case Incident Reports for June 24, 25, and 26; and to Dean Portman, who assembled the files.

One of the unexpected pleasures of this project was the opportunity to meet and learn from people affiliated with the Bureau of Reclamation. Foremost among this group are four individuals who helped to guide me to an understanding of the events that took place at the Glen Canyon Dam. Phil Burgi and Dr. Henry Falvey, both of whom worked in Reclamation’s Hydraulics Lab in Denver, generously agreed to many hours of taped conversation over a period of months and walked me through some of the nuances of their discipline. Tom Gamble, who was in charge of the dam throughout the spillway crisis, generously invited me into his home for two days of interviewing, during which time he patiently guided me to a new perspective on both the canyon and the dam, for which I am grateful. Dick White went far beyond the call of duty in walking me through the details of the dam’s operation while answering my incessant queries—and in the process, managed to pass along his passion for the colossal machine to which he devoted the better part of his career. In Page, I am grateful to Richard Barton, Henry Dhieux, and Richard Parsons, who, among others, spoke to me about the dam. I particularly wish to thank the following members of the bureau’s archives and public information team: Casey Snyder, Regina Magno-Judd, Dee Ann Brown, Brit Storey, Ginger Reese, Barry Wirth, Peter Soeth, and Ann-Marie Harvey—as well as Robert Einhellig, who was kind enough to give me a tour of the hydraulics lab in Denver.

It is always a pleasure to speak with members of the scientific and engineering community, people whose knowledge of the world, and whose clarity of thinking, so decisively surpass my own. The experts who assisted me include Don Laurine and David Westnedge, formerly of the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center; Lawrence Dunn with the National Weather Service; Christopher Vaccaro and Vernon Kousky at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Nancy Hornewer at the US Geological Survey. I am also grateful to Doug Erwin, curator of Paleozoic invertebrates at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and chair of the faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and to Susan Kieffer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. Having conducted some marvelous research on the geomorphic evolution within the Grand Canyon by studying the hydraulic jump at Crystal Rapid in June 1983, Dr. Kieffer was not only kind enough to walk me through her conclusions but also sent me a set of the finest river maps that have ever been published on the rapids of the Grand Canyon, which she produced for the USGS in 1988. I would also like to thank Wayne Ranney of Flagstaff and Alan H. Cheetham of Santa Fe, both of whom (together with Doug Erwin) were instrumental in straightening out my hopelessly tangled attempts to understand the geology of the canyon, and J. David Rogers at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

I am grateful to the wonderful people at Lowell’s Boat Shop in Amesbury, Massachusetts—George Odell, Pam Bates, Elizabeth Hartnell, and Graham McKay—where America’s infatuation with dories began. Andrew Guilleford, Roger Fletcher, Michael Hiltzik, Byron Pearson, Judge Stephen Verkamp, and John Weisheit were all kind enough to speak with me about their respective areas of expertise. My thanks go out to each of them, as well as to Roger and Lena Trancik, in whose New Hampshire house many of the early chapters of the book were written, and to their daughter Jessika.

Whatever I may claim to know about the Colorado River as it runs through the Grand Canyon flows directly from the fact that a number of the people who understand the place best and consider it their home welcomed me into their world and shared their stories. I am grateful to those who taught me to row: Monte Tillinghast, Regan Dale, O. C. Dale, Bill Bruchak, Rondo Buechler, Ryan Howe, Bruce Keller, Elena Kirchner, Jeri Ledbetter, Curtis Newall, Billie Ray Prosser, and Nancy Redfern. My thanks as well to good friends on the river: Erika Andersson, Betsy Barker, Kate Belnap, the remaining members of the “Dale dynasty”—Ote, Roger, Duffy, and Kirsten—plus Chris Macintosh, Mike Martin, Andre Potochnik, Shana Watahomigie, Stephanie White, Sarah Kuhn, and Denise Napolitano at OARS. I am extremely grateful to George Wendt and his family, along with Steve Markle and the rest of the team at the OARS headquarters in California, who have worked so diligently and with such passion to sustain Martin Litton’s legacy of rowing commercial dories in the Grand Canyon. Special thanks also go to the amazing Lynn Hamilton at Grand Canyon River Guides in Flagstaff, and to Helen Ranney at the Grand Canyon Association.

When this project ran up against the shoals of bureaucratic intransigence, several wonderful folks in the First Amendment community came to my aid. I am indebted to Mark Caramanica at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, who guided me through the intricacies of filing several FOIA requests, then later helped me put together a lengthy appeal that proved critical
to securing records from the Glen Canyon Dam. In this respect, my thanks also go to Kirsten Mitchell at the Office of Government Information Services, who provided key assistance with my FOIA appeal, and to Barbara Petersen at the First Amendment Foundation, whose organization, among many other services, stands on the front lines of protecting the public’s right of access to government information.

It has been my immense good fortune to be surrounded by a small circle of fellow writers and journalists in Santa Fe. Two colleagues in particular, both far better writers than I am, have steered various aspects of this book: Bob Shacochis and Hampton Sides. I am blessed to be able to count them as friends, along with several people at
Outside
magazine who have been unflinchingly helpful and decent to me over the years: Dave Cox, Kyle Dickman, Alex and Susan Heard, Nick Heil, Elizabeth Hightower, Chris Keyes, Hannah McCaughey, Sam Moulton, and Grayson Schaffer. Beyond New Mexico, I must also mention George Getschow, the man who created and runs the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference at the University of North Texas, who has been a source of guidance and wisdom—as have Erik Calonius, Gregg Jones, and Dan Malone, all of whom I met through the Mayborn.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the terrific publishing and editorial staff at Scribner, the sort of place where every writer hopes to be lucky enough to work, and where I am indebted to Susan Moldow, Nan Graham, Roz Lippel, Kelsey Smith, Jason Heuer, Tal Goretsky, Katie Rizzo, Ellen Sasahara, Steven Boldt, Kara Watson, Brian Belfiglio, and Kate Lloyd. The entire team at Scribner has been a marvel, but I want to make special mention of my editor, the incomparable Colin Harrison. Like the canyon itself, he is a force of nature. Without his wisdom and guidance, this book would never have emerged.

In addition to Colin, there is only one other person who has been with this project from the very beginning—and whose determination and vision have often exceeded my own. It is impossible for me to express how truly grateful I am to Jennifer Joel, except to say that she is simply the finest literary agent any author could ever wish for. My gratitude also extends to her colleagues at ICM: Sloan Harris, Liz Farrell, and Clay Ezell.

My deepest thanks are reserved for my family: my parents in Pittsburgh, to whom this book is dedicated; my brother, Aaron, and his wife and children in Maine; and the members of our extended circle of kinship and affection in Rochester and throughout northwestern Pennsylvania. Together, they are the constellation that tells me where home is.

Whatever merits this book may possess derive directly from the people mentioned above. Any mistakes or errors that may be contained herein, however, belong entirely to me.