A Colorado River Reader

by Fleck, Richard F.

• ISBN13: 9780874806472
• ISBN10: 087480647X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-06
• Publisher: Univ of Utah Pr

Summary

Literature "This canyon world where water yearns toward the ocean is a place so large I can#x19;t take it in. Instead, I am taken in, traveling a near dream as we journey by water, contained by rock walls. In order to see this shorn-away world, I narrow my vision to the small and nearly secret. Never mind the stone#x19;s illusion of permanence or the great strength of water. I look to the most fragile of things here, to the plant world of the canyon. The other river travelers seem taken in by stone, time, and water, and do not see the small things that tempt my attention, the minute fern between stones, the tiny black snails in a pond of water. I am drawn in by the growing life and not by the passing." - from 'Plant Journey' by Linda Hogan The mystique of the Colorado River is no less enduring and powerful than is its physical presence in the landscape of the West. Little wonder that narratives about the Colorado still arouse and intrigue readers, or that the river continues to inspire new writing among contemporary authors. What is surprising is that no anthology offering a comprehensive introduction to these works existed - until now. A Colorado River Readerspans hundreds of years and many cultures and voices to capture an array of responses to this mighty river and tributaries. The collection opens with a Paiute creation myth set in the Grand Canyon and progresses through time, encompassing the Spanish and American exploration narratives of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and culminating in the adventure and nature writings of the twentieth. This is a book that deserves a place next to every armchair and in a pocket of every backpack.

Table of Contents

Preface
Why the Grand Canyon Was Made	1	(10)
Paiute Indian Legend
From The Dominguez-Escalante Journal	11	(6)
Silvestre Velez de Escalante
From the Grand to the Little Colorado	17	(6)
John Wesley Powell
Cataract Canyon	23	(19)
Robert Brewster Stanton
Silent River	42	(6)
John C. Van Dyke
A Wonderland of Crags and Pinnacles	48	(16)
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh
Its Delta	64	(18)
Frank Waters
The River-Runners	82	(5)
T.H.Watkins
Encounters with an Archdruid	87	(10)
John McPhee
Conquering Glen Canyon	97	(15)
Georgie White Clark
Canyon Country: The Ultimate Ditch	112	(7)
Phillip L. Fradkin
Down the River with Henry Thoreau	119	(12)
Edward Abbey
Rapids, Icewater and Fire	131	(13)
Bill Beer
Gravity in a Fluid Medium	144	(12)
Ellen Meloy
Badger Creek and Running Rapids	156	(11)
Ann Zwinger
Big Drop	167	(18)
Colin Fletcher
Plant Journey	185	(4)
Linda Hogan
Suggested Reading	189