  
|
"Maj. John Wesley Powell, who lost his arm in the Battle of Shiloh, ran the Grand Canyon downstream in 1869. Many have followed in his wake, including tourists on inflatable rafts. No one, however, either rowed, towed, or drove a boat ‘against the grain’ of the Colorado River’s great gorge until we accomplished the feat in the summer of 1960. Assembling our fleet on Lake Mead, we started climbing at the Grand Wash Cliffs. Between Grand Wash and Lees Ferry, the river level rises two thousand feet. In our path lay a score of major rapids, of which the toughest was Lava Falls, known to rivermen as Vulcan. Our nine-man expedition made the run in nine adventure-packed days. One man suffered a broken leg on a shakedown cruise. Near the end we lost one of our four boats" (552). |