Most whitewater enthusiasts know that John Wesley Powell first
made the Colorado River descent through the Grand Canyon in 1869. A few others followed after Powell and were mainly adventurers,
fortune seekers and scientists. By
the late 1930s commercial river running was being attempted as were some self
guided trips. The golden era of
river running adventure down the Colorado was after the Second World War up
until Glen Canyon Dam was completed.
After WWII interest began to grow in running the muddy Colorado in newly
conceived craft using rubber, fiberglass, plywood and aluminum. New technologies resulted in new
methods and achievements. Yet,
even as commercial and self guided river running was evolving, it was still a
rare adventure.
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1962 Replica Portola above Vasey’s Paradise - RM 32.0
Photo by Dave Mortenson
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By 1955, only about 200 different individuals had
successfully run the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to the Grand Wash
Cliffs. The river was a wild river
too thick to drink and too thin to plow and those who dared attempt a self
guided trip had to do it on their own.
While motor powered hard boats and military surplus rafts became the
rage there were a few river runners who felt that oar power hard boats were
still the most enjoyable and challenging way to see the Grand Canyon while
running the Colorado. They were
also the great innovators who developed the river methods and boats we use
today.
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1955 Replica GEM running Lava Falls - RM 179.7
Photo by Dave Mortenson
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To experience what these early river runners did over a half
century ago five replica boats were built to copy significant 1950s and early
1960s pioneering boats that made river running history in the Grand Canyon. All five replicas were launched from
Lees Ferry on March 21, 2012 on a 24 day 280 mile private trip down to Lake
Mead. Joining these wooden boats were five 18 foot rafts loaded with gear and
supplies. All ten boats used
various Sawyer oars. These
replicas were part of the Historic River Boats Afloat effort to replicate
historic river running boats and then run them down the Colorado to re-enact help
tell and preserve river running history.
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All five replica boats above Olo Canyon - RM
145.9
Photo by Dave Mortenson
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Most early river runners used oar power and it was common
for these river trips to have trouble with oars breaking in the battle between
the rower and amazing, powerful river hydraulics found on the Colorado. Moulty
Fulmer, a river runner from Muncie, Indiana built the GEM in 1953 and first made a run in 1955. For the GEM, which
was the first McKenzie style dory to run the Colorado through the Grand Canyon,
Fulmer purchased Smoker wood oars that proved to be the solution to oar problems.
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1955 Replicas in lower Havasu
Creek - RM 157.3
Photo by Dave Mortenson
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Fulmer ran with P.T. “Pat” Reilly in 1955 who introduced two
double ended “cataract” style boats that he named the Susie R and Flavell. Reilly’s innovative boats were
beautifully colored using the design and color scheme developed by the famous Disney
artist Harper Goff. This included
painting the oars. Today, hard boats running the Colorado River system are
boldly and creatively colored following the tradition established by Reilly and
the Disney artist.
Reilly and Fulmer would run the Colorado on annual trips
from 1955 to 1959. It was on their
1957 trip that they ran the highest water ever run with a peak flow of 126,000
cubic feet per second. This
compares to the typical flows of 7,500 to 12,000 cfs that river runners find
today on the regulated Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. Fulmer’s Smoker oars withstood the
power of the Colorado while Reilly’s WWII surplus oars did not. In 1959, Reilly would abort his trip at
Pipe Creek about 90 miles below Lees Ferry. Reilly had broken his oars and had
no spares left and his boats were loosing their structural integrity. To prevent someone from attempting to
run the abandoned craft he decided to sink them and hike out.
In 1962 Pat Reilly and fellow river runner Martin Litton, who
rowed the Flavell in 1956, would return to the Colorado in two Oregon McKenzie drift
boat hulls built by Keith Steele.
These two dories, named the Susie
Too and Portola, would run the
Colorado River as a wild river. This
would be the last year for a wild Colorado River run as Glen Canyon Dam would
soon be operational. Only about 1,800
people would ever have been on this river before Glen Canyon Dam would control Colorado
flows in 1963.
On the Susie Too
and Portola in 1962 and again in 1963
writers and photographers would document the beauty and importance of the Grand
Canyon as seen from the river to provide the material for a book called ‘Time and The River Flowing.’ This coffee
table book would be instrumental in convincing Congress not to fund building any
dams in the Grand Canyon. Thus the
Susie Too and Portola would be the “boats that helped save the Grand Canyon.” Litton
would later form Grand Canyon Dories and would establish that style boats as
the preferred hard hull boat that is popular today.
To commemorate fifty year since the 1962 boats were
introduced, the five replicas launched on very low water of 7,500 cfs on March
2012. Unlike the originals these replica
boats would attempt to run through every rapid placing a lot of faith in the rowers,
the boats and their Sawyer oars. When
the trip ended it was agreed to be amazingly successful. Only the GEM replica had flipped in
Crystal and then in Mile 231 Rapid. A few rowers and passengers would end up in
the water from the other replica boats but the boats made it through all rapids. At the Pearce Ferry takeout 280 mile
down river all 20 oars used and carried as spares on the replicas would be in
fine shape requiring only new paint. The rowers, the replica boats and their
Sawyer oars had won almost all rounds in the battle with the river. There were close calls and exciting
moments that resulted in what we called “carnage” stories and photos.
by Dave Mortenson
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