Grand Canyon: An Anthology by Bruce Babbitt

Abstract

80 Western American Literature Grand Canyon: An Anthology. Compiled by Bruce Babbitt. Illustrations from the Emery Kolb Collection. (Flagstaff: Northland Press, 1978. 258 pages, index, $14.95 cloth.) The Grand Canyon was discovered in 1540 by Don Lopez de Cardenas, a member of Coronado’s expedition. The first Americans to visit the canyon w'ere James O. Pattie and his father, who trapped beavers in the region in 1826. Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, who in 1857 led the first govern­ ment exploration of the area, said Ours has been the first, and doubtless will be the last party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended by nature that the Colorado River along the greater part of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed. Contrary to Ives’ prediction, the Grand Canyon became one of the scenic wonders of the world. In the Foreword, Dr. Robert C. Euler says, “Today it almost seems as though anyone with an eye toward a quick dollar must take pen in hand and attempt prose or verse or photo caption about this incomparable scene.” The Grand Canyon has produced a vast body of literature. Bruce Babbitt, Governor of Arizona, has selected some of the best for this anthology. The compiler selects first a story of the Coronado expedition, secondly, a piece by Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, then John Wesley Powell’s famous boat trip. Others are from Edwin Corle’s Listen, Bright Angel; Mary Austin; Wallace Stegner writing of Havasupai, the Indian village “Shangrila ” in the bottom of the canyon; the Joseph Wood Krutch book Grand Canyon, Today and All Its Yesterdays; Teddy Roosevelt, “the most famous of the canyon cougar hunters;” Edward Abbey running the rapids; Colin Fletcher walking through time; and Zane Grey who stayed on the North Kaibab gathering material for “his two best novels, Riders of the Purple Sage and Heritage of the Desert." For many years, Bruce Babbitt and tourists alike were drawn to the past by the Kolb brothers’ photography studio on the rim of Grand Canyon. The book is illustrated by Kolb photographs willed to Northern Arizona University upon Emery Kolb’s death in 1976. JACQUELINE KOENIG, lone, California ...