Grand Canyon Early Expeditions
Colin Kraft, Thadd Barker, and Keagan Riddick
5/5/15
Birdseye Expedition
In 1923, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) organized an expedition to survey and map the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was the last stretch of the Colorado River that had not been accurately surveyed. The USGS selected Claude Birdseye to organize and lead the survey. Birdseye had an exquisite field record and was regarded as a brilliant topographic engineer. Birdseye was in charge of selecting the crew and wanted to keep it as small as possible (Mapping, 2014). He ultimately ended up with the following crew:
Expedition Personnel
Claude Birdseye – Chief Topographic Engineer– Expedition Leader - USGS
Roland W. Burchard – Expedition Topographer - USGS
Eugene Clyde LaRue – Chief Hydrologist – Expedition Hydrologist & Photographer – USGS
Dr. Raymond C. Moore – Expedition Geologist – University of Kansas
Emery Kolb – Head Boatman
Leigh Lint – Boatman
H.E. Blake –Boatman
Lewis Freeman - Boatman
Frank Word – Cook
Figure 3: The Grand Canyon Survey Party at Lee’s Ferry. Left to Right: Leigh Lint, H.E. Blake, Frank Work, C.H. Birdseye, R.C. Moore, R.W. Burchard, E.C. LaRue, Lewis Freeman, and Emery Kolb. (Mapping, 2014).
The expedition proposed by the USGS would accomplish two major goals. The survey of the river would locate the last potential dam sites in the Colorado River. The survey would also eliminate John Wesley Powell’s “great unknown” by creating a series of maps and profiles of area. The expedition crew was also charged with creating an unbroken level survey line through the Marble and Grand Canyons and running the survey line up side canyons. USGS scientists and administrators wanted to use the expedition to get their plans for the Colorado River development into the public eye. The publicity focus for the expedition included the adventure, risk of running the river, science of designing flow regulation, and producing hydropower from the Colorado River (Mapping, 2014).
The expedition was planned to stretch from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek, a total distance of 251 miles. From Washington, Birdseye organized the plans for the Grand Canyon expedition. He needed four boats, three of which were already in Lees Ferry. Birdseye contracted Fellows and Stewart Shipbuilding Works from Mormon Island, California to build the fourth boat. The boats were all eighteen feet long, fitted with water tight compartments, were made of tin, weighed approximately nine hundred pounds, and could haul a massive amount of gear. A fourteen foot canoe was later bought to be used in case of emergency. Gear was made as light and waterproof as possible due to the amount of rapids the crew would have to portage. Birdseye put Word in charge of the preparation of the menu and all the food the crew would need. To save space on the boats and avoid spoilage of the food, Word planned to have the boats resupplied at locations where land parties could carry goods to the river (Boyer et al., 2007).
Figure 4: Grand Canyon Expedition route from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek highlighted in yellow. (Mapping, 2014).
After all preparations were made, the crew embarked from Lees Ferry on August 1, 1923. In the course of the two hundred fifty one mile trip, the crew ran eighty four rapids and numerous other areas of rough water. They only portaged the boats three times around rapids deemed too dangerous to run. On September 2nd, rainstorms upriver caused a massive flood that caught the crew off guard. The crew spent all night pulling the boats to higher ground as the river rose fourteen feet that night and another seven feet the next day. The crew had to wait three days for the water level to fall enough to continue their work. During the expedition, minor injuries were common. On October 1, Burchard fell onto to barrel cactus, but luckily avoided serious injury. On October 13, Burchard fell and landed on the corner of his instrument fracturing one of his ribs, but fought through the pain and continued his work (Boyer et al., 2007).
Figure 5: Burchard (left) and Birdseye (right) surveying on the Colorado River, 1923. (Mapping, 2014).
On October 19th, 1923, they arrived at Diamond Creek having completed their mission. Following the conclusion of the expedition, Birdseye was tasked with justifying the expense of the trip, getting scientific data compiled and published, and organization of publicity of their experiences of the expedition to give to the public. With the combination of the Birdseye Survey and a survey completed by Burchard in 1920 of lower Colorado River, the group created an unbroken level survey of the entire river. Despite the injuries, weather issues, and festering tempers throughout the trip, the crew managed to publish fourteen maps and seven elevations in the Plan and Profile of the Colorado River. The crew’s maps were ultimately used in the creation of Hoover Dam, Parker Dam, Colorado River Aqueduct, Central Arizona Project, and Davis Dam (Boyer et al., 2007).
Figure 6: Plan and Profile of the Colorado River, Chart C, 1924. (Boyer et al., 2007)