The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon (78 page)

came together during the final weeks of 1928
: Solomon,
Water
, 333–35.

The site where Davis proposed
: Hiltzik,
Colossus
, 61.

At the point where the southern shard of Nevada stabs
:
Colorado River: A Natural Menace
, 11.

Fifteen hours later, the Colorado sluggishly turned
: Nadeau,
Water Seekers
, 214.

sixteen tons per minute
: Ibid.

cubic yards an hour
: Reisner,
Cadillac Desert
, 130.

It soared 726 feet and five inches
: Ibid.

double the height of any other dam on earth
: Solomon,
Water
, 330.

capable of holding more than twenty-six million acre-feet
: Ibid.

enough water to flood the entire state of Connecticut
: Franklin D. Roosevelt, speech given at the dedication of Boulder Dam, September 30, 1935, cited in Nixon,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Conservation
, 438–41.

buckle roadbeds between Boulder City
: Hiltzik,
Colossus
, 386–87.

cut the cooling time from 125 years
: Nadeau,
Water Seekers
, 216.

“This is a first glimpse of what chemistry”
: Priestley, “Arizona Desert,” 365. Although the writer Barry Lopez originally directed me to Priestley’s article, I’m also indebted to Michael Hiltzik, who cites this quote in
Colossus
, xii.

embodied in the bureau’s motto
: Farmer,
Glen Canyon Dammed
, xv.

to harness and exploit virtually every drop
: Barcott,
Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw
, 82.

under construction along the rivers of the western United States
: Solomon,
Water
, 228.

whose mass outstripped that of Hoover and Shasta
: Reisner,
Cadillac Desert
, 158–59.

exceed the volume of the Great Pyramid of Cheops
: Barcott,
Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw
, 82.

generating half as much electricity as the rest of
: Solomon,
Water
, 340.

the plutonium-239 that fueled the atomic bomb
: Ibid.

every major river in the United States had been dammed except
: Barcott,
Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw
, 82–83.

thirty-six on the Columbia
: Solomon,
Water
, 339.

forty-two on the Tennessee
: Ibid., 343.

nothing compares to what we did to the Colorado
: Reisner,
Cadillac Desert
, 130.

The work of harnessing the rest of the river had just begun
: The process had started quite a bit earlier. For nearly four decades, dating back to the days of Arthur Powell Davis, the bureau had assiduously been conducting the surveys, geologic testing, and a host of other fieldwork necessary to determine what it would take to achieve complete mastery of the river by constructing a series of dams and reservoirs along the entire length of the Colorado and its major tributaries.

Nicknamed the Blue Book
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 48.

would exceed the Colorado’s flow by 25 percent
:
Colorado River: A Natural Menace
, 11.

“Only a nation of free people have the vision”
: Ibid., 25.

thanks to a series of massive congressional appropriations
: Hiltzik,
Colossus
, 396.

No river in the world was the subject of fiercer litigation
: Ibid., 397. Also see Fradkin,
River No More
, 15.

reused seventeen times before reaching the sea
: Solomon,
Water
, 349.

a single drop ever reached the Sea of Cortés
: Fradkin,
River No More
, 16.

“a small but measurable change in the wobble of the earth”
: Peter H. Gleick, “Making Every Drop Count,”
Scientific American
, February 2001, 42. Cited in Solomon,
Water
, 361.

5: Flooding the Cathedral

“Something will have gone out of us as a people”
: Stegner,
Sound of Mountain Water
, 146–47.

Litton’s father, a migrant from Tennessee
: The details of Litton’s life come from extensive author interviews.

Known as flying coffins
: It should be acknowledged that the Glider Corps’ losses were relatively light when compared with those suffered by the bomber crews. Also, the phrase
flying coffin
derived not from the number of crashes but instead reflected that many of the early machines were manufactured in coffin factories.

“the most uninhibited individualists in the army”
: Leonard and Arthur Northwood, Jr.,
Rendezvous with Destiny: A History of the 101st Airborne Division
, cited by Devlin,
Silent Wings
, frontispiece.

delivering troopers into northern France
: Litton was not part of the glider armada on D-day; he flew a day later as a copilot in a C-47 transport plane. He was not subject to enemy fire during this flight, and thus, unlike Market Garden and Bastogne, he does not consider his D-day flight a combat mission.

“When it comes to saving wilderness, we cannot be extreme
enough
”
: Author interview with Litton.

the budget was so tiny that the handful of rangers didn’t even have money
: Farmer,
Glen Canyon Dammed
, 140.

The reservoirs of these dams
: The Echo Park dam would have created a reservoir that would reach sixty-four miles up the Green River and forty-four miles up the Yampa.

“unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”
: National Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C.1.

when Reclamation formally unveiled
: Aka 1950. See Pearson,
Still the Wild River Runs
, 18.

the construction of six major dams and twelve irrigation projects
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 54.

Litton was amused
: Author interview with Litton.

The decisive part of the fight took place in Washington, DC
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 59.

“the abominable nature-lovers”
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 61.

Brower was a rookie
: Veteran wilderness advocates included Howard Zahniser of the Wilderness Society and Fred Packard of the National Parks Association. See Pearson,
Still the Wild River Runs
, 20–21.

subtract the Echo Park reservoirs’ evaporative loss
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 61–62.

“cannot add, subtract, multiply, and divide”
: Reisner,
Cadillac Desert
, 284.

when combined with the negative publicity generated
: Fox,
American Conservation Movement
, 285.

the dam’s leading proponents were starting to reconsider
: Ibid.

only 53 of which expressed
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 67.

as one cabinet official had derisively dubbed the conservationists
: Fox,
American Conservation Movement
, 284.

the biggest and most important feature of the package
: In his remarks, Brower had urged that the height of the dam at Glen Canyon be raised even farther to provide additional storage that would compensate for the loss of the two reservoirs at Dinosaur.

would inundate a little-known river corridor
: Billington,
History of Large Federal Dams
, 183. Also see Pearson,
Still the Wild River Runs
, 21–24.

Watkins rammed the plunger down
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 86–87.

crews were drilling into the cliff at the portal
: Ibid., 88.

the Swiss finished a pair of even higher dams
: Ibid., 190. This is backed up by a list of the highest dams in the world and the dates of their construction (see Infoplease, “World’s Highest Dams”).

Grand Canyon is geology’s Götterdämmerung
: For this idea, I am indebted to the writer Bob Shacochis, who expressed this far more eloquently than I could have in
Between Heaven and Hell
, 32.

“the equivalent of several Dinosaur National Monuments”
: Brower,
Environmental Activist, Publicist, and Prophet
, 131.

he could see Brower scowling in the back of the room
: Brower,
Environmental Activist, Publicist, and Prophet.

guillotine-shaped gates
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 208.

Brower’s sense of contrition was his resolve
: Ibid.

That struggle would be waged without negotiation
: Ibid.

The club’s old guard
: Litton,
Sierra Club Director.
Also see McPhee,
Encounters with the Archdruid
, 206–20.

One of the most powerful proponents of this approach
: Litton,
Sierra Club Director.
Also, author interview with Litton.

it was unwise to declare war
: Sierra Club minutes of the Annual Organization Meeting of the Board of Directors, May 4, 1963.

whether Brower would be given license to deploy
: Ibid.

He and Esther signed on
: Author interviews with Litton.

an odd duck called the
Gem
: Martin,
Big Water, Little Boats
, 103–19. Also, author interviews with Litton.

“major order of experience”
: Balzar, “Old Man and the River.”

he found himself in Oregon
: Author interviews with Litton.

double-ended cockleshells with open decks
: Ibid.

Litton was smitten
: Ibid. Also see Martin,
Big Water, Little Boats
, 192–93.

Reilly pronounced his dory the finest thing
: Author interviews with Litton. Also see Martin,
Big Water, Little Boats
, 194.

had become inextricably entwined with the boats
: Author interviews with Litton.

The meeting convened at 10:14 a.m. on May 4
: Sierra Club minutes of the Annual Organization Meeting of the Board of Directors, May 4, 1963.

The club’s smartest move, Robinson argued
: Brower,
Environmental Activist, Publicist, and Prophet
, 143.

that a set of elevators be built
: Litton,
River Runners Oral History
, October 10, 1992. Also, Litton, author interview, and Pearson,
Still the Wild River Runs
, 45.

nevertheless sent him into a fit of rage
: Litton,
River Runners Oral History
, October 10, 1992. Also, author interviews with Litton.

“In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder”
: Roosevelt,
Presidential Addresses and State Papers
, 370.

it didn’t make a hoot of difference
: “Directors Launch Campaign for Expanded Grand Canyon Protection,”
Sierra Club Bulletin
, 6–7. Also see Brower,
Environmental Activist, Publicist, and Prophet
, and author interviews with Litton.

It’s
our
canyon. It’s
our
national park
: Litton,
River Runners Oral History
, October 10, 1992.

a man or woman steps up to the plate and takes
: Author interview with Byron Pearson.

“Martin doesn’t have to prime for a speech”
: This quote is taken from two separate interviews that Brower later gave. In his oral history for the Sierra Club, which was conducted in 1980, Brower said that Litton “got up and so devastated Bestor Robinson’s arguments that there was applause from the audience, and the board voted to oppose the Grand Canyon dams.” In a separate oral-history interview that Brower gave to Lew Steiger for Northern Arizona University’s Cline Library in 1997, Brower stated, “Martin poured it on—what a ridiculous thing this would be to do, and the audience applauded, and Bestor subsided, and we voted no.” See Brower,
Environmental Activist, Publicist, and Prophet
, 143; and David Brower,
Boatman’s Quarterly Review
10, no. 3 (Summer 1997): 33.

“Oh?” Litton retorted. “I wouldn’t say that”
: Author interview with Litton.

at Brower’s urging, Litton commissioned another dory from Oregon
: Author interviews with Litton. Also see Lavender,
River Runners of the Grand Canyon
, 130.

they passed by a line of bright red fire hydrants
: Leydet,
Time and the River Flowing
, 38.

Here, a series of test tunnels had been drilled
: Ibid., 52.

similar test bores had been drilled at the second site
: Ibid., 128.

helping to develop a traveling photo exhibit
: Pearson,
Still the Wild River Runs
, 77.

a trio of young graduates from MIT
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 270–71. Also see Pearson,
Still the Wild River Runs
, 144–45.

banker from Tucson named Morris Udall
: Martin,
Story That Stands Like a Dam
, 266.

its donors should be made aware that their contributions
: Ibid., 271–72.

“an assault on the right of private citizens to protest”
: Ibid., 272.

Morris Udall described it as a “deluge”
: Pearson,
Still the Wild River Runs
, 147.

“I never saw anything like it”
: Reisner,
Cadillac Desert
, 286.