This is quite an extraordinary tale, two blokes (the Kolb brothers) set off for a 2,250 kilometre (1,400 mile) journey, over 100 years ago, in rickety wooden boats. I doubt most people, even with all our modern technology, gps mapping and lightweight freeze dried food could make the same journey, and the Kolb brothers carted a heavy manual crank handle motion picture camera plus several photographic cameras along to document the journey.

The book documents their travel both as a journal and in photographs, the new edition (1930?+) contains 76 plates covering everything from the people themselves, the epic scenery, the rapids & a dead body they found.

It's really quite an awe inspiring journey they undertook and it's written in a manner which makes it easy to devour yet conveys all the complexities and obstacles they faced. Really quite an interesting look into the past (1911-12).

Would recommend for people interested in American history, travelogues, exploration & general history. ( )

An excellent book. Well written and an excellent chronicle of the period as well as a super story about floating the Colorado through all of its myriad canyons. Ellsworth was by far the better writer than Emery (as evidenced by the short section written by the latter. He was also probably a far more interesting person..... I read the newer version of the book as published by the Grand Canyon Association, but I have read the book twice previously, both times in the first edition. ( )