The first women to successfully ride the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon didn’t do so until 1938. Lois Jotter and Elzada Clover, with backgrounds in botany, were discouraged by many from attempting such an arduous trek. Their trip was also overshadowed with the disappearance of Bessie Hyde, who in 1929 attempted to navigate the river with her husband. Mysteriously, they disappeared just short of their goal, never to be seen again. But Jotter and Clover prevailed, collecting plant samples along the water’s edge as was their intention, and in so doing proved many wrong that the “river is no place for a woman.” –Buzz Holstrom.
I admit it’s a bold idea to place Emma Hart on the Colorado River in 1877, only six years after John Wesley Powell’s second expedition began. But she shared many characteristics with those early explorers—a love of adventure, a desire to do what other’s thought impossible, and a complete ignorance about what she was about to face. Emma and Nathan weren’t any different from those brave (or crazy, as some would say) achievers firmly etched in history.
For those diehards of the Grand Canyon, I’d like to beg your indulgence on a few points. In the story I assumed a low to medium flow of the Colorado River (5000 cfs or less), at least until the flooding near the end of the story, thus allowing Diamond and the Baxter brothers the ability to traverse the river by foot at Bright Angel Canyon. This enabled Diamond’s first encounter with Emma. Today, there’s a footbridge which provides easy access for hikers travelling from the south rim to Phantom Ranch (on the north side). But at low river flow more debris would be exposed at many of the rapids, most notably at Hance Rapid, the whitewater Emma navigated alone while Nathan watched from the shoreline. The more realistic option for this scene would have been for them to line and/or portage this stretch of water, but I must confess not nearly so interesting to write about. Hence, her daring solo feat in a rapid sometimes described as a pinball run. I also took creative leeway at the confluence of the Colorado River and Havasu Creek, where Nathan and Emma leave their boat to travel into Havasu Canyon. Because there are sheer walls at this location, it’s an unlikely place to secure a boat let alone hope it would remain for several days. This location, however, represented a turning point in the story, so the dory needed to stay. Today, boat anchors are embedded in the rock for those wishing to stop. And finally, for those familiar with the wooden dories used during Powell’s expeditions, one feature missing from Emma’s boat Paradise was a stern rowlock in which a scull oar was placed to aid in directional control. My reason for this was simple—Emma didn’t have a thorough knowledge of all things nautical.
While I made every effort to study and accurately portray major rapids and milestones along the course of the waterway (the granaries at Nankoweap, Redwall Cavern, Anasazi ruins, Vulcan’s Anvil, etc.), it was just as important to capture the spiritual landscape. The story isn’t so much a travelogue as a survey of a deeper, more complex layer of the Canyon as seen through Emma and Nathan’s experiences. The terrain, as I interpreted it, provided a template for the interior pilgrimage undertaken by Emma. This journey into the bowels of the earth—much like a voyage into the hidden resources of the Self—represents a catalyst for growth. Only at the edge of change and chaos does evolution occur. Thank you for coming along for the ride.