Hell or High Water: James White's Disputed Passage Through Grand Canyon, 1867

By Eilean Adams

Although John Wesley Powell and party are usually given credit forthe first river descent through the Grand Canyon, the ghost of JamesWhite has haunted those claims. White was a Colorado prospector, who,almost two years before Powell's journey, washed up on a makeshift raftat Callville, Nevada. His claim to have entered the Colorado above theSan Juan River with another man (soon drowned) as they fled from Indianswas widely disseminated and believed for a time, but Powell and hissuccessors on the river publically discounted it. Colorado River runnersand historians have since debated whether White's passage through GrandCanyon even could have happened.Hell or High Water is the first full account of White's storyand how it became distorted and he disparaged over time. It is also afascinating detective story, recounting how White's granddaughter,Eilean Adams, over decades and with the assistance of a couple ofnotable Colorado River historians who believed he could have done whathe claimed, gradually uncovered the record of James White's adventureand put together a plausible narrative of how and why he ended upfloating helplessly down a turbulent river, entrenched in massivecliffs, with nothing but a driftwood raft to carry him through.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874214254
• ISBN13: 9780874214253
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 17 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 to Preschool

Customer Reviews

True Story

Well written, well researched, interesting, gripping, and true besides! A little known fact, an amazing journey, done completed unintentionally, but necessarily for preservation of his own life by a modest man of untold strengths. Not done for promotion or self aggrandizement, but out of sheer fortitude, and completed by what might be called grace.

A well-written, convincing piece of detective work.

Western history says that John Wesley Powell was the first man to boat through the Grand Canyon, but this book is PROOF that that is incorrect. After reading this well-written, insightful, thoroughly researched, extremely readable examination of the James White story, I am convinced, now more than ever, that James White was the first man to raft down the Colorado. Eilean Adams's writes well of the people, throughout history, who worked to discredit James White's story, and in turn (justly) discredits them. James White supposedly built a raft and took to the Colorado River to escape some Indians, and my only problem with this book is that she didn't examine why he didn't get off his raft farther down the river, where the canyon walls opened up--at a place like Lees Ferry, for example. Aside from that though, this book is first-rate. Even if you know nothing of his story, or of Western history, the book is a thrilling adventure tale I would recommend to anyone.

A Compelling Case

The interest in the seemingly never-ending myths and legends about river trips through the Grand Canyon continues to grow. One of the enduring controversies that continues to surface among Colorado River historians is the question of who really was the first to travel the river through the Grand Canyon. Historically, the credit is given to John Wesley Powell for his amazing feat in 1869. However, there is, and always has been, a dispute about whether or not a Colorado prospector named James White may have actually made the first descent two years earlier than Powell, in 1867. If this is true the legend and accolades surrounding the Powell trip, while significant, will have to be revised to take into account White's accomplishment.Eilean Adams is the granddaughter of James White and has written the first complete account of the controversy surrounding her grandfathers claim to have traversed the river through the Canyon in eleven days, two years prior to Powell's trip. It is an amazing story that was originally widely believed and publicized. White had been prospecting with another man near the San Juan River in Colorado when they encountered hostile Indians. His partner was killed and White claims to have fashioned a raft and began an eleven-day journey down the Colorado to eventually wash up on the shore at Callville, Nevada.In a highly readable, absorbing manner Adams has written a compelling account of White's life and journey that is meticulously researched and provides a plausible and compelling case that White did in fact accomplish the unbelievable. The story will appeal to the reader favoring a good mystery as well as those hooked on historical events and legends. The book is well documented with chapter notes; references, sources, and other related documents that provide the reader with the first comprehensive account of a story that will not die. Was James White really the first person to traverse the Grand Canyon via the Colorado River? If so, why do historians insist on giving the credit to John Wesley Powell? The answers to these and other questions make this book a first rate addition to the literature of the West.