Microfilm of a photostat typescript of various materials related to Bert Loper. The reel begins with a letter from Loper to Brooks dated Oct. 28, 1946, and diary excerpts which describe his first foray in boating and four subsequent river trips. The first diary excerpt begins in 1893, and briefly covers Loper's return to Montezuma County and his discovery of boating while on the San Juan River. In the following section, he records his 1921 trip on the San Juan River as the boatman for a party from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) doing a preliminary survey for the Glen Canyon Dam. The trip, funded by the Southern California Edison Company, began near Bluff, Utah and ended at Lee's Ferry, Arizona. Loper describes the daily activities in camp and along the river, recording his travel through rapids and canyons. Loper also talks about the creation of Hole-in-the-Rock Trail and the Mormon settlement of Bluff, Utah. Following this diary is Loper's incomplete diary of a 1907 trip to prospect for gold on the Green and Colorado Rivers with Charles Silver Russell and Edwin Monett. The party successfully navigated their boats through the rapids of the Cataract Canyon Wilderness in Utah. The diary ends in December of 1907, when Loper was at Ticaboo, Utah. The next diary excerpt describes a 1922 trip, during which Loper was the head boatman on a survey by the USGS to amalgamate previous surveys done on the Green River from Green River, Wyoming to Green River, Utah. Funded by the Utah Power & Light Company, the trip also surveyed different dam sites. The final diary excerpt is from a 1939 trip on the Colorado River from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. All inquiries about this item should be directed to the H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western Historical Manuscripts at the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. The Huntington also has a printed photostat of the same typescript (FAC 1426). Microfilm. San Marino, Calif. : Huntington Library Photographic Dept., 1948. 1 microfilm reel : negative 35 mm. Forms part of the Manuscripts Department's Mormon file, c.1805-1995. Albert A. "Bert" Loper (1869-1949) was born in Missouri and orphaned by the age of 13. He worked as a ditch digger, muleskinner, and rock miner, and by 1893 had traveled to the San Juan River. In 1916 he and Ellsworth Kolb made the first boating trip through Utah's Westwater Canyon, and in 1920 Loper was lead boatman on a USGS survey mission to build a dam in the Black Canyon that later became the Hoover Dam. He died while running a self-built boat down the Grand Canyon in 1949.
Harris, Don Laphene, 1911- Loper, Bert, 1869-1949 Miser, Hugh D. (Hugh Dinsmore), 1884-1969 Monett, Edwin Russell, Charles Silver Trimble, K. W Geological Survey (U.S.) Boatmen--West (U.S.) Boats and boating--Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)--History--Sources Boats and boating--Green River (Wyo.-Utah)--History--Sources Boats and boating--San Juan River (Colo.-Utah)--History--Sources Mormons--History--19th century--Sources Mormons--History--20th century--Sources Mormons--Utah--San Juan County--History Rapids--Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico) Rapids--Green River (Wyo.-Utah) Rapids--San Juan River (Colo.-Utah) Bluff (Utah)--Description and travel Cataract Canyon Wilderness (Utah)--Description and travel Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)--Description and travel Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)--Discovery and exploration Grand Canyon (Ariz.)--Description and travel Grand Canyon (Ariz.)--Discovery and exploration Green River (Wyo.-Utah)--Description and travel Green River (Wyo.-Utah)--Discovery and exploration Lees Ferry (Ariz.)--Description and travel San Juan County (Utah)--History San Juan River (Colo.-Utah)--Description and travel San Juan River (Colo.-Utah)--Discovery and exploration 1893-1946 1946 Diaries West (U.S.) History. (aat)
Source
Mormon Manuscripts at the Huntington Library Mormonism and the West, Huntington Digital Library
Provenance
Microfilm of typescript loaned by Bert Loper through Juanita Brooks, January 24, 1947.
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