Staveley is a Grand Canyon guide and outfitter, author of Broken Waters Sing (Little Brown, 1971), and is presently writing On the River about the origins of river running and his 50 years experiences as a Grand Canyon boatman and outfitter.
Presentation Abstract...
'Than, the Man--The Life and Times of Nathaniel T. Galloway:
At the time Major John Wesley Powell launched his 1869 expedition from Green river Wyoming, a 15 year old boy named Nataniel Galloway had just begun to hunt and trap the valleys and streams of the Uinta Mountains. By 1885, Nathaniel – called 'Than by his family and friends – had married and moved down to the river where he was soon earning a reputation as the man with a better way of running fast water. Early on, he tackled the rapids-filled gorges of Red Canyon, Lodore, and Split Mountain. In the mid-1890s, he began running father down river and in 1896 ran the Green and Colorado all the way through Grand Canyon to Needles, California, an expedition that established him, although he didn't realize it until a dozen years later.
Galloway built his own boats, usually on the bank of the river, often leaving one at the end of a run, and building a new one for the next run. In doing so, he developed an expedition boat that was light, stable, and used the power of the river rather than sapping the energy of a boatman. Probably borrowing from years of observing how the bodies of waterfowl were shaped, and how they maneuvered in turbulent water, he paired his boat design with the idea of drifting down the river stern-first to be able to see and avoid danger.
We who run the river today are the beneficiaries of Galloway's design and technique. They were passed on to Julius Stone in 1909, the Kolb brothers in 1911, the U.S.G.S. river survey parties of 1921, 1922 and 1923, Buzz Holmstrom in 1937 and at about the same time to Normal Nevills, who liked to call stern-first drifting "facing your danger."
As one who inherited, learned, used, and taught the "Galloway way" for quite a few years, Staveley became interested in knowing more about Galloway than the sentence used by guides (flesh and blood guides, and printed guides) that: "Nathaniel T. Galloway developed (the) stern-first technique for running Grand Canyon rapids in 1897." Staveley's presentation will show some of his findings and conclusions about the life and times of 'Than Galloway.