In Search of Dam Sites: The U.S. Geological Survey in Grand Canyon, 1923:
In the 1920s, calls for regulation of the Colorado River were strident, coming from diverse interests who wanted dependable irrigation supplies or cheap hydroelectric power. The Fall-Davis report of 1922, submitted to Congress, called for construction of a single high dam in Boulder Canyon, but some interested parties wanted a more comprehensive plan for water development of the Colorado River basin. Funded by Southern California Edison and Utah Power and Light, the U.S. Geological Survey undertook studies of dam sites along the bedrock-canyon reaches of the Green, San Juan, and Colorado Rivers. The first surveys, in 1921 and 1922, were in the Upper Basin; in 1923, the U.S. Geological Survey organized an expedition through Grand Canyon to investigate dam sites and to tie-together a survey of the longitudinal profile of the Colorado River from the Gulf of California to Colorado and Wyoming. The 1923 USGS expedition may well have been the last true expedition through Grand Canyon, and it garnered national attention in the print and transmitted media, particularly in the evolving medium of radio. Crew members bickered among themselves; at one point, head boatman Emery Kolb threatened to quit the expedition, only to be retained by trip leader Claude Birdseye. Lewis Freeman, along as a publicist, was severely criticized for his laziness and deficient boatman skills, but he redeemed himself with his extensive positive writings. Erstwhile fifth boatman Frank Dodge, whose canvas boat sank in Marble Canyon, became the trip hero, rescuing a dazed Kolb after a flip. Hydraulic engineer Eugene C. La Rue vocally opposed the Boulder Canyon damsite, to the extent of public advocacy of his alternative plan of a high dam upstream from Lee's Ferry. Ultimately, La Rue was forced to resign from the U.S. Geological Survey, prompting accusations that the Department of Interior "muzzled" one of its scientists.