Although John Wesley Powell and party are usually given credit for the first river descent through the Grand Canyon, the ghost of James White has haunted those claims. White was a Colorado prospector, who, almost two years before Powell's journey, washed up on a makeshift raft at Callville, Nevada. His claim to have entered the Colorado above the San Juan River with another man (soon drowned) as they fled from Indians was widely disseminated and believed for a time, but Powell and his successors on the river publically discounted it. Colorado River runners and historians have since debated whether White's passage through Grand Canyon even could have happened. Hell or High Water is the first full account of White's story and how it became distorted and he disparaged over time. It is also a fascinating detective story, recounting how White's granddaughter, Eilean Adams, over decades and with the assistance of a couple of notable Colorado River historians who believed he could have done what he claimed, gradually uncovered the record of James White's adventure and put together a plausible narrative of how and why he ended up floating helplessly down a turbulent river, entrenched in massive cliffs, with nothing but a driftwood raft to carry him through. "Adams has done a great service both to White's tarnished legacy and those who would study the Southwest." -- Brad Dimock Eilean Adams is one of James White's five grandchildren. She spent over forty years researching and collaborating with "Dock" Marston and Dr. R. C. Euler in order to reconstruct her grandfather's journey. She has two Children and two grandchildren and lives in Seattle with her husband. Hell or High Water James White's Disputed Passage through Grand Canyon 1867 By Eilean Adams Utah State University Press Copyright © 2001 Eilean Adams All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-87421-425-3 Contents List of Illustrations..............................................................viiiIntroduction.......................................................................1Prologue...........................................................................8Chapter 1 Callville................................................................11Chapter 2 Who Was James White?.....................................................15Chapter 3 White's War..............................................................19Chapter 4 The Road to Gold.........................................................24Chapter 5 The Rescue...............................................................32Chapter 6 Downriver Crier..........................................................35Chapter 7 The News Spreads East....................................................42Chapter 8 General Palmer and the Railroad Survey...................................53Chapter 9 Dr. Parry's Report.......................................................59Chapter 10 Major Calhoun's Version.................................................68Chapter 11 Major Powell............................................................77Chapter 12 On the Road Again.......................................................84Chapter 13 Powell's Conquest of the Grand Canyon...................................91Chapter 14 Enter Robert Brewster Stanton...........................................101Chapter 15 Senate Document No. 42..................................................111Chapter 16 Battle of The Trail.....................................................123Chapter 17 The White Family and Dock Marston.......................................127Chapter 18 Grand Canyon History: Discoveries and Rediscoveries.....................133Chapter 19 Bob Euler and Square One................................................141Chapter 20 In James White's Footsteps..............................................149Chapter 21 Summary and Conclusions: Part A.........................................154Chapter 22 Summary and Conclusions: Part B.........................................160Chapter 23 Summary and Conclusions: Part C.........................................169Chapter 24 Resolution..............................................................181Appendix A: James White's 1867 Letter..............................................184Appendix B: James White's 1917 Statement...........................................186Chapter Notes......................................................................192References and Sources.............................................................209Author's Note......................................................................218 Chapter One Callville When Hoover Dam was completed in 1935 and its diversion tunnels closed forever, the waters of the Colorado River began to rise behind the giant structure. They filled the vast, rugged landscape to the north and east, swallowing the mouth of the Virgin River, drowning the little town of St. Thomas, lapping at the foot of t