Lake Powell - Photos from the Early Years

[Rainbowbridge]

This may have been posted before, as I can't remember (a chronic condition... where I got it.....

Sentinel Rock. Doesn't Wahweap creek look tiny?

 

[Dorado]

Wonder how much silt buildup has obscured the traces of that Kane Creek road. Think Moqui fort near Hite or even inside Cathedral in the Desert.

I would think there would be significantly less sediment build so close to the dam. The area around fort Moqui gets the full sediment load of the Colorado. I don’t think there are any large sources of sediment coming in near there?

 

[JFRCalifornia]

I would think there would be significantly less sediment build so close to the dam. The area around fort Moqui gets the full sediment load of the Colorado. I don’t think there are any large sources of sediment coming in near there?

I would agree there’s not a huge amount of deposition of silt that high up along the base of Gunsight, but it wouldn’t take much to obliterate a road. More likely its disappearance is from a little deposition, plus good old fashion erosion from water rising and falling over that area.

I took a closer look at this area on Google Earth to see if there are any clues. I’m attaching a very recent image from 11-16-23, elevation 3572. If you spin the image around, you can pretty much duplicate the angle from the 1967 image. You can easily match three large talus slopes on the two images, and from that can more or less plot the alignment of the road on the modern image. That’s the yellow dotted line.





Now look at the identical image, this time without my yellow line, and there’s a spot you might see the roadway trace, right between the toe of the talus and a little cut over the bay. Here it is:





I’d be curious to check that out and follow the alignment for more clues…

Also take a look at this shot from August 2007, taken by our own @Tiff Mapel, when the lake was at 3607. Sure looks possible that the road alignment might even be visible at that level where it comes near the talus slopes…

 

[SkibumUT]

My kids think it’s funny that I collect coins and find them so “cool”, but one of my favorite things from other wordlings are old photos. Thanks for everyone sharing, especially @JFRCalifornia

@Rainbowbridge got me thinking about 2 things: sentinel rock, and ….. Rainbow Bridge. Here’s a few of my favorite shots of sentinel rock:

Looking up river at the mouth of Wahweap Creek - photo from the 1871 Powell Expedition



Looking up into future Wahweap Bay - 1962. I like how this one shows how "small" sentinel is compared to the adjacent canyon walls.


Photo showing the start of the narrows up from Sentinel - 1958



The tippy top of Sentinel before it disappears. Not sure of the date, but maybe mid to late '63 looking at the penstocks at the dam.

 

[SkibumUT]

I read a journal entry from my Grandpa a few months ago about a USGS river trip he'd accompanied down Glen Canyon in the late 40s. He mentioned climbing up to the top of Rainbow, and it got me wondering exactly how groups would have got up there. These are some of the shots I've found showing the route up, which starts on the downstream side, river left.

Group making the first ascent up to then traverse south toward the bridge. 1952


Another view looking up the first ascent. Different group.


After traversing south, the same group then makes a brief climb down to the north to where they can start walking out onto the Bridge.


The spot where you make the brief climb down can be seen on the right. Same group.


Traversing back to the north on their way back from the top. 50 mile mountain in the upper background.

 

[Rainbowbridge]

My kids think it’s funny that I collect coins and find them so “cool”, but one of my favorite things from other wordlings are old photos. Thanks for everyone sharing, especially @JFRCalifornia

@Rainbowbridge got me thinking about 2 things: sentinel rock, and ….. Rainbow Bridge. Here’s a few of my favorite shots of sentinel rock:

Looking up river at the mouth of Wahweap Creek - photo from the 1871 Powell Expedition
View attachment 26404


Looking up into future Wahweap Bay - 1962. I like how this one shows how "small" sentinel is compared to the adjacent canyon walls.
View attachment 26405

Photo showing the start of the narrows up from Sentinel - 1958
View attachment 26406


The tippy top of Sentinel before it disappears. Not sure of the date, but maybe mid to late '63 looking at the penstocks at the dam.
View attachment 26407

Great photos...THX so much. The 1871 Powell pic was amazing, but what really got me were the footprints in the sand...

Having John Wesley standing in front would be awesome......but guess they weren't into selfies in 1871.......

 

[JFRCalifornia]

My kids think it’s funny that I collect coins and find them so “cool”, but one of my favorite things from other wordlings are old photos. Thanks for everyone sharing, especially @JFRCalifornia

@Rainbowbridge got me thinking about 2 things: sentinel rock, and ….. Rainbow Bridge. Here’s a few of my favorite shots of sentinel rock:

Looking up river at the mouth of Wahweap Creek - photo from the 1871 Powell Expedition
View attachment 26404


Looking up into future Wahweap Bay - 1962. I like how this one shows how "small" sentinel is compared to the adjacent canyon walls.
View attachment 26405

Photo showing the start of the narrows up from Sentinel - 1958
View attachment 26406


The tippy top of Sentinel before it disappears. Not sure of the date, but maybe mid to late '63 looking at the penstocks at the dam.
View attachment 26407

Great shots of Sentinel Rock! I’ll add a few more, all of which pre-date the lake. The first is an aerial from April 1962, similar to @SkibumUT's shot from 1958, although a little less clear, but with a wider shot of the river.



The next two shots were taken by Josef Muench in the 1950s, great color images to show the beach area at the foot of the monument…



This last image is a photo of a drawing of a late 19th century wood cut. What’s interesting is that this is included in Powell’s 1895 “Canyons of the Colorado”, his late in life recollection/embellishment of his 1869 journey down the Colorado. Powell took many factual liberties in that book to tell a better story (see the original journals written by Powell and 5 of his crew members, several of which are a more complete, revealing and less filtered account of the trip than Powell’s).

One of the things Powell did in his 1895 book was to include drawings from magazines and other sources illustrating different aspects of his story. One was the inclusion of this image, what he labeled as an “Island Monument in Glen Canyon”. It’s clearly inspired by Sentinel Rock, and specifically that great 1871 photo that @SkibumUT posted, but here it’s shown as taller than it really is, and as an island, which it is not. But nobody questioned Powell at the time, and the image is undeniably dramatic…

In case you’re wondering, neither Powell nor his crew took any photos during their 1869 trip. Any photos you see published are from his second trip in 1871-72…

 

[Dworwood]

I have seen people on top of RB back in the 70’s before it was a national recreation area. I’m sure they were not aware of the religious overtones the bridge had for the natives but it was interesting to see them on top as we boated up to the bridge.

 

[Raven Haven]

Nowadays, as you are hiking the normal NPS trail up canyon to Rainbow Bridge, you can see a small NPS sign on the opposite side of the canyon on the talus slope trail that the old-timers used to take to get on top.

 

[benzer]

Found this on a FB site...circa 1960

 

[Phillbo]

Men with brass cajones working below.

 

[SkibumUT]

Brass indeed.







Enough brass to tram a haul truck out over the canyon to the river below.

 

[Rainbowbridge]

Just imagine bending and welding that rebar all day in 105 degrees......wow.....

 

[KYKevin]

View attachment 26394
Art Greene's tour boat at his Cliff Dwellers Lodge. He ran tours in it from Lees Ferry to Rainbow Bridge before the dam, it was Air Powered by a Pratt and Whitney Wasp Radial engine, maybe 600hp.
(or more) That is likely a Bureau helicopter in the shot out scouting and mapping to build the dam. That's an airstrip just to left too. The name of the boat is in Navajo "Tesh Na-ni-ah-go Atin" (The trail to the rock that goes over) Employees just called it the Na ni for short. Circa 1957.

All these folks especially Art Green and company continue to inspire me. What and amazing period in Arizona and Utah history. Who would build something like this boat? Seems now that they were all larger than life characters.

That's to cool, but get the ear muffs out
Bet the 600 horses went through some fuel, but it was cheap then.

 

[KYKevin]

Brass indeed.

View attachment 26442

View attachment 26443

View attachment 26444

Enough brass to tram a haul truck out over the canyon to the river below.
View attachment 26445

Too cool, I would like to hear more about how this worked.

 

[Marina Bum]

That's to cool, but get the ear muffs out
Bet the 600 horses went through some fuel, but it was cheap then.

Fuel was really cheap if you owned the only gas station and FBO for miles around. I suspect the Bureau Bell Helicopter was coming in for lunch and fuel at Cliff Dwellers Lodge there on the highway just above Lee's Ferry. Art did have to stash fuel at their planned stops along the way because that engine likely consumes something like 50/60 GPH. I've seen pictures of Art with Gerry Cans going upstream to stash them up lake aboard a boat with a small outboard. But yeah, passengers had to wear earplugs and write notes to each other because of open exhaust and the prop. I'm sure it was like 150db, insane.

Can you imagine travelers maybe from that flat green midwest wandering up from Highway 66 out of Flg. on their way to maybe Zion stumbling onto Art Green at the Navajo Bridge and signing on to go up Glen Canyon to see something called Rainbow Bridge? Then they were asked to insert ear plugs and hang on to be whisked up the Colorado River in front of a WWII fighter engine? What a story they would have to tell!

The real Na-ni hull exists (All Aluminum) but her engine is long gone. A member on WW who is a very experienced mechanic and boat restorer who knew Art plans on restoring her for posterity and static display in Page. When I'm done with my current boat project I want to build a loose replica (It can't be air powered on Powell but it will look like it is) just for the fun of it, I want to drive it around Powell on special occasions. These guys, Art Greene and others were the real deal, the Wild West, anything goes

 

[KYKevin]

Thanks MB
I can totally see there obsession
And thanks for all the old pictures, to all of you, just really cool

 

[lakepowellnut]

I’m not sure of the exact year, but this is from our good friends, the Eaton’s. It doesn’t show the inside cover, but it is signed by Stan Jones. He was taken up lake, to publish this edition, by Tom, Velma and Patty Eaton. Tom and Velma have since passed, but Patty has this and many others. Enjoy!

 

[SkibumUT]

8 penstocks for the turbines (power generation), and 2 flow throughs (deadpool) as the lake fills. Not sure on the date.



One of the gantry cranes on the Page side. These gantry’s rolled along a fixed track and had a tram like assembly that could roll out and then raise/lower materials, equipment and even personnel. This is how all of the heavy equipment and concrete were transported to the bottom. 1962


The rail car system moving concrete from the batch plant (base was exposed last year and highlighted in a KSL article) out to a waiting bucket on the gantry. 1962


A 10-wheeler being lowered to the coffer dam area in 1957.

 

[JFRCalifornia]

Here’s three images, from different timeframes and locations…

The first is a 1955 aerial view of Reflection Canyon, a great glimpse into what those iconic meanders look like without Lake Powell…



The next was taken by Tad Nichols in 1963 on the road to Hite Crossing (Trachyte Canyon mouth), along the cliff side just south of North Wash, on the west side of the river headed south. The lake still hadn’t quite reached this point yet.



The last image is from the 1976 Bullfrog Basin Plan, a map showing the state of existing development at Bullfrog in 1975…