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Grand Canyon Pioneers Society - The Bulletin |
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| Vol 6, No 7 | July 2002 |
Annual Picnic at Shoshone Point
Despite the hot and dry conditions, and the uncertainty of the location because of the dry conditions, about 40 Pioneers made it out to Shoshone Point on Saturday, June 22, for an afternoon of cold food and friendly conversation.
Tom Carmony presented the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society Pioneer Award to William C. "Bill" Suran for:
Bill and Sibyl did not attend the picnic this year because of the hot temperatures. The award was presented to Bill at his home that afternoon.
Al Richmond, on behalf of the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society and the National Park Service Grand Canyon, presented the Hall of Fame Award for Community Service in recognition of those organizations and individuals who have selflessly contributed to the betterment of the Grand Canyon community over years past. The fifth award names two individuals who have shown exemplary service to the Grand Canyon Community. Both recipients have made personal contributions of money, time, and work over a period of many years. One recipient is deceased and happily the other is still with us.
The awardees this year are: Eladio (Eli) Gomez and D. Louis Schellbach (deceased).
Both of these folks were recommended for their community service by previous recipients of the award. We rely on their recommendations as they know better than anyone who has been involved in community service at the Grand Canyon.
Mr. Gomez was unable to attend the picnic as he is currently residing in Washington state and is of advanced years (95). We will send the plaque to Mr. Gomez.
The following is a complete list of awardees:
Letter to GCPS
To the members of the GCPS
Saturday afternoon June 22, 2002, the membership of the Grand Canyon
Pioneers Society honored me with the annual award given to those who have
contributed to the preservation of history and lore at the Grand Canyon.
There are not enough words in the English language to express my
gratitude for this. In all of the years of my life this is the first time I
have been given such an honor. I will cherish it for all the time I have
left to live.
Thank you.
Bill Suran
GCPS Outings for 2002
| July 20: |
Museum of Northern Arizona Special Collections Tour. Behind the
scenes of the Anthropology Collections led by Museum staff
member and General Museum docent.
Tour Cost: $8 per person ($4 for docent led tour and $4 for the special collections). Please have exact change. This behind-the-scenes tour of the Anthropology Collection is a rare opportunity. Their collections are only open to the public one time a year during the Museum's Open House usually in October. Here is a chance to explore MNA's extensive archaeological and ethnographic collection, including modern basketry, katsina dolls, and historic pottery. Also learn about the Museum's role in preserving these artifacts for future generations. Included in your visit to the collections is a Museum General Tour led by a docent. Whether you have visited the Museum or this is your first time, you will find that the docent will help make the exhibitions come alive through stories, interpretation, hands-on material complimenting the galleries. After your tour, you can visit the world -renowned Museum shops for Native American art and books on the Colorado Plateau. | ||||
| August 17: |
"The Grand Canyon Orphan Mine" by Maurice Castagne at Grand
Canyon Maricopa Observation Point.
Maurice was a mine superintendent at the only working mine inside the borders of Grand Canyon National Park for 11 years. The prominent steel headframe of the mine still outlines the GC skyline and its unique structure with a colorful past became the subject of a new book by Castagne. His book presents a brief history and happenings of a mine that he says had its share of trials and tribulations. Meet at Grand Canyon Maricopa Observation Point at 2:00 PM, which offers an interesting view of the Grand Canyon Orphan Mine headframe and Glory-Hole-Stope surface opening. | ||||
| September 21: | Grand Canyon Aviation History by Ron Warren at Grand Canyon Airport. | ||||
| October 19: |
"Below the Rim & Beyond the Lake" (Two Commanding Canyons-Grand
Canyon & Glen Canyon's Lake Powell) slide show by Gary Ladd and GCPS Board
meeting.
Gary Ladd is a free-lance large format photographer specializing on the wilderness interior of Grand Canyon, the pristine sandstone landscapes surrounding Lake Powell and the slickrock terrain of southern Utah and northern Arizona. | ||||
| November 16: | Beamer's Cabin and Boucher's Camp stabilization projects by Amy Horn, archaeologist for Grand Canyon National Park. Presentation at Cline Library at 1:30 PM. | ||||
| December: | No Meeting. |
Board of Directors
To the members of the GCPS
Do you love the Grand Canyon? Do you think the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society is a worthwhile organization? During the next year which will have 8760 hours, do you think you can find a few hours, say 6 to 8 hours to devote to the Grand Canyon? If the answer is yes to any or all of these questions, then you are a candidate for the Board of Directors of Grand Canyon Pioneers Society.
What is your excuse? You are a new member of the Pioneers Society. Wonderful! A Pioneer is someone who has never done this but has the courage to try. You are a very busy person. Great! As the "old saw" goes, give the job to the busiest person and they will get it done. "I have been there and done that for years". Fabulous! Your experience is invaluable.
If you somehow, suddenly find yourself somewhat short of excuses, you are a great candidate for the Board of Directors of the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society. Don't hesitate.
Contact a member of the Nominating Committee and offer to serve.
Phone: (928) 697-8612
Email: ohlman@citlink.net
Phone: (928) 638-0666
Email: ngreen@apscc.org
Shirley Albertson
New Members
Ellen M. Rosher - Flagstaff AZ
Nan Whittacker - Holyoke MA
Don and Adair Peterson - Albuquerque NM
Kathy Webster - Flagstaff AZ
Outings Contacts Information
Outings Coordinator is
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Carol Castleman 18909 North 87th Drive Peoria, AZ 85382 623-825-9971 |
e-mail AZlady3@aol.com
The Bulletin welcomes comments, stories, or Reflections and Remembrances.
Please send them to
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Diane Cassidy 2112 Demerse Avenue Prescott, AZ 86301 |
or e-mail them to GCPioneers@yahoo.com
Remembering...
J. Harvey Butchart
May 10, 1907 - May 29, 2002
Here are my thoughts of Harvey that I presented at the Memorial Service on June 1, 2002:
BASS CAMP: About ten years ago the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society had an overnight camp out at the South Bass Trail Head (about 30 miles west of the Grand Canyon Village). The group enjoyed the day hikes on the rim, the food, the conversation, and the great view of the Canyon.
A group of backpackers from San Diego State exited the Canyon and started talking to the group. They had been on a 4 - 5 day hike in the Canyon - probably the Royal Arch Loop. This hike is a challenge - exposures, rappels, great distance between available water, and hot.
They indicated they used Harvey Butchart's Grand Canyon Treks to guide them.
They went on to say they wish he had provided a little more description on the route and how to negotiate the difficult areas.
At that point one of the group introduced the lady backpackers to Harvey!
Many backpackers - past, present, and future - use Harvey's Grand Canyon Treks as a guide to hike in the Grand Canyon. He has shared his knowledge of the Canyon with individuals from around the world.
PIONEER AWARD : At the June 14, 1997 Annual Picnic at Shoeshone Point the Pioneer Award was presented to Harvey. He was the first recipient of the award.
SPORTY ROUTES: Harvey, I would assume you have already started hiking the Canyons in Heaven! I also assume that Roma is still winning 5 out of 6 Scrabble games!
But why, why Harvey didn't you learn to use the PC and Word-processing! With those high tech capabilities you could have provided additional documentation about the "sporty routes" you pioneered in the Grand Canyon!
All Backpackers would have benefited from the additional information.
Lee Albertson
President
Grand Canyon Pioneers Society
June 1, 2002
Remembering...
Loren H. Lauzon
July 14, 1922 - May 15, 2002
Loren H. Lauzon died Wednesday, May 15, 2002, at the Prescott Veterans Hospital. He was 79.
Mr. Lauzon was born July 14, 1922, at the Box Car medical clinic at Grand Canyon, the son of Hubert R. and Edith J (Bass) Lauzon. He married Shirley A. Wilkinson Oct. 31, 1981. He served his country proudly in the Army Air Corps in Europe and Italy during World War II. Mr. Lauzon was proudest of his connection to the Grand Canyon and the "Bass family," a Pioneer family of Arizona. He had the distinction of being the last child born in the Box Car medical clinic at the Canyon.
He is survived by his wife, Shirley; son Robert M. Lauzon and daughter-in-law Deborah of Flagstaff; step-children Sharon Lund of Delta, Colo., Laura Nasser of Wickenburg and Debra Mead of Carson City, Nev.; four grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Memorial service was held at the Shrine of Ages at the Grand Canyon.
Dr. John "Harvey" Butchart
Notes for Dad's Talk
by Jim Butchart
I am Jim Burchart, Roma and Harvey Butchart's son...I'd like to share a few comments about my dad.
Very unusual, and unique person.
Very devout, taught Sunday school in Flagstaff for a long time; always attended church.
Was a brilliant mathematician, which sometimes gets lost in talking about his Canyon exploits. He had a PhD in math from University of Illinois. He was the academic head of the math department at Arizona State Collect (now NAU) at Flagstaff from 1945 to his retirement in the 1970s. He enjoyed working on spatial geometry problems, and I believe did some work with NASA in the early stages of the space program. He also was one of the few professors who taught a subject called "group theory." I asked him once to explain to me what group theory was all about, and after a few minutes I begged off, as I didn't understand a word, and I was a math minor!
Very competitive person, played tennis in college in Illinois, won a few tournaments, and was tennis champ in Flagstaff for at least 6 years that I know of, and won some Sun City tournaments after his retirement.
He hiked over 12,000 miles in the Grand Canyon, more miles in the Grand Canyon than any person in recorded history.
He was very precise; once I said to him the he had hiked more miles than anyone ever in the Canyon, and he corrected me by saying that some prehistoric Indian may have hiked more miles than he did, but he was pretty sure that he was the "recorded" leader.
His competitiveness carried over to the Canyon. He wanted to be the expert, and see things for the first time, and be the first up the various Canyon buttes that he climbed. He had 33 first ascents of various buttes in the Canyon, but he competed with himself. He never failed to help other people with advice, guidebooks, and even first hand help in trying things he hadn't done. I never once saw any indication that he begrudged someone else beating him to a certain accomplishment, and he was always ready to help that person in their quest. One hiker told me recently, at my Mother's funeral just 8 weeks ago, that Dad was the master of understatement. In his guidebooks, if he referred to a certain climb as "sport," we could be sure that we would experience moments of sheer terror on the climb referred to. In his hiking career, Dad also climbed all but 3 or 4 of the 51 peaks in Colorado over 14,000 feet, and climbed Pococatetapol in Mexico.
Some of my personal remembrances include his taking me to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon the day before I was 6 years old. He had to carry me out piggy back style most of the way. I remember a hike to Rainbow Bridge for our whole family, before the Glen Canyon Dam was built and made Rainbow Bridge easily accessible by boat. Dad greatly misjudged the hiking time we would take, as he was applying his hiking standards to the timing, and we wound up sleeping on the trail around a campfire on a very cold night. When I was 11, Dad and I climbed Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the US at the time, before Alaska became a state, and I remember that two teenagers whizzed past us on the trail. Dad dryly said that they couldn't keep that up, and sure enough, we passed them soon after, and never saw them again that day. We also climbed Half Dome in Yosemite Park in California, and I remember a picture Dad took of me lying on my stomach looking down over the sheer drop of several thousand feet.
Dad wore me out by the time I was 12, and around that time, I discovered girls, so our hiking exploits ended. This was around 1952, and he was just getting warmed up! His hiking would continue for another 35 years or so, well into his 80s. Others recognize better than I the magnitude of what he accomplished, and what an unusual person he was.
So, Dad, please know that there are a lot of folks here who will remember you for a long time. You were a real "piece of work" here on earth!
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