The Beginning 1881 to 1911
On a cold winter day, 15 February 1881 in Smithfield, Pennsylvania, Ella Kolb presented her husband, Edward, with his third son, and the five-year old Ellsworth and two-year-old Edward a new baby brother named Emery. As the boys grew older Ellsworth and Emery became very close. Emery reminisced in later life, "We sure had a great time as boys for we were always the best of chums."[1] The boys suffered through the usual childhood ailments of bad colds, measles, whooping cough as well as the cuts, scratches and bruises most little boys endure. They fought over trifles and argued between themselves but were always ready to take the other's part when the need arose. Several years after Emery's birth a daughter, Edith, who lived only a month, came into the family, followed by Ernest who was born on 13 October 1891. An adopted daughter, Margaret, five years younger than Emery completed the family. The senior Kolb, an ordained Methodist minister without a congregation insisted upon morning prayers and daily Bible readings. Attendance at midweek and Sunday church services was routinely expected. Ella Kolb, like her husband, was devoutly religious and dreamed, to no avail, that one of her sons would become a minister.
Emery was an adventurer from early childhood. The Pennsylvania Railroad line ran close to the family home in Pittsburgh, and the rumbling train held a fascination for the two-year-old. One afternoon he wandered across the vacant lot next to his home to the tracks where the railroad crossed over the road on a trestle and he stood looking up at the train as it passed overhead. [2]
Ellsworth more than once enticed his brother into mischief and often left Emery to take the blame, but on occasions the tables would turn. A family member ran a grocery store close by home where the boys frequently visited. The cellar beneath the building was a forbidden area for here they stored spare stock including a barrel of molasses. When Emery was four years old he and Ellsworth slipped into the dungeon-like room to play and for some unaccountable reason Ellsworth turned the spigot on the cask of syrup allowing it to spill onto the floor. Confronted by their father Emery confessed that Ellsworth did the deed. Emery doesn't mention what punishment Ellsworth received but relates his brother gave him a pounding for tattling.[3]
In May 1889 a downpour of rain brought the Alleghany River and its tributaries to flood stage.[4] Taking advantage of the situation, the two boys set out on an adventure. They wandered a short way from home toward Buffalo Creek where a planing mill operated. The unused lumber slabs lying around the mill offered an opportunity to build a raft for a game of pirates. Gathering a few of the scraps they proceeded with the project.
The muddy floodwaters had backed up into the creek making the normally shallow clear stream about fifteen feet deep. The boys launched the raft in great glee, and soon reached the middle of the swollen creek where the fast water bounced them along on the waves above the tops of submerged trees and bushes. All went well until the slabs of lumber began to come apart. Neither Emery nor Ellsworth could swim and no one stood along the bank to offer help. The current pushed them rapidly toward the raging floodwaters of the Alleghany River. The raft had to be held together some way until they could reach the shore. Emery lay down across the boards with his toes curled around one edge and grabbed the other with his hands and held on for dear life while Ellsworth paddled with all his might toward the bank. They never told the story to mama and papa, but it was their first experience at river running.[5]
When a young man the boys' father apprenticed as a pharmacist and in time established his own business, but with his growing family he found it a struggle to support them and the three elder boys went to work before they finished high school. Emery completed the eighth grade and obtained employment at the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh as a drill press operator. Ellsworth held several jobs in and around the city, one at a steel mill where he remained until a piece of steel pierced his leg, making it necessary to find lighter work. At this time he decided to leave home and seek his fortune in the western part of the United States. [6]
Twenty-four years old with enough money in his pocket for a week's board, Ellsworth headed for Colorado, where he worked for a short time as a linesman with the Manitou Telephone Company. He subsequently operated a snow plow on Pike's Peak, used a pick and shovel on the roads in both Yellowstone Park and Yosemite, then labored as a carpenter's helper in San Francisco, California.[7] In his daily associations Ellsworth came in contact with young men much like himself who sought adventure in life. He heard sailors relate tales of the Orient and these together with the fascination of the rolling Pacific Ocean enticed him to sign on a freighter destined for China. Before the ship left port second thoughts crossed his mind when a Santa Fe Railroad Company advertisement printed with big bold type reading," See Grand Canyon," caught his attention. China could come later. He headed east to Arizona. The railroad still hired good men and this would help defray the expense of the trip for: "In those days one could go to an employment agency and by paying a dollar or two could be shipped to most any part of the Western States as a laborer or carpenter's helper on the railroads . A carpenter's helper usually meant mixing concrete for a bridge."[8] Citing his experience on the building project in San Francisco Ellsworth obtained employment with the Santa Fe and headed east to Williams, Arizona. Here he quit the job and nearly broke, walked the tracks to within twelve miles of Grand Canyon, flagged a train, paid his fare and rode in style the rest of the way.
The opening of the railway to Grand Canyon eliminated the long hard trip on stagecoach or horseback from either Flagstaff or Williams, a tiringjourney over rough dusty roads that only a few hardy souls attempted. With the way quicker, cleaner and more comfortable the tourist business boomed! So much so that the small Bright Angel Hotel on the canyon rim operated by Martin Buggeln found it necessary to add canvas-covered structures to house the influx of visitors.[9] Buggeln, always in need of help, hired Ellsworth to chop wood. The scant pay covered his board and room. Apparently satisfied with his new employee Buggeln soon gave Ellsworth a job as porter in the hotel where the income was more lucrative and the tourists gave generous tips. After a year the young man saved sufficient money to return to Pittsburgh for a vacation.[10]
During his brother's absence Emery bought a small view camera and with a little practice became proficient in photography. At the time small button-type pins with photographs on them were popular and by punching holes in a metal shield to place over his lens Emery made twelve photographs on a single sheet of film that he sold for extra spending money.[11]
Ellsworth's return brought excitement to the family, his tales of the wonders of the Canyon and the possibilities for photographs filled Emery with enthusiasm and the two young men again became inseparable, dreaming and planning the wonderful opportunity the tourists offered for a business in Arizona. Why not take pictures of the trips on mules down the trail? Why not make views of the canyon for post cards and stereoscopic pictures . . . why not?
Emery was ready to go. Edward and Ella more level-headed than their two young sons, flatly said "No." They knew Ellsworth's wanderlust and refused permission for Emery to leave until their eldest son furnished proof of a job. With a promise to find work for his brother Ellsworth returned to Arizona alone. Emery waited impatiently at home. The letter from his brother finally arrived in October 1902. Ellsworth had at last found him work, the money for train fare furnished by Hance Asbestos Mine who would employ Emery was proof. His parents reluctantly gave their consent, and "With his 5 x 7 camera, a guitar and a harness to hold his mouth organ"[12] Emery Kolb left Pittsburgh and headed for Arizona to make his fortune.
The train from Pittsburgh headed west to Chicago. After a short layover Emery boarded the Santa Fe and continued across the United States to St. Louis, Kansas City, Topeka and the flat Kansas plains then to Albuquerque, Flagstaff and at last Williams. He rode in the chair car all the way. The train stopped along the route to allow passengers time to eat at Harvey House restaurants. Emery, short of money, grabbed a sandwich at these stops and rushed back to the train to continue the journey. Often he dragged out his mouth organ and guitar and played a tune while others joined in to sing the popular songs of the day. This whiled away many boring hours as the train crossed mile upon mile of fields, plains and desert. The train arrived in Williams on 10 October where in order to get to the village of Grand Canyon he had to change to the Grand Canyon Line.
Williams, a typical small western railroad town existed by virtue of a saw mill, tourists and many saloons. With its unpainted false fronted buildings and board walks along the main street it appeared wild and rustic to Emery. While waiting for his connection he found a photographic store and studio, and in need of some "ruby" paper to use as a photographic safe light he entered the establishment. Mr. Arbogast, the owner of the store, a congenial and friendly man, passed the time with Emery and in the conversation learned that he and his brother wished to open a photographic business at the canyon. That was the news Mr. Arbogast and his wife had awaited.
"Our place is for sale and would give you a good start. Why not buy it?" he asked. The idea delighted Emery, but there was one catch. He had no money. The shop owner continued, "I tell you what, send your brother around and let's talk things over and see what we can arrange."
Emery found the hotel at the Canyon crowded with miners when he arrived that afternoon. The Hance Asbestos Mine had closed and his promised job no longer existed. His enthusiasm over buying the shop in Williams still prevailed as he related the story to his brother. The proposition interested Ellsworth, the more daring of the two, and while Emery substituted for him as a porter at the hotel the following day he went to Williams. Talking would do no harm.[13]
To Emery 11 October seemed to last an eternity. He worked his job at the hotel well, but the anticipation of Ellsworth's return made it a day of long tedious drudgery. The anxious young man waited by the station when the afternoon train arrived. Ellsworth leaped down all smiles. He and Mr. Arbogast had made a deal for the shop with all the inventory including the building for $425 with a year to pay for it, more money than Emery thought existed in the world. Although it was a gamble both young men knew they would make it.
Emery returned to Williams and started his new career in the photographic business. Taking pictures of saloon girls who worked in the bars provided his main income but on weekends he and Ellsworth prowled the canyon with a camera. As Emery said "In that year I learned a lot about photography."
Martin Buggeln working in conjunction with the railroad thwarted the plans for the Kolbs to establish a studio at Grand Canyon with a protest to the Forest Reserve officer. The ranger in charge bent to his demands and refused the brothers permission to open the studio. Their salvation came through Ralph Cameron.
Cameron arrived at Grand Canyon in the early 1880's and over a period of time filed mining claims on 13,000 acres of land in and around the canyon including most of Indian Gardens and all of Bright Angel Trail. Most of the claims were never proved up and many others were worthless insofar as mineral deposits were concerned. A shrewd businessman who envisioned the potential of the area as a tourist attraction, he worked the old Havasupai Indian trail and made it safe for traveling to the bottom of the gorge, and before the railroad arrived constructed a hotel close to the head of the trail. His claim on Bright Angel Trail brought him into a number of lawsuits with the railroad and the Harvey Company that lasted until 1928 when the United States Government assumed control.
The Kolbs had talked to Cameron about setting up their studio on his claim on Bright Angel Trail to take their long-dreamed-of trail photos. Cameron approved the idea and agreed that if he won his pending suit with the railroad they could operate on his right of way where neither the government nor the railroad had jurisdiction. The legal battle lasted a long time and the final verdict ruled in Cameron's favor.[14] Meanwhile he had forgotten the Kolb plan until one of the brothers met him in Williams and reminded him. "Oh my Lord!" he exclaimed, "I forgot all about you. Get your tent and come on out."[15]
A note in the Williams News dated Saturday 12 December 1903 read:
E. C. Kolb this week had the old photograph gallery on the I.O.O.F. lots torn down. The lumber was shipped to the Grand Canyon and will be used by R.H. Cameron.
Cameron used the material to build a barn.
The Santa Fe objected to the presence of the studio at once, insisting the Kolbs would be in direct competition and should not be allowed to sell their trail photos or any other wares at the studio. Their corporate pressure persuaded the ranger to issue a decree against the operation. After considerable wrangling the ranger permitted the brothers to take orders for the pictures at the train depot and ship them later.
It was impossible to make their tent light-proof to serve as a darkroom, but a search of the area revealed one of Cameron's prospecting holes beneath the canyon rim where a blanket over the entrance created an excellent place to develop their glass plates and prints. Water became the next big problem. The railroad brought water for the Bright Angel Hotel in a tank car but the Kolbs were not permitted to buy or use any of it for their purpose.[16] It could be obtained at Indian Gardens, 3,200 feet below the rim, a good distance to haul by burro. A cattle pond eleven miles back from the canyon in the forest offered another alternative. Though muddy and at times stagnant and unpleasant to use it was more accessible. A large wooden water wagon drawn by mules could make the trip without difficulty, and seemed the most feasible solution. They used the pond water first and a final wash in the clean water from the spring at Indian Gardens completed the development of their films and prints.
Emery photographed trail groups going into the Canyon at various locations then hurried into the makeshift darkroom and developed the film, a glass plate coated with light-sensitive emulsion, and exposed a quick proof print. Electricity had not reached the Grand Canyon in the early 1900's and photographic paper had to be exposed to the sun. [17] When the tourists returned to the rim he stood waiting, proof of the picture and an order book in hand.
In 1902 Fred Harvey Company announced their intentions to construct "the finest hotel in Arizona," the El Tovar.[18] Before this they operated no concessions at the rim and lacked facilities for selling gifts, souvenirs or photographs. However, they stated their intention to do so and registered their objection to competition, a source of annoyance to the Kolb Brothers for years to come.
The little tent studio became inadequate by 1904 and the brothers prevailed upon Cameron for permission to build a small two-story frame building that extended down the side of the canyon at the head of Bright Angel Trail away from the jurisdiction of their adversaries. They used the new building as a place to live and display their photographs.
In 1905 the Harvey Company opened the grand and sumptuous El Tovar Hotel, which attracted even more tourists to the great natural wonder. A new bout of controversy between Kolb Brothers Studio and the Harvey Company began with its opening. Emery received a letter from a Mr.F.H.S. Hyde questioning the reason for not including a picture of the beautiful new hotel in a brochure. Emery replied to Mr. Hyde's letter explaining why no photographs of the hotel appeared in their booklet or brochures. The story related how a certain publisher desired to have good interior view of the hotel for one of his clients. Figuring the way to obtain this was to have more than one photographer take the picture and then by elimination select the best. He invited the Kolb Brothers to participate. Emery advised the man that the Harvey Corporation would not permit them to make photographs in and around the hotel building and he could not accept.
Still wishing for more than one photographer to make the views he obtained permission from the manager of the El Tovar for Emery to come in on the assigned evening and do the work required. Emery took this for a final decision and proceeded to set up his equipment at the prescribed location in the hotel. Just before he set off the flash powder a Harvey representative rushed in and demanded he take his camera and equipment and leave the building at once. Emery's letter continues:
. . . It was rather embarrassing to say the least for our photographer to have to take his camera down before the crowd and be treated as a trespasser after being invited by the manager. Even if we had secured the picture and published it, would it not have been the cheapest advertising they could get? Anyone would have realized this except a shortsighted and narrow minded person such as are associated with this above mentioned company.
We were making Canyon views several years before Harveys had any interest at the Canyon and our views are more widely circulated than others of the Grand Canyon. This in itself is and advertisement for the railroad as it tends to create an interest in the Canyon and we feel that we do not owe this company anything after several such incidents as noted in the forgoing. In our search for views we have covered more of the Canyon than any other one party has accomplished and through our medium of accurate information, which is considered reliable we have become very well known to the traveling public. . . .[19]
An article published in the Williams News 11 October 1905 indicated a turning point in Emery's life. This news item stated that on 10 October the first wedding was held at the newly opened El Tovar Hotel. It then continued:
. . . Following this wedding a certain young man hied himself away, thinking to steal a march on us, but Cupid is so busy in this section we always know that something is going on when young men make visits to other towns. The friends of Mr. Emory Kolb will be surprised to know that he has gone to Prescott for his bride and expects to bring her back with him. We will admit it was slyly done, Mr. Emory; but we "caught on" just the same. The boys will have a welcome for you both when you arrive. . . .[20]
Emery and Blanche Bender married on 17 October and moved into a tent close to the canyon rim where they spent the winter until they completed the new studio. Blanche, a portly woman, stood head and shoulders above Emery. Her full oval face, deep brown eyes and a clear smooth complexion framed by wavy brown hair made her a beautiful person. She adored Emery from the beginning and continued to do so until her death. Emery delighted in telling the story of waiting for her on the boardwalk in Williams. As Blanche approached from across the street a man standing nearby stated, "There comes the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." Emery swelled with pride and commented dryly, "That is my wife."
With the marriage the close relationship between Emery and his brother deteriorated. Their disagreements occurred more frequently and the arguments grew heated. Yet in the few letters saved there seemed no animosity between Ellsworth and Blanche. When the two brothers were alone their attitudes reverted to the comradeship that prevailed before the marriage.
Tourist business increased to the point the Kolbs found it necessary to build a developing room on Cameron's claim at Indian Gardens. Burros packed most of the material for the new building down Bright Angel Trail, while Ellsworth and Emery carried the longer pieces of lumber on their backs. Once Ellsworth made the trip three times in one day carrying two beams sixteen feet long each trip. With the new facility they made photographic enlargements, some up to eight feet long, using a table top turned upside down and lined with oilcloth to act as a developing tray.[21] Faster developing papers and the close proximity of water speeded up the process. Emery made the trail photographs near the studio early each morning, ran the seven miles down the trail, processed the pictures and ran back to the rim with the finished prints ready to deliver to the tourists on their return in the evening.
Pictures of mule rides to the bottom of the canyon did not produce sufficient income to support the family. The brothers turned their photographic talents further afield. The inaccessibility of the North Rim made it a little known wilderness that offered a chance to photograph areas seldom seen. It was the answer to their problem. When opportunity permitted, Ellsworth and Emery set out with their cameras to capture these scenic wonders on film, and to their gratification, the final prints sold well at the studio. Most of the excursions were nearby, but as time passed they broadened the distance from home base. Among these were various hunting trips where they acted as guides for Eastern men who desired the thrill of a lion hunt in Kaibab Forest and at other times they obtained venison for themselves.
Finding skeletons in the canyon was not unusual as no one kept a record of the prospectors who came and went at will at this early date. To become lost in the labyrinths of the gorge and die of thirst, starvation or by accident was the risk these men often took. In one of their jaunts in 1906 the young explorers hiked a trail halfway up the granite to a turn and made the startling discovery of human remains lying on a ledge with its head resting on a rock. It appeared the man had pulled his overcoat tight around him and gone to sleep. Judging from his clothes he was a prospector who had wandered into the canyon alone and probably became sick and died. He carried no identification but in his pocket they found a Los Angeles newspaper dated 1900, a pipe and a pocket knife. The Kolbs marked the spot, returned the following day with the coroners jury and buried the unknown man under a pile of rocks.[22]
Desert bighorn sheep are the most elusive creatures inhabiting Grand Canyon and the Kolb brothers attempted to photograph them in one of their forays for pictures. It required a two-day trip to obtain the exposures they desired, but they felt it well worth the effort. They followed tracks in the soft earth around a turn to an abandoned prospectors' tunnel at the base of a four hundred-foot sheer rock wall to where a small stream of clear water emerged from a crack to form a pool.[23] Here the sheep came to drink. At this point a break made an irregularity in the cliff where old-time prospectors had placed a series of wooden ladders wired to spikes driven into the rocks. Most of the rungs nailed to the uprights had rotted and the nails worked out on those remaining, and any attempt to climb the device could have been dangerous. Sheep, more agile than man in such terrain, were able to climb the breach and used it as a regular passage to and from the water hole. Emery and Ellsworth examined the ladders and found the uprights sound enough to support their weight and began the climb. Twenty feet of wall separated the first ladder from the second. The ingenious miners had closed the gap with a log supported by steel pegs driven into the stone. Nature had destroyed the crossing when a large boulder fell on the heavy timber, shattering it and bending the spikes, eliminating the man-made bridge. With the help of a broken ledge a few inches wide and a small crack here and there to insert a finger or two for support the Kolbs crossed to the next ladder. The slightest slip could have precipitated a fall of two hundred feet but they worked their way across and gained access to the area where the sheep used an overhanging rock as a screen to hide from sightseers on the rim a hundred feet above. Tracks were everywhere in the dry dust but on the first visit they found no sheep. The second day they were more successful; several animals posed long enough for a picture before they scampered away down the side of the canyon.[24]
William Wallace Bass arrived at Grand Canyon in the late 1880's seeking the gold presumably stashed there by John D. Lee when he hid from the law as the result of his involvement in the Mountain Meadows massacre in Utah. Bass soon gave up the search and found more gold in the tourist business and thus became one of the first to capitalize on the idea. With the help of Supai Indians he built a trail from Havasu Point on the south rim to the bottom of the canyon and along Shinumo Creek up to Kaibab Plateau on the north rim.[25] In the process he came upon a vein of good grade asbestos and established a claim. In the flood plain of the creek Bass built a camp and used the water to irrigate a small patch of farmland. One thing led to another and soon he established himself as a tour guide. Long before the railroad came to the Canyon he brought tourists from Williams and Ashfork in wagons equipped with seats and a canvas top. Upon their arrival at the rim the fares stayed at his accommodations built at the head of the trail. Hardy souls who wished to do so could explore across the canyon, ride his carriage through the forests to enjoy the vistas of the south rim, or visit Havasupai Canyon to the west.
Crossing the river by boat at the foot of the Bass trail or at Bright Angel was risky, and to accommodate the tourists further Bass constructed a tramway well above the highwater mark of the Colorado River, a primitive arrangement consisting of a steel cable stretched across the river with a boxlike wooden carriage suspended from it. The box loaded with passengers slid by gravity toward the center of the river, and the operator winched the conveyance the rest of the distance, a thrilling exploit especially for the ladies in their long dresses and feather-trimmed hats.
It was impossible for anyone to live at Grand Canyon for any length of time without becoming acquainted with the congenial entrepreneur, Bill Bass. So it was that both Emery and Ellsworth considered him a friend. They made several trips down Bass trail, across the rickety tramway and up Shinumo Creek. They visited and photographed the asbestos mine and many Indian ruins located in caves up and down the canyon walls. A side box canyon off Shinumo offered the most intriguing site where the towering walls narrowed in a V-shape to only a few feet wide at the bottom, and a huge boulder washed down into the canyon thousands of years earlier lodged itself between the narrow walls. The elements continued to erode away the sides of the crevice leaving the gigantic stone suspended a hundred feet above the floor. The Kolbs often took guests on this trip and always carried their cameras.[26]
The Little Colorado River begins its long journey in the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. It flows north and west through Holbrook, Winslow and across the Navajo Reservation and runs through a channel where in places it has little or no bank. A short distance beyond where the Cameron Trading Post stands the river cuts through the rock to form a deep narrow gorge with perpendicular walls impossible to cross at any point. From a distance it appears as a huge crack in the crust of the earth. The canyon grows deeper and more rugged with walls that rise 4000 feet above the floor where it joins the Colorado River.
Emery and his brother made their first visit to the Little Colorado River gorge in September 1906. They left the studio and traveled a short distance beyond Desert View to a government engineers' camp. Here a companion joined them and early in the morning the trio headed across to theeast rim of Cape Solitude toward the river, a trip of fifteen or twenty miles, a pleasant mule ride in the early hour with the air cool and refreshing, but by the time they reached their destination the sun bore down and the temperature soared.
The three explorers found themselves on a point projecting over the edge of a gorge 2,000 feet deep with thick red muddy water running through the narrow channel. Directly beneath where they stood a stream of clear emerald green water gushed from the canyon wall with such force that its color could be seen across the entire river.[27] They spent little time at the rim for they planned to descend into the gorge, explore the surroundings and return to camp by evening. With the mules hobbled and a canteen of water stashed under a ledge for a much-needed drink on their return, the men began to search for a rope supposedly suspended from the wall to aid in their descent. They found it rotted and dangling from an iron spike driven into the rock in a break, and an attempt to use it would have been foolhardy. Discarding the idea they climbed through the crevice using niches in the rocks for finger and toe holds. At other places they pressed their backs against the wall on one side with their knees and hands braced against the opposite one and cautiously worked themselves down inch by inch. Once through the break they encountered a series of step-like ledges, with drops between them of from three to ten feet. The Kolbs and their companion walked along these, dropping deeper into the canyon. To save time on the return, they marked the trail with cairns. The deeper they went the more intense the heat and to avoid the sun they often stopped to rest beneath overhangs.
Someone had started a trail that ended abruptly at a small pine fifteen feet above the river and made it necessary to climb down the tree to the bottom where they hoped to revive themselves with a drink of the clear spring water.[28] What a disappointment! The water had a sickening sweet taste that none of them could tolerate. All three preferred the muddy river water with a cube of tea dissolved in it; a bath in the stream proved more inviting and refreshing. They explored and made photographs, Late in the afternoon they climbed back and arrived at the brink at dusk. One of the mules had broken his hobble and they spent time catching him, then rode toward camp, the mules finding their way while the men relaxed under an almost full moon. A light breeze cooled the sweltering heat and the click of the mules' metal shoes on the rocks beneath their feet made the only noise in the desert. [29]
In 1909 the Kolb brothers made a second trip into the Little Colorado River gorge, following the old Tanner Trail.[30] They were curious to know if pack animals could still make their way to the Colorado River and on up to the Little Colorado River. Their purpose was to take pictures of the unphotographed area, and as Ellsworth stated, "We needed a rest."
In most cases prospectors made the trails in Grand Canyon as they followed animal and old Indian paths in search of a vein of ore. Constant use kept them in good shape, but with neglect they soon fell into a state of disrepair. Tanner Trail was the oldest of these and it is possible the Spaniards were the first to use parts of it.[31]
Bushes and small trees grown over the head of the trail made it difficult to find. Once located the brothers cached some provisions at the top and packed bedding and food on the burro while each carried a twenty-five pound pack on his back and started into the Canyon. In places fallen rocks had to be rolled out of the way, and in others the trail had crumbled and made it almost too narrow for Jenny to pass with her bulging side packs. The descent proved easier than they figured with the only difficulty near the bottom of the limestone formation where the trail followed a narrow ledge under a sheer wall that extended for one and one-half miles without a break before a slope permitted them to drop off the plateau. This overcome they easily covered the distance to the Colorado River and stopped for the night.
The Little Colorado River junctioned around the bend three miles up river from their camp, and had the water of the Colorado River been lower with the sandy beach exposed the trip would have been of little consequence. As it was the men and their animal worked their way over the old Beamer Trail that ran across a ledge three hundred feet above. In places the path was narrow and broken and twice they encountered large boulders that blocked their passage. The brothers had no difficulty in passing these but the narrowness of the trail frightened the burro and she shunned the edge and caught her pack on the rock. The men solved this by one holding the rope close to her head while the other stayed behind, shoving the pack harness out to keep it clear. This short stretch of trail took most of the day to traverse and in late afternoon they climbed down to river level, with the junction of the Little Colorado River just ahead.
Up the side canyon a short distance they came upon a clearing where in 1892, a prospector, Ben Beamer had cultivated a garden and under an overhang constructed a rock cabin that resembled an ancient Indian cliff dwelling.[32] Close by they found a rusty plow that he had packed in over the same trail they found so difficult. In a crevice a cache of cooking utensils and a coil of rope covered with sand and rocks lay undisturbed. The wind had blown the sand away and revealed the treasures Beamer considered valuable enough to hide. Because of the closeness of the atmosphere and the many rats, they chose not to use the stone cabin but unrolled their beds on the sand outside the building then headed for the river to swim and cool off.
Ellsworth related:
Our attention was called to a peculiar noise which we could not locate for awhile. We had seen many mountain sheep tracks in this vicinity and thought for a while that the noise was a slide of shale started by the sheep, but could not locate any movement. Then Emery discovered what it was. On the opposite side of the pool the fins and tails of numerous fish could be seen above the water. The striking of their tails caused the noise we had heard. We had hooks and lines in our packs and hurriedly got them out and then went above the pool and waded the stream. Coming down we saw many fish all the same variety, increasing in number as we neared the lower end of the pool.
Now we understood what it all meant. The "bony tail" were spawning. That may seem like a queer name. The fish themselves were just as queer. They are otherwise known as Gila Elegans or Gila Trout, but "bony tail" describes them very well.[33] The Colorado is full of them, so are many other muddy streams of the South West. They seldom exceed sixteen inches in length and are silvery white in color. With a small flat head somewhat like a pike, the body swells behind it to a large hump. Behind the dorsal fin, which is large and strong, the body tapers down slender and round ending with a large strong tail. We had sometimes caught these fish with our hands as they swam close to the top of the muddy water, catching them by the "small" just ahead of the tail fins. They can not escape that hold.
We tempted these fish with our choicest bait, grasshoppers and other insects but failed to interest them. Then fully determined to have fish that evening, we removed the bait and arranged the hooks in a group as we had often done when in the barefoot stage of our existence; a four foot line was attached to this, suspended from a short pole and the hooks dropped into the water, ready for the first fish that came swimming our way. We caught a number of them, all we cared to use that evening and the following morning. They are nicely flavored fish, but are filled with countless small bones which divide and subdivide until they are almost like needle points.[34]
Deep in the canyon the sun sets early and the heat of the day usually soon abates, but this evening the air was still without the slightest breeze blowing. Later a violent wind came howling down Grand Canyon carrying with it sand from along the banks of the Colorado River and the confluence of the two canyons became the center of a maelstrom. The Painted Desert directly above them added its bit until sand rained from overhead as well. Camp articles placed on rock shelves blew helter skelter and to keep their beds from blowing away they anchored them with rocks. As the storm grew more severe they crawled under the blankets and covered their heads. This made them more uncomfortable than if they had stayed in the old building with the rats. At last they went to sleep and neither knew when the agitated weather finally blew itself out.
A prospector had told Emery of a series of cataracts fifteen miles up-stream from the mouth of the Little Colorado River. To visit these was the highlight of the trip. They planned the exploration into the gorge when the water of the river would be low and present less difficult travel. With cameras and plates prepared and the burro hobbled so she could not roam, Emery and Ellsworth set off upstream with a lunch and a canteen of tea made from muddy river water. They took advantage of the shore where possible, as long stretches of firm sand made walking easy. Some places that appeared solid proved to be quicksand and they ran over them with stops to rest on islands of solid rock. In a few instances the sand had "the consistency of slacked lime or lard," and to pass these pools they climbed along the canyon wall to reach firmer ground. Often they held their cameras above their heads as they waded the river until they arrived at the cataracts. The obstructions in the river rose before them in steps that ranged from six to eight feet high one above the other and the highest surged to nearly fifteen feet. The canyon walls at this point stood 2,500 feet from the floor and thirty feet or more above their heads the high water had left its mark. During flood season this narrow gorge could become a treacherous place. The rock formations indicated they were within a mile or so from where they climbed in on their previous trip but, satisfied with their work Emery and Ellsworth returned home the way they came with the first pictures of the falls in the Little Colorado River Gorge.
One of the canyons to enter Grand Canyon on the south is Havasu or Cataract Canyon, home of the Havasupai Indians. The brothers visited it in the late spring of l907. After a thirty-mile journey, Emery and Ellsworth rode into the Supai village on mules, their two burros trailing along behind carrying a load of cameras and glass plates. A pack of village dogs set upon them at once barking and nipping at the heels of the animals. One burro stampeded down the dusty road trying to shake off his attackers while the other stood his ground, circling among his opponents, all to the amusement of the natives who appeared from everywhere to watch the performance, laughing at the predicament of their white visitors. Their old friend Captain Billy Burro, a thin wrinkled specimen of Indian humanity saved them from the attack, disrupted the fun and with a club chased the dogs into the bushes before turning to greet the visitors. A smile stretched across his weathered face as he extended his hand to them, but instead of the usual salutation he asked if they had plenty of sugar. The old Indian was a first class beggar who could be beat by no one anywhere.
To reach the site of their first night's camp a half mile below the village, they crossed the rushing Havasu creek several times. It took considerable persuasion to entice the burros into the cold water but a few pushes and pulls finally got them in and they made a mad scramble for the opposite bank. After the men unpacked the animals they turned them loose, for the steep narrow canyon made it impossible for them to get away.
Captain Burro appeared the following morning dressed in western Anglo clothes for his promised sugar and a photograph. After much discussion he returned the next day dressed in the fashion of his people, wearing only a breechcloth, and posed willingly by Havasu Falls.[35]
Emery and Ellsworth packed what photographic equipment they needed in their back packs and started early on the six-mile hike along the creek toward the Colorado River. As they descended, the walls of the canyon rose higher and closer together and the creek became more violent as it gushed through the narrow channel. Trees and bushes blocked the path and several times they had to cross the stream using the mineral deposits as stepping stones. These often crumbled under foot and the unlucky brother landed in the water with the pack of cameras and film held high to keep it dry. When at last they reached the river the walls of the little canyon towered 4,500 feet above them. The two travelers were weary but happy when they dragged themselves back to camp that night, for they had captured for the first time the beautiful images of Havasu Creek on film. Ellsworth wrote:
There is no royal road for the person who would explore the Canyon's hidden secrets. Enthusiasm in unlimited quantities, is a most needful qualification-- enthusiasm in spite of discomfort, fatigue, and toil-- all to gain what may be a doubtful goal.[36]
The following day a drizzling rain accompanied by a cold wind blew up the canyon and plagued them as they prepared to retrace their steps toward home. From the trail they could see the rain had turned to snow on top of the rim. By the time they climbed the fifteen miles, six inches of the wet heavy snow covered the ground and made walking difficult. On the way from Bright Angel, the burros and mules had needed water but no such problem existed on their return. The men and animals trudged along until ten o'clock that night before they stopped to camp. The snow had thinned but enough covered the ground to make their rest uncomfortable with only two blankets and not even a sheltering rock for protection from the wind. Next day when they resumed the trip the roads were slippery and difficult for the animals so the men walked most of the thirty miles home. Besides, walking helped keep them warm. They arrived at the head of Bright Angel Trail at midnight and hurriedly pulled the packs off the burros and went to bed.
Ellsworth again wrote:
The pleasurable thrills experienced when we developed our plates more than made up for any discomfort we may have experienced. Besides this we consoled ourselves with the thought that the snow; melting quickly, as it did, formed a great deal of water in the storage dams, and saved thousands of cattle from starvation in the few months that followed. But what interested us more than anything else was the fact the great amount of moisture in the atmosphere had formed into clouds which collected in the canyon a thousand feet below the rim; filling it from bank to bank. It was a rare and wonderful sight. The rising sun, tinting the tops of the billows made it look like the Whirlpool of Niagara.[37]
During one of the trips into the canyon, probably on the north rim, the Kolb brothers took their most famous picture; Ellsworth standing precariously on a log lowering his brother with the large view camera into a chasm on a rope. The fete was not as dangerous as it looked for the uncropped photograph shows the ground a few feet below. They used the view on letterheads, business cards and in advertisements for many years.
Grand Canyon was not the only place offering possibilities for photography. They made several trips to the Hopi villages of Oraibi and Walpi, Arizona, and photographed the snake dances. The images taken on these various excursions sold well; letters and orders came from people around the country.
It soon became impossible to process individual prints fast enough to accommodate the volume of business they received at the studio. To alleviate this situation they placed an order with the Albertype Company in Brooklyn, New York, to produce souvenir books and cards that showed hand colored views of the canyon with the famous rope picture on the cover.[38] These were a success and a continuous flow of shipments of the booklets arrived at the canyon from New York for many years.
Emery and Blanche's only child, Edith arrived on 9 June 1907. Blanche suffered with this pregnancy and nearly died.[39] Although they hoped for eight children, her precarious health prevented it. The birth of Edith never hampered their trips into the canyon. Emery rigged up a burro with box-like carriers, one to each side, and with Edith placed comfortably in one and the family dog, Rags, in the other, away they went. The child spent her first birthday at the bottom of Havasu Canyon.
In the spring 1903, while driving tourists on a sightseeing trip along the South Rim William Beeson made a discovery that caused a commotion at the village. Upon returning to the Cameron Hotel he reported seeing a huge sheet of ice several hundred feet high shining in the sun across the Canyon from O'Neil (now Yavapai) Point. Emery and Ellsworth believed it could not possibly be ice for heat of the canyon walls so late in the spring would prevent its forming and staying. By examining the area with a telescope they discovered it to be a high waterfall with only the top portion visible . It was unusual that no one had noted the phenomenon before, for as early as 1902 hunters reported hearing the roar of a mysterious river that sounded like thunder far down on the western side of the Kaibab Plateau. After the discovery all the guides driving carriages along the rim pointed it out to tourists and it became the major attraction at O'Neil Point in the spring of the year.
The waterfall presented a challenge for the Kolbs to explore the area and determine if it was possible to approach close enough to make photographs. In 1908 Ellsworth Kolb and Israel Chamberlain, one of Dave Rust's employees in Kanab, Utah, set out for the head of Clear Creek, the location of the falls. They crossed the Colorado on the newly constructed tramway that Rust had built to eliminate the dangerous boat trip at the foot of Bright Angel Trail, spent the night at Rust's camp, and next morning made a ten-mile hike over the Granite and the Tonto Bench, loaded with cameras, photo plates, and canteens of water. As these were more important than blankets, they slept on the ground in the cold for three nights, but returned with the first pictures ever taken of the falls.
Several years later Emery made the trip with a friend, Milton Madden. They crossed the river and took a canvas boat loaded with their equipment to Clear Creek where they camped. From there it took only one day to make the round trip to the falls and they carried only lunch and their cameras. Emery reported they "slept comfortably at night." After this the Kolbs gave considerable thought to the falls but neither found time to explore the cave on the side of the canyon wall from which the falls emanated and it remained a mystery visible from the south rim each spring.[40]
An article that appeared in Flagstaff, Arizona's, The Coconino Sun on 24 June 1910 is proof enough of Emery Kolb's physical condition. After spending the years running back and forth between Indian Gardens and the studio on the rim he was in a good health. The article reads:
DARING TRIP 'CROSS
THE GRAND CANYON
Emery C. Kolb Makes Record Dash in Hazardous Way and Delivers Important Message to an Eastern Tourist.
Grand Canyon, Arizona, June 22,1910. Of all the guides employed by the Santa Fe or Harvey at this place, not one cared to undertake the delivery of a message to Mrs. Sargent, wife of an eastern capitalist, who two days previous left the hotel for an outing on the north side of the canyon. Young Kolb is the youngest of the firm of Kolb Bros., photographers, who are noted for their climbing and daring stunts in securing photographs at the canyon. When approached on the subject of taking the telegram, Mr. Kolb without hesitancy took the message, pinned it inside his shirt, and said: "I will see that she gets it today."
It is twelve miles from the hotel to the river where a cable is suspended for crossing. The descent is 4500 feet.
There were no horses fast enough for him, so he decided to make it on foot. There was no one to draw the cage across, so it was up to him to "coon" and overhand the 450 ft. cable. The thermometer registered over 100 in the shade, which made the cable terrifically hot. But on he went.
The outlet from the river to the north rim is obtained only by fording the Bright Angel creek for eight miles in rapid water. After getting out of the box canyon, a steep wild trail must be ascended 6000 ft. before the top is reached. The party had two days' start but were overtaken in just six and one-half hours. Mr. Kolb claims he is no relative of the man who delivered the message to Garcia.
The names of more and more distinguished people appeared on the roster of the hotel and on the order forms of the Kolb Studio. Among these were Theodore Roosevelt who made his first trip down the canyon trail in 1906, and later the famous naturalists John Muir and John Burroughs who made a tour down the trail on 1 March 1909 while there was still snow on canyon rim.
During the long winter evenings near the end of 1910 Ellsworth and Emery Kolb sat by the fire and made plans to retrace the river trips John Wesley Powell made in 1869 and 1871. Blanche busied herself sewing and listening to the dreams of the two men of the family and never complained of their exposing themselves to the danger that possibly lay ahead on such a journey. As the winter wore on the dreams turned to serious planning and the trip through the canyons would soon become a reality.
[C]hapter 1
1 An interview published in Recreation May 1917, page 206-207.
[2] Transcription of an oral history tape, interview of Emery Kolb by Richard Miller, September and October 1976, page 65.
[3] Ibid
[4]The same rain storm caused the Johnstown Flood.
[5] Transcription of an oral history tape, interview of Emery Kolb by Richard Miller, September and October 1976, page 67.
[6] Edith Lehnert, The Grand Canyon Story of the Kolb Brothers. Fifty Years at the Grand Canyon.
[7] Ibid
[8] Ibid
[9] Buggeln a businessman from Williams operated a hotel in Williams and purchased the Bright Angel Camp from J. W. Thurber in 1900. Buggeln contracted with the Santa Fe R.R. to hold the concession rights at both ends of the Grand Canyon Line.
[10] Ibid
[11] Lon Garrison, A Camera and a Dream, The Story of the Kolb Brothers, Arizona Highways, January 1953.
[12] Edith Lehnert, The Grand Canyon Story of the Kolb Brothers. Fifty Years at the Grand Canyon.
[13] Ibid
[14] The suit was filed by the Santa Fe regarding Cameron's right to collect tolls for the use of the Bright Angel Trail. Coconino Sun April 18 1903
[15] Michael D. Pace, Emery Kolb: Grand Canyon Photographer and Explorer page 5
[16] Edith Lehnert, The Grand Canyon Story of the Kolb Brothers . Fifty Years at the Grand Canyon.
[17] Ibid
[18] The Coconino Sun May 24, 1902. Construction was begun in 1903.
[19] Letter to F.H.S. Hyde of New York City, 30 June no year, but probably around 1906.
[20] Emery and Blanche were married in Bisbee, Arizona.
[21] Edith Lehnert, The Grand Canyon Story of the Kolb Brothers. Fifty Years at the Grand Canyon.
[22] Ellsworth Kolb Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico, page 224.
[23] According to Gale Burak, Emery called this the Hummingbird Mine.
[24] Undated manuscript, pictures indicate before 1911.
[25] The trails became known as the Bass Trail and the Mystic Springs trail.
[26] Early photographs indicate prior to 1905. This is know know as the Kolb Chockstone.
[27] Blue Springs
[28] The trail is known as the Blue Springs TRail.
[29] Undated manuscript ca. 1906.
[30] According to E.L. Kolb, Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico, this trip into the Little Colorado River Gorge took place a year and a half before the famous trip through the Canyon in 1911 which would date this expedition in 1909.
[31] It is doubtful Seth Tanner made the trail
[32] Beamer constructed the building from rocks taken from an Indian cliff dwelling.
[33]These are now called Humpbacked Chub.
[34] Draft for article in the National Geographic Magazine, August 1914.
[35] Photographs from Kolb collection Norther Arizona University Number 568-6290.
[36] National Geographic Magazine August 1914, page 115.
[37] Draft for article in the National Geographic Magazine, August 1914.
[38] Invoice from Albertype Company, Brooklyn, New York, 31 May 1907.
[39] Oral History tape of Ernest Kolb interviewed by Julie Russell, 26 September 1978.
[40] Emery Kolb's manuscript on Cheyava Falls Expedition.