Frederick Dellaenbaugh was a young man when John Wesley Powell tapped him to participate in Powell's second trip down the Colorado River. Powell had made the journey already a few years before, so the second voyage was less pure exploration and more science; the crew included Almon Harris Thompson (called affectionately "Prof." throughout), a professional geographer who also happened to be Powell's brother-in-law. With several boats and men of widely varying experience, the expedition sailed the Green river (thought at that time to be the upper Colorado) to its junction with the Colorado, and the Colorado itself as far as the middle of the Grand Canyon. Swirling rapids, maggotty food, blistering heat, sudden blizzards beset the adventurers, who still though it all made their geographical, geological, and ethnographical observations which resulted in (among other things) the first maps of the four corners region and the Grand Canyon (reproduced in the book).
While wild adventure, humor, and a real sense of the Old West permeate the book, there is a certain sadness, too. The Native Americans whom Dellenbaugh encounters are people clearly already defeated -- fearful, distrusting, sad. We catch glimpses of the Navaho trying to accommodate themselves to the new reality of white (especially Mormon) settlement, creating new networks of trade focused on growing frontier towns. But the seeds of the end are planted already in the irrigated fields of the Mormon settlers, and sometimes it seems as if the natives knew this too. Also, the topography through which the explorers travelled has now partly vanished behind the dams that have ruined Glen Canyon and other stretches of white water and canyon scenery. No one can now do what Dellenbaugh and his companions did; the sense of loss hovers unintentionally about every page.
Dellenbaugh was a keen observer (though perhaps a bit naive) with a talent for making even the monotony of running rapid after rapid spellbinding. One does feel that he may have veiled some of the conflicts that must have arisen in two (non-continuous) years of isolation, though if so this trait is refreshing in a world where we now expect everyone to tattle on everyone else. Every now and then just a shimmer of impatience with one of the crew seeps through. But the real hero who emerges from this book, somewhat surprisingly, is not the leader Powell -- the young Dellenbaugh seems never to have gotten close to him -- but rather the Prof., who rises to every challenge with decency and humaneness, and of whom Dellenbaugh seems to have been genuinely, and for good reason, in awe. Like Powell he is buried in Arlington Cemetery. He deserved that honor, but where he lives is in the pages of this book.

Love and respect for the Green and Colorado Rivers is greatly enhanced by Dellenbaugh's narritive of the 2nd Powell expadition. Well written, accurate history, and spell binding from start to finish. An adventure that can only be partially accomplished today is TOTALLY available in "A Canyon Voyage!"

At the time of the 2nd voyage down the Colorado, Dellenbaugh was on about 19 years old. He didn't write the book until many years later. What a wonderful/spellbinding look at the most beautiful place in North America (The Colorado Plateau). Not only that but I found it extremely hunorous as well. Great Great book!!!

Man of Many Frontiers is a collection of diaries kept between 1885 and 1890 by Louis John Frederick Eager, nicknamed "Billy the Bear." Iaeger received his nickname from "Buffalo Bill" Cody, just one of the characters, some well known, that Iaeger became acquainted with during his amazing lifetime. Through his diaries, the reader catches a glimpse of life in western Nebraska at the time the frontier was fading. They offer a realistic view of an individual life as well as American life in general at the turn of the last century. Iaeger's journals begin when he joins the crew of a sailing ship, a career move he immediately regrets. The drudgery and difficulties of adapting to life on the ocean contrast drastically with the traditional romantic portrayals of the sailing life in fiction and the movies. The challenge of his first sea voyage, however, did not dissuade Iaeger from signing on with other ships, and he traveled to the Orient, Australia and Europe. Back in the United States Iaeger met William Cody while working as a stage actor in San Francisco. Employment as Cody's personal secretary enticed Iaeger to western Nebraska, and in the early 1880's Iaeger worked as a cowboy in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming. He faced his biggest personal challenge when, caught outside during a four-day blizzard, Iaeger lost both legs and all of his fingers except his thumbs to frostbite. Undaunted by this loss, Iaeger learned to skillfully manage his artificial legs, returned to Cody's employment, and in 1885 settled in Chadron, Nebraska, a railroad boom town in the panhandle of Nebraska. Iaeger found a permanent home in the young town of Chadron and threw himself into public life there. A strong Democrat, he played an active role in local politics, serving as justice of the peace, city clerk, clerk of Dawes County court and deputy clerk of the United States District Court. As part of his court duties he saw more than his share of crime and drama in the frontier cow town, and his daily life in Chadron makes up the largest portion of his journals. The reader participates with Billy the Bear in the events, large and small, that transformed Chadron into a legitimate, thriving community. The reader also glimpses the physical difficulties Iaeger faced while becoming a prominent town father. Saloons and gambling, prostitutes and cowboys, partisan politics and natural disasters are all present in the diaries of Billy the Bear, which makes for a fascinating read.