From one of Outside magazine's "Literary All-Stars" comes the thrilling true tale of the fastest boat ride ever, down the entire length of the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, during the legendary flood of 1983.
In the spring of 1983, massive flooding along the length of the Colorado River confronted a team of engineers at the Glen Canyon Dam with an unprecedented emergency that may have resulted in the most catastrophic dam failure in history. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named the Emerald Mile at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd but downright suicidal.
The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the man at the oars, who intended to use this flood as a kind of hydraulic sling-shot. The goal was to nail the all-time record for the fastest boat ever propelled—by oar, by motor, or by the grace of God himself—down the entire length of the Colorado River from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. Did he survive? Just barely. Now, this remarkable, epic feat unfolds here, in The Emerald Mile.
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""The Emerald Mile" is a must-listen not just for anyone visiting the Grand Canyon, but also for those who live or travel to any region of the Southwestern United States, where unprecedented economic development has been made possible by the construction of large-scale hydroelectric projects that seek to reign-in natural forces as formidable as the Colorado River.
Fedarko gives fair treatment to the historical events that led colonial Spaniards, wiry-bearded John Wesley Powell, 20th Century hydrological engineers, and ultimately, a band of intrepid river guides, trained in dory boating by the legendary American conservationist Martin Litton, to explore and become enraptured by Grand Canyon country.
Although the epic speed record has been broken--and further attempts to break the current record are ongoing--this narrative is a relevant as ever, because the crew of the Emerald Mile and listeners alike must navigate the opposing forces of American economic growth and "America?s Best Idea," which are like the rapids of a river, endlessly churning in chaotic opposition.
The narrator?s reading style is a little lofty for a book about the hardscrabble canyon country, and his pronunciations of some place names and proper nouns may sound a little too academic to ears that are familiar with the region, but it is a good performance. "
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Marty (4 out of 5 stars)