About Haldane “Buzz” Holmstrom – Oregon Boatman Who Changed Grand Canyon River Running History
Stay and join us for
free live music at 8 p.m. from Rich Layton & The Troublemakers
Presented by: Vince Welch, Author & former professional river guide
In
the fall of 1937 Buzz Holmstrom, a gas station attendant from Coquille, Oregon,
became the first person to complete a solo transit of the Green and Colorado
Rivers (through Grand Canyon). He made the 52-day, 1,100-mile voyage in a
handmade wooden boat, the Julius F. When he reached Boulder City,
Nevada, he sent a telegram to his mother, “OK at Boulder Dam. Haldane.”
Overnight the modest Oregonian became uncomfortably famous nationwide. The
following year Portlander Amos Burg read about Holmstrom’s voyage in the Saturday
Evening Post. The well-known National Geographic photographer and
filmmaker immediately contacted Holmstrom and suggested they film a re-creation
of Holmstrom’s previous epic voyage. Holmstrom, eager to return to Grand
Canyon, agreed. The pair launched in August 1938 from Green River, Wyoming.
Burg, rowing an inflatable raft, would be the first to pilot such a craft
through Grand Canyon. Holmstrom became the first known oarsman to row every
rapid in Grand Canyon. The previous year, due to impassable rapids, he had been
forced to portage the Julius F., four times. Learn more about Holmstrom,
his other river voyages, and his untimely death on the Grande Ronde River in
N.E. Oregon in 1946. This presentation includes a screening of Burg’s film Conquering
the Colorado, nominated in 1939 for best short documentary.
Copies
of Vince Welch’s books, The Doing of the Thing - The Brief, Brilliant
Whitewater Career of Buzz Holmstrom and The Last Voyageur – Amos Burg
and the Rivers of the West, will be available for autograph and purchase at
the presentation.
Our free live music
kicks off at 8 p.m. on this night: More.
