During a two day event held on September 30th and October 1st in Green River, UT, the John Wesley Powell River History Museum will induct Elzada Clover, Lois Jotter Cutter, Bill Belknap, and Katie Lee into the River Runners Hall of Fame.
This year, John Wesley Powell River History Museum has partnered with regional conservation non-profit, Plateau Restoration, for the annual River Rendezvous and River Runners Hall of Fame banquet. The two-day event will celebrate river history and culture through expert presentations, service opportunities, historic films, and the Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony.
“This two-day event is an amazing opportunity for people to experience river history, and hang around some of the legendary members of the river running community that are still around today,” said Tim Glenn, director of the John Wesley Powell River History Musuem. “We’re so proud to partner with Plateau Restoration, and extremely excited to induct these important names into the River Runners Hall of Fame.”
Dr. Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter Cutter became the first women to run the entire length of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon as part of Norm Nevills’ famous expedition of 1938. Clover, a botanist at the University of Michigan, was a catalyst for the ’38 expedition and helped organize the trip in order to catalog the plant life on the bottom of the canyon. She and Jotter, her student and research assistant, successfully completed the entirety of the expedition, putting in at Green River, UT and taking out at Lee’s Ferry forty-three days later.
Bill Belknap has likely had a hand in reaching more individual river runners than any other person in the history of the plateau. A photographer and an adventurous river runner in the mid-twentieth century, he made several trips through the Grand Canyon (in both directions) in his lifetime. His photograph collection is extensive. Through the lens of his camera, he helped document a golden age of river running history. His son’s waterproof Belknap river guides, which he helped develop, have become the most popular guides used on both the Green and Colorado Rivers. His impact on both independent and commercial river running cannot be understated.
Katie Lee is a songwriter, folklorist, and musician whose presence on the plateau has been loud and clear for over fifty years. Her reflections on life on the Colorado Plateau, and has produced a wealth of songs, books, and words that express her love for the desert rivers and the cultures they have created. Throughout her life, she has been a strong and prominent advocate for wilderness preservation on the Colorado Plateau.
The two-day event begins with a service project and evening film festival. Plateau Restoration is working to improve and restore an area on the Green River near the mouth of Gray Canyon that has been decimated by wildfires. The service project is free for anyone to attend, and includes lunch and expert presentations.
Visit moabriverrendezvous.com for a full schedule of events and to purchase tickets.
Friday, September 30th:
9:00am – 3:00pm – Service Project and Field Presentations
4:30 – 5:30pm – Social Hour/Ice-Breaker
7:00 – 9:00pm – Friday Night River Film Festival
Saturday, October 1st
9:30 – 10:00 – Opening introductions and a presentation by host Plateau Restoration.
10:00 – 11:00 – Native Fishes of the Colorado River, with Tildon Jones and colleagues from US Fish and Wildlife Services.
11:00 – 12:00 – Dr. Dan Bean
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch provided by Plateau Restoration and served by staff and board members.
1:00 – 2:00 – Tom McCourt A History of White Canyon
2:00 – 3:00 – Wayne Ranney
4:00 – 5:00 – Evening Social
7:00 – 9:00 – River Runner’s Hall of Fame Banquet