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<br />Ol~'4 <br /> <br />Table 1. Diaries from historical river trips in Grand Canyon used in this study. <br /> <br /> Date OfTrip Author Part of Canyon Source of Material <br /> 1951 S Reilly Lef.'~ Ferry 10 Phantom Unpublished diary <br /> ]952 F. Wnght All Unpublished diar)' <br /> ]953 P.T. Reilly All Unruhlished diar)' <br /> 195.1 F. Wright All Unpuhli~heJ diary <br /> 1953 G. While All UnplJbll~hl'J I.h:.H}' <br />j IQ54 O. Mar~lon All UnpublJsht'd dwry <br /> 1954 G. While All Unpubllsheu dlUry <br /> ]955 P.T. Reilly All Unpublished diary <br /> ]955 FWrighl All Unpub]i~hed diary <br /> 11)56 PT. Reilly All Unpuhlished diary <br /> 1956 F. Wnght All Unpubll~hed diary <br /> [957 P.T. Reilly Lcc$ Ferry 10 Ph,m[om Unpublished dlUr)' <br /> 1957 F. Wnght All Unrubli..;hed diary <br /> 1l)58 P.T. Reilly Phanlom to Lav::l Fall" lInpubli.~ht'd diar;.' <br /> 1959 P.T. Reilly Lees Ferry 10 Pipe Creek Unpubli"hed di:Jr)' <br /> 19112 P.T. Reilly All Unpubli:-.hed diaf)' <br /> 19M P.T. ReIlly All Unpuhli,.;hed diar~ <br /> <br />knowina full well that Bedrock had and Dubendorff <br />" <br />had not. The Old Timers correctly recognized the <br />changes in Bedrock Rapid and the lack of change in <br />Dubendorff. By listening to the answers. we <br />established the credibility of the Old Timers as very <br />high in remembering specific and detailed information <br />about changes in Grand Canyon. We also established <br />that differences in water level between the pre-dam era <br />and the Old Timer.s Trip was extremely important to <br />their memory of specific sites. Several did not <br />remember the debris bars at Vaseys Paradise and the <br />mouth of the Little Colorado River. These bars may <br />have chanaed significantly. but both bars may have <br />" . <br />been covered with water when some of the Old TUllers <br />passed them. <br />Some observations may seem trivial or <br />unremarkable. For example. the large invasion of non- <br />native tamarisk is generally recognized by scientists <br />and river runners alike (Turner and Karpiscak, 1980; <br />Stevens, 1989). On the other hand, tamarisk was <br />advancing its distribution before Glen Canyon Dam <br />was built and the rate of its spread is little known (see <br />Graf. 1978). Because of such subtleties. we include the <br />full set of observations. Other changes nOled by the Old <br />Timers. particularly those concerning wildlife, are <br />probably inconclusive. a consequence of limited <br /> <br />observations and lack of independent scientific <br />verification. We include them anyway, albeit with <br />llppropriate caveats, to spur discussion. <br /> <br />SPECIFIC CHANGES OBSERVED IN <br />GRAND CANYON <br /> <br />Aesthetics in Grand Canyon <br /> <br />The aestbetics of river trips were a common <br />theme among the Old Timers. Some. particularly <br />Sandy Nevills Reiff and Joan Nevills Staveley, <br />commented on how clean the canyon is now. Their <br />most recent canyon experiences were just before the <br />current policy of cleaning up trash and hauling human <br />waste from campsites. When they did most of their <br />trips from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. human <br />waste and garbage were buried in sandbars. Others <br />found the noise of aircraft overflight> to be oppressive <br />compared to the noise from Ihe rare airplane that <br />passed over the canyon in the pre-dam era. <br />Several Old Timers missed the effects of a silt- <br />laden river on the quality of the river trip. In particular. <br />they missed the sound of sand scraping on the sides and <br />bottoms of boats. The waves in rapids appeared to be <br />different; the pre-dam sediment-laden waves appeared <br /> <br />SPECIFIC CHANGES OBSERVED IN GRAND CANYON 7 <br />