The Romance of the Colorado River: The Story of Its Discovery in 1840 With an Account of the Later Explorations and With Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell Through the Line of the Great Canyons

A young adventurer’s firsthand account of a dangerous expedition into the Grand Canyon’s uncharted territories.

In 1871, seventeen-year-old Fred Dellenbaugh walked into a hotel room in Chicago, and with a “You’ll do, Fred,” began a lifetime of danger-fraught exploration. Under the lead of John Wesley Powell, a Civil War hero with only one arm, Fred journeyed into the Grand Canyon and its subsidiary canyons and rivers, with the intention of exploring, mapping, and recording description of the uncharted territory. The men found themselves battling the great force of the Colorado River, with its fatal, quick rapids and mighty waterfalls. Their small, frail boats were no match for the river, and as they began to capsize and as supplies were lost overboard, the expedition quickly became about survival. It was only through the steady command of Major Powell that the team prevailed. They went on to accomplish their mission, which has become historically significant today.

The Romance of the Colorado River is Dellenbaugh’s personal story, written thirty years after the great adventure.