Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico (1920) by Ellsworth L. Kolb is a thrilling first-hand account of one of the most daring river expeditions in American history. In 1911, Kolb and his brother Emery became the first to successfully navigate the entire Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, documenting their 1,000-mile journey with early photography and vivid prose.
This adventure memoir captures the perils and wonders of the uncharted canyon: raging rapids, near-fatal capsizes, and the stark beauty of the Southwest’s cliffs and waterfalls. Kolb’s writing blends technical detail (how they rigged their wooden boats) with poetic awe for the landscape, while his photographs—some of the first taken in the canyon’s depths—remain historic records of a wilderness now altered by dams.
A precursor to modern whitewater literature, the book also reveals tensions with John Wesley Powell’s earlier expedition and the Kolb brothers’ rivalry with the U.S. Geological Survey. Their legacy lives on at the Kolb Studio, their former photography perch on the Grand Canyon’s rim.
