Harold Herbert Leich photograph collection

Harold Herbert Leich photograph collection, 1933

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Leich, Harold Herbert
Title: Harold Herbert Leich photograph collection
Dates: 1933 (inclusive)
19331933
Quantity: 139 Items
Collection Number: P1049
Summary: The Harold Herbert Leich photograph collection consists of black and white images taken by Leich during his traverse of the Colorado River in the summer of 1933. The photos are mostly snapshots with some enlargements, and some duplicates. They cover the stretch of the Colorado River from its source in Grand Lake, Colorado (with some taken in the mountains above the source) through western Colorado and into eastern Utah and the confluence with the Green River in what is now Canyonlands National Park.
Repository: University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions: Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
Languages: English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Harold Herbert Leich was born on February 16, 1909 in Evansville, Indiana. The Leich family had arrived in Evansville in 1848 after emigrating from Germany. The family was involved in the wholesale drug business, operating the Charles Leich & Company. Growing up along the Ohio River seemed to have a lasting influence on Hal's life, as he was attracted to travel by water, manifested in an early interest in sailing ships and the nautical life, later by river trips on the Yellowstone and Colorado Rivers, and still later as an environmental writer advocating clean water supplies.

An Evansville acquaintance steered him to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he became active with the Dartmouth Outing Club, which introduced students to the outdoor life through hiking, skiing and other winter sports. While at Dartmouth he participated in several DOC events which in retrospect have a degree of historical interest in the White Mountains region. He was a member of a DOC party which in 1926 made a Christmas vacation trip to the summit of Mt. Washington to take meteorological observations; this trip was the sparkplug behind the founding of the Mt Washington Observatory (still extant) by Joe Dodge and Bob Monahan, members of that 1926 group. In 1927 he was a participant in the first downhill ski race held in the country, a DOC event on Mt. Moosilauke in NH. He wrote excellent accounts of each in his diary and letters. In 1928 he spent a week working in a logging camp in the NH forest, and again he left in his writings a valuable account of a long-gone life. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1929.

From 1929 until 1935 he held a variety of jobs that appealed to him to some extent but were probably forced on him by the depressed economic conditions--deckhand on a coastal freighter, traveling serviceman for Sunbeam Electric, a similar job for Sears. Between these positions he took several extended river trips in home-made boats, down the Yellowstone in 1930 and an attempt to run the Colorado from its source in the Rockies to the sea in 1933. The latter attempt ended when his boat sank in Cataract Canyon (UT), and it took him several days to walk out to civilization.

In 1935 he took a Civil Service exam and landed a job with the Civil Service Commission in Washington, DC. With a break for service in the Navy during World War II, from which he retired as a lieutenant commander, he would spend his career with the CSC, retiring as chief of the policy division in 1972. During his time there he was awarded the Commissioner's Award for Distinguished Service and assisted in the organization of the fledgling Environmental Protection Agency. In the course of his career he authored many articles for professional journals in personnel management and public administration. In Washington he was an early president of the Ski Club of Washington, DC and was active in the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. He received a Master's in Public Administration from American University in the early 1950s.

In 1941 he married Cora Louise McIver; they had two sons, Harold McIver Leich and Jeffrey Renwick Leich. The family lived in Bethesda, MD from the late 1940s until Leich's 1981 death.

After retiring from the Civil Service Commission in 1972 he was an active writer on water pollution and the need for clean water, contributing columns to BioCycle, Small Town, Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists, and Compost Science among other publications.

About six months after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, he died on September 9, 1981.

[written by Jeffrey R. Leich, November 2002]

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This collection consists of black and white images taken by Leich during his traverse of the Colorado River in the summer of 1933. The photos are mostly snapshots with some enlargements, and some duplicates. They cover the stretch of the Colorado River from its source in Grand Lake, Colorado (with some taken in the mountains above the source) through western Colorado and into eastern Utah and the confluence with the Green River in what is now Canyonlands National Park. In Cataract Canyon, he lost his boat and was forced to abandon his camera when he had to walk back to civilization.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Most of the images are 3" x 4.5" prints, but there are some 5" x 7" and 8" x 10" enlargements. The photographs in folders 1-10 are arranged in down-river order, from the beginning of Leich's voyage until the end. In some cases, there were duplicate prints; these have been retained and labeled as c.2, c. 3, and so on, but they are not included in the image count. Folder 11 contains a photo album created by Leich himself, with the photographs tipped into corner holders, and with each photograph identified. This album is also in down-river order, but given the artifactual nature of the album, it was decided not to disassemble it but rather to keep it intact. Some, but not all, of the images in Folder 11 are duplicates of those in Folders 1-10; there are some unique views in the album that are not found in the loose photographs. Finally, there are some missing images in the album in Folder 11; these have been noted as "missing when received" on the album pages. For the most part, the loose photographs were identified in pencil on the back of the image. However, for those that were not identified, some idea of location was provided by referring to some of the many of drafts of a book Leich planned to publish about the experience, which are found in ACCN 1973. Unless noted by brackets [__], all identifications and descriptions were added by Harold Leich.

Separated Materials

See also the Harold Herbert Leich papers (ACCN 1973) located in the Manuscripts Division of Special Collections.

Processing Note

Processed by Roy Webb in 2003.

Related Materials

This collection forms part of the Utah River Running Archive, which is part of the S.J. Quinney Outdoor Recreation Archive

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
1	1	Sources of the Colorado River 1: Lakelet at summit of La Poudre Pass, on Continental Divide. This lake drains from the north end into the Atlantic watershed & trickles from the south end into the Pacific. 2: Lake City Bold mining camp on north fork Colorado River 3: In the North Fork country 4: North Fork valley 5: A glade in the North Fork country 6: Never Summer Range 7: Mt. Richthofen 8: Tepee Mt. and Mt. Richthofen 9: At left, abandoned mine shaft on Mt. Richthofen. Right center, wheelbarrow and tools hidden under ledge. 10: Long's Peak from east side of Flattop 11: North Fork Colorado R. from irrigation canal 12: Hallett's Peak from Bear Lake trail 13: Mule deer at 12,000' elev. on Flattop 14: North face of Long's Peak from boulder field. Chasm view at center. 15: North Fork Colorado R	1933
1	2	Grand Lake 1: [ROB ROY on Grand Lake] 2: [Grand Lake] 3: Grand Lake, Colo. Elev. 8369. This picture taken while 2 children were drowning at upper end of lake. 4: Gr[and] Lake 5: Grand Lake at sunset 6-7: [near Grand Lake outlet] 8: First whitewater on the Colorado [below Grand Lake outlet] 9: Colo. River in Arapaho Nat'l. Forest [below Grand Lake outlet] 10: 2 mi. below Grand Lake (2 copies) 11: [Colorado River at Grand Lake outlet] 12: [Colorado River above Granby, Colorado]
1	3	Above Granby to above Byers Canyon 1: Colorado River above Columbine Cr[eek] (2 copies) 2: Above the Arapaho Bridge. River drops 85 feet in a mile, but made this without portage or lining, bumping down through. 3: Colorado River above the Arapaho 4: Colo. R. Near Sleepy Hollow above S[outh] Fork (2 copies) 5: Below Sleepy Hollow, near Trout Rapids (2 copies) 6: Colorado River above the mouth of the Fraser [River], near Granby 7: Confluence of Fraser [River] & Colo. Rivers below Granby, Colo. Looking into Windy Gap. 8: Looking upstream into Windy Gap, after thunderstorm. Between Granby and Hot Sulphur Sp[rin]gs.
1	4	Byers Canyon 1: Upper Falls in Byers Canyon 2: Easing down a bad stretch in Byers Canyon 3: Hard, fast water in Byers Canyon 4: Byers Canyon 5: Byers Canyon. Lining boat under big rock on r[ight]. 6: The worst stretch in Byers Canyon. Lined about 80 yards, ran rest. 7: Lining boat around falls in Byers Canyon 8: Byers Canyon 9: [ROB ROY in Byers Canyon] (4 copies) 10: Drying gear below Byers Canyon.
1	5	Gore Canyon 1: [near Blue River] 2: Blue River entering Colo. at Kremmling [Colorado]. River backed up by rocks at head of Gore Canyon, 6 mi. downstream. 3: [near Blue River] 4: Looking into Gore Canyon, near Kremmling [Colorado] 5: Section of easy riffle near head of Gore Canyon 6: Bad fall in Gore Canyon. Portaged 50 feet around this. 7: [Gore Canyon] 8: "Rob Roy" in dry dock at Azure Camp. Making repairs after the heavy water & rocks of Gore Canyon. (2 copies)
1	6	Rouge Canyon 1: Fast, rock-free run below Catamount Cr[eek]. Typical of hundreds of riffles along the upper river - wonderful sport. 2: [Rouge Canyon] 3: White water in Rouge Canyon. Easy, splashy going. No rocks. 4: [Rouge Canyon] 5: Placer crew near Yarmony. Pop Richardson r., Howard Tweed lower left. 6: Throwing gravel into sluice box placer outfit. Gold pan in foreground. 7: Washing down gravel bank at placer outfit. Easy rapids. 8: Filling [railroad] right of way for new Dotsero cut-off in Rouge Canyon section. 9: [road work in Dotsero cut-off]
1	7	Glenwood Canyon 1: Spillway at power plant in Glenwood Canyon. Put boat in here after 22 mile carry from dam headgate around falls. 2: A nasty fall in Glenwood canyon- 1 mile below power plant, nearly swamped. 3: Cottonwood Falls, Glenwood Canyon. River drops 100 feet to [a] mile. Portaged 22 miles. 4: Glenwood Springs, Colorado 5: Glenwood Springs, Colo. U.S.G.S. stream gauging station [on] r[ight]. 6: [Leaving Glenwood Springs] 7: Bad riffle below Glenwood Springs 8: "Rob Roy" dismantled for repairs 6 mi. below Glenwood Sp[rings] after smashing bow frame in rapids. 9: Repairing ribs of the kayak after being smashed in by waves-below Glenwood Springs, Colo. 10: The Book Cliffs between Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction, Colo. The river here is exactly one mile above sea level. 11: The Grand MesaBnear Clifton. Camped on oippostie shore night of Aug. 2. 12: Below Clifton 5 mi. above Gr[and] Jct. [Junction]
1	8	Horsethief Canyon 1: Last farm in Grand Valley, near Fruita, Colo., before entering Horsethief Canyon. 2: Where Colo. R[iver] enters Utah. Boat with prospectors-Sims and Fortune-teken from Utaline camp site. 3: Horsethief Canyon, Colo 4: Lower end of Horsethief Canyon
1	9	Westwater Canyon 1: High sandstone cliff at entrance of Westwater Canyon, below Westwater, Utah. 2: Below the Little Hole in Westwater Canyon (3 copies) 3: Westwater Canyon, Utah 4: [camp in Westwater Canyon, Utah?] 5: Westwater Canyon, Utah 6: La Sal [mountain] range from Colo. River below Cisco, Utah 7: The "Dirty Devil" at Cisco pump house, Utah 8: Dewey Bridge, Utah
1	10	Cataract Canyon 1: A nasty spot in Cataract Canyon. Many rocks exposed because of low water. 2: High waves in Cataract Canyon. Water blurred although I shot this at 1/100th of a second. 3: Below a fast stretch of water in Cataract Canyon, Utah. The pinnacles topping the 1500-foot wall show what this region was called the Land of Standing Rocks by the Ute Indians. 4: A nest of boulders blocking the current in the depths of Cataract Canyon, Utah. (2 copies) 5-6: [rapid in Cataract Canyon] 7: White water in the heart of Cataract Canyon, Utah. This shot was taken a few hours before I lost my boat. 8: Cataract Canyon- worst place that I ran, a couple of miles above where I wrecked. Ran down tongue of rapids.
1	11	Photograph album of entire journey 1: The Colorado River above Granby 2: The Middle Park Looking upstream from above the mouth of the Fraser [River] 3: The infant Colorado near Lulu City 4: A North Fork meadow 5: Lulu City 6: Weenie's cabin in La Poudre Pass 7: The head of Skeleton Gulch from the side of Mt. Richthofen 8: Mt. Andrews from the North Inlet trail 9: Long's Peak from Tyndall Glacier 10: Long's Peak and a spur of Hallett Peak from Flattop 11: Ptarmigan on Flattop 12: Lower cliffs on the North Face of Long's Peak 13: "Rob Roy" at the outlet of Grand Lake 14: The Colorado above the Grand Lake outlet 15: Colorado River at left, Grand Lake outlet at right 16: On the Colorado below the outlet of Grand Lake 17: Below Columbine Creek 18: Mouth of the Blue River 19: Downstream view from the lower end of Gore Canyon. Blacktail Canyon on skyline at left 20: "Rob Roy" in dry-dock at Azure camp 21: Below Red Dirt Creek 22: Leaving Glenwood Springs 23: Emergency repairs below Glenwood Springs 24: Looking upstream at the Book Cliffs from DeBeque. Mt. Logan l[eft] 25: Nest of the Great Blue Heron near Clifton 26: The Grand Mesa from Clifton 27: A hot August afternoon in Horsethief Canyon 28-30: Horsethief Canyon 31: Cottonwoods above Westwater 32: Below a rapid in Westwater Canyon 33: Westwater CanyonBlooking upstream from the Little Hole 34: Below the Little Hole in Westwater Canyon 35: A quiet reach in the heart of Westwater Canyon 36: Cisco pump house 37: Mouth of the Dolores River 38: Looking downstream from the Dolores [river] 39: Upstream from the canyon entrance below Dewey Bridge 40: Professor ValleyBLaSal Range from Richardson 41: Cataract Canyon- 205 miles above Lee's Ferry 42: "Mind your P's and Q's" -fast water in Cataract Canyon 43: "...one of the deepest ruts in the world." In Cataract Canyon, about ten miles below the Green River 44: Broken water in the upper half of Cataract Canyon 45: Cataract Canyon
1	12	Sewage and Water Treatments Plants 1-23: Construction 24-29: Sign, "please do not write on the wall" 30-31: Bio-Flo toilet 32-33: Watershed signs 34-35: Destroilet 36: "Afterburner cruicible for use with internal combustion engines. High heat oxidizes CO and breaks photochemicals down into inert organics. Crucible is inserted before exhaust manifold pipe." 37: "Salt water-desalinization" 38: "Crubicle at 3300K" 39: "this Bi-A-Robi unit is mounted on a newly placed sewage tank that receives effluent from an existing septic tank, oakland, Md. The unit mixes air with the sewage in order to speed up the decomposition of the wastes. Photo by Harold H. Leich" 40-42: installation of the Bi-A-Robi 43: "Nature's Filtration Plant-Hundreds of springs gush out of a lava bed and cascade into a glacial river at Lava Falls, Northeast of Reykjavik. Photo by Harold H. Leich" 44: "Hot water tanks-not oil tanks- loom over downtown Reykjavik. Photo by Harold H. Leich" 45: "The largest hot spring in the world --so claim the Icelanders--is capped in concrete and used to heat greenhouses nearby" Photo by Harold H. Leich" 46: Sign, "please do not write on the wall" 47: Comfort station. advanced wastewater treatment plant shipped Olney Manor Park, MD. October, 1977." 48: Men in a boardroom meeting, circa 1970s 49: "Cycle-Let's waste treatment tank. photo by Photo Publishers, Inc." 50: "Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. Peace Valley. Piping View" 51: "Modular Conceptual Systems, Inc., Ivyland, PA. Model CS/AWTP Envir-O-Pak Comfort Station and Advanced Waterwaste Recycle Treatment Plant Shipped-Olney Manor Park. Olney, MD. October, 1977. Customer-Maryland NAtional-Capitol Park and Planning Commission. Self contained unit-11 toilet compartments, 4 utinal, 5 wash basins."see also image number 47. 52: Envirovac, toilets with people in line to use them. 53: Envirovac, toilets

Archives West Finding Aid

Table of Contents