Archives West Finding Aid

Nathaniel Galloway (1853-1913) was born in Lehi, Utah. In the 1880s he became a trapper in Vernal, Utah. In 1897, Galloway completed a navigation of the Colorado River from Green River, Wyoming, to Needles, California. To accomplish this, Galloway introduced a light-weight, flat-bottomed boat, different than the heavy and cumbersome boats which had previously been used. Galloway also appears to have developed a technique of going into the river rapids stern-first while rowing upstream to stabilize the boat while going through. One year after Galloway's first navigation through the Grand Canyon, he was hired as a hunter and boatman for the Hoskaninni Mining Company, owned by Robert Brewster Stanton. He later met one of the financiers of the mining company, Julius Stone, an Ohio industrialist. Stone and Galloway became friends and after several years, Stone approached Galloway about the possibility of navigating the Colorado River together in small boats. In 1909, an expedition was organized. The boats were manufactured in Chicago according to the Galloway style and shipped to Green River, Wyoming. In addition to Stone and Galloway were three others: one of Stone's friends, C. C. Sharp, one of Galloway's acquaintances, Seymour Dubendorff, and a photographer, Raymond Cogswell. The group began to journey downriver on 12 September 1909. They arrived in Needles, California on 19 November 1909. The trip was without mishap, save a few incidents, including Dubendorff capsizing in one of the rapids. The rapid was later named Dubendorff rapid in his honor. The 1909 expedition is considered the first one entirely for pleasure on the Colorado River, similiar to those today. Galloway also became the first person to navigate the entire Grand Canyon twice. Galloway died in 1913, but his style of boats were in common use until the advent of the inflateable raft. His style of rowing into the rapids has continued to be used with some modifications. The business of river rafting has since become a popular sport with hundreds of trips being made since the Galloway-Stone Expedition of 1909.