Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives
E.C. LaRue photograph collection
UUS_P0637
1 box
.25 (linear feet)
1922-1923
Set of 51 stereoviews of outdoor scenes taken during the 1923 Birdseye Colorado River survey. Also includes 1 group photo of the crew.
Material in English
Processed in November of 2016.
Purchased from Back of Beyond Books in August 2016.
No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the E.C. LaRue photograph collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Photograph Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head.
Initial Citation: USU_P0637; E.C. LaRue photograph collection; Photograph Collections Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.
Following Citations:USU_P0637, USUSCA.
Eugene Clyde LaRue (1879 - 1947) was born in Riverside, California. He recieved an engineering degree from the University of California in 1904 and worked as an engineer for the United States Geological Survey until 1927. He conducted field investigations for potential dam sites, irrigation systems, and power generation. He was very interested in Colorado River water development and in 1922 he became the chairman of the Arizona Engineering Commission. He was a consulting engineer with B.F. Jakobsen from 1927 to 1933. From 1933 to 1947 he worked for the Army Corp of Engineers with the Los Angeles Flood Control District. He married Mabel Ruth Elton in Salt Lake City in 1911. The couple had three daughters, Merle, Roberta, and Annette.
The Birdseye expedition of 1923 surveyed the 251 mile streach of the Colorado River which ran between Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek. The two major goals of the expedition was to locate potential dam sites and create a series of maps and profiles of the area. Eventually the expedition published 14 maps from the expedition that were used in the creation of Hoover and Parker Dams as well as the Colorado River Aqueduct and the Central Arizona Project. LaRue was the expedition hydrologist and photographer. In addition to the stereoviews found in this collection, he also took panoramic images and motion picture film. In addition to LaRue and Birdseye, the expedition also included Roland W. Burchard, Dr. Raymond C. Moore, Emery Kolb, Leigh Lint, H.E. Blake, and Lewis Freeman.
This collection contains various photographs taken during the 1923 Birdseye expedition of the Colorado River. One photograph is of the 9 man crew, while the remainder are stereographs/stereoviews.
Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)--Photographs.
Water and Water Rights
Expeditions and Adventure
Photographs
River surveys--Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)--History--20th century--Photographs.
I. Stereoviews of the 1923 Birdseye Expedition on the Colorado River
1923
51 Stereoviews of the 1923 Birdseye Expedition on the Colorado River. The title information was taken word-for-word from the stereo-views.
Bed-rock damsite on Colorado River, seven miles below Halls Crossing and one mile below Lake Canyon
1-01
1922 September 8
1
1
First camp, Coloardo River opposite mouth of Escalante River
1-02
1922 September 9
1
1
In the "Hole in the Wall" looking toward the Colorado
1-03
1922 September 9
1
1
"Hole in the Wall" on west side of Colorado River six miles above the San Juan
1-04
1922 September 9
1
1
"Hole in the Wall" on west side of Colorado River six miles above San Juan River
1-05
1922 September 9
1
1
"Hole in the Wall" looking down from the top of the plateau to the Colorado River 1000 feet below
1-06
1922 September 9
1
1
San Juan River 1/2 mile above its mouth. One cannot climb to the top of the plateau on the south side of San Juan River, Major Powell tried it in 1870
1-07
1922 September 10
1
1
The end of the "trail" up the south side of San Juan River. From this point a rock could be tossed into the river hundreds of feet below
1-08
1922 September 10
1
1
Looking down the Colorado from point 1/2 mile below San Juan River
1-09
1922 September 10
1
1
Maidenhair Canyon. A beautiful side canyon which enters the Colorado from the west at a point two miles below San Juan River
1-10
1922 September 11
1
1
Maidenhair Canyon enters the Colorado from the west at a point two miles below San Juan River
1-11
1922 September 11
1
2
Canyon of Aztec Creek. Enroute to Rainbow Natural Bridge. Granite boulders washed down from Navajo Mt.
1-13
1922 September 12
1
2
Oak Creek damsite on Colorado River, seven miles below San Juan River. Left abutment wall
1-12
1922 September 11
1
2
Looking into Bridge Canyon from Aztec Creek. Enroute to the Rainbow Natural Bridge.
1-15
1922 September 12
1
2
Little waterfalls in Canyon of Aztec Creek. Enroute to Rainbow Natural Bridge
1-14
1922 September 12
1
2
Bridge Canyon
1-16
1922 September 12
1
2
Rainbow Natural Bridge. Looking up Bridge Canyon. The bridge is 300 feet high, 40 feet thick at the crown and has a span of 275 feet
1-17
1922 September 12
1
2
The Rainbow Natural Bridge. First view of the "Bridge" when approaching from the Colorado River via Bridge Canyon. Navajo Mt. in the background
1-18
1922 September 12
1
2
Rainbow Natural Bridge Looking down Bridge Canyon
1-19
1922 September 12
1
2
A "close-up" of the Rainbow Natural Bridge
1-20
1922 September 12
1
2
Lunch at "Church Rock" 47 miles above Lees Ferry, Ariz.
1-21
1922 September 13
1
3
The Arch at the mouth of Warm Creek
1-22
1922 September 14
1
3
Sentinel Rock damsite No.1 four miles below Warm Creek. View is down stream
1-23
1922 September 15
1
3
Surveying Sentinel Rock damsite No.1, four miles below Warm Creek
1-24
1922 September 15
1
3
Sentinel Rock at the mouth of Waweap Creek
1-25
1922 September 15
1
3
Downsteam view of Lees Ferry damsite No. 2
1-26
1922 September 16
1
3
Lunch at the spring, nine miles above Lees Ferry, Arizona
1-27
1922 September 16
1
3
Full speed ahead, in lower Glen Canyon of the Colorado. Lees Ferry damsite around the turn
1-28
1922
1
3
Downstream view of Lees Ferry damsite. The walls are massive red sandstone, 1100 feet in height above the river
1-29
1922 September 16
1
3
A view down Glen Canyon at the Lees Ferry damsite
1-30
1922 September 16
1
3
Looking down Marble Canyon from the plateau above Lees Ferry, Echo Cliffs at left, Vermillion Cliffs at right, and the Buckskin Mts. in the background
1-31
1922 September 17
1
4
A view down Marble Canyon from the plateau 1500 feet above the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, Arizona
1-32
1922 September 17
1
4
A view over the rim of the plateau 1500 feet above the river at Lees Ferry, Arizona
1-33
1922 September 17
1
4
Looking into the gorge where the Lees Ferry damsite is located
1-34
1922 September 17
1
4
Looking into Glen Canyon from the plateau 1500 feet above the Colorado River
1-35
1922 September 17
1
4
From the plateau above Lees Ferry toward Navajo Mt.
1-36
1922 September 17
1
4
Navajo Indians at Lees Ferry, Arizona
1-37
1922 September 18
1
4
"Navajo Squaws on the Painted Desert before being tipped"
1-38
1922 September 19
1
4
"Navajo Indians on the Painted Desert. It cost 1/2 dollar to induce one squaw to show her face"
1-39
1922 September 19
1
4
Upstream view of the Girand damsite on the Colorado River at the mouth of Diamond Creek
1-40
1922 September 22
1
4
"Upstream view of the Canyon of the Colorado from the lower end of the rapid at the mouth of Diamond Creek"
1-41
1922 September 22
1
5
"The figures are on the center line of the proposed dam on the Colorado River at the mouth of Diamond Creek"
1-42
1922 September 22
1
5
"The rapid on the Colorado at the mouth of Daimond [sic] Creek, 20 miles north of Peach Springs Arizona"
1-43
1922 September 22
1
5
"View of the Colorado River entering Boulder Canyon"
1-44
1922 September 25
1
5
"The motor boat entering Boulder Canyon of the Colorado"
1-45
1922 September 25
1
5
"The entrance to Boulder Canyon of the Colorado River"
1-46
1922 September 25
1
5
"Upstream view of the lower end of Boulder Canyon"
1-47
1922 September 25
1
5
"Kelly damsite 7-1/2 miles below the Boulder Canyon damsite on the lower Colorado"
1-48
1922 September 25
1
5
"Caldville ruins, nine miles below Boulder Canyon damsite. The head of navigation on the Colorado before the construction of the railroads"
1-49
1922 September 25
1
5
"View upstream from the Black Canyon damsite on the lower Colorado"
1-50
1922 September 26
1
5
"Downstream view from Black Canyon Damsite"
1-51
1922 September 26
1
5
II. Other photographs
1923
Nine crew members of 1923 Birdseye Expedition, by Pacific & Atlantic Photos
1-52
1923
1
6
L-R: Leigh Lint, boatman; H.E. Blake, boatman; Frank Word, cook; Claude Birdseye, expedition leader; Dr. Raymond C. Moore, geologist; Roland W. Burchard, topographer; Eugene C. LaRue, hydraulic engineer; Lewis Freemen, boatman; Emery Kolb, head boatman