Poet, painter, and river guide Amil Quayle (b. 1938) is a native of Saint Anthony, Idaho and grew up playing on the banks of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. In 1961 he ran his first river trip and worked for many years as a full-time guide, mostly in the Grand Canyon and Dinosaur National Monument for Jack Currey's Western River Expeditions headquartered in Vernal, Utah. After earning his Bachelor of Science in sociology from the University of Utah, Quayle sold his river business and ranched in Nebraska, drawing on his experience working on farms in Idaho as a teen. He earned a Master of Arts (MA) and Docotor of Philosophy (PhD) at University of Nebraska in Lincoln (UNL) and taught English for Utah State University and Idaho State University.
Quayle has guided on many trips throughout his lifetime, including a pioneering descent in Mexico of the Rio Grijalva. His two sons and two of his grandchildren are river guides; five other grandchildren may follow his path. Other accomplishments include receiving the Vreeland Award, the Mari Sandoz Award, and the American Poets Award. His book
The Amil Quayle home movies (1948-1965, 1999) consist of footage of river trips and other vacations and home movies taken by Quayle and his family 1948-1965 and features a long trip on the Green River between Manila and Jensen, Utah in 1951. The original 16mm footage (not held by the University of Utah) was compiled onto a VHS videocassette in 1999 with narration added. The VHS has been digitized and is available to view on DVD.
Materials are arranged by subject matter.
Audio-visual materials can be fragile and require specialized equipment to play back. For this reason, access to audio-visual materials is provided through digital copies, and it might take longer to provide access to items that are not yet digitized. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law, condition of the material, or by donor.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Amil Quayle home movies must be obtained from the Special Collections Multimedia Archivist.
Processed by Elizabeth Shuput in 2003.
Forms part of the River Running Archives.
The trip takes place in June of 1951 and spans 137 river miles. It begins in Manila Utah and ends in Jenson Utah. The narrator shares the history of how various canyons and rapids came to be named. The footage includes images of the indigenousness flora and fauna, scenic images of the surrounding lands, canyon walls and various views of the Green River from the land and the boat.
Shorter footage from two other river-rafting trips, one of which was led by David Quayle through Cataract Canyon.
The remaining footage is a compilation of Pete and Ted Quayle's 16 mm film home movies that date from 1948-1965. This footage contains an extended road trip. The travelers include Ted Quayle, Pete Quayle, and Amil Quayle. The locations they visited include: