The Hatches have been running Grand Canyon raft trips for a LONG time. This photo from Volume 8, Issue Number 192 of the Arizona Daily Sun, published on Monday, May 3rd 1954, shows Bus and his crew triumphant after a harrowing trip down the river during which they lost their kitchen gear.
Caption Reads: RIVER RATS — The season’s first Colorado River expedition has successfully completed a trip from Lee’s Ferry to Temple Bar under leadership of Bus Hatch, Vernal, Utah, (left), veteran explorer of the upper portion of the Colorado and its tributaries. The 11-man party, none of whom had tried the turbulent stream previously, used a 25-food neoprene barge and a smaller life raft type of craft with a motor for auxiliary power. The 25-footer is believed to be the biggest of its type ever to be used on the Colorado. Hatch reported plenty of excitement but little in the way of mishaps, except that in one set of rapids the party lost its mess gear, finishing out the trip by eating direct from the tin cans. They were on the river seven days. — (SUNfoto)
This issue of the Daily Sun also briefly covers the Glen Canyon and Echo Park dam projects only two months after designed to show the public the canyon it would lose should Echo Park go forward. Ultimately, the Echo Park dam was not built, and the controversy helped establish a demand for the commercial river running industry and for Hatch River Expeditions.
Flashback Friday: Photo—Bus and Crew Complete the First Grand Canyon Raft Trip of the 1954 Season was last modified: October 1st, 2015 by
