The Kolb Diaries: Chapter 5
1912-1918
The Lecture Tours
By the time Ellsworth and Emery returned to the studio the worst of the winter cold had passed and even though the temperature had begun to moderate, tourist traffic remained light with only a few people making the mule trip to the bottom of the canyon. They had time to develop plates and film and to edit the motion pictures into a usable form. Each day the mail brought letters from friends including Julius Stone, Dave Rust and Frederick Dellenbaugh congratulating them on the completion of their trip.
Part of their plans had been to present an illustrated lecture at the Grand Canyon to offset the expense of the trip but the studio could not accommodate a large crowd and they had to make some alternate arrangement. They requested the use of an empty building at the village for the purpose, but the Forest Service denied them this with the explanation that the Canyon would soon become a national park and the Department of the Interior probably would not go along with such a concession.[1] Until they could find a place at home, the lecture would have to go on tour.
Emery gave his first lecture at the Gamut Club in Los Angeles. The audience included musicians, artists and actors from the area among them such famous names as Madam Schumenheink and Charles Lummis.[2] Emery had never experienced public speaking before and as he mounted the platform he felt weak in the knees and his heart pounded so loud he knew it could be heard by the entire audience. When the chairman stood to introduce the speaker for the evening he said:
. . . Ladies and gentlemen, I know you have all read in the papers of the Kolb Brothers and their perilous journey through Grand Canyon. We have the honor of having with us tonight one of the brothers who will entertain you, and it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Mr. Emery C. Kolb, who has just come down the Arkansas River.[3]
The statement so amused Emery he forgot his stage fright, rose to his feet and commented:
. . . Ladies and gentlemen, I know that Mr. Blanchard, being from Arkansas, does not wish to admit there is any other river but the Arkansas, but I must correct him to say ours was the Colorado.[4]
The audience erupted in laughter and from that time on Emery's fear dissipated and he prepared to take the lecture and his pictures throughout the United States.
On 5 July 1912 an article of considerable length appeared in The Coconino Sun proclaiming the show presented Tuesday evening at the Majestic Theater to a good house and continued saying:[5]
Beside the moving pictures taken by them, many views . . . were secured which are so naturally colored that one can almost claim to have visited the titanic gorge after seeing them.
The pictures are true to life, realistic, thrilling and in this age where so many pictures are made to amuse by deceptive methods, it is difficult to fully appreciate the fact that every picture was taken through shear force of the indefatigable energy with danger lurking at every turn. . . .
Ellsworth completed the trip on the river to the Gulf of California in the spring of 1913. He embarked from Needles, California, on 23 May in a boat purchased from an Indian for $18 and arrived in Yuma, Arizona, four days later. From there he continued to Mexico and the Gulf of California.[6]
During the summer months Emery remained at the studio but in the winter while his brother attended to the business he took the lecture east and presented it in most of the major cities along the eastern seaboard where he received good notices in the papers. Not all his engagements were a financial success, usually due to poor advertising by the organization sponsoring the event.
His travels brought him into contact with influential people who in time would be a help to him. A lecture in Boston elicited an invitation from Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, to present the lecture to a group of thirty scientists and friends in his home. Bell included his son-in-law Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor, president of the National Geographic Society among his guests. The lecture made such an impression that Grosvenor asked Emery to give the program to the society in Washington, D. C. Afterward he wrote " . . . the fact that over two hundred of our members who were unable to find seats, both at the afternoon and evening meetings, were content to stand through the entire lecture is a great tribute to your powers as a speaker and the attractive nature of your subject . . . ." [7] Grosvenor also wanted the story for the society's magazine. Ellsworth complied with his wishes and the August 1914 issue of the National Geographic Magazine devoted all but six pages to the Kolb Brothers and the Grand Canyon.[8]
On his first visit to Boston an amusing incident happened while Emery lectured at the Tremont Temple and he told the story many times during the rest of his life. To announce the program of the evening he mounted a large photograph, a composite of four negatives, in front of the building. He had selected a view of Marble Canyon for the main part, but the waves and rapids were not ferocious enough to suit him, so he added them from another negative. But now the sky appeared washed out, which necessitated a third picture. A boat going through the turbulent water in the foreground completed his masterpiece.
It was a warm day early in the winter and Emery decided to hand color the image. Gathering up his colors and brushes he proceeded with his task. He became so engrossed in his project that he failed to notice he attracted a crowd of people on the sidewalk, and a police officer finally appeared to make a way for passersby. A very proper Bostonian woman probably in her sixties peering through her pince nez glasses stood close at Emery's elbow watching every move he made. After a short time she could stand it no longer. Tapping Emery on the shoulder she asked, "My good man, what is it you are doing?"
Emery turned and politely informed his questioner, "I am coloring a photograph advertising my lecture for this evening here at the Tremont."
"Indeed!" was the reply, "And may I ask, what is your lecture about?"
"I will be speaking on a dangerous trip my brother and I took last year shooting the rapids in the Grand Canyon of Arizona," answered.
"Oh my goodness," retorted the little lady, taking the glasses from her nose and letting them retract with a snap into the little button on her shoulder. "I cannot understand people wanting to hear about shooting those poor little rapids when they were not hurting anyone." With that she turned and stalked away.[9]
On 21 August 1913 Emery received written approval from the Department of the Interior granting him permission to take moving pictures of the Snake Dances at the Hopi village of Oraibi. In September the same year Theodore Roosevelt accepted Emery's invitation and visited Grand Canyon for the second time. The Roosevelt party spent the night at the studio and the following morning crossed the gorge using the Rust tramway for a few days on the north rim hunting mountain lions. Roosevelt became so intrigued with the operation of the convience he insisted on turning the winch to bring those who followed him across the Colorado River. From here they journeyed to Lee's Ferry and on to the now-celebrated Rainbow Bridge and then to the Hopi Mesas to witness the Snake Dance. Emery and Ellsworth met Roosevelt at the village with their touring car. Here Emery took photographs of the dance and of Roosevelt showing his sun-burnt arms to Arizona's Governor Hunt. Besides the moving pictures, he made countless still pictures of the Indians around Oraibi, including delightful ones of men spinning wool and women making piki bread on flat stones.
The dances over, Roosevelt returned to the Canyon in the Kolb's automobile and Emery and Ellsworth, riding the horses Roosevelt left behind, retraced the long trip back across the reservation to John Wetherill's trading post at Kayenta, Arizona. Here Navajo Indian boys entertained them with racing and wrestling. They induced Emery to wrestle a round as payment for the privilege of photographing them. The Navajos demanded he take off his shirt before he began. The match lasted only a short time and Emery states, "He could probably have thrown me down just as quick with the shirt on as off." Regardless, he got the picture he wanted.[10]
With pack animals loaded and the horses saddled, the Kolbs, John Wetherill and a man named Dave Miller, with an Indian guide, set out across some of the wildest country in the United States to Rainbow Bridge. The unmarked trail crossed areas of low scrub brush that struggled for existence in the desert terrain, then descended abruptly into deep canyons where the rocks had been worn and weathered by the sand-laden wind that constantly battered them. The trail climbed from one canyon and dropped into another. Junipers and sagebrush at times gave way to vast expanses of slickrock, and the route wound precariously around these petrified sand dunes, with the animals often slipping but never falling. At many places the party had to dismount and walk, leading the horses along a narrow ledge with a drop of several hundred feet on one side. They camped at night in the open under the stars, and if lucky, beside a small pool of rain water trapped in a stone carved and hollowed out by the elements into the shape of a bowl. They descended at last into a deep gorge and followed a small stream of fresh clear water around a bend and saw towering high above them the stone bridge. Emery and Ellsworth climbed to the ledge above and made motion pictures as they rappelled down to the top of the giant arch the Indians called Nonnezochi, the "Rainbow Frozen in Stone. "
The next morning the Kolbs followed the stream to the Colorado River. They had hoped to reach this bridge in their trip on the river in 1911 but as they had no landmarks that would identify its location they inadvertently passed it. On the return to Kayenta they left the others in the party and climbed to the top of Navajo Mountain to look down at the landscape of rocky domes, narrow canyons and utter desolation, and best of all, the great stone bridge. Following an unmarked trail they carefully picked their way down from the summit. Darkness fell before they reached the foot of the mountain, and they groped over loose boulders and stretches of slickrock. At last they spied a campfire and gratefully joined the others.
On the way to Tuba City they encountered l,200 Navajos gathered for their annual war dance. This ceremony at one time prepared the people for war but it had long since lost its purpose of inciting them to deeds of violence. They now danced to appease the god of war instead. The gathering looked like a company of cavalry mounted for battle on their wiry ponies.
At Tuba City their guides took the horses and left to return to their homes. The two men tried to persuade the Indians to take them to Grand Canyon, but got no satisfaction and they walked the 75 miles back to the studio. [11]
After the trip to Rainbow Bridge Emery again went east where well-known people introduced him to his audiences; in Philadelphia the celebrated author Owen Wister, and in New York the renowned Frederick Dellenbaugh who gained fame as a member of John Wesley Powell's second voyage down the Colorado River paid him the honor. He lectured always to a full house and the tour proved to be a financial success.
Emery returned home in December 1913 full of enthusiasm. During this sojourn at the studio the two brothers discussed expanding their lecture tours. Ellsworth thought they should take the show into Ohio and other midwestern states without a guaranteed fee. Emery argued against it. Words grew more angry and bitter and the relationship between the brothers began to deteriorate. Blanche sided with her husband while Ellsworth withdrew and sulked. He felt strongly about his proposal and so positive the venture would be a success that on 22 December he handed his brother a memorandum stating he would "make up any deficit that might be incurred in connection with addresses given in Cleveland beginning on 8 January 1914." He also included Akron and Toledo from 26 to 3l January. The same memo stated he would pay Emery "the sum of $300 whether or not the performances brought in any money." This he felt would compensate for the guarantee and any financial loss in the venture. In the end Emery agreed to take the lectures to Cleveland, Akron, and Toledo.
The train pulled into the Cleveland station during a blinding snowstorm, the wind blowing ferociously from the northwest across Lake Erie, bringing the city to a standstill. Emery and Ellsworth hailed a cabbie to deliver them to Hotel Berghoff where they obtained a room for a few dollars a night. They had scheduled eleven programs here, and on the first night they lectured to a half-full hall, resulting in little profit. The nights following showed no improvement. On 14 January Emery wrote his wife relating the troubled business caused by the extremely cold weather. Emery felt sure Ellsworth realized he had made a mistake in taking dates without a guarantee and his letter continued: "we will loose here." The last program in Cleveland was the night of 18 January. The few people who braved the elements to attend showed great appreciation for what they had seen and heard, but this did not pay the bills.
The show in Toledo ran in the same vein with small attendance and little money. Emery advised Blanche that he guessed "Ed is satisfied the show game is not what he thought it would be."[12] Apparently there had been some intimation that Ellsworth considered leaving the business for Emery again wrote Blanche not to worry if it became necessary for them to leave the Canyon.[13]
Ellsworth wrote Blanche from Toledo on 29 January 1914:
Poor Emery. I guess I got him into a box when I booked these shows. It looked like such a good chance and he can see nothing but failure and worries accordingly. As it is we will just about break even but he looses his time and all his hard work. He has eight clubs booked after this which are sure money . . . and if you and Emery want to sell the Canyon studio I am willing to take it with all the uncertainties. . . . Don't think that Emery and I are quarreling. We were never getting along better. We simply can't see things in the same way. Emery gets to worrying, then I am affected by his attitude. He can't help it, neither can I. As soon as I am alone I am as carefree as ever, and happy whether I am making money or not as long as my health is good. That is all that matters . . . .
A letter from Emery on 30 January l9l4 confirmed his intuition about Ellsworth's leaving the studio:
Ed approached a division of our business this morning saying he didn't like to take the chances he would if it was his money, and was anxious to buy or sell. He said he would sell our studio business for $l200 [$l2,000] to be paid $l000 a year, giving him a right to negatives and a division of territory to show films. So to show no partiality I said I would give him the same offer. Who should stay and who should go was the question, so to be fair & square on both sides I suggest we draw straws, or flip coin which we did if I stay at canyon it was heads, best out of three. Tails if he stay. I flipped it was heads; he flipped, heads again, he said he would flip again so the third time it came heads which now compels us to pay him $l000 a year for l2 years provided the business goes along and that there is no trouble of any kind. . . .
Personally I think I would have chosen to leave the canyon but it is now up to us. You & I and will give us all a better chance to show what we can do.
On 2 February[14] Emery again advised his wife:
. . . It is quite a relief on my mind to feel that we or I am going to be able to work and live without the interference of any one else and now will start and collect a little money. . . .
The tour carried the two lecturers to Wilmington, Ohio, where they presented the show to full houses. After this engagement Ellsworth went to Pittsburgh and Emery continued the tour to Detroit on 7 February, and from the tone of Emery's letter to Blanche things were working out better for he stated:
As to Ed he is a good old scout and we get along fine other than these little business affairs . . . . As far as any agreement there is nothing we are bound to do but just a matter of coming to some kind of a mutual working agreement whereby we can get along without friction . . . . If I were you I would not discuss the subject there. . . .
By this time Emery's attitude about the situation changed and he continued:
. . . I knew business would begin to pick up and was not worrying much. When it is bad for a week one always thinks it is ruined forever.
From all indications the two men settled their differences temporarily as they made no further mention of the division of the business at this time. After this season, however, they began to work separately.
Ellsworth remained in Pittsburgh for the duration of the winter writing his book Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico. Emery continued with the lectures as planned.
At Grand Canyon Ford Harvey's obsession against competition continued to be the policy of the company. The growing popularity of the Kolb Brothers down from the hotel became a major concern and the complaints Harvey Company made to the forester regarding the Kolbs' removal from the Canyon did not seem to accomplish the goal they desired. Therefore, they decided to make a different approach. Harvey and his associates now planned to force the brothers into bankruptcy.
Ford Harvey hired Mary Elizabeth Colter, architect and designer, to plan a new building west of Bright Angel Lodge on the rim of the Canyon and situated to obstruct the view of the Kolb studio. Further, they moved the mule corral across the path, blocking access to the Bright Angel Trail. Colter completed the project before the 1914 tourist season got under way and the new gift shop named Lookout Studio opened for business. Harvey charged fifty cents (if the guest had not purchased a three dollar livery ticket) for a cup of tea and some crackers. The only thing free was a telescope placed to look out over the canyon, and this because the Kolbs had for many years furnished one at no charge.
On Emery's tour during the winter of 1914 he met Gifford Pinchot, a former Forest Service official, and when introduced Pinchot exclaimed, "Oh! You're one of the boys that the Santa Fe has been trying to get out of the Canyon, are you not?"
"I don't think it is that bad," Emery answered.
"You may not but I do. When I was forester both President Ripley of the Santa Fe and Mr. Harvey were to see me on that mission."[15]
Emery's next engagement happened to be in Chicago, and aware that many officials of the railroad would be present, he made a point of stressing that the Santa Fe Railroad did not sponsor his talk on the Grand Canyon and emphasized that a monopoly existed there attempting to run all the small business enterprises from the area. The poignant statement hit home and the railroad officials acted at once. Ripley called a meeting between Emery, Ford Harvey, and Mr. Black of the Santa Fe Railroad. During the meeting Emery asked Black and Ripley about Pinchot's statement and the two denied that Ripley ever saw Pinchot. Mr. Harvey said he suggested to Mr. Pinchot that the Canyon should be a regulated monopoly. Later when Emery met Pinchot again he mentioned the meeting and the denial. Pinchot said, "Tell them for me, or tell anyone interested, that Mr. Harvey repeatedly visited me for the purpose of dislodging you with the excuse that if they were given full control of the section of the Canyon at the head of the trail, they could make it much more pleasant for the Canyon visitor."[16]
The Kolb brothers were not alone in Harvey's vindictive attempt to remove competition at Grand Canyon. Since their arrival they fought to remove Ralph Cameron from his claims on the rim and at Indian Gardens.[17] W.W. Bass also felt the sting of the monopolistic whip in much the same manner as the Kolbs.[18]
The McMillan Publishing Company published Ellsworth's book Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico in late 1914. Owen Wister obligingly wrote the foreword that included the following paragraphs:
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway is the most majestic system between Chicago and the Pacific. Years in advance of its imitators, it established along its course hotels and restaurants where both architecture and cooking made part of an immense plan that was something not far from genius. The very names of these hotels, chosen from the annals of the Spanish explorers, stamp them with distinction. Outside and in, they conform alike to climate and tradition. They are like shells in the desert, echoing the tale of Coronado, the legend of the Indian. No corporation equals the Santa Fe in its civilized regard for beauty. To any traveller asking what way to go to California for scenery, comfort, pleasure, and good food, I should answer, by this way.
But is the Santa Fe wise in its persecution of the brothers Kolb? Of course it has made the Grand Canyon accessible to thousands where only scores could go before. And for the money and the enterprise spent upon this, nobody but a political mad-dog would deny the railroad's right to a generous return. But why try to swallow the whole canyon? Why, because the brothers Kolb are independent, crush their little studio, stifle their little trade, push these genuine artists and lovers of nature away from the Canyon that nobody has photographed or can photograph so well? This isn't to regard Beauty. You're hurting your cause.
The attempt, so far, has failed to extinguish these independent brothers. But is such an attempt wise? Isn't it a good specimen of the high-handed disregard of everybody but yourself, which has bred (and partly justified) the popular rage that now undiscriminatingly threatens honest and dishonest dollars alike, so that the whole nation is at the mercy of laws passed by overdone emotions and the underdone intelligence of the present hour? [19]
These seething words outraged the Harvey Company and they demanded Wister remove them from the book. They fumed with anger, attempted to buy up all the copies, and tried to compel the famous author to dispense with the offensive section. Harvey officials visited Wister in Philadelphia and one took the same Pullman with him from Chicago to Grand Canyon endeavoring to persuade him to take out the objectionable passage. Wister, tired of the constant harassment, informed the parties that he would delete the remarks from the foreword only when the Kolb Brothers requested him to do so. [20] Wister wrote as he did not because of a friendship with the Kolbs but from his personal observation and experience at the Canyon where the employees at El Tovar unquestionably kept him and his family from learning the whereabouts of the Kolb Studio.[21]
At their request Emery met with the Harvey officials in November 1914 to discuss the foreword and other problems, hoping to iron out some of their difficulties. In a letter to Ellsworth 7 November 1914 he wrote:
I suppose you are anxious to hear about our little conference. We sat . . . for 2-1/2 hours and I don't know that it was for any avail unless it is that Black told Harvey to write Brant that as we were lecturing and helping get tourists to the Canyon [we] should not be looked on as others meaning Bass etc. and that he wants him to incist that truthful information be given any who may be asking for us etc.
Mr. Harvey also asks that in any case we learn this to be violated he wants us to send the facts to him personally. He resents very much the postcard mentioning the lookout as an obstruction so I told him if we would get a fair deal we would change the card to direct to our studio but with possibly the venim left out. Wisters introduction hurts of course. They said Mr. Wister should interview them before writing that and probably would not have written it when hearing their side. Ha! Ha!
During this period the search continued for a place to exhibit their motion pictures at the Canyon. Ralph Cameron again came to their rescue and permitted them to build an addition to the existing studio. The work started late in the year but not without repercussions from their adversaries. Again the fact that their building was not on Forest Service ground saved them, and they completed the construction in time for the tourist trade in 1915. To power the motion picture projector they installed a gasoline generator and during the summer and fall of l9l5 presented the now famous lecture at Grand Canyon for the first time. Many guests of the hotel walked along the rim to the fence and assuming the path ended there returned unaware of the studio. Others having heard of the lecture and motion pictures made the detour around the mule pen and spent an enjoyable hour with the Kolb's entertainment.
Ford Harvey visited his enterprise at the Canyon in early July and again met with Emery and discussed the situation. On 21 July 1915 Emery wrote to him:
Shortly after your visit, we requested Mr. Wister to remove the objectionable paragraph in our book. A new edition is out with this ommitted.[22]
Since December we have delivered no trail pictures at the train. Parties desiring their individual trail pictures must return from the hotel to our studio after their trip; which some do if not too tired.
We have also ceased the distribution of cards whereupon was made mention of the fence you built between your hotels and our studio, visually obstructing the passage of canyon visitors beyond your lookout.
As things objectionable to you have all been removed, we feel the way is open to present a cooperative method of working which you no doubt will realize is worthy of consideration.
You undoubtedly know, without having [it] brought to your attention, what our articles have done t[o]ward bringing a large number of people now traveling, to your hotels at the Canyon. We refer principally to the three articles in the American Magazine[23] and the August number of the National Geographic of last year.
Our reason for mentioning this is that we have been requested to place another article in the National Geographic Magazine.
The editor is desirous of obtaining articles that will hold the American people's attention in American sights so when the war is over they will travel here instead of abroad. While optional with us as to what the title of our next article will be, we believe you will be interested in having it on Grand Canyon rather than some other subject.
If you are desirous to work in lines that will be of mutual benefit by exchanging liberally that which we have to exchange, we are willing to bury the hatchet and work on such lines.
We could title our next article cimilar to this: (Places easily reached at the Grand Canyon) in this it would give us opportunity to picture your hotels, rest house and your Hermit Rim Camp. With a circulation of over three hundred thousand copies, this could not but do you much good.
Harvey made no reply to Emery's letter, but did keep some of the promises. If they asked, tourists were no longer misinformed as to the location of the Kolb studio. However, to compensate for these compromises Harvey instructed the manager of El Tovar to place an old boat across the path with a sign stating it to be the boat the Kolbs took down the Colorado River. The Defiance remained on display in front of the studio.
After writing his subservient letter of 21 July 1915 to Harvey and getting so little cooperation in return, Emery felt he had failed in his effort and now made up his mind that to gain his rights to remain at Grand Canyon he would have to fight. His attitude changed and he began to distrust the Harvey people and the foresters. This worked both ways, for soon distinct factions grew at the village; the Kolbs versus the Harvey people with the Forest Service caught in the middle.
The situation at the Canyon soon became evident to the visitors and an unsolicited article that appeared in the Pittsburgh Dispatch about this time is ample evidence:
After one visit to the Grand Canyon I hereby avow myself the open champion of two brothers, Emery and Ellsworth Kolb, who are slowly but surely being squeezed off the rim of the Canyon into their beloved Colorado River by a Monopoly, the Fred Harvey System. . . .
Like most Monopolies its success was built and is maintained on the policy that "Live and Let Live" is a pretty but highly unprofitable and impractical axiom. So it must be understood right at the start that the slow extinction of the Kolb Brothers is but the natural result of a familiar General Policy. The results, however, are identical, whatever the instrument of destruction might be.
No book, no brochure, no literature whatever, submitted to me before or during my stay at the Grand Canyon made more than the briefest mention of these Pittsburgh boys who had located on the Rim of the Grand Canyon years before it became a resort of tourists. . .
One of the chauffeur-guides of the morning drive "happened" to mention that if I cared to see some interesting motion pictures of the Colorado I could see them by walking up a certain path to the studio of the Kolb Brothers. This was not an item on our official schedule; but primed by what fortunately I already knew about these Pittsburgh boys I walked up the dusty, out-of-the-way path and found what proved to be the high-spot of the days program: a graphic and thrilling pictured story of heroism and adventure, which colored the rest of my tour of the "Rim" with a true understanding of what actually lay there at the bottom of the Canyon, and without which I never would have grasped the heroic scope, size and majesty of the scene below me. . .
By what devious and heartbreaking twists of fortune the Kolb Brothers were pushed farther and farther back to make room for a Monopoly, it is not my task to explain. But today the famous Kolb Studio is literally squeezed against the wall of the Canyon, hidden from view, difficult of approach, surrounded by eye-sores, almost cut off from the revenue it had earned the right to depend upon by a lifetime of devotion to the Canyon they had pioneered at risk of their lives, to reveal to the world.
Thousands of tourists, by the studied omission of the Kolb Brothers from the Harvey schedule, are prevented from availing themselves of an experience more richly deserving a place in the days "program" than any other feature submitted outside the view of the Canyon itself. . . .[24]
The management at the hotel treated Forest Service and other government officials and dignitaries of any type as royalty when they visited Grand Canyon. They wined and dined them at the El Tovar Hotel from the time of their arrival until they boarded the train to leave with no charges for their stay. Propaganda and derogatory information concerning the Kolbs, Cameron and Bass entered into all their meetings and conversations. With this form of indoctrination the government officials agreed with the desires of the Fred Harvey people and granted them whatever they wished and denied the others even the smallest and simplest requests. Emery felt this courtesy given to writers, newspaper men and lecturers was good business, but when extended to government officials who had jurisdiction of the affairs of this area it became a form of bribery.
A letter written by Emery dated 14 May 1914 shows the situation of the day:
. . . they forbid us advertising an educational and historical feature where the Canyon visitors see more in our hours entertainment with the lecture and pictures than they can possibly see ordinarily. . . . Now to keep the canyon visitors from finding our studio at the head of Bright Angel Trail, the Harvey Co. have constructed a rock fence and house which visually blocks ones passage, then the Forestry say they will permit us to advertise only 100 feet from the rim of the canyon and the rim or edge of the canyon is the only place where people go as the land is very rocky and no walks other than on the rim. . . .
The man who made this rulling with other forest officials has just been dined and fondeled for nine days at the Harvey hotel and would not take an hour of those nine days to take in our lecture but will crush or give an order that will crush an educational feature simply to satisfy the greed of one of the most unscrupulous monopolies in our country. Surely there is justice to be found in this free country somewhere; are we not at least entitled to a hearing and that hearing before some one higher than a forest official who sees nothing, hears nothing, thinks nothing but Fred Harvey for they are filled up with Harvey meals. . . .[25]
Ford Harvey made another move in his diabolical scheme by persuading the Forest Service to rule against Emery in advertising his program. First the forester denied the Kolbs the right to place a sign in the desert twenty miles outside the canyon area. This he said belonged to the National Forest and advertising on government property was forbidden. After building the addition on the studio Emery announced the program with a megaphone, for when Harvey constructed the "spite" fence it remained his only recourse to attract people to the show. When the government handed him his new permit to continue operation it contained a clause that stated: "advertising must be done without riotous, boisterous or other undesirable conduct" referring particularly to the use of the megaphone. Emery considered this an insult and returned the permit unsigned as he believed his announcements were none of these.
A letter written to the Kolbs by the assistant forester dated 11 May 1917 indicates that Harvey's wining and dining paid off:
Signs now on this area will not be interfered with but the establishment of new sign would be treated as trespass. So also would any extension of your business to include new lines be construed as trespass. You have already been advised that the use of a megaphone cannot be tolerated and, I understand, have signified your willingness to refrain from such use in the future. . . .
Also that the Forest Service does not encourage any additional expenditure in the way of future development in your present location because it is probable that the Forest Service or the Park Service will sooner or later desire that the building be put in another location.
. . . From the standpoint of public interest I feel the establishment of your enterprise at the head of the Bright Angel Trail was, to say the least, unfortunate. In saying this I do not wish to cast any asperations upon the way you have conducted this enterprise. In many ways both the building and your relations to the area are very commendable. The point is that the commercialization of Nature's greatest wonder, no matter how cleverly sugarcoated with local atmosphere or an educational purpose, is out of place and eventually must be eliminated.
The removal of the building would cause more trouble than the forester or Harvey bargained for as it was not on federal property. Coconino County owned the Bright Angel Trail at this time, but the forester stated emphatically the county had jurisdiction over only the traffic that used the trail. According to a decision given by the Secretary of Interior during the Roosevelt administration and a territorial bill passed in Phoenix the trail was an easement over all property and existed entirely under the jurisdiction of the county supervisors in Flagstaff. The supervisors sided with the Kolbs in this issue for they felt the studio on the trail to be good advertising and increased the amount of money going into the county coffers. They gained nothing from the Hermit Trail operated by the Harvey Company. The district attorney stated it would be a county fight if the government attempted to disrupt the Kolb brothers.[26]
The outbreak of the war in Europe in 1914 made changes in the lives of the Kolb brothers. Fewer tourists traveled to Grand Canyon resulting in less business at the studio. Ellsworth set off for the East Coast to take flying instructions and with five hours solo time to his credit attempted to join the Army as a pilot. The Service turned him down because of his age, but he determined to prove his physical fitness and entered the New York Marathon. With only three days training he came in 378th out of 1,200 entries, proving to himself that his health was as good as anyone else his age. The rejection by the Army depressed him and the desire for adventure again dominated his thoughts.[27]
With Julius Stone and Bert Loper accompanying him he set out in the winter of 1916 to explore the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River in Colorado. For years he had wished to run all the rivers in the Colorado River system, and the Gunnison, one of the most difficult and the least known now became his main objective. At the time only a few had explored the rugged region that extended from Lake San Cristobal at 9,500 feet in elevation in the Rocky Mountains and dropped through the tortuous canyons to its junction with the Grand River[28] at Grand Junction, Colorado, a few miles east of the Utah state line. The excursion required three attempts to complete over a period of two years. The rapids encountered surpassed those of Cataract, Lodore, and even the Grand Canyon, and the narrowness of the canyon forced the boaters to run many of them, as the steep walls rose from the waters edge and left no possible way to portage or line boats. They made the trip successfully but had many mishaps. Ellsworth took moving pictures, still using the Kolb Brothers name, but he never considered these as belonging to the Studio and they remained his personal property.
The war in Europe dragged on and it soon became evident the United States would be involved. Emery continued lecturing in the East during the winter months of 1916 and 1917, but the attention of the American public focused on Europe and he found business slow. He selected his engagements directing the programs to schools and clubs willing to pay a fee for a one-night stand. This arrangement permitted him to spend more time at home with his family attending to the business at the studio.
The winter months again enveloped the canyon in snow. Icicles hanging from the eaves of the studio sparkled in the sun and the cold north wind whistled across the depths of the Canyon. Nature continued as in the past while man awaited the turn of political events. In April of 1917 the United States entered the conflict in Europe, business slowed to almost a standstill at the Canyon and everyone waited for the next move.
[1] Letters from Ralph Cameron 15 February and 4 March 1912, and the United States Department of Agriculture 27 February 1912.
[2] Edith Lehnert, Fifty Years at the Grand Canyon.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] The show was apparently run at an earlier date in what was then called the Bank Hotel (now the McMillan Building).
[6] Yuma Morning Sun Saturday 31 May 1913.
[7] Letter from Gilbert Grosvenor 22 November 1913.
[8] Ellsworth wrote the article which included a short section dealing with their trip into Supai.
[9] Story related in an interview with Gale Burak 24 October, 1988.
[10] From Emery Kolb's lecture manuscript.
[11] Undated manuscript. Article appeared in the Pittsburgh Dispatch Sunday 9 November 1913.
[12] Letter to Blanche 29 January 1914.
[13] Letter to Blanche 14 January 1914.
[14] Letter to Blanche dated in error as 2 January, should have been 2 February 1914.
[15] Letter to Geo. Mauk 23 January 1914
[16] Ibid
[17] Douglas H. Strong Ralph Cameron and the Grand Canyon, Arizona and the West Vol 20 Nos 1 &2 page 41-64,155-172. 1978.
[18] W.W. Bass, Rhymes and Jingles J.F. Rowny Press Los Angeles 1915 page 31-32.
[19] Foreword in the first edition of E.L. Kolb, Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico. 1914.
[20] Written on the title page of what Emery though was the the last existing copy Emery in his possession 25 December 1927. During the last year of his life Gale Burak founf two other copies which were given to his Grand childern.
[21] Letter to George Mauk 23 January 1914.
[22] Owen Wister advised Ellsworth Kolb he had authorized the removal of the objectionable paragraphs from his foreword in a letter 12 January 1915.
[23] The American Magazine published the first account of the 1911 river trip in July 1913.
[24] Florence Fisher Perry, Unpardonable Omission. From an undated clipping.
[25] Letter to Hon. J. Arthur Elliston, Washington, D. C. 14 May 1914.
[26] Letter to C. A. Grasselli, Cleveland, Ohio 2 July 1917.
[27] Michael Dean Price, Emery Kolb: Grand Canyon Photographer and Explorer page 89.
[28] The name later changed to the Colorado River.