Hell Or High Water

Although John Wesley Powell and party are usually given credit for the first river descent through the Grand Canyon, the ghost of James White has haunted those claims. White was a Colorado prospector, who, almost two years before Powell's journey, washed up on a makeshift raft at Callville, Nevada. Hell or High Water is the first full account of White's story and how it became distorted and he disparaged over time. Eilean Adams, White's granddaughter, over decades and with the assistance of notable Colorado River historians, gradually uncovered the record of James White's adventure.