boatman's quarterly review - Grand Canyon River Guides

from them; called all the outfitters and tried to, as much
as we could, get their crew mailing lists. And some of
them were cooperative, and some of them weren’t at all
cooperative. (chuckles) ’Cause they were goin’, like,
“You want what! You’re doin’ what!” And so we were
tryin’ to keep it really above board, and more of an environmental,
Canyon-oriented thing, in terms of guides as
a group.
My biggest thing that I wanted to do was—well, first
of all, have a cohesive group or club that we could
belong to that would give us more of a voice in what was
going on, both with the outfitters and with the Park
Service in the Canyon, because, really, I mean, who
cares more about it than we do And a good excuse to
get together once a year or twice a year.
Steiger: And have a party! (laughs)
Grua: Party. Talk about shit and party! I think that’s
still the best reason we have for existing, and I hope it
continues to exist for that reason. Really, it’s kind of
amazed me how much it’s taken off and become its own
thing. It’s a lot like havin’ a kid and then watchin’ it
grow up and turn into whatever it turns into.
Steiger: It was pretty amazing, huh
Grua: Yeah, I sure hope it keeps goin’. I think it’s
the best hope the Canyon has right now, really—gcrg.
And that’s comin’ from not really bein’ very involved in
it myself, anymore, other than I sure like to go to the
meetings. I mean, I guess I’d say I was involved, but I’m
not right now what I would call contributing a whole lot
…of opinions. I’m kinda punched out of the work. I did
put in some time the first three years or so.
Steiger: A lot of time.
Grua: And not just me—Denice [Napoletano] was
key. She was the first secretary. She was the one who
really did the footwork, and made it happen. And she
worked her tail off for three years on it.
Steiger: Also, to clarify—just ’cause I don’t think it’s
anywhere else on this tape—this big shake-up, this big
transition that we’re talkin’ about is Kenton worked for
Grand Canyon Dories, Martin Litton, which was his
little river company that was based in Hurricane, Utah.
But Martin kinda got in a financial jam and had to sell
the company to George Wendt, who owns oars; and
John Vail, who owns Outdoors Unlimited. What year
was that Was that ’88 Yeah, ’88. So there had been
this little dory scene, there was this beautiful warehouse,
and really a beautiful, incredibly idyllic little life that
went on for everybody that worked for the company. You
lived right there in Hurricane, then
Grua: Yeah, out behind the warehouse.
Steiger: So Martin had to sell the company, and all
of a sudden the dories are goin’ to Flagstaff, and they’re
gonna be run under oars. All this is happenin’, “and oh,
by the way,” in addition to you gettin’ ready to make
that change, you and Denice are havin’ to deal with that
transition, and then you say, “Well, by the way, we ought
page 44
to start this little association.” But you were in Flag, and
Brad was in on the initial…You guys called a meeting
Grua: Yeah, we kind of knew. It was really, I guess,
the original, initial thing was me and Taggett and
Denice, sittin’ around ’til all hours in Hurricane, and
other dory…Jane [Whalen]…there were other dory
people there involved, goin’, “Yeah, this is a good thing,
we gotta get this goin’.” It was time.
Steiger: Mike Taggett was a dory boatman too.
Grua: The inventor of Chums! Eyeglass retention
devices! Jane. Ellie [Ellen Tibbetts] was around. I
imagine Coby [Jordan] was in on a few discussions. You
know, it was like whoever we could grab around there.
Some of the Sleight boys—Walt [Gregg], I imagine, was
in on a few discussions. Mike Grimes.
Steiger: I take it, for you, it was like the speed run,
like once you got goin’ on it—you were goin’ on it.
Grua: Yeah, it became something that really had to
be done, and that the time was right for. So then we
called this meeting at Brad’s house to get the Flagstaff
half of the Canyon in terms of what they thought about
it, and it was a really successful meeting. There were a
lot of people there, we had the whole house
packed…Everybody said, “Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s get
together.” So we kind of scheduled a time for a spring
meeting, and talked it over with Hatch, and went back
to Hurricane and did that first newsletter and mailed it
out to everybody we could mail it to. Dropped a few
bucks on the postage.
Steiger: Who paid for the postage and all those
things
Grua: Ah, we did originally. I think we fronted a
bunch of money to it, Denice and I. Taggett might have
put in a little bit. But then I think everybody got paid
back—not for time or anything, but for direct
expenses—out of the first dues. It’s always pretty much
paid for itself. I made it a loan, I think, a $500 loan, or
something like that, early on, but it paid me back—no
interest or anything—but short-term loan, too, was paid
back within a matter of four or five months.
Steiger: Okay, so you rolled the idea around with
Taggett, there was a meeting in Flagstaff, and there was a
bigger meeting at Hatch, and the newsletter gets sent
out. I remember gettin’ that newsletter and instantly
goin’, “Yeah!” sendin’ my money right in. “Okay, sign
me up for that.” I mean, it was that kind of thing where
it didn’t seem to take…Do you remember what the
membership curve looked like Didn’t seem to take
much prodding before there were a couple hundred
people on board.
Grua: Yeah, we had a lot of people get on board
right away, and then there were a lot of people who were
real suspicious of it, really like…
Steiger: “Is this gonna be a union!”
Grua: Well, it was like the “Flagstaff Rowing Mafia,”
too. I think there’s still a little element of that, you
grand canyon river guides