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Mapping the Grand Canyon in 1923: The Birdseye Expedition, part 2

By National Geospatial Program

In the summer of 1923, the USGS organized an expedition to make a new map of the Grand Canyon, which was the last stretch of the Colorado River that had not been accurately surveyed. Up until that time, only 27 men were known to have traversed the length of Marble and Grand canyons and of those, only two had any scientific knowledge (one of those two men was John Wesley Powell, the second director of the USGS, who led the first expedition down the river in 1869).

Roland Burchard (left) and Claude Birdseye (right) in upper Granite Gorge.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Roland Burchard (left) and Claude Birdseye (right) in upper Granite Gorge.(Public domain.)

 

Lt. Roland Burchard on leave to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Lt. Roland Burchard on leave to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, circa 1916. (Photograph used with permission of Burchard family)(Public domain.)
Roland Burchard unknown location circa 1920.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Roland Burchard (right) at an unknown location, circa 1920.(Public domain.)
Stationed at the mouth of Bright Angel Creek in Grand Canyon
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
At the home of the USGS hydrographer stationed at the mouth of Bright Angel Creek in Grand Canyon National Park, August 27, 1923. E.C. LaRue and his wife are on the far left. Roland Burchard is on the far right.(Public domain.)
Repairing a boat after running Badger Creek Rapids
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Repairing a boat after running Badger Creek Rapids. Left to right: Claude Birdseye, Leigh Lint, and Emery Kolb.(Public domain.)