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Show into applause, but shed sternly tell them to stop. It wasnt the place to applaud, she says with reverence. It is easy to offend Lees senses about Glen Canyon. She even conveys contempt for river runners, a group she says regards the river as a commodity, not giving it the respect it deserves. In her 1994 book. All My Rivers Are Gone , Lee didn't hold back her disdain for legendary river runner Georgie White known for her pioneering runs down the Grand Canyon in pontoon rigs. Lee says the massive tourist boats were ugly and disgraceful -like turds in a punch bowl. Lee says her approach to river running was much simpler. We didnt need a lot of gear," she says. I never once slept in a tent the entire time I visited Glen Canyon. We didnt take booze. We were drunk on the scenery. That was enough to drive you crazv. 4 "I observed everything when was I that used it in canyon. as my counselor. I explored to get to know it until we finally became buddies and then finally I ... lovers." Over the years Lee became so familiar with Glen Canyon that she is credited with naming some of the side canyons, such as Dangling Rope, Little Arch, Corner Stone and Cathedral. Her explorations led to places unknown places she may have been the only one to ever visit. Decades-ol- d photos of Lee in Glen stark are Canyon images of a beautiful place with a beautiful woman. Her curvaceous figure and her sultry look show that she belonged there among the sinuous canyon walls. I observed everything when I was in that canyon, lie says. I used it as my counselor. I knew everything about it and explored to get to know it until we finally became buddies and then finally - lovers. And then the government killed Ixes lover: In 1960, the first bucket of concrete was poured for a dam that would eventually drow n nearly 200 miles of the Colorado River through Glen Canyon. It took three years for the dam to be com pleted and 17 years for the reservoir to slowly fill, leaking n water through the desert. blue-gree- The pain in Lees voice is still heart-wrenchi- ng and tangible. She says when she first heard about the dam she dismissed the idea. just ignored it. thought it wras so totally atrocious and stupid, she says. But the dam became a reality. The Bureau of Reclamation carried on with its plans, leaving the public out of the process along the way, Lee claims. David Brower, then executive director of the I I Sierra Gub, began advertising in newspapers like the New York Times to save the Grand Canyon from being flooded. it Unfortunately, wras too late to save Glen Canyon. At the time, the Sierra Club was also lobbying to save Echo Park, a stretch of public land on the Green River near Vernal, Utah. In a deal that Brower openly regrets to this day, Echo Park saved was in for Glen exchange Lee Canyon. laments the tradeoff. Echo Park didnt have near the mystery that the Glen did, she says. Once the dam was built and the Katie Lee explores one of Glen Canyon's many side canyons in 1955. The canyon was inundated by water began rising, Lake Powell in the '60s, and since then Lee has become an outspoken opponent of the reservoir. lie never looked back. She went away broken hearted. I jur couldnt handle it lie says I tried to write songs and btioks about it, sa wrte a Timon Katie, you cant Institute, a nonprofit organization dedi- novel. You could catcd to taking down the dam and letting the nver run free. crcatelflhat P,acYou lu; about because it to write bnn8 yourself lie was an easy recruit. Her heart flut- but I couldnt. cant divulge its secrets, lie recalls, tered to think that the canyon would be you Lie though the best she could do was Instead, Abbcy encouraged her to restored to a place she knew so well. She w i e a nose . wou not ease t e pain wrjte a book about her own expe- - is now gadfly working with of knowing wha. was lost, but at least she ricnccs ami tcjng nce sht. Jeddcd IO scvm nJ,profils drain could chronicle its beauty and attraction trust his advice, she went in words, albeit fiction. to get it going. The result was All My In 1977 Edward Abbey, a longtime Rivers Are Gone. desert champion and renegade political I hen four years ago a doctor from Salt activist whose own disdain for the reserI.ake City called lie and told her he was voir wras played out in his book the mounting a campaign to drain the reserMonkey Wrench Gang, told Lee she was voir. He invited lie to Salt take City to downstream, through the Grand Canyon being absurd. a for at the Glen sing gathering Canyon tee Katie Lee, p. 19 hand-over-fi- st June 16. 2000 - Cross Currents 9 |