Show HI dreds including-hiowff mother have fallen victiip to the waters of the river which serves as a reminder “of the respect we should show for the Canyon” Neither a professional ' writer researcher or historian Milligan has written an inter- esting well researched and’ gripping book that most should enjoy I’m not a whitewater enthusiast nor am I familiar with the area he writes about but I thoroughly enjoyed this book It is a book I would never have picked up without some urging from Cache Magazine’s editor but I came away with a better understanding of Utah’s history and the irresistible draw that whitewater holds for the large numbers who annually visit the Westwater area from all over the world Milligan seems to capture that draw when he writes: “It is in these few places on earth that we still feel because of a shared experience witiyn reach of those who traveled our route before Each river trip recreates a pioneering experience with new encounters and situations for each cubic foot per second change in the river We can ride die roller coasters at 6000 cfs and sweat from fear at the possibility of getting trapped in the Room Of Doom at s Narrow reunion Westwater Lost and touur by Mike Milligan (Utah State University Press reader who is interested in western history and the goings on in frontier America when “real men” handled their own disputes over land and cattle and called in the law after the fact- V ike Milligan is a river guide who has sprat several years of his life researching a small remote area of Utah along die Colorado River that many of us have probably never heard of unless we happen to be river rafting devotees or hail from the vicinity The author admits that die “lush valley” is easily overlooked as die Amtrak chugs it way through on its way to Salt Lake but “Westwater is far from forgotten by tens of thousands of river enthusiasts and Whitewater vacationers who have been visiting in increasing numbers since the 1950s” Frankly unless you fit into the second group mentioned the first few chapters are a bit of a snooze as Milligan relates the history of the area and the small town of Westwater established in 1890 when the Rio Grande Western Railroad used it as a stop off point However starting with ' Chapter 3 the book will most likely hold the interest of any - Among the interesting bad guys we are introduced to is CaptainWilson Ellis Davis Davis a Civil War veteran who served as a “sharpshooter for the Union Army” shot and killed three men ova: the theft of honey from his beehives After returning home he sent a telegraph to a relative that read “For very good reason I ran against Brock and his out-fit at six o’clock this morning and as a result I want three plain cheap coffins as soon as possible” Although Davis had previously killed “two men in Nevada and another in Idaho” and had been charged with another killing in Ashley Utah and die rape of a woman in Colorado “The Salt Lake Herald dated Sept 27 1894 stated “Captain Davis does hot impress one as a disagree- able or quarrelsome man On the contrary he is a very gentlemanly appearing fellow and will trials friends where ever he goes” Despite the reporters warm feeling for the defendant he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to eight months in prison Twenty years later at the age of 73 and living in a retirement community in Los Angeles he was again in trouble with die law when he ws accused of arson that resulted in die death of a former business partner Because of die seclusion of raittaiMmntcreaaasltstatfaal 66 lomraiaaumaeamsaam umittormBUtenlaneatlilsboet" die rapids to be found in the lower stretch of the Colorado River A combination of pictures and text paints this canyon as a treacherous favorite of the thrill seeker Beyond a certain point the sheer rock walls of the canyon provide no opportunity to turn back and many have drowned while attempting to run the rapids Milligan includes a description of the Colorado River written in 1927 by Clyde Eddy in Down the Most Dangerous River “Its water is so heavy with suspended sand that it rolls like a river of quicksilver sweeping thing irresistibly before it When men are thrown into the stream their clothing fills with sand and the very weight of it drags them down to death Then the cruel and cunning river hides their bodies in backwaters in its lonely canyons and covers them with sand toying them there for- the Westwater Canyon it also boasts a colorful history during the Prohibition era In areas called Little Hole and Big Hole local legend and surviving evidence seems to point to bootlegging operations “Utah passed its own dry law almost three years before the Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting the consumption of alcohol nationwide Many claim everyone seemed to have a recipe for making brew and kept a hidden jug around the house” In addition to the home brew there were others who ran rather laige stills with one confirmed still having a "capacity of 380 gallons barNear it at least rels of liquor had been filled and were ready to move” when the federal agents arrived Today the only evidence of this once thriving business is in scattered barrel rings found at Big Hole Nowadays the main interest in the area is the reputation of old-time- " rs 25-gall- on ever” ' Milligan concludes that a o D sz u o u o E D o 2 E D X 0 F co CD o 15000 cfs” book critic unanono nirscm holds her master's in English from Utah State University where she is the interim director of the writing center She is among a number of freelance writers whose columns appear in The Herald Journal as part of an effort to expose readers to a variety of community voices She is not an employee of the newspa- ' per Feedbackat jchirschi0msncom hun- - Another lood at local history Got Cultured: A Nevada women writers and their pubMemoir” The central issue lished autobiographies: Mary ' Bush finds in these works is of “Recollections Ann Hafra how their authors have dealt a Handcart Pioneer of 1860 A Woman’s Life on the Mormon with tiie authority of Mormon Church leaders As she puts it Frontier” Annie Clark Tanner in her preface “I use the “A Mormon Mother” Juanita Brooks "Quicksand and phrase ‘faithful transgression’ - to describe moments in the Cactus: A Memoir of the texts when each writer explicSouthern Mormon Frontier” herWynetta Willis Martin “Black itly or implicitly commits own lire trust to in self Tells Her Mormon writing Story” ideas and authority over official rdigious authority while v “Refuge: An Unnatural also conceiving of and depict- History of Family and Place” V' L “How and Phyllis Barber ing herself to be a ‘faithful’ : ' “Faithfril TVansgreSskmsin the American West” by Laura L Bush (Utah State University Press $2355) The subjects of Laura L : Bush’sbook are six Mormon : i1 member of the Church” Bush recognizes her book as her own act of faithful transgres-sio- n Writing it involved wrestling she states “with my own deeply ingrained'reli-- c gibus beliefs and my equally compelling education in fenii-- : nist theories that hiean to lib- erate and empower women” “Faithful Transgressions in the American West” examines a remarkable group of authors and their highly readable and entertaining books In produc- ing the first significant book- - : ‘ - length study of Mormon women’s autobiographical writing Bush rides a wave of memoir publishing and acade-mi- c interest in autobiography and other life narratives As she elucidates these works in relation to the religious tradition that played a major role in shaping them she not only positions them in relation to feminist theory and current work on women’s life writings biit ties them to the long literary tradition of spiritual auto2'‘ biography ' |