Utah Westerners

May Announcement for the Utah Westerners

May 10, 2013 at 9:07 am kenttschanz Leave a comment

SOUTHEASTERN UTAH HISTORY

ROY WEBB

Noted western river runner, expedition guide, and historian, Roy Webb, will discuss the many and varied aspects of the history of that corner of Utah that has, in the words of one guidebook, “largely remained outside (LDS) church control.” From the mysterious Native Americans of a thousand years ago, to the first Spanish explorers, the failed Elk Mountain Mission, the coming of the cowboys, the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition and the Mormon settlement of Bluff, uranium, the movie industry, and modern tourism.

Roy, whom one organization called “perhaps the foremost historian of western rivers in the world today,” has generously volunteered to be the guide and local expert on our field trip at the end of this month. He brings an unequalled expertise and vast knowledge on not just the rivers of the area we’ll be seeing, but on the whole region of country.

Roy D. Webb, earned both a B. A. and M. S. in history from the University of Utah. He has worked in the Marriott Library at that university since 1981, serving since 1994 as the Multimedia Archivist in Special Collections. He is the author of several books, mainly on river history, including If We Had a Boat: Green River Explorers, Adventurers, and Runners and The Lost Canyons of the Green River: the Story Before Flaming Gorge Dam, both published by the University of Utah Press. He has also written scores of articles, given many lectures and papers, and has been the curator of numerous exhibits on Utah, western rivers, and regional history. Roy is no armchair historian and writer; for many years he ran and then led expeditions on several rivers including the Green, Colorado, and San Juan. He has written extensively, based not only on meticulous research, but firsthand experience as well.

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