The Idaho Statesman from Boise, Idaho • 16

10 Local Monday December 3 2001 ldahoStatesmancom The Idaho Statesman Outdoors editor Bridget Lux Phone: 377 6450 mail: outdoorsidahostatesmancom Idaho Outdoors Pioneer rafter leaves mystery her wake Rapid renamed after Georgie Clark whom some say is Bessie Hyde By Christopher Smith The Salt Lake Tribune SALT LAKE CITY not the roughest section of river in the Grand Canyon but after years of debate Twenty our Mile Rapid is now named after Georgie Clark the renegade white water pioneer whose legend continues to swirl nearly a decade after her death In a split vote the US Board of Geographic Names has approved the name change memorializing the woman who helped found the float trip outfitting in dustry on the Colorado Riv er thumbing her nose at con vention in the process name change was more of a fight than I ever said Roz Jirge of California a friend of who began the project with the Grand Canyon River Guides association a year after Clark's death from cancer at her Evidence discovered at her home the day of her fu neral raised the possibility Clark fabricated portions of her past giving rise to a new element of the Georgie leg end While the theory is dis counted by several associ ates there is a faction of friends who are puzzled by connections that suggest Clark was in fact Bessie Hyde who vanished in 1928 along with her husband Glen Hyde while the Idaho cou ple were on a honeymoon ad venture floating the Grand Canyon in a wooden boat Their boat was found in calm waters upright unscathed and fully loaded What happened to the newlyweds is one of the enduring mysteries The most popular version of the Hyde tale holds that Bessie shot and killed her abusive husband while on the river hiked out of the gorge and began a new life under a In asplit vote theU BoardofGeographicNameshasapprovedchangingthenameofTwenty our Mile Rapid to Georgie Rapid after Georgie Clark shown at right in this undated photo Clark was a renegade whitewater pioneer whose legend con tinues to swirl nearly a decade after her death iz? 'Ht vH 'G Mb Jk A 'A'j ev ja Er "SHIM Ik I 1 A 3) J'' The Associated Press i le photo age 81 in 1992 fulfilling for everyone who knew and loved her but there were a lot of people who hated her Jirge said she deserves this Whether you liked her or not she was a part of the history of the Grand penchant for leop ard print swimsuits canned food cookouts and damn the torpedoes full speed ahead daring while making a 45 year career of running North biggest whitewater became the stuff of legend She and her al River raft trips were featured in magazines such as Life on television pro grams such as Tonight Show with Johnny and in countless newspaper stories was the first woman to run a boat through the Grand Canyon the first woman outfitter the first woman to swim the canyon but she really into lib at said friend and fellow outfitter Dee Hol laday of Salt Lake City think any other woman could run the river besides or all her notoriety Clark remains something of a mys tery to even those closest to new name Speculation about connections to Bessie Hyde began when friends were go ing through her personal ef fects following her May 1992 death at her trailer home in Las Vegas Those who had known or worked for her for decades even people who considered themselves close friends had never been in vited inside her home time we had any business to do we always met at the Silver Slipper I Io tel in Las Vegas never at her said Bill George of Salt Lake City whose West ern River Expeditions bought company at her re quest when she became too ill to run raft trips "I con ducted her funeral and that morning her good friend and nurse Lee McCurry called me and said bet ter sit down because never going to believe the stuff found at or starters her birth cer tificate showed her real name was Bessie DeRoss not Georgie Clark as well as an other surname she some times used White were the last names of divorced hus bands While her 1977 auto biography waxed at length about a childhood in her na tive Chicago she was actu ally born in Oklahoma and raised in Colorado riends also found the marriage li cense of Glen and Bessie Hyde at home plus a pistol in her lingerie drawer you match it up to one of the pictures of Glen and Bessie Hyde in the canyon it looks like the same pis Bill George said not saying that Georgie was Bessie Hyde but the whole thing is a little River historian Brad Di mock whose new book Without a Sound The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie investigates the story and the myths that have sprung up around it examined the parapher nalia from home While some of the connec tions are Di mock concluded from pho tographs that the two women were certainly not one ana the same biographer Richard Westwood said he also found little to substantiate the the ory that she and Bessie Hyde were the same person Still Westwood put it past Clark to leave behind the Hyde clues to keep people guessing was not above creat ing things that made a good said Westwood au thor of of the Riv er Georgie White Clark White Water Jirge also said there is no hard evidence that Clark was really Bessie Hyde first name may have been the same but Georgie was a lot taller than Bessie and Georgie was barely lit erate while Bessie wrote po Jirge said she had that marriage license I have no idea but she cer tainly could have related to the stories about Bessie Hyde escaping from a bad situation because to a certain extent what she did by find ing her place on this planet when she came to the After her 15 year old daughter was killed by a hit and run driver in 1944 Clark began hiking in Utah and Ari zona with an acquaintance Harry Aleson to ease her grief Donning life jackets die pair swam and floated the lower portion of Grand Canyon in 1945 The next year Clark and Aleson float ed the river through the canyon on a driftwood raft then in 1947 they became among the first to use war surplus inflatable rafts to nav igate the rapids of the Green and Colorado rivers Clark began tying two and three rafts together to make a floating island of passen gers in the early 1950s and eventually invented the a raft of three pontoons lashed together and powered by an outboard motor These as she called them helped create the mod ern day river outfitting busi ness Yet her scant attention to creature comforts was a far cry from the pampering that other outfitters were known for She told guests you want to eat go to a restau rant if you want to see the canyon come with used to accuse her of shopping for groceries with a magnet because anything that stuck to it would wind up on her Bill George said choose a can of spaghetti chili whatever and toss them all in a pot of boil ing water and the labels would come off so you never knew what you were unconventional style on the river sometimes clashed with the increasing regulation of outfitters by the National Park Service and the US orest Service whose agency representatives op posed changing the name of Twenty our Mile Rapid to honor Clark Grand Canyon National Park information officer Maureen Oltrogge said the opposition stemmed from a feeling that Clark had no con nection to Twenty our Mile were not opposed to a rapid being named after Georgie we just think that this particular one was the best Oltrogge said Jirge once asked Clark what canyon rapid she would have named after her if she could Clark chose Crystal the biggest of all the Grand Canyon cataracts but Jirge soon learned that altering the name of Crystal even as Crystal would be politically impos sible used to think I wish we could have gotten her a bigger Jirge said I rode it last summer in low water and that thing really kicks you in the rear end as you go through And that was Georgie she liked to give people a good kick in the rear as she went Otter harvest season closed Effective Sunday after noon the river otter har vest season in the Magic Valley Region officially closed The quota of 17 animals was reported to the Jerome ish and Game of fice riday The season in each re gion officially closes 48 hours after the harvest quota is met or more information regarding season status around the state call (800) 323 4334 All areas closed to the taking of beaver are also closed to otter harvest or more information call the regional furbear er biologist in Jerome at (208) 324 4359 Benchmark holds photo contest The 5th Annual Photography Con test is going on now Pho tos of outdoor activities are being accepted until Dec 15 Winners are chosen through a customer vote which takes place the week of Dec 16 through 2L Prizes will be given out Dec 26 or more infor mation call 338 1700 Statesman staff Snow Report As of 8 pm yesterday Bogus Basin Newsnow: Summit: Base: Snow phone: 342 2100 Brundage New snow: 2 41 Summit: Base: 30" Snow (888) ALL Newsnow: I1 Summit: Base: NA bnow pi (800)635 4 150 ldahoStatesmancom: L0CAL5 DAY0RECAST regional forecast idahostatesmaficom Tonight Today Lewiston Billings 3822 Thursday Wednesday Wind: 8 16 mph Tomorrow Today (NICE) I lurries Ice Tomorrow Tomorrow Today Today Today Tomorrow 38 REGIONAL ernes WORLD CITIES NATIONAL ORECAST national ernes Seattle 4436 sh Medford 4434 sh Portland 4438 sh Stationary ront Bend 3825 sf Cold ront Spokane 3424 i Elko 3414 Yesterday Last year Normal Record high Record low Peak Wind Warm ront Salem 4638 sh All maps forecasts and data provided by AccuWeather Inc Winnernix ca 3817 EXTREMES YESTERDAY High: at Boise Low: at Challis Low: riday Sacramento 5435 sh Salt Lake City 4026 sn Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation Temperature bands are hichs for the dav orecast highlow temperatures are given for selected cities Showers Thunderstorms Great alls 341 snow are expected to accumulate through tonight Highs today 28 36 1926 1983 ESE 29 mph High: Tuesday AccuWeathereom OTHER NUMBERS Latest weather 342 6569 Aviation weather 343 2525 Coeur Alene 3424 i loudy sh showers thunderstorms rain sn snow ice Reno a 4220 East Central Cloudy with periods of snow today accumula tions of several incties are expected through tonight Highs today 26 34 Magic Valley Cloudy today with a few showers of rain and snow jghs ranging from 32 BOISE SOUTHWEST Cloudy today with a few periods of rain and snow Snow levels will generally be between 3500 and 4000 feet Highs 34 40 West Central Mostly cloudy with show ere rain and snow today Snow levels will generally be between 3000 and 3500 feet Highs 26 36 3G Wind: NW 8 16 mph PANHANDLE Cloudy today with snow showers rain in the low est valleys Highs ranging from the 20s in the mountains to upper 30s in the valleys Wood River Valley Cloudy today with times EXTREMES High: at ort Myers la Low: at Alamosa Colo (yesterday in the 48 contiguous states) Preci 208" at Emigrant Calif Jackson 3212 sf Twin alls 3622 3413 sf Southeast Mostly cloudy today with a few rain and snow showers Highs ranging from 30 38 Wind: WSW 12 25 mph Wind: WNW 10 20 mph Idaho Today: A storm moving off to the south will spread ram and mountain snow across much of the state today The northern third of the state will generally have snow shower activity Snow across the eastern mountains could accumulate a few inches Yakima 3824 sf Baker City XMcCall 3b22jn 2814 sn Stanley 298sn 'Xsf A Rn 3ZJ0 St sf Sun Valley 1 321 8 0044 St I Nampa a 13826 sf kpot 21c 1 Su) '7 4233 chicaoaX (BREEZY) (W'NOV) JM MSStX 60M6 lll 11 1 7044 "Sc 7040 5 Houston I 7258 kWX Miami I 8270 Today Tomorrow City HL HL Baker City 3522 sn 3418 sn Bend 3825 sf 3924 sn Billings 3822 3420 Bozeman 3412 2810 sf Challis 3218 sn 2816 sf Coeur d'Alene 3424 i 3222 i Elko 3414 3219 Grangeville 3428 sn 3224 sf Idaho alls 3216 sf 2416 sf Jackpot 3521 3020 sf Jackson Hole 3212 sf 2012 sf Las Vegas 5738 5434 Lewiston 3828 sn 3828 sn Los Angeles 6046 sh 6046 McCall 2814 sn 2414 sn Missoula 3216 2818 sf Moscow 3424 sn 3424 sn Mountain Home 3622 3124 sn Nampa Caldwell 3826 sf 3624 sf Newport 4840 4640 Ontario 3822 sf 3525 sf Pocatello 3418 sf 2616 sf Portland OR 4438 sh 4438 Reno 4220 3921 sf Sacramento 5435 sh 5137 sh Salmon 2814 sn 2414 st Salt Lake City 4026 sn 3222 San rancisco 5844 sh 5544 sh Seattle 4436 sh 4234 sh Spokane 3424 i 3226 sf Sun Valley 3218 2816 sn Twin alls 3622 3422 sf Winnemucca 3817 3620 sf Yakima 3824 sf 3624 sn City HL HL Amsterdam 4944 sh 5140 Athens 5045 sh 5143 Auckland 6762 7061 Bangkok 9174 pc 8874 pc Beijing 3824 3117 sn Belgrade 3724 3622 pc Berlin 4536 pc 4339 Brussels 4943 sh 5042 sh Budapest 3825 3423 Buenos Aires 7059 7063 Cairo 6443 6250 pc Calgary 156 sn 2510 sn Casablanca 6851 pc 7052 Copenhagen 4335 4238 Dublin 5046 4740 Edinburgh 4542 sh 4333 sh Edmonton 127 pc 21Z7 sf rankfurt 4541 sh 4542 Geneva 4536 4241 Havana 7967 7867 Helsinki 3627 pc 3427 Hong Kong 8071 pc 8172 pc Istanbul 3937 sh 4838 Jerusalem 5437 5244 sh Johannesburg 8460 pc 7960 pc Lisbon 6049 6251 London 5046 sh 4941 sh Madrid 5536 pc 5839 pc Manila 8972 pc 8673 pc Mexico City 7543 6843 pc Moscow 2821 pc 2618 Nairobi 8055 pc 8156 pc New Delhi 8254 8147 Oslo 3732 pc 3331 sn Paris 4637 sh 4842 sh Prague 4028 pc 3937 sh Rabat 6950 pc 7151 Rome 5436 pc 5339 Santiago 7841 7944 Seoul 4230 4531 pc Shanghai 6953 sh 6053 Singapore 8475 8575 Stockholm 3931 3930 pc Sydney 9667 pc 8157 Taipei 8171 pc 7970 Tokyo 5749 5042 Toronto 5338 pc 5443 sh Vancouver 3933 pc 3832 sn Vienna 4128 pc 3932 pc Warsaw 3625 pc 3425 pc City HL HL City HL HL City HL HL Albany 5136 pc 5141 pc El Paso 7040 6635 pc Oklahoma City 6355 6351 sh Albuquerque 5832 5426 pc Eugene 4638 4434 Omaha 5840 5635 Anchorage 156 pc 18 1 Evansville 6046 pc 6150 sh Orlando 8062 7960 pc Atlantic City 5636 6242 airbanks 16 26c 22Z 34 Palm Springs 6944 7138 Austin 6962 7362 sh argo 3422 3315 Philadelphia 5840 6248 Baltimore 5536 6243 lagstaff 4318 pc 3812 pc Phoenix 6846 pc 6340 pc Birmingham 7049 7252 Grand Junction 4324 3716 sf Pittsburgh 5839 5842 pc Bismarck 3823 3513 pc Grand Rapids 5346 pc 5548 sh Portland ME 5034 pc 4937 pc Boston 5642 pc 6046 pc Greensboro 6038 6641 Providence 5638 5641 pc Buffalo 5242 pc 5446 Honolulu 8574 pc 8473 pc Raleigh 6438 6940 Charleston SC 6747 7250 Indianapolis 5546 pc 5848 sh Rapid City 5822 4514 Charleston WV 5837 6345 Juneau 2825 sn 2717 sf Richmond 6238 6643 Charlotte 6239 6841 pc Knoxville 6440 6543 St Louis 6350 5950 sh Chattanooga 6743 6545 Little Rock 6650 pc 6653 sh San Diego 6349 6246 Cheyenne 5025 pc 3919 Louisville 6248 pc 6350 pc San rancisco 5844 sh 5544 sh Chicago 5446 pc 5848 sh Lubbock 6652 pc 6440 pc Santa 5425 4919 Cincinnati 6044 pc 5949 pc Marquette 4236 4934 Shreveport 6752 6960 Cleveland 5642 5948 Memphis 6851 pc 6651 pc Sioux alls 4828 pc 4623 ColumbaSC 7240 7144 Milwaukee 4946 pc 5746 sh Tampa 8063 8061 pc Columbus OH 5842 pc 5849 pc Minneapolis 4233 pc 4828 Topeka 6348 6045 sh Dallas 7259 7161 sh Montgomery 7247 7152 Tucson 6940 pc 6033 pc Davenport 5447 pc 5743 sh Nashville 6347 6549 pc Tulsa 6554 6854 sh Dayton 5643 pc 5849 New Orleans 7257 pc 7362 pc Washington 6042 6347 Denver 5625 pc 4422 NewYoik 5846 6150 Wichita 6248 pc 6045 sh Des Moines 5644 5639 Norfolk 6042 6445 LEGEND: sunny pc partly cloudy cl Duluth 3728 4222 North Platte 5923 4721 sf snow flurrie' ALMANAC Hourly Temperatures 11 am Noon 41 Midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday at Boise Airport Midnight 1 am 2 am 3 am 4 am 5 am 6 am 7 am 8 am 9 am 10 am 1 pm 39 2 pm A 41 3 pm 44 4 pm 45 5 pm 41 6 pm 40 7 pm 39 8 pm 39 9 pm 38 10 pm 37 11 pm 37 Midnight 36 Temperatures occur at time listed Values with an asterisk C) are estimated 36 37 38 35 36 38 37 38 37 40 42 Precipitation Data through 6 pm Sunday 005" Month to date 005" Normal mo to date Year to date Normal yr to date Comfort actors Humidity at noon 75 Barometer at noon 2966" Air Quality Today's forecast Yesterday od Moderate Unhittc 0 50 100 150 main offender: NA Road Report or Information about tho weathar conditions on Idaho's roads call: Treasure Valley: 1 208 336 6600 Elsewhere In Idaho: 1 888 432 7623 Oregon roads: 1 503 588 2941 Nevada roads: 1 775 793 1313 Utah roads: 1 801 964 6000 Snow Water Equivalent Based on Mountain Data from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Panhandle Region 89 Clearwater Basin 80 Salmon Basin 85 Weiser Basin 112 Payette Basin 95 Boise Basin 107 Big and Littla Wood Basins 98 Big and Little Lost Basins 72 Henrys ork Teton Basins 86 Snake Basin Above Palisades 75 Willow Blackfoot Portneut Basins 87 Oakley Basin 145 Salmon alls Basin 125 Bruneau Basin 136 Owyhea Basin 1 37 Bear River Basin 83 or more Information Sun Moon Sunrise Sunset 8:01 AM 5:08 PM Moonrise Moonset 7:57 PM 10:53 AM Last New irst ull Dec 7 Dec 14 De 22 Dec 30 few ALMANAC TODAYS REGIONAL L0CAL5 DAY ORECAST REGIONAL CITIES NATIONAL ORECAST.