ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Winner of the 2007 Evans Biography Award of the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies at Utah State University, the 2008 Turner-Bergera Best Biography Award of the Mormon History Association, the 2008 Francis Armstrong Madsen Best Utah History Book from the Utah State Historical Society, and the 2007 Utah Book Award for nonfiction.

Dave Rust: A Life in the Canyons

by Frederick H. Swanson

Foreword by Michael F. Anderson

University of Utah Press, hardbound $29.95; now also in softcover $19.95

David D. Rust (1874-1963), a backcountry guide from Kanab, Utah, turned his travels in the Colorado Plateau into a feast for the mind and the senses. On trips ranging from the depths of the Grand Canyon to the remote red-rock lands of Utah, he introduced adventurous travelers to the region’s greatest geologic marvels and helped them comprehend the history, geology, and scientific importance of this stunning landscape. He was an early practitioner of adventure travel at a time when few Americans knew what wonders this region held, and his life story follows the development of southern Utah from a primitive frontier to a prized recreational destination.  

In contrast to many purveyors of the tourist West, Rust’s approach to guiding was grounded in careful study and preparation. “You must love my country,” he liked to say. “Powell loved it, Dutton loved it, I love it, and so must you.” Those who rode with him saw places few others got to see, and they benefited from his unique vision and understanding.

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Journeys in the Canyon Lands of Utah and Arizona, 1914-1916

by George C. Fraser
Foreword by Hal Rothman
Edited by Frederick H. Swanson

University of Arizona Press
Softcover, 224 p., $19.95

Journals of travel in the Southwest

George Corning Fraser, a Wall Street attorney with an unusual thirst for adventure, traveled extensively throughout the Southwest in the early 1900s to study its magnificently exposed geology. He was a keen observer of landscapes and an interested and sympathetic listener, and his journals convey an engaging picture of life in the remote corners of the Colorado Plateau in the years before the automobile made its inroads. Traveling mostly on horseback, he spoke at length with sheepherders and forest rangers, townspeople and ranchers, community leaders and eccentric prospectors. His firsthand accounts will transport you to a time when explorers relied on their horses and their wits to take them into a fascinating and little-known backcountry.

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Masthead photo: Cathedral Valley in the northern Waterpocket Fold, 1915.
Photo by Dave Rust, reprinted courtesy of LDS Church Archives.