Tom Martin to Present a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Dock Marston’s Book ‘From Powell to Power’

Martin will give a presentation that includes historic film footage of Marston and other river runners from the early 1900s through the 1960s. He will also give a short reading from Marston’s work.

Grand Canyon author Tom Martin will present a 45-minute behind-the-scenes look at Otis “Dock” Marston’s book, From Powell to Power: A Recounting of the First One Hundred River Runners through the Grand Canyon, on Oct. 25, at Bridgewater College.

Martin, who served as editor of Marston’s book, will give the same program at 4 and 7 p.m. in the Boitnott Room. The presentation includes historic film footage of Marston and other river runners from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Martin will speak on who Marston was and give a short reading from Marston’s work.

Marston’s first trip through the Grand Canyon was in a wooden boat in 1942. Five years later, he started writing a history of river running in the canyon. What he thought would take six months turned into a 30-year project. He amassed a collection of first-person accounts of river runners, from James White on a log raft in 1867 to Maj. John Wesley Powell in 1869, and every river trip through the powerboat runs of 1949-’51.

Martin is the author of Day Hikes from the River and Big Water Little Boats. He was co-author of Guide to the Colorado and Green Rivers in the Canyonlands of Utah and Colorado and Guide to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, the winner of the 2007 National Outdoor Book Award.

The presentations are free and open to the public.