Bert Loper discovered river running on the San Juan River in the early 1890s, and spent much of the rest of his life on the rivers of the West. He spent the last ten years of his life based in Green River, doing trips on the Green, Yampa, and Colorado Rivers in home-built boats.

In 1949, as he neared 80 years of age, he built one last boat—named Grand Canyon—for a return trip through Grand Canyon. But on the second day of that voyage, Loper rolled his boat in 24-1/2-Mile Rapid and was lost beneath the waves. His companions found the boat later that day and dragged it high on the bank of the Colorado. There the boat has remained for 75 years, slowly turning to dust.

Renown river man and environmental warrior Ken Sleight campaigned for decades to have Loper’s boat removed from the Canyon and preserved for posterity, to no avail. In 2019 Brad Dimock and his crew at Fretwater Boatworks replicated Grand Canyon using photographs, measurements of the original, and archival documents, as part of a celebration of Sleight’s 90th birthday. Sleight was delighted to see Loper’s boat honored in such a way and lobbied for it to be displayed here at the John Wesley Powell Museum. But first Dimock had to finish authenticating the replica by taking it through Grand Canyon—more or less successfully.

On Saturday, July 27 at 3pm, the John Wesley Powell River History Museum formally accepted the Grand Canyon for display, and Brad Dimock offered an hour-long presentation on Bert Loper, Grand Canyon, and the building and running of the replica.

GRAND CANYON is now back where Loper built the original, on the banks of the Green River. She stands here as a memorial to Green River’s most famous boatman: Bert Loper. 

– Brad Dimock