Stone was a wealthy Ohioan who first encountered the river when he helped finance a gold dredging venture in Glen Canyon.  In 1909, Stone persuaded Galloway to supervise the construction of four boats, then to act as guide for a group of Stone’s friends on a five week voyage down the Green and Colorado, ostensibly to make a photographic record of the area.  Apparently the real motivation was adventure, making it the first river trip made for recreation.  Years later Stone published his account of the trip in his book Canyon Country: the romance of a drop of water and a grain of sand. 

His love of the river never waned.  In 1938, at age 83, Stone undertook a final river trip to place a plaque at the Crossing of the Fathers in Glen Canyon.  While there, his group stopped at the wreckage of the HOSKANINNI, his abortive mining dredge.  A fire to make coffee was made with wood from the dredge, prompting Stone to comment that the cup of coffee had cost him five thousand dollars.

Stone died in 1947 at age 92.