NAU.MS.545
NAU.PH.1999.30
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Overview of the Collection | |
| Creator: | Clark, Owen R. (Owen Roberts Clark), 1885-1964 |
| Title: | Owen R. Clark papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | circa 1922-1937 |
| Quantity: | 1 Bound volumes, 3 2-Dimensional artworks, 25 Photographic prints (black-and-white) |
| Abstract: | The Owen R. Clark papers includes a copy of Jack Stark's 1937 The Doggerol Log of a Grand Canyon Trip, artwork by Clark's wife Virginia de Steigner Litchfield and others, and photographs documenting Clark's time as rancher near Lees Ferry, Coconino County, Arizona in the 1920s. |
| Identification: | NAU.MS.545 NAU.PH.1999.30 |
| Location: | Manuscripts and most artworks in the Owen R. Clark papers are stored in the same box as photographic materials. |
| Language: | Material in English. |
| Repository: |
Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Northern Arizona University Box 6022 Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6022 Phone: 928 523-5551 Fax: 928 523-3770 Email: special.collections@nau.edu |
Owen Roberts Clark was born March 4, 1885 in Hornellsville, New York, to parents Charles Ernest Clark and Grace J. Tennant. According to Clark's niece, Jean Bloombergh, he and siblings Hazel Clark and Roland Clark were orphaned at a young age. Roland and Owen were sent to live on the family's farm in Oswego, New York with uncle Jack Stark, while Hazel was sent to live with her grandmother in Springfield, Maine. As a young man, Clark joined the United States Navy, retiring as a Chief Petty Officer. (He later returned to military service during World War II.) While he was in the Navy, Clark married an opera singer whose name is unknown. The couple later divorced.
Clark settled in the Lees Ferry area of Coconino County, Arizona, in the early 1920s, where he raised cattle. Around this time, Clark met Frank B. Dodge, a boatman who participated in many of the earliest expeditions on the Colorado River. Between approximately 1923 and 1930, Clark served as a custodian at Lees Ferry for Coconino County and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), as well as a river flow gauger, recorder, hydrographer, and boat operator.
In 1927, Dodge brought Clark on as a boatman for a Green River/Colorado River trip with the Pathé-Bray Company of Hollywood, coordinated by E.C. LaRue. The Pathe-Bray Expedition was organized to shoot footage for the 1928 silent film The Bride of the Colorado (alternately, The Pride of the Colorado). Clark acted as stunt double for actor Rose Blossom while Dodge stood in for actor John Boles for a scene filmed at Hermit Rapid. Clark was injured during the run when the boat flipped. The film was never released.
Clark briefly encountered river runners Glen and Bessie Hyde during their fateful 1928 trip through the Grand Canyon. He suggested to the couple that they should have a second boat during their trip for safety reasons.
Between 1931 and 1932, Clark met and married Virginia de Steigner Litchfield from Brookline, Massachusetts. Litchfield taught art at Scripps College in Claremont, California between 1929 and 1931. She painted, made woodcut illustrations, and sewed, created multiple artworks of the Grand Canyon. Around the time of his second marriage, Clark purchased a ranch in Yuma, Arizona for himself and his wife. In 1932, Virginia Litchfield and the Clarks' infant son both died during childbirth.
In 1935, Clark served as a boatman for the Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. trip through the Grand Canyon, upstream of the newly completed Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam). Clark rowed a wooden boat named the Collier, while Frank Dodge and Merrill Spencer rowed the Fairchild and Elier, respectively.
Clark and the other boatmen from the Fairchild survey trip were then hired for the 1937 Carnegie-Cal Tech Expedition led by John Campbell Merriam, director of the Carnegie Institute of Washington. (This expedition is also variously referred to as the Carnegie-Caltech Colorado River Expedition, the Carnegie-Cal Tech Grand Canyon Expedition, and the Carnegie Tech-Cal Tech Expedition.) Clark, Dodge, and Spencer were joined by John "Jack" Stark, Robert Sharp, Edwin "Eddie" McKee, Ian Campbell, and John H. Maxson. Each boatman rowed the same boat as they had in 1935; Sharp was Clark's passenger in the Collier. Clark also acted as camp cook during the trip. Stark documented the expedition in a hand-bound illustrated volume of poetry titled The Doggerol Log of a Canyon Trip, which he dedicated to "those Three Musketeers of the River, Frank Dodge, Owen Clark, Merril [sic] Spencer… and to that Younger Riverman, Buzz Holmstrom." (Holmstrom encountered the Carnegie-Cal Tech expedition several times during his own effort at the first solo run of the Grand Canyon in November 1937.)
Little is known about Clark's life after his early river running expeditions in the Grand Canyon and on the Colorado River. Clark later sold his ranch in Yuma and moved to La Jolla, California. Owen R. Clark died on June 10, 1964, in San Diego.
Information in this biographical history note is based on information provided by the donor, a 2018 presentation by Richard Quartaroli, A gathering of Grand Canyon historians: Ideas, arguments, and first person accounts (2002), Reflections of Grand Canyon historians: Ideas, arguments, and first person accounts (2007), an article by Erik Berg titled "'THE BEST TRIP I’VE EVER BEEN ON': The 1937 Carnegie-Caltech Colorado River Expedition" in the Journal of Arizona History (vol. 48, no. 4, 2007), and online genealogical information for Owen Roberts Clark.
Manuscript and artwork materials in the Owen R. Clark papers (NAU.MS.545) consist of a copy of Jack Stark's hand-bound illustrated poem The Doggerol Log of a Grand Canyon Trip, circa 1937, and artwork by Clark's wife Virginia de Steigner Litchfield, including two watercolor paintings of the Grand Canyon, likely created between 1929 and 1931, as well as a 1926 pen-and-ink illustration by Myra Thomas believed to depict Clark's home near Lees Ferry and the Vermillion Cliffs.
Photographs in the Owen R. Clark papers (NAU.PH.1999.30) consist of 25 black-and-white prints documenting Clark's time as a rancher, hydrographer, and boatman near Lees Ferry, Coconino County, Arizona in the 1920s. They include images of Navajo Bridge (then known as Grand Canyon Bridge) downriver from Marble Canyon while it was under construction, likely dating from between 1927 and 1929. Some images, including photo postcards, depict Navajo people, Navajo children, or lands on the Navajo Nation. People identified in the photographs include Owen R. Clark, Clark's sister Hazel Clark, Sid Wilson, Mr. Scott (possibly Marion B. Scott), Don, Sara, Billie, Don, Dr. Jeanne [Celeb or Celedo], and a Paiute woman identified variably as "Jody" and "Jodie."
No restrictions on access and use of materials onsite in the Miriam Lemont Reading Room.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for Northern Arizona University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Carnegie - Cal Tech Expedition Collection, NAU.MS.293, NAU.PH.94.27, Northern Arizona University, Cline Library, Special Collections and Archives, Flagstaff, Arizona. Buzz Holmstrom collection, NAU.MS.311, NAU.PH.97.22, Northern Arizona University, Cline Library, Special Collections and Archives, Flagstaff, Arizona. Plez Talmadge (P.T.) Reilly collection, NAU.MS.275, NAU.3D.94.28, NAU.OH.52, NAU.PH.97.46, NAU.MI.93.9, Northern Arizona University, Cline Library, Special Collections and Archives, Flagstaff, Arizona.
[Title or brief description of item or file.] Owen R. Clark papers [manuscripts and artwork], NAU.MS.545, Box [ ], Folder [ ]. Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives. Flagstaff, Arizona.
[Title or brief description of item or file.] Owen R. Clark papers [photographs], NAU.PH.1999.30.[ ], Box [ ], Folder [ ]. Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives. Flagstaff, Arizona.
Materials in the Owen R. Clark papers were donated to Cline Library Special Collections and Archives by Jean Bowlen Bloombergh, Clark's niece, in 1999.
Prior to 2019, SCA staff physically rehoused materials into archival-quality sleeves and folders. Hank Hassell numbered and inventoried photographic materials in the Owen R. Clark papers in September 2024. Sam Meier rehoused and inventoried manuscript materials and artworks and created a finding aid for the collection in October 2024.
| NAU.MS.545 Manuscripts and artwork circa 1926-1937 1 Bound volumes3 2-Dimensional artworksManuscripts and most artworks are stored in the same box as photographic materials. | |||||||||||
| Scope and Contents | |||||||||||
| Manuscript and artwork materials in the Owen R. Clark papers (NAU.MS.545) consist of a copy of Jack Stark's hand-bound illustrated poem The Doggerol Log of a Grand Canyon Trip, circa 1937, and artwork by Clark's wife Virginia de Steigner Litchfield, including two watercolor paintings of the Grand Canyon, likely created between 1929 and 1931, as well as a 1926 pen-and-ink illustration by Myra Thomas believed to depict Clark's home near Lees Ferry and the Vermillion Cliffs. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | The Doggerol Log of a Canyon Trip circa 1937 | |||||||||
| folder | box | ||||||||||
| OVZ-01 | 1 | Artwork 1926, undated circa 1929-1931 3 2-Dimensional artworks | |||||||||
| Scope & Contents | |||||||||||
| This file includes three artworks. The first is a pen-and-ink drawing by Myra Thomas, dated 1926 (on the recto), which bears the following annotations on the back (verso) of the image: "This may be the house at Lee's Ferry where Uncle Owen lived - Vermillion Cliffs behind" and "Pauline Henson 1501 Chapel St. New Haven." The second is a small watercolor painting, which has the following annotation on the verso: "By Virginia de Steigner Litchfield - Uncle Owen's wife, done in the Grand Canyon." The third is a large mounted watercolor painting with the following annotations on the verso: "This painting was done by Owen Clarks wife Virginia Litchfield - they met in Grand Canyon when she was painting there" and "This is by Virginia de Steigner Litchfield - our great uncle Owen Clark's wife. She taught art at Scripps College. This is of the Grand Canyon where they met." | |||||||||||
| NAU.PH.1999.30 Photographs circa 1922-1927 25 Photographic prints (black-and-white) | |||||||||||
| Scope & Contents | |||||||||||
| Photographs in the Owen R. Clark papers (NAU.PH.1999.30) consist of 25 black-and-white prints documenting Clark's time as a rancher, hydrographer, and boatman near Lees Ferry, Coconino County, Arizona in the 1920s. They include images of Navajo Bridge (then known as Grand Canyon Bridge) downriver from Marble Canyon while it was under construction, likely dating from between 1927 and 1929. Some images, including photo postcards, depict Navajo people, Navajo children, or lands on the Navajo Nation. People identified in the photographs include Owen R. Clark, Clark's sister Hazel Clark, Sid Wilson, Mr. Scott (possibly Marion B. Scott), Don, Sara, Billie, Don, Dr. Jeanne [Celeb or Celedo], and a Paiute woman identified variably as "Jody" and "Jodie." | |||||||||||
| Processing Information | |||||||||||
| Hank Hassell transcribed annotations on the back of photographs in the Owen R. Clark papers verbatim. Additions and corrections by Hassell and Sam Meier are indicated using square brackets [ ]. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.001 This was taken in 1922 or 3 circa 1922-1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.002 Owen Clark on left | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.003 Don't know where this is--do you? [photo postcard] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.004 The V.T. Park ranch house. Sid unpacking the mules | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.005 Sid and Owen | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.006 Coming off the Buckskin Mtns with mules following | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.007 Another view of Jacob's Lake | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.008 The BAR Z bringing their cattle on their winter range, one of our pack mules passing | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.010 Owen & Mr. Scott crossing Colorado by cable [at lower Lees Ferry crossing] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.011 Sid & family. Wilson family at Lees Ferry | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.012 Sid, Owen & Don [at Lees Ferry] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.013 Owen Clark on right [at the base of Echo Cliffs] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.014 [Team, wagon, and three men at the base of the Echo Cliffs, east side of the Colorado River] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.015 Navajo Reservation | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.016 [Two Navajo men in front of a hogan] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.017 [Postcard of a Navajo woman with a baby in a cradleboard] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.018 Jody, Paiute, Lees Ferry | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.019 Hazel Clark & her friend Dr. Jeanne [Celeb or Celedo] were upset, as I remember about the Indian [Navajo] children being taken away from their parents to go to school Was this true? [Navajo children] circa 1922-1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.020 This, I believe, is Jodie (Jody?) the Piute [Paiute] Indian who crawled across the bridge [Navajo Bridge] before it was finished. | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.021 This is what is now the McCameron Lodge [Marble Canyon Lodge] as it was when Buck Lowrey (a friend of Owen's) owned it. The lodge at the Bridge where the Lowrey live. | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.022 [Military portrait of Owen R. Clark] | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.023 Owen, Lees Ferry. Sid Wilson beside Owen. Owen Clark on right, Sara, Billi | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.024 A Paiute Indian named Jodie climbed across this bridge [Navajo Bridge] before it was finished. I think this is a very beautiful picture. circa 1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | NAU.PH.1999.30.025 Owen Clark on left | |||||||||