Excerpt from “Everett Ruess: His Short Life, Mysterious Death, and Astonishing Afterlife” by Philip L. Fradkin.
“With an ailing fan belt, the Ruesses coasted down a long incline and slowly made their way across the Navajo Bridge to the Marble Canyon lodge and trading post operated by Buck and Florence Lowery. Buck, born David Crockett Lowrey in Tennessee, was the county sheriff, and Florence was the postmistress who ran the Marble Canyon post office, to which Everett had directed his mail be sent. Florence had returned the mail, alerting the Ruesses – along with Mrs. Allen at Escalante – that their son was missing. It was a hectic time for the Lowreys and the children. Their gas station had just been robbed by three men who had also wounded the attendant. Buck was off with a posse of nearly forty men. This group captured the three bandits, one a hitchhiker and the other two escaped convicts from Wyoming.”
Excerpt from “Sunk without a sound: the tragic Colorado River honeymoon of Glen and Bessie” by Brad Dimock.
“Four miles later the honeymooners pulled Rain-in-the-Face ashore and scrambled five hundred vertical feet up a gulch to the Navajo bridge project. Crews were pouring the cement roadbed on what would soon be the highest highway bridge in the world. David Crockett “Buck” Lowrey was operating a small trading post on the east side of the river at the time, while he raced to complete a lodge across the river before the new bridge opened. The Hydes bought a small Navajo blanket, food, and a few supplies. Marston’s notes from a 1959 interview with Lowrey are so terse that they more nearly resemble haiku:
I saw Hydes
I supplied them from post
I tried to stop them
She showed no inclination to quit
They had old scow
Told of being knocked over by sweep
I have some pictures.”
