Buzz Holstrom 1937-1938
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 41° 31.406 W 109° 28.268
12T E 627559 N 4597994
This Historical Marker is located east of the walkway east-central portion of Island Park on Expedition Island in Green River, Wyoming.
Waymark Code: WMFCF3
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 09/28/2012
Views: 5
Buzz Holstrom 1937-1938
Haldane "Buzz" Holstrom wanted to float the Green and Colorado Rivers to Hoover Dam. In the fall of 1937, he found the "right cedar tree" near his home in Oregon and built his own 16-foot Galloway-style riverboat.
A friend who was supposed to go on the trip cancelled at the last minute, so Holstrom launched from Green River, Wyoming on October 4th, 1937, alone. He reached Lake Mead on November 20th and rowed all the way across the lake until his boat touched the concrete of the dam. Buzz Holstrom was the first person to float the Green and Colorado Rivers solo.
Bitten by the river bug, Holstrom was back in Wyoming the next year with another river runner, Amos Burg. Holstrom had his same boat and Burg had a relatively new craft - an inflatable rubber raft.
The two attempted another "first" - to float on the Green River below Green River Lakes but found it too rocky for river running. They hired a truck and hauled their gear and boats to Green River, Wyoming, where they launched on September 3rd, 1983, just a few days ahead of the French kayakers.
Burg's raft, the Charlie made it all the way and though the two didn't know it at the time, the raft would prove to be the way of the future for river running in America.