LGM Film Club, Part 300: The Wilderness River

I recently read Tom Turner’s biography of Sierra Club leader David Brower. It’s alright, more of the story by someone who knew him closely than a real deep historical examination. When discussion the saving of Dinosaur National Monument from the Bureau of Reclamation’s dam ’em all mentality in the 50s, he mentions the Sierra Club film Wilderness River Trail used to publicize the issue by showing Americans pictures of a place they had never seen. It worked and Dinosaur was saved, though at the cost of damming Glen Canyon, a place even fewer Americans had seen. Anyway, thought I’d check it out and here it is. What is at least as interesting at this point as the footage of the canyons and rivers is seeing the culture of organized Sierra Club expeditions at this time and just how large they were and, from my perspective, how much of an impact they were making on the land. Of course, that problem is far, far worse now with the paved roads and national parks industrial complex that has developed. Anyway, a worthy examination of the past for the 300th film in this series.