The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West

Amos Burg (1901-1986), a native of Portland, Oregon, was the first to complete transits of the free-flowing, undammed Snake and Columbia Rivers by canoe, and in 1938 he became the first to navigate the length of the Colorado River in a rubber raft. In his daring explorations of the waterways from the Southwest up through Canada and into Alaska, Burg is considered to be the only person known to have run all major Western rivers from source to mouth. As a photographer and writer for National Geographic, Burg was also an articulate speaker, journalist, and filmmaker who traveled the country to share his stories of wilderness adventure and the stunning beauty of the West. And as a quixotic outdoorsman and one of the first true commercial river guides, Burg was witness to a changing frontier that saw water politics, dam construction, and outdoor culture bloom.

In The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West author Vince Welch, himself a river guide, weaves a passionate and well-researched narrative using extensive material from Burg's own rich archives. History buffs, boatmen, and adventure readers alike will delight in this remarkable regional history of the larger-than-life Burg, a quintessential man of the American West and one of the last voyageurs of North America's great waterways.