File:GRCA 32095 Grand Canyon Historical Boat Collection Gem Boat (7420777946).jpg

Object BOAT Description BOAT WITH WHITE EXTERIOR, TAPERED BOW AND SQUARE STERN. HAS 8 COMPARTMENTS, TWO OF WHICH WERE FILLED WITH PLASTIC BOTTLES, FOR FLOTATION. MOST OF THE TOP DECKING OF THE BOAT IS MISSING. THE BOW IS MARKED ’GEM’ IN BLUE ON BOTH SIDES. BROWN WOODEN INTERIOR. THE COMPARTMENT WALLS ARE BROKEN, THE SIDES HAVE PIECES MISSING, AND THE WOOD IS CRACKED IN PLACES. THE EXTERIOR PAINT AND LETTERING ARE VERY WORN, ALTHOUGH THE BOAT IS KNOWN TO HAVE HAD A RED BOTTOM, WHITE SIDES AND A BLUE INTERIOR AND TRIM. THE BOAT IS IN POOR CONDITION. THE ’GEM’ WAS THE FIRST HARD-HULLED COLORADO RIVER BOAT WITH A STEEP- ANGLED ROCKER (ALTHOUGH SETTLING OVER THE YEARS HAS FLATTENED THE BOTTOM), AND SERVED AS THE INTERMEDIARY DESIGN IN THE EVOLUTION OF GRAND CANYON RIVER BOATS, BETWEEN THE BROAD NEVILLS- STYLED BOATS AND THE MORE MODERN DORIES, SUCH AS THE ’MUSIC TEMPLE’.THE ’GEM’ WAS BUILT IN 1954 BY RIVER RUNNER STEPHEN MOULTON BABCOCK "MOULTY" FULMER. MOULTY RAN COMPLETELY THROUGH THE CANYON IN THE SUMMERS OF 1955 AND 1956. THE BOAT WAS THEN USED ON A 1957 TRIP ON THE COLORADO RIVER WHEN THE WATER WAS RUNNING AT EXTREMELY HIGH LEVELS, OVER 120,000 CFS. ALSO ON THAT TRIP WAS PAT "PT" REILLY, IN THE ’SUSIE R’, AND V.R. "BRICK" MORTENSON IN THE ’FLAVELL’. THE TRIP PARKED THEIR THREE BOATS AT PHANTOM RANCH, AND ABANDONED THE TRIP, BY HIKING OUT. THEY RETURNED THE FOLLOWING YEAR, 1958, RETRIEVED THE BOATS AND HEADED DOWNRIVER, AGAIN WITH HIGH LEVEL FLOWS OF 85,000 CFS. AT LAVA FALLS, THEY FACED A HUGE RAPID. THEY WERE NOW DOWN TO TWO BOATS, AFTER HAVING ALREADY LOST THE ’FLAVELL’ IN A FLIP UPSTREAM, WHERE THE BOAT CONTINUED DOWNSTREAM BY ITSELF, SO THEY AGAIN ABANDONED THEIR TRIP, THIS TIME BY SETTING THE LAST TWO BOATS FREE TO FLOAT DOWNSTREAM, AND HIKING OUT THE LAVA FALLS TRAIL. THEY CAUGHT A RIDE TO LAKE MEAD, RENTED A POWER BOAT AND HEADED UPSTREAM, WHERE THEY FOUND A HALF-