Harvey Butchart

John Harvey Butchart (1907 – May 29, 2002) was a mathematics professor who was well known for his hiking exploits in and around the Grand Canyon. Beginning in 1945 and ending in 1987, Butchart explored the Grand Canyon on foot with an intense desire to become the authority on the Canyon's backcountry. He wrote extensively about his adventures and influenced generations of canyoneers.

Harvey Butchart

Butchart was born in Hefei, China, in Anhui Province to missionary parents. His father died in 1920 and the family moved to Illinois. Butchart graduated from Eureka College in 1928 and received a masters and PhD from the University of Illinois in 1929 and 1932, respectively. Butchart began teaching mathematics at Arizona State College (now known as Northern Arizona University) in 1945.

Upon moving to Flagstaff in 1945, he began exploring the Grand Canyon. After hiking most of the main routes, he began to explore unofficial routes, old Native American trails, and even animal trails. He was eventually credited with discovering over 100 rim-to-river routes within the Canyon. In 1963 he completed the very first route, which took years to accomplish in multiple trips, which led from one end of the national park to the other (but not the entire length of the Canyon; that distinction belongs to boatman Kenton Grua who in 1976 became the first man to hike the Canyon's full length). Later that year, Colin Fletcher would heavily rely on Butchart's knowledge in planning his own hike covering the length of the national park in a single journey (notably, Fletcher did not hike the entire length of the Grand Canyon despite claims of doing so which helped to sell his book titled The Man Who Walked Through Time").

Butchart kept a detailed log of his explorations, which would eventually reach over 1,200 pages. He recorded 1,024 days spent in the Canyon, and over 12,000 miles (19,000 km) walked. He climbed 83 summits within the Canyon, and scaled the walls at 164 places, claiming 25 first ascents. NAU has over 7,000 of his photographs on file.[1]

Butchart retired in 1976, and continued hiking until 1987. He wrote three guidebooks to the canyon, under the title Grand Canyon Treks. In 1997, the books were published in one volume entitled Grand Canyon Treks: 12,000 Miles Through the Grand Canyon. At that time Butchart, geologist Andy Zdon (NAU), the publisher and the National Park Service backcountry rangers edited and reclassified the routes according to the Yosemite Decimal system. For many of the listed routes, Grand Canyon Treks: 12,000 Miles Through the Grand Canyon and the earlier La Siesta Press editions are the only route references.

In 1997, Harvey Butchart wrote the foreword to his book, Grand Canyon Treks: 12,000 miles Through the Grand Canyon (Spotted Dog Press, first edition 1997, reprinted in 2006). The introduction to that edition was based on outdoor writer Wynne Benti's personal interview of Harvey Butchart and served as reference to later publications. Grand Canyon Treks: 12,000 miles Through the Grand Canyon includes the first three editions of Grand Canyon Treks I, II, III originally commissioned and published by publisher Walt Wheelock, La Siesta Press (Glendale CA). In 2007, a biography of Butchart was published, called Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon by Elias Butler and Tom Myers. This book tells the story of Butchart and the story of foot exploration in Grand Canyon.

In 2010, the US Board of Names honored Harvey Butchart by naming a 7,000-foot butte within Grand Canyon National Park "Butchart Butte". This butte near the Walhalla Plateau in the eastern area of the national park can be seen from Pt. Imperial on the North Rim, or from Lipan Point on the South Rim.

Works
  • Harvey Butchart, Grand Canyon Treks: 12,000 Miles Through the Grand Canyon ISBN 978-0-9647530-2-0 Spotted Dog Press, Inc 1997, 2006
  • Grand Canyon Treks (1970) (revised 1986, ISBN 0-910856-38-9) La Siesta Press, Glendale CA
  • Grand Canyon Treks II (1975) La Siesta Press, Glendale CA
  • Grand Canyon Treks III (1985) La Siesta Press, Glendale CA

Footnotes
  1. Cline Library Special Collections and Archives Department. "Cline Library Photo Finding Guide: John Harvey Butchart". Northern Arizona University. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
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References
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