RIVER BOAT "WEN". WOOD, PROPELLED BY OARS. BOAT PAINTED WHITE WITH GREEN TRIM. "IMPROVED" CATARACT DESIGN- IRON-SHAPED WITH A FLAT BOTTOM AND FLAT STERN OVER ENTIRE WIDTH. BUILT OF MARINE PLYWOOD WITH A NUMBER OF WATER TIGHT COMPARTMENTS. PAINT FLAKING.

THE "WEN" WAS ONE OF THREE SIMILAR BOATS (THE OTHERS WERE NAMED THE "MEXICAN HAT" AND THE "BOTANY") DESIGNED AND BUILT BY NORMAN NEVILLS, WITH HELP FROM DON HARRIS. EACH BOAT WEIGHED 600 POUNDS, WAS 16 FEET LONG AND BROAD OF BEAM AND STERN. THE COCKPIT WAS PLACED FORWARD OF THE MIDDLE ALLOWING A PASSENGER TO LIE FLAT ON THE BOAT BEHIND THE COCKPIT. THE NAME "WEN" WAS DERIVED FROM THE INITIALS OF NEVILLS' FATHER.

ALL THREE BOATS WERE USED BY NEVILLS AS HE ATTEMPTED TO BUILD HIS 'NEVILLS EXPEDITIONS' BUSINESS, RUNNING COMMERCIAL RIVER TRIPS. NEVILLS' FIRST GRAND CANYON TRIP INCLUDED THE FIRST WOMEN TO BE CREDITED WITH RUNNING THE COLORADO RIVER, BOTANISTS ELZADA CLOVER AND LOIS JOTTER, AS WELL AS BOATMEN DON HARRIS AND EUGENE ATKINSON AND ARTIST WILLIAM GIBSON. THE TRIP LEFT GREEN RIVER, UTAH ON JUNE 20, 1938. BECAUSE OF DISSENSION ON THE TRIP, THE BOATMEN HARRIS AND ATKINSON LEFT THE TRIP AT LEES FERRY AND WERE REPLACED BY LORIN BELL AND DELL REID. AT BRIGHT ANGEL, THEY WERE JOINED BY EMERY KOLB WHO RODE THE REST OF THE TRIP WITH THEM TO LAKE MEAD. BECAUSE OF THE WOMEN, THE TRIP ATTRACTED QUITE A BIT OF PUBLICITY, AND THUS WAS MET AT SEVERAL PLACES ALONG THE ROUTE BY REPORTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS. CLOVER AND JOTTER COLLABORATED ON THE PUBLICATION "CACTI OF THE CANYON OF THE COLORADO AND TRIBUTARIES" BASED ON COLLECTING DONE ON THIS TRIP, AND CLOVER WROTE AN ARTICLE FOR THE 'MICHIGAN ALUMNI QUARTERLY REVIEW' TITLED "DANGER CAN BE FUN".

SUBSEQUENT RIVER TRIPS LED BY NEVILLS, USING THE SAME BOATS, INCLUDED PASSENGERS BARRY GOLDWATER, NEVILLS' WIFE DORIS (WHO, ALONG WITH PASSENGER MILDRED BAKER, BECAME THE FIRST WOMEN TO RUN THE RIVERS FROM GREEN RIVER, WYOMING), ALEXANDER GRANT (THE FIRST KAYAK TO RUN THE COLORADO RIVER), DOC MARSTON AND OTHERS. THE BOATS ALSO RAN THE SNAKE AND SALMON RIVERS IN IDAHO IN 1946. THE BOATS WERE EVENTUALLY USED ON SEVEN TRIPS THROUGH THE GRAND CANYON. THE "WEN" WAS DONATED TO GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK BY NEVILLS IN AUGUST 1949, SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH IN SEPTEMBER 1949. IT WAS ORIGINALLY DISPLAYED IN THE OLD NATURALIST'S WORKSHOP. IT WAS MOVED TO THE VISITOR CENTER PATIO WHEN AN HISTORIC BOAT EXHIBIT WAS ESTABLISHED THERE IN THE EARLY 1960's. -THE BOAT WAS MOVED FROM THE VISITOR CENTER PATIO IN 6/2004, WITH ASSISTANCE FROM WACC CONSERVATOR BRYNN BENDER AND MANY MEMBERS OF THE BOATING COMMUNITY, TO THE SCIENCE CENTER WAREHOUSE FOR CONSERVATION, AS PART OF THE 'SAVE OUR BOATS' HISTORIC BOAT CONSERVATION PROJECT.

AFTER PRESERVATION TREATMENT, THE BOAT WAS PLACED ON DISPLAY 0N 6/27/2008 AT THE VISITOR CENTER (CANYON VIEW PLAZA)