Ten Who Dared

For those who have not read, or read of, John Wesley Powell's life threatening trip down the Colorado River, they may not realize that while it is an entertaining movie, it is also historically accurate. Whiskey WAS smuggled aboard one of the boats; Powell DID nearly fall to his death while hanging by his one good hand. Credit to the Disney studio for making a dramatic personal drama accurate to history. Long before Spielburg learned to integrate personal conflict and human frailty into stories, Disney melded the personal with the structural into a visually beautiful and engaging movie with "Ten Who Dared". If the reader is interested in learning more about the trip (which turned out near its end to be a near death experience) I recommend, Powell's Journal, "Down the Colorado" and "The Emerald Mile" by Kevin Fedarko.