—Rudolfo Anaya
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to the families of Ella Myers, Michael Mahl, and Ella Jaz Kirk for permission to quote from each of their writings. For more writing and music by Ella Jaz, visit her web site at www.ellajazkirk.org.
The seeds of this story first sprouted in columns for the Silver City Daily Press, where publisher Nick Seibel allowed me to say whatever was on my mind twice a month for most of a year.
An essay-length elegy under the title “Burn Scars,” later reworked to form major portions of the book, appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of n+1. I am more thankful than I can say for the magazine’s support of my writing over the past decade. In this case, I especially wish to acknowledge the editorial assistance of Chad Harbach, Dayna Tortorici, and Nikil Saval.
Other small portions of the book appeared in Orion, the New York Times Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times, where in each case I had the pleasure of working with a shrewd editor. I wish to express my gratitude to Andrew Blechman, Charlie Homans, and Susan Brenneman, respectively.
More people than I can name contributed to my education about the Gila River and the diversion dam that would harm it. But I am particularly indebted for stories shared by, and adventures shared with, the Bruemmer family, Keith (the Guru) Knadler, Alex Tager, Nathan Newcomer, Mark Allison, Bo Hunter, Allyson Siwik, Martha Cooper, Donna Stephens, Todd Schulke, Norm Gaume, Dutch Salmon, David Propst, Keith Gido, Tyler Pilger, James Whitney, and Jim Brooks. John Fayhee graciously shared documents pertaining to the Signal Fire investigation. Any omissions or errors are my doing, not theirs.
Numerous friends, and friends of friends, opened their homes and shared stories of those memorialized herein. The book profited immeasurably from the contributions of Teresa Beall, Jean Stelzer, Rázik Majean, Sara Irving, Mark Hedge, Patrice Mutchnick, Jenny Mahl, John Mahl, Jennifer Douglass, Brian Myers, Raven Myers, Steve Blake, Maddy Alfero, Mark Johnson, Keith Matthes, and Hans Johansson.
To the lovely people at Cinco Puntos Press who made the creation of this book a singular pleasure and an education in the art of collaboration—Lee Byrd, Bobby Byrd, John Byrd, Anne Giangiulio, Mary Fountaine, Jessica Powers, and Jill Bell—I offer a wish for salud, dinero, y amor. They earned that and much more.
The Right Reverend Rigatoni at the Rancho Relaxo offered tequila, life coaching, cowboy poetry, and shelter from the storm at moments when I needed them. Gracias, cabron.
Lee Gruber, Chris and Larry McDaniel, Bill and Cindy Neely, the Werber family, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Alfredo Corchado, Angela Kocherga, the PEN Writers’ Fund, the Authors League Fund, the Haven Foundation, and the n+1 Foundation all provided support of one sort or another at crucial junctures. Without them this book would not be.
Most of all, I thank my corazón, Mónica Ortiz Uribe—without whom I would not be.
The bear flashed his rump
as he crashed off through the brush—
No need for new friends.
I called in a smoke,
but it was the missile range—
Rehearsing end times.
Dead snags all around,
relics of the old forest—
Woodpeckers love them.
Even on lookout,
amorous forenoons go wrong—
Spoiled by day hikers.
Lost in the mountains,
move as if you were water—
You shall soon be found.
PHILIP CONNORS was born in Iowa, raised on a farm in Minnesota, educated at the University of Montana, and disillusioned by a stint of corporate journalism in New York. He is the author of two previous books: Fire Season and All the Wrong Places. His work has won the National Outdoor Book Award, the Reading the West Award for nonfiction, the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, and the Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Book Competition. He lives and works in the U.S. / Mexico borderlands.
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